Daily View, 8/28

Today is the birthday of the guy I had a crazy crush on in junior high. WHY is this date still lodged in my brain? WHY? I don't need this information anymore. I've been over the guy for at least... let's count... oh, fifteen years. And yet, here it is: August 28th will apparently forever be his birthday in the database that is my head. Arg.

• It shouldn't be so funny, but I laugh like a damn trained monkey every time: sneezing panda


• Creepy cool green Empire State Building


• Dude, why are the Gin Blossoms playing the Apple Store? Since when is the Genius Bar where 90s bands go to die... all over again. ??


• When The Meth Goes Marching In. Damn, I love the whole mashup genre, even when it's bad. Comes from too much Saturday night party mix on Top 40 radio in the 80s, I bet... but dayum.


• Reviews of Idlewild are so damn mixed I don't know which way to turn. Whatever, like i'm not going to be front row at home when it comes out on DVD, but this was one I considered seeing in the theatre. Am still considering it... maybe not... ack.


• Speaking of movies, a friend and I saw The Illusionist on Friday. TERRIBLE. Yes, Jessica Biel does a fine job, which is the buzz fueling this dud. I don't usually like her but she does basically pull this one off. However, unless all you want from life is an eyeful of Jessica Biel, there isn't much else to recommend the film. Edward Norton, overrated as always, is terrifically boring as the lead, Rufus Sewell is on bully villain autopilot (come the fuck on, Roof, when are you going to be likeable in a film again. Ever? Where have you gone, Seth Starkadder?), and proven gold card Paul Giamatti gets all the chuckles as the police inspector but really has very little to do. The "twist" was obvious from about a third of the way in and everything was trite and anti-climactic. I was bored off my ass. And that takes A LOT, considering I have the patience to sit through just about anything. Sigh.


• WHY would you do this to a hot dog? Bento TV. *shudder* (*g, i don't know how you find this stuff—what's a veg doing trolling hot dog sites, anyway, mm?)


• And ohmigod, this casting is... astonishing. Helen Mirren—Helen Mirren!!—as Queen Elizabeth II?? James Cromwell—American James Cromwell, Farmer Hoggett himself—as Prince Philip??? Michael Sheen—MICHAEL SHEEN!—as Tony Blair???? I watched the trailer for The Queen wide-eyed and... they just might pull it off. Helen Mirren will likely get nominated for everything, and generations of men will mourn that she is certain not to take her top off in this one. MICHAEL SHEEN... I just can't believe that. Kate Beckinsale's babydaddy gets a break from playing period losers and may actually accomplish a star turn. Good on ya. I'm... I'm a bit bowled over, actually.


• Stereotype showdown on Overheard. Oh, and wow poor unfortunate Daryl Hannah.


• Dude. More chimeric animal hybrids, this time with an underwater theme.


• And, continuing with animals, there is a whole site mysteriously dedicated to yawning bunnies. Aw, Roebling the Brooklyn Bunny is yawning bunny #39. Meanwhile, this one is my vote for the best (er, of the ones I bothered to look at... come on, even I have better things to do than look at 60+ pictures of yawning bunnies. Shut up.)


• Malcolm Gladwell says that some bloggers "believe that a reaction is the same thing as an argument." This is so damn true, and it's really unfortunate. People are idiots. A fact underlined today as I found myself unintentionally tangled in a discussion of marketing to women on the 37signals blog. (Um, k8 would be me, in case you were wondering.) Fuck that shit from Anonymous Female. Sigh.


• Cool. Flickr gets mappy.


• It's true. Noah K. has much better hair than Ahree Lee.


• Strange and wonderful little animation featured today by Wired Magazine: Gerald become Geraldine.


• Can you correctly place the States? I actually did much better than I expected. Woo! Am feeling a little bit misty and proud to have gotten a 95%, I confess.


• I love that people on this subway platform look like they're about to launch into a musical number. New York, baby.


• "Orange juice is like a cheap whore to me now."