The blog post that 60% of the time makes sense all of the time...it's Rob's Random 5

1. F**k You(Tube): I love YouTube. It has a lot of great stuff on it (I mostly just watch Mystery Science Theatre and Justice League Unlimited - great shows) but unfortunately a lot of crazy people use it too: people who only seem to be looking for a fight with other people they have never met and are never likely to meet. And so sometimes you'll see the Comments sections below videos filled with people who are just swearing at one another and expressing frankly disgusting opinions at complete strangers. The thing is, sometimes it happens on the least likely videos. Take this one, which is a public information film for Swine Flu. Perfectly reasonable and a very level-headed approach to something that has spun way out of control in the press. But take a look at some of the more recent comments below it and there are all sorts of shocking profanities flying around, for reasons that really escape me or indeed general logic. And it's unecessary. Completely unecessary. And it really makes me mad that manners and politeness and just general decorum and level-headedness are thrown out the window by people just because they're sat at home at their PC and nowhere near the people they're typing profanities at. Does it make them feel big or clever to argue and swear just becasue someone has a different opinion? And if someone has said something hateful or ignorant then why not just be the bigger man and rise above it by keeping a cool head and not replying. And if you really must reply, do it with some eloquence please.
So I say this to those ignorant, hateful people who like to use foul language to insult people they don't know: Fuck you. Fuck you all.

And that right there's irony folks.

2. Transformers: Filthy-mouthed robots in disguise: I remember going with my dad and my brother to our local Woolworths (back when it existed) and us both being allowed to pick one video each to buy (yep, good ol' VHS). My brother, for reasons that will always escape me, picked a video of The Sylvanian Families, whereas I picked 'Transformers: The Movie'; the cartoon film which was also the last movie that the great Orson Welles featured in (and to this day I still feel sorry for him just for that). However, had I lived in Australia and purchased the (now infamous) Australian edit of the movie there I would have been privileged to hear a rather noticeable swear word placed smack in the middle of proceedings. I seriously don't know how this one got past the Antipodean editors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbgRyfdAFPg

Still, at least he's not swearing at other YouTube commentators...

3. 'Owling all Night: Who knew Owls could be so noisy? There are a lot of owls around Smedley Towers and they love to 'Twit' and 'T'woo' all night in very loud voices. And they do it at about 3 in the morning. It's kind of the owl equivalent of two loud guys talking to one another across the street:

"Hey! Hey, Eric! Hey! Yeah! You goin' to Fred's party?"
"What?!"
"Are - you - going - to - Fred's - party?!"
"Err, I dunno, where is it?"
"It's in the big tree. Y'know, the one next to that other big tree."
"The one near the big oak tree?"
"No! If I meant the big oak tree I'd have said the 'big oak tree'. I just said 'the big tree'."
"Well there's a lot of big trees round here Dwayne, which one do you mean?"
"The big tree Eric, the big tree. Y'know, the big tree next to the thing."
"The thing?! What, what the hell's that meant to mean?"
"You know, the thing, near the other thing thats next to the big tree."
[Rob opens his window and yells at the owls]
"Whoa, I better scramble. See you at the big tree."
"What?!"

The point is, owls are really loud, and should keep their business hours to reasonable times. Anything after midnight is just egregious. Shaddap and go catch some field mice, ya damn head-swivelling birds!

4. Article: Chris has a great article on wine and Existentialism. Or does he...? (haha, see what I did there? Of course you do. Existentialism in action. My whole article is merely a shadow on the cave wall... Or is it...?!?!? Plato would know...)

5. And finally: ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNO-TOAD!

Until next week, take care and watch out for the owls...