Stupid Web Tricks

Project Euh has some neat web toy/experiments going including pong and hearts. (via Metafilter)

Random Thoughts

So is there anyone that didn't know that terrorists were training at American flight schools last summer?

An Abomination

The Star Wars Holiday Special. Some things just should not be.

Back in 1978 - George Lucas allowed the biggest atrocity ever to take place - he allowed the creation of the single worst show to EVER be shown on television. The Star Wars Holiday Special. Here's your chance to finally see what all the hysteria is about. You won't believe how far into the pit of absolute SUCK this special will take you until you see it for yourself!

Shock Value

Some provocative words from Bill Maher. I can't say I agree with him or like him but he does have some interesting things to say.

So when people say, "Why don't you run for office?" or "Why'd you get fired?" --
Folks, let me sum it up for you.

I think religion is bad and drugs are good.

I think stereotypes are true, abstinence is a perversion, Bush's lies are worse than Clinton's, and there is nothing sexy about being old or pregnant.

I think pornography stops rape, I think AIDS ribbons are stupid and flag burning makes me feel patriotic.

I think death is not the worse thing that can happen to you, I think people have too much self-esteem, and being drunk is funny.

I think children are not innocent, God doesn't write books, and Jesus wasn't a Republican.

I think girls hate each other, "No" doesn't always mean "No," you have to lie to stay married, women's sports are boring, and the Olympics are gay.

We'll be on for another six weeks here on ABC.

No Laughing Matter

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. And if you factor in inflation, freedom can be pretty costly. Or something. (via Everlasting Blort).

If September 11th has taught us anything, it's that terrorism is lurking everywhere--our airports, our libraries, our communities, liquor stores selling box cutters--are perfect hidey-holes for terrorists. "It can't happen here!" is a common refrain--but that's what we thought about Oklahoma City. Terrorists are hiding everywhere--in your doctor's office, your haberdashery, your toolshed. Absurd, you say? The terrorists who piloted jetliners into the World Trade Center were living in well-manicured suburbs, eating pizza, playing Boggle, all the while quietly taking flying lessons.

Words to Live By

International Web Sites Specializing in Insults, Curses, Slang, Swearwords, Blasphemies, Slurs, Obscenities and Vulgarities

The Kobe Show

This article The seven voyages of Kobe had some good moments. It chronicles the path of the mega-superstar-post-modern-hero-athlete but is written in some chatty ESPN style that makes it difficult to follow at times.

The thing with Kobe's naivete is, it wasn't obvious, like Magic's, who had the limo stop at the first palm tree and the first orange tree he saw when he first came to L.A. out of Mickey-State. Actually got out of the limo to marvel. Kobe was much more worldly at 18 than Magic was at 20. Kobe was still naive, and even today at 23 has much to learn about the foibles and frailties of fellow human beings and therefore (this is always the big surprise) himself.

Momo's Parts

A Japanese man's fascination with his hamster's anatomy. (via Metafilter)

Grown-up male hamsters have very very big balls. They look to sit on a cushion.

When Memes Collide

Star Wars meets TWAT.

Another Star Wars meme crossing with some potential would be a reality TV show starring that infamous family of intergalactic bountyhunters, The Fetts. A camera crew could follow around the Fett patriarch, Jango, as he juggles a career in bountyhunting and raising his only son, Boba, as a single father. Along the way funny mishaps could occur such as when Jango's pet Rancor Beast eats his blaster pistols or such as when Boba's Wookie stoner pal Lumpy crashes at their hideout and overstays his welcome which results in him being shaven and frozen in carbonite by the angry Boba.

Through the Looking Glass

Congressional Democrats should be "very cautious" in criticizing the Bush administration's decision not to disclose intelligence that terrorists wanted to hijack U.S. airplanes, Vice President Dick Cheney says. Speaking Thursday night at the New York state Conservative Party's annual dinner, he warned Democrats "to not seek political advantage by making incendiary suggestions ... that the White House had advance information that would have prevented the tragic attacks of 9-11." "Such commentary is thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war," he said.

In one statement, he is able to threaten Congressional Democrats, score political points, and call them un-American. And he said all this at a fundraiser... in New York.

Folding Cash

A website devoted to origami for bills. And then there's the slightly more sinister and timely version.

Unlikely Videogames

Excellent set of photoshops from Fark.

When Memes Collide

The Top 10 Things We Want To Hear Samuel L. Jackson's Character 'Jedi Master Mace Windu' Say in the Star Wars Prequels.

An American Movie

A short piece by Bruce Sterling on Star Wars. (via rc3)

These are painfully allegorical movies for Mr. Lucas. The first "Star Wars" was about being a 70's California cinema-hippie, tackling the Hollywood system through skill, luck and stealth. Against all odds, it blew the power core of the Death Star. We saw George Lucas break through to levels of rank commercialization and technical acumen that Hollywood had never dared to imagine. Old Hollywood was Tinseltown, but "Star Wars" was the Culture Industry aborning — industrial light and magic.

No one listened

More information continues to trickle out a few drops at a time. But like an iceberg, the majority lies hidden beneath the surface.

Last week, in little-noticed testimony before a Senate panel, FBI Director Robert Mueller referred to another internal document that may prove more explosive: notes by a Minneapolis agent worrying that French Moroccan flight student Zacarias Moussaoui might be planning to “fly something into the World Trade Center.”

This Is Your Brain On a Vowel

The neurochemistry of Ecstasy. It starts simple but gets surprisingly complex. (via Metafilter)

Say Cheese

The more I study this picture, which has been floating around for awhile, the more I'm amazed at how perfect it is on so many levels.

Traffic Art

This guy figured he would improve one of the signs above a freeway and no one noticed for a year. (via Fark)

Reliving the Present

It's a curious phenomenon -- all over the sunny Southwest, Latino teens enthralled with the mope-rock saint of Manchester -- but it's no weirder than middle-class white boys thumping along to "Fuck Tha Police." Alienation knows no borders. And it's thrilling to see it, a subculture free of all the strained nostalgia and wink-wink irony that accompany most retro trends. These kids aren't in it for the camp. They love the Smiths. They need Morrissey, alchemist and worker of wonders, to make their misery a source of pride, to take away their loneliness and give it back to them transformed into something noble, beautiful even.

That quote from this article would describe one of my roommates from college, freshman year. Except he wasn't lonely. He always seemed to be surrounded by attractive women. But oddly enough, I can't remember him ever dating any of them. He was into 80s music... and had lots of female friends...hey wait a second.

Amazing But True

"And he says to me, he says to me, you got Style, baby! but if you're gonna to be a real villain you gotta get a gimmick…and so I go, I says, Yeah Baby! A gimmick, that's it! High Explosives!"

Can you believe one man was the voice of Kif Kroker and Morbo from Futurama, The Brain from Pinky and the Brain, Egon Spengler from The Real Ghostbusters, Two-face from Batman, and Thrakrazogg and The Evil Midnight Bomber from The Tick. His resume is like a list of every animated series in the past ten years.

What if...

Someone made a mockumentary in the style of Ken Burns about the Battle of Hoth. (via Fark)

Only in LA

I was driving through the Sepulveda Basin today when I saw an elderly gentleman walking with a cane on the side of the road. He wasn't dressed for exercise and there was a car on the shoulder a couple hundred feet behind him so I stopped and offered him a ride. He had run out of gas and was walking home to get a lift from one of his sons.

It turns out he was a "producer" in the music business. I asked him if he worked with anyone I would know and he drops James Brown and Michael and Janet Jackson! I was curious and shocked so I peppered him with questions like "Do you know Quincy Jones?", and "How strange is Michael really?". So when I get home I'm curious and Google his name and it turns out he discovered the Jackson 5 and gave them their first record deal!

Where have all the pirates gone?

Hit The Secret Fun Spot for a concentrated dose of nostalgia and some reminiscing about pirates in advertising. (via Media TV Weekly Picks)

It can be said without exaggeration that pirates are loved by everybody. The statement "all people love pirates more than they love their own families" is truthful, and without hyperbole. It boils down to a simple "if then" statement: "IF you are a living being on earth or otherwise, THEN you wholeheartedly adore pirates and all that is pirate related." So why are pirates rapidly falling out of mainstream advertising? It's enough to make your timbers shiver.

Mr. Osbourne goes to Washington

Ozzy's show has made him a very popular man in the capital and with the president. (via Drudge)

Bush was seated at the head table, when Ozzy, at Table 168, saw his chance. He made his way forward until he was separated from Bush by only the 10-foot security no man's land: men commanding two kinds of power, face to face, silently taking each other's measure.

A Profile of Fear

Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down, examines the life of Saddam Hussein.

Saddam likes to watch TV, monitoring the Iraqi stations he controls and also CNN, Sky, al Jazeera, and the BBC. He enjoys movies, particularly those involving intrigue, assassination, and conspiracy—The Day of the Jackal, The Conversation, Enemy of the State. Because he has not traveled extensively, such movies inform his ideas about the world and feed his inclination to believe broad conspiracy theories. To him the world is a puzzle that only fools accept at face value. He also appreciates movies with more literary themes. Two of his favorites are The Godfather series and The Old Man and the Sea.

Kitty Porn

Cute pussy pics. All together now. Awwwwww.

Path of Destruction

Satellite image of the effects of a tornado. (via Fark)

Damage Control

The truth continues to trickle out. (via Drudge)

The Cuban Revolution

There are plenty of reasons to like Mark Cuban. He made billions when he sold broadcast.com to Yahoo! then dumped his stock at the peak of the bubble. 3 out 5 of his employees became millionares. He then turned one of the NBA's worst teams, the Dallas Mavericks, into a solid play-off team with a decent shot at making it to the conference championship and losing to the Lakers. Everyone, from the fans, to the players, to the media have nothing but good things to say about this guy. Plus, he's loud, outspoken, and gets away with it. And how many billionaires back up their words and would actually work at a Dairy Queen for a day?

Get Your Snack On

Their interface may suck but they have a huge collection of snack reviews. The FAQ was also good for a few laughs. (via Metafilter)