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Almost Worth Knowing: A term best left in the last millennium

This April, many of us will, yet again, fill out a census form. In the United States, a census is conducted every ten years and, as a part of that, residents of the United States (citizen and non-citizen alike) are expected to include information such as race. While this same question (and term) has been included previously, it comes somewhat as a surprise that this year, Americans again have the option to be identified as "Negro."

The term Negro comes from the Latin base niger meaning black. It is also the word for black in Spanish, Portuguese, and ancient Italian. Prior to the civil rights movement, Negro was actually the polite term to use in reference to Black people, superseding the term "colored." However, the term fell out of favor, largely due to the fact that it was associated with the long history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination that treated African Americans as second class citizens, or worse. Today, it still exists in historical references as well as in the names of older organizations such as the United Negro College Fund.

Another place it can be found is Question 9 in the upcoming Census 2010 (one option for racial designation is "Black, African Am., or Negro"). The US Census Bureau has been criticized in several media publications for reviving the controversial term, with members of the public calling the word improper and unnecessary.

In the US Census Bureau's defense, however, the term "African American" was added to the form in 2000, catering to that political notion. Similarly, the term "Black" was added in 1970. Before that, the only racial signifier found on the form was "Negro." Logically, one might assume the antiquated term would be eliminated now that it has fallen to disuse and has been replaced by more politically correct terms. The US Census Bureau justifies their decision to retain the term, however, stating it is a term of inclusion and "Many older African-Americans identified themselves that way, and many still do. Those who identify themselves as Negroes need to be included." Personally, while I do not feel strongly that the term should be removed, I find the purported reasoning to be silly and think the term could easily be retired without affecting the accuracy of Census results. I doubt that there is a significant number of individuals remaining who consider themselves Negroes, but would not also be able to identify as Black or African American.

Then again, perhaps I'm wrong. All I know is that I've been waiting years for a box marked Oriental. This April, I guess I'll just have to check "Other."

Almost Worth Knowing: Conan O'Brien Leaves NBC

Though I'm sure this is not news to anybody, Conan O'Brien has left NBC, the company where he was employed, writing for SNL in 1988, to his brief stint as the Tonight Show host this past year. Time Magazine says that O'Brien went out with class, and I have to agree. The last episode ended with O'Brien shredding his axe, while Will Farrel sang and played cowbell, putting on a truly epic and ultimately fitting rendition of Freebird, the classic song by Lyrnyrd Skynyrd. Ben Harper, Beck, and Max Weinberg (of course) also joined him on stage. If you didn't get to see the last episode, you can see it here: The Tonight Show: Episode 146.

Also, as part of my duty in relating useless information, check out this interesting Taiwanese Animation summarizing the Late-Night War. It's sub-titled, but I wonder if it might not be more fun to watch without the sub-titles.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I hope Conan comes back soon. I have many fond memories of late nights in college, when I would stay up with my roommate long enough to watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien as it aired for the second time. I honestly mean it when I say that TV as we know it wouldn't be the same without him.

Answers: On a side note, I issued a challenge two entries (and an eternity) ago. Congratulations to Katie for getting 1 point. The answers are as follows:

"Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (spoken by Sherlock Holmes)

"The truth will set (make?) you free." - The Bible (John 8:32)

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde

"Truth is more stranger than fiction." Mark Twain (often misquoted as Truth is stranger than fiction)

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." - Lenin

Almost Worth Knowing: Everybody's In It...

... and I'm pretty sure that even you can find someone worth liking in this film.

Seriously, you have to check out the ensemble cast in the upcoming movie, Valentine's Day.

The cast includes: Taylor Lautner, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Swift, Emma Roberts, Topher Grace, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Joe Jonas, Eric Dane, Shirley MacLaine, Queen Latifah, Christine Lakin, Carter Jenkins, George Lopez, and Hector Elizondo.

Some of these actors need no introduction, while others are familiar faces, though you may not recognize them by name. Eric Dane, for instance, is one of the main characters on Grey's Anatomy (interestingly featured here with Grey's Anatomy co-star Patrick Dempsey). On the other hand, there are two actors on this list (Christine Lakin and Carter Jenkins) that are completely unknown to me.

Though I doubt I will see this in theaters, YouTube commentators had these things to say (and they may just change my mind): "this is the biggest famos onsomble cast in history." and "I have really grown to like chick flicks. They concern themselves with a sharp scrpt and the relationships between characters, rather than special effects and explosions."

Wait for Valentine's Day to hit theaters this February.

Almost Worth Knowing: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the Tooth Fairy?

As I was leaving the subway station this morning, I passed by the following poster advertising the upcoming film, Tooth Fairy, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the title role.

That's right, The Rock is playing the Tooth Fairy

The film is coming out on 1/22/10. Needless to say, I'm excited. Moreover, a quick Google search showed that 20th Century Fox is also running another poster print, as follows:

Most importantly, these two posters have opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities: puns formed by replacing the word "truth" with "tooth" in popular quotations. Besides the title of today's entry, here are a couple of others I came up with:

"Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the tooth."

"The tooth will set (make?) you free."

"The pure and simple tooth is rarely pure and never simple."

"Tooth is more stranger than fiction."

"A lie told often enough becomes the tooth."

Maybe you can come up with some others? In any case, I'll also post the trailer for the film below. I wonder how Julie Andrews and Billy Crystal got roped into this one.

Almost Worth Knowing: Best Blurb... in Recent Memory...

I was surfing around my Netflix today, when I saw a movie entitled Samurai Princess... I thought to myself Samurai? Possibly Cute Chick? I'm down. I clicked it... and then I saw the description.

Let me say that this might be the strangest movie blurb ever. It doesn't make me want to see it... but I'm still strangely drawn... Here we go! I give you Samurai Princess:

When 11 of her friends are raped and murdered, leaving the Samurai Princess (adult video star Aino Kishi) the only survivor, she becomes infused with her comrades' souls. Transformed into an android, she sets out to avenge their deaths.

Okay, so let's recap: 11 girls are raped and murdered... leaving the Samurai Princess (that's her name) and she's played by an adult video star. Then she becomes infused with their souls. Then she becomes an android. In case you were wondering: "Dai Mizuno co-stars as the princess's human partner in this Kengo Kaji-directed gore fest that features breast grenades, detachable chainsaw limbs, deadly guitar riffs and more."

Wikipedia has a good plot description, too: "The story takes place in future, where people live side by side with sophisticated mechanical dolls. However, as the dolls become increasingly intelligent, they rebel against the humans, causing widespread death and destruction. In an effort to save mankind, an insane scientist creates a female ninja doll equipped with eleven types of built-in weapons."

Curiously, you wouldn't think they were talking about the same movie, except for the coincidence of the number eleven, and the fact that wikipedia makes reference to her being a female ninja (like samurai) doll (like android). Hmm...

Finally, I want to point out that the first movie reviewer on Netflix has this to say: "Sword-fighting, cannibalism, arterial spray, bad special effects - and that's all before the title sequence. Samurai Princess is ridiculous."

Yes... ridiculous... Well, if anyone interested, feel free to rent or stream from Netflix and let me know how it goes...

Almost Worth Knowing: Anya Marina's "Whatever You Like" Cover

Right now, I cannot get enough of this song. T.I. did a nice job, but Anya's version seriously gives me chills. There's just something about the way she barely intones the beginning of the song...

For the record, there are two versions of this song. Despite the fact that the video calls this the album version, I think this is the single, and the album version is slower. Also, Anya's version of this song was featured on The CW's Gossip Girl.

Almost Worth Knowing: ... You Can Just Watch This Trailer.

Every once in a while, a trailer comes along that tells the greatest love story ever told. This is one of those trailers.

Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia!, and Mean Girls) stars as Sophia, a not-so-cute American girl who travels to the city of Verona with her boyfriend. There, she takes it upon herself to help Charlie (Christopher Egan and Vanessa Redgrave search for a 53-year-old lost love. In their travels, they encounter great fun, surprising plot twists, heart break, and deep, soulful conversation. Eventually, they help Vanessa find her soulmate... but, when they least expect it - in the strangest of places - in the most unlikely circumstances - along the way, Charlie and Sophia realize they may have found a true love all their own. Will Love triumph... or will Charlie make the same mistake that his mother made?

To find out, go see Letters to Juliet: The Trailer!

Almost Worth Knowing: Just For Your Enjoyment

Pretty cool Gap commercial... My favorite part is the spinning guy at 0:13!

Almost Worth Knowing: Interrobang and Other Things

Two entries ago (but some days ago), I wrote an entry in which I ask for the name of these symbols:

This mark, as Tony so correctly pointed out, is the Interrobang, a literal combination of the exclamation and question mark punctuations that basically means WTF. As pointed out by Wikipedia, "A sentence ending with an interrobang (1) asks a question in an excited manner, (2) expresses excitement or disbelief in the form of a question, or (3) asks a rhetorical question." I owe my discovery of this punctuation to Jess, who sent me this great article: The Culture of the Interrobang, which inter alia credits Martin K. Specter with the invention of the Interrobang in 1962. The term combines the Latin for question (interro-) with a proofreading term for exclamation (bang). Thanks, Jess. Thanks, Specter. Interrobang‽

On the second note, the "؟" symbol is known as both an Irony Mark and a Percontation Point. Originally, this symbol came to be in the 1580's to denote rhetorical questions in writing. Later on, it came to be used again "by the French poet Alcanter de Brahm (alias Marcel Bernhardt) at the end of the 19th century. It was in turn taken by Hervé Bazin in his book Plumons l’Oiseau (1966), in which the author proposes several other innovative punctuation marks..." Check those out on Irony Mark's Wiki. Pretty interesting...

I hope you guys found that all to be informative. Before I take my leave, check out this video. Maybe it'll leave you feeling a little interrobanged‽

Almost Worth Knowing: Should be Offended, but Can't Stop Laughing...

First off, I'd like to congratulate Doug for earning about 10 points on my challenge from two days ago. I won't bother trying to add to his answers. Congrats!

For some reason, I was inspired today to look up Vegeta's Over 9000!!! Video on YouTube. For those of you who do not know, Over 9000 is an old internet meme based on a short clip of the show Dragonball Z. I've posted my favorite remix below, but the original meme can be found here.

The actual point of today's entry, however, is not an old and obscure meme that any of my readers, who would care, have already seen. Instead, in the course of my studies, I discovered another video based around the same theme. The background is that, at some point, Oprah delivered a speech imploring her viewers to join her in stopping a pedophile ring. The ring, as it turns out, has over 9000 members. Oprah, in her speech, decided to refer to the members of the ring as "9000 penises." A video of the speech can be found here, but it became a meme when it was contrasted against the Vegeta Over 9000 video in a number of ways. The following is my favorite.

Here, the creator made a techno remix of the Oprah speech, turned it into a full song, and then created a DDR/ Stepmania level to match the music. Wow...