Careful, World Wars is a great little flash game, similar to Risk, that may keep you coming back for more—it’s very addictive.
Exxon Valdez 20 Years Later
Last Tuesday marked the twenty-year anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil disaster that polluted 2000km (1200 miles) of Alaskan coastline.
Most people assume that Exxon followed through with the many promises to clean it up and pay out proper restitution to those who were damaged by the accident. Investigative reporter Greg Palast says those assumptions are wrong.
Twenty years later, the oil is still lingering in the environment, Exxon has whittled down its court ordered fees by billions, it’s rigged the system to actually collect some of that money back, and to top it all off, many rightful claimants are dead.
Two years after the spill, Otto Harrison, General Manager of Exxon USA, told Evanoff and me to forget about a fishing boat for Uncle Paul. Exxon was immortal and Natives were not. The company would litigate for 20 years.
They did. Only now, two decades on, Exxon has finally begun its payout of the court award — but only ten cents on the dollar. And Uncle Paul’s boat? No matter. Paul’s dead. So are a third of the fishermen owed the money.
Emoticon War
This has got to be the best use of emoticons ever. Personally, I’ve always preferred smileys in text format. ;)
Hit play or watch Emoticon War on Current.
Married to the Eiffel Tower
Married to the Eiffel tower is a BBC documentary about objectophilia, a pronounced sexual desire toward particular inanimate objects.
Erika La Tour Eiffel, like Eija-Riitta Berliner-Mauer – the woman who married the Berlin Wall, is an “objectum sexual”, people who fall literally in love with buildings and objects. They have sex and relationships with them; their passion as ardent as any human relationship.
The documentary subjects discuss sexual fantasy with objects throughout the documentary so use your discretion. This is part 1 of 7.
Hit play or watch Married to the Eiffel Tower on Youtube.
Sam the Bellhop
I’ve only ever seen Bill Malone perform "Sam the Bellhop", so I’m inclined to think it’s his signature trick. Even if it’s not, it certainly is amazing.
Hit play or watch Sam the Bellhop on YouTube.
(via)
According to Mark Evanier, "the ‘Sam the Bellhop’ routine was not invented by Bill Malone but by Frank Everhart, a magician-bartender who worked at the Ivanhoe restaurant-dinner theatre in Chicago back in the late fifties. Mr. Everhart apparently did it with just a stacked deck and Malone added in all the fancy sleight of hand and false cuts that make it into a truly dazzling effect."
Where the Wild Things Are
A flickr set of the first photos from the Jonze/Eggers project Where The Wild Things Are.
Enjoy the trailer.
The Best Commericials as explained on Uncle Eddie’s Theory Corner!
Uncle Eddie’s Theory Corner! on the brilliance of direct marketing commercials: Best Commercials.
What kills me about this is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything but what it is: hardsell. The announcer looks like the kind of sleazy fast-talker who sells vegetable cutters at carnivals. You wouldn’t think anybody would trust a guy like that, but they do. Why? I think it’s because people react to the skill in the writing and execution of carnival pitches. You think you’re above it, but you’re not. It’s fun to watch a man who, using only words, can invest a product with magic.
You may not be a fan of the slick Billy Mays yelling information about his product, but you have to admire the calculated tweaking these commercials went through to inspire the largest number of consumers to order now!
The Bros Mario
You’ve listened to backwards music, now check out Jump on Mushroom, a mind-bending video game that’s played in reverse. Trust me when I say, it’ll force you to rethink the way you learned to play Mario Bros.
I never read the instructions very carefully and didn’t figure this out until the level 1 (the last level): you can skip the rewind (or forward) sequences by hitting Esc. Good luck.
Through the Legs
Chris Paul throws it through Jason Terry’s legs and dishes to Rasual Butler for the dunk.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
The first time I’d ever heard of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was when my dad made a wood carving based on one of the characters holding up a plate to the sky. (Apparently my parents are better acquainted with popular children’s books than I am.)
Sony pictures is now making a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie. (Check the embedded video below for the trailer.)
I’m not convinced doing it in 3D is a good idea, but I haven’t actually seen any of the new 3D movies lately and so, I’ll save my judgement for now.