Daily View, 8/25

Ok, well, I took a break for a while. A girl can burn out, can't she? A lot of these are the links I'd stored up to post before my abrupt departure, so some are a bit dusty...

• My initial reaction to improv is usually resistance, but the Jewel coincidence clearly indicates that the comedy gods were smiling on these fools who walked around Home Depot in slo-mo.


• Chimeric animals!!


• What the hell is really the different between Timbuk2's Specialty Messenger and their Metro, aside from a couple of centimeters here and there. I own two of the Metros—it is a great fucking bag. Now they've gone and thrown another mini-bag into the mix. Arg, Timbuk2. You've found my weakness, you rugged ballistic bastards.


• Dude. Star Wars knitting patterns. Two of my nerd universes just collided.


• I admit, I'm curious about all these new weird and wonderful workout devices and programs (Nike & Apple, iTrain, etc.)... but has anyone actually tried these? Speak your minds, guinea piggies...


• More consumerist goodness: I dig Namitatsu shoes. Not as cool as the Keds I had in high school that I drew Akira characters all over (goddamn, I really am a nerd), but still sweet.


• My friend Amanda's Flickr stream manages to make things like tomatoes look pretty beeyouteeful. Props, Muppster.


• And speaking of Flickr, I've gotten sucked in too: my Flickr stream. My toothbrush is art, damn it.


• Global warning is causing giant squid to become even more GARGANTUAN. Cool. Can't wait to see this movie.


• There is free Miyazaki on Sunday! Of course, the sun may have to actually come out for this to work... (it's pouring currently).


• What a great idea for more wintry times... too bad these USB heated gloves are granny vomit ugly. The boy versions aren't much better. Sigh. Clearly someone needs to make better use of those Star Wars patterns...


• The Biology of B-Movie Monsters


• I'm all for the bookswapping, but did they have to call it BookMooch? Meanwhile, BookCrossing is my choice.


• Tear-shaped, uteran... just talking 'bout treehouses.


• I'd vote for Cthulhu... maybe. To be honest, my Cthulhu interest is a bit fringe. The Cthulhu episode was my favorite of the old Ghostbusters animated series (the proper one, not the ridiculous one with the gorilla), so every time someone says Miskatonic I perk up but don't really have anything legitimate to contribute. For more info on Cthulhu, visit Wikipedia, which also reveals the alarming news that there is going to be a Cthulhu movie with Tori Spelling... now that is frightening.


• Ha, better snap up things like this solar system mobile before this whole Pluto thing kicks in and they start altering products.


• How sweet. Someone finally named an internet device after me.


• Yuck, Josh Spear. But this is cool chair idea. Um, c'mon IKEA. Get it together and make one in $14.99 white plastic so I can try it out and promptly get over it.


• Seemingly pointless, eerily cute robot turtles. At this point, why ask why?


• I have yet to see Lady in the Water, though I've been enjoying the pre-show feast of bad reviews. I have mixed feelings about M. Night Shyamalan, and Pajiba basically does too: "If it's true that more and more we've come to expect less and less from the movies we see and value as a community, then Shyamalan is doing his part to craft original, honest stories that reflect the skills and ideas of a truly gifted filmmaker. The biggest complaints lobbied against him aren't that he makes bad movies but that the movies themselves don't measure up to some arbitrary ideal that's been planted in the viewer's mind before they even enter the theater. And to watch movies that way is to live wearing blinders." I agree wholeheartedly. I enjoyed the Village, but went with a group of people who were all bent out of shape afterwards for no reason other than it wasn't what they expected. And while it's definitely amusing to have a fellow moviegoer stand up twenty minutes from the end (when even the people sleeping have figured out the twist), actually shake his fist at the screen and cry "BULLSHIT!", I think getting all worked up because you got suckered by marketing is ridiculous.


• Since I've clearly overdosed on PerpetualKid, here's one more weirdness: squid soap that inks you before you wash. I can't decide whether I love that or think it's gross.

I'll have to think back a bit about links I missed in August. More to come as I attempt to revive this dead beast.
This post is dedicated to friend and fellow blogging fool Kenbe.