Former Spam King admits "I'm going to hell"

A retired spammer, simply known as Ed has revealed at a security conference in London, how he used to make up to $15,000 a week by targetting the vulnerable members of society with specific spam emails.

Using lists of reformed gambling addicts and those dependant on prescription drugs he sent out thousands of emails to try and lure people to gambling and pharmacutical sites. Using networks of average consumers drone machines rented of hackers, Ed spent up to 10 hours a day sending spam and working out ways to evade spam filters.

After making nearly half a million dollars in a year, Ed decided to pack it in to write a book. In his words "It's hard to go into a bar and explain your job to a woman by saying "I advertise penis enlargement pills online, It doesn't go down very well.".

Full story at Yahoo! news

Jesus Action Figure on a Wal-Mart shelf near you soon!. one2believe for sure.

That's right folks, as of next month Wal-Mart will be selling the one2believe talking Jesus action figure. Your very own little plastic Messiah will deliver quotes and stories Action Man style - presumably along the lines of "Does this wine taste funny to you?" and "My hands hurt."

Harry Potter Leak - the Deathly Hallows available on bittorrent!

Well, the biggest book security operation of all time has fallen flat on it's arse - the new Harry Potter book is available in it's entirity across the bittorrent network. The torrent has appeared on the controversial torrent site The Pirate Bay.

I've had a look and it seems to be there as a series of photographs in pdf form - weighing in at 73MB. I'm sure there'll be some red faces at the publishers, Bloomsbury, and one would think an investigation to find those mystery fingers. Could it be the work of you know who?


Of course, I do in no way condone copyright theft, but should you be curious just go to The Pirate Bay and search for harry potter. I expect there will be one or two seeders!

Smart ass exam answers

The Hype Machine

This is a great aggregator of tunes posted on the best of the nets music blogs...

The most inept Crystal Maze performance ever.

What a plum.

Guerrilla Marketing

Ikea Bus Stop

Cingular - Hate dropped calls?

Wrigleys Extra in Starbucks

Saatchi & Saatchi ad for coffee shop utilising New York
steaming manhole covers

PETA - People for Ethical Treatment of Animals

Great Bags

Glastonbury baby! Wed, Thurs & Fri

Well, having been away for 3 years I can't put into words how much I was looking forward to the Big G this time around. Was I dissapointed? In a word...not really very much.

Thanks to a spot of precision organisation from the undisputed heavyweight champion of getting things done (we'll call him Keef, for ease), I was able to arrive as late as midnight on Wednesday by train (which was an amazingly hassle free way to get there) and still enjoy a great spot within spitting distance of the other stage.

After meeting up with a few of the boys and Hannah, we took a jaunt around the site, ending up at the stone circle, which was rammed (and I mean RAMMED). The atmosphere was great and we loitered for a bit trying to find the pissed Jenny and watching a group launch papery firey things into the sky.

Being out of practice at festvials, we'd brought no booze or owt with us on our stroll so a quick dash back to the tent (NB: no such thing exists at Glasto) was called for. Of course, by the time we got back to the camp there were a few others there and a roaring fire. We all got comfy, but I decided to try and venture back to the circle with a bottle of rum. Naturally, halfway there the heavens opened and dreams of dry Glasto disintergrated there and then. I managed to find Jenny and a dodgy burger and somehow managed to get completely shit faced within half an hour - perhaps due to absent-mindedly sipping my rum like it was water and generally being a bit over-excited.

Thursday was relaxed and cool (albeit with a slight rum-over) - we mainly spent it sussing out the site, drinking cider from the brother bus and working out the best plan of action for the next few days. Showers ensued on and off (as they did for the entire weekend!) and thursday night was eased in with some tequilla shots & soon deteriorated into a drunken blur! I remember losing everyone except for Jen within minutes of wandering about & trotting round in elongated circles talking shit 'til the early hours.

I managed to lose my bag (fortunately with nothing much in) on thursday night, and so Friday morning was spent re-tracing a few of the last nights stopping off points - to no avail. We hooked up with a few of the others and started Glasto proper with a quick blast of Chas and Dave in the park (lovely stuff), followed by a classic set from the Super Furry's on the Other Stage. This was a perfect start, with the classics rolling out in true SFA crowd pleasing style (Juxtaposed with you / Northern Lights / Golden Retriever & The Man don't give a fuck to finish). The novelty outfit for Gruff Rhys being an motobike helmet with a hole around the temple which he seemed to be singing out of!

A quick trot over to the Pyramid stage next to arrive just as Kel from Bloc Party was starting Song for Clay, which sent shivers down my spine straight away & as the drums indicated 'that' riff was seconds away, it really sank in that this was Glastonbury baby! A great set from Bloc party with the sun shining, and their bassist had happy birthday sung to him by 20,000 people. Banquet and Helicopter got the whole field moving and I was really up for it by the end of their set.

We hooked up with a couple of mates in the dance field and I left Jen to go and have a dance while I strolled up to the stone circle and went to meet people for Arcade Fire at the Other Stage at 8. I met the bearded wonder (we're talking an 8 and a half on the beard scale here) that is Fogg at the tent and we went to try and get a good spot for the Arcade Fire. I was probably looking forward to this one more than anything else over the weekend & I was delighted to see a pipe organ on stage when we got there. It was rammed, as would be expected, but we found a decent spot to the left of the sound desk. Aside from the constant buffeting from people coming and going thoughout, i was just in awe all the way through this. The sound could have been louder (and I know a lot has been made of this since), but Win & co pulled out all the stops (literally on Intervention!) and didn't disappoint. The audience collective went crazy for Wake Up & I was really chuffed to hear Rebellion, Black Mirror (a great set starter) and the wonderfully chilling My Body is a Cage. I left this one happy, it was everything i was looking for. Even the woman next to me repeatedly shouting "You're a winner, Win" was absolutely fine!

Next I had a dilemma - I couldn't decide between Bjork or Arctic Monkeys...so I went to see Hot Chip. And boy, was I glad I did. They said the monkeys were amazing, and the last couple of Bjork tunes I caught on the way back through were as entrancing and dramatic as you'd hope. But, the Hot Chip gig was just superb. I wasn't 'enhanced' as I think most were in the John Peel tent that night, but the whole place was pumping, and boy these lads are good live. I liked the album a lot, but with several fairly downtempo tunes on there, I wasn't sure what they'd be like in the flesh. The answer...a million times better than on CD. As could be predicted, the roof nearly came off the tent as Over and Over started to work up. One of the best live bands out there right now I'd wager. Theres something truly infectious about the clinically of synthesized drums. I'm REALLY not much of a dancer, but just couldn't stay still! If they play near you, go see 'em!

We retired to the camp after that, not wishing to overdo things on the first night proper (having already had a go on thursday!) satisfied with the first days adventures.

I don't want to mention the mud too much, but it was was tiring and there throughout. It does make the whole experience more of a mission & take the edge off things a bit. Wall to wall sun would have been the icing on the cake, but you get on with it don't you & by Sunday night I was truely 'at one' with the mud! Jen certainly wouldn't have had the fine selection of facial hair styles throughout the weekend had it not been there (and wouldn't have made it into the NME's 'moustache feature' the week after!)

Anyway, more about all that later, 40 winks for me now.

Saturday and Sunday to follow soon.

Ooooooo, it's a Youtube classic!

In Q this month they've got together 100 of the best music related youtube flicks. There are some real corkers, and whilst trawling through I thought I'd put together a list of my faves...

The Bee Gees on Clive Anderson
Ah, a classic indeed. Not sure exactly what the hairy disco sisters were expecting, but the big fella takes a distinct dislike to Clive - whose face drops somewhat as they all leave. "You'll always be Les Tosseurs to me." Nice one Clive.

Beatles on the Roof of Apple

The Beatles last live performace. Good quality vid and a joy to watch, until the police stamp their authority on the situation. Jesus these boys are good.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Shane McGowan interviewed for Belgian TV
"Is that water you're drinking?" - are you fucking kidding? My favorite bit is MacGowans mate trying to leave the room through a mirror.

Shaun Ryder, Pretty Vacant on TFI
Ryder on vintage f*cking form. C4 changed their charter after this to prevent live broadcasts of this particular nature!

Serge Gainbourg chats up Whitney Houston

A lesson to us all in how to win over the ladies. He's smoooooooth. Anyone fancy a brandy?

James Brown feels good on CNN
The Grandaddy of funk sensitively reflecting on his recent arrest for assulting his wife with a lead pipe.

The Rocket, Don't look back in anger
An alternative take on this Oasis classic. No snow yet though.

Pissed off Dylan
Bob's a bit annoyed. Someone has thrown a glass into the street and he wants to know who, he's not afraid to count to 10 if he has to. Donovan stays well out of it.

MJ's first moonwalk
Jackson doing the moonwalk for the first time performing Billie Jean. I love that crazy right leg move too, or maybe it's just an unfortunate affliction. Hee hee hee.

Kraftwerk on Tomorrows world
The future is here. "Next year, they hope to build jackets with electronic lapels, which can be played by touch". Fuck yeah, why do we even still have normal instruments? Shouldn't we be playing using lasers, robots and mind-control by now?

Charlotte Church and Amy Winhouse
Winhouse struggles to stand while Church valliantly struggles through this shambolic version of Beat it. On reflection, rehab might have been a good move.

Fat Elvis
6 weeks before his death, the original burger king not looking so hot but still sounding amazing...until he gets to the talkie bit and forgets the words...his name...where he is...what day it is...Thank you very much.

Courtney Love on Letterman
...reported after as saying "something went wrong with my context. It might have been the crack."

White stripes cover of Jolene by Dolly Parton
One of the best songs ever written performed by the White Stripes. Lovely Stuff.

Rocket Man, as interperted by William Shatner
A true gem to finish on. Shatner, looking even more of a twat than usual chats his way through some classic Elton at a 1978 Sci-Fi awards show.