The Beatles Cartoon

Were you aware that there was a Beatles cartoon for a brief period in the Sixties? In addition, were you aware that it was hysterically bad? As in, you couldn't watch more than 30 seconds without coming across a gag so shameful that you will never hear another Beatles song the same way again. Seriously. Check out the first minute of this (dare you to watch the whole thing without gagging):

I found this cartoon on Guba.com, a worthy site (you can pay to watch real TV shows, but there's a veritable goldmine in the free videos). I give it nine thumbs up. That's my personal seal of approval.

Museum Replicas

Depressed? Have a touch of the ol' malaise? Maybe you need a HELMET. Not just any helmet, mind you. A legitimate King Leonidas Helmet ("THIS IS SPARTA!" That guy). Welcome to where I've been hanging out for the last three days, Museum Replicas. They painstakingly contact the creators of such props as the Magneto Helmet, the Snake Eyes sword from G.I. Joe (It's actually a very excellent sword), and other collectibles from Hollywood and the small screen. Looking for a tricorn (hat from Pirates of the Caribbean)? They have it. Looking for a Viking helmet? They got it. They aren't joking around either. These pieces are legitimately researched and recreated merchandise, i.e. I don't think there's a single item on the site under $100. But looking is still free, so stop by and check it out (Guess what the most expensive thing on the site is. Go on. If you said an awesome katana, not only are you right, you're my kind of person).

Steampunk

I've always loved the steampunk genre, ever since I read three H. G. Wells novels in less than a week for a late school project (I got an A-minus. Shiny). For those unaware, it began as a literary genre exploring what the world might have been if technological development stopped at the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, hence the name. Everything would still be powered by steam engine. There are those, however, who believe it should be more than a genre. It should be an entire culture, with it's own fashion, language and social groups. It stems from a love of the antiquity of artifacts from that era. As an example, trains, when invented, were messy, inefficient behemoths. As they progressed technologically, they became works of art, with gilded inlays and mother-of-pearl... things on them. In our generation, technology skipped that Golden Age. I'm paraphrasing from another source that I can't now find, but computers went from "buzzing beige cubes to buzzing shiny cubes". Steampunk is an attempt to recapture the non-existent antique past of modern technology. Here's more from my personal hero, Datamancer:

If you'd like to know more about steampunk, try Brass Goggles. It's a wonderful blog (shown briefly in the video) about the subculture, and has dozens of links.

By the way, if you've seen either "The Wild Wild West" or "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", I would like to say that though the technology is exemplary of steampunk, the plot and acting of both have nothing to do with us.

Flight Of The Bumblebee

Pachelbel's Canon In D

For those of you who haven't heard of Johann Pachelbel's Canon In D: Yes you have. You might not have known the name of the original song, but you knew it. It follows a very specific and common set of chord progressions. VERY common: On a related note:

Corkscrew Of The Gods

Take a look at this: "What is it?" I hear you cry. That, friends, is a corkscrew. From the looks of it, a pretty nice corkscrew. How much would you pay for such a nice corkscrew? But wait; first watch this video detailing all of it's features. NOW how much would you pay? $100? $200? $500? No. Today, you can buy this corkscrew for the low, low price of about $70,000. Words cannot do my fury justice. Here's the website.

Bunny

For all those who enjoy a sometimes sad, sometimes witty, sometimes beautiful, but mostly surreal slice of life, I present to you: Bunny. A Webcomic.

David Lynch

Some of you might have seen the PlayStation 2 ads a couple of years back and thought that the advertisements were a little... weird. That's because they were all the idea of one man, a Mr. David Lynch. David Lynch has directed such jaw-dropping films as Blue Velvet and Eraserhead. He concentrates on surreal and often nightmarish themes in his work and as an example, I offer two ads. One he did for Parisienne cigarettes and one for the PS2. I love the animation in the second one, and though unlikely to give you nightmares, it won't be a commercial you forget soon.

Inhuman Rampage

Have you ever found yourself secretly desiring some old-school Pretentious Rock? If you are unaware of this burgeoning genre, it's probably because I just made it up. Under the blanket of Pretentious Rock, you will find such bands as Axxis, DragonForce, Nightwish, Phoenix Reign, and Symphorce. Almost any power metal band with double letters, ümlauts, mythical animals or some word made of two other words in the title.

The reason I bring this up is because I found the song "Through The Fire And Flames" by DragonForce on my computer and I spent the last seven minutes and twenty-one seconds rocking out while feeling the epic waves of righteousness turn my mind to excellence. If, like me, you haven't really listened to any Pretentious Rock, here's as good a place as any to start: Inhuman Rampage

The first song is the best.

The Zeusaphone

There's a new big thing going around the web. It's called a Solid State Musical Tesla Coil, although two suggested names were the Thoramin (geeky AND excellent) or the Zeusaphone (Nice). It works by switching on and off the sparks at high enough frequencies that they generate tones, which can be used to make music. The sparks themselves are making the music, not the towers. Observe the glory that is MUSIC: And maybe some "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies": And "A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head To The Left" by Andrew Bird: And a lower quality but nonetheless impressive video of some other guy doing the "Ghostbusters" theme: Oh, alright. How about the theme from Tetris:

Slow Motion Montage

Those with an understanding of fluid dynamics are people far better than I. If asked to explain how all this awesome stuff happens, I would have to throw in with a magic theory of some kind.

German Weather Lady

I, for the life of me, can't figure out what's so funny. Regardless, I can't help but laugh every time I see this:

All My Nightmares Have Returned

If you were born anywhere around the late 80s, early 90s, you may regress to a state of gibbering panic (I have a crippling phobia of clowns, so I was peeking through my fingers sobbing for that last bit):

Childhood Brain Modification

Can you remember back when you were little, you used to press your hands really hard against the inside of a doorway for like, thirty seconds and then step out and feel your arms slowly lift towards the ceiling? No? Then go do it. RIGHT NOW. I'll wait. Wasn't that great? Now imagine a website that acts as a collection of all that cool stuff you used to do when you were a blissfully ignorant child. It's right here. The site has a bunch of stuff from the site's author, but 90% of it is user comments on other stuff you can do. You wouldn't believe how much this could fill an empty day. On a slightly related topic, watch this (don't look away) until it tells you to stop. Then look around the room. Try looking at your hand, then at the floor while you walk. Very cool:

Interactive Fiction

Today I'm going to delve into the world of interactive fiction, or IF. Interactive Fiction is kinda like a video game, but it was invented long before graphics had any place in gaming. As a result, all interaction in the game takes place through text. A room or situation is described, then you can interact with the game world by typing what you want your character to do. The amazing thing is the sheer number of games that can be found absolutely free online.

While a lot of the games were written in the 70s (when IF was invented), most games are written by modern-day aficionados of the style. This is mostly because it's a simple outlet for ideas that doesn't take a lot of hard work to program. Where a normal person could take months to design and create even a simple, buggy platformer, a pretty good "text adventure" can be written in hours (once you know the language).

And so, here is my IF primer. There are a couple of platforms on which the games are written, the two biggest being Z-code and TADS. There are some advantages and disadvantages to each, so I'll let you figure out which you like best on your own (IF purists tend to like Z-code more). There are dozens of interpreters for all the languages, but here are the best:

Mac users, get Spatterlight. It plays every single game I can find (You need OS X 10.3.9 or better).

Windows users, try Gargoyle. It's supposed to do the same thing as Spatterlight, but I don't know if it works (I don't have Windows). Drop me line in the comments below. I will modify this post accordingly.

The games are easy enough to find, just Google "Interactive Fiction", but just in case, I'll give you some links to the best games:

Little Blue Men: For those who love to be so scared they never, ever sleep again (You can reach an ending in about 10 moves, but there's so much more to it).

Photopia: For those who aren't good at puzzles, or just like their games to be artistic.

Pick Up The Phone Booth And Aisle: For those who love to laugh out loud. My favorite game (if you're confused, it's based on two other games, Pick Up The Phone Booth And Die & Aisle. But even if you don't know those, you'll laugh. Also requires some basic IF commands beginners might not know).

Shade: For those who like to be creeped out by their games (one of the first I played. Not for nighttime).

Spider & Web: For those who love puzzles and twists in their storylines.

Worlds Apart: For those who love to explore.

And to finish off this extra-long post, I'll give you some of the best IF links on the web:

Baf's Guide to IF (highly recommended)

IFWiki

Inform (if you want to write your own Z-code game)

Enjoy!

How To Solve A Rubik's Cube

I always felt bad for that other guy (you know the one) who helped design the Rubik's Cube. He was equally responsible for the success of the world's greatest puzzle and his name has been forgotten. Or at least I forget it. Anyway, here's a helpful little tidbit: A seven step solution to solving any Rubik's Cube. Doesn't seem like it will work, but it does. Did for me, anyway. And here it is. Can't nobody say I never did nothing for you guys.

P.S.: His name was Terutoshi Ishigi.

How To Properly Hug A Baby

It is simply astounding, the amount of pure... stuff on the internet. Trust me, you'll like it. Click here.

Fractals

Math can be many things: boring, pointless, and a waste of your time. But dig this: it can also be beautiful.

Fractals are visual representations of a certain kind of mathematical formula, one that repeats itself over and over again. The math behind it can be complex if you don't know some basics, so I won't go into all of it here. Suffice it to say the results are breathtaking. I found a free application (It works with Mac OS X, Windows and all kinds of Linuxes, so you have no excuse) that provides real-time fractal zooming. XaoS (the app) can show you any part of any fractal at any depth or iteration (download it and you'll understand).

If you're unsure of whether or not it's worth your time, I am pleased to direct your attention to Blatte's Pages. Now, I'm not sure who Blatte is, but I do know that he/she/it/they design the best fractal art I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot. Here you go. The Fractals page is good, but the Backgrounds are the best.

P.S.: The pic is one of Blatte's. "Attraction", from the fifth background gallery. It's of the Mandelbrot set, the most famous fractal.

Mark Silverman

I know that country music is on the decline and many people who still enjoy it couldn't tell a wiki from a forum or a blog from a hole in the ground.

Nonetheless, I have found an artist worthy of the label "oddio". Mark Silverman has written many songs you wouldn't want to show to, say, your grandparents ("Slut Song", "Porno Burger", "The Killing-The-President Song") or anyone religious ("Jesus Loves Everyone", with the refrain "except for you", or "Put Your Faith In Jesus", with the chorus "But Jesus doesn't work", or "LMAOIH", which includes the line "I'll be Laughing My Ass Off In Heaven, while all of you Christians are burning in Hell". Seriously, if you're unsure now, don't even bother).

However, if you enjoy your music with a twist of sour irony, you'll find none better than the spectacular guitar styling of a country-western artist without any country-western connotations.

P.S.: Listen to "The Cute Little Puppy Dog Song". If you play guitar, you can find the chords somewhere on the site. I forget where.

Jonathan Coulton

This guy... what can I possibly say to do this dude justice? He is the epitome of "good" oddio in my eyes. (I have some "bad" oddio set up for later posts.) I haven't listened to him in a long time, but his re-discovery recently has fueled my desire to spread the gospel of stuff I find on the internet. If you're a fan of music, you should like at least one of his songs. I like them all. And the beauty of it is, you don't have to buy his music. You can listen to all of it free on his website, JonathanCoulton.com.

Might I suggest the song "I Feel Fantastic", or, if you're a Beatles fan or a Chicago fan (I am both), the bizarre cover/remix "When I'm 25 Or 64".

Like I said, you don't have to buy his songs, but if you want to listen to them any other place than at a computer with an internet connection, you'll have to figure out how to download them. I did, but I rule. So I guess you'll just have to purchase some CDs if you like him.

The Homemade Contraption

I used to have the original link for this, not the lower-quality commercial version, but I lost it. Fail. Anyway, it's the best Rube Goldberg machine I've ever seen.

Like The Killer Joke

You might think it was impossible, but sure enough, it is possible to die from laughing. The site FunFacts.com.au has compiled a list of people who have died laughing. Check it out: http://www.funfacts.com.au/people-who-have-died-laughing/. Number 3 is my favorite.

From Bed To Ball To Wall

My guiltiest pleasure:

Microwave Full Of Lightbulbs

You thought the title was some kind of metaphor didn't you? Yeah, you did. Well, it really is a microwave full of lightbulbs.

Ever stayed awake at night wondering what would happen if you microwaved a whole heap of lightbulbs? Fret no more, comrade. Some guy online has done it for us. Witness the spectacle of a microwave full of lightbulbs.

Yaga Kielb

A mind-blowing combination of digital art, photography and design, Yaga Kielb is a true artist. The serene chaos of the pieces are astounding. All three sections are worth checking out. You won't be disappointed.

Julian Beever

Julian Beever, an English street artist, uses chalk to create what he calls "anamorphic illusions". To you and me, he makes a two-dimensional drawing seem three-dimensional through the magic of perspective. It only looks quite right from one angle, so these photographs are of chalk drawings that are bigger as they're further away from the camera, so as to make up for the horizon effect. It may seem fake, but believe me when I say that these are 100% legit:

His website, with more drawings (including some from other angles) is here.

Andy Goldsworthy

I could sit here and argue what art is or what art means until I'm blue in the face, but I'd rather just talk about what this guy thinks. Andy Goldsworthy is a British artist whose media is anything he can find outside. He uses ice, rocks, sticks and leaves in his works, and none of these artworks ever lasts. He photographs them as soon as they're completed, and a frequent theme of his is to photograph them later, as their perfection has long since been destroyed by nature. As far as I can find, he has no official site, so here's a couple of his photographs:

Engrish

For those who don't know, Engrish is the unique style of writing English words as found on (mostly) Japanese products and advertising. In the same way that Americans get tattoos of Asian characters on their skin with no real idea (or proof) of what it means, many Japanese companies put English on their products to look edgy or cool. Because it's mostly just for looks, nobody spell-checks or edits, ending up with results like these:

Other times, the writer is genuinely trying to provide a translation for English-speakers. Either way, it's hilarious, and you should go see some more at Engrish.com.

The Onion

No doubt, many of you have heard of The Onion, the spectacular fake news company who's been doing it a lot longer than Jon Stewart. If you have a chance, go and pick up their book "Our Dumb Century", which features fake papers from the entire century. My personal favorite is here (NSFW, language). The Onion also has a podcast, which has the benefit of being free and updated daily. Here's the subscription link (Here's what you do with that. Get iTunes, go to Advanced > Subscribe To Podcast. That's where you paste the link.). Alternately, you can just read articles on their website, TheOnion.com.

Wenger, You Magnificent Bastards

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe a Swiss Army Knife should be longer than it is thick. Desecrating all I believe is Wenger, one of the best Swiss Knife manufacturers out there, who have just released a $1,200(US) Knife with 85 tools.

Among the tools, you will find over a dozen various screwdrivers (some with specialized uses, such as a "special self-centering screwdriver for gunsights"), a fiber optic thread holder, a tire tread gauge, a laser pointer with 300 foot range, a telescopic pointer, and, to finish off the randomness, a "golf club face cleaner". I'm no golfer, so I couldn't tell you what that is, but rest assured, nobody needs one of those, much less in a Swiss Army Knife.

If you would actually like to purchase one of these... knives, you can go to the Wenger site here.

Odd Music

Have you ever heard of a... Gravikord? No? how about... a Pikasso? Alright. To be completely fair, there's only like, five of them each in the whole world. Sure enough, they're musical instruments and I first heard of them on OddMusic.com. It's a compendium of instruments you've never heard of, from the Aquaggaswack to the Violimba. Most of the instrument pages have clips of the instruments in action, and they all have pics. Some even have ordering information. Here's the Trimeister, my personal favorite (It's a guitar, a mandolin and a fiddle all in one. The sound it makes is "earth fusion".)

Le Rhinocéros Cosmique

I saw this Dalí sculpture in Paris. For Reals.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

I just love this: If you do too, click here.
If you don't, click here.

Demotivational Posters

You remember those motivational posters? The kind that would seem right at home in some sad, sad cubicle? Well, cheer up, because you will no longer have to suppress that inexplicable gagging sensation you feel whenever you see one. Welcome to Despair.com, home of that kinda funny poster you saw once on the internet two years ago. These are the guys that make them, and I also fully intend to buy at least one of their T-shirts. Hysterical? YES.

I Guess There Is A Lesson Here For Us All

Do you have regrets? Of course you do. You're on the internet. Welcome to a website dedicated to finding... The Ultimate Regret.

Regret spandex? 67% say yes. They regret spandex.

Regret causing a time paradox? A surprisingly low 8% percent say they regret that.

Regret robots? 0% of visitors to the website say they regret those. I can't blame them.

Check it out: The Amazing Regret Index

P.S.: Ryan North, creator of The Amazing Regret Index, is the awesome dude of Dinosaur Comics as well.

P.P.S.: Also, 6% of people on the website regret robots. I just think it should totally be zero.

The Three Variable Funny Test

Have you ever wondered about your particular brand of "funny"? Your "place in Humor 3-Space"? Neither had I. Now I know that I can't live without knowledge that I'm a "Ham". See? It utilizes a quiz to determine how clean (or vulgar), light (or dark), and spontaneous (or complex) your humor is, and then shows where you belong in the chart compared with other comedians and actors. Try it out at OKCupid: The Three Variable Funny Test

"Raccoon" Is The New "Monkey"

It's Inherently Funny. No explanation needed.

The Music Is Just Wrong

Mario?

This guy has done some other songs (you can find them on YouTube), but I think you'll find that this particular song transcends both time and space.

Belief-O-Matic

Crisis of Faith? Let the internet help you. Do you think God is omnipotent or omniscient? Corporeal or Ethereal? Both? Neither? Doesn't Matter? Belief-O-Matic has the answers (and a surprisingly comprehensive religion listing). Give it a whirl. At worst, you'll lose your immortal soul.

Freaky Styley

Like The Red Hot Chili Peppers? I don't. But I found this, so here you go! Freaky Styley (I do so enjoy that title).

Always Coca-Cola?

Ever feel guilty about drinking so many sugary soft drinks? Yeah? GOOD.

What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now?

(Seriously though, fess up. We all know you love the stuff.)

Rinkworks: Fun With Words

Ever wondered how frequently the letter "R" appears in the English language? NO? How about collective nouns (the correct way to identify a group of animals)? Yeah? Ever wondered what a group of gnus is referred to as? Still no? Alright. If you're ever wondering, stop by here.

P.S.: It's an implausibility. Yep. An implausibility of gnus.

NIKEiD

Have you ever had a dream? Like, maybe to own a pair of shoes with BEARS ON THEM? Hmmm? Now, for an extra $100, Nike is selling custom shoes that you design. Go to nikeid.nike.com, then click on a shoe design you like. At the bottom, you'll see "Start Blank." Click on that, then you can feel free to put pretty much whatever color you want on any face of the shoe. Now. Have you ever seen a pair of shoes as Superfly as THESE?

It's Actually A Prairie Dog

There is nothing I can say that will make this any funnier:

What If It Works?

I just watched the best movie ever made. It is definitely not for everyone, as it makes little effort to dumb down the more complex science aspects.

It is a time travel movie, but it was written to be a time travel movie, not a romance movie (with time travel) like Déjà Vu, or a teen adventure/comedy (with time travel) like Back To The Future.

It's called Primer and it is the brainchild of one man, Shane Carruth. He is the writer, director and producer of the movie. He also plays the lead role, Aaron, an engineer working on designing a high-temperature superconductor that happens to create a temporal loop that can exploited as a time travel machine.

If possible, watch it more than once. If not, prepare to be confused, especially by the last 30 minutes.

I implore of you, watch it: Primer at Google Video

P.S.: For the more scientifically-minded among you, remember that Primer is a movie. It is intended to be an original art piece, and in that respect it succeeds. We all know that time travel isn't possible.

P.P.S.: For the more... loony... among you, remember that the scientifically-minded also amongst us are all just envious because you can see through the veil of reality. We all know that time travel is possible.

XKCD

I am a nerd.

I am not a smart nerd, but I pick up enough to fake my way through almost any geeky conversation you can conceive.

When it comes to programming, I can argue the comparative values of Perl versus C++, and I can tell you exactly what a shebang line is. This is why I love XKCD. You don't have to be a nerd, but it helps.

goto: A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

Run For Your Life

I've been a long-time fan of the Beatles, and so, apparently, is Steve McLaughlin. He compressed the complete Beatles catalog of songs by 800% to a single hour of mind-blowing oddio.

You can find it here: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/10/the-complete-be.html

You might also want to listen to the tracks that were slowed back down to their original tempo. They sound amazing. Amazing enough in fact, to convince me to load my own sped-up-slowed-down version of Yesterday:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/471817976d1463/

Enjoy.

Dinosaur Comics

I've been reading this almost since its beginning. It's a screwy webcomic centering around a liquid-nuts T-Rex (see how I used "liquid" as an intensifier?) who waxes philosophical with his friends, a friendly Dromiceiomimus and a Utahraptor who serves as a Socratic foil to many (if not most) of T-Rex's ideas.

Check it out: www.qwantz.com.

They Might Be Excellent

The Number One Consistently Sweet Band Of All Time, in my opinion, is the always refreshing They Might Be Giants. TMBG has been regularly cranking out albums since 1986 at the rate of about one every two years (on average). In addition to this, the have a ridiculously obscene amount of unreleased tracks, many of which can be found free on their website: http://www.tmbg.com.

If you'd like to know more about them, try the extremely well-made and maintained fan wiki at: http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/Main_Page.

And, why the hell not: Flood.

(Sometimes your browser will ask if it's OK to use this link. It worked for me, but I'm not responsible for any broken internetz.)

This is Flood, their third LP. It was released in 1990, but it's a great introduction to the band and was one of only two of their records to go gold. It also has two of their most well-known tracks, "Birdhouse In Your Soul" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)."

They Might Be Giants: Call them Alternative, call them Intellectual Rock, just don't call them zany.

Experiment No. 9

This is my brand-new blog-of-sorts. I may decide to drop it in a couple of weeks, but until then I will attempt to trawl the depths of the internet ocean and bring you webcomics, videos and (mostly odd) audio. Please bear in mind that my tastes may differ greatly from yours. There's no need to be uncouth. If you don't like everything I post, remember that this place wasn't built for everyone.