Sunday Night Jukeboxery

The Bravery - Believe



Placebo - Where is my mind?



Cornershop - Candyman

Picked just for you by my ipod (except I tried to find Hallowed Ground by the Violent Femmes, and didn't). Sorry, but three songs is all you get for a buck.

IROC

Re the previous Camero post, it's not exactly Panama, but here is the obligatory Dead Milkmen - Bitchin' Camaro (and apropos of nothing, Punk Rock Girl) Apparently it's obligatory to indulge my inner twelve-year old, but mea culpa.

Nifty

Honda's Rube Goldberg Commercial. [via] Bee tee dubs, this just reinforces how much Acura has screwed up their styling with the awful, awful "gladiator" grill.

"JO-HANNES BRA-AHMS?"

Unsurprisingly, this video is an homage to Wes Anderson

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma.

It's really lonely over here

Conan talks quantum physics with Jim Carrey.

Far as I can tell, they're quoting from a real paper. I will give SPIN a search later and let you know if I find the abstract. How cool would it be the guys who wrote that paper? (Answer: Huge to them, slightly to everyone else).

From Physical Review Letters:

Stochastic Phase Switching of a Parametrically Driven Electron in a Penning Trap
L. J. Lapidus, D. Enzer, and G. Gabrielse
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
Received 7 January 1999

Fluctuation-induced switching of driven bistable systems, far from equilibrium, has been the focus of theoretical analysis and analog circuit computations. A parametrically driven electron in a Penning trap is shown to be a nearly ideal experimental realization. Noise applied to this dynamic double well system produces random switching between two steady-state oscillations which differ in the oscillation phase by 180^∘. ©1999 The American Physical Society

Also, there's a guy in my office who has magic flute voice.

Pomo snow removal

Speaking of snow and bad commercials: Mr. Plow channels Calvin Klein.

Also in German.

And for no good reason at all: Mr. Sparkle.

Garmin has lost their minds

What a mediocre lot of superbowl commercials. Heavy - very heavy - on the WTF factor.

"Featuring":

• Snickers Bar Induces Gay Panic
  
• Slapping is the New New York
• Lord of the Flies vs The Office. (ps, "I killed the Weatherman! His strength is in me!")
  
• Garmin vs Mapasaurs. He pees on the map-monster to destroy it.
  

C- but only because KFed was funny.

The Beatles

Rooftop Concert - Part 1

As a commenter points out, the best part is the old guy climbing the ladder smoking a pipe. Worst part? Lennon sings "Nobody loves me like she does," and they cut to Yoko.

Airplanes are strong

Failure testing a 777 wing. They say it failed at 154% of the maximum design load, which I assume is some ridiculous load => ~10g => 4,000 tons => 6,000 ton failure?

3d morphable faces

The Three-Dimensional Morphable Face. [via Eric] These guys can take a single photograph and turn it into a realistic 3-d computer model. However, CGI still usually fails because you need a good animator to create realistic gestures and expressions. I suspect animators will supplant actors in the future.

Take that, Bellagio!

Check out the 3,000 valve ink-jet waterfall that Jeep uses at auto-shows. They need to make a three-dimensional version.

Posh Waiter

"We're back. The incredibly posh people who are unaccountably still waiters."

P.S. Waiters who are nauseated by food.

Speaking of turbulance

Airport Racing (thanks Eric)

The EPA Didn't Exist Then

Disposal of Sodium in a lake (hint: Kablamo!). Ah yes, it was a different time then. On the other hand, we have new things to raise (and singe) our eyebrows: If programmers built planes...

Monster Singles

LilyAllen - Smile.

Not unlike Gnarls Barkely, the album is so-so, but that song is a bit of confectioners pop perfection. Alfie's good too (viewable here).

Casey Dienel - Doctor Monroe

She reminds me of Splashdown (give Ironspy and Karma Slave a listen), and I would have bet $5 that she and that singer were one and the same. But then I would have lost a bet. BTW, I totally kicked ass at hearts tonight. All bow down to my superior queen of spades avoidance skills!

Also, if you want to get your alterna-nerd on, try Asobsi Sexsu - Thursday; They kinda have that Interpol vibe, except that the singer's a girl and, you know, it's enjoyable to listen to.

If you are feeling extra mopey and depressed instead, try Shearwater - White Waves.

[via in large part, Largehearted Boy]

Commited to his Craft

I thought that Stranger than Fiction would mark the beginning of a more serious phase in Will Farrell's career. Or not. Goulet!

The Exact Opposite of Eternity by Calvin Klein

Bruce Campbell in the best advertisement ever. But instead of sandlewood, I smell Spike Jonze. Also, the ship painting is awesome.

2006 Movie of the Year

Stranger than Fiction. I really like this movie. Much like two other favorites, Repo Man and Lola Rennt, it wrestles with our free will versus fate/determinism. It's Will Farrell's best work since the Robert Goulet interviews on Conan O'Brian. Also, as my brother Adam kept pointing out - Maggie Gyllenhaal wishes she was as pretty as her brother Jake.

Also, since Adam is a gun nut, we went with a couple of his friends and shot lots and lots of different types of guns. Weirdly, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with any of the pistols or revolvers until, kind of as a joke, I tried a 44 magnum and got a 3" cluster and 30 feet. It did kick like a mule though. I was looking around for a 357 magnum with a bayonet, but no luck.

A Modest Proposal

Build a Godzilla Building in Tokyo. With elevator music by Blue Oyster Cult, naturally.