Entries from May 2008 ↓

Thanks to the hot design Apartment Therapy blog for this tip: The Sims 2 is about to release an expansion pack that’ll enable you to drench the little ne’er-do-wells in IKEA.

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You might think that a student with a double major in Geography and Russian & Slavic Studies—one matriculating in about a year, before heading to grad school—might have more to do at 4 a.m. than create a geographic outline of the places rapper Ludacris likes to pick up chicks, based on his 2001 Word of Mouf single w/ Nate Dogg, “Area Codes,” above. (Click on the map to enlarge it, then again to see it at maximum size.)

But, if you do think that, you neither know the contradictions of higher ed nor the peccadilloes of Stefanie Gray. (You also haven’t been to the incredible Strange Maps blog, where I first saw this.)

There, the CUNY Hunter College undergrad, right, notes, “I’m a female and a feminist. I dislike the usage of the word ‘ho’. However, as a geography major, I find this song hilarious, and had to map it.”

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Such nice, white kids: Corny Collins and crew give you the finger

TITLE: HarryAllen.info’s Hairspray: The Hardcore Hip-Hop Remix!

LENGTH: 3:51

QUESTION: Have you ever noticed that the “Nicest Kids in Town” dance sequence, from the hit 2007 musical, Hairspray, syncs perfectly with “Ante Up (Remix),” the 2000 Funkmaster Flex track by M.O.P., Busta Rhymes, and Remy Ma?

STORY: It’s 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland. Tracy Turnblad (Nicole Blonsky) is in school, merely tolerating chemistry class, anxiously waiting for it to end. When the bell finally rings, she dashes out and grabs her best friend, Penny Pingleton (Amanda Bynes). “Penny! Come on, hurry!” she urges. “Push, we’re late!”

While the two run fast as they can over to Tracy’s house, in a darkened studio across town, camera crews set up shots and slickly-dressed teens spin on their heels, taking special care to “douse their ‘do’s'” in Ultra Clutch. It’s The Corny Collins Show! One minute to air!

Tracy and Penny burst through the door and turn on the television, just in time for the start of their favorite weekday afternoon TV program. Soon, they’re moving to the beat as Corny (James Marsden), Link Larkin (Zac Efron), and “the nicest kids in town” do the hottest dances to the latest song!

INSTRUCTIONS: Forward this to your friends! Though audio is NSFW, play loudly, share widely, and enjoy!

Korean designer Cheol-Ki Jo’s radical redesign of a common houshold radio results in one with no knobs, slide pots, or other usual controls for volume and tuning.

Instead, users place stones of varied sizes on top of the wood case. Certain circular areas there are designed to electronically register pressure via “load cells,” as seen in the diagram at right.

From unplggd.com:

Depending on the weight being balanced upon the two radial surfaces, the concept unit’s volume and frequency are adjusted, making this less of an actual device and more of an art installation piece. It’s still an interesting idea (“Honey, can you give me back the speckled white stone and the three black pebbles so I can listen to NPR?”).

Art installation piece, or maybe children’s device, generating a true experience of discovery and play? Whatever, it represents some serious top-of-the-box thinking.

mental_floss’s Ransom Riggs points out with several examples what was obvious to most, but undocumented until now: With the possible exception of the Flaming Lips, both cats and rock stars are united in their hatred of laser pointers.

Liz Trotta, the FOX News contributor who joked, yesterday morning, that it would be good if “we” “knock off” Barack Obama, apologized for her comments, today, at the end (2:45 in) of a bit about Clinton’s RFK assassination statement clarification.

“I am so sorry about what happened yesterday and the lame attempt at humor,” said Trotta, in the patronizing tones of the E. 66th St. matron that she is. “I really just fell all over myself in making it appear that I wished Barack Obama harm, or any other candidate, for that matter. I sincerely regret it and apologize to anybody I have offended. It’s a very colorful political season, and many of us are making mistakes and saying things that we wish we hadn’t said.”

Thanks, Liz. We accept your apology, and perhaps the family of Barack Obama will, too.

Now, FOX, fire her.

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Absolutely hilarious: So, is FOX’s Liz Trotta cracking up?

“… and now we have what … uh … some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama … um … uh … Obama …. Well, both, if we could (laughs).”

I expect anything from white people, particularly the ones I most suspect get some kind of ego boost, whether directly or indirectly, from racism.

So, I’m not outraged in the least by FOX News contributor Liz Trotta’s statement to co-host Eric Shawn, on Sunday, just before noon ET, that it would be good if “we” “knock off” both Osama bin Laden, alleged 9/11 mastermind, and Barack Obama, U.S. senator and candidate for President.

She was speaking about Hillary Clinton’s reference to Robert Kennedy’s assassination, last week, and the charge many made against Clinton that it was a veiled reference to Barack Obama. (That’s Trotta, former New York bureau chief of The Washington Times, above, laughing after she made her crack.)

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I can see Gayle King from here: New York’s Hearst Building (57th St. and 8th Ave.), home to O Magazine and others, and its GTA IV twin

With the April 29 release of Rockstar Games’ (and, full disclosure, my former employer’s) Grand Theft Auto IV now nearly a month behind us, many are raving over the game’s raucus gameplay and sophisticated storyline. Still others are flabbergasted by the company’s reported game sales of over 6 million copies sold in the first week, including 3.6 million the first day, for a gross of half a billion dollars the first seven days of release, beating analyst projections widely. (These also beat Microsoft’s Halo 3 numbers, ’til now the biggest release. Little-known fact: In 2004, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas also beat Halo 2‘s sales with, much the same, little fanfare.)

But whether you love video games, like I do, detest them, like my wife does, or are a voice actor for the GTA IV who doesn’t believe Take 2, Rockstar’s parent company, paid you enough, like Michael Hollick, if you’re New Yorkers playing GTA IV, there’s one thing you can all agree upon: The striking sense of verisimilitude with which the game overwhelms the player.

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Dem bones, dem bones: Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) poke around in America’s dark underbelly

In “Keeping Up with the Jones: White Supremacy on BET,” Bro. Tony Muhammad both regards the promotion of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which opened yesterday, and captures that distinct, tacky awkwardness one feels when white people, especially ones who’ve never been to Harlem, try to act like they’re used to being surrounded by Black people, especially when it’s being done for marketing purposes.

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A lot o’ you brothers out there don’t know how to treat a beautiful lady, like this one, above. Your game is way off. Y’all need to learn from a professional.

See, when I get a woman back to my place, I like to take it real slow.

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