Korean man marries pillow; pillow can't say no

Related searches: Guy Marries Pillow, Korean Man Marries Pillow, Korean Man Pillow, Korean Marries Pillow, Korean Pillow, Lee Jin-Gyu, Man Marries a Pillow, Man Marries Pillow

According to the Metro UK, a 28-year old Korean man, Lee Jin-gyu, married a pillow he's become, er, attached to. Reportedly, he takes the pillow "everywhere", from the park to restaurants, where he makes sure "she" has her own seat.

The pillow is called a 'dakimakura', or a Japanese large, huggable, pillow.

But the question is, has anyone, his parents, someone, tried to talk Lee Jin-gyu out of this "wedding?" Did he take out life insurance in case the pillow meets an untimely fate with a sewing pin? If Lee Jin-gyu wants to have sex, can the pillow say "Not now. I've got a headache?"

And the most important question: Did the pillow say "I do?" No word from the Metro UK.

New York Times' Arthur Sulzberger Jr. takes huge raise; laid off staff

The New York Times laid off 100 people and cut pay for most employees last year for a nine-month period. All employees except two: Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Chief Executive Janet L. Robinson. According to The Wall Street Journal, both Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Janet L. Robinson got huge increases. Janet L. Robinson's overall pay jumped 32 percent to 6.3 million; Arthur Sulzberger Jr.'s pay rose to $6 million, double the $3 million of a year before.

What's alarming is Sulzberger and Robinson took these raises while asking their employees to suffer pay cuts and job losses. In May of 2009, Vanity Fair's Mark Bowden wrote that a "doomsday clock" was ticking for newspapers, and Sulzberger was "struggling to keep his family's prized asset alive." Yeah, he's really working hard to do that, huh?

What Sulzberger and Robinson should have done is put those raises back into The New York Times and maintained as much of their staff intact as possible, pay levels and all.

Sulzberger has cried about the New York Times' problems to anyone who would listen. He's given speeches on the impact of the Internet and Google, in particular, on the news industry, as he did at last year's Webby Awards in this video:



But when it comes time to show that he's trying to save the NY Times, he works to make sure he gets as much money as he can.

It's not too late for Sulzberger and Robinson to reverse their fiscal course and help the people of The New York Times. Let's see if they do the right thing. Otherwise, if newspaper owners and managers like Sulzberger and Robinson are going to be greedy, why should the Federal Government bail them out?

Stay tuned.

Twitter location-sharing is on; be careful how you tweet

After fits-and-starts of being on, then off, Twitter location-sharing is on. Now, you include location information in a tweet. All you have to do, assuming you have a Twitter account, is go to "settings", scroll down, and click on "Add a location to your tweets."

While this feature is great and welcome to all who want to be found, it can be dangerous for those who may be away from home. Someone with an awful heart can essentially "cyber case" a person using Twitter to determine when to try and break in to their home. Or worse.

As the Twitter blog explains, the location-sharing feature is great to inform people of where something's occurring, but the problem is the tweeter has to be in the area where that something's happening.

While I initially was excited about this new Twitter feature, it has the perfect distinction of being a tool that can be used for better or worse.

Stay tuned.

Lady Gaga and Beyonce The Telephone's new make-up soda can look

Lady Gaga and Beyonce's music video The Telephone has done something no iTunes sound release could ever have achieved. (Take that Justin Bieber!) A new make-up soda can look.

In the music video for Lady Gaga and Beyonce's The Telephone, Lady Gaga wears a an "up-do" that consists of soda cans while in prison.

In this video by serenaverbon on YouTube, Serena and her cousin Robin show how to create the look, and in the process have built the foundation for the propagation of a new Lady Gaga-endorsed fashion trend.

On her Twitter page, Lady Gaga gave the video the official Gaga cyber thumbs-up with this tweet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8_hrDQyBTo "Soda-do, How to." GENIUS little fashion monsters.
about 17 hours ago via web

Jasmin Malik Chua at Ecouterre was the first online to point to the style and wrote "If Lady Gaga has a passion for trashion, she’s managed to keep it on the down-low." Until now. The prison-inspired look seems right for these economically challenged times and could morph into a form of protest against an economy that's slow to produce jobs.

The "Make-up Soda Can Look" could serve as a perfect statement mocking governments like the State of California that spend more money on prisons than for education. If California's becoming a police state, the "Make-up Soda Can Look" might well become the fashion statement that reflects it.

Unless you doubt Lady Gaga's ability to influence fashion trends, just look at this video-blog I created after I passed by the crowd at Lady Gaga's San Francisco concert last December:



In the video-blog many of Lady Gaga's fans were obviously inspired by Lady Gaga in their dress. But while that was for a Lady Gaga concert, my bet is the "Make-up Soda Can Look" will find its way into everyday society.

Stay tuned.

Lady Gaga and Beyonce - music video The Telephone lyrics

Lady Gaga and Beyonce shine in their music video The Telephone Here are the lyrics for The Telephone, and they reveal a set of lines that college girls will be repeating to each other. At least that's the prediction in this space.

The numbers connected with the music video on YouTube are sick at over 7 million views in three days, and climbing. And while YouTube has given The Telephone great visibility, that alone can't explain the staggering view count. Lady Gaga and Beyonce have hit the zeitgeist perfectly and everyone from entertainers to marketers should pay attention to this. Here are the lyrics for The Telephone:


[Lady Gaga]
Hello, hello, baby
You called, I can't hear a thing.
I have got no service
in the club, you say, say
Wha-Wha-What did you say, huh?
You're breaking up on me
Sorry, I cannot hear you,
I'm kinda busy.

K-kinda busy
K-kinda busy
Sorry, I cannot hear you, I'm kinda busy.

Just a second,
It's my favorite song they're gonna play
And I cannot text you with
A drink in my hand, eh?
You shoulda made some plans with me,
You knew that I was free.
And now you won't stop calling me;
I'm kinda busy.

Stop callin', stop callin',
I don't wanna think anymore!
I left my head and my heart on the dance floor.
Stop callin'', stop callin,
I don't wanna talk anymore!
I left my head and my heart on the dance floor.

Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
Stop telephonin' me!
Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
I'm busy!
Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
Stop telephonin' me!
Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh

Can call all you want,
but there's no one home,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!
Cuz I'm out in the club,
and I'm sippin that bubb,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!

Call when you want,
but there's no one home,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!
Out in the club,
and I'm sippin' that bubb,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!

[Beyonce]
Boy, the way you blowin' up my phone
won't make me leave no faster.
Put my coat on faster,
leave my girls no faster.
I shoulda left my phone at home,
cuz this is a disaster!
Callin' like a collector -
sorry, I cannot answer!

Not that I don't like you,
I'm just at a party.
And I am sick and tired
of my phone r-ringing.
Sometimes I feel like
I live in Grand Central Station.
Tonight I'm not takin no calls,
cause I'll be dancin.

Cause I'll be dancin
Cause I'll be dancin
Tonight I'm not takin no calls, cause I'll be dancin!

Stop callin', stop callin',
I don't wanna think anymore!
I got my head and my heart on the dance floor.
Stop callin', stop callin',
I don't wanna talk anymore!
I got my head and my heart on the dance floor.

Stop callin', stop callin',
I don't wanna think anymore!
I got my head and my heart on the dance floor.
Stop callin', stop callin',
I don't wanna talk anymore!
I got my head and my heart on the dance floor.

Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
Stop telephonin' me
Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
I'm busy!
Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh
Stop telephonin' me!
Eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh

Can call all you want,
but there's no one home,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!
Cuz I'm out in the club,
and I'm sippin' that bubb,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!

Call when you want,
but there's no one home,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!
Cuz I'm out in the club,
and I'm sippin' that bubb,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!

My telephone!
M-m-my telephone!
Cuz I'm out in the club,
and I'm sippin' that bubb,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!

My telephone!
M-m-my telephone!
Cuz I'm out in the club,
and I'm sippin that bubb,
and you're not gonna reach my telephone!

We're sorry the number you have reached is not in service at this time.
Please check the number, or try your call again.

Tiger Woods hires ex-GOP aide Ari Fleischer; plans return to Golf

Accelerating his timetable, Tiger Woods has hired ex-GOP aide Ari Fleischer to help with his plans to return to Golf.

The World's Greatest Golfer hired the former press secretary to George W. Bush to help him recast his image according to ESPN.

The speculation in many corners is that Tiger Woods is going to play in the Tavistock Cup or the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and that his eventual objective is the 2010 Masters.

Tiger Woods image of the rock-solid family man was wrecked by the public revelation of numerous affairs with as many as 12 different women from Rachel Uchitel to Jamie Jungers. Tiger Woods admitted himself to a sex-addiction clinic in Mississippi and was just recently released from his treatment program.

While the idea that one can be addicted to sex is questionable, the fact that Tiger Woods went to get help rubber stamps the idea. The real problem was Woods wasn't be faithful to his wife Elin Nordegren. If Woods wasn't married to her, no one would accuse him of being addicted to sex as opposed to just a partying playboy.

The real story may be that Tiger Woods was trying to escape what may be a controlling relationship with his wife without losing her. Reports that Florida medical assistance workers did think Elin beat the crap out of him Thanksgiving night are surfacing. It's not that Woods didn't ask for it, but perhaps the real story was he was always trying to escape Elin's control and maintain his relationship to hold his image.

Whatever the case, all of that seems to be in the past. Let's hope so.

Lady Gaga and Beyonce in music video The Telephone

Lady Gaga and Beyonce rock in the new music video The Telephone. Created very much like a movie, the new video has been seen over 7 million times on YouTube already in just three days. It stars Lady Gaga as the new entry in a woman's prison full of female hardbodies who play rough.

Beyonce plays her friend who gets her out of jail and together they go to settle a score with the patrons in a restaurant by poisoning them.

The music video's story is very much in the style and theme of the movie Thelma and Louise. In that 1991 movie, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis play the female version of Bonnie and Clyde. It's also a very sexually charged music video, but without obvious sex. Everything from the dress to the name of their truck "Pussy Wagon" points to sex.

Lady Gaga and Beyonce in the music video The Telephone prove that above all, sex sells.

Stay tuned.

What do you get out of SXSW other than Mark Cuban?

Related searches: Mark Cuban, SXSW, tech conference, austin, texas, sxsw panel



SXSW is the giant music, film, and "interactive" conference going on now in Austin, Texas. This blogger is not there, and has a question: What do you get out of SXSW?

In general, the high tech conferences all sport the same format and are becoming just one, big, plain bore. Pick the event, the format is the same: some panel or person talking to an audience, as of that person is the lone expert on a something. And at Web 2.0, they're all placed on a pedestal. The main problem with these sleep-fests is that someone in the audience at times has a better grasp of what the presenter's talking about than the presenter does.

Is this what Mark Cuban gets out of SXSW?

At SXSW, regardless of the session, the "panel / audience" format's the same. Instead of the "Mark Cuban is God at the stage" approach, why not something that involves the people in the room? SWSX-goers could be asked to bring their laptops and go to a specific webpage to do something, to feedback. How about taking it a step beyond that and asking them to post their video comments and questions on a page for display to the group?

Note that the idea is open-ended. You can pour any subject into it and create an "interaction forum" that is more rewarding than sitting on your butt listening to someone drone on and on, or for that matter, watching Mark Cuban get into a snarky argument with Aver Ronen at SXSW.

Why do you go, or don't go, to SXSW. Take the poll:

More surveys on pollsb.com

Oakland Teachers | East Bay Express wrong about teacher pay issue

As the news that the Oakland, California teacher's union's planned one-day walkout was moved to April 22nd from March 24th, this blogger ran across a paragraph in the East Bay Express that has information that was incorrect. In "Some Hard Truths About Oakland Teachers", Robert Gammon wrote:

...the City of Oakland has nothing to do with teacher salaries. Teachers are employees of the Oakland Unified School District, which is a completely separate legal entity that gets its funding from the state, not the city. So the city has no say in how much teachers make. And thus comparing teacher salaries to cops' salaries, as some commenters want to do, is ridiculous, because they're paid by different entities.

Gammon's wrong and he should look at Section 33678 Subdivision (B) of the California Health and Safety Code. The common misconception about California Redevelopment Law and Tax Increment Revenue, is that redevelopment revenue can't be used to provide services in city like Oakland. Redevelopment revenue can be used to augment teacher's salaries for schools within a redevelopment area if the redevelopment plan for that area was amended to do so.

So, the Oakland Redevelopment Agency could provide a grant to the Oakland Unified School District to be used for targeted schools within the 6,000-acre Coliseum Redevelopment Area, the largest project area in the state of California.

And a recent Court of Appeals decision could result in more money being passed through from redevelopment agencies to school districts, but the main point here is that, should it elect to do so, the Oakland Redevelopment Agency could work with the Oakland Unified School District to have higher teacher salaries in East Oakland, if only to reflect the additional problems teachers face in of working in a high-crime area.

Has Oakland used this provision in California Redevelopment Law before? Yes. In fact, former Oakland City Manager Henry Gardner informed me that the City of Oakland's redevelopment agency used it to form a program with the Oakland Police to remove crack houses in East Oakland.

Gardner and I had that conversation in 1997 when I was the Economic Advisor to then-Mayor Elihu Harris. During that time I was lobbying for the adoption of an idea I created called "Redevelopment Project Area Phasing."

Stay tuned.

Pac-10 Tournament - Cal vs. UCLA, Washington v. Stanford

The University of California Men's Basketball Team advances to play the hated UCLA Bruins tonight at 6:30 PM. Yesterday, Cal made easy work of Oregon, 90 to 76, as Senior guard and Pac-10 player of the year Jerome Randle scored 22 points in the first half. UCLA beat Arizona 75-69.

In the video below, UCLA coach Ben Howland and senior guard Michael Roll talk after the Arizona win about playing Cal tonight. Michael Roll says "We're going to do everything we can to win."

Everything? Like what? Throw elbows? Knee someone?



All this blogger can say is "GO BEARS" Meanwhile, Washington plays Stanford at 8:40 PM PST. Washington beat Oregon State 59 to 52 Wednesday. Stanford shocked second-seeded Arizona State 70 to 61. Arizona State swept the Cardinal during the regular season.

Stay tuned.

Lebron James to return Friday; is Shaquille O'Neal making a difference?

Lebron James is set to return to The Cleveland Caveliers today, Friday. The NBA star some call Superman was out with an ankle injury for two games and was relegated to cheering his team on from the bench.

If Lebron James's is on steroids, they sure didn't help him from an injury. Personally, the talk that James is on steriods, is really awful. The real conversation should be about Shaquille O'Neal.

is Shaq making a difference?

When Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Cleveland Caveliers, the move was hailed in this space as the one that could bring a ring to Lebron James and Cleveland.



Now, Shaq's out for almost two months because he had surgery on his injured right thumb Monday. It was hit when The Boston Celtics Glen Davis blocked Shaq's shot on February 25th.

But before that point, Shaq averaged 12 points and 6.7 rebounds in 53 games according to ESPN. It's not far off, really just a small amount, below his career averages. For a person who's played for 17 years, Shaquille O'Neal's size and shot techniques still make him a formidable player. He gives Cavs coach Mike Brown the ability to work in a big lineup, and provides a much needed enforcer...when he's healthy. The Cavs record is 50 and 15 as of this writing.

Shaquille O'Neal told Cavs GM Danny Ferry that he would be back in time for the playoffs. If he's ready, Mike Brown should have Shaq play longer than his 23 minute average. Coach Brown's not getting enough out of a Shaq who's fully into the tempo of the game.

Merlin Olsen died of cancer at 69 - NFL and NBC star

Merlin Olsen died of cancer at 69 today after a battle with cancer that in a 2009 lawsuit Olsen claimed was caused by Asbestos exposure.

Olsen sued NBC Studios, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, Sherwin Williams, Lennox Industries and other companies, according to TMZ.com.

Merlin Olsen is the model for success in the transition from football to regular life. He became a great actor, starring on Little House on The Prairie and Father Murphy. And of course, he was a terrific NBC football analyst.

When this blogger thinks of Merlin Olsen, the word "smooth" comes to mind. In his speech and movement. A quite giant who I met after the 1993 Cal and Stanford Big Game, when his son Nate Olson played for Bill Walsh at Stanford.

Merlin Olsen played defensive end as part of the Los Angeles Rams "Fearsome Foursome" of Rosey Greier, Deacon Jones, and Lamar Lundy in their 4-3 defense.