(photo by Noah Friedman-Rudovsky for the New York Times)

An awesome New York Times article on Bolivian wrestling.

(via Susan)

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If you have a little time, sit back and enjoy this hilarious two part film by Tom Sachs and the Neistat Brothers: “A Film About the Space Program.”

I love their stuff.

(part 1)

(part 2)

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(via WallStreetFighter)

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“In politics, stupidity is not a handicap.”

- Napoleon Bonaparte

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Jacob Louis’s line of distressed sterling silver Army Men Necklaces.
$95 - $120.

Not so easy to melt with a magnifying glass.

(via Notcot)

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Eleanor Freya Gregory’s Chesterfold line - lawnchairs with panache.

(via Notcot)

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The alternate title for this post:
“What I Have Been Doing for the Last Three Days Instead of Cleaning My Apartment, Socializing, Sleeping, Posting on Blogadilla, or Bathing.”

Before I continue, I am obligated to say the following because I am using EA Game’s graphics kit:

“This site is not endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts, or its licensors. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Game content and materials copyright Electronic Arts Inc. and its licensors. All Rights Reserved.”


Released September 7th, Spore is an elegant combination of different types of gameplay with one grand theme: start as a single-celled organism, evolve, become intelligent, and eventually conquer fight your way to the center of the galaxy. It is available for a number of different platforms and Spore Origins (just the single-celled organism game) is available for mobile phones.

Based upon the number of hours of my life it has consumed to date, I give Spore a 5 out of 5.

Some highlights:
• You decide on the direction of your species’ evolution - become a carnivore, grow horns, evolve 6 arms, etc. I recommend you check out EA Games’ free downloadable Creature Creator.

• You go through the varying phases of social complexity - a social animal, a tribe society, a complex society, and eventually a galactic empire.

• The colonization of space appears to constitute over 95% of the entire game, and if you haven’t gotten that far yet, you still have so much more to look forward to!

Update 9/28/08:
I just finished the game.
I think.
It’s hard to tell if there’s more or not.

Update 9/29/08:
Now there is even a Spore Wiki.

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I took this photo a few years ago at the Tallinn Zoo in Tallinn, Estonia.

I can’t prove it, but I’m pretty sure that these are instructions on how to feed your child to the animals.

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I went to Wendy’s this afternoon, I had to try their “Baconator” - in the name of science, bacon, and all that is awesome.

It was like when I found out that Santa Claus wasn’t real.

All the ingredients were there, but they didn’t look like the advertisement photos and they tasted like greasy sadness.

This type of thing is also why I will never go on dating websites or get a mail-order bride: rarely is anything as awesome as its marketing photo.

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My friends and neighbors have been quoting this video for the last several days.

But you probably won’t get it - there’s nothing to get.

NSFW

“Drinking Out of Cups” by Dan Deacon and Liam Lynch.

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I love bacon.
And I love sticking things in the microwave.
My new friend: the WowBacon Microwave Bacon Cooker.

And the instructions are an amazing read on their own.

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The Über-ürban Apartment Building T-Shirt from SQY-T.
Realistic smell sold separately.

(via Notcot)

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George Washington, General Patton, and Trace Adkins (who?!) are the American Spirits: reminding flag-hating, baby-eating, Bible-smoking, healthcare-sharing Liberals what it means to be an American (gun ownership, poor education, xenophobia, and mindless jingoism?).

Michael Moore is kind of a douche.
But you guys are so not helping things.
F%#k you David Zucker.
F%$k you Dennis Hopper. You Judas.

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The “Nicolas Cage Suck Factor” is approximately .75 (75%).
In recent years, the chance of a Nicolas Cage movie sucking is about 75% - only one in every four of his films will not suck.

I was at the movies last night and noticed the poster for Nicolas Cage’s new movie “Bangkok Dangerous” and a couple questions came to mind:

• ”Will Nicolas Cage show up in any movie offered to him?”

• “Since Leaving Las Vegas (1995), which Nicolas Cage movies haven’t sucked?”

Based on the films he’s appeared in since 1995, here is a running list of Sucked and Not Sucked (though not necessarily great, either). This is the data pool I used to generate the “Nicolas Cage Suck Factor.”

Not Sucked:
• Leaving Las Vegas
• City of Angels (almost sucked)
• Adaptation
• Lord of War
• National Treasure (almost sucked)

Sucked:
• The Rock
• Con Air (yeah, I know, some liked it)
• Face/Off
• Snake Eyes (really sucked)
• 8mm (semi-sucked)
• Bring Out the Dead (semi-sucked)
• Gone in 60 Seconds
• The Family Man
• A Christmas Carol: the Movie
• Matchstick Men
• The Wicker Man (semi-sucked)
• Ghost Rider
• Next
• National Treasure II
• Bangkok Dangerous

Update: To be scientifimical about this, post your own Nicolas Cage Suck Factor in the comments below, based upon the movies listed above and we can create a more accurate general public Nicolas Cage Suck Factor number.

Heywood: .67
Rabbi VonSydow: .67
Timbotron: .75
cmdrtebok: 1.00
Rebecca: .71 (she added a movie)
Allison: .80

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This is just awesome: The Dark Knight, Sweded, starring 10-year-olds. The editing and sound are brilliant.

(via SayNoToCrack)

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• Snowbilly - (adj., n.) A “hillbilly” or “red neck” from Alaska or other northern reaches of the United States. Currently used in reference to Sarah Palin.

• Bandslash - (adj., n.) A genre of fan authored fiction that focusses on homosexual encounters among rock stars (often among band members within the same group).

• ‘Anata to wa chigau n desu.’ - (Japanese phrase) Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said this cryptic phrase (”I am different from you”) to a reporter soon after his recent and unexpected resignation from office. This expression is now becoming the new internet ‘buzz phrase’ in Japan (props to PinkTentacle for explaining/traslating this). Fukuda T-shirts are now selling like crazy in Japan.

• Urushiol - (n.) The oily compound produced by members of the Toxicodendron family of plants (Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, Poison Sumac), which causes irritation and swelling when in contact with skin and mucous membranes. This is a good word to know if you want to be a smartass in the forest.

• Grey Goo - (n.) An end-of-the-world scenario involving nanotechnology that self-replicates and eventually overtakes the surface of the Earth, destroying all life in its wake.

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A recent release from the Neistat Brothers:

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Clowns already have a bad rap.
And all it takes is one bad clown to besmirch the floppy shoes.

And this time his name is “Trim-Trim the Clown.”
He did creepy things.
The name alone should be a give-away.

Why so serious?

(via L.A. Times, via Susan)

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Proof that bacon is so awesome that even lettuce will eat it.
This is Wendy’s “Baconator” being attacked by lettuce.
One of many clever corporately-developed-yet-indie-looking web advertisement videos.

(via Marketing Daily, via Advertising Age)

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The L.A. Times recently published an article about the growing concern over ShotPaks - alcoholic beverages that come in plastic pouches.

Apparently these pouches of alcohol are marketed toward kids. And this concern is understandable, because kids and teens will drink anything packaged like a shampoo sample.
And bottles confuse them.

And if it is a choice between drinking the unnoticed bottle of Frangelico or Grand Marnier in mom and dad’s liquor cabinet or drinking a plastic pouch of Purple Hooter, what other options do they have? Since 1933 - when they stopped serving beer and gin in public schools - pre-teens have had to struggle to get their drink on.

Another concern: The lack of decent wines marketed toward children.

The best I could find was Sofia Coppola’s Blanc de Blances Mini. It has the same size and feel of canned juices for school lunches combined with the awesome bendy straw of a Capri-Sun. And of the finer canned sparkling wines coming out of the Lawrenceburg, Indiana area, Coppola’s Blanc de Blances is certainly at the top of the list. It goes well with peanut butter and jelly, Chee-tos, and chocolate pudding cups.

Next week: Better marketing strategies for pre-teen cigar and pipe smoking.

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