Watch It Bush! Now You See It, Now You Don't!

Clipping from NST,
Malaysia





President George W. Bush was certainly delighted by the tumultuous welcome he received from the Albanians on his visit to Tirana on Sunday. There was no stopping him glad-handing the joyous crowd in the Albanian capital.

As the crowd bustled about excitingly, even the most powerful man in the world has to keep a watch on his watch. As this photo sequence shows in this newspaper clipping from the New Straits Times, it was a case of Bush's watch going, going, and gone!

Did it really happen? I mean, did someone artfully removed his expensive watch?

Why not watch this video news clip from Reuters for the answer...

Little Fatty, China's Unlikely Cult Hero

What would it take to become a cult figure? Some people work hard at it to seek publicity. But for 19-year-old Qian Zhijun, it was kind of accidental. Qian has become a sensation in China with his pudgy face appearing everywhere online.

The overweight teenager from Shanghai, who works as a gas station intern, has become famously known as "Xiao Pang" or "Little Fatty." The China Daily newspaper described Qian as "the face that launched 1,000 clicks."

Not that Qian liked it when he first discovered that some Adobe Photoshop smarts had posted his porky features on the Internet in 2003 by superimposing his image onto movie stars and politicians. He was really upset and felt hurt.

Qian's superstar status shot up as his large head started appearing on the shoulders of famous names like Jackie Chan, Russell Crowe, Jim Carey, or even Mona Lisa! Witty webizens are having a field day using Photoshop's image editing ability to manipulate his image.

You can see Qian's face superimposed as the Roman general Maximus in Russell Crowe's Gladiator. a Brokeback Mountain gay cowboy and a roly-poly Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

One of my favourites is the hilarious image of Qian sitting next to President George W. Bush, holding up his two fingers behind his head.

"Xiao Pang" has a website promoting him at www.xiaopang.cn. He's now being managed by web designer Gao Feng who was himself once overweight.

P.S. The news about "Little Fatty" has been circulating online for sometime now and I couldn't resist not posting it here for those who may have missed out.

For more on "Little Fatty"...

> Little Fatty's spoofs gallery

> How Little Fatty made it big

> "Xiao Pang" tells of growing pains

It's Not Working, Mr President!

It's that time of year to rejoice as Christmas Day is just around the corner. Yuletide will be celebrated in most parts of the world. Families will be planning a get-together for holiday fun. There'll be plenty of gifts but...

It's also a time to remember all those who are suffering in Iraq where we still have that wretched war going on. Not a day passes by without news of despair and horror.

A high-level 142-page Iraq Study Group Report, now out, recommended that President Bush's policy in Iraq "is not working" and urged the US to stabilize the country diplomatically. AP

Co-chairman of the bipartisan panel, former US Secretary of State James Baker, was reported as saying that "a strategy of staying the course in Iraq was no longer viable."

In a nutshell, the gloomy report says:

• There's "no magic formula" to solve the problems
• Americans cannot win the war themselves

More than 2,900 U.S. troops had lost their lives in the nearly four-year war after toppling Saddam Hussein.
iraq

However, the Christmas spirit lives on and this bloghound
wishes all its visitors who just happened to drop by....

A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

...PEACE!

Thanks Parmilla G
for the lovely logo!