Archives for February 2011

Announced today on their website, The White Stripes are officially broken up.

This comes as a bit of a surprise I must say, as Jack White had been hinting late in 2010 that he and Meg White would be reconvening early this year.  In a Vanity Fair interview, he had said “We thought we’d do a lot of things that we’d never done: a full tour of Canada, a documentary, coffee-table book, live album, a boxed set…Now that we’ve gotten a lot of that out of our system, Meg and I can get back in the studio and start fresh.”

Seemingly, we were to hear brand spanking new material from these two sometime in the near future.  But today, the following statement showed up on the official White Stripes website, all at once applying the first and final nails to the coffin:

The White Stripes would like to announce that today, February 2nd, 2011,
their band has officially ended and will make no further new recordings or perform live.

The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any
health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health.

It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve What is beautiful and special about
the band and have it stay that way.

Meg and Jack want to thank every one of their fans and admirers for the incredible
support they have given throughout the 13 plus years of the White Stripes’ intense and
incredible career.

Third Man Records will continue to put out unreleased live and studio recordings from
The White Stripes in their Vault Subscription record club, as well as through regular
channels.

Both Meg and Jack hope this decision isn’t met with sorrow by their fans but that it is
seen as a positive move done out of respect for the art and music that the band has
created. It is also done with the utmost respect to those fans who’ve shared in those
creations, with their feelings considered greatly.

With that in mind the band have this to say:

“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong
to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is
that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your
involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.”

Sincerely,
Meg and Jack White
The White Stripes

One can only figure that Jack will continue on with any number of new projects or back some of the the groups he’s been involved with over the years such at The Raconteurs or The Dead Weather.  One new thing in the works that seems interesting is called Rome, for which both Jack and vocalist Norah Jones have been recruited by producer Danger Mouse.  As for Meg, well who knows.  It’s said that the anxiety issues she experienced in 2007 that forced the cancellation of tour dates are done and she’s in the clear from a health standpoint.  Perhaps she’ll continue on with her photography and amateur taxidermy (no, I’m not making that up).

We’ll miss you two.

Congratulations! You’ve survived Snowpocalypse or Snowmageddon (depending on which hyperbolic news show you prefer). It’s cold enough outside to test your frosticles. Idiot newscasters, keeping a time honored tradition, are standing in harm’s way to bring you pictures of the snow because, you know, you’re too stupid to figure out how to look out your window. Schools and libraries have wisely decided to close so that their precious charges don’t die. Bars and taverns have opened early because they know mom and dad can only stand so much of their little darlings before they’ll need a nice warm bourbon or 6. As we all know, parents don’t send their children away to learn, they just send them away. Learning is an occasional bonus. All around us humanity has come to a creeping halt as the less bright among us have decided to litter the highways and byways with their cars when they had no more business being out in this weather than I have competing in a beauty contest.

Maybe even less.

With all that in mind, it is with great pleasure that I can remind you that today’s the perfect holiday for you to celebrate. Larry Knowles from AOL News reports that today is Working Naked Day!

Yes, it’s a real holiday. Why would I make something like this up?

If you thought those late-January days on the calendar were bare, then Feb. 1 is the full Monty. Today, in case you weren’t aware, is now officially known as “Working Naked Day.”

With more Americans working from home, the need for a spiffy new business suit has fallen the way of job benefits and co-workers you can complain to each day about your spouse, your kids and your neighbors.

There is one big benefit to working from your kitchen table or living room couch: You can wear whatever you want … or nothing at all.

That’s what inspired Dallas business consultant Lisa Kanarek to create a holiday in 2010 where home-bound workers can drop trou and celebrate.

Last year, after Chase’s Calendar of Events listed Working Naked Day, a number of stay-at-homes took to social networking sites to announce their nudity, and at least one woman posted a nude photo of herself from her home office.

The holiday is “dedicated to those who are working from home ‘naked’ — stripped of the resources that millions take for granted in the traditional corporate workplace,” according to Chase’s Calendar of Events.

Kanarek, who has worked out of her home for the past 20 years, is happy to have people interpret Working Naked Day however they like.

“Let’s have fun,” Kanarek told AOL News. “We work at home, and there isn’t anyone there with us, so we can work naked, literally and figuratively.”

Though she uses the word “naked” as a metaphor, she believes that there’s a stigma attached to remote workers, and that the embarrassment and shame they occasionally feel is very real.

“When I first started my business and first started working from home,” Kanarek said, “I was ashamed of it. I never told anyone that’s what I did.”

Over time, though, she came to realize it was a case of the grass being greener on the other side.

“If you’re working from home, it’s OK,” she said. “Don’t be embarrassed. There are so many people who’d rather be working from home.”

Tina Marie Hilton, a 47-year-old remote office assistant who has been working out of her home for the past three years, has never been embarrassed to say where she works. She attributes the weak economy, which has spurred a groundswell in people working from home.

“I’ve never had anyone look down at me at a network event because I work out of my home,” the Hickory, N.C., resident said in an interview with AOL News. “Over the last three years, remote working has really blossomed, so I haven’t run into any type of issues like that.”

While Hilton concedes that working from home can be lonely and intimidating, she plans to forgo the who nudity thing.

“I don’t think I’d go that far,” she said. “But I might take my slippers off.”

Others, however, plan to free themselves of clothes just as they freed themselves of the office.

“At first, I thought no, but now I think, ‘Why the hell not?'” said Laura Milligan, 26, a home-based education marketer from Houston. “I might do it out of solidarity, for all the other home workers out there.”

She added, however, that she’ll have a robe ready, in case the UPS guy comes by.

“The big fluffy kind,” she stressed. “Not the slinky kind.”

Though working naked is something of a novelty for most people, it’s just another day at the office for the folks at the American Association for Nude Recreation, the largest nudism advocacy group in the United States.

The American Association for Nude Recreation is not some fly by night endeavor with Nudes-A-Poppin’ contests. Nope, they are a serious organization that has been around since 1931 helping Americans become comfortable in their own skins as well as learning to appreciate everyone else’s skins.

With legitimacy like that behind you there’s no excuse for you to ever put on clothes. Unless you’re silly enough to walk outside today.

Another plus to working naked is that your boss will eventually become inured to it and then you, like us and Duran Duran, can work naked at the office too. Just remember to be considerate and bring a towel for your chair.

Duran Duran – Girls On Film [Uncensored]
Uploaded by hushhush112. – Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

There are few things in life that bring universal pleasure. Just because something makes you happy doesn’t mean that others share your joy. The unbridled glee you feel when you dress up like Egon Spengler and go hunting for ghosts may only elicit rolled eyes and snickers from others. Your stunning collection of live toads playing with dolls may amuse your Aunt Gertrude, who’s always secretly known you’d never marry, but may drive others to see what the procedures are legally, and immediately, available to have someone committed. And who could have known that a banjo playing beekeeper wouldn’t cause a world wide sensation? Certainly I was stunned when I found out. There’s a lot you can learn from a site like that. For example, did you know that banjo music drives bees insane? Had you ever thought to try and find out?

If so, why?

Nevertheless, there do seem to be some things that bring joy to all. The little pleasures life hands us that require no more effort than our attention. As the Empress of Bubble Wrap could have told us, bubble wrap is one such thing.

Naturally, when Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes first invented bubble wrap in 1957 (commercially released in 1960), they had no clue that their revolutionary new idea for wallpaper would take on a life of its own.

Side bar; can you imagine living in a house with bubble wrap wallpaper? It might be cool for about 10 seconds, then you’d have to kill someone.

Anyway, Larry Knowles from AOL News reports that bubble wrap is finally getting the attention it so richly deserves by having its own national holiday.

Save that loose packing material, because Monday marks a day to officially celebrate one of the greatest “pop” icons of all time: Bubble Wrap.

For the past 10 years, fans from around the country have been setting aside time on the last Monday in January to twist and stomp, often in unison, as they commemorate what’s known as Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.

The day, known as BWAD, was begun in 2001 by a couple of bored radio DJs in Bloomington, Ind., supposedly looking to fill the news void between Martin Luther King Day and the Super Bowl. During that first BWAD, the radio station held a “Bubblympiad” that included events such as a Bubble Wrap popping relay and Pop-a-Mole.

Since then, fandom has taken over, as Bubble Wrap lovers and addicts have loudly and proudly feted the packing material introduced in 1960, originally designed as insulated wallpaper.

Among the fans are the employees of Sealed Air, the New Jersey company that makes Bubble Wrap.

“Oh yeah, we celebrate Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day,” said Ken Aurichio, a spokesman for Sealed Air, in an interview with AOL News. “We have boxes of the stuff around the office. People can just walk by and grab a sheet. You’ll hear popping throughout the day.”

Not that BWAD is different from any other day at Sealed Air. Aurichio added that, as a perk, employees get their own memo-sized sheets of Bubble Wrap to play with at their desks.

He reminds people to have plenty of Bubble Wrap on hand for the day and be conscious of what size they are buying.

“The larger Bubble Wrap makes more noise when you pop it,” he said, “but, of course, the smaller Bubble Wrap sizes give you more pop per role.”

Throughout the years, fans have paid homage to Bubble Wrap in unique ways. There are homemade Bubble Wrap football helmets, handbags and dresses. One woman even got married in a Bubble Wrap wedding gown.

Festivities on BWAD, though, center on a singular activity: popping.

“I’m going to put Bubble Wrap on the souls of my shoes and annoy the people in my office,” said Deanna Ferrante, communications director at Peddie School in Highstown, N.J.

An admitted Bubble Wrap addict, Ferrante added, “My usual technique tends to be a little more individual, rather than large stomping and twisting. I like to pop and make sure I don’t miss a single one.”

Another fan, Mark Le Vine, co-owner of BubbleFAST, a Chicago-area shipping supply company, plans to pop throughout the day. He also suggested that BWAD revelers take a coffee break at the same time to pop Bubble Wrap.

“It would be the bubble pop heard around the world,” he said in an interview.

Le Vine, who along with his wife, Robin, is known to post-office clerks around town as “Bubbleman and Robin,” has more than a passing appreciation for Bubble Wrap.

“We’re a small family-owned business, and Bubble Wrap first put two kids through college and there are two more to go, and it put food on the table. So, I don’t know how you can appreciate Bubble Wrap any more than that.”

We here at Nude Hippo’s World News Center will celebrate the day by wearing bubble wrap underwear. It’s just a happy coincidence that today is also office chili day.

So don’t worry, those sounds you hear emanating from our office are just the bubble wrap popping and nothing more.

But, just in case, there’s air freshener in the closet down the hall.