Scarface School Play

It's too good to make up. So it must be real.

Don't ask

And if you really must, go here, but this Flickr collection is.....complete and troubling.

8-bit Jesus

How many apostles can you earn?

Play here.

The game was created by Paolo Pedercini for the Experimental Gameplay game development project. Each month, a group of game designers quickly develops games based on a theme. This game's theme: lasting no more than ten seconds.

#2 with a short bullet

You'd think that if a song was kept out of the top spot in the 1970s by Debby Boone and the Bee Gees that it's a classic. Do you think "Short People" is a classic?

I remember liking it very much when it came out in 1977, when being contrary was becoming an integral part of my personality. I thought the song narrator's nastiness set it apart from other pop hits. (I also liked -- and bought the 45 for -- Ray Stevens' "Shriner's Convention," so don't put too much critical weight behind that contrariness.)

It seems inconceivable now that the song stayed on the charts for 29 weeks and peaked at #2. But I guess it's equally amazing that "You Light Up My Life," which kept Newman from #1, was such a huge hit when viewed retrospectively. It's a hymn, for God's sake!

What have I learned? The Eagles played and sang backup on the song. A bill was introduced in Maryland to ban the playing of the song, but didn't pass. (Is there something about Maryland I don't know?) And the writer thought it "was the worst kind of hit anyone could have. It was like having 'Purple People Eater.' I'd try to watch a ball game and the band would play the song and the announcers would make jokes about it. It was too noisy. I prefer quiet money." Personally, I think that quote is funnier than the song.

If I was a good blogger, I'd post a link to Randy singing it on Youtube, but I can't stand to listen to it more than once.

Spanking Good Coffee

A unicorn for your bicorn needs

Available here

Chariots of Tire

Hey, you got your bicycle in my rollerblades!

Check out the FAQs ("Do they have breaks?") and videos for the "Chariot Skates."

Your eyes won't procrastinate....

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

...but your mouse hand just might. As the director mentions, "Sometimes the only way to get something done is to do two dozen other things first."

No title needed

I don't think this really needs further explanation. (But I do wonder how many takes they had to do.)

Paperbacks with an Order of Bling

It's been a long time since Amazon was just about books. Now, however, why bother bumping shoulders with folks grubbing through jewelry counters when you can pick up your precious gems with a mouseclick at your trusted online literature retailer? And if you're wavering on the purchase, you might make sure the vendor offers Free Super-Saver Shipping.



I particularly enjoyed this comment on the 5.25 cttw Amethyst Ring by Effy Collection®, reduced from $1,058,399.00 to a mere $544,299.00. (Click on the image.)

Walk a mile in my mitre

Via the Marginal Revolution blog comes an attempt to "apply social-science reasoning to understand the Church’s choices on numbers and characteristics of saints, gauged by location and socioeconomic attributes of the persons designated as blessed."

I didn't even attempt to figure out the math, but enjoyed the same phrase, in the following quote, that the poster did. "Thus, there is a little evidence that popes experience saint-making fatigue as their tenure in office lengthens."

Boba Fett vas nicht

These ads are run by classesUSA, an "online higher-education portal," according to their website.

They remind me of the HeadOn commercials, which succeed by being annoying or perplexing. Why would moms be seduced back to school by the sight of a scraggly, bearded guy?

This busy bearder has also sold insurance regulation and government refinance relief to homeowners. And thanks to his support of the California auto insurance industry, we know a little bit more about him.

ps: I stole the "more info" thing from here.

pss: a Google search for "bearded guy in ads" returns 2 million+ results