Radiohead: King of Limbs & The Universal Sigh

The new Radiohead album ‘The King of Limbs’ was released in the U.S. and Canada today (March 29, 2011) and a special event was held worldwide to give out free copies of a souvenir newspaper called ‘The Universal Sigh’. In Toronto the location for the distribution of the paper was at the Yonge-Dundas Square, just across from the Eaton Centre. There was a nice lineup of people waiting to get their hands on a copy (or return for more copies) while many people walked by wondering what the lineup was all about – there was no advertising posters or handouts to describe what was happening. They also took your picture with the newspaper if you allowed them to – look for me on the website.

This paper is not the one that will accompany the album and they say it will not be repeated. They also mention that “this is not a live performance of Radiohead”.

The 12 page newspaper features art, stories and weird sayings all in black and white, except for the front and back covers. I think the cover art depict ghouls – pretty scary. Forests and pointy tree limbs devoid of leaves are a visual theme running through the edition. The centre page has a one page art work with a title at the top ‘Gather up the pitiful’ with a blood red snowflake, some unusual bat/stingray creatures that are both flying and smiling over some possible white, heavily eyelashed eyes and the empty limbs of a tree stretching up to the sky.

Radiohead is an alternative rock band from across the pond (England) featuring 5 members: Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, Coling Greenwood and Phil Selway. They released their first album in 1992 and by 2007 had sold over 25 million copies of their albums.

I will finish with a short paragraph found on the centerfold:

JUST

SAY

WHERE YOU WANNA BE

I’ll take you anywhere

You want to go.

I can turn you on and

I can make you happy.

Coupon Deals - What's up with the spa stuff?

The world of coupons exploded with the introduction of the internet. Before we used to find the occasional coupon at the grocery store. The rest were found in massive piles of inserts found in local newspapers but no one reads newspapers anymore. You get the best coupons from the internets and email now - group deals that give discounts which are usually 50-90% off, some that kick in when a minimum amount of people want to use the coupon and some require no minimums.

I note that one of the largest users of the online group coupon sale method are spas (simulated spa action pictured above). They love these sale coupons. I think that they use a supercomputer to combine words to make up services that they will provide. How else can they come up this stuff? No longer is it good enough to offer facials, manicures and pedicures, massages, rub & tugs and body treatments. Now they go into the computer and out comes the following.

Triple layer herbal facial peel for pigmentation. Intraceutical oxygen infusing facial. Anti-aging photorejuvenation treatments. Vajacial. That last one sounds interesting but I don't even know what intraceutical means. Thank god for the web - to the google machine. Intraceutical: therapeutic oxygen under
hyperbaric pressure to infuse a special serum of modified hyaluronic acid, essential vitamins, botanicals, antioxidants and amino peptides to the skin. Okay, I still don't know what it means. But look for your online group coupon and get one, or, err, several, I think.

Sucker Punch and Babydoll

Sucker Punch the Warner Bros movie opens tomorrow (Friday, March 25, 2011) and it looks freaky fantastic. "Close your eyes. Open your mind. You will be unprepared." Baby Doll (Emily Browning) uses her imagination to try to escape from a mental institution and a planned lobotomy.

See more pictures after the jump.

Sucker Punch was being promoted at both the Hobbystar AnimeCON and Toronto Comic CON and this is where I found these beautiful ladies.

Dr Pepper Cherry

I was told that Wade Morrison named the original beverage Dr Pepper after the father of a girl he liked. Now I am not sure who they named his new drink after but I do like Dr Pepper Cherry! The good people of Dr Pepper have released Dr Pepper Cherry in Canada and I was sent some samples - welcome to Canada Dr Pepper Cherry, welcome to Canada.

I also had to check out the 3D movie THOR, with Thor pictured on the bottle, which is coming to theatres in May 2011. Thor falls to earth in modern times and meets some humans. The movie includes stars Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Watching the trailer I am pretty sure that they also release a frozen Kraken.