As I’ve often told my friends, I’m pretty awful about filtering the stuff my kids see. I don’t really think it’s laziness per se (although I’m definitely lazy…). Rather, I think it’s a function of the way I was raised. I have pretty fond memories of my father taking me to the Playboy club in downtown Cincinnati (yes, there was one) to catch a showing of Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu when I was about ten-years-old. And at the age of 14, it was Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (in 3D!). So yeah - my dad was pretty bad about sheltering us from some pretty mondo wierdness, as well. And I think I turned out okay…

But there was the other stuff my dad introduced me to, as well. I remember seeing Yojimbo in the early 80’s, and pretty much any time a new Kurosawa movie came out my dad was sure to drag me to the nearest art cinema. Not to leave my mom out of the equation, any time there was a Godzilla movie on at night (again, this was in the 70’s before the advent of infomercials) she would drag me out of bed to watch it - no matter the hour, and irrespective of my school schedule.

Anyway, bizarro parenting tips aside - I was amused to read this article about Vietnamese parents freaking about the wave of Japanese comics washing up on their shores. It all sounds very Frederic Wertham, to be honest.

Recent articles on local newspapers and television reports on this issue have shocked parents.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when looking at those comic books. These images were too awful for children,” says Nguyen Van Dau, a resident of Dong Mai Commune of Ha Dong City.

“Even I myself and many other adults feel embarrassed when seeing such images,” says Nguyen Thanh Que, a resident at Kham Thien Street in Ha Noi.

They blame publishing houses for selling such books, but don’t blame themselves for not making the effort to spend more time with their children to explain sexual issues.

There has been no research about the connection between such comics and the development of a child, and experts are divided over whether these comics are harmful to children. Many studies have shown parents should be more worried about the harmful affects of violent comics on children, and not about erotic comics.

Apparently, college students do stupid shit all over the world, not just in America. That’s rather comforting, I suppose. But while I saw a ton of stupid shit in my four years of higher learning, I didn’t see anything quite as stupid as this:

The Horror, The Horror

While a one-year suspension seems harsh, what on God’s green Earth convinced these kids that dancing in mankinis at a company party was a good idea? Mankinis are not a good idea. Anywhere, anytime.

I hope they at least shaved before donning the stupid things.

Remember that, kids.

Gary Glitter, who was recently released from a Vietnamese prison where he did three years for diddling children, is ‘in transit’ at Bangkok airport after refusing to board a flight to London. I don’t know about you, but after spending 3 years in a Vietnamese prison, I’d gladly fly just about anywhere other than Vietnam. Maybe he should charter a flight to Washington D.C. - he could buy John McCain a beer and they could swap Vietnamese prison stories.

“The last information we have is that shortly before the flight to the UK departed he declined to board. We were last aware that he remained in transit,” a spokesman said.

British newspapers, who had reporters on the plane with Glitter as he left Vietnam, said he had collapsed in a bedroom at the Tavern, complaining of heart problems and demanding to be taken to hospital.

He had a series of confrontations with British embassy officials and Thai immigration police, who refused him entry to Thailand because of his conviction in Vietnam for child sex offences, the newspapers reported.

Authorities freed British glam rocker Gary Glitter from prison in southern Vietnam on Tuesday, sending the convicted child molester into an uncertain future after nearly three years of confinement.

BONUS VIDEO: Seriously, was anyone surprised when he was caught?

I’m not sure what to make of this one. 75-year-old Tran Trong Duyet, who held Republican Presidential nominee John McCain prisoner for five years in Hanoi, Vietnam, says he would cast his vote for McCain in the upcoming election and refers to him as an ‘old buddy’.

Mmm-kay…

“If I were an American voter, I would vote for Mr. John McCain,” Tran Trong Duyet said Friday, sitting in his living room in the northern city of Haiphong, surrounded by black-and-white photos of a much younger version of himself and former Vietnam War prisoners.

At the same time, he denies prisoners of war were tortured. Despite detailed POW accounts and physical wounds, Duyet claims the presumed Republican presidential nominee made up beatings and solitary confinement in an attempt to win votes.