Twisted Sifter

I put a little work in on my blog. Yeah, it's work that I enjoy, but it's a labor of love.

Some folks, however, put in way more work on their blog. Of course, they just might be trying to make some money out of their little production. Take, for example, the Twisted Sifter blog, which seems like it would take a whole lot of work to put together.

Impressive confluences around the world...

15 incredible cloud formations...

30 chilling photos of natural hazards

Forging a ring from a meteorite...

The most epic group photos you will see today...

And the ever gorgeous and intriguing picture of the day...(here's one from this past weekend)...

Can't tell the truth in here

I've mentioned A House of Lies before, but only within the realm of the author's search for the most 90's movie of all time (he sadly hasn't reviewed New Jack City yet, which is a crime).

Turns out that the entire blog, while a little sporadic, is outstandingly well written. Check out these great, recent posts...

• SNL Cast Timeline - not his original, but an outstanding link to have
• Spike Lee: The Dolly Shot - again, not original, but it makes me want to see all of Spike Lee's joints.
• 25 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years - part of another ongoing series and a great exploration of why Lebowski is a wonderful character and film
• Notes on a Lost Art: Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love" - I would've never thought to analyze this so seriously.
• Almost Famous - The reason for the blog's name...and it's one of the best posts.

It's all good stuff. I'm adding it to my RSS feed.

They're back...

It's been too long, but thankfully Old Jews Telling Jokes has returned.

Hilarious stuff, more of which is after the jump...some of them are slightly...

Update: A gag that never gets old

New comic from SMBC today which means I have to update to post...

Love-love

Time for my favorite Grand Slam tourney, Roland Garros.

Lots of historical possibilities here - Djokovic going for four in a row and completion of the career Grand Slam (something only eight have ever done - only four in the Open era)...Nadal going for a record seventh Roland Garros title...Federer trying to add to his already historic (16) Grand Slam total.

Can't wait...

Enjoy some of the posters from the tourney...thanks to uristilman's flick feed

Two more days...two more days

I can do two days on my knuckles...on my knuckles, I tell you...

• Ace Frehley "Back in the New York Groove" - Yeah, I know it because it closed a commercial, but it's still a rockin' song. 
• Go Bucks - Cincinnati Buckeyes have their next home game in a week. Make plans.
• ComicsAlliance's betting odds on DC's next gay character - Really? Vibe? He's in play?
• Movie trailer of the day - Gatsby? Luckily it looks kinda awesome.
• BAMF of the Day - I know the Uncle Drew thing is a commercial, but it's entertaining. 
• Making a Shot Glass Out of a Giant Jawbreaker - Cool to watch the rainbows develop

• Will Smith on the Graham Norton Show - Just sit right there...
• Bunka bathes hearoes, villains, and monkeys in black - stylish black
• Silly gecko, even you can't stick to teflon - IMFs in action
• MIT's freaky non-stick coating keeps ketchup flowing - gorgeous and unsettling to watch 

• Ex-POTUS pic of the day - Bill Clinton, mack daddy
• Early bird special - Recursive commercial recurs
• Gotye "Somebody That I Used to Know" - I know this song's been out for nearly a year, but I just heard it this past weekend. I'm grooving to it and even digging the parody.

• Friends hack Scott Pilgrim game to animate the best wedding gift ever - So cute...
• Marvel girls on film - possible female Avengers?...I just went to see the film for the second time in the theater yesterday
• DC says gay character will be 'iconic' - Really? Vibe? He's in play?
• "The Most Beautiful Girl in the Lab" - Outstanding parody...thanks to Disco Stu for sending this to me

Update: All we hear is rdio gaga...rdio dada...rdio blah blah...

Yesterday's post earned a comment from Kyle endorsing rdio, and today we get a full out review from him.

Looks like on his ringing endorsement I'll be checking out rdio in the next few days and for a while at least.

Oh? Canada?

Yeah, Canada!

Oh, Canada? from PHSChemGuy on 8tracks.

Wonder if they used quicklime

I know they didn't use quicklime, but that's where the phrase 'in the limelight' comes from.

All we hear is rdio gaga...rdio dada...rdio blah blah...

Anybody familiar with Rdio?

The Cincy Library had a news item up announcing the new availability of Rdio, a streaming music service.

From the few online reviews I checked out, it looks like rdio is a competitor to Spotify and Pandora with an iTunes-like interface. Their service is $5 a month for web-only access or $10 for web+phone-access, but the library is offering free 30-day access to anybody with a valid PLCH library card - which I conveniently have.

I'll report back in a month or so.

Done away

Today's guest artist: John C.

Update: Things I Didn't Know About Everest

After last week's post about Everest, I thought I should link to today's story that four (or five) people have died on the mountain in the past two days.

Never...ever...ever...consider going to Everest if you value your life.

Thank you, Scott Pilgrim

Today's guest artist: Mike Fielder

When weird obsession and art meet

I may not be able to define art, but I know it when I see it, and this, m'friends, is clearly art.

Welcome to McHaughton Fine Art, home of artwork that lives in that tenuous territory where art, jingoistic radical right-wing politics, and fundamentalist Christian values overlap.

There's "One Nation Under Socialism"...

'Forgotten Man'...(do yourself a favor and click to the painting's page for the scroll-over information...it's worth it)...

'Wake Up America' (again, the scroll-overs are enlightening)

The man may not share my political views, but he's at least willing to go out on a limb...way, way out on a limb...

You go, John McNaughton.

Goin' Frazey

The Girl noticed on the Fraze Pavilion schedule mailed to our manse that there's a certain famous person coming to Dayton on August 6. Looks like we'll be getting tickets...

Red crescent came along much later

The gurney was not invented today.

Oi oi oi!

Looks like it's time to go down under for a little tunage today...



And if you need a source for the title, do some research, k?

Closer and closer

Little more than a week left before summer starts in earnest...

• Disassembled - Weirdness, man, weirdness 
• The Spandex Closet: 10 Superheroes Who Need to Come Out - Lots of these are interesting choices, but the last one would be radical.
• Licensed to Ill - Nice tribute mural for MCA, click through to see all the photos
• Mahai's Inferno - Lego can be evocative, but circle #2 is the first I've seen that required blurred out parts
• Man completes triathlon while juggling - That's just showing off, man.

• Posted without comment of the day - Must fight urge to buy dog costume
• The trickle-down effect of realignment - College basketball continues to feel the effects
• Butler: 10 Things to know about the A-10 - How did I miss that Butler was going to the A-10?
• Sports reporter of the day - He's actually good, and funny. Maybe I should watch more high school lacrosse.
• Why Nikolai Tesla was the greatest geek ever - Warning: ...clearly I have some reading to do to check up on all the phenomenal claims Oatmeal makes here
• Minifig babies - brilliant...are those tiny heads real Lego pieces?
• Graham's number - I can't think about it or my head will collapse into a black hole. Seriously, the clip warns you of exactly that happening.

• Fluorine Video - The periodic table of videos is one that chemistry-interested folks should check out at their leisure.
• Voices in Your Head - It's a fine performance, but there may be nothing whiter than a private college a capella group in all black with rainbow accents. Seriously, can anybody come up with a whiter thing? I would argue that this is the white version of a black college's step team. Refute me...g'head
• Beastie Boys "Sabotage" video starring kids - A nice tribute
• Someone owes someone a Coke - Graph humor...always funny
• I don't get it - I do, but seriously, graph humor...always funny

Two in a row...irony, eh?

I'm particularly proud of today's drawing, especially the bottom row...

Today's Random Ten

Today's random ten playlist from the iTunes via 8Tracks...

• "Good Hearted Woman" by Yonder Mountain String Band (4 stars) - From the second volume of the live Mountain Tracks series, is a fun jam/bluegrass romp. Love their live shows better than their studio albums, and they're all about posting every show online. Buy yourself a couple if you enjoy this one.
• "Song for Whoever" by Beautiful South (4) - This is a live version of their phenomenal, spectacular song that was a big hit when I was in Scotland. The writing all over their songs is subtle, brilliant, and far darker than the sunshiny lyrics suggest. If you've never heard of them, do yourself a favor and check out Carry on Up the Charts.
• "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" by Johnny Cash (3) - Cash is a great interpreter of songs, but his voice sounds misplaced here, largely because, I think, the Patrick Skye version with which I first became familiar. It's a heartbreaking tale of 'Drunken Ira Hayes', one of the men who helped raise the flag over Iwo Jima and who died in 'two inches of muddy water'. Great song...okay version
• "Whiskey from the Field" by Pat Kilbride (4) - Ah, the joys of poitín...there are so many Irish and Scottish songs dedicated to it, and this is certainly one of the better. From the quality collection Jug of Punch.
• "Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze/Instrumental" by Jimi Hendrix (2) - This thing - from the remastered, extended Woodstock released a few years back - is a mess. It goes on and on for almost fourteen minutes. In concert, at Woodstock, stoned, maybe this would have been impressive, but I'm not so sure. I'm deleting it.
• "It's All Been Done" by Barenaked Ladies (3) - Pretty enough...fun enough...
• "Crucify" by Tori Amos (4) - I remember Amos's Little Earthquakes album fondly. It's a rough, emotionally raw work, but it came out when I was in high school, and I listened to it pretty solidly through college. I remember it playing in The Girl's college apartment.
• "Private Eyes" by Hall & Oates (3) - This is just fun.
• "Sarah" by Ray LaMontagne (3) - Meh...LaMontagne's voice is pleasant and easy going enough, but this is just pretty background music.
• "Why When Love is Gone" by The Originals (3) - Motown is my go-to choice to play in my classroom on open house and conference night. Older white people (the parents of kids I teach) and black people both like it. Everybody likes it. So I'm always looking for a little Motown variety. This album, A Cellarful of Motown, is just that kind of album: a few minor hits from slightly more obscure artists than just the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and Smoky Robinson.

Topeka...everybody forgets Topeka

Yes, black people got technology on this day. However did you guess?

La Caja Mágica

This past week's Madrid Open - did I mention that m'man Roger won the title and moved back up to number two - was held in the Magic Box, something I'd never seen or heard of before a week ago but that looks pretty frickin' cool and kinda makes me want to get myself to Madrid to check out the building and the tourney.

See, those big flaps up topside are roof sections that can retract to let the sunshine in over the three stadium courts.



Apparently not everybody loves the stadium - finding it cold, but I love the idea that tourney owner, Ion Tiriac, is making a major push to be the 'fifth major'...

...and that he took a big leap to dye the clay blue and make a huge news splash - even if he racked off a number of the top players. Give the man credit for trying something different...

...and for having an absolutely rockin' 'stache...

Man, I want to see a major clay court tennis tournament.




I'm thinking that the Madrid-Rome-French Open swing would be phenomenally fun.