??????

Visit the Museum of Fantastic Specimens, in English.

(via MAKE)

Fido (****)

(2006) dir. Andrew Currie – w/ Carrie-Anne Moss, Billy Connolly as a boy’s best friend, Dylan Baker as a man who has problems with zombies, K’Sun Ray as a zombie’s best friend, and others, in roles such as: Zombie Grandpa, Zombie Paperboy, Human Milkman, Dr. Hrothgar Geiger, and Poacher Driver (Zombie Poaching apparently being a lucrative career choice).

Synopsis: It’s the future, kind of, in an alternate sort of universe where it’s like the 1950s except for the part where space-dust has turned all the dead people into zombies, and a giant corporation has harnessed zombie power for the good of humanity. Also, you’re not allowed to have hand-guns till you’re 13 (until then, you have to make do with rifles–you think I’m kidding, but I’m not).

Review: Expecting to be mildly amused, I was warmly surprised by this movie. Morbidly heart-warming and coy, this is no great epic, but there are moments of surprising depth. It’s a stretch to apply the word “realistic”, probably, but there are scenes in which you realize that Fido (the titular zombie, played by Billy Connolly), despite being dead and all, is more human, and more compassionate, than some of the non-zombie characters. Performances all around are pretty swell–particularly Carrie-Anne Moss’s, which surprises particularly when compared to some of her better-known roles. All in all a comic, satisfying romp.

Rating: [••••] out of [•••••]

The future is here

Mildly frightening robot cat. Just don’t let it eat the robot chicken.

(Somewhat surprisingly, not that robot chicken.)

(via Consumerist)

Super Massive Run-Down

  • Books You Can’t Read, via The Millions. Next installments, foods you can’t eat, cows you can’t milk.
  • How easily can you get There From Here? A quick snap-bang-whiz online calculator to give you a “walkability” index for your neighborhood (or the address of your choosing). Based on respectably sensible things like the proximity of grocery stores, parks, public transit, etc. Via MetaFilter, and possibly also PLANetizen.
  • Brazilian Psychedelic Groups hawks Oil. A commercial, found courtesy of WFMU.
  • Girls Like Pink. Because of Berries. No, really! It’s scientific! Well, it is scientific. Whether or not it stands up as a valid theory is an entirely different issue. Maybe it’s my lack of versing, or maybe a poorly chosen headline, but the whole “may be hardwired” part sets me at a skeptical angle.
  • How to destroy bottles. In a very precise, awesome way. Some day this will come in handy. And then you’ll be sorry you didn’t pay more attention. Via MAKE Blog.
  • Really? “Cramming doesn’t work in the long-term.” Via EurekAlert.
  • Not exactly Ha Ha, but Great. Listen to the latest episode of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency on the BBC. (And by latest, well–it’s not like there are new ones being written. Anyway.) Via Crooked Timber.
  • Un-Bear-Lievable. Out in California, another giant cargo net saves the day. Assuming one saved the day in the past. Via Snopes. Follow the link for a heart-warming story of animal rescue.
  • Still Great, Great Stills. Frame-by-frame comparisons of Simpsons stills vs. the movies they reference. Via BoingBoing.

Less surprised to learn I’m some sort of giant robot, more surprised I’m from the Great Lakes


I AM
81%
JAZZ
Take the Transformers Quiz


I am:

Kurt Vonnegut

For years, this unique creator of absurd and haunting tales denied that he had anything to do with science fiction.

Which science fiction writer are you?


What American accent do you have?

Your Result: The Inland North
 

You may think you speak “Standard English straight out of the dictionary” but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like “Are you from Wisconsin?” or “Are you from Chicago?” Chances are you call carbonated drinks “pop.”

Philadelphia
 
The Northeast
 
The Midland
 
The South
 
The West
 
Boston
 
North Central
 
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Also, I do not refer to carbonated beverages as “pop”; naturally, all of the other information is 100% accurate.

We animals have a good time, too!

Casper The Friendly Ghost – The Animal Square Dance

(via WFMU’s Beware of the Blog, where there are plenty more songs to listen to)

Elefantenrüsselfisch…

…can “see” with their chins.

(Image via Flickr. Story via ScienceBlog.)

Yes, that coal

If you don’t have time to pick up a copy of Jeff Goodell’s Big Coal, then you ought to at least take a read through his compact Washington Post article, King Coal: What It Costs Us.

Related: George Orwell writes about coal mining.

(via Gristmill)

Pollution deaths

Numbers can be stifling and boggling, but more amazing (and depressing) than the fact that 40% of deaths, worldwide, are related to pollution, is the statement that some 57% of the world population is malnourished. Which is shocking to me, but not. More shocking, however, is that in 1950, the percentage was 20.

(via EurekAlert: “Pollution causes 40 percent of deaths worldwide” [13 Aug 2007])

In the future…

…we won’t need the advice of our friends for anything, and giant birds will terrorize shoppers everywhere.

Oh, wait–the future’s here now!