sigh, back at work after the thanksgiving holiday.  you notice there’s a distinct shift in motivation following thanksgiving?  i mean, christmas is coming up so soon, you can’t really keep your mind straight.  and all day long you’re just looking at xmas sales on the internet anyway and trying to decide what to buy for whom.

actually, i kind of like it better now as an adult where you can buy the stuff you want, rather than begging your parents or santa for it.  i remember that always made xmas kind of nerve racking.  i can’t imagine what it’s been like for the past two years with the xbox 360 and ps3, i mean, some kids must be pretty bummed out.  like, sorry, santa couldn’t camp out over night at best buy.

the whole santa thing was very confusing for me as a kid, until i figured it out at least.  i mean, on one hand, you have santa the all powerful and munificent, flying around the world and giving away gifts.  then on the other hand, you have santa outside of longs begging for coins with a bell.  i remember thinking, maybe santa wouldn’t have to be begging if he stopped giving away so much shit.

the whole santa thing seems like it’d be a negative facilitator for poor kids too.  these kids are told that if they’re good, they’ll get what then want.  but if you’re poor, you probably can’t afford xbox or whatever - so really you’re good and you don’t get shit.  so why be good?  why not just rob some dude or sell crack or turn tricks (illusions) - in that case bad would = xbox.

whatever, i mean, santa must be a tough sell nowadays.  is he up in the north pole churning out ps3s and ipods?  how do you explain that to your kids.  how do you explain that santa only made 400,000 ps3s this xmas so guys are getting shot in the best buy parking lot.

it’s funny because kids are told that santa’s elves are cheerfully working up in the north pole to make stuff, but in reality their ps3 is probably made by a chinese kid their own age making $2 a month, sold to their parents at a walmart by an 86 year old filipino lady making minimum wage with no health insurance.  i mean, just be realistic - it is what it is - i’d still buy it, but it’d make the ps3’s graphics seem that much better.  1080p + a little human suffering.

these types of myths are all over for kids.  what about willy wonka and the oompa loompas?  i mean, it’s all there in the movie:  willy wonka went to a third world nation and picked up some tribal ‘workers,’ then shipped them back to his factory where they could not leave and were forced to make chocolate.  oh yeah, and he makes them sing and dance around.  did wonka also operate a tobacco farm and some cotton fields too?  can we get a charlie and the chocolate factory / amistad mash up?

and what’s funny is that kids all over the world have read this book or seen the movie, and are taught to think this kind of stuff is OK, even desirable.  I mean, they look so happy, right?  they’re dancing around and singing - good thing wonka saved them and helped them to become civilized.  good thing they’re no longer stuck in their barbaric home in the jungle. they love working for massa wonka, he’s so giving and munificent.  loompa, please.

anyway, here are some cool youtube videos i found this weekend.  again, thanks to digg.

This is a great video - these guys are actually pretty talented.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLn45-7Pn2Y]

Funny clip from iron chef here.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=KMZnJQixq58&mode=related&search=]

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