Month: January 2004

Take a look at some great photographic galleries from around the world at TrekEarth. Makes me want to travel (and photograph) more…

The Fontifier lets you submit samples of your handwriting that are then turned into fonts you can use on your computer. That might be a good thing for some of you, but it would render most of my writings illegible… :-p

eatmail.tv presents the Best Videoclips Of 2003, including such classics as “Star Wars Kid,” Trojan Condoms’ “Sex Olympics,” and Jack Black in “Lord Of The Piercing.” Hilarious…

According to Ananova,

William Shatner has recorded a new album featuring a guest appearance by US punk legend Henry Rollins. Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in the original TV series of Star Trek, has also enlisted Joe Jackson and US country star Brad Paisley to guest on the album. The album will be produced by Ben Folds, leader of the Ben Folds Five, reports the New York Post. Shatner is generally acknowledged as having recorded the worst ever version of a Beatles’ song. He released his spoken word cover of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” in 1968.

If you are ever described as having recorded the “worst ever version” of a song, then perhaps it’s time to stick with your day job. Although I will admit that Shatner’s “Lucy” cover was one of the (obviously unintentionally) funniest things I’ve ever heard…

Play the handheld LCD version of Donkey Kong Jr. in this Shockwave applet. Better yet, download MAME and play thousands of arcade games on your computer once you find the proper game ROM files; newsgroups are the best source IMNSHO (alt.binaries.emulators.mame, I believe). I love technology, even if it’s applied to make things more like they were in the ‘80s… :-p

To the apparent disappointment of several, I missed my opportunity to rag on the Redskins last week when Coach Spurrier quit the team after two disappointing seasons, with a record of 12-20. I’m not certain that it was all his fault, and I will be happy to lay the blame on owner/wannabe Dan Snyder. But that’s just me. Anyway, let me just say that I’m glad Spurrier quit, not giving that little troll Dan Snyder the chance to fire him. There, that feels better. :-p

Now, on to the good news. I’ve said for some time that the Redskins have gone downhill ever since Joe Gibbs resigned in 1993. True or not, there’s no denying his three Super Bowl rings (XVII, XXII, and XVII) and his subsequent induction to the Football Hall Of Fame in 1996. Tomorrow he is expected to announce that he is returning to coach the Washington Redskins, news that is hailed by almost every sports fan in the D.C. area as the best in some time. The game has changed since his retirement just over 10 years ago, but if nothing else, he will command the respect of the team, something which I believe has been sorely lacking since he left. Cross your fingers…

Ever wonder what your favorite celebrities are up to in between projects? Wonder no more! Japander.com brings you the best of the Japanese TV commercials that the stars hope you will never see in the US. Take it from Woody Allen on The Simpsons: “So many rice crackers claim to be low-cal, but only Fujikawa rice crackers make your interiors go bananas! What’d I do to deserve this? Oh, right.”

The Hidden Song Archive is “a database of hidden and unlisted tracks from albums by all types of artists.” The first time I can remember coming upon a hidden track was in Nirvana’s Nevermind, in which there was a hidden track after a long silence in the last track, “Something In The Way.”

Happy New Year, everyone! Now that we are well into 2004, I wanted to remind you of the link to the excellent fimoculous 2003 Year In Review, chock-full of links to year-ending lists, reviews, and rankings. In particular, the Google 2003 Year-End Zeitgeist presents search trends for last year, which are a pretty good barometer for what was in the news or popular at the time.

Update: I just happened upon Dave Barry’s hilarious article “Between Iraq and a Hard Place” that pokes fun at the events of 2003.