HyperBored

Watch Yojimbo

Don't google it, or look up the spoilers on Wikipedia or IMDB.

Just watch it.   Tonight. I know you have a netflix account. Or access to someone's online account. It's a watch instantly. You've probably seen, or at least heard about, A Fistful of Dollars. The Clint Eastwood movie that is often accredited with rise in popularity of "Spaghetti Westerns".  Or Maybe you've seen the really good Bruce Willis movie Last Man Standing, which is based on A Fistful of Dollars. Well Yojimbo was the predecessor to them all. If your looking for good martial arts there are many movies with subtitles exponentially better than this one. But this is arguably the best movie I know of to have come out of Japan during that era in terms of plot and characters. Watch it. Now.

Darth Vader Hits Bottom Robs Bank

Apparently since the fall of the Empire Darth Vader has hit rock bottom. I hear he's living in a van down by the river and sold his light saber for beer money. 

h/t Boing Boing via 'Darth Vader' Robs Bank on Long Island

Monkey See. Monkey Do.

Who knew that old saying was so true. A Chinese man who saved a one-armed, one-legged monkey says the primate has paid him back - by killing all of his chickens.

Li Chun, from Menghai village, Yunnan province, says the monkey has become a member of his family since he nursed it back to health.

It has become to devoted to the family and performs many chores around the home - but it also copies everything Li does.

When it saw him crack some eggs to make a meal it went into the hen coop and smashed all of the eggs it could find.

And when Li slaughtered a chicken, the monkey copied him and has since killed about 80 chickens, reports the Chuncheng Evening Post.

Quirky News | Orange UK.

Hitler Hates the Vuvuzela [video]

The Hitler Downfall Bunker scene is back and apparently he's very upset about the vuvuzela. I personally don't mind them

What Watching Soccer Would Be Like If It Were Handled Like Other American Sports

Brilliant!

You Can't Make This Stuff Up: North Koreans Rent Chinese Soccer Fans and Chinese Business Men Rent White Guys in Suits

Again from the: You Can't Make This Stuff Up Department.

Rent a White Guy - Magazine - The Atlantic

“I call these things ‘White Guy in a Tie’ events,” a Canadian friend of a friend named Jake told me during the recruitment pitch he gave me in Beijing, where I live. “Basically, you put on a suit, shake some hands, and make some money. We’ll be in ‘quality control,’ but nobody’s gonna be doing any quality control. You in?”

I was.

And so I became a fake businessman in China, an often lucrative gig for underworked expatriates here. One friend, an American who works in film, was paid to represent a Canadian company and give a speech espousing a low-carbon future. Another was flown to Shanghai to act as a seasonal-gifts buyer. Recruiting fake businessmen is one way to create the image—particularly, the image of connection—that Chinese companies crave. My Chinese-language tutor, at first aghast about how much we were getting paid, put it this way: “Having foreigners in nice suits gives the company face.”

Chinese 'volunteer army' arrive to back North Korea | Sport | Reuters

Hundreds of Chinese soccer fans, including artists and well known singers, have arrived in South Africa to lend their support to North Korea in their opening World Cup match against Brazil on Tuesday.

Dubbed the 'fans volunteer army' back home, many stayed in Pretoria overnight and will meet up with fellow Chinese supporters in Johannesburg to back isolated North Korea in their mouthwatering first game at Ellis Park (1830 GMT).

"The Chinese will support North Korea," Wang Qi of the China Sports Event Management Group told Reuters in an interview through a translator, braving the cold morning air.

"They may surprise and we come here with a view that something magical might happen."

The North Korean sports ministry authorised a Chinese sports PR agency to sell tickets for the game as few North Koreans could afford the journey or receive visas to leave the country.

Silly Communists.

a simple moment of pure terror

why is it that when a spider appears, we have this simple moment of pure terror? we know we can easily squash the spider. we know it is probably more scared of us than we are of them. probably. then, when you need to decide how you plan to dispatch said arachnid, depending on where you are, when it occurs, and how big the spider is, may prove to be a more difficult problem than one would think. if it is late at night, and you are in your jammies, and you happen to be on your way to or from somewhere, you may not be prepared to handle the spider. no shirt. no shoes. most people aren't just going to reach out and touch the spider with a bare hand or foot. you now have to go and find a killing apparatus. a shoe? a tissue? maybe a book that happens to be handy. if you are really, really lucky, or just kinda morbid, you'll encounter the spider close to the bathroom. not while using the bathroom. it tends to be where we are at our most vulnerable. (as we should all know by now) on a side note: why aren't bathrooms more secure? maybe panic rooms should be built around the bathroom. maybe....but, if the stars are smiling on you, you will find the  most deadliest form of killing bugs, and maybe, funnest....hair spray, a lighter, and the will to make open flame inside the house, close at hand. any one of these items can kill a bug. but who just wants to spray a bug and wait for it freeze. and who really wants to try and burn a bug and put your hand so close to the bug. it gets tricky. and if it's a spider. it totally leaves the hand exposed to retaliation from the spider. but the three of them together is by far the finest spider eliminator one could possibly assemble. as this is a prefer ed method of dispatch because of it's intensity, it doubles nicely as being a messenger. delivering a message of death to all other spiders, ants, grasshoppers, moths, chiuauas. whatever. now, decisions need to be made! action needs to be taken! you just can't keep on living in this house! you don't pay rent! you are not contributing! you gotta go spider! .......if you encounter the spider close to furniture, you always run the risk of loosing the spider under,around or behind the obstacle. this always ups the anti, as you may only have on chance to kill. just like if you find the beast in the corner. say, between two wall, the wall and floor,wall and ceiling. there it is. sitting there. waiting. you've got your shoe, poised, ready. your heart is beating, adrenaline flowing....you swing out...and miss. oh man... what beautiful terror flows through your arm and back into your heart as you realize that...you...just...missed! now for a man, 'missing', is not an option. if you are a real man, you don't miss. damn, what a pussy. can't even kill a spider. damn hopefully you can recover from your shame fast enough to get in that second or third or fourth chance. they may squash themselves into the corner and you can't really get to them. .this is why the flame thrower is the finest killer on the open market for killing bugs. if i miss.... if i miss.... is it going to jump back at me and get me? sink its venomous fangs into my skin causing some sort of horrific flesh eating virus bacteria in which i'll have to be rushed to the hospital so they can cut the wound open and burn this horrible predicament straight out with the strongest acid known to mankind? does he have friend? family? we know they multiply by the murder! if they do have friends and family, they are most definitely going to mass an attack. where and when are totally up in the air. and if there is one thing that the t.v. has taught me, is never trust a spider! and get yourselves some hairspray, and a lighter. and by god, get yourselves that desire for open flame in doors!

Radegy

Many of you may have seen the "How I met your mother" episode where Barney (NPH) shares his video resume shown below, and describes 'The Possimpible' - Where the possible and the impossible meet. In a fashion that would make NPH proud my wife and I invented the word Radegy, a combination of Rad & Strategy. Radegy - a strategy for radness.      i.e. "What's your radegy for tonight bro?" Like most invented words this came about during a game of scrabble. This new word is my gift to you, share it, use it wisely, & Rad-ly.

New product, Old material

Some of you may know that I am a materials nerd. Technically I am a Material Science Engineer, but I am comfortable with my nerdiness.  Materials are so crucial to the development of mankind that entire chapters of our history are referred to by the material advancement of the time. As far as I know there was never a period of time referred to as "The wooden age". Probably because wood has been around as long as we have been making stuff. It's kind of hard to find something new made out of wood, either wood doesn't have the right properties for the use, or someones already done it.  None the less, here are few new products made out of on of our oldest resources.  (I've excluded things whose price, availability or design make them more of a novelty than a consumer product, like laptops or cars.) Shwood Sunglasses I have seen wooden faux wooden sunglasses, or wooden embellishments, but to the best of my knowledge these are the only somewhat mass produced wooden frame sunglasses on the market.  Fortunately they also look good.

I-pod case The price of these varies a lot.  If your going to pay $100 then I would suggest getting one off ETSY rather than a designer wooden case. If you are looking for a $40 wooden case, then VERS seems like your best bet. Skullcandy Holua I really like skull candies products, and I was honestly impressed by these when the came out. But like many wood items the price tag is a little higher than a similar item not made out of wood. Flash Drive Of the items on the list this is probably the longest running, but I thought I might as well throw it in there. If you can find a good price on a polished one, they make good business and father's day gifts. They range between $10-$100. Ipod speaker i.dear also has several other wooden products, this mini speaker is approximately $30 Flashlight I like this one because even though most things that have hard plastic casing could have a wooden casing, I never would have thought to make a flash light out of wood. mp3 player Don't fear the price tag of 500 won, it's only about $45. If you are afraid of buying something made in korea on a website that isn't in english, then you might have to wait a few years for someone to steal this idea and sell it in the US. While researching all of this I came along several other very cool things including the electronic ruler and the wooden ipod.  But as many of them were home builds, or concept products they didn't make the list. Maybe in the not to distant future (before we have flying cars) man kind will once again make things out of wood besides paper, and interior paneling in luxury cars.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up: John Tesh and Amway Want You To Take Pictures Of Your Breakfast

To celebrate the new product line — and the fact that there’s usually room for improvement in our food choices — Amway Global is launching the line with the “Show Us Your Breakfast Photo Contest.”

Snap a picture of your breakfast and submit it between April 19 and May 10, 2010, for John Tesh to judge. The person with the worst breakfast shot, as determined by John, will win a trip to the John Tesh concert closest to their hometown.

They’ll also win a John Tesh VIP Experience concert package, which includes:

• Private dinner before the show.
• Meet and greet with John Tesh.
• Personal photo session with John, with autographed picture.
• The best seats in the house, with exclusive sound-check access before the show.

Enter the “Show Us Your Breakfast Photo Contest” at Tesh.com or at contests@amwayglobal.com. View complete contest rules. Check out all submitted contest pictures on Facebook.®