Cover Versions

Cover Versions by littlepixel are “classic records lost in time and format, re-emerged as Pelican books.” (via Kitsune Noir and Drawn)

Is It Funny? Should I Forward It? I wish some folks who email me would read this.....

(via Shoeboxblog & Pootling.)

Like living in the mind of a depressed hippy

Link Machine Go puts up the video from the last show of Charlie Brooker's excellent Newswipe; which you really, really should have watched.

It's entitled the "Rise of Oh Dear-ism in Television News" by Adam Curtis and it's just brilliant. (alternate links here and here.) Essential it puts a good case that television journalism gave up on serious reporting a long time ago as the serious stuff tended to concentrate on politics and was, sadly, a little dull. Bring on the new breed of television journalism; emotive, fluffy, black and white, that flourished through Live Aid and the fall of the Eastern Bloc and suddenly found itself redundant in the moral vacuum of swirling grayness found in Rwanda.

But enough waffle. Go and watch the thing.

We trail our April Fools Gags now?

It seems we do.
Unless you really think Ikea is introducing an environmentally friendly car on 1st April:



The Internet. Somewhere to avoid on April 1st.

A is for apple, B is for bomb, C is for cavity search?

It's obviously never too early to teach the kids about the important things in life:



(via but sadly unavailable to buy on amazon right now)

The 10 Mental Illnesses Batman Indisputably Has

The 10 Mental Illnesses Batman Indisputably Has.
Genius.

#10 Coulrophobia: For a guy who fights the Joker every Tuesday or so, a fear of clowns is a no-brainer.
and on it goes until #1 Anger management Issues. Duh.
(via LMG)

Is an I-pod part of your mind?

hmmm...... an interesting Guardian piece. Although if, as they make out the i-pod can be classed as part of the brain then my pda and even the remember the milk website I use can be considered part of mine as well.

Bill Gates and the greatest tech hack ever

Anil Dash: Bill Gates and the greatest tech hack ever. The article starts:

Bill Gates has pulled off one of the greatest hacks in technology and business history, by turning Microsoft's success into a force for social responsibility. Imagine imposing a tax on every corporation in the developed world, collecting $100 per white-collar worker per year, and then directing one third of the proceeds to curing AIDS and malaria. That, effectively, is what Bill Gates has done.

And then goes on in similar vein. I'm no Microsoft apologist or a particular fan of the great corporation and I use windows more by laziness and by default than choice necessarily, but I just don't think you can make a good argument against what he's trying to do now with the Foundation.

(via Pete Ashton)

How to nap - think I may have to try this out....

Given my hideous sleep patterns recently and my continuing exhaustion, this may be something I really need to try: A guide on napping from the Boston Globe. Apparantly I'd be feeling a lot better if I had a little nap around 3pm, lasting about 20-30 minutes, and should have a cup of coffee before the nap starts just so the caffeine hit would kick in just after waking.

Plastic thingy for keeping leads at the edge of your desk. Genius.

Keep-A-Cable

One of those things that just screams out "Of course - THIS is what I need" yet prior to seeing it you'd never realised it.

Via Boing Boing.

Gerald Scarfe, CBE

The cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, received a CBE at the weekend. Thoroughly well deserved as well.

Neil Gaiman TMNT for Comic Relief. ....

I don't remember this from 1991 to be honest, which is strange because that's around the time when I remember pretty much anything involving comics, music and useless information. Interestingly this is also the time of my degree finals. I remember almost nothing from them.

It's a scan of the Neil Gaiman written Teenage Mutant Something Turtles (remember the farce over using ninja or action on British TV?). A very young looking Lenny Henry and Jonathan Ross in there as well.

Neil talks about it here on his blog FAQ.
No credit for the artist but based on the time, who Gaiman was working with and the list of artists on the wiki page - I'm guessing it's Mark Buckingham. Anyone care to confirm?

The Ladybird Book of Policeman - modern version

The Ladybird Book of the Policeman, rewritten for our times. Link (via Boing Boing)

Abandoned Russian Library

Stunning images. (via Boing Boing)

Cooling the Tube

This is the sort of fascinating thing that the Interweb is so very good at throwing up. A look at the many problems and solutions of cooling London Underground.

(via Pete)

Pee & Poo. How sweet ......

Aren't they adorable?
These little plush toys are Pee & Poo. Yes, they are exactly what it sounds like.
Seems some Swedish post grad came up with the idea on a graphic design course and then took the brilliant step of marketing them.
A little digging shows they've been around for a while now, but the only place I can find them onsale is the Swedish website. Guess they didn't take off like everyone reckoned they would. Or maybe I just missed it?
Anyway, Molly wants them. I worry sometimes.

(Via Buzzfeed)

Clive James Interviews - Posey Simmonds

Clive James interviews - here at Slate. Interviewing the way it used to be on TV and now is only ever found on the radio. Two people simply talking face to face. So easy to do, but so difficult to do this right.

Thanks to Pete for the link.
But I'm just typing this after having watched the every interesting Posey Simmonds I know I'm now going off to waste a huge chink of tonight watching lots of the other interviews. PJ O'Rourke next I think.

Clive James Illustration by Joe Ciardiello

More Stephen Fry.....

Another excellent ramble, this time on the troublesome thing that is fame from everyone's favourite Englishman, Mr Stephen Fry.

The map of humanity....

New from SLG: giant 24x36 Map of Humanity by Rex Libris and Nil creator James Turner
Well worth clicking through to the link and enlarging for the detail.

Just in case you ever wanted to - you can cook your laptop at 300 degrees for 5 minutes...

It ends up looking like the picture, but amazingly, it still works.
Lucky White Girl indeed

(via)