Friday, April 30, 2010

When F. Scott Fitzgerald confided in Ernest Hemmingway

Independent:
One evening, Scott Fitzgerald confessed to his friend that his wife, Zelda, had told him his penis was unusually small, and that he could never satisfy any woman. Hemingway said it was just typical of Zelda's undermining ways, but Scott wasn't reassured. So Hemingway asked him to come to the lavatory, where he inspected his friend's lance of manhood. Back in the bar, he explained:

"You're perfectly fine," I said. "You're okay. There's nothing wrong with you. You look at yourself from above and you look foreshortened. Go over to the Louvre and look at the people in the statues and then go home and look at yourself in the mirror in profile." Now there was an act of friendship between creative giants, if not an especially artistic conversation. You can almost see the superior smirk on Hemingway's face as he presents himself as the macho guy who was able to reassure his less macho pal about his physical shortcomings (and then tell the world about it).

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Steve Nash gives over 200 high fives every game



Steve Nash supposedly gives out 239 high fives every game.

Magic door, magic ring




Two of four new Tolkien-inspired illustrations by Jim Tierney.

*Previously: If Walt Disney made the Lord of the Rings.

*Buy Sauron toys at eBay.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Summon Bevets

Urban Dictionary:
Bevets (backward form of Steve B.) is the user name of a member of Fark.com. He is most well know for his involvment in religious flamewars on Fark, where he gives irrational arguments to defend Christianity. He is so popular that other Fark users have created photoshopped images (including one in the style of a magic card) that say "summon bevets" and are posted at the beginning of a religious flamewar to entice bevets to join in.


There's also a Repel Bevets card:



Via.

*Previously: Magritte and Murakami join Magic the Gathering.

*Buy Magic: The Gathering cards at eBay.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

"Hundreds seek a job -- and a shot at stardom -- at Universal Studios"

"Those hired as tour guides will have access to free acting classes and auditions with top casting directors, making the theme park job a potentially big gig for aspiring actors. "

Friday, April 23, 2010

Spider-Man by Scott Morse





Some of the Spider-Man paintings Scott Morse will have on sale at Calgary Expo.

Signs marking secret streets




Cleverly placed street signs by BBDO for Smart.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

"In the middle of Bay Lake, deep within the heart of the Walt Disney World property, lies Discovery Island"

SP:
It is a former wildlife attraction/sanctuary that was closed in 1999 and has been left to run wild since. This is the story of my trip there

"Around the world, how far can you get with $10?"

CNN:
Yes, the economy's down, but $10 can still buy you quite a bit -- if you know where to look.

This was our challenge to CNN iReporters last weekend: Go to the ATM, get $10, and see how far it can take you. That's it. It was the ultimate in thrift and simplicity, and iReporters from around the world found endlessly creative ways to get the most out of their tenner.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

How the Batman 100 motorcycle was designed

Paul Pope:
My cousin Sterling works at Ford -- and at the time I was working on "Batman," he was designing suspension systems. So we sat down together, and I said, "Sterling, imagine I've got a billion dollars. I'm going to hire you to make the most badass bike. Money is not an issue. Just design the ultimate concept bike." He said, "Well, we're going to start with titanium as the base." I was like, "Cool." And so we designed it. He has a credit in the book. And the coroner in "Batman: Year 100" is based on my granddad. He was a forensic coroner.

Milan 2010: Signs we're still in a depression

"Vitra's biggest innovation was a belt."

When to buy organic



Heidi Kenney posted a handy wallet card to remind which fruits and vegetables contain so many pesticides that you should buy organic. Download it here.

*Previously: Fairies sculpted from organic matter.

*Buy The Science Chef: 100 Fun Food Experiments and Recipes for Kids at Amazon.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Glow in the dark Tron hoody






Glow in the dark zip up Tron hoody by Rolf Nelson.

80's X-Women



Dazzler, Rogue, Psylocke and Storm sporting their 80's fashion by John Allison.

*Previously: Perfect 80's parody video.

*Buy Heroclix at eBay.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Knitted Big Daddy Doll






Knitted Big Daddy doll by Helen, who has goods on sale at Etsy.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Mo-Larr, Dentist of Eternia (and other San Diego Comic Con toys)

A few of the San Diego Comic Con exclusive toys from Mattel:



Masters of the Universe Mo-Larr vs Skeletor Figures ($40:
Mo-Larr was featured in the famous (infamous?) episode featured on the DVD release of Robot Chicken Season 2 where he chased down Skeletor® and relieved him of an impacted wisdom tooth, sans numbing agent. Skeletor® features a new head with missing tooth, Havok Staff, Power Sword®, and Half Power Sword®. Mo-Larr, Eternian Dentist, comes with five assorted dental tools, including @#%## drill and floss.






DC Universe Plastic Man Figure ($20):
DCU Plastic Man has interchangeable standard arms, stretchy arms, giant form hands (a fly swatter and a bouncy ball with racket), and interchangeable stretchy neck and leg springs.
Plus, DC Universe Plastic Man Suitcase (free with purchase):
This Plastic Man Suitcase is packed in a poly bag and comes free when you purchase DCU Plastic Man at SDCC (available only while supplies last). You can attach his arms, head, and neck to the suitcase as if he has disguised himself as a suitcase. Open up the suitcase and find chip art comic book covers from the 75 years of DC Comics. Looks like he’s been doing some shopping while at SDCC! The Suitcase will not be sold online after the show, but we will offer the DCU Plastic Man figure without suitcase, as shown above.






Justice League of America presents Starro the Conqueror ($50):
This special pack commemorates the 75th anniversary of DC Comics. The Starro pack re-creates one of the most famous DC covers of all time, the cover of Brave and the Bold Issue #28, the first appearance of the Justice League and Starro the Conqueror. Comes with all five JLA members featured on the cover as highly articulated figures in the same scale as Infinite Heroes™. Includes Martian Manhunter, The Flash with added articulation, Wonder Woman (all new), Green Lantern (with construct), Aquaman (all new), and giant, bendy Starro. Box features lights and sounds with the voice of Kevin Conroy, TV’s animated Batman, describing the characters and events seen on the cover.
And DC Universe Starro Spores:
As a bonus, and only available at SDCC as a free gift with purchase while supplies last, this poly bag of four Starro Spores is compatible with your 6″ scale DCUC figures. Starro set described above will be sold online after the show, but will not include these Spores.

Sculptures by Thomas Doyle








Sculptures by Thomas Doyle, whose work will be displayed in the "Collateral Damage" show at LeBasse Projects. A few of his sculptures are on sale here. And he talks about his artwork here.

*Previously: Little Horror Show diorama.

*Buy snowglobes at eBay.

A look at griefers in Second Life

HJ:
Second Life, of course, is a virtual world in which the developers provide users with robust tools to build and "script" objects, ranging from clothing and homes to vehicles and weapons. The result is that there is much user created content - some of it very edifying, some of it junk, and some of it obscene. For example, a Second Life griefer group known as the W-Hats had a property featuring giant penises, swastikas, and a "build" with a Death Star blasting the World Trade Center.

...

Another griefer group, called the Patriotic Nigras (PN) routinely engaged in racist and transgressive behavior, targeting clubs inside of Second Life and took credit for griefing the Second Life political campaign headquarters for John Edwards (The W-Hats also took credit. The Edwards campaign blamed Second Life Republicans).

...

The PN actually came into existence in 2005, when members of 4chan ("channers") decided to raid Habbo Hotel, a virtual world aimed at younger children. The channers created black presenting avatars with afros, and surrounded Habbo's virtual swimming pool warning the children that "the pool is closed because of aids." Thus were born the PN, and their slogan (still used) "Pool's Closed".

A griefer organization like that with a permanent presence inside of Second Life was bound to be the virus from which a virtual vigilante group emerged.

...

What perhaps began as a fun exercise in roleplay soon began to go awry. Overzealous Justice League members began abuse reporting heavily, and also began picking fights with unlikely groups within Second Life. For example, the Justice League was banned from Furnation (an area inside Second Life dedicated to players that like to don anthropomorphized animal costumes), because of their excessive vigilantism.

The JLU of course clashed with the PN, but the problem became determining who was really a member of the PN and who was simply in the orbit of the PN. Matters took on fractal complexity when some students of Woodbury University (a real life University with a virtual campus inside Second Life) became associated with 4chan and the PN. In what seemed like a bizarre case of guilt by association, the members of the Justice League took on the students of Woodbury University, at one point successfully getting Linden Lab to shut down Woodbury Island (the virtual campus). Naturally matters quickly escalated.
Part 2:
The Justice League did not merely have a data base on Second Life users. It had a massive data base on Second Life users. It contained 1,700 pages of information and misinformation on users, ranging from chat logs, to presumed real life identities of avatars (including real life information), to a history of the abuse reports that they had filed -- and many many abuse reports had been filed.

Predictably, the content of the Justice League data base was posted on various web sites. Kalel, understandably furious, responded in a scattershot fashion by filing Digital Millennium Copyright Act take-down notices, bizarrely arguing that the chat logs etc were his intellectual property. When some Internet service providers complied, the materials were moved to safer havens in Canada and ultimately Montenegro. Woodbury sympathizers organized the material into a searchable database.

"Authorities break up cockfighting ring in Riverside County"

"Deputies in four-wheel-drive vehicles chased spectators out into the desert, Welsh said. Thirty-two participants were arrested"

Dr. Seuss’s Unorthodox Taxidermy



The Marine Muggs Collection of Unorthodox Taxidermy, based on the work of Dr. Seuss. Apparently going on sale in the future.

The taxidermy below is currently on sale here:









*Previously: Plush Green Eggs and Ham.

*Buy Dr. Seuss' WW2 propaganda collection at Amazon.