Comedian is living in an Ikea store

PARAMUS, New Jersey (AP) -- When Mark Malkoff thought about where he could stay while his New York City apartment was being fumigated for cockroaches, he quickly ruled out friends' places (too small) and hotels (too expensive).

Instead, the comedian and filmmaker decided to move into an Ikea store in suburban New Jersey, where on Monday he unloaded two suitcases into a spacious bedroom at the store.

At night when the store is closed, he says he'll play laser tag with security guards and even plans to host a housewarming party.

"The fact that Ikea is letting me do this is mind-boggling," said Malkoff, lounging on a bed in his new room. "There's no way I'm going back. I love this way too much."

Malkoff, who works for Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" as a ticket handler, is allowed to stay until Ikea closes at about midnight on Saturday; the store, famous for its low-cost do-it-yourself furniture, is closed on Sundays.

Malkoff, 31, is known for his 2007 video "171 Starbucks" which documents his visits to all of the coffee chain's Manhattan stores in a single day.

Deputy store manager Julie Mott said Malkoff contacted the store about three weeks ago and presented a proposal to move in.

"We thought it would be a lot of fun and interesting," Mott said. "We're not really sure what this week holds."

He is being followed by a camera crew documenting his stay for a video, which will be shown on his Web site.

But despite the hospitality, Malkoff did find a few problems: The sinks don't work, and neither does the toilet, refrigerator, flat-screen television or the washer and dryer.

"Is anything real in this place?" he asked.

He must shower in the staff locker room and will have access to the staff cafeteria to cook his own meals, if he chooses, Mott said.

However, the Ikea display does offer more spacious living than his two-bedroom Queens apartment.

"I feel like I'm on the set of 'Friends,"' he said, adding that he has met a few new faux friends -- customers who wandered into his new apartment.

His wife of 2 1/2 years, Christine, isn't as thrilled with his new digs and has instead opted to stay with relatives in upstate New York. "For some reason," he said, "she doesn't want to live in a store."

[via cnn]

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The Demise of MTV

MTV: What hast thou become?

This story was not written by me, but a fellow blogger, and I agree with him 110%!!

So I just checked the TV listings and the only times that MTV plays videos these days is from 5am to 7am. I guess I had assumed, mistakenly, that TRL or some variation thereof was still on the air. I find this interesting for a few reasons. Of course, there is the glaring fact that MTV stands for Music Television yet less than 10% of its programming is devoted to music. And I could of course point out the fact that many of the Television shows that MTV does air aren't even related to music at all -- shows such as "My Sweet 16" and "Made" come to mind. But I want to focus on something else here. I want to focus on the fact that MTV, for better or worse, has essentially become the cable TV version of US Magazine and TMZ.com. With that said, I've seen more episodes of Real World than should legally be allowed for a heterosexual male, and for the most part, I enjoy much of its programming. The mystique, however, is gone.

Without question, MTV has lost part of the allure that made it so great when people in or around my age group were growing up. I can thank MTV for introducing me to an array of diverse musical acts, from RUN DMC to Guns n Roses to Peter Gabriel to Michael Jackson and NWA. Unlike the current state of affairs, MTV used to be a way to explore new musical genres and be exposed to new artists. Shows such as Headbangers Ball and Yo! MTV Raps were instrumental in shaping the music that kids were exposed to, and subsequently became interested in. As a kid I remember flipping through channels and becoming enthralled with Def Leppard. I remember watching Will Smith rap at a time when it was actually cool to listen to Will Smith rapping. I remember where I was the first time I heard "Dre Day" on TV. From Offspring to Bone Thugs-n- Harmony, I can recall a plethora of bands that I would have otherwise been oblivious to had it not been for MTV. MTV, believe it or not, used to expose music to the masses.

But as time marched on, MTV began a slow and steady transformation. Though MTV had long been a place to watch original TV shows such as "The State", "True Life", and "Beavis and Butthead", those shows were always just the icing on the cake so to speak, a temporary reprieve from the music. Eventually, however, the shows MTV began airing started to become less original, more trashy, less focused, and more ridiculous. Shows such as "The State" (one of the funniest and most original sketch comedy shows of all time), for example, had something of substance to offer it's viewers. Now I turn on MTV and I see spoiled 15 year old bitches complaining to their parents about how they want a BMW convertible for their birthday. Hell, when I was 15, I was happy enough to watch Alicia Silverstone make out with a dude on the back of a motorcycle in an Aerosmith video. MTV used to be a place where you could either catch music or watch rising stars such as Adam Sandler and Jon Stewart before they became household names. Now, MTV is a place where you watch some douchebag named Spencer talk about nonsense to some lame ass girls who probably wouldn't have even made the cut for Singled Out, or even the classic "MTV Spring Break!" series.

MTV's disinterest in putting out quality shows was also reflected in the music they chose to promote. Somewhere along the way, MTV devolved from a station that promoted certifiable stars such as Michael Jackson and Guns n Roses to a station that promoted gimmicky and atrocious songs such as the "Macarena" and "Who let the dogs out". Because MTV primarily avoids music related programming these days, I can't help but wonder how this affects the musical interests of kids growing up. And the wild card in all of this is the Internet. Maybe kids are exposed to new music via other avenues these days and I'm just an old(er) man who is out of the loop. I suppose that kids today can just hop onto iTunes and browse an insanely large library of music that would have made the 12 year old me drool in envy. Perhaps, in the end, MTV's transformation was inevitable due to the fact that it's no longer the only game in town. Perhaps, the music video is obsolete.

Is MTV relevant anymore? Yes, but in an entirely different way. MTV can no longer 'make' an artist or band the way it used to be able to, but it does have the frightening ability to seemingly create stardom out of nothing for its reality show cast members. And in today's gossip hungry and voyeuristic society, apparently that's all you need to stay relevant. MTV doesn't play music anymore and it hasn't for quite sometime. I'm fine with it, but it's sort of interesting that a station that once had its hands on the pulse of American music has become a variation of SoapNet. And if every show on MTV was quality, then I'd be the last person complaining. But I just don't have any need to see a second season of "Tila Tequila" or 5 straight hours of "Life of Ryan". I don't think anybody does.

[via islandmusic.blogspot]

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Snow-Eating Robot Poops Ice Bricks as It Clears Path

You heard right, a snow eating robot that poops ice bricks is headed for the U.S market within five years for roughly *cough* eight grand. The ice bricks can be stacked and stored until they melt or used as an alternative source of refrigeration. Watch the video below...

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Revolutionary air car runs on compressed air

BBC News is reporting that a French company has developed a pollution-free car which runs on compressed air. India's Tata Motors has the car under production and it may be on sale in Europe and India by the end of the year.

The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up -- roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000.

The car features a fibreglass body and a revolutionary electrical system and is completely computer-controlled. It is powered by the expansion of compressed air, using no combustion at all, and the exhaust is entirely clean and cool enough for use in the internal air conditioning system.

Tata Motors is known for its interest in innovation and has been selling compressed gas buses since 2000. It is currently working on producing the world's cheapest car, which will be almost 100% plastic and will sell in India for about $2500.

Tata is also expanding into the world market. It acquired Korea's Daweoo in 2004 and is now the top bidder to purchase the originally British Jaguar and Land Rover lines from the United States' troubled Ford Motor Company.

The following video is from BBC's BBC World, broadcast on January 04, 2008

[via rawstory]

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Nonfat, Low-Fat Milk Linked to Cancer

The amount of calcium and vitamin D in the diet appears to have little or no impact on the risk of prostate cancer, but the consumption of low-fat or nonfat milk may increase the risk of the malignancy, according to the results of two studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Dietary calcium and dairy products have been thought to increase the risk of prostate cancer by affecting vitamin D metabolism. Data from several prospective studies have supported an association, but many other studies have failed to establish a link.

To explore this topic further, Dr. Song-Yi Park, from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and colleagues, analyzed data from subjects enrolled in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. This study, conducted between 1993 and 2002, included adults between 45 and 75 years old, were primarily from five different ethnic or racial groups, and lived in California or Hawaii.

A total of 82,483 men from the study completed a quantitative food frequency questionnaire and various factors, such as weight, smoking status, and education levels were also noted, Park's group said.

During an average follow-up period of 8 years, 4,404 men developed prostate cancer. There was no evidence that calcium or vitamin D from any source increased the risk of prostate cancer. This held true across all racial and ethnic groups.

In an overall analysis of food groups, the consumption of dairy products and milk were not associated with prostate cancer risk, the authors found. Further analysis, however, suggested that low-fat or nonfat milk did increase the risk of localized tumors or non-aggressive tumors, while whole milk decreased this risk.

In a similar analysis, Dr. Yikyung Park, from the National Cancer Institute at National Institutes (NIH) of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues investigated the relationship of calcium and vitamin D and prostate cancer in 293,888 men enrolled in the NIH-American Association of Retired Persons Diet and Health Study, conducted between 1995 and 2001. The average follow-up period was 6 years.

It has long been thought that dairy products can interfere with the cancer-fighting properties of vitamin D, but the consumption of low-fat or nonfat milks appears to increase the risk that the tumors become malignant.

No link between total or supplemental dietary calcium and the total number of non-advanced prostate cancer cases was noted. Total calcium intake was tied to advanced and fatal disease, but both associations fell short of statistical significance.

Similar to the first study's findings, skim milk was linked with advanced prostate cancer. Calcium from non-dairy food, by contrast, was tied to a reduced risk of non-advanced prostate cancer.

"Our findings do not provide strong support for the hypothesis that calcium and dairy foods increase the risk of prostate cancer. The results from other large...studies, with adequate numbers of advanced and fatal prostate cancers, may shed further light on this question," Park's team concludes.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, December 1, 2008.
[via aol.com]

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