Sigh.



We won't be getting any more original Christmas carols from Wesley Willis, who died earlier this year. But we can always enjoy the ones we have. Like this one, brilliantly animated by one of my fave web animators, Weebl. (via boingboing.net) R.I.P, Wesley.



Wesley Willis | Santa

I know it's only the tip of the iceberg

...but go, Microsoft! I'd be happy with a 'cease & desist' order, though. Or some kind of class action settlement. (I really doubt Microsoft needs the money from this lawsuit, if they win.)

Salon.com Technology | Microsoft, N.Y. sue alleged spam ring

Yes!



I DO believe he would eat a muffin.



LINC ART

"Hello, BB? This is Horshack..."



I watched a show on Trio last night -- The Pop Culture Round Up: White Noise. It was surprisingly smart and funny (especially the White Noise Players, doing interpretive readings of Reality TV show scripts), and took a nice, catty look at 2003 pop culture.



In a segment called "Things We Like," they mentioned the following web site. It's truly as cheap and embarrassing and awful as it sounds. For a mere $30, you can have a C- or D-list actor call someone you love and deliver a personal message from you. It's not a recording. The celebrity actually CALLS.



The idea of The Hulk or Willis or that woman from Saturday Night Fever calling me personally gives me the fremps SO BAD, words fail me.



Hollywood Is Calling

Be sure to scroll down to see the celebrities...

Fab pre-fab.



This is just so damn cool. $29,000 + change and you could have an incredibly cool house. I wouldn't mind being the first one on MY block with one of these...



Rocio Romero, modern design and prefab architecture

Surprise your clients. Delight your friends.



Anyone in the design business is familiar with "lorem ipsum" -- when you don't have real copy, you put in paragraphs of fake text to show that there would be copy there if you had any. (In web, sometimes you don't have real text until about a minute and a half before you launch, but that's another story...) Anyway "lorem ipsum" is Latin, and it's got something to do with pain. Fact is, no one really cares what it means, except maybe your university clients.



Malevole has come up with a great alternative text generator. You tell them how many paragraphs you need, and they provide you with the intros to television shows to drop into your designs. I got the intro to 'Hart to Hart' and 'The A-Team.' Trivia and an inside design joke all in one. Fab. (via veer.com)



malevole - Text Generator

I feel so damned hip.



Tina, my own personal guide to/litmus test of cool, took me to a friend's party at a design studio in NY last year. I was one of the few Americans there (by midnight the place was slam-packed with beautiful European and Asian people). And I was definitely the only-est person from Milwaukee, WI. Tonight I'm trawling through shopping sites and find a book about that very design studio...wow. Everyone needs a Tina. If you don't have one, trust me. You need to find one. Pronto.



ZAKKA BOOKS AND MAGAZINES | tellmewhy - karlssonwilker inc. | The First 24 Months of a New York Design Company

Strange design contest.



It wouldn't be strange, except that it's sponsored by Design Within Reach, the company that sells ridiculously expensive designer furniture to people with modern taste and vast amounts of money. Perhaps you can use the thousand dollars you win to buy a designer lamp or ashtray from their catalog. (via boingboing.net)



Design Within Reach | Champagne Cork Chair Contest

Cool new ad campaign



Virgin Mobile USA's "Pay as you go" print campaign. Awfully anti-establishment, hip design for a big company. Cooool. Wish it happened more often.

(nice tip from PrintCritic's new email newsletter)



Virgin Mobile USA | The Book of Virgin

It's hard NOT to read a story with a headline like this.



Man agrees to stop selling body parts from home

Oh, heavens.



Don't tell my mom I blogged this. She won't be pleased. But some of it is really funny...

(via seethru.co.uk)



I am with you always

I like it.



Kinda Chuck T with a subversive attitude.



Blackspot sneaker ad

Sure, I get the point.



But it's still kind of a weird concept. Oh, well. Kudos to 'em for making malaria and parasitic diseases fun...



Nobel e-Museum: Malaria

Some mug shots just scream, "I'm guilty."



Nuff said.



The Smoking Gun: Archive

Dunno how I missed this.



Luckily Paul sent it to me on my birthday in place of a cheesy e-card. It made me laugh. And I like to laugh. (Thanks, Paul.)



It's actually kind of zen to watch it for awhile without shaking it, too.



Holiday Snowglobe

Awww.



Okay. Maybe it's just my own silly hobby. But every once in awhile, when I'm a wee bit on the bored side, I google people I know.



So, today, I started with Bradley. And behold...! The man truly is a giant.



Bonsai Web | Bradley's Ficus Microcarpa



On a more sinister note, when I googled myself, I discovered, to my horror, that there appears to be a young (or masquerading as young) porn star WITH MY NAME. I can't even bring myself to find out what the other BB looks like. I'm SO icked out.

In case you haven't heard



Home design guru Thom Felicia, of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, is replacing Kirstie Alley as the Pier 1 spokesperson. (via trendcentral.com)



Thank heavens. Now if they'd just replace the writers, TV-land would be that much less annoying.

Tonight's special



...is two olive-garnished meat patties with cheese, two hot dogs in a bun slathered with some kind of oniony coleslaw and a side of gherkins. For dessert we have pancakes with maple syrup served directly on the table. Our house red wine is perfect match for both the entree and dessert.



I don't know if the picture can possibly beat that description. Judge for yourself. (The pancakes on the table statement made me laugh harder than anything I've read in years.)



Archie McFee | Creepy Food Placemats



My second favorite item is the Jumbo Pencil. I don't know why. Giant office supplies are just funny.

First off, The Shins are ace.



Second, I love Aesthetic Apparatus, a cuppla guys from the wilds of Minnesota who create amazing concert posters. (And probably other stuff, but I only know about the concert posters.) They're like crazy Amish hipsters, still slapping paint over mesh to create silkscreened posters that are downright breathtaking at times.



So when I got this link in the mail today, I had no choice but to blog it. The commentary is so lovely and funny.



THE SHINS

All that fuss about "Fat Elvis" or "Thin Elvis" stamps.



The Dutch would've given you both, I bet, since you can put your own picture on their air mail stamps. I can't help but wonder, though, how often people submit pictures of their bums and bits? Hmm.



Springwise.com | Personalized Stamps