Linkbloggin' w Unkie Bunny (now with embeds!)

You want links? I got links:

- Stuff White People Like, my new favorite blog. Not only funny, but so accurate that it made me feel kind of guilty. Made me want to stop liking some things that I like just so I couldn't be so accurately pinned down. But then it occurred to me that wanting to feel unique and un-pinned-down is another Thing that White People Like.

A sample from #67 Standing Still at Concerts:

. . .when white people go to concerts at smaller venues, what to do they do? They stand still! This is an important part of white concert going as it enables you to focus on the music, and it will prevent drawing excess attention to you. Remember, at a concert everyone is watching you just waiting for you to try to start dancing. Then they will make fun of you.

- I found out about Desktop Tower Defense about a year ago, and every couple of months I rediscover it and waste frightening amounts of time playing. Waves of enemies try to get from one side of your desk to another while you build a maze of upgradeable weapon towers to slow them down and stop them. Simple and fun and very, very addictive. Tip: Last upgrade pays for all.

- Sushi Go Round also keeps me amused, like the cocaine monkey pulling the cocaine lever over and over and over.

- Mushroom Life is relaxing, and will make you feel smart by doing very little.

- yugop.com has been around for a while, is very cool, and is hard to describe. "Yugo Nakamura is a creative director, designer and engineer exploring various forms of interactive system in digital and networked environment," says the About. The menu is in the lower lefthand corner, along with tiny instructions for each . . . thing. Be sure to check out the archives. Lots of cool stuff in there.

- ˙ʎʇıunʇɹoddo pooƃ ɐ ǝʞıl sɯǝǝs sıɥʇ ˙ʇı punoɟ ı ǝɔuıs ʇı pǝsn ʎllɐǝɹ ʇ,uǝʌɐɥ puɐ 'ǝƃɐd sıɥʇ ʇnoqɐ ʇoƃɹoɟ ʎllɐʇoʇ ı

- Hikaru dorodango from the About page: "Hikaru dorodango are balls of mud, molded by hand into perfect spheres, dried, and polished to an unbelievable luster. The process is simple, but the result makes it seem like alchemy." A site about this pastime of Japanese children with a gallery and instructions for making your own.

I love Robot Chicken. I think I've sent this one, The Death of He-Man, to about everyone I know already, but here it is again:

On a related note:

Alright, just one more and then I'm out:

Indiscipline

Below are the lyrics to King Crimson's Indiscipline, which are ringing really true right now.

I do remember one thing.
It took hours and hours but..
by the time I was done with it,
I was so involved, I didn't know what to think.
I carried it around with me for days and days..
playing little games
like not looking at it for a whole day
and then.. looking at it.
to see if I still liked it.
I did.

I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat myself when under stress.
I repeat..
The more I look at it,
the more I like it.
I do think it's good.
The fact is..
no matter how closely I study it,
no matter how I take it apart,
no matter how I break it down,
It remains consistent.
I wish you were here to see it.

I like it.

Success!

I've been trying, for about a month now, to teach one of the autistic guys that I work with to say, "We're gonna turn this mother out!" When he (I'll call him "Mr. D") first started with us, he brought a handful of idioms with him, most notably: "I'm gonna work you to death," used when he's feeling particularly energetic, and "We've gotta play it by ear," used when the outcome of any given situation is uncertain.

Mr. D's picked up, from some of the other "normal functioning" employees there, a handful of other metaphoric expressions. "We gotta get up outta this hole!" Used as a sort of whip-crack. "Friday's big payroll!" a morale-booster. But to that last one, he's also added, "Eagles fly!" I'm not really sure what that one's all about, or what he's misinterpreting, but hearing him gleefully shout out, "Friday's big payroll, eagles fly!" in his Pee Wee Herman/Rainman voice is usually all it takes to break me out of whatever work-rut funk I happen to be in.

But I think we've had a breakthrough with this new one. He was having trouble with the inflection when I first introduced the phrase to him. He wanted to emphasize the word "mother" instead of "out," which, for me, subtly robs the expression of it's power. And then, in his way of not understanding metaphor, would say, "Turn this mother out. Friday give my mother my paycheck!" A conceptual disconnect. Hmm.

It was then that I realized that I hadn't exactly explained the meaning of this particular expression to him yet. I had seen him take a literal interpretation of metaphors before: One of his former work coaches had once said, jokingly, "Let's go to the mall, pick up chicks!" and Mr. D had said, "Lift paychecks with our strong muscles!" I had been coaching him on this new expression in context of pep talks about the coming day's tasks, which he likes to review every morning, but then it occurred to me to explain, "Do you know what 'Turn this mother out' means?" Silence. Then, "What. Means. 'Turn-this-mother-out?"

"It means Get This Job Done!" to which he shouted "How's that!" which is his way of saying "Oh, of course. Now I understand!"

So just this last week, unprovoked, I overheard him on the production line shout out to one of his line-mates, "We gotta turn this mother out!" Success!

Face Recognition - Celebrity Matchups

Through various sources, I've been directed to the My Heritage website, which provides free tools for creating photo-based family trees. But they also have this face recognition tool that will scan your photo and find celebrities that most resemble, if not you, then the photo of you that you've submitted. It's great fun and it's totally free. You don't even have to set up an account to use it!

Here's mine:



They also have this Morph application. I picked Andy Garcia, who, of all the choices, I thought was the closest resemblance:



Then Toshiro Mifune. I didn't see the resemblance at all until setting the morph points. It's the mouth. I have Toshiro Mifune's mouth:



Go, and do likewise.

Falafel on South Grand!

Saturday I was walking toward the Gelateria on S. Grand (with pbrstreetgang) and saw that the Middle Eastern market right across the street from Jay International is under new ownership. On a chalkboard in the window was scrawled, among other things, "Falafel Sandwiches." I'm sure pbr thought I was going to pee in my pants, so I relaxed and made a mental note.

Today, after making my delivery of beansprouts to Jay Int., I scuttled across the street, made my way to the back of the store, and made my order, which the smiling woman behind the counter told me would take a couple of minutes. In addition to my sandwich, I also ordered a spinach pie and a piece of baklava that looked home-made (and I mean that in the best possible way). Also on the menu were Hummus, Babaganoush, a cheese pie, and some other things I didn't recognize.

The sandwich, well, it was no Al-Tarboush, and a little on the small side, but it was very decent it's here on South Grand. The woman was so happy to have a customer order hot food that she gave me an extra piece of baklava for free! I think that with a little steadier clientele, and a few suggestions here and there (feta and hummus in the sandwich maybe?) this place could really shine. Then all South Grand would need, IMO, is an Indian restaurant and I would never have to leave the neighborhood.