So Punchable

Aw, this guy...!

You want to punch that face, don't you ?  Even if you don't know why yet.

Is this would-be Bieber also known for his YouTube videos ?  Well, yes...

RICH kid Grisha Mamurin has provoked a storm of protest by paying girls to flash their boobs in public and then to kiss him.

The controversial 16-year-old, grandson of Russian billionaire Igor Nekludov, is making a series of videos about people’s humiliation and what they would be prepared to do for money.

In his latest video, he gets smashed to the ground when he tries to bribe someone to drink a jar of his urine.

The intended victim was so angry he punched the cocky teenager so hard he knocked him off his feet.

Earlier in the video a man takes him up on his offer and Mamurin can be seen peeing into a glass before handing it over.

Towards the end of the video he picks on safer targets, luring young women to kiss him and expose their breasts.

His videos have been watched more than 850,000 times with mixed reactions.
At the beginning of his new video he says: “Today, we will check what crazy things girls can do to earn some money.”

Then he goes and annoys girls who are walking alone asking them: “Can you show me your breasts for cash?

And then he moves on to a bunch of homeless guys, and further hilarity ensues...

Thanks news.com.au !  I'd remained blissfuly ignorant of the existence of this asshole until now, despite his having apparently made the news elsewhere back in May.

His video sparked a wave of online criticism, but Grigory defended his decision saying the video showed what society 'is ready to do for the sake of money'.

Speaking through a personal press officer, he said:  'I don't understand why people are so negative about me. We have seen similar shows on MTV, various practical jokes.

'I can say that every fourth person agreed to do something crazy like this. The video is genuine. I should have been at least Spielberg to stage something like this.

...Grigory said he did not tell his parents about the project as he was not spending their money.

He said: 'Of course, originally this is their money but this is also my savings. I got the money from my parents for my birthdays and saved quite a lot.

'It is also a joint project, the money of my friends is here too. It is not like "Granddad, give me 100,000 roubles and I will make people drink urine".

He promised a follow-up in which 'a girl who agreed to lick the bottom of his boot from one end to the other for 10,000 roubles'.

He added: 'I do not criticize these people. I think each of them has problems which makes them do this.

'We don't know what we would have done if we had had the same problems. If to talk about me - I don't think I was ever in a situation when I would drink urine.' 

Unearned wealth (and most vast accumulations of wealth tend IMO to be largely if not mostly unearned, relying more on the exploitation of others and corruption than personal effort or ability) does tend to breed sociopathy, whether in Russia, America, or anywhere in the world.

Still, this particular embarrassment belongs to Russia, and Putin's Russia at that, son of an oligarch may he be.  And as long as he has wealth and avoids criticising the government, he can probably ride this particular game of exploiting the desperate for fleeting fame on YouTube a good while yet.

And after all, he's doing a public service, right ?  Exposing the cruel realities of modern capitalistic existence for...journalism...for...art...for..for.  No, he's just an asshole.

And This Is What We've Come To

The BBC will make the unemployed and low-paid workers compete against each other for a cash prize in a controversial Hunger Games-type show to find “Britain’s Hardest Grafter”.

Only the UK’s lowest-paid workers will be invited to compete to “show their worth” in the reality show, capitalising on the trend for “poverty porn” established by the Channel 4 series, Benefits Street.

Applications for Britain’s Hardest Grafter, which will be screened on BBC2, are limited to those currently earning less than £15,500 per year.

The BBC is seeking 25 British workers, a mix of the unemployed, the under-employed and those earning the minimum wage, who will be given the opportunity to “prove themselves” through a series of challenges. A cash prize is on offer for the winner.

A representative of the production company Twenty Twenty told the website Graduate Fog: “In each episode, people will be put to the test in a series of challenges and tasks.

“At the end of each episode, those who have produced the least will be eliminated and by the end of the process, just one worker will remain. The winner will receive in the region of £15,000 which is a year’s living wage (outside of London).”

Satire just can't keep up with real life anymore.  I mean, surely this is a hoax ?  The BBC ?  Not Sky, not Channel 4, not some trashy cable-outfit, but the B. B. C. ?  They put out some shit certainly, but new low doesn't begin to describe it.

I suppose The Hunger Games is the obvious go-to reference for the Indy -- More current, more hip.  But The Running Man is what comes to mind for me, and dated as it is, it's arguably a closer match.  Here's direct extracts from Wikipedia, describing that film.

The film, set in a dystopian America between 2017 and 2019, is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers.

2017, huh.  Two year away now.

Plot [edit]

In 2017, after a worldwide economic collapse, American society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting game shows where convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where "runners" attempt to evade "stalkers" and near-certain death for a chance to be pardoned.

Pacifying the population with reality-teevee after economic collapse.  That doesn't sound at all familiar.  What was once dystopian fantasy is now our actual day-to-day reality.  And we just shrug, get on with our lives, trying not to get noticed, not to speak out, and accept it.