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Looks like Ricky Gervais (and Steve Merchant and Karl 'I could eat a knob at night' Pilkington) are looking to commercialise on the success of their first series of podcasts. The second series is going to be a pay-for affair via Audible.com. The asking rate is $6.95 for 'at least four' episodes.
posted by pivotal at 11:22 PM PST - 42 comments

Don't take your sexual frustration out on your bass guitar. The Bass Player Cycle of Abuse: 1) Bass player joins band. 2) Bass player resents getting less groupie sex than rest of band. 3) Bass player misdirects their resentment and creates one of these.
posted by basilwhite at 8:45 PM PST - 33 comments

If you ever feel like you just aren't particularly amusing, what you need to do is find a pack of 1 year old quadruplets. Those kids will laugh at anything.
posted by jonson at 4:13 PM PST - 110 comments

Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit company that preserves and sells an amazing variety of heirloom seeds, including seeds for fractal-like romanesco broccoli, all-blue potatoes, near-black tomatoes, and what could well be the most garish veg ever. Nipple fruit, unfortunately, is solely ornamental.
posted by bcveen at 1:29 PM PST - 71 comments

John Kricfalusi GHOFB -- "I make cartoons and play in a band. I like playing in a band because it's actually fun and no one tells you to be lousy on purpose."
posted by LinusMines at 1:11 PM PST - 30 comments

37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty Americans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now cannot meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening. Are you proud to be an American? (newsfilter - no apologies).
posted by adamvasco at 11:51 AM PST - 257 comments

The Axis of Evil has some competition — in Ohio. The Bush Administration continues to apply pressure to North Korea about its alleged counterfeiting of $100 notes: This Korean story quotes Amb. Alexander Vershbow demanding physical proof that Pyongyang has destroyed its forging equipment. On the other hand, according to the BBC, South Korea's intelligence service doubts the North is counterfeiting, although it may have done so in the past. Meanwhile, on the homefront, a 16-year-old has been fingered as the mastermind of a bogus bill ring operating out of the boy's home in North College Hill, OH. Oddly, the Cincinnati Enquirer article announcing the bust is chock-full of juicy tips for would-be home engravers: rip off old bills rather than new, don't overlook those colored fibers, and set the wash cycle for delicates. Oh, and don't even think about using scissors: it's a sure giveaway!
posted by rob511 at 11:49 AM PST - 17 comments

Attending a show? You will, of course, be on time. You will not talk (or poke your fellow theatergoers). You will not use your cell phone. You will not bring your own food. You will not fight. You will not riot.

Audiences weren't always so sedate. Roman audiences were notoriously drunk. Shakespeare's groundlings were famously rambunctious. Victorian theater were hotbeds of prostitution. Indeed, it isn't until P.T. Barnam opened a lecture hall in his American Museum that "museum" standards of behavior became applied to audiences for live entertainment, and it never completely stuck (see Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford's wonderful Sleazoid Express for fascinating descriptions of the lively audiences found at Times Square's grindhouse theaters). But, for the most part, theater and moviegoing is now a civil, dignified undertaking. How did this happen?

Well, it all started one day in 1849.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:15 AM PST - 26 comments

The Memory of The Netherlands is an extensive digital collection of illustrations, photographs, texts, film and audio fragments from a large variety of Dutch cultural institutions. There are about 50 collections (in english).
posted by peacay at 10:40 AM PST - 7 comments

Vishavjit Singh is a cartoonist who focuses on cartoons describing the aspirations and frustrations of Sikhs. Sikhism, of course, is the world's 5th biggest religion, but somehow still seems to be unknown to the vast majority of the world. Amazingly enough, they are quite often mistaken for muslims (it's like mistaking a jew for a muslim) !!!
posted by lowgfr at 9:52 AM PST - 34 comments

Take One Museum on BBC Four is the Russian Ark of documentaries as expert Paul Rose looks around a museum, with the help of some tour guides in one take over a thirty minute period. I caught the tail end of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum episode and he seemed like a man of great enthusiasm. Much like New York's Museum of Modern Art's podcast official and unofficial, an audio podcast version of the show is available so that a visitor to the actual museum can cover the same ground with the aid of their mp3 player. Excellently, it's the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester next week so I'll definitely be going there again soon to see what this is like.
posted by feelinglistless at 8:53 AM PST - 4 comments

"Q: Is that another car on top?
 A: Yes, it's a VW bug." -- Carthedral. A few more (clearer, daylight) photos here.
posted by Gator at 8:34 AM PST - 27 comments

If you are one of the Good People, you are entitled to the phone number of a homeless, haloed Computer Genius. And even if you're not Good, you can have some free advice about such topics as how to lose weight ("Stop being so LAZY and INCONSIDERATE") and how to overcome "saxual" addiction ("When something in your pants or panties is taking over your life . . . find a hobby you can do instead of sax").
posted by parrot_person at 3:06 AM PST - 19 comments