What Is Japan?

It's a place we can never understand.

Neo-Nazi Nabbed

Ernst Zündel was sentenced to the maximum five years in prison today in Mannheim, Germany, for Holocaust denial, which is a violation of laws against racial sedition in both Germany and Austria. The charges against him stemmed from an anti-Semitic website he ran out of Canada. Kudos to the Canucks for doing the right thing and extraditing him at Germany's request.

I can't wait for Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad's next state visit to Berlin.

Patti Cake

Patti Smith singing most* of "You Light Up My Life" on the TV show "Kids Are People Too":



*she omits one pesky high note.

Best Geezer Video Ever

Nick Cave still has the mojo, song lyrics notwithstanding. FYI: NSFW.

Hub Hoax Hubbub

B.A. already snagged this one, but I can't let a terror attack on my erstwhile hometown pass without comment. The terror group was the Mooninites, perpetual tormentors of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The difference here is that the Mooninites' insults usually just bounce off the ATHF — but Boston panicked. Big time. They called out the Bomb Squad, the Coast Guard (!), and threw the conspirators in jail. This is the kind of fun-loving, lighthearted behavior I've learned to expect from the town I fled nine years ago (my last memory of Boston is a police riot — there's no other way to describe it — directed at the audience of an outdoor Green Day concert). Besides, how can a town that calls itself the Hub of the Universe not expect to draw the attention of the irascible Mooninites?