Tuesday, January 31, 2006

RIP, Coretta Scott King.

Some exciting news before we get to the regular Tuesday links: the Cincinnati library just voted to unionize! Woohoo! The revolution will be cataloged!

The Blue Moon Night Light is meant to create some nice indirect lighting, but many people have pointed out that it's also perfect for kids who are scared of monsters under the bed. It may not save you from these demonic tots which are popping up all over the internet lately, though.

If you've ever dreamed of writing your own mini-manifesto on a tiny screen, this is your lucky day!

Batman meets Lego! Lots of pictures here. I like how the Penguin has tiny faceless penguin minions. I'm also glad Alfred got his own Lego figure.

There's been a lot of talk lately that Disney is trying to replace the original Muppeteers with cheaper, more interchangeable talent. Save the Muppets is a group dedicated to keeping the original Henson company puppeteers and the original Muppet flavor. Check their site for more information.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Time for the Monday links about the arts...

Architecture: check out Beijing's new National Swimming Center, which will be in action during the Olympics. It looks amazing.

Literature: why do well-established professors and the like plagiarize, anyway?

Music/Audio: Podzinger is a search engine for podcasts. It's a whole new world out there!

Past art: Two Caravaggio paintings have been found in a French church.
Present art: Cabinodd is fantastic. And look at all the artists they feature!
Future art: Recolored is a free (for now) application that colors in black and white photos. Wow.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Today: links from others! Thanks, everyone!

From Holly: a man in India has been living in a tree for over 15 years. Um...

From Glenna: John Kerry supports a filibuster against Alito. It doesn't seem likely to happen, but hope springs eternal. Also from Glenna, a quiz which analyzes what your music tastes say about you. I took it and it seemed to tell me I didn't like music very much, which is a LIE, so be warned!

From Jase: if you're looking for something to do in Cincinnati tonight, why not check out this excellent photography exhibition?

From Daniel, whose email was so fun that I'm quoting the whole thing here:

[Evo Morales], the newly elected Bolivian president rocks!

He's the first indigenous leader of Bolivia, he's cool, and he greets other world leaders wearing whatever he's comfortable in. A week or so into his new job he's already famous for meeting all kinds of suit-wearing presidents and kings in his favorite sweater.

The world is stunned and unable to compute.

Evo fashion go!

Also from Daniel: a touching short film titled Fear of Girls, or True Love is But a +2 Broadsword Anyway. Hee.

And lastly, Kubrick action figures demonstrate the awesome task that is website development. Former web designers concur that this is actually a very close simulation of the process.

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you Monday.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Well, that was fun. Blogger was out of commission for a while there. Happy belated Australia Day!

History news: archaeologists have discovered a 3,000-year-old tomb underneath the Roman Forum, and over in Turkey they've found the original harbor of Constantinople. The latter is causing some issues, as it's directly beneath a planned rail system...

More history news: Mozart's 250th birthday is this Saturday, but Austria's celebrating all year long. It's not too late to plan a trip!

In the (dubious) name of discovering one's heritage, you can put your photo into a face recognition program and find out which celebrities you most resemble. I tried mine and got Nicole Kidman (er?), Bollywood star Kajol, and...Keanu Reeves. So apparently I resemble someone from Australia, India, or Hawaii. Seeing as how I'm all Irish and German, with a tiny bit of Scottish, Welsh and Prussian thrown in, I don't put a lot of faith in this analysis.

Meanwhile, a Chicago politician changed his name to something more Irish-sounding in an attempt to get elected. Hee!

And lastly, in library news, check out the Librarian's Guide to Etiquette. I admit that I did have some READ posters up, back in the heady days immediately after getting my MLS. (Well, I had one, and it was REM, so I think that still gives me some indie cred. I gave the rest to people as gifts, which probably takes any cred away.)

Tomorrow: links from others!

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Today it's all about the spooky...

Remember Dead Body Guy, who not only was discussed on Folderol a few weeks ago but also posted a comment? Good news! He's landed a part as a dead guy in a movie! Congrats!

I'm not watching 24, but I know people who are, and they may be intrigued by the JackTracker, which uses Google Maps to track Kiefer's movements from hour to hour.

In Alberta, they've taken the Harry Potter obsession to its natural conclusion, and opened the Northern Star College of Mystical Studies. How cool is this?

A bizarre fish with a tail has washed ashore. When asked for opinions, my sources said, unanimously, "Dagon." (It turns out that the name of Dagon has roots as an ancient mythological fish-god. Who knew? Thanks, Mr. Graveworm!)

And finally, we have watched some seriously weird movies in the name of Meet Cleaver Theatre research. But we have yet to see The Calamari Wrestler. I think we should fix this ASAP!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Beware the 24th of January, for the powers that be have determined that today is the most depressing day of the year. (My birthday last week is also known as National Nothing Day. January people get no respect.)

Also, having kids may depress you further. I think they tend to cause more anxiety than depression, myself.

And if that doesn't get you down, guess what? The robots are coming!

Don't worry, though, I bring you some stuff to cheer you up. You can bounce Kevin the penguin off planets (or get him stuck in orbit) while slingshotting him back to his little penguinzed ship. Or you can explore the MEGOMuseum, which just keeps adding stuff!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Quick bits today...

Artist of the week: Jeppe Hein. The Distance exhibit sounds like all kinds of fun.

Literary hoaxes in America are nothing new, say the Australians.

The good folks at McSweeney bring you Wholphin, a magazine in DVD format. Really!

If you've ever wondered where exactly a certain movie script is kept, wonder no more.

And finally, your moment of cute: Daily Kitten. I know it's corny, but man, the kittens are adorable.

Friday, January 20, 2006

This just in: "A man on a train called in to say he might have been hallucinating, but he had just seen a whale in the Thames. " And it's true!

From Holly: a hamster and a snake make friends. This is also true. Soon we're going to have cats and dogs living together, and it's going to be mass hysteria!

Found on ookee: the ultimate battle that is...Ninjas Vs. Pirates.

Washington may be out of the playoffs now, but Clinton Portis's strange characters live on in this tribute.

Sick of bands trying to befriend you on MySpace? Now you can mock them instead via the fantastic Monsters of MySpace! Whee!

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. See you Monday.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

More news about the "radical militant librarian" label: the pins and t-shirts are coming! The offerings from ALA look kind of crappy (in my opinion; maybe you're into that sort of look), but the Librarian Avengers have a great version. I think a bumper sticker would be grand.

Cool find of the day: The End of Cyberspace weblog.

If you're in Canada, you can go to Starbucks today and have a Latte for Literacy. Why don't U.S. Starbucks have something similar? Are we anti-literacy?

The New York Public Library has built a new fantastic-looking library for the Bronx. It's even environmentally friendly.

The UK Guardian lists their top 20 geek novels. I've read seven, but I think we have nine in the house. We are well on our way to geekdom! Huzzah!

Tomorrow: links from others. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Folderol says hello through penguin gyrations. You can create your own message as well and put the penguin through his paces. So to speak.

For Star Trek geeks: the Star Trek Tube Tour of London!

For geography geeks: Guess the Nation. I got 814, which I think is pretty bad. (You can use the options on the side for hints.)

For followers of nontraditional religions: the Spiral Scouts organization is an alternative to the Boy or Girl Scouts. It looks like a lot more fun, actually. I don't know if they sell cookies, though.

For even more extreme followers: hey, a real live Satanist is running for governor of Minnesota!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Today we're all over the place. We get back into the regular posting schedule tomorrow!

The grammar police are apparently called the Green Ink Brigade over in the UK. I think I like that moniker better.

Metafilter has spawned the Metafilter Projects page, which has some great links. I found Role Playing Public Radio through there, and how can you pass up something like that?

Dr. Who is coming to the Sci-Fi Channel! Hooray! No more scrambling about trying to find episodes online! Er, not that we would do such a thing.

The Fark photoshoppers are at their best when they deal with movies and toys and books. Their interpretation of Sesame Street's Bert as an action movie star is no exception. (The Indiana Jones one is especially good.)

Gwar is bizarre. Gwar action figures promise to be even weirder!

I was trying to explain the bug vacuum to Bunny over the weekend, and found the product page this morning. It's nice to bugs and even gives budding zoologists a chance to study the catch before releasing it into the wild...or their sister's bed.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Today: Links from others! Thanks everyone!

From Danny: the U.S. arrests a Leaether Strip fan who had the words 'suicide bomber' written in his journal. Nice. Welcome to the police state that is the U.S. in the 2000s. (As Danny says, at least Leaether Strip gets some promotional value out of the incident.)

From Holly: Tomorrow is Official Dress Up Your Pet Day!

Also from Holly, and on the local media here: a Cincinnati woman dies and is kept up in a room for over two years, because she thought she would come back to life. Er. Yeah.

From a few library types: Librarians are very very stressed out. More than firefighters! More than police officers! Don't mess with us!

From Bunny: TikiBar TV is fantastic. Watch it. Now! I'm stressed, dammit!

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you Monday, or maybe Tuesday. (We get Monday off, plus it's my birthday, so who knows what's going to happen that day...)

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Hey, librarian is one of the coolest job options for 2006! Right above...clergy. Er?

Apparently I am a rotten librarian, because I took the "are you a librarian?" quiz (found on librarian.net) and ended up with a score that qualified me for "bookstore employee." I want to take a quiz asking "are you a law librarian?" and see whether I've just become extremely specialized over time or if I should look into selling pencils on the street instead.

Ben Franklin turns 300 this year (well, he would if he was still alive), and the search engine Clusty is paying tribute to the man.

The YouTube website has been nicknamed "the Flickr of video." I hadn't heard of it till now, but it looks to be interesting.

If you're looking for an alternative to Google Earth, Map24 now offers 3-D visualizations of an address. I tried my workplace address and found that it worked really well. (Okay, I was sort of hoping for an actual 3-D simulation of the building, but that's a little extreme.)

Best library weblog name ever: Dead Fish and Unnamed Substances. I wonder if these people work at the same library Bunny did a few years ago, or if some librarian types are the same no matter where you are.

Tomorrow: links from others!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Also, news from the Mazes & Monsters world: Author Rona Jaffe has died. Bunny has the scoop over on the site.
The creator of LSD is turning 100. Who says drugs are bad for you?!? (I'm kidding. Please don't send hate mail.)

In keeping with the hallucinatory theme...the National Library of Medicine is co-sponsoring an exhibit on the nature of the Frankenstein monster; an excerpt from the excellently named Hypochondriac's Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have talks about feeling like you're on fire; another books explores the physics of fairy tales; and Pretty/Scary celebrates smart, pretty, scary women in horror.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Google Video has some sort of arrangement with the Archive of American Television, and as a result you can see a brilliant (and long - six parts!) interview with Carroll Spinney, aka Big Bird, online. There are other Sesame Street puppeteer interviews that will hopefully be added soon as well. Woohoo!

I had no idea the Star Wars kids pages were so cool. You can make droids! And test your music identification skills! And more!

More geeky fun: you can choose your own adventurous toppings with the help of the Pizza Dice (between this and the four-way rubber bands, also pictured, I love Flying Buffalo) and then serve the pizza on plates which look like Photoshop color grids. Awesome.

Has anyone tried this little gadget which apparently enables transfers from cassettes and albums to mp3 format? I have a zillion mix tapes that I want to convert.

And lastly, make your own subway service sign. You can be as polite or as rude as you like!

Monday, January 09, 2006

Today we have a little bit of artiness for everyone:

In music: a giant list of classical and opera music used in movies.

In literature: James Frey's book became a bestseller when Oprah discovered it. Now the Smoking Gun has discovered that most of it is wildly exaggerated. It'll be interesting to see what comes of this.

In art: perfumes and deodorants inspired by Salvador Dali! Maybe the fumes make you see melting clocks.

In crafts: Knitta Please is graffiti with yarn, sort of.

In fashion: Hel Looks is the Harajuku of Finland, only not quite so crazy. It's a lot colder there, after all. But there are some definite distinctive looks to be found as you page through!

Friday, January 06, 2006

Happy Epiphany, everyone! The three kings have made it to the manger and it's time to burn the Christmas tree. If you're into that sort of thing, that is.

The Club Creatures send in the amazing news that Pete Burns (of Dead or Alive fame) is on the UK's latest Celebrity Big Brother. This is going to be...interesting. So far the forums are buzzing about Pete's statements on fur, his appearance, and, er, rugby, and it's only Day 2 of 21. The eBayers are also cashing in, selling Pete Burns paper dolls for marked-up prices!

(Also on the show: Dennis Rodman and someone named Maggot. Maggot???)

Speaking of flamboyantly fun people, has anyone been watching Clinton Portis's press conferences? He has a new character and costume every week. It's enough to make you want the Redskins to make the Super Bowl, just to see what he does.

From Bell: a hyperspace method of traveling to Mars? Have they been reading Bell's stories?

Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. See you Monday.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Today I am carrying books down to storage. This is a project I should have started a long time ago, so the pile of books to lug about is now gargantuan and sort of overwhelming. Therefore, I am making you work as well! No passive reading here! These are links urging you to do stuff! (Well, most of them.)

Tomorrow: links from others. I think. If anyone sends in any. Otherwise, it'll be a grab bag.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Happy birthday, Bunny! Welcome to the world of 33! See, it's not so bad.

It's also the birthday of Louis Braille. So sayeth Google, anyway. In Braille, no less.

For the morbid millionaires among us, Teardrop Memories has some beautiful things. The rest of us will just muddle through somehow. (It's still fun to look at all the stuff.)

Danny points us to the great Edge Question Center. This year's question is about dangerous ideas. Very very cool! Vive les dangerous ideas!

There was an explosion on the moon recently, and here's what it might have looked like. (Love the space art. What, there were no real photos?)

Were celtic crosses, henges (a la Stonehenge) and pyramids all ancient navigational tools? I think this is a brilliant idea. I hope it's explored! (Note to Jack Beltane: even if this turns out to be wrong, I think you should write a story about it.)

The Ghost Whisperer TV show is based on the real-life adventures of an Ohio medium/psychic/whathaveyou...that we've actually talked to! How cool is that?

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Happy New Year, everyone! Today is the last catch-up day of the links. We get back on schedule tomorrow. For now, it's all goofy stuff. To wit: