April 2007 - Posts
There's a little bit of everything in this week's Multi-link Monday. We've got a "Star Wars" quiz to a goofy magazine from the 1950s to a fun random band-name generator. On the not-so-light side, we've got breathtaking photos of Russian cakes, and a serious resource for those of us still worried about the pet-food recall. Remember, your nominations for future Multi-link Monday sites are welcome. Just post them in the comments. And if yours hasn't been posted yet, I'm likely still working through the submissions.
• Every now and again I can't resist throwing in a link to an online quiz: Which "Star Wars" personality are you? I'm...Queen Amidala? “You are well-educated, strong-willed and have an interest in serving the public. No, you’re not one of those scumbag politicians, you’re really interested in the well-being of the people who follow you. Oh yeah – your outfits and makeup are always fabulous.” Hmm, at least I'm not one of her many stand-ins. (Thanks to my co-worker Mike for the link!)
• Flip through a 1951 copy of Household Magazine, complete with snarky commentary on how things have changed. Scary girdles, full-page ads for Crisco, Jane Russell bowling and more. I still love the 1950s style homes, though I know that in a world of McMansions, many consider them to be too small and dumpy. (Found via Plep.)
• Here's a useful site to help you keep track of the many pet foods that have been recalled so far. This cartoon about the pet-food recalls is hitting a little close to home in my three-pet household.
• Stunning Russian cakes that look more like sculptures. Dentures, an eye chart, a Pizza Hut and more. (Via Boing Boing.)
• Reader-submitted link, from Heidi: "Who hasn't tried to dream up the greatest band name? Now you can randomly generate one." I tried it a bunch of times, and my favorites were Homeless Lobster Jugglers, Anaconda Alliance, and Treacherous Motel. Scarily, I can envision all of those on album covers. Anaconda Alliance and Treacherous Motel might have to be death-metal bands.
It was way back in January that we first started discussing updating MSNBC.com's comic-strip offerings. The much-beloved "Fox Trot" had moved to Sundays only, and "Boondocks" has been on hiatus for months, with no word as to when creator Aaron McGruder might bring the strip back.
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"American Idol" pulled a fast one last night. After host Ryan Seacrest repeatedly promised a shocking finale, the show decided "shocking" could mean "we changed the rules."
On "Idol's" big charity show, it was decided that it wouldn't be charitable to send anyone home. But you could almost see the minds of the producers whirring. They've been in trouble with their audience before, and they surely knew that after millions of viewers paid to support their favorite, those viewers might be demanding their money back if the votes were just thrown out. So they decided to hang onto all the votes and offer up a double elimination next week. CONTINUED >>
Rosie O'Donnell is leaving "The View," but those who can't stand her shouldn't celebrate too much. On today's gabfest, she announced "I love you guys, I'm not going away," promising that while she wouldn't be on the show every day, she'd be making regular visits. "They're not kicking me out, don't worry!" she said.
I don't think anyone was worried about Rosie. If she's proven one thing on her tenure on "The View," it was that no one could boss Rosie around, no one could make her do anything she didn't want to do. She wanted a one-year contract, reportedly, ABC wanted three, and Rosie's not going to budge on what she wanted. CONTINUED >>
No Multi-link Monday on April 23, as I'm out of the office. But feel free to post nominations for sites you'd like me to mention. I'll look at them when I get back.
"American Idol" fans, consider yourself warned. If you haven't yet watched the April 18 episode of "American Idol," otherwise known as 58 minutes of filler and one bit of news, do not, do not, do not, click here. Trust me. On the other hand, if you've watched the show, come on inside, we have a lot to talk about.
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Instead of a long rant on one issue, how about a bunch of short takes on a grab-bag of TV issues?
• Is "Dancing With the Stars" keeping Heather Mills around unfairly simply because her artificial leg makes for a good story? At least one TV critic thinks so, and it's not a bad theory. (Via TV Tattle.)
• Michael Ausiello of TV Guide says "Lost" has planned a May killing spree, and that as many as five characters could bite the dust. There's not a "Lost" fan out there who isn't secretly rooting for their least favorites (mine are Charlie and Kate) to be among them, and hoping their faves survive (writers: do not kill Locke or Sayid, if you know what's good for you).
•"Survivor" is voting its next season off the island, and on to mainland China. Now that might be a twist interesting enough to make me actually watch the show again.
• Speaking of "Survivor," that show's creator, Mark Burnett, is launching a new reality show, "Pirate Master," which is set to debut in May. I only hope there's plank-walking aplenty.
• Thursday is supposed to be Must See TV night, but I'm ready to hand that title over to Sunday. Between "The Sopranos," "The Simpsons," Showtime's new "The Tudors" and the ever-improving "Brothers and Sisters," you need a couple of TiVos to even try to keep up with the action. And I'm not even counting "Desperate Housewives," though I have to watch that for work. (I may be the only viewer out there to say this, but if they got rid of Susan entirely, I would like that show a lot better.)
• It's not time for our commercial contest yet, but one of my nominees for most annoying new ads is the annoying dork who stands up in the bathtub with a sponge on his head and tells his wife to guess who he is. He's Sponge Bob No Pants, get it? Oh, for stupid.
Last week was a crazy week in the entertainment world, with the loss of Kurt Vonnegut, the firing of Don Imus, and the identification of Larry Birkhead as Anna Nicole Smith's baby daddy. We'll miss you, Mr. Vonnegut. The other stories can go away now. Let's move on to our five time-sucking links to start the week off right.
• No one likes those motivational posters, right? (Except maybe Michael Scott of "The Office.") But we love Demotivators, motivational posters for cats (here's another one), and "Star Trek" versions. And here's a page that has one for almost any topic, including crunk, blogging and MENSA. If you're a creative type, you can even create your own.
• 25 great "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strips. They were all great, really, but these are the cream of the crop. I almost forgot about the ones where Calvin envisions himself and Susie Derkins as "Rex Morgan" style drawings.And the whole series about Calvin finding an injured raccoon put a lump in my throat. (Via Ultimate Insult.)
• Easter's over, but did you know each state decorates an egg and sends it to the White House? You can look up your state's egg, plus see all the others, online. Some of them are really impressive (California, Maine, New York, Nevada). Some are rather lame (South Carolina, Mississippi, Delaware, Maryland). And some make you scratch your head and say "huh?" (Louisiana, North Dakota, Tennessee, and most of all, Wyoming.)
• Animal Makers rents all kinds of animal props from TV and movies, including the "Lost" polar bear and Salem, the black cat from "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." (Via Boing Boing.)
• Reader-submitted link, from Vicki:"Here's an interesting site for your Multi-link Monday: The Brick Testament.com. It's the Old and New Testaments rendered in Legos. The 'Reverend' seems to favor the R-rated versions of the Books, and it's doubtful he's an official member of clergy."
The most shocking thing about losing Kurt Vonnegut was realizing he was already 84. Something about that shock of curly hair, the mischievious face, and above all, the accessibility of his writing made him seem forever thirtysomething. We thought we'd have him around forever, that he'd somehow managed to pull a Billy Pilgrim and come unstuck in time.
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People on their vacations in the Bahamas actually tore themselves away from the beach to mill around a courthouse today and wait for news in the Anna Nicole Smith paternity case. They'd have been better off soaking up the sun. The results were what pretty much everyone expected: Larry Birkhead is baby Dannielynn's father, and give him credit, he at least seems legitimately thrilled about the news.
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Time again for Multi-link Monday, our quintet of time-wasting week-starter links. And a note: Since "American Idol" started, I've been posting quite a lot about that show, and some readers are taking it personally. Unfortunately for those who can't stand "Idol," that show is a phenomenon, and writing a TV blog without addressing the 30-million-viewer juggernaut is just not going to happen. And when Multi-link Monday or another topic pulls in a few thousand readers and "Idol" posts get a hundred thousand or more, you can imagine what that tells us. We'll still strive for some variety, but if you simply can't stand to read about "Idol," all I can offer is that you might want to look away until late May. It's not going to be the topic of every post, but it may seem that way sometimes.
• I've linked to other collections of bad album covers before, but in case you just can't get enough, here's the motherlode. Some of them will turn your stomach, so don't surf this at lunch. My favorite, however, is "Ken: By Request Only." Ken is not going to just give concerts willy-nilly! You have to request one! Otherwise, he's busy grooming that 'stache.
• When I'm racking my brains to think of a movie title, I usually scour the Internet Movie Database or try and Google for clues. But here's another option: Find That Film has a very simple format where you can post a description of the movie and hope someone identifies it for you. I love their page of the Top Ten movies that are searched for, including the uber-creepy "Bad Ronald." I think I saw most of these on TV on boring Saturdays when I was a kid. (Via Metafilter.)
• Remember Colorforms, where you could stick reusable images on a storyboard to tell a tale of your own imagination? This is kind of an old-fashioned version of online Colorforms, where you use images to tell a story via a historic tapestry. Neat idea, but I could never get their gallery of already made tapestries to load.
• Children of the 1980s, remember when we feathered our hair to within an inch of its life? Yep, someone had a camera, and those images have been preserved forevermore.
• Reader-submitted link, thanks to Natalie, and of special interest to those who follow our TV commercial contest each summer: "Check out Caveman's Crib, it is hilarious and so much fun. Be sure to click on everything more than once and to search around for hidden funnies. Enjoy!"
On Wednesday's "South Park," which somehow managed to roll up the trappings of Easter with a mystery out of "The DaVinci Code," Marshmallow Peeps made an important appearance. While trying to keep ninjas (!) from killing Stan, the Leigh Teabing character from "DaVinci" puts a box of Peeps in the microwave. They expand, and expand, and finally EXPLODE, sending marshmallowy goo out all the windows and doors of his mansion. Just like real life!
Anyway, Will over at Clicked reminded me that I usually post a batch of Marshmallow Peep links as Easter approaches, and so here goes. (See, people? Not EVERY post is about "American Idol," just ALMOST every post.) CONTINUED >>
The singers on "American Idol" obviously want to hear good comments from every judge. But there's no question whose opinion means the most to them: Simon Cowell's. He may not be universally liked, but he's like the tough teacher feared by all the students. His respect is hard to earn, and it's worth all the more because of it. Paula will always find something nice to say, and Randy will usually join her, but hear a good word from Simon and the "Idols" know in their hearts that they've done well.
So what does it mean for two singers that Simon Cowell has simply refused to comment on their performances any more? CONTINUED >>
Americans love a good conspiracy theory, apparently. And in the case of Sanjaya Malakar on "American Idol," there are as many conspiracy theories as there are viewers. Some blame teenyboppers who are in love with Sanjaya's flowing locks, some blame Vote for the Worst and Howard Stern, some blame the fact that Sanjaya once lived in Hawaii (which gets its own time slot for voting).
Some, of course, cite the fact that Sanjaya is half Indian-American (no one mentions the fact that he's also half Italian-American). And that theory has spawned a related theory: That citizens of India working in call centers for American companies there are flooding the phone lines while they're at work with votes for Sanjaya, out of some kind of national pride. CONTINUED >>
Did you have a nice April Fool's Day? Does anyone even play pranks anymore? Or do we all just play around on the Web all day? Here's our latest collection of five fun Monday links, and remember, you can nominate a link -- just post it in the comments.
• This link is both fascinating and gruesome. This guy bought a McDonald's burger in 1989, stuffed it in his jacket pocket (?), and forgot about it for a year. When he took that jacket out again and found it, he was shocked by how little the year-old burger had disintegrated. Thus began the Burger Museum: He buys a McD burger every year, dates them and saves them. They do crumble and age, but not nearly as much as a homemade burger would. Flipping through the photos is kinda horrifying, but I can't look away.
• Have you see JibJab's latest video, "What We Call the News"? It's no "This Land," or "Good to Be In D.C.," but it's still pretty funny -- especially the bit with Britney's, uh, puddy tat.
• Joe Mathlete Explains Today's "Marmaduke" always makes me laugh. Warning: Some of the entries are R-rated, but if you don't mind an occasional dirty joke or swear word, the site can be a hoot. Here's one of my recent favorites. I also like this one.
• This is a Wikipedia entry, so take the items with a grain of salt, but I found this "Infamous Moments in 'Saturday Night Live' history entry fascinating. Who knew so many one-time hosts or musical acts were banned from coming back? (Via Freakgirl.)
• "Don't make me get my flying monkeys!"
