Sites for Sore Eyes

Ahh, the internet. It sucks company bandwidth, blows your productivity at home and in the school library, and there are naked people. LOTS of them. There are also crazy MP3s, weirdo animations, stupid movies, arty things to impress your intellectual pals with, old timey robots, and European football hooligans armed with video cameras. Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby present half an hour of your life that you will never get back.

Mile and miles of vintage arcade sounds
And not just recordings of the games themselves, but the geek-chic ambience of the arcades themselves, which I spent countless hours in as a kid, as I imagine many of you did as well. Left! Left! Bodyblow! Bodyblow! Quickly followed by the buzzsaw gun from some shoot 'em up, and the lame victory music from Tron. Ladies, have I lost you yet?

Cup stacking championship?
Next up, a salad-tossing derby.

Best Rejected Advertising
TV, Radio, Print, you name it -- All of 'em share the common theme of having been complained about by consumers. Says a lot about the national standards of "taste and decency" in the various countries of origin, especially in places like Italy, where you can't sell granola bars, carburetors, or airline tickets without a multitude of nude bodies.

Spray it, Don't Say it
The incredible beatbox stylings of San Francisco's Kid Beyond.

Google News in Map Form
Did your family Thanksgiving dinner feature one of those fist-through-the-wall styled arguments with your Dad about that kooky old liberal media? Did you, at any point summon the crusty specters of NPR vs. Fox News or New Yorker vs. The Drudge Report? This newsmap application (seems to launch best in Internet Explorer) will dazzle you regardless of your good witch/bad witch/cowboy/indian/liberal/conservative leanings.

 

Plastic People
Are apparently preparing to rise up and seize control of the planet for their own plastic purposes.

The Curious Photography of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison
But the plastic people will first have to contend with that guy with the big wrench and the branches coming out of his head.

Disquieting Snow Globes
As constructed and photographed by artists Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz.

19th Century Robots
Not impressed? That's exactly the sort of lazy attitude that'll ensure the plastic people an easy time of enslaving us, you hippy.

British Dude Who Paints Gum Stuck on the Sidewalk
And since the government doesn't own the gum, he can't get busted for vandalism. Very clever, laddy!

Air guitarists, the bar just got raised considerably
Some crazy Fins at the Helsinki University of Technology have created a computer program that translates the finger movements of an air guitarist into actual music, were it performed on an actual stringed instrument. We wait breathlessly for Jussi of Finland's Circle (click to stream Real Audio) to air-guitar the entire Black Oak Arkansas back catalog.

The Complete Sesame Street Encyclopedia Online
Betty Lou, you are still the apple of my 1st grade eye.

Insane Soccer Fans
Though not as insane as those described in "Among the Thugs", by Bill Buford, which should be at the top of your reading list. In memory of George Best.

Cereal. Lots of cereal.
And I believe it was Rich Hazelton who volunteered to start scanning everything in WFMU's record library for a similar project, correct?

Family Circus, re-visited (again)
This time, with H.P. Lovecraft at the helm. Oh, Billy...

This months links were forked over by Lou Ziegler, Kenzo, Ken Freedman, Rich Hazelton, Scott Williams, and the editor.

Comments

[Kenzo (lastever.org / kenzodb.com)]

"Left! Left! Bodyblow! Bodyblow!"

God, it's sad how totally evocative that is. In fact, that phrase totally jumped off the screen at me, and hit me right where my hands still hurt from a childhood at the joystick.

[lugano]

Discover Lugano is the first-of-its-kind online travel photo gallery dedicated to this part of the world. While striving to create a fun and informative online experience, is much more. It is also a feature-rich travel planning tool focused solely on the lakes, mountains, shops, nightlife, and dining spots found in this vibrant city with a small town feel. Discover Lugano users can map points of interest and add points of interest onto itineraries. They can even download and email finalized itineraries to themselves, friends and relatives. www.discoverlugano.ch