30 March 2007
[apple] Top 10 Apple Products which Flopped … ‘One of the main reasons of Lisa’s failure was its astonishing price of $9,995 dollars ($21,500 in Feb 2007 dollars).’
15 March 2007
[lists] 30 Strangest Deaths in History. … ‘Jerome Irving Rodale was a proponent of healthy eating. He was an early advocate for organic farming and sustainable agriculture, founder of Organic Farming and Gardening magazine and Rodale Press. After bragging that he would “live to 100, unless I’m run down by a a sugar-crazy taxi driver”, Rodale died of a heart attack while being interviewed on the Dick Cavett Show in 1971. Appearing fast asleep, Dick Cavett joked “Are we boring you, Mr. Rodale?” before discovering that his 72-year-old guest had indeed died.’ [via linkbunnies.org]
9 March 2007
[wikipedia] Top 100 most-viewed pages on Wikipedia [via Waxy]
15 February 2007
[movies] Crichton’s Closet of Tech Horrors
— Wired looks at the films Michael Crichton directed in the 70’s and 80’s… ‘The movies are filled with high-concept ideas, purple dialogue, supremely creepy moments and nifty gadgetry. They are both implausible, sometimes to the point of being ridiculous, and a few degrees too earnest. And the primary weapon for the bad guys — doctors, computer programmers, robotics experts — is technological know-how. Now Crichton positions himself as an authority on global warming and enters the policy-making slipstream, advising President Bush and testifying at a congressional hearing on the nuances of climate change.’
5 February 2007
[books] The Naked Truth: Authors Who Write in the Buff. … ‘When Victor Hugo, the famous author of great tomes such as Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, ran into a writer’s block, he concocted a unique scheme to force himself to write: he had his servant take all of his clothes away for the day and leave his own nude self with only pen and paper, so he’d have nothing to do but sit down and write.’ [via Quiddity]
15 January 2007
[drink] Caffeine Content of Bottled Beverages — Red Bull comes out on Top. [via Minor 9th]
29 December 2006
[trivia] 100 Things We Didn’t Know Last Year — from BBC News for 2006 … ‘Flushing a toilet costs, on average, 1.5p.’
14 December 2006
[facts] 100 Things We Didn’t Know This Time Last Year … ’76. The day when most suicides occurred in the UK between 1993 and 2002 was 1 January, 2000.’ [via Linkbunnies.org]
13 December 2006
[rumours] The 40 Best Celebrity Rumors Ever … On Richard Gere and Gerbils: ‘…none of Gere’s interviewers have had the guts to go there, or maybe there’s some kind of publicist-issued fatwa, but Gere has never publicly addressed the rumor. Would you?’
23 November 2006
[movies] The Top 10 Movie Spaceships … ‘The Nostromo is little more than a space tugboat, pulling a giant ore refinery through space. Though it has no weapons, when given the (famously complex) command to self-destruct, it really goes off with a bang. An underrated ship, it could land on planets and scope out foreign lifeforms… which turned out to be not such a great idea after all.’
14 November 2006
[blogs] Russell Davies on Blogging: ‘It’s easy to knock blogging as a kind of journalism of the banal but in some ways that’s its strength. Bloggers don’t go out and investigate things (mostly) they’re not in exciting or glamorous places, they’re not given a story, they have to build one out of the everyday lives they lead. And this makes them good at noticing things, things that others might not have seen. And being a blogger, feeling the need to write about stuff makes you pay attention to more things, makes you go out and see more stuff, makes you carry a notebook, keeps you tuned in to the world.’ (from a larger article on “How To Be Interesting“)
29 August 2006
[tv] Jim Rockford’s Answering Machine — a list of the messages left for Jim Rockford on the opening credits of The Rockford Files … ‘Jim, this is Cal of the Leave The Whales Alone Club. Our protest cruise leaves from the pier Saturday at 3 AM. The whales need you, Jim.’ [via Metafilter]
2 August 2006
[lists] Merlin Mann’s 5ives — amusing lists of five things …
Five suggested Flickr tags
- “Rows Of Seated White Men Typing At Conferences”
- “My Underlit Dessert With One Bite Missing”
- “My Defenseless Child In A Funny Shirt I Made Him Wear”
- “Attractive Man In His Twenties Playing An Electric Guitar”
- “The Photo From This ‘Impromptu’ Self Portrait Series That Suggests I Don’t Have A Dewlap”
5 May 2006
[lists] Borges’ List of Animals … ‘1. those that belong to the Emperor’ [via 43 Folders]
24 April 2006
[film] 102 Essential Movies — interesting list from Jim Emerson. ‘… [these] were the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They’re the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat “movie-literate.”‘
6 February 2006
[4] The Four Things Meme … [I was tagged by Sasha]
- Four jobs I’ve had: I’ve been a Free-paper Delivery Boy, a part-time Butcher’s Assistant, a sorter in a Baked Bean Canning Factory (White Beans = Good. Black Beans = Bad) and a PC Support Guy at Leicester University.
- Four movies I can watch over and over: Kelly’s Heroes, Alien, Heat and Apocalypse Now.
- Four places I’ve lived: King’s Lynn, Portsmouth, Leicester and London.
- Four TV shows I love: 24, The Sopranos, Blackadder and Quincy.
- Four places I’ve Been on Holiday: Great Yarmouth, Florence, Ireland and Derbyshire.
- Four of my favorite dishes: Full English Breakfast, Gnocchi with Gorgonzola, Fish and Chips and anything Pickled.
- Four sites I visit daily: del.icio.us, Flickr, Bloglines and BBC News.
- Four places I would rather be right now: The Smiley Face Crater on Mars, 2003 UB313, the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Site and Europa.
- Four bloggers I am tagging: Belle de Jour, Neilalien, Robyn and Chris.
7 November 2005
[comics] Mike Sterling’s Ten Favorite Scary Swamp Thing Moments … ‘Matt Cable, who has a problem with the drink, finds himself almost certainly mortally injured in a car wreck. Upside down, bleeding to death, he finds himself face to face with…a giant yellow fly. At this point, we don’t know who the fly is or where it came from…but c’mon, we know it’s Arcane…’
28 September 2005
[lists] McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. [via Kottke’s Remaindered Links]
2 June 2005
[comics] Around the (Comics) Blogosphere — linklist and roundup of comic blogs.
9 December 2004
[ipod] Troubled Diva: 16 things which piss me off about my beautiful, bouncing new iPod … ’10. Click-wheel fatigue. Ooh, I’m just in the mood for some Yo La Tengo. Well, don’t give yourself RSI of the thumb in the process. And are you quite sure you wouldn’t rather listen to Air instead?’
1 December 2004
[ipod] Troubled Diva: 17 things which I love about my beautiful, bouncing new iPod … ’16. The surprisingly intense surge of paternalism which I experience before leaving the house each morning, as I squeeze my iPod into its bendy “skin” in order to protect it from the ravages of the outside world. “Come along, my lovely; let’s wrap you up nice and warm in your matinee jacket. Easy does it. There’s a good boy.” Followed by the corresponding evening routine, as I gently prise off the matinee jacket (or is it a Babygro?) and place my baby back into its cradle.’
21 August 2004
[lists] Note To Self — lots of intriguing lists from celebrities. John Cleese: ‘List of newspapers that have recently interviewed me, invented a quote, used it as a headline and then failed for over a month to reply to my letter pointing this out – The Independent.’
4 August 2004
[lists] List of the Top 10 Fictional Detectives — from Mark Billingham … ‘I first encountered [Sherlock Holmes] through an eccentric maths teacher who would read The Speckled Band and other Conan Doyle adventures to us instead of teaching fractions. He also used to balance chairs on his chin, but that’s another story. I’m still fond of Holmes to this day, especially now that I can see him as the crazed, controlling junkie that he clearly was.’
16 December 2003
7 October 2003
[comics] Grant Morrison’s Favourite Superheroes [published in The Face | via Barbelith]
1. The Flash
2. Superman
3. Paradax (Strange Days)
4. Diabolik
5. New Gods (by Jack Kirby)
6. Flex Mentallo, Man of Muscle Mystery
7. Emma Frost, The White Queen (X-Men)
8. Cyclops (X-Men)
9. Billy the Cat (and Katie) (DC Thompson)
10. Marvelman (by Alan Moore)
24 April 2003
[wealth] The Forbes Fictional Fifteen — a list of fifteen fictional billionaires … Bruce Wayne: ‘Prominent playboy had tough year. Charged with murdering old-flame Vesper Fairchild. Exonerated partly through efforts of mysterious Batman and other costumed crime fighters. Shares of Wayne Enterprises, where he is chairman, languish based on lower-than-expected profits and Gotham City’s sky-high crime rate. Orphaned during street mugging at age eight, went on to build then-tiny Wayne Enterprises into technology powerhouse. Rumors swirl over habit of keeping teenage boys as wards. Donates tens of millions each year to charities for police, paraplegics and orphans. Member since 1939.’ [via Robot Wisdom]
6 February 2002
[film] 100 Years, 100 Stinkers — the worst films of the last century … ‘There ought to be a law with mandatory prison time for any studio executive who ponders doing an eighth “Police Academy” film. The basic story of misfits who enroll in a big city police academy and make the force was beat beyond recognition through six numbing sequels. Steve Guttenberg had the good sense to jump ship after #4. Most audience members bailed out with him.’ [via plasticbag.org]
17 November 2001
[books] Top 10 literary hoaxes … ’10. The Hitler diaries — In 1983 a German magazine bought 62 volumes of the ‘lost diaries’ of Adolf Hitler. These had supposedly been discovered by farmers after the plane in which the diaries had been dispatched, shortly before Hitler’s suicide, crashed. They contained such fascinating snippets of Hitler’s domestic life as “on my feet all day long” and “must not forget to get tickets for the Olympic Games for Eva Braun.”‘
11 July 2001
[wtf?!] Evil Edna’s Top Ten Heart-Warming Moments “3. An atheist sees God in a burning bush. Dragging him to safety, the atheist is given the greatest gift of all…. faith.”
Basil Brush’s Top Twenty-six Ways to Die ’16. Clive Barker’s favourite, having snakes made from a lunatic’s shit animated by an evil magician and invading your every orifice. Let’s hear it for Clive Barker, eh? 17. That magic flesh eating bacteria (nature beats Clive Barker).’ [via Seethru]
Basil Brush’s Top Twenty-six Ways to Die ’16. Clive Barker’s favourite, having snakes made from a lunatic’s shit animated by an evil magician and invading your every orifice. Let’s hear it for Clive Barker, eh? 17. That magic flesh eating bacteria (nature beats Clive Barker).’ [via Seethru]
3 July 2001
[tv] Adam and Joe’s list of very Bad Things. ‘3. Making toast or tea in the ad break only to find, as the show starts again, you hadn’t plugged in the toaster/kettle.’
27 November 2000
[celebs] A list of the Top 50 Celebrities of the 20th Century. Unsurprisingly Keith Chegwin is number one… ‘Hyperactive television presenter, whose finest moment was undoubtedly “Cheggers Plays Pop”, the seminal 1980s quiz show aimed at children. Cheggers would question several obnoxious kids, who were split into teams – a typical question would be “Which member of Spandau Ballet hibernates during the winter?” to which the correct answer is, of course, vocalist Tony Handley.’
22 November 2000
[stories] Interesting list — the top 100 Works of journalism in the US over the last 100 years.
4 April 2000
[lists] An interesting “Best of” series book-list from clip2.com.
1 April 2000