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April 30, 2005
Chinaski's Rainbow
Zak Smith's Illustrations For Each Page of Gravity's Rainbow. Illustrating Gravity’s Rainbow is like putting Ezra Pound’s Cantos to music, or writing the novel of a grandmaster showdown—from the point of view of the chess pieces. It is, in other words, a massive task. (Never read it. From Giavasan)
Reductive Literary Equations, for example: Moby dick - genius = Jaws
“Parrots, The Universe and Everything”, a Lecture by Douglas Adams. The complete 87 min. talk at UC Santa Barbara given a month before his death. It’s a speech about the environment and his book Last Chance to See. (Never read him)
Also at "Graylodge" (Try the home page!) - you can download & listen to The Medium is the Massage; with Marshall McLuhan. A Long-Playing Record 1968
Dante's Inferno Hell Test. This test is based on the description of Hell found in Dante's Divine Comedy. Answer the questions below as honestly as you can and discover your fate. Based on your answers, your purity will be judged and you will be banished to the appropriate level of hell. Abandon all hope.
An audio of Charles Bukowski reading a couple of his poems: ‘The Soldier, His Wife and the Bum’, and ‘Fan Letter’. (From Matthew M. Boedicker)
A Portrait of Yo Mama As a Young Man by Andrew Barlow & Kent Roberts
Encyclopedia of gay literature
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him…” Chapter One of you-know-what
Many More Unusual Literary Links Here
April 30, 2005 in Books & Literature | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
No Pope Jokes
A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
The man below says, "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field. " "You must be an engineer", says the balloonist. "I am", replies the man. "How did you know?" "Well", says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's of no use to anyone."
The man below says, "You must be in management." "I am", replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?" "Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A black man is going to get a vasectomy. He shows up to the doctor's office wearing a suit. The doctor says "Why are you wearing a suit?" The black man says "I just got back from a funeral".
“Something Awful” had a contest of Jokes with realistic endings (Many, obviously, offensive. From Famous Author Rob Byrnes)
- "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
- "I think so, Brain, but if it was only supposed to be a three hour tour why did the Howells bring all their money?"
From some TV show called Pinky & The Brain(?)
Many More Jokes and other Funny Stuff Here
April 30, 2005 in Jokes | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
“I struck a match against the door - of Anthony's Bar and Grill…”
Hilton opens The World’s First All-glass Undersea Restaurant in The Maldives. (Previously blogged, Red Sea Star in Eilat)
Chefs who sport tattoos. Cooking ranks with the Navy and the yakuza as one of the great tattooed vocations, though the images sometimes differ. The most committed chefs are known to ink tools and ingredients onto their bodies.
Reasons not to Fire a Waiter. If you are a restaurateur, you might want to think about firing your server who also blogs
A comprehensive guide to Dive Lunches in the Silicon Valley
Toilet humor - A new theme restaurant in Taiwan
JSF's Burger Chef page. A nostalgic look back at one of America's first and finest fast food franchise chains
Menus on flickr. Some old Russian menus
A tour of New York City Oldest Bars
“An Aussie in America” reviews The Outback Steakhouse, your typical American franchise restaurant overlaid with an Australiana theme
'Soup Nazi' plans to franchise his store
”Don’t tip the waiter”. (From Waiter Rant)
Many More Unusual Bars and Restaurants Here
April 30, 2005 in Food - Restaurants & Bars | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 29, 2005
Lists, lists, we got lists
Major League Baseball Franchise History, one of many lists found at Ken Fussichen's Giant List of Chronologies
From Merlin’s lists of Fives: Five terrible fake congressional honorifics, Five things the yuppie on the Harley doesn’t want you to know
JimWilson.com: A site devoted to all the brethren who go by the name of Jim Wilson
Odd Names From Remarkable Names of Real People by John Train (1977)
Funny Name Server. Admit it. As you were looking up a number in the phone book, a funny listing caught your eye. You chuckled at the poor guy whose name is also a curse word. Then you thought, "If I had nothing better to do, what other funny names could I find in the phone book?"
Namely - A list of people whose name makes a complete sentence
Things I Miss About Los Angeles and many other lists from Dooce’s Lists Archives
Vodka Pundit’s Lists of 50 Things, from “50 Words and Phrases Not to Use on a First Date” to “50 Things to be Thankful For”
High concept: 10 New Products For Which Market Research Is Probably Unnecessary
A list of 1,159 Naughty Words. (Caution: A list of 1,159 Naughty Words!)
A list of Current Apple iPod Models. (From ”All Lists Considered”)
Grow-a-brain’s Long List of Unusual Lists Here
April 29, 2005 in Lists | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
The Mystery of Nature
Welcome to Maverick Surfer, your online source to big wave surfing
What is Photosynthesis? Only the most important process on earth.
Hear the sound produced by the Ringing Rocks of Upper Black Eddy, PA
Natural formation that looks like Mother Nature's Tile Floor. About 100,000 years ago a 400 foot thick molten mass of lava cooled and shrunk, breaking into long vertical shafts, each multisided like a pencil, and about a foot and a half in diameter, creating a rock formation known as "columnar basalt." Later a glacier ground its way across the mass, leaving a surface flat as a floor with the long thin parallel scrape marks across it. (From ”Reality Carnival”)
International Carnivorous Plant Society, snaring insects in a blink-of-an-eye
Mysterious People - Who are they?
The Indian legend of the Thunderbird, a cryptozoological mystery. There are many remote parts of the world where humans rarely travel through that can hide a species that hasn't been discovered yet. Here are just a few of the many unknown, undiscovered, mysterious animals that may be out there
Explore Sacred Sites and Ancient Civilizations - Mysterious Places: Easter Island, Stonehenge, Malian Magic
This is the second post composed together with another blogger, this time with Gerard Vlemmings of ”Presurfer”, who provided many of today’s links. (First post here.) Thank you, Gerard! If I get some positive response, I may repeat the process with other bloggers perhaps, and on other topics. Contact me for details.
Many More Unusual Mysteries of Nature Here
April 29, 2005 in Co-blogged with, Nature | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 28, 2005
We are all Losers
US Postal Service celebrates Presidential Election Losers. (From “Worth 1000” Going Postal contest)
Who is Clay Johnson III? “Rolling Stone” reports on what it calls 'Bush's Most Radical Plan Yet,' a three-sentence proposal tucked away in the federal budget that "would enable the Bush administration to achieve what Ronald Reagan only dreamed of: the end of government regulation as we know it."
Laura Bush fun facts: She loves reggae, Bob Dylan, Ben Stiller and Dostoyevsky. She used to chain smoke, has a dark past and may have once been a pothead. She could have been somebody. Instead, she married a Bush.
Propaganda Posters. A Collection of 1400+ posters from Russia, Czech republic, Poland and Cuba
Hippie Switches To Organic Rolling Papers For Earth Day. (From ”Michigan Blog”)
Many More Links About Unusual Crooks, Criminals & Evil Men Here
April 28, 2005 in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Smoking Kills
Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein
Short cuts from Wortel Drie. I like No. 9
“I remember it so clearly, like it was yesterday”, from Overheard in New York
Don Hertzfeldt was Rejected! One of the lowest budgeted films ever nominated for an Academy Award in 2001. In 2004, it was ranked by the IMDB as the 3rd highest rated short film of all time
Natalie Dee is an artist and wife of the guy who draws Toothpaste for dinner. Correction: His sister, not his wife. Thank you, burnsy
The creative abundance of Patricia Storms, illustrator
Wil Forbis about his favorite Roz Chast cartoon
Many More Unusual Comics and cartoons Here
April 28, 2005 in Comics & Cartoons | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Let’s Roll
The Sumo Tube is a new towable that is not connected to the boat. The rider slides into the Sumo suit and holds on to a grab handle on the end of a 60' rope. The rider can roll 360s from left to right, jump the wakes, steer left and right by moving their arms, or just glide across the water's surface
Welcome to the Virtual Toilet Paper Museum, a tribute to that material which plays such an important role in our everyday lives. View our extensive collection of brands from the mundane to the exceeding rare, wondrous toilet-paper-related artworks of unusual beauty, and myriad informational exhibits. Here is The Vintage Collection
Sheriff Armadillo Taxidermy Weird Western Decor on eBay
Puppy Purses doggie carriers
I blogged about Dead malls before. John has some more interesting mall facts
Free After Rebate: computer gear, consumer electronics, office supplies, often 100% off the original price after rebate
Hippy shopper is the UK and Europe's first news blog devoted to greener and more ethical shopping
Many More Unusual Things To Buy Here
April 28, 2005 in Shopping | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 27, 2005
Star Wars Toy Collectors
Do you play chess? Play against Thinking Machine 4, and watch it plot its next move. When the machine is thinking, a network of curves is overlaid on the board, showing potential moves. Orange curves are moves by black; green curves are ones by white. The brighter curves are thought by the program to be better for white. Beautiful!
Star War Toys that never were, by Gobler Toys, manufacturer of Señor Sandwich. (Thank you, Michael). Here is a giant Star Wars Collectors Archive
flickr memory game, but with only 16 squares
The Bootleg Toys Links. The number of toy lines and characters that have been bootlegged is incredible
Wheels O’ Wisdom, four to choose from
On November 16, 2003 a team of Kapla enthusiasts gathered at the National Building Museum in Washington DC to attempt to Break the World Record for the tallest Kapla tower
Heximoes are, as the name so clearly implies, 132 hexagonal dominoes
Dada Dolls, created almost entirely of recycled elements
Booty Babe Art by artist Spencer Davis
The Game of Mao is perhaps best summed up by the statement: "The only rule I can tell you is this one"
NiubNiub’s Toy Collection. NiubNiub's mom says: "when are you gonna grow up and stop buying toys !"
Many More Unusual Games and Toys Here
April 27, 2005 in Games | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 26, 2005
It’s a lovely war
The German Diaspora. Between 1933 and 1942 Wernher von Braun built up what was called the 'Rocket Team' - German engineers, recruited from universities all over Germany, to participate in development of the V-2, the world's first ballistic missile. At the end of the war, those who had experience in this new technology were eagerly sought after by the winning Allied powers. The US, the Soviet Union, and France moved over 400 of these 'Peenemuende Germans' and their families to new research facilities in the powers' respective countries. The work the Germans did at Huntsville, Vernon, and Gorodomlya led directly to the rockets that would take all three nations to outer space… In modern terms, this was the single greatest example of technology transfer in history
The Armour Archive, an on-line Journal devoted to teaching people how to make armour
Interactive conflict maps of the 20th century. Drag the timeline
First there was “Where’s Waldo”. Now here is Where’s Osama
Veri-SEAL. Do you, or somebody you know, pretend to be a SEAL? Check Veri-SEAL’s Hall of Shame to identify any imposters
Bombs over Denver - Handbook for civilians, just in case atom bombs fall
Books go to war: The Armed Services Editions in World War 2. (From ”Good Shit” - source is NSFW)
Unusual Technical Images Of Equipment Used In World War II. Featuring technical cutaway drawings of submarines, ships, aircraft and arms
Blood & Honey, Ron Haviv’s A Balkan War Journal
The journalism and films of John Pilger from Vietnam
Many More Unusual Links About War and About Peace Here
April 26, 2005 in War | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
"Vos enfants sont très beaux. Ils sont adoptes?"
Jen and Scott of “Bridge and Tunnel Club” take photographs, many beautiful photographs, of their walking tours in New York neighborhoods
Going to France? Here are some useful French phrases: "Est-ce que vous êtes ivre?"
Asia Grace by Kevin Kelly. (From ”Information Junk”)
The travel itinerary of John Paul II
Guess the Google Map destination. (Hint: 14305)
Snow in Venice: Here are a slew of pictures of the recent freakish snow that pummeled Venice on February 21, 2005
Rent a German offers a wide range of Germans for your personal and social needs
The Hungry Cyclist, Tom Kevill Davies's inter-continental pursuit of the perfect meal - on a bicycle
The Lost Highway. A collection of photographs, stories, and maps of old, original, or abandoned pieces of roadway that once made up part of the fabric of the highway system today. (From ”Ronsens”)
Welcome to Budapest Gay Guide
Street art above by Dan Witz. Many More Unusual Travel Destinations Here
April 26, 2005 in Traveling Places | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Blogging full-time
In response to Jason Kottke asking for micropatrons who will support him becoming a full-time blogger, ”Idlewords” decided to look for a Macropatron, asking one of his regular readers to contribute the lump sum of three hundred thousand (300,000) US dollars to enable him to quit his job too
Seth Godin about The Long Tail effect; In order to become a popular (successful) blog, it doesn’t matter who you know, like in the old day. Working your way up requires only a few things: Persistence, patience and low overhead.
Part one: Give people 1,000 channels to watch, and they won't all watch the same thing. Give people 1,000,000 books to read, and they won't all want to read a bestseller
The original Wired article article ‘The Long Tail’ - How to find local audiences, and the democratization effect of Amazon recommendations
Five terrible fake LiveJournal memes:
2. If I were a piece of food caught in your teeth, would you pick me out? What kind of food would I be? Would I be delicious even after I’d been trapped between your molars since lunch?
Coming May 9th: Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington is set to launch an interactive, Celebrity Blog, to counter The Drudge Retort
Blogs 101 for businesses, from BusinessWeek Online. "Blogs Will Change Your Business"
Blogging Is Pure Vanity: Profile Of A Vain Blogger
Many More Unusual Blogs and Bloggers Here
April 26, 2005 in World of Blogging | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 25, 2005
Out of a job
Odd Todd is Laid off and he has no money! How does he spends the day? Extremely funny. Help a dude recover
Job outlook, earning potential, training & qualifications for Roman Catholic Priests
"Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not So bad after all… As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wetsuit…"
Current employment opportunities at LucasFilm
Poke around Bob’s cube
Breaking news! Beer Truck Loses Load, Creates Traffic Nightmare. (With photo)
Also, reciprocal backslapping: Lots of traffic and some very nice words from The Steel Deal out of the blue. Thank you, Turman!
Many More Unusual Professions Here
April 25, 2005 in Jobs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 24, 2005
People share their one-of-a-kind collections by opening museums
Frank Zappa sings San Ber'dino. (From Zappa ‘Chalk Pie’ - unreleased album)
Located halfway between the glamour of Los Angeles and glitter of Las Vegas (and just off historic Route 66), Exotic World is the only museum on the planet exclusively dedicated to the art, artifacts and stars of Bump & Grind's Golden Age.
The California Route 66 Museum in Victorville (Next door to the 8-unit building we just sold. From a Press Enterprise story)
The Fox Riverside Theater in downtown Riverside, where the sneak for "Gone With The Wind" had its first public showing
From FUH2, a vehicular mishap, across the street from my house, by the La Sierra University here in Riverside
Parishes in the Diocese of San Bernardino
Freecycle in Riverside, a community-based forums where people give (and get) stuff for, well, free
One of the oldest local blogs: The Orange Empire of Southern California Weblog
Craig List for the Inland Empire
Photo above of the Baptist College here in Riverside. Many More Unusual Stories About Riverside And San Bernardino Counties and about Orange County Here
April 24, 2005 in Riverside & Corona - California | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Camarillo Brillo
On Sale - This guitar was given to Frank Zappa by Jimi Hendrix... and was played by both of them. (Thanks to ”Chardman”)
"Zappa commissioned the making of the famous American quilt made entirely of women’s undergarments. I was fortunate enough to attend a show at the Berkeley Community Theater on the tour that yielded some of the component parts of this quilt.
There were panties strung from both sides of the stage to the bass drums and one panty over each of the holes in front of said drums. Wafting panties marking time as the girls made their way to the stage to give their undergarments to the bass player, who used giant plastic tongs to deposit them on a silver platter which he then passed to Frank. If the garment was deemed worthy, Mr. Zappa would then twirl them on his finger without missing a beat. These gifts were saved for later use. The results were very Frank"...
Zappa's treasure house. Gail Zappa has a hoard of music that could fill a hundred albums - and she hopes to release it, bit by bit. (Thank you, Al)
Zappa Vs. WMD - Silly
Who are the brain police? Many More Odd Zappa Moments Here and Unusual Dylan Links Here
April 24, 2005 in Music - Frank Zappa | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 23, 2005
One way conversation with God
Letters to God: Ami Ben-Bassat developed a simple and elegant way of sending messages to God, combining ancient and modern technologies:
“A website was constructed in which a large number of letters and requests could be collected for delivery to the Heavens Above… Next, we programmed a terminal so that it can "talk" with the website, and automatically print the messages written on the site…
The platform chosen to launch the messages was a cluster of four large helium balloons, measuring 1 m in diameter, which together provided a lifting capacity of about half a kilogram. The cluster was tied to the end of the terminal's thermal paper ribbon, once the terminal itself was tightly bound to the launching table with special strings so that it wouldn't levitate into the sky along with the balloons…” Results of the ascending balloon cluster here.
Many More Ways Of Talking To God Here
April 23, 2005 in Spirituality | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Suicide - Man's way of telling God, "You can't fire me - I quit"
“I lost more than just a bet today…” How Not to Start a Eulogy
A Practical Guide to Suicide: “There are sure-fire plans to kill yourself, but they don't always factor in the character and feelings of the person carrying them out. This is why I have put some emphasis on contemplation and reflection in the Practical Guide to Suicide that I'm compiling: I think it is very important that the person him-/herself is taken into consideration, because any "sure-fire" plan can be disrupted by fear, uncertainty, or just plain self-deception”…
Teen Suicide Prevention ad from a Honolulu school
Lundgren Monuments creates handmade translucent cast glass memorials as an alternative to the traditional granite and bronze headstones
Botched executions. Update: Oops, I Blogged it before. Thank you, Billie
What Kills Billionaires? Billionaires are killed by the same unglamorous things that kill the rest of us: diseases such as cancer, heart attacks, kidney failure and others. The only difference is they may live a little longer. (From ”Inman Blog”)
Hope cemetery of Barre, VT. is an art gallery, celebrating life in the midst of death. (Found on The Dead Zone of New Hampshire)
Frank Rich (NYT) on the sexploitation of John Paul's "culture of life"
Re-post: I love death, a nasty, accurate, funny summation
Many More Unusual Links About Death and Eternity and about Unusual Coffins & Caskets Here
April 23, 2005 in Death & Eternity | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
"How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?"
Peel me a kiwifruit: Kiwifruit that peel like a banana
Dishes with green garlic
Take a Virtual Tour of Salem Sue: The World's Largest Holstein Cow
Steve, Don't Eat it! Vol. 3: Beggin' Strips Sandwich!
Victoria Reynolds meat art. (From ”Geisha Asobi”)
The Safari Collection from Alternative Meats
Slaughtering and Butchering. "Fall is butchering time, a period of joy in the harvest of the year’s work and of sadness that the lives of your beautiful, healthy animals have come to an end." (NO! I’ve been a vegetarian for 35 years now and I don’t think it’s necessary at all)
Many More Unusual Vegetarians and Meat Eaters Here
April 23, 2005 in Food - Meat & Vegetables | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Even though they were in the process of breaking up by the time they recorded ”Dont Let Me Down” on that roof-top, the video from that session is alive with passion
Tragical History Tour. New Rutles Rumor: Dirk Is Deaf and the Rutles Photo Gallery
A small pig is a happy pig, by John Lennon
The incredible true story of one woman's search, discovering her past life with John Lennon
Yellow Submarine action figures. (From ”Ash Tree”)
Meet the Chinese Beatles
From the previously-blogged Karaoke Beatles, a Karaoke version of Revolution 9. (From ”Boynton”)
Peter Lipa, Czech blues singer records The Beatles
(By the way, Davezilla has an excellent moniker for God’s favorite Rottweiler: God's German Shepard!)
Many More Unusual Beatles Links and Unusual Bob Dylan Links Here
April 23, 2005 in Music - Beatles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Lincoln, the hip cat
The infamous "Bohemian Brigade" was a band of reporters, specail artists who formed a social and working group during the Civil War
Paul Ford’s cat. “I rename my cat every month; this month his name is Abraham Lincoln.” Sadly, a month later the cat died
The reanimated bones of Abraham Lincoln give a tour of his childhood home. (From ”Screenhead”)
Project Gutenberg’s cache of Lincoln’s speeches and letters
Photos of Booth’s conspirators
Get yourself a Lincoln bust
Barry Landau, collector of inauguration memorabilia
The newly-opened Lincoln Presidential Museum. A Metafilter thread about the opening of the museum
Yes, Lincoln is hot commodity. Even USA Today says so
Many More Unusual Links About Abraham Lincoln and About Richard Nixon Here
April 23, 2005 in Americana - Abraham Lincoln | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Passover 2005 with 50 cents
Who knew 50 cent was Jewish? Remember your Plagues with Shabot 6000. Update: A slide show of Passover Plague Masks
Arabic Slice - The 1st beautifully-illustrated step-by-step guide to Arabic Cuisine
Zed "Zeddy" Al-Refai, the first Arab to summit Mount Everst. (From ”Black Iris”)
Between December 03 and March 04, Arofish spent 3 months traveling through Iraq and Palestine, painting on the walls and generally making a right mess, to the occasional annoyance of the occupying forces
Jelbab, New look in Islamic women's fashion. (From ”Sunbreak City”)
Palestine won the prize for the saddest photo in the BBC “Sadness and Joy” photography contest
A comprehensive site dedicated to Pinhas Sadeh, my favorite Isareli poet, who died in 1994. (In Hebrew)
Many More Mixed Links from the Middle East Here
April 23, 2005 in Middle East | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
Collecting
An excellent find: The Golden Age of Iron Men - Online Physical Culture Museum. From “The great Eugen Sandow” and Home Gymnastics by Professor Hoffman, to Adolph E.Nordquest and Alexander Zass, "The Amazing Samson"
It may be surprising to some, but people, many people, actually collect fire hydrants
The Odd Couple episode guide
On Tuesday, November 5, 1996, a standard 15 by 15 crossword puzzle constructed by Jeremiah Farrell appeared in The New York Times that the editor, Will Shortz, said was the most amazing puzzle he'd ever seen. Also, The puzzling popularity of Su Doku
A Beginners Guide To Whaling. People have contacted me asking about the art of domestic whaling, and so I’ve decided to set up a small Q&A column, answering at least the most frequently repeated questions. (From ”Ritilan”)
Bizarre Adolf Hilter LiveJournal Mood Icon Set
Some of my friends at work are dummies
George Lucas must be rolling in his grave: Captioned photos from a Star Wars convention
Just in time for the new pope: Online confession booth. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered
Watch it grow. In the beginning, there was Chia Pet. Now, we bring you Chia Puberty - five enchanting Greco-Roman figurines guaranteed to fill your home with the magic of puberty
The Spam Letters - The Book. Featuring 100+ Spam Letters in an easy-to-read, well-organized, travel/bathroom-friendly format. (From ”Life In The Present”)
Google results for The biggest idiot alive
The W Page by “Singlenesia”
Please nominate your favorite blog to The 2nd Annual Best Marketing, Ad, & PR Blog Awards
Many More Unusual Oddities and Crazy linkage Here
April 22, 2005 in Odds & Ends | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 21, 2005
Notorious
Here's a video with the shower scenes from Hitchcock's Psycho and Van Sant's shot-for-shot re-shoot of it transparently overlayed on each other. (From Jwz)
Shooting script of North By Northwest, and some other of Hitchcock Script Collection
A Russian site with Soundtracks of Hitchcock’s movies (Some broken links)
Fashion of the Hitchcock chic. (From ”Quiddity”)
Hitchcock blondes and many other memorable Hitchcock Images. (From “Exclamation Mark”, who has another Hitchcock posting today: Tippi Hedren talks about 'The Birds')
Universal Studio’s Hitchcock site
The Art of Saul Bass and other title designers
• The film only cost $800,000 to make yet has earned more than $40,000,000. Hitchcock used the crew from his TV series to save time and money. In 1962 exchanged the rights to the film and his TV-series for a huge block of MCA's stock (he became their third largest stockholder).
• Robert Bloch's original novel was inspired by the notorious serial killer Ed Gein who was also one of the inspirations for the character of Hannibal Lector (The Silence of the Lambs/Manhunter).
• Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for just $9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could to keep the ending a secret.
• During the shooting of the shower scene, Hitchcock arranged for the water to suddenly go ice-cold when the attack started.
• Hitchcock originally envisioned the shower sequence as completely silent, but Bernard Herrmann went ahead and scored it anyway and Hitch immediately changed his mind.
• The blood in the shower scene is actually chocolate sauce.
• The shot of Janet Leigh flushing the toilet is believed to be the first such shot in American cinema history.
• Hitchcock tested the "fear factor" of mother's corpse by placing it in Janet Leigh's dressing room and listening to how loud she screamed when she discovered it.
• The MPAA refused to pass this film because they claimed to be able to see Janet Leigh's nipple during the shower scene. Hitchcock didn't edit it out, but merely sent it back, (correctly, it seems) assuming that they either wouldn't bother to watch it, or miss it the second time.
• Hitchcock insisted that audiences should only be allowed to see the film from the start so as not to ruin the surprise. This was unheard of back then as people were used to just coming in at any point during a movie.
• After the film's release Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing Diabolique and now refused to shower after seeing Psycho. Hitch sent a note back simply saying "Send her to the dry cleaners".
More Unusual Hitchcock and Unusual Chaplin Moments Here
April 21, 2005 in Cinema - Hitchcock | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack
April 20, 2005
Topiaries
Steve Jenkins’s home theater project
The Ultimate Garage. (From ”Think Bacon”)
“During IAP 2005 First East created a disco dance floor for the concluding Disco Ball of the East Campus Bad Ideas competition. The construction was a week-long effort involving dozens of people”
Zac Ridgely’s unique lightening fixtures
A big collection of old joystick became useless after my Commodore 64 burned up, so i decided to make something useful out of them
Topiaries with Sesame Place motifs
Frank Smith’s Nesting Tables
Canned light. (From ”And far away”)
Many More Unusual Design Concepts Here
April 20, 2005 in Home Decor | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
April 19, 2005
White smoke!
"Fireworks" :25. Written, Directed and Animated by PES
An explosion at a firework factory in Kolding, Denmark
British Fireworks review
July 4th La Cresenta High School Fireworks Display
Holy smoke! New Pope elected!
Many More Unusual Links about Fireworks Here
April 19, 2005 in Fireworks | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Housing Bubble? What Housing bubble?
Housing Bubble? Not that I can see!
Echoing the dot-com boom, many middle-class investors are rushing into real estate
My Sharona Alperin, Beverly Hills Realtor. (From “Blog Quebecois”)
New York City rentals: Rich people all live together
Statistics Reveal The Shocking Truth Behind Real Estate Agent Qualifications : Of 20 professions he compared, from pilot to plumber, from teacher to chiropractor, a real estate agent could qualify to sell homes as a professional to the unsuspecting public with a mere 48 hours of training
Re-post: Directory of Tiny Houses
Property hijackers in South Africa
The Right And Wrong Way To Flip Property
Another Rent vs. Buy calculator. It takes more than looking at your mortgage payment to answer this question. This calculator helps you weed through the fees, taxes, and monthly payments to help you make a good financial decision
From The Wall Street Journal: Three Ways to Find Real-Estate Bargains: Foreclosure of a Tax Lien, Tax-Deed Sales and Handyman Specials (“Fixer-uppers”)
Hendricks & Partners, the nation's largest real estate firm focusing exclusively on the sale of multifamily properties
The Apartment Owners Association
Many More Unusual Real Estate News Here
April 19, 2005 in Real estate | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
Weirdoes & nuts
Cool video of "Keep on rocking in the free world" by Neil Young and Michael Moore
Have a wonderful weekend… and God bless you all! (From ”Wonkette”)
A moment just before the 2000 election, from the Ultimate Whassup Collection
Wombat says: All is one. (Thank you, Dina)
Letters sent to heads of Church and state. (From ”A Collection of Letters”)
James Woolcott on Rush Limbaugh's bizarre outburst against Al Gore and Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ward Churchill speaking at the Anarchist Bookfair in San Francisco on March 26, 2005, 2004. From Photographs taken by zombie at events in the San Francisco Bay Area: Radicalism at its wildest
Many More Odd Political Links Here
April 18, 2005 in Politics | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
April 17, 2005
World of Marbles
Retiring styles of some marbles from Pavliscak Studios in Madison, WI
Hazard Cards is a Danish card game about technological accidents. You can play the game against a computer or you can buy a deck of cards online
For the serious gamer - Gibby’s Game Room
Playtime with Eric Straw
How I made a set of playing cards using nothing but a computer, lots of paper, a solid ink printer, lots of other stuff, and a hammer
Play finger twister on your monitor
Kids build toys from recycled toy parts at Toy Lab Zoo. (More than 2400)
Trivial Pursuit on the decline
Many More Unusual Games and Toys Here
April 17, 2005 in Games | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Maskmaking
The amazing creations of Puppeteer Andrew Kim lend life to inanimate objects
Botero paints Abu Ghraib. (From ”Dr. Menlo”)
Welcome To Altered State Tattoo
The French Flowering Staircase Map (1435-1935) by Timothy Stotz
Rhinoceros by Dutch mathematician Rinus Roelofs
A portrait of Willem De Kooning by Robert Mapplethorpe
A Gallery of Small Paintings by Nicole Hyde
One of a kind mechanical toys and sculpture incorporating found metal objects