March 24, 2008
Moopsball and its Children
Lasting 3 days and involving up to three hundred and twenty four participants, the game of Moopsball debuted in Damon Knight's Orbit 18. Once part of the geek canon (not to mention the favored game of Illuminati University), Moopsball is slowly being forgotten. Still, there are those who are following in its footsteps. [more inside]
Oh My God! You Killed Low-Quality Spam-Infested Attempts at doing this! You (aren't) bastards!
Do you love South Park but you wish you could watch all the episodes on your own time? Uncensored? Without waiting for (or paying for) the DVDs? If so, South Park Studios just answered your prayers.
Since the Daily Show recently did the same thing - is Comedy Central making big waves, or big mistakes? [more inside]
'Star Wars' Turns 25
25 years ago, Ronald Reagan announced the birth of the missile defense system. A quarter-century and $120 billion later, was it worth it?
"I gotta sleep under some Chinaman named after a duck's dork."
Long Duk Dong: Last of the Hollywood Stereotypes? Related: Whatever Happened to John Hughes? which has an accompanying photo gallery: Where are Hughes' teen stars now? [A previous post about John Hughes here.]
Happy 70th Birthday Holger Czukay!
He was born on March 24, 1938 in Danzig, "the true nephew of William Tell". He studied under Stockhausen from 1963-1966, then threw it all over to help create Can, whose fans included a bemused David Niven. (I Want More. Hunters and Collectors. Moonshake.) You may know him best as a pioneer of the found/stolen/ethno mashup later popularized by Brian Eno and David Byrne. (Cool in the Pool. Persian Love.) But sometimes he just gives us a sweet little pop song. He's the bloody Energizer Bunny of Krautrock. So Happy 70th Birthday, Holger Czukay, you daft and awesome German uncle I never had. (Hey, why not go over to his MySpace page and give him your regards?)
Ele-vision
Film-maker John Downer fitted four elephants with cameras and set them loose. Many of the resulting photos are cute, and some seem made for photoshopping.
O-oh, Ice Cream Man!
Sometimes, the ice cream man sounds menacing. Sometimes, the ice cream man is more psychedelic than any ice cream man has a right to be.[MP3] Sometimes, he's a public menace who must be stopped.
Some people really want to understand the ice cream man.[PDF] And some love the ice cream man just the way he is.
Scientific Progress Goes "Wonk"
I was watching Back to the Future Part II today, and realized that their idea of the world in 2015 doesn't really seem all that feasible now.
While I was watching, I happened to come across this interesting piece in the now-free Sports Illustrated archives: a feature, written in 1979, on how the NFL would look in the year 2000. The full article is pretty long, but if you want the highlights, they're right here.
"Quick Ginger, we haven't a moment to lose!"
Sir Digby Chicken Caesar - The Complete Adventures Sung to the tune of the Devil's Gallop. [more inside]
Hairbeast from the watery deeps
The partially decomposed sea monster has 4 paws, a tail, and long fur. Is that you, Dagon?
Other famous sea-monster bodies (known as "globsters") include
The St. Augustine Monster ^
The New Zealand globster
Several more recent blobs
And here's how to tell a blob from a sea monster
Other famous sea-monster bodies (known as "globsters") include
The St. Augustine Monster ^
The New Zealand globster
Several more recent blobs
And here's how to tell a blob from a sea monster
Books of art
ABC3D is an elegant pop-up book featuring the letters of the alphabet. Plus: a flip book that generates a rainbow.
Go ahead, hurt me, I won't press charges.
Ever have a job working for a record label on a street crew. And yer puttin up publicity posters on lightpoles for an artist like Rocko and some asshole won't stop takin yer picture.
Whadda you do then? Break his friggin camera.
William. Wegman. Weimaraner. Watch. Wag. Word.
Dressing a dog up as a person is I think not a very good thing. But when I do it, it's fine. William Wegman's Early Videos. Short Films. Trio/Metropolis/Guitar. Clips from his feature, The Hardly Boys.
David Hart's David Hockney meets William Wegman
David Hart's David Hockney meets William Wegman
GNARBUCKET
VBS.TV presents "Epicly Latered"[~80 min, 16 parts, gnarly skateboarding], the story of John Cardiel.
Got a dream to take them there
Emilio Gonzalez, Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, will be resigning next month. To mark the occasion, the New York Times prints an editorial exposing the magnitude of the case backlog that USCIS currently faces, and their decided lack of speed in handling said backlog. Gonzalez doesn't like the editorial, so he blogs about it. And that's when the comments start rolling in.
Ten and two ... whoo-hoo!
Live from her minivan, it’s The Jeannie Tate Show! Everyone’s favorite soccer mom runs errands around town with the help of special guests like Bill Hader (SNL), Rashida Jones (The Office), Lonny Ross (30 Rock), and Rob Riggle (The Daily Show). Of course, she’s willing to leave the van behind to visit her heroines, Hillary and Oprah. [more inside]
Three new online magazines
Three new online magazines - Triple Canopy, Issue Magazine and Rosa B - tackle the problem of text presentation on the screen in innovative ways. via
How to do stuff
Quamut — learn how to write cover letters, crochet baby booties, make a home, how to self-medicate, and do other stuff.
Life in the Future
40 Years in the Future - Another "what will life look like in the future" article. This one from Mechanix Illustrated, 1968. (via Boing Boing)
Cat's in the Cradle
Vice visits the DPRK
ViceTV takes a relaxing North Korean vacation (video, in 14 parts).
Great moments in entrepeneurial inspiration
The gun dealer who sold the ammunition used in both the Northern Illinois and Virginia Tech campus shootings obviously feels remorse over his role, and wishes to atone. His solution? A (concealed) gun for every student.
help?
"To say that I am a patient man would be an understatement."
Seventeen years Steve Feltham sold up everything, bought an old mobile library van and parked up alongside Loch Ness to look for Nessie... He's still there.
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