That’s what we did to Matt’s (our copy editor) desk. It was a blank canvas just calling to us. Check out the video below.

The plastic wrap desk was pretty good but didn’t have quite the impact as the tin foil desk. This was taken last year when former SqueezeOC staffer, Omar, went on vacation.

We also had a bit of fun when our editor, Iris, went to Africa for a week. There were about 200 balloons in that cage of streamers. We were all a little light headed that day.

I know we’re not the only ones who torture our coworkers. Post your office pranks below, c’mon let’s hear about them!

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Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

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Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

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Daft Punk ruled Saturday. Two guys in robot suits poking around in their machines on stage — that’s all it took to bring down the house and create a thunderous ending for the otherwise scattershot day.

Brian liked Madonna, but I thought it was a fiasco to schedule her at the Sahara tent instead of the main outdoor stage. An enormous overflow crowd watched two giant screens outside the tent, while hundreds more walked away in disappointment. The show was slick and short. I felt used. She asked the crowd if her ass looked ok. Yes, it is still hot, and yes, you are a needy mother.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs was by far my favorite on Sunday. Karen Orgasmo put a mic down her throat. But not in this photo.


My big surprise at Coachella was re-discovering how much I liked dance music. I haven’t liked trance for like 10 years, but I was blown away by the energy of the dancers at the sixth venue called the Oasis tent, a tiny round tent that thumped continuously for two days. It was like a holding tent for the dancers while they waited for the famous DJs to perform elsewhere. Whenever we got bored, we returned to see which new freaks had arrived.

Biggest regret: Not seeing more of Animal Collective. I can’t remember why I left. I caught the first five songs or so, and loved how committed the band members were in re-creating the possessed yelps and drumming on their recordings. I saw a guy tell his friend as he walked out, “This is the worst music I’ve ever heard.” Untrue! Probably a Tool fan.

The crowd was electric for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. See the audience clap clap clapping away at this short video. The other videos are of the modified bicycle displays at the festival.

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Kanye jerked his body energetically as usual. It was fine, but I felt like I’d seen all this stuff on TV before. Ditto for Franz Ferdinand. FYI, in “Goldigger,” Kanye elected to self-censor with “broke broke” instead of “broke nigga.” FF walked onto stage to a tune by Neutral Milk Hotel — now that’s a band I would really like to see at Coachella. When is Goldenvoice going to pull Jeff Mangum out from whatever bus he’s hiding under for a reunion show?

Imogen Heap sang with an Apple laptop in front of her. I felt like I was watching a no-name musician at Borders.

I loved The Go! Team’s densely layered, Jackson Five-like party funk, though my enthusiasm faded near the end. Brian said he felt like he was in Disneyland. Still, I’ll probably go their CD this weekend.

Big praises for the sound engineers, and the people working at the festival who sold T-shirts and food with such courtesy and professionalism. Pity the people who had to barbecue chicken in 100 degree heat. If it makes them feel better, the chicken was delicious.

Big boos to the jerks who elbowed their way to the front. If fans wait 1-2 hours in front to get prime real estate for shows, they should not be pushed around by latecomers. Also, big boos to people who littered. Boos too to the people who sneaked in the trailer toilets after the cleaners told them the bathrooms were closed for cleaning. These cleaners are already sucking shit out of portables! You’re jerks for making their jobs harder.

Crowd watching was enormously fun. Favorite photos follow. More pictures at our photo gallery.

Their names, for real, are Daniel and Danielle. They’re studying to become engineers.

These guys are from San Diego and have been coming to Coachella for years. Last year they dressed in matching shorts and were a hit, so this year they decided to do the same.

These are fans, not vendors. One of them insisted I take a glow stick.

There were a lot of people who wore tiny shorts and long socks on Saturday. Not so many on Sunday. Maybe they all saw each other and realized that even though American Apparel is in Vice magazine, they’re pretty corporate.

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Just returned from 10 days in my parents’ homeland - Japan. My seventh visit to the country, which continually fascinates me with its dichotomy of modern innovation and tradition.
Pictured above is the lovely bento lunch I enjoyed on the Shinkansen bullet train from Nagoya to Tokyo (just under 2 hours to travel the distance roughly the same as Los Angeles to San Francisco).

More “Only in Japan” video and photos follow …

This is not an Easy-Bake oven. It’s the above-sink dishwasher (capacity 5 plates?) in the tiny kitchen of a family friend’s lovely, very modern home, just outside Tokyo:

For the pet owner who doesn’t really want the hassles of feeding fish and maintaining the tank: an LCD screen playing video of fish inside an aquarium! (Spotted at a spa in Nagoya)

The Japanese love to use English in signs, on T-shirts, etc. Unfortunately, something’s usually lost in translation …


(Mark the date for THAT party on the calendar!!!)

And here’s a photo that’s not quirky, but represents the traditional part of Japanese culture that I so appreciate: a tea ceremony in a tiny, intimate tea room, lit only by candles:

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He quickly spotted an item on his desk that had not been there before. Click on the video below to see him unwrap his “present.”

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Someone told Omar he wasn’t allowed to unwrap his desk for a week, and amazingly, he left it nearly all there for five days.

First thing yesterday morning though (Monday, March 27), he began his day by peeling the computer area of his workstation. He tried to be quiet but we all noticed it anyway. Erlina said it was like her cat rustling something slowly when it knew it wasn’t supposed to do it.

Rolling the peeled tin foil into a ball has become a major source of recreation for Devin. Here he is on a Tuesday computer programming break.

Soon, we’ll be able to make a disco ball out of it.

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We know it’s bad to laugh when other people get hurt, but when a guy VOLUNTEERS to get Tasered he’s just asking for it.
CLICK HERE to watch the video.

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