You are browsing the archives of 2009 May.

Oh how we wish we had access to a green roof, or a regular roof we could retrofit into a green roof. At any rate, this seems to be the only way we’re ever going to be able to reconcile our cosmopolitan and environmentalist lifestyles with one home. That’s why we not only enjoyed but [...]

It’s no secret that we kind of love and are obsessed with short films and animation, so it should come as no surprise to learn that we scour the Interweb constantly in search of new, spectacular, short and sweet animated films. In today’s round-up of recent discoveries we hone in especially on animated characters’ ability [...]

We never really understood the Pokemon thing, nor did we feel particularly moved to try to wrap our heads around it (although one of our cousins once bought us a Pokemon Game Boy game that was totally awesome, thanks cuz). At any rate, now that that fad is over – or rather, has mutated into [...]

Admittedly, anti-drug PSAs are something of a balancing act. Writers have to use the lingo, slang and style of the kids they’re appealing to while voicing the messages and concerns of the adults who are paying them. This is how we end up with some seriously awful appeals to children that tend to do little [...]

If you listened to the Listicles-Urlesque podcast we posted this morning, you’ll have heard that Urlesque’s Stephen Lenz suggested a terrific listicle idea which he urged us to steal. Not wanting to disappoint, we’ve gon searching for embarrassing, endearing, infantile and injury-prone instances of seniors behaving like their grandkids. Here, then, are Listicles’ 10 Videos [...]

You know, our less worldly friends often comment, on those rare occasions they come out from under their bubbly rock of a country, that other nations’ colorful currencies (Euros, Canadian dollars, Indian rupees, etc.) look silly. Of course, when the salmon-tinged $20 bills debuted, the Treasury Department’s commercial campaign was some seriously silly waste of [...]

Last week Andrea and I paid a visit to our friends/colleagues/idols/fans at Urlesque in their bright and shinny offices and recorded our very first podcast! You may remember Urlesque from their frequent appearances on this here Weblog, in addition to a couple of collaborative projects between our burgeoning Internet empires (”Interpires”?). You can check out [...]

It’s hard to single out any specific music videos as being the worst ever, because invariably something worse from the distant past (most likely the 80s) or a new low-budget video (most likely by an indie rock band) will come along and demand to be included. Still, somebody’s got to make the authoritative claim to [...]

Today, apparently, marks the anniversary of the first ever Frog Jumping Contest. Obviously, this is a momentous occasion, and so we’ve rounded up only the most spectacularly muscular, virile, imposing and impressive frogs we could find hanging out around the local gym and running track. Here, then, are the Top 10 Athletic Frogs.
The Weight-Lifting Frog

Three [...]

Some time ago we featured a listicle of outstanding nature web cams, but of course – as reality TV teaches us – the most entertaining thing to watch tends to involve humans. Accordingly, mental_floss’s listicle of the Top 11 Live Web Cams features a balanced mix of animal and human subjects. Our favorites, because they’re [...]

Today, we’re told, is Rooster Day – which, being half French, makes us a little tingly under the beret. Of course, the French only invented the rooster (hence why it is our national emblem), but now with immigration, globalization and whatnot there are all kinds of roosters. To celebrate just the choicest, tastiest of the [...]

In a recent synergistic extravaganza, the folks at Slate and one of their related publications Foreign Policy held an exhaustive list-making drill on international relations in film. It started with Stephen M. Walt’s list of 10 (including Casablanca, Dr. Strangelove and – gasp – Independence Day), followed by Daniel W. Drezner’s top 8 rebuttal (which [...]

We see them so often that it becomes very easy to forget that some of our favorite (or at least most familiar) logos were born in the rugged wilderness. Like the Puma puma, Camel camel, Linux penguin or Lacoste crocodile, these animals have become the symbolic figureheads of major multinational corporations, but at one point [...]

In what’s probably our favorite South Park episode ever, Eric Cartman accidentally takes his mother’s Antonio Banderas life-size blowup love doll to be a very early Christmas gift, and spends most of the episode walking around with it. Something tells us – call it a hunch – that Antonio wasn’t consulted about that doll, or [...]

It’s starting to look awful Springtime-y this edition of Sporty Saturdays, and so we’re thinking that instead of our usual movie marathon we might get out and do something fun (and active, yay!). Whatever we do out there, though, we won’t go golfing because, you know, golf courses are bad for the environment and generate [...]

It’s strange, but non-human characters can literally make or break a TV show, overloading it with excessive and contrived whimsy (as on American Dad), or giving it just the perfect dose of eccentricity to make it uniquely appealing (as in Alf). Not surprisingly, one of those shows is featured in Unreality’s listicle of the 11 [...]

As we’ve noted before – and as has become only more true in the age of viral marketing – sometimes it pays, literally, to make ads that make no sense. If it’s cool, catchy, pretty, funny or just shocking, people will watch it and pass it on. That is the principle at work in these [...]

When it became apparent that Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn’t overturn the old “gotta be born in the U.S. to be the President of the U.S.” law, we were a little disappointed. Having been born outside the country as well, we were resigned to never becoming Prez. Then we realized that this was a blessing in disguise: [...]

We wouldn’t ordinarily laugh at someone fainting (probably), but when it happens on live TV there’s something practically revolutionary about the whole thing – as in: “To hell with this perpetual capitalist infotainment news flow, I’m out!” In commemoration of such moments of slippage and breakdown in the otherwise uninterupted monolith that is live TV, [...]

205 years ago today, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark struck out from their training sessions at Camp Dubois, Illinois Territory, on their epic journey with their rag-tag group the Corps of Discovery (which, in case you think the same way we do, is already a band’s name). The epic, madcap journey that would go down [...]