So, I love the Olympics. And I love Winter Olympics more than Summer ones. And I love the new mascots just unveiled for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics! Meet:
Quatchi the sasquatch,
Miga the sea-bear, Sumi the thunderbird, and their little friend and sidekick Mukmuk the marmot.
My favorite (and everyone else's apparently) is Quatchi, although they're all great. I sure would love a Quatchi t-shirt for Christmas. Sadly, they're currently only sold in children's sizes. Sigh. Do you think those logos (on his chest and right shoulder) are tattoos?
In the meantime, check out the Mascots Website and revel in the cuteness!
How the year has flown by. Here's what piquing my interest this week:
- I know this is already all over the internet, but for those of you who aren't in on the meme, Greenpeace held a contest to "Name the Whale" that they are following in its migration this year. Voting is open until December 7th, but the current front-runner already has a 70% lead and will be hard to beat. Ladies and gentlemen, I present: Mr. Splashy Pants!
- The woman who records the "Mind the gap" train announcements for the London Underground has been fired for creating spoof announcements and posting them on her own website. Here's a link to the sound files.
- We knew that "Harry Potter" was getting kids to read, but did you know that he can help you with other subjects in school as well? A school in England allows kids each year to choose a theme for their school and they go all out in tying the theme into all classwork. This year's theme, the fourth one they've done, is Harry Potter. The school has gone from the bottom 25% of schools in England (in terms of standardized test scores) to the top 5% since starting the program.
- In other England news, I have a crush on Zara Phillips. The granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth and daughter of Princess Anne, she's 11th in line for the throne. And not only is her day job riding horses, but she does it so well that she's one of the top equestrians in the world! Plus she's super cute! She's my ideal sugar momma. Sigh.
- As the holidays are upon us, I invite you all now to sit back and ponder the ago-old question of the season, Where Would Jesus Shop?
- Back on my caffeine kick, I have found another interesting dealer for my drug: Public Broadcasting! Yes, friends, you can now buy PBS brand coffee. Jokes about staying awake during their programming may now ensue. But in terms of caffeinated delivery systems, I really hit the jackpot when I discovered this page!
Lots of things catching my interest today! Let's share:
- These new gasmasks worn by Soviet riot troops quelling the protests in Georgia are super-creepy!
- The internet is marvelous and devious at the same time. The Weblog Awards are having a contest for Best Science Blog. Sadly, it's being vote-bombed by conservative Christians voting for a site called "Climate Audit," which allegedly "promotes political ideas as science." Voting ends today, in case you read a lot of science blogs and would like to voice your opinion.
- On the marvelous side of the ol' Internet is how it can lead you to discover things you never knew you needed. Like "Twist 'N Shots," plastic shot glasses designed for making Jello shots. Like a documentary about a washed up rock star and his wife. Or like the surreal hilarity of 70's advertisements for Planet of the Apes action figures:
- Meanwhile, on the theme of things you never knew you needed, AlterNet has a great article about how things can go from luxury to necessity in our lives. "The more income a person has, the more likely he or she is to view goods and gadgets as necessities rather than luxuries."
- Here's a great article from the NYT about how to find help online for fixing broken gadgets when the warranty has expired.
- And here's another one from the NYT about one of my favorite topics: the impossibility of knowing anything for certain in today's world. The theme? Exercise.
And now, continuing the theme of falling dollars, here it is - your Moment of Zen:
- The goddamn dollar is currently at a record low against the euro, which sucks because I really want one of these ninja hoodies, but with the current exchange rate it would cost $130 before shipping. Sigh.
- Life imitates art. We had a scene in the last ETC show where one character dismisses wiretapping fears, saying "I have nothing to hide. What, they're gonna find out that I order my groceries online?" The other character says, "You'll be sorry when the feds come busting through your door 'cause you bought too much baba ghanouj!" Turns out that wasn't so far fetched.....
- Hema is a Dutch department store, similar to a Target. But their website is hilarious! Click the following link, and even though it looks quite normal (other than being in Dutch), just wait while the whole page loads. You won't be disappointed! Awesome Hema link.
- Boom Chicago does a short comedy news show for the Dutch Comedy Central. It's hosted by my old friend Greg Shapiro, and is not too shabby! Here is episode 23, wherein you can watch my more recent friend Andel Sudik talk about suppositories of artificial blood that women can use to simulate a broken hymen and "restore" their virginity. Then you can go to Time Magazine, and read about ways for men to restore their circumcised foreskin. Personally, I don't plan to use either.
UPDATE: I had embedded the video here, but I got tired of it starting itself whenever I looked at my blog. If you want to see it, click on the Dutch Comedy Central link above and look for Episode 23.
Long-time readers may recall the Theory of Intertextuality. This week's topic is Amsterdam. The Boom Chicago auditions were this week, so there's been a lot of talk about the company (there are four of us working on the Second City stages right now who are Boom alumni). Then two of the founders of the company were in town for the auditions and dropped by to say "Hi." And Hans, who has been understudying Alex for a couple of weeks, was one of the finalists at the auditions and wanted to hear some stories about working there, so a big group of us went out on Friday night and chatted about it. But then even more strange things started to show up. Today's Merriam-Webster Word of the Day is "fata morgana," which is also the name of one of my favorite rides at the Efteling. And then Boing Boing Gadgets had a post about a robot goat who eats your trash, which obliged me to post a comment about Holle Bolle Gijs. I feel like there was something else, but I can't remember what it was. If I think of it later, I'll update the post. In the meantime, maybe I'll go make some pancakes with the new Batter Blaster, pancake batter in a spray can (like whipped cream or EZ-Cheez). No? Then maybe I'll just go to work, and leave you to enjoy today's dueling Moments of Zen:
