No Pining for the Fjords Here

Via the AV Club comes one of the more wonderful news stories I have seen in some time:



That is extremely silly and I expect the Colonel to show up at any time to put a stop to it.

And now for something completely the inspiration for the above:



Special thanks to Nick C. for allowing me to exercise right of first refusal on posting this.

So THAT'S what emojis are for...

With the season 4 premiere of Game of Thrones rapidly approaching, Cara Rose DeFabio (via YouTube and the Emoji Foundation) brings us an iPhone masterwork wrapping up Game of Thrones so far. To say this is a work of sheer genius is an understatement.



It goes fast which may require multiple viewings to take it all in. Or perhaps take random screen grabs to turn into a trivia game for your next GoT viewing party!

Kommunisti s Koshkami

OK, back to the real business of this blog.

Via Lawyers, Guns and Money comes word of a site even JJV could love:

Communists with Cats! (i.e., the post title in English)

Although, to be honest, I'm a little worried about those Stalingrad cats, and not because I think they're vulnerable to German shellfire.

Mendeleyev (doo doooo, doo-dooo-doo)

From the Department of Things You Thought would have been Thought of Already comes (Animal drumroll) the Periodic Table of the Muppets.

Definitely click through to read about the rigorous scientific methodology worthy of Bunsen Honeydew.

Source h/t A/V Club; post title h/t Laura who recommended some sort of Mendeleyev tie-in.

Bonus!

Tearses for Fearses, Yes Precious!

This came to my attention some time ago but I have been wandering in far countries where the stars are strange. OK, not really but that's a cool quote.

Behold:



The accompanist is probably not this guy.

One Ring to be the Master of the House

It's pretty well known in these parts that I am a huge fan of Lord of the Rings. Perhaps lesser known is my appreciation of Les Miserables, although as someone who has experienced the soundtrack, book and live presentation in that order, you can go ahead and skip the middle one unless 1) you eventually want to learn about the Paris sewers IN DETAIL or 2) you think editors are completely unnecessary for anything or 3) you think France has a population larger than about one dozen.

Imagine my reaction, then, to this rendition of Fantine's showstopper "I Dreamed a Dream" by one Monsieur Smeagol, sent my way by reliable source Powaqattsi:



Imagine it indeed. I give the performer full marks for committing to the performance, but I am uncertain when I will stop hearing this in my head. If he had covered "Stars" Russell Crowe would feel like he had put in a decent day's work.

The Hot Wheels on the Loop Go Round and Round

Inspired by JJV's Saab post (I also did not know that Saab's started with 2-stroke engines... Weedwhackers on wheels!), we're sticking with a cars theme.

So, this is what happens when children of the 70s & 80s grow up. Forget 1:64 scale, this is 1:1 full scale from the 2012 X Games in LA.

Orange track... check!
Loop... check!
Jump... check!
Brightly painted Hot Wheels cars... check!
Gravity drop? We don't need no stinking drop. We have engines!

Go for launch in 3... 2... 1... Zoom!

The Internet: You Have Options

Hey kids!

If you own a blog (let's call it Blog 1) and your blog posts are getting lots of spam-like backlinks from another blog (let's go into creativity overdrive and call it Blog 2), one of whose blogrolls features Blog 1, you have some options.

One thing you could do is try and contact the owner of Blog 2 to report the problem and try to resolve it. If an email address isn't listed on Blog 2, you could leave a comment on Blog 2's most recent post, noting the issue and asking Blog 2's owner to get in touch. Chances are, if Blog 2 isn't some kind of, oh I don’t know, let's coin a phrase here, "douche spam blog," the owner may not be aware of the problem and will take steps to remedy it, since the owner presumably would not want his blogging status/reputation (such as it is) damaged by appearing to be, again for lack of a better term, a "douche." Problem solved, misunderstandings minimized, etc.

Or.

You could wait for what seems to be months, deleting unwanted backlinks from posts and casting private aspersions on Blog 2 through gritted teeth. Then, after an unusually heavy barrage of backlinks, which understandably would be very annoying, you could post identical comments on three posts on Blog 2, identifying same as a "douche spam blog." Simultaneous with that, you could take to your Twitter account and ask your Twitter friends to report Blog 2 to the blog host as a spammer. Sample concluding text could be "Help me out [because] he's kind of a douche." When the shocked owner of Blog 2, having reviewed his comments and Twitter feed, subsequently corresponds with you on the theme of "Holy shit sorry about that I'll look into this and de-link your site but why didn't you tell me earlier and dude what's up with the whole 'douche' thing and Twitter DUDE," you could assure Blogger 2 that his shock has worn off, everybody will forget about this by tomorrow and besides, you yourself have been called much worse.

You could do all that, provided you understand that Blogger 2 is still shocked, the Internet is forever, and whatever you may have been called is irrelevant to the matter at hand.

Stay classy, Blog 1. For the rest of you (and I include myself in this), just because you think it or even type it up doesn't mean you have to click Send/Submit/Post/Flame/Destroy All Monsters.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish Tacos*

Laura has directed me to this delightful example of interspecies musical appreciation:



Maybe this is how whales hear their own music, although it would have made the setup of Star Trek IV either more or less dire depending on your views on mariachi music.

*I know, I know, it's not a dolphin, but it's close enough.

Approaching the Internet Viral Meme Singularity

Courtesy of my lovely wife TroloLaura, we present to you Trololo(l)cat:



Please to be enjoying. Thank you.

The Mithril Standard for Mashups

Tip o' the helm to J for this:



Thank God someone is using both the Internet and their spare time correctly.

Antigravity Slide

Can't say I've ever seen this before outside of a football game:



One of the commenters here asserts that the leap is illegal, but as Bryan is the one with baseball talent in the family I cannot say. Perhaps JWT can switch gears from hockey to weigh in on this.

Is Next, Music

Note the time you bailed out of this in comments.

H/t Russian Navy Blog

Mashed (by) Potatoes

We are looking forward to EMM's yummy mashed potatoes at tomorrow's Orphans' Thanksgiving. Here is an audiovisual masterpiece, hopefully not giving away any culinary secrets, for your digesting pleasure:

Hey

The Department of Spare Time, which appears to have branch offices everywhere except my own house, presents this Eisenstein-esque montage of every Kramer entrance into Jerry's apartment on Seinfeld:



H/t Pufferfish

Fortunately (or Perhaps Not), Requirements for Blogging are Far Less Strict

From Wonkette (natch) comes the latest way to stand in solidarity, or at least denseness, with the "birther" crowd: a Kenyan birth certificate generator.

Convergence

Those who know me know of my fondness for '80s music, but they may not know that I was/am a fan of the Gong Show and its host Chuck Barris, and have even intentionally watched The Gong Show Movie, not that I would disagree with those who would place its viewing under certain provisions of the Geneva Conventions.

Last weekend, while returning home from our week in the Adirondacks, I was reading the liner notes for a two-CD compilation of Disney movie music currently on heavy rotation in our car, and learned/relearned that Danny Elfman not only composed the score for The Nightmare Before Christmas, but also was the singing voice for main character Jack Skellington. (Voice work was by Chris Sarandon, better known in these parts as Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride.)

I always liked Elfman's work with Oingo Boingo but his work as a composer for film (Batman) and television (The Simpsons) has appealed to me as well with its strong resemblance to the works of Prokofiev in its sprightly near-anarchy. (For the record, I am not wearing a smoking jacket.)

Imagine my surprise, then to discover that one of the earliest incarnations of Oingo Boingo, suggesting later orchestral works, made an appearance on the Gong Show!

Behold:



You will either stop this short or watch this repeatedly to get a handle on all of the different things happening in a very small physical space. You almost don't notice that these are all very good musicians.

PAAAAALIIIIINNNNNN!!!

If there were a Nobel Prize for Cheerful Self-Awareness Shatner would have retired it years ago.

The Most Appropriate Use of the Internet, Continued

Presenting, without comment (I leave that to you), Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat.

h/t Wil Wheaton