thinking visually

One of the coolest things to happen online this year was the New York Times finally getting all free and non-registered on us. Witness the glory of 2007: The Year in Pictures...with commentary!

best Christmas story ever

According to The Sun (and how reliable are they, anyway?), A New Zealand shopping mall was attacked by a hoard of rampaging drunks in Santa costumes. Check it out...they have video goodness!

Peter Sellers rocked!

pops and groans

The Telegraph has a cool article on bad Christmas cracker jokes, which, with my love of awful humor, is a perfect fit for this page. My fave? On which side do chickens have the most feathers? The outside.

why I hate Christmas music

Some wonderful person has assembled an...interesting...version of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland by splicing clips together from different performers, including Stryper, Tony Bennett, Jewell, and Barney the Dinosaur. None of them would be good on their own, but together? Whoooooboy.

everyone has more civil rights than us

Apparently, Uruguay now offers civil unions. Great. As we get more fascist in the name of democracy, the rest of the world gets civil rights.

more Bourdain

Yes, you should know by now I have a "thing" for Tony Bourdain. Here's a cool piece on Bourdain, Hawaii, and Spam.

my new fave blog

Pulp of the Day does exactly what you'd expect: it has a different pulp cover every day. Better yet, they offer subscriptions. If you love retro, kitsch, or any combination thereof, you should check this out.

lists

Entertainment Weekly has a great list of the top 25 sci-fi movies of the last 25 years. There's a lot to disagree with here (is Lost better sci fi than V?), but that's half the fun!

A/V Club love for the Coens

I love The Onion. They get sarcastic much better than anyone in America should. Their writings show an amazing amount of relation to true-to-life experiences (right now I have Grad Student Deconstructs Takeout Menu on my office door...and what could be more fitting for a culture studies guy?) or an ability to do tasteless without being too cheap (witness the brilliance of Anna Nicole Smith Finally Reaches Target Weight, put out shortly after her death).

For my money, though, their non-fiction offshoot The Onion A.V. Club is often better. Today, for instance, they had proof of their brilliance with this wonderful Primer to The Coen Brothers. I must find some way to see their new film immediately...I am now jonesing.

karate movies in real life

Ever wondered if life in a secret Asian monastery comes close to any of those weird martial arts films? Well, wonder no more! Enjoy these photos from an actual Chinese Shaolin temple.

designing Mario

Here's a cool interview with veteran Nintendo game developer Yoshiaki Koizumi on the perils of designing three dimensional video games. I find it all very fascinating...but then again, my last video game system was an Atari 2600, so I'm very out of date.

this is adult?

Nerve, of all people, has an article on the Land's End catalog. Their take is 100% Nerve. A quote: " The Lands' End fall catalog is porn for the heartsick man." Sure it is...

Sorry for the infrequent updates. I'm back, baby!

another reason Hitler was evil

Here's a nice article about Adolph Hitler's uncontrollable farting. The teaser line that will make anyone want to read this: "Hitler wanted to control the world. But he couldn't even control his flatulence."

I fear plants

India apparently has trees that eat animals. Life is officially a horror film.

the Christians strike again

In Springfield MO, a church is having a Christian Halloween celebration. The quote of the article? "“Eternal Nightmare” will feature walk-through scenes that depict “the horrors of drugs, alcohol, abortion, self-mutilation” and more, said the Rev. Jim Cookson, pastor of the church."

Readers of my theology in video games post should be wondering if anyone will be playing Halo.

the strangest championship bout you'll see today

Did you know there's a Cardboard Tube Fighting Championship? Would it surprise you to find out that it's in San Francisco? Oh, you wacky left coasters...

brains...

My friend mp will love this one: daily dose of imagery has photos of the 2007 Toronto Zombie Walk. I love the zombie mom pushing her kids in a stroller, but why aren't the kids also zombies?.

Soviet space dreams

Baikonur was the Soviet Union's version of Cape Kennedy...only theirs was shrouded in secrecy and did not officially exist. How's it doing nowadays? Check out PhysOrg's story on Baikonur to find out.

the domino theory goes global

The Chinese Communist Party is considering opening up an outer space branch. Are they going to try to actively overthrow the governments of Alpha Centari 6 or Betelguise?

new consumer product for nutsos

Could this idea be any worse?

theology in video games

Some churches are using Halo 3 in church youth groups. Killing for Christ! This has never happened before...

craving

Scientists discover that food cravings might be the result of bacteria living in your digestive tract, and I find this to be wonderful news. I have struggled with weight and eating for a while, and I get extremely annoyed at stick people who talk about me and my type as if we're just weak individuals.

Quote of the article? "the study was delayed because it took a year for the researchers to find 11 men who don't eat chocolate."

Onion headline of the day

The Onion never fails to make me giggle and feel good, and this headline is no exception: New Heart Device Allows Cheney to Experience Love...now if only it were true.

one in the spirit of my spousal unit's favorite time of the year

Let me present Zombie Pumpkins, which has, amongst its other joys, pumpkin carving patterns in the shape of your favorite rock star.