you've seen the
awesome display of cooperation in Oregon's state legislature. i'm talking about the video in which a number of Oregon lawmakers agreed to insert pieces of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" lyrics into their actual speeches, as they spoke in front of their colleagues during actual legislative sessions.
oftentimes, people forget how the
process is
more rewarding than a result or outcome. rarely do we see politicians who have a sense of humour, let alone any who would agree to attempt something like this. what a way to show bipartisan cooperation! only music, even bad music, reaches across the aisle...or at least most of them.
i imagine most 'serious lawmakers' would simply dismiss a similar project as a frivolous waste of time...or maybe i'm too quick to assume that congresspeople are all business and no human. then again, how come the guy responsible for coming up with this idea only has 516 '
Likes' on Facebook as of midnight on April 16th 2011?
according to
NPR, state representative Jefferson Smith (OR-D) was behind this
true act of congress. Smith represents
Oregon's 47th District. a
LegislativeStudyGrp account is credited for uploading the rickroll to YouTube. [vks opinion - however, isn't a legislative study group really just any number of legislators who (ideally) gather, present and consider facts or statistics with the goal of providing accurate information to its members?] the only official 'Legislative Study Group' online seems to be a state
caucus out of Texas.
Oregon's House of Representatives has 30 Democrats and 30 Republicans. this carefully planned and crafted video took not only Smith's creativity, but also the concerted effort of many congressional aides, in addition to the state representatives who agreed to participate. filming took place over days, but no public money was used in the effort. it took the work of volunteers to produce the final edit in time for release on April Fool's Day.
listen to the story behind how it all came together.
i don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but apparently all the bills presented on the legislative floor which contained the song lyrics passed. unfortunately, i didn't have the time to compare the
congressmen/congresswomen in the video with their
photos, but i'd love to give props to the men and women who took part. if you know the names of any of the participants, please email or leave a comment. thanks!
take the Bishop Carlton Pearson, leader of the New Beginnings church (above, with his wife), who was prominently featured in the brilliant HERETICS episode of This American Life from Chicago Public Media. Bishop Pearson believes the Church's exclusivism is inconsistent with the nature and intent of the teachings of Jesus. he was thinking about this back in 2006. he began to think so much about this contradiction and its inherent problem that he later formed what he called the gospel of inclusion.
even though i don't really dig the nickname THE KOREAN ZOMBIE, the twister submission was worthy of several TiVO replays. UFC Fight Night 23 was the second time the two have competed against each other in the mixed martial arts arena.
so far, i haven't found much information about Jung, except for a page on the Facebook, a FightWiki entry and this official-ish site peddling Korean Zombie tshirts. he studies Eddie Bravo's twister technique tapes (why don't they name the move 'a Bravo'?!). see below for video one of TEN, featuring Bravo's theory and strategy behind the technique.
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