Saturday, June 12, 2010

4 interesting tech industry lists

Thought I'd share some more interesting lists -- this time about the tech industry.
Enjoy!

10 software developments that changed the face of computing (Listverse; Sept. 2, 2008)

100 oldest registered .com domains (Whois.com)

How 13 tech behemoths came up with their names (Business Insider; March 24, 2010)

Top 10 funniest tech ads ever made (ARN; April 16, 2010)

Photo: Apple iPhone 4. See list of how tech companies, like Apple, got their names.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Lingerie Football League: Fringe sport favorite prepares for its second season

Pretty soon it will be football season again. Athletes will put on their shoulder pads, helmets and sexy lingerie and hit the gridiron.
Of course, I’m talking about the Lingerie Football League, not the NFL.
Launched last year, the LFL is preparing for its second season. The league is holding its all-star game in Monterrey, Mexico, today. The LFL will show the game on its website, LFLUS.com, for free at 9 p.m. EST Friday June 18.
The LFL survived its inaugural season despite launching during the Great Recession and doing a poor job promoting its sport. At the end of last season, I wrote about changes that the LFL should make.
The LFL needs a national cable TV deal. It needs the exposure that advertiser-supported television can offer. That would generate interest among potential fans and likely would raise attendance at games. So far, LFL games only have been available on pay-per-view.
The LFL is doing a lousy job keeping fans informed. It’s always late posting scores, stats and news and doesn’t provide detailed game highlights or analysis.
The league failed at something as simple as posting the outcome of the 2010 championship game in February. As the blog Nerve noted, you couldn’t find the results anywhere on the Web after it was over.
The LFL has a decent Facebook page, a woefully out-of-date MySpace page (still lists the failed New York Majesty and Denver Dream franchises as active teams), and a pretty good blog, LFL Unlaced, for feature stories.
The LFL needs to be more open and encourage coverage from independent sports blogs. That’s where the good coverage is coming from. The mainstream press has largely ignored the LFL. And the league has to accept negative coverage as part of the deal.
The Bleacher Report had a good story recently about struggles some LFL teams were having. It also published a critical story about technical problems with the Lingerie Bowl.
And lighten up, LFL. Putting two players on probation for wearing too much during a photo shoot for the New Times of South Florida was a low blow. The Huffington Post covered the story as well.
The LFL has two new teams this year: the Orlando Fantasy and Baltimore Charm. Unfortunately none of the 10 teams are in the Tri-State Region, so fans around New York City are out of luck.
Single tear running down cheek. Sniff.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Silly Bandz: This year’s kid craze

This year’s biggest kid craze has got to be all those funny shaped silicone bands from Silly Bandz and other companies.
My 7-year-old son has gone to school with a dozen or more of the brightly colored bands around his wrist.
They come in numerous shapes (animals, sports, vehicles, etc.) and colors. Some are glow-in-the-dark and others are scented. Kids collect them and trade them. They’re sold in themed packs of 12 for about $2.50 or 24 for about $5.
Some schools have banned them from classrooms as a distraction, which has only added to their appeal, according to the New York Times.
A handful of companies sell competing products under such names as Silly Bandz, Zanybandz, Crazy Bandz and BandzMania.
Come fall the Silly Bandz craze may have run its course, just like other kids’ crazes like Webkinz, Beanie Babies, Tamagotchi, Pogs, and Pokemon cards.
When I was a kid, humorous sticker cards like Wacky Packages and Odd Rods were hot. Baseball cards were a big deal too.

Photo: My son’s forearm wrapped in Silly Bandz.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Taiwanese spammers invade blog comments

Tech-media-tainment is huge in Taiwan, judging from the location of people posting comments on the site.
Since March, I’ve had about a dozen posts in the comments section of the blog that are written in Chinese and link to adult websites in Taiwan. I’ve since deleted them.
As much as I’d love to have people commenting on my articles, these comments are nothing but unwanted commercial advertisements. So they had to go.
I checked out who owns the domain names for the various sites and most belong to the same company in Taipei – Avshow. The company posted links to six of its websites in the comments area of my blog. All were created this year and registered through GoDaddy.com. They include sites like Sexy258.com, 333chat.info and MeiMei-video.com. (“Mei mei” means girlfriend in Chinese.)
Two other adult websites that have spammed the comments section of Tech-media-tainment were registered through GoDaddy.com to Sool Suum of Taipei.
So as much as these businesses want to love me long time, I have to turn them down.

Photo: Screenshot of Taiwanese adult website Sexy258.com, one of several services spamming the comments section on Tech-media-tainment.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

United Football League preps for season 2; Hartford Colonials set to debut

Connecticut will get a professional football team this fall in the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League.
As a Connecticut resident, I plan to support the fledgling league and new sports franchise.
The tickets are a lot less expensive than NFL games. Colonials tickets range from $15 to $30. By comparison, New York Giants tickets cost $85 to $700 each. Ouch!
But I’ll have to drive a little further to see the Colonials play. Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., is 66 miles from my home in New Canaan, Conn. By comparison, New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., where the Giants and New York Jets both play, is 49 miles door-to-door. But traffic’s worse in the New York metropolitan area so it’s probably a wash.
My only wish is to see some quality football.
The UFL’s inaugural season last year was kind of a disappointment. Attendance was low and the league didn’t get much coverage from the traditional media.
I’ve written quite a bit about what I call “fringe sports” and how difficult it is for them to break through to a mainstream audience. Factors that help this transition include television coverage, superstar players and uniqueness. (See earlier post.)
Last year, UFL games were broadcast on the Versus cable network and HDNet. This year a third TV network might be added, according to UFL Access.
In its first season, the UFL had four teams and played six games each. This year, the UFL has five teams and an eight-game schedule.
The Las Vegas Locomotives and the Florida Tuskers of Orlando are the only returning teams. The California Redwoods of the San Francisco Bay area relocated to Sacramento, Calif., as the Mountain Lions. The New York Sentinels moved to Hartford, Conn. The newest team is the Omaha Nighthawks.
San Francisco and New York City already have two NFL teams each so they never should have gotten UFL franchises in the first place. The UFL says it’s focusing now on markets not served by the NFL, which is a smart move.
The rosters of the UFL include many ex-NFL players and those who were overlooked by the NFL draft.
The hope for the UFL is that it becomes a minor or developmental league to the NFL. Some players even made the jump from the UFL to the NFL last season.
The Hartford Colonials kick off their season with a Sept. 18 home game against the Sacramento Mountain Lions.
Here’s hoping that the Colonials do better than the Sentinels did last year. The Sentinels went 0-6 and were the worst team in the UFL. No place to go but up!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Porn movies based on real-life events or public figures


Here's a safe-for-work gallery of porn movies based on real-life events or public figures, including Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eliot Spitzer, Marilyn Monroe, Tiger Woods and Lindsay Lohan.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Top 20 porn movies based on real-life events or public figures like Tiger Woods, Sarah Palin

“Law & Order” doesn’t have a monopoly on story lines that were “ripped from the headlines.”
Porn studios have now gotten into the act.
Not content to parody just mainstream Hollywood movies and TV shows, porn studios have gotten more brazen by parodying the lives of celebrities and other public figures.
Porn makers used to be a little cautious when naming their productions after real-life people. For instance, in its first parody of former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Hustler spelled her name Paylin. But it dropped all pretenses for later movies featuring the character and spelled her name correctly.
One studio played it safe with a movie based on the Tiger Woods sex scandal by naming its pro golfer character Tyler. Other films just used his actual name.

Here are the top 20 porn parodies based on real-life scandals or public figures. (A word of warning: I have not seen any of these movies, so I can’t vouch for their quality.):

At least three porn movies have been produced making fun of the sex scandal involving professional golfer Tiger Woods. They include “Tyler’s Wood” (2009), “Tiger’s Got Wood” (2010) and “The 11th Hole” (2010), which featured his real-life mistress Joslyn James.

One of the earliest real-life porn parodies was based on President Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. It was lampooned in the X-rated movie “Sex, Lies and the President” (1998).
The rumored affair between actress Marilyn Monroe and President John F. Kennedy was re-enacted for a segment of “POV Dream” (2008). Monroe lookalike Victoria Vonn stars in “Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Xoxo, Marilyn.”
Infamous Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss was featured in a movie about her prostitution ring called simply “Heidi Fleiss: Secrets of the Hollywood Madam” (2004). Her clients included many executives and powerful people in the entertainment industry, such as Charlie Sheen.

Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, caught the imagination of conservative voters and the adult film industry. Hustler Video has parodied her in a series of porn movies, starting with “Who’s Nailin’ Paylin? Adventures of a Hockey MILF” (2008). The movie, starring Lisa Ann as Palin, has spawned four sequels to date: “Obama is Nailin’ Palin” (2009), “Letterman’s Nailin’ Palin” (2009), “You’re Nailin’ Palin” (2009), and “Hollywood’s Nailin’ Palin” (2010).
Another studio, Brookland Brothers, filmed a Sarah Palin porn spoof as well. "Palin: Erection 2008" (2008) starred Raquel DeVine as Gov. Palin.
Action movie star and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was lampooned in "The Schwantzanator" (2005).

President Barack Obama, referenced above in one of the Palin parodies, got his own porn send-up in “Barrack’s Big Stimulus Package” (2009).

Hustler has created a series of videos it calls “Hustler’s Untrue Hollywood Stories.” The series has sent up Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton and Angelina Jolie vs. Jennifer Aniston.
Third Degree Films made fun of a bunch of celebrities in its parody of the gossip television show “TMZ” called “TMSleaze” (2009).

One of the more recent entries in the category of real-people parody porn is “The Sandra Buttocks & Jesse Janes Scandal” (2010). It makes light of the infidelities of reality TV star Jesse James, husband of Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock.

Special thanks to Jeff Vanzetti of Internet Adult Film Database and Don Houston of X-Critic for their help in compiling this list.

Here’s the complete list:

Tyler’s Wood (2009)
Tiger’s Got Wood (2010)
The 11th Hole (2010)
Sex, Lies and the President (1998)
POV Dream, featuring “Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Xoxo, Marilyn” (2008)
Heidi Fleiss: Secrets of the Hollywood Madam (2004)
Who’s Nailin’ Paylin? Adventures of a Hockey MILF (2008)
Obama is Nailin’ Palin (2009)
Letterman’s Nailin’ Palin (2009)
You’re Nailin’ Palin (2009)
Hollywood’s Nailin’ Palin (2010)
Palin: Erection 2008 (2008)
The Schwantzanator (2005)
Barrack's Big Stimulus Package (2009)
Hustler’s Untrue Hollywood Stories: Lindsay Lohan (2009)
Hustler’s Untrue Hollywood Stories: Jessica Simpson (2009)
Hustler’s Untrue Hollywood Stories: Paris (2009)
Hustler’s Untrue Hollywood Stories: Angelina vs. Jennifer (2009)
TMSleaze, A XXX Parody (2009)
The Sandra Buttocks & Jesse Janes Scandal (2010)

April 19, 2011, update: Also see article "Top 15 real-life targets for porn parodies."

July 6, 2025, update: For newer titles, check out this Blogger gallery.