Operation Global Media Domination: do me a favour, wouldja?

TIASeriously, I need the help.

Ever since WordPress switched my URL from raincoaster.wordpress.com to raincoaster.com my hits have walked right off a cliff and straight down a deep well (momentary buoyance provided by Brian Atene and Even Stevphens notwithstanding). I don’t know why this is: have I suddenly become dull? Have I stopped posting? Hell to the no!

So I’m going to assume it has something to do with the links. When in doubt, blame the technology.

If those of you who’ve put me in your blogroll could switch it over to raincoaster.com instead, you’d be doing me a favour. And in the future, please use the current raincoaster.com URLs. No sense racing a dead horse, even if it outranks the live one.

While I do get a modest thrill of learning that I’ve gone up 900,000 places on Technorati since the start of this changeover, I still have another 100,000 places to go to regain my ground, and that means another 75 links, minimum. Sigh.

Back to looking for more damn Narnia porn.

terror alert warnings: brown people edition

They all need a good scrubbingWell, to be fair let’s open it right up to everybody brown, black, or off-white. Affleck, you’re lucky you’re off the Mystic Tan, that’s all I’m saying.

We here at the ol’ raincoaster blog are constantly scanning the pixelsphere, looking for the most relevant and important stories to bring you. In the absence of breaking Giant Squid news, we offer this, even though we live in Vancouver and the only persons of melanin ’round these parts have (as we have noted) been fighting terrorists since 1492. Still, on the Internet nobody can tell you’re an octoroon.

From McSweeney’s.Terror Ist Is Lamb

Whatever the case may be, you probably have the same worries that any other good American has in these troubled times. Such as “How do I properly show my love for my country?” and “How do I assure people that I don’t want to kill them?”

With these questions in mind, the Department of Homeland Security has formulated the following guidelines for you and your people based on the United States Terror Alert Levels. If you follow the simple advice below, you will significantly decrease your chances of being arrested or deported.

Terror Alert Level: Low (Green)

To be honest, this level is really just a placeholder. We needed to have a “low” level in order to have the higher levels. If we ever do hit the green level, be aware that this probably means the rest of the world has been destroyed by man-made (e.g., nuclear) or supernatural (e.g., meteor or alien death ray) forces. Whatever the case may be, take the opportunity to live it up, because as soon as Mexico gets repopulated we’ll be back up to the blue level.

and so on

calling all bigots: new reality show casting call

Bigot-SaruIt’s great to see reality shows getting away from covering bumbling, nanocephalic heiresses, curdled, past-their-sell-by-date rock stars, or gospel-trained yet soulless MOR singers and covering…well…you know…

reality.

From Craigslist, via Gawker

Do you get nervous when you see a Muslim on an airplane? Have your opinions about Muslims changed since September 11? Do you have family or friends that get nervous around Muslims?

A NEW CBS SHOW SEEKS New York families who have traditional family values but are uneasy around Muslims.

Got to love the postscript: This is not a home makeover show. What would people have expected? “Watch as Cletus and Jolene slowly realize that the price of their new indoor pool is a mosque in the carport!”

Now that I would watch.

Vicarious Halloween Vid

Stolen from Gawker. Not as much fun as my Halloween,  but theirs apparently doesn’t take several days of bed rest afterwards.

Gawker cover’s an event that needs no introduction, the Greenwich Village Halloween Day Parade. Watch as “hundreds of artists, 53 bands of different types of music, dancers and artists, and thousands of other New Yorkers in costumes of their own creation” take to the streets to celebrate this year’s theme “The Village Hearth.” If you’ve never been then this is a definite must-go event at least once in your life.

pic o’ the day: demons of outer space

galaxy sh2-136