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Don't touch that dial: Test Pattern tunes into television, movie, music and pop culture links, as well as gossip and idle chat from around the Web.

Every week, msnbc.com entertainment producers Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, Denise Hazlick, Paige Newman, Kurt Schlosser and Anna Chan weigh in on topics ranging from TV commercials to movie hype to the latest celebrity blunder. We're not ashamed to admit our love for bad TV or reveal what's on our iPods, and invite you to join the conversation via your comments.



Multi-link Monday

Posted: Monday, May 19, 2008 6:00 AM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Filed Under:

While sorting through the comments from while I was gone, I found one person who couldn't believe that I needed to take maternity leave "from an on-line column."

Heh. Oh, if only, my friend, if only this "on-line column" were the one sole thing I did as part of my job. Nice work if you can get it...but I don't know many who can. (Also, I can assure you I'd be posting a LOT more frequently if I devoted 40 hours a week to doing it.)

How about some Monday linkage?

GO, TYPE RACER
This link has been making the rounds, but I didn't try it until now. The online game TypeRacer offers up a quote from a movie or other bit of media and times you as you retype it. It's more fun than it sounds. Note, though, that at least when I tried it, the high-score board was letting people "name" themselves with some fairly offensive words. More incentive to type really fast and shove those losers out of sight, I guess.

CHARIOTS OF FIRE, AND SANDALS, TOO
The late Charlton Heston's sandals from "Ben-Hur" can be yours for a mere $2000-$3000.

IT'S POP, PEOPLE -- FACE IT
The Pop vs. Soda page has been linked up here before, but the debate is eternal: What do you call that carbonated canned beverage -- Soda? Pop? Coke? Tonic? Fizzy water? The answer will always be "pop" to this Minnesotan, who's going to grab a can of pop right now.

STUNNING READ
This doesn't quite fit with the other time-waster links that make up Multi-Link Monday. It's definitely not a waste of your time to read this touching and detailed Esquire article, "The Things That Carried Him," about how our military dead come home for the last time. But if you want something more substantial to occupy those rare breaks at work, this is it. Warning: You might want to read it in chunks, both because it's lengthy and because it might make you cry. I used to subscribe to Esquire and don't anymore, but I'm so thankful I can read this online.

ZIPPED
And another war-related post: Photo gallery of Zippo lighters carried by soldiers in Vietnam. Some of the battlefield engravings are heartbreaking. I also find it interesting that there is apparently a market for fake Vietnam Zippos.

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Comments

I'm just so glad you're back.....
*siiiiiiiiigh*
:)

KendallJaye (Sent Monday, May 19, 2008 1:45 PM)

Have you looked at Pennsylvania on the "pop vs soda" page?   If there is ever a dividing line on this debate it is between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.  Some of the comments just get downright nasty.

Also I have been on both ends of the debate...after the first 30 years of my life living in Wa. State and being used to saying "pop", I got funny looks when I moved to Las Vegas and said the same thing.  There's also a couple of other things I had to get used to....calling toilet paper "tissue" is one thing I can think of.

Steve L., Las Vegas, NV (Sent Monday, May 19, 2008 4:27 PM)

That typeracer is fun, but challenging to get a high score, especially with words that trip me up typing like bicycle (I had that one over and over on one passage, along with bicyclist). I passed the link on to my husband, and we ended up competing against each other once (I won!)  Thanks for some Monday fun!

Julie, Nashville, TN (Sent Monday, May 19, 2008 5:38 PM)

Thank you for staying true to your Minnesota roots! My roommate all 4 years of college (by choice the final 3 years) was from southern Indiana and called everything "Coke". Pepsi was a coke, Moutain Dew was a coke. I counldn't get it though his head that Coke was a brand not a general term (thus Diet Coke). I think I had a positive effect on him over the years, he now only refers to Coca-Cola as Coke.
Pop: 1 - Coke: 0
As a native Minnesotan myself, it will always be pop.

Welcome back. It's been far too long.

JeremyJ (Sent Monday, May 19, 2008 5:47 PM)

Another thought, I currently subscribe to Esquire and that article you posted is a great read for everyone. A little different for this forum, but a great read none the less.

JeremyJ (Sent Monday, May 19, 2008 5:49 PM)

OMG!!! I have so missed Test Pattern!!! I checked a couple of times a month since you left to see if you were back yet...I was beginning to despair. I hope we're doing the commercial contest again this year.  Welcome back!!! =0D

Cinbad (Sent Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:00 AM)

Congrats on the new baby and don't listen to dopes who don't understand why you would want to take maternity leave so you could bond with your new child.

Elisa, Edgewater, NJ (Sent Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:50 AM)



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