A fascinating video about copyright in fashion and various other industries … or the lack of copyright protection in said industries … and how that fact creates more innovation and creativity. Really, really worth watching, and it’s only 15 minutes long. Trust me, you’ll probably learn a thing or two. I did!

Video via Greg Laden’s Blog

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to news about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, you’ve likely heard about how there are clouds of droplets of oil under the surface caused by the chemical dispersant BP keeps “dispersing” said oil with. You may even have heard some people saying it’s really awful and the dispersant is actually making the situation worse. Until you see something with your own eyes though, you just can’t get a grasp on what it all means or what they are talking about? Well, this video will open your eyes … and depress you.

You may have to turn off ad-blocking software to get the video to load. It’s worth doing so.

Been a hilarious week on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Lewis Black being Lewis Black in grand form going after Glenn Beck for his Nazi Tourette’s is an instant classic. Best Glenn Beck quote? “Empathy leads you to very bad decisions, sometimes.”

And Stephen Colbert going after Glenn Beck for comparing himself to Martin Luther King, Jr. (as if):

Both clips totally worth watching, but the one from The Daily Show is priceless. Oh how I love Lewis Black.

The Long Center for the Performing Arts is, at the moment, my favorite structure in Austin. It’s a stunning example not only of gorgeous functional architecture but also of recycling the old into the new. Recently, the Long Center and it’s construction was featured on CNN, and it’s a fascinating glimpse at the effort that went into reworking the old and tired Palmer Auditorium into our new 21st century landmark and performing arts arena. Take a look!

The story of a doll maker, a mechanical girl, and two young lovers was brought to life in grand form last night by Ballet Austin and The Austin Symphony Orchestra, and I can honestly say I have never laughed as hard at the ballet as I did while watching Coppélia. Absolutely delightful!

I don’t want to give too much of the story away, because I believe the tale is one best encountered without much background. All I will say about it is that it’s the story of young love run aground by the presence of a lovely life-sized doll and then recovered by a spunky young girl determined to have her man. To say much more about it could spoil the plot which is craftily told by the slapstick humor, character acting, and miming of the dancers. I intentionally avoided reading too much about Coppélia before attending the show last night, because I enjoy encountering stories fresh and without any preconceived notions of what to expect. With ballet, this sometimes leads to me missing important plot points or misunderstanding twists in the storyline, but this was not the case with Coppélia. Ballet Austin tells the story so clearly, one would have to be blind not to “hear” it.

While The Austin Symphony Orchestra played, the curtain rose to reveal a small village some hundreds of years ago. The set design, which remained constant and unchanging throughout the performance was marvelous! It didn’t take much imagination to transport oneself to this village containing a local tavern, a doll maker’s shop, and the home of sweet and feisty Swanilde … and the dancing, as always, was superb. Over these years I have seen this troupe perform everything from the most classic of classical ballets such as The Nutcracker to truly experimental works choreographed by Director Stephen Mills himself, and in every case, the performances were flawless. Last night’s performance of Coppélia was also flawless and beautiful with the added joy of also being hilariously funny! I’d expect nothing less from such a world-class troupe. They always deliver masterful performances.

If you have a hankering to see some great dancing, hear fantastically performed music, and laugh harder than you might imagine you could at the ballet, catch this weekend’s performance of Coppélia at the Long Center. You won’t regret it. In fact, since this weekend is Mother’s Day, take your mom to the Sunday afternoon performance! She’ll love it! It’s a very accessible ballet for kids or first-time ballet goers too, and I guarantee without a doubt, you will walk out with a huge smile on your face and laughter in your heart. Go see it while you can!

Mother’s Day Weekend at the Long Center
Ballet Austin Concludes its Season with Coppélia
Classical Ballet’s Greatest Comedy: The Story of Boy Meets Doll

WHO: Ballet Austin
Choreography: Arthur Saint-Léon
Music: Léo Delibes
Musical Accompaniment: The Austin Symphony Orchestra
WHAT: Coppélia
WHEN: May 7-8 at 8 p.m., May 9 at 3 p.m.
WHERE: The Long Center for the Performing Arts, Michael & Susan Dell Hall
701 W. Riverside Dr.
TICKETS: $27-77, by calling 512.476.2163 or visit Ballet Austin

Furthermore, if you’ve never been to the Long Center before, you will be awed by the architecture and surrounding grounds. While I will admit to still missing the old green dome of the Palmer Center somewhat, the Long Center is a masterpiece of design and a shining gem in the heart of Austin. I’ll be going back soon with something more powerful than my phone camera to snap a few hundred photos in such a beautiful location. There’s really no better place to see the beauty of Austin’s changing skyline.

Adam Ant is making a comeback. For those of you who don’t know, which would probably be just about everyone, I am a HUGE Adam Ant fan in all his various incarnations. I even loved his last album when most people thought it was awful. Sure, it wasn’t exactly punk rock, but it was good. Well, I liked it anyway.

Anyway, hope this comeback works well for him and that he turns out an album I’ll enjoy. I’ll be buying the thing anyway –I have them all, even the imports and special releases– and it would be nice if I actually enjoyed it. Mostly though, I hope he puts behind him all that mental institution stuff and gets on with his life again, because he’s really a sweet person who deserves some goodness in his existence again.

One of the best Daily Show segments ever:

And another one totally worth watching:

You must watch this. If you do not watch this, do not pass Go or collect $200 dollars. Seriously, this is a must watch video. I guarantee, you will smile, if not fall out of your chair laughing.

Watch this, and then join me in being appalled:

I wouldn’t expect a room of six-year-old kids to all know how to identify all manner of fresh vegetables, because I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have known what an artichoke was had you shown me one at that age, but I would expect them to know a tomato from a potato … at the very, very least. Why the hell would a six-year-old human not know a tomato or potato on sight?! This can’t be blamed on the schools either. Nope, these kids haven’t been in school long enough yet to blame the schools for their utter lack of knowledge about the foods we all eat.

The blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the parents. I’m not saying everyone has to start cooking every meal at home from scratch, but if your child can’t identify a potato or tomato as soon as they see one by the age of six, you are failing as a parent.

I was going to write a post about the recent spate of windows being broken and other mayhem that is apparently being egged on by a crazy blogger, but Rachel Maddow did a bit on it last night that sums up anything I would have said about it. Worth watching, just to see how crazy things are getting in some places (and in some people’s heads).

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And the elected official whose brother’s address was posted online by one of these crazy people (thinking it was the elected official’s address)? The fuel lines were cut at the brother’s house. People need to come to their senses soon, because if this crazy crap keeps escalating it isn’t going to end well for anyone.

Stephen Colbert’s The Word last night was an eye-opener. He was talking about a web site called Kwedit, that “teaches” kids how to, well, extend themselves credit for online purchases, which they can then pay off themselves or “Pass the Duck” and get family members to pay for them. You’ll have to watch it to get the full effect I got, which was … “this can’t possibly be real, he’s making a joke.” He’s not joking though. Kwedit is real, and I think it’s appalling.

And it’s not going to teach kids anything about using credit for purchases either. The last time I checked, I didn’t have any way to “Pass the Duck” and get someone else to pay my credit card bills for me, and I can’t just ignore my debt with the only repercussion being not being able to get and use more credit. If parents allow their kids to “learn” from Kwedit, there are going to be a lot of adults who have no clue how evil credit card debt can be … much like it is now (though it does seem many adults are finally waking up to the insanity that is credit card usage).

Jim Bunning is senile, isn’t he? Or is he just crazy? What the hell is this guy’s problem?! Thanks to his zeal in obstructing the will of the other 99 senators two thousand federal employees are now on unpaid furlough, doctors will be reimbursed for Medicare fees twenty-one percent less, many road and construction projects across the country have been put on hold, and an estimated 1.2 million people on the unemployment rolls will cease to have unemployment checks and COBRA extensions. One senator has done this, and that one senator is Jim Bunning.

The Daily Show did a bit on it last night which is worth seeing, as Daily Show clips usually are. Though it’s really hard to laugh at anything about this situation.

Bunning’s fellow Republicans seem more than happy to have a fall guy to stand in front of cameras screaming “no” as loudly as he can, so they don’t have to do so. None of them have suggested that perhaps now is not the time or the place to insist the budget be balanced before any more spending is done to keep people from becoming unemployed or going hungry once they are. Not a one has had anything to say about his nonstop objections to something every one of them has agreed needs to be done. Now why would that be?

Most likely because the current crop of Republicans enjoy clogging up the works in some kind of vain attempt to make Obama look like the worst president the US has ever had. They seem to care very little about Americans. If they did, they would be pointing out to Mr. Bunning that every last one of them has agreed to passing this measure, to keep people employed and to keep the unemployed people on unemployment, and they would be putting pressure on him to pipe down and stop what he is doing. Yet, they don’t. Must be nice for them to be able to obstruct something they claim to support by pointing at the crazy guy and saying “Hey, it’s not us! It’s that guy over there!”

And no one senator should have so much power. No one person should ever have so much power. This seems to be a flaw in the process, and it needs to be fixed.