A Penny for the Guy?

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see of no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

For those of you who may not know today is Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire night, a British celebration commorating the failed Catholic Gunpowder Plot to kill King James I and most of the Protestant Aristocracy (the Orange bastards . . . I kid I kid, I don't care about such things, but amusing to sometimes gauge reactions) during the opening of Parliament in 1605 by stashing 30 some barrels of gunpowder below Parliament and making the whole works go boom. Hence the bonfires and fireworks on this night.

The "A penny for the Guy" line is something that kids say to people on the street while carrying an effige of Fawkes ("The Guy"), which is later burnt, to raise some dosh to buy fireworks. The bit of poemetry at the start is not just lines from the movie V for Vendetta (based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore, the same guy responsible for the graphic novels the Watchmen, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell, I haven't read any of them but I'd like to) but the opening to a popular song/poem for the event. Check out the Guy Fawkes Day wikipedia entry for the now dropped by scathingly anti-Catholic second verse.

In the something not so related department last night I ordered myself a 6 month subscription to this magazine. It's something I've been wanting to do for most of the year but seems that whenever I'd stop by their online store it wouldn't be working, but low and behold last night it was. I can't wait for that first issue to get stuffed into my mail box all wrinkled and creased. I don't think I've looked this forward to getting something in post since my sister's room mate worked reviewing porn for the government.

Here are Modern Drunkards 86 rules for Boozing to get a little taste of what this publication will be like. It's also available in poster form . . . maybe some day I can build a bar in the unused end of the living room and put on up there.

I know I've been flogging the Borat movie a fair bit lately, but damn I'm looking forward to seeing it, and apparently I'm not the only one. Although it was only in 837 theaters, Borat took in almost as much as Santa Clause 3 and Flushed Away added together - and they were in a combined 7100 theaters. Borat took in an incredible $10,800 per theater. To give you some idea of that that means, Revenge of the Sith took in only $9,200 per theater on its opening Friday.

And apparently Kazakhs are still angry over Borat, or at least that's what this article claims . . . and unless that article is faked I can't understand why because alot of what is said reads and aweful like a Borat bit . . . I guess it hits too close to home or something? But don't fret the Sun (I wonder if they ever cover any real news? do check out the Page 3 Girls BTW) sent a South London plumber to Kazakhstan to see if Borat was right. Check out the article here, but I gotta admit best line in it is last one:

"But, most of all, we are delighted to report that the country is not as bad as Borat would have you believe.

“It’s far, far worse,” said Dave."

And lastly here's a link for Borat being interviewed by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show (wait until he finds out Jon's a Jew) and here's Borat on the Conan O'Brian show, although I couldn't get the video play for me.

How much effective advertising are you exposed to? Here's a link to a cool little logo guessing game. In the box below the logo enter what company/organization you think it belongs to, hit enter or click the check box at the bottom and see if you're right. Personally I only got 16 of them. How'd you do?

Well that's all for now cool cats & kittens.