Jack Johnson: Oracle?

This is something that's been bothering me for awhile in a big way, and I really need to share it (before anyone else makes the connection).

By now we've all heard about Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's about a three hour drive for me to the nearest oil-soaked beach, so it hits pretty close to home, but I'll get to the point: I was listening to a song from Jack Johnson's 2003 album, "On and On," when I realized the lyrics were eerily relevant to the crisis in the gulf.

Have a listen:

Don't Swallow the Seeds

Based on a true story.

From My Comics

Okay, so maybe not so true.

Stealth Cat is Stealthy

Truth be told, I've never been much of a fan of anything involving cats or kittens (excepting, of course, this one); too much cuteness is the equivalent of kryptonite to my shriveled heart. Even so, on rare occasion something will pop up that is just too rich to pass up.

Enter the Stealth Cat:

Dancing Teachers

The title of this post is rather explicit, but it might not hurt to give a little bit of information before delving into the content.

Teachers are strange creatures. They are well educated individuals who have been tricked into wanting to spend nearly all of their waking hours with children of varying ages, but this is only a small portion of what makes them so strange. A truly complete analysis may never be conducted, but I will say this:

As evidenced by the 30 second clip below, there is something incredibly entertaining about a secondary school teacher dancing.



The addition of music was especially artful in the way it matches nearly ALL of the movement.

Still, nowhere near as incredible as the Robert Englund lookalike that was my high school algebra teacher:

Dancing with an Iron Fist

Following the theme of incredible game trailers, I stumbled across what must be the SECOND best trailer ever created. The lack of a serious budget obviously lends itself to creativity, as is shown in what will likely prove to be a sleeper hit: Stalin vs. Martians.

That's right.

Stalin.

Gardening 101

As usual, a busy schedule has dragged me away from my computer at an inopportune time. Normally I would follow the established routine of making up a number of excuses for this and leave it at that, but this time I actually found something that needs to be shared.

Anyone who regularly uses Steam may have seen this already, as it's currently featured on the main page, but PopCap Games (the developer behind incredibly addicting games Peggle and Bejeweled) is releasing a brand new timesink, and with it comes what must be the most amazing game trailer ever made.

Enter Plants vs. Zombies, a VERY different mixture of the Tower Defense and Real Time Strategy genres with a premise that should be pretty self-explanatory (if not absolutely insane). Normally I avoid these kinds of games, as I value my time and would prefer - if I'm going to waste the better part of a day - to waste the better part of a day playing a video game with a high production value. Still, regardless of how well it all comes together on release, isn't 10 dollars a fair reward for such a spectacular trailer?

Let it be known, also, that the song itself was written and sung by one Laura Shigihara, who has since stolen my heart.

I want my heart back, Shigihara.

Speaking of Giant Rabbits...

Happy Easter.

Something Eerie in the Magic Kingdom

I've been wrong before, but I can't help but imagine this is more than coincidence.

Okay I was bored.

Improv Everywhere - Not a Flash Mob

For those of you who aren't aware, a flash mob is described as "a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse." The first flash mob occured in Manhattan in 2003, and is credited to Bill Wasik, but similar gatherings have been occuring for much longer (see Mobile Clubbing and Pillow Fights) .

Improv Everywhere, as described on their own website, "causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 70 missions involving thousands of undercover agents." But while they seem quite similar to a well organized flash mob, they differ in certain key details, namely the amount of time an action is performed as well as the anonymity of those involved.

Below is, if I may say, one of Improv Everywhere's finest achievements: The Food Court Musical.

The Food Court Musical

Visit Improv Everywhere's official site, or check out the Urban Prankster social network to get involved in your own community.

Zombie Shop

Addicts of Facebook may recognize the acronym AZDI. The American Zombie Defense Initiative, a large-ish community on the popular networking site, is a North American-based group dedicated to, you guessed it, fighting off the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

The point is, awhile back I had the time to entertain myself with such nonsense. Here are a couple of AZDI-related photoshops I slapped together.

American Zombie Defense Initiative Patch Submission

Zombies on the Road

Tune In With MiBod

Gimmicky gizmos and gadgets are a dime-a-dozen in the consumer electronics world, and from Griffin Technology's dubiously-ineffective iKaraoke to Sega's dancing iFish, Apple's iPod has contributed more than its fair share to the mix. It may not be entirely surprising that even more third party companies are jumping on the iPod peripheral bandwagon, but I'll be damned if I wasn't caught off guard when I heard about OhMiBod. Created and manufactured by Suki, LLC, OhMiBod is what can only be classified as a "Music Powered Vibrator." The product is remarkably aesthetic, and is being creatively billed as a "whole new way to plug 'n play."


OhMiBod has a variety of optional "Acsexories" and sells for a cool price of $69.00, and as of the time of this writing appears to be backordered by several weeks. The product comes in a variety of other models as well, probably the most perturbing of which is Suki's "Boditalk," a vibrator that is powered via a cell phone for more... intimate conversations.

One Foot Football

Every once in awhile I'll come across something by chance that just blows my mind away. Despite having spent much of my youth engaged in the game, soccer just isn't one of those things. At least that's what I thought, until I was made aware of the existance of the Sierra Leone amputee football team, an african soccer team composed entirely of one-legged amputees (many having lost their limbs in landmine accidents) based, not surprisingly, out of Sierra Leone.

The Amputees in Action

The Sierra Leonean squad, called the Single Leg Amputee Sports Club (SLASC), competed in the 2003 'Play4Hope' tour in England, generating a measure of positive feedback and leading to the formation of two additional amputee teams. The teams consist of 6 one-legged players and 1 one-armed goalie. Nic Bothma of the European Pressphoto Agency has been recognized for his photography of the sport, and Bob Jones has written an article on the growth of the SLASC. Read the article here, or you can watch more of them in action.