A Random January Post

Links, from me to you.

– So I understand that this Jeopardy supercomputer video is the big link out there on the internets right now, being passed around more than yo momma’s syphilis. Well, good. I’m excited. It doesn’t even look as lopsided as everyone makes it seem – ol’ Ken Jennings seems to make a decent go of it, and hopefully the producers will stack it with trickier human-oriented questions (ie. why we cry) to further even the field. This video does good enough of a job selling this match-up to make even Dana White proud, and in my mind it is fast approaching hypothetical levels of hype that would resemble something like Ali versus Frazier VERSUS A CYBORG. Imagine Thrilla in Manila for nerds, but if it was a three-way battle royale with the ED-209 from Robocop thrown in. (Hahaha…stairs.) My absolute favourite thing is how it will actually display the top three choices considered, along with the confidence level of each pick. “Miley Cyrus?” …oh, you crazy computer, you’re so crazy.

– I’m as much to blame as anyone, but I think we all kind of dropped the ball on my Blast-Knuckles-less Christmas. Let’s make sure I don’t have a Blast-Knuckles-less birthday this year, yeah? Even just the name is great, sounds like a video game power-up item. Are these even legal in Canada? Whatever, BLAST KNUCKLES SON

– Because I am contractually obligated to post every semi-interesting Bill Murray (who is the real life Most Interesting Man In The World) tidbit I come across, here’s another one. What, you didn’t know we signed contracts to write on this site? My contract calls for all sorts of horrible things I have no real interest in doing. Which is crazy, because I’m the one that wrote all the contracts in the first place.

– Here’s an article about Ryan Howard whining that his ankle is hurt, blah blah blah, why he sucked so bad in the playoffs and robbed Holy Patron Saint of Baseball Roy Halladay a chance to pitch in the World Series, blah blah blah…wait, what’s this bit here?

But Howard said the ankle still is probably only 90 to 95 percent healthy.

“I still get a little bit of stiffness every once in a while,” Howard said. “I’ll take it now and see what happens in Spring Training. I’ll just continue to look after it and take care of it. Those kinds of things linger, like the Cranberries.”

“Like the Cranberries?” Like THE Cranberries? I mean, okay sure, I guess it’s okay for black people to like Irish alternative rock band…but really…is it okay?

– Fred Armisen apparently has a new sketch comedy television show, called Portlandia. And apparently IFC is streaming the entire half hour pilot here, a week before it’s supposed to debut. I like it and think it’s pretty solid…I just wonder if it’s got enough legs for a full six episode season.

– This is a video featuring some Japanese guys in animal masks doing what appears to be a terrible (awesome?) cover of a Mega Man 2 stage track (which happens to be renown as one of the greatest video game tracks ever…like seriously). I think there lyrics…? What would they be…? Anyway, this is horrible and stupid and creepy…and it is all those things, but in a really awesome way. The animal masks…I don’t really get the animal masks. Maybe because it gives them terrible strength? Or maybe the screaming.

Yeah, it’s probably the screaming.

This thing is more than just a mask. It’s a lifestyle.