Category Archives: Entertainment

Happy Video Game!

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According to http://www.sploid.com/news/2006/03/bob_ross_the_vi.php Bob RossSploid, Bob Ross, the world-renowned landscape artist, will be immortalized in a Happy Happy Video Game! All the actual artists I know are nuts about this guy; he's their Madonna, their touchstone and talisman, if not their benchmark.

With his preternaturally calm manner, his love of nature and a perfectly round Afro, Ross taught the world to paint "happy little trees," "happy little clouds" and "pretty little mountains."

We are lucky enough to live an age where his influence on the art world need never end.

Today in “should come free with every World of Warcraft avatar” news

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I know this device is for the autistic, but surely we can think of a few other groups who could use this. Copy and paste into word and use Edit-Replacewith to delete "autistic" and plop in "inlaws," "blustering entrepreneurs," or "people with dubious personal hygiene living in their parents basements." Hours of fun for the whole family.

Device warns you if you're boring or irritating

  • 29 March 2006
  • NewScientist.com news service
  • Celeste Biever

A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help people with autism relate to those around them. It will alert its autistic user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed.

One of the problems facing people with autism is an inability to pick up on social cues. Failure to notice that they are boring or confusing their listeners can be particularly damaging, says Rana El Kaliouby of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's sad because people then avoid having conversations with them."

Badclone

Doesn't the whole thing still apply when you do this:

A DEVICE that can pick up on people's emotions is being developed to help geeks relate to those around them. It will alert its Babylon 5-obsessed user if the person they are talking to starts showing signs of getting bored or annoyed. One of the problems facing people with an unstoppable tendency to quote extensively from Monty Python routines is an inability to pick up on social cues. Failure to notice that they are boring or confusing their listeners can be particularly damaging, says Rana El Kaliouby of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's sad because people then avoid having conversations with them."

Sad, yes, but only right and just.

Obey the Hat!

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for sale from The Role Playing Game Shop:

http://www.rpgshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=38053

The Cthulhu hat. One size annihilates all.

Cthulhu hat

Google Rules!

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Well, not technically. Yet. But b3ta is running a contest to photoshop what the world would look like if Google ran it. The consensus:

It looks pretty good of you’re in school.

Google Book

 

Not so good if you’re in China:

Google China

 

And really, really bad if you’re in the market for advice:

 Dirty Harry Google

So, no change.

Squidsicle

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Now for some frozen cephalopoddy goodness. Looks like this Giant Squid, caught off the coast of New Zealand last year, has finally gone on public display.Aussie Giant Squid In contrast to the public coming-out of Archie the London Giant Squid, Damien Hirst’s people were not consulted. Perhaps a bit of We’ll Show Those Toffeenosed Poms A Thing Or Two About Publicly Exhibiting Your Squid…I’m sure no-one on Earth with any degree of experience doubts either the ability or the inclination of Aussies to publicly exhibit their squid at the slightest provocation.

This Squid was frozen in a block of remarkably clear ice. Really, how do they get it like that? It would soooo improve the look of my cocktails if I could just get all the bubbles out, or force them to form pretty patterns or something, like maybe a monkey wearing a fez. Really, is there any illustration of a monkey that isn’t improved by the addition of a fez? I think not.

 

Giant Squid. It’s a blog entry about Giant Squid.

 

This poor bugger doesn’t even have a name. I wonder, when they brought him into the country, if they even gave him a prisoner number! I wonder, too, given that the critter is huge, terrifying, and originally from New Zealand, if Peter Jackson has signed up the film rights? Does this Squid have an agent?

 

Here’s the hot poop on the cold Squid:

The 7 metre squid is frozen in time in the world’s largest man-made block of ice and is on display as part of the Monsters of the Deep exhibit. The exhibit also features live cuttlefish, bioluminescent fish and octopus hidden in dark, eerie caves and rare footage of a live Humboldt Squid, filmed off the coast of Mexico.

Awesome! How did I miss this??? Is it too late to book a ticket?

Over the decades, tales of the Giant Squid have ranged from just a little creepy to absolutely mind-boggling! One of the most amazing stories is that witnessed by the crew of a Soviet tanker in 1965, which came across a battle between arch enemies, the Giant Squid and the Sperm Whale. The fight continued for some time and finished far below in the depths of the ocean. Eventually the strangled body of the 40 tonne whale was found floating with the Giant Squid still wrapped around its body. But the Squid did not win – its head was later found inside the stomach of the whale!

Find out about other stories like this at Melbourne Aquarium, where historical newspaper articles will be on display, revealing more chilling escapades of the Giant Squid and other Monsters of the Deep. Giant Aussie Squid On Ice