Thakelt10 missed the point pretty spectacularly in his 1-star review of the Criterion Collection DVD release of Fishing With John. For the uninitiated, here’s the wikipedia entry for it. This clip of Tom Waits putting a fish down his pants pretty much sums it up, too. Here’s Amazon.com user Thakelt10’s brilliant advice on the subject:

Perhaps even more astounding are the 3 out of 9 people who found his review helpful.

The internet is chock full of gems like these. Everyone has a voice on the internet if they want one, and as such anyone can feel free to opine on almost astonishingly ridiculous crap (case in point here). Wanna know know the real deal about Brawny paper towels? No problem. Can’t decide if that 9 dollar plunger is the right one for you? Some guy named “Eduardo Nietzsche” from Houston has you covered. Trim the fat off of Amazon and you get Yelp.com, whose motto, “Real People. Real Reviews,” makes it fertile ground for unintentional hilarity. Take, for instance, this review of a gas station in Glenview, Illinois. Let me repeat that: it’s a review of a gas station.

User-generated content is great and all, but maybe we can draw the line at reviews of gas stations and plungers. I don’t need advice when it comes to gas stations and plungers. If I need gas, I’ll find a gas station. I don’t care if it’s not “one of the better gas stations in the area.” If I need a plunger, I’ll buy one. If I somehow manage to break it (which I’ve never done before), I’ll buy a new one. It’s a plunger. I understand that you have things to say about the products you purchase and the gas stations you feel passionate about, but enough is enough.

Shut up, internet.

Is available to read. For free. On the internet.

True story.

Kasper Hauser has put up another parody of This American Life. These guys are freakin’ awesome.

Also, Pravda (a Russian paper founded by Leon Trotsky in 1908) is doing some very interesting reporting on the Don Imus scandal. So interesting, in fact, that trying to read their article has given me a migraine and blurred vision.

Dudes have two options when Aunt Flow comes to visit their babes: put up or shut up. That’s been enough, those two choices, since the dawn of man. You either roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty or say “yucky” and wait a few days. That’s how it is. That’s how it’s always been. Or, if you ask some freak named Abdul A. Al-Saleh from Saudi Arabia, that’s how it’s been for FAR TOO LONG. Al-Saleh thinks two choices is bullshit. Al-Saleh wants to have his cake and eat it too. Al-Saleh is probably a very strange guy to those who know him personally.

I don’t think I have to tell you what U.S. Patent #5,620,429 is. I think the picture speaks for itself, at least conceptually, although the actual physicality of how such a contraption might work completely eludes me. The abstract explains a bit:

The round bag has an opening and rings, windings and protrusions, as well as a suitable cream…. The fixing extension is placed between the rumps and may be coated by an adhesive material.

Oh, I get it now. The fixing extension goes between the rumps. Where in this patent does it explain who in their right fucking mind would ever consider banging this thing? Did he think about that at all? Maybe that’s why the patent was filed ten years ago and, bafflingly enough, you still can’t find Al-Saleh’s magnificent contraption at Walgreens or CVS. Maybe two choices was enough all along! We’ll put up or shut up, but we won’t fuck bags. Sorry, Al-Saleh. U.S. Patent #5,620,429 sucks.

I decided to look up some information about slime moulds. It turns out that, in addition to being fascinating protists, they are also “gay homos.”

Does the scientific community know about this yet?

(jpg for posterity’s sake)

Thumbelina is the world’s smallest horse. I don’t know what else to say about her.

(via smallist – a blog dedicated to all things small)

(edit: Thumbelina has her own website!)

Fargo In 5 Seconds
the dude who made this made a ton of ’em. they’re all kinda sweet.

Giant Robot Dinosaurs
slow moving awkward robotic dinosaurs make me terrified and slightly uncomfortable.

Dancing Baby Elephant plays harmonica
pure unadulterated internet.

I Heart Huckabees Lily Tomlin/David O. Russell Fight
dude is pissed.

50/50
50 people singing 50 cent. yowza.

Sand Castle Explosions Backwards
this is epic.

Chaccaron
this is retarded.

Bjork – Triumph of a Heart
kablooie your brain blow ahp.

Who am I kidding? I can’t fucking wait.

New article up on Cracked today. That’s all.

Can someone please explain to me why it took me four months to find out about Kevin Federline’s branded Yahoo!-powered search engine SearchWithKevin.com? And here I’ve been using Google like some kind of asshole. To think all this time I could’ve been winning sweet prizes (just for surfing the web!) like K-Fed t-shirts, autographs, and “a chance to attend Kevin’s private birthday celebrations in Los Angeles.” You can also download the “branded Internet Explorer toolbars for instant search & win access” and “quick links to Kevin & his music,” which they guarantee has ” NO ADWARE, SPYWARE OR ANYTHING!” Coming from anyone else I would be wary of downloading something that is guaranteed in all caps to have no adware, spyware, or “anything,” but it’s you, Kevin. Why wouldn’t I trust someone who has nothing left to lose?

As a parenthetical footnote, I’d like to point out that Prodege, the company behind SearchWithKevin, is, according to their website, “the first socially-conscious search engine” who have “pioneered a new way for charities to raise contributions with a cost-free vehicle.” In this case, they are raising money for the National Buy-Some-Dude-With-Zero-Prospects-Some-Macaroni-And-Cheese Fund.

(via geekologie)

p.s. PEEP IT ON THE ‘SPACE, YO!