Last night I watched a new show that I recorded on a whim. What a fantastic absolutely brilliant whim.  Wipeout on ABC might be the best show ever created.  It’s a show about falling down. I love watching people fall down. If I see someone fall in the street, I have to walk away instead of help becuase I’m usually laughing. Living in frozen Madison in the winter was great.  Back to Wipeout.  This show is basically a bunch of obstacle courses situated above water. The courses are hilarious and slippery, and the contestants fall in all sorts of crazy ways. And finally, FINALLY, a show has figured out that I don’t give two shits about behind the scenes interviews and life story videos of the contestants. I just want to see a bunch of crazy people throw themselves at an obstacle course and get hurt. This is what killed American Gladiators for me; too much interviewing from Hulk about how the contestant feels about their chance at the money and how it will change their life. Guess what? I don’t give a shit. You can blow it on strippers and coke for all I care, I just want to see you get hurt in the process. I’m convinced that the show creators watched a lot of my former favorite gameshow Ninja Warrior.  Wipeout basically takes the same premise as Ninja Warrior, makes it less physically demanding, and adds the potential to fall in all sorts of funny ways. It’s really just an American version of a Japanese gameshow. Perhaps you can call it a Jameshow. Either way, its awesome.  And better yet, I still have to see the show that comes on afterwards called “I Survived a Japanese Game Show”.  I love TV.

Is beer bonging not quick enough for you?  If so, get help. OR get the Bierstick. This thing shoots 24 oz (that’s two cans for the slower folk out there) in 2 seconds.  In the time that it takes to read this post, you can drink 60 BEERS!  I just imagine the cartoonish scene that will play out when some 16 yr old kid is trying to impress everyone by taking his fifth Bierstick, then explodes from all orifices with not yet digested beer and whatever else was in his stomach at the time. As long as someone puts it on YouTube, I’ll be happy. Apparently someone has put up a video on their website.  It seems to have gone well in that test run, but let’s look out for the carnage that will soon follow. Link HERE

Here are some insane photos that come from a volcanic eruption in Chile that took place during a nighttime lightning storm.  The second photo is a satellite photo of the ash spreading across Chile and Argentina.  Apparently after the eruption there are fears of the volcano collapsing on itself.  From the article…

“Now, the worst-case scenario is the collapse of the volcano accompanied by a “pyroclastic flow” - a devastating super-eruption of scorching dense gas and molten rock that would roll down the mountainside at 100mph or faster, incinerating and flattening all in its wake.

Thankfully, experts think this is unlikely at this stage.”   and

“Pyroclastic flows are also called nuees ardentes - or “burning clouds” - and are probably the single most destructive weapon in nature’s armoury, capable of flattening cities in seconds.”

Apparently this is the type of event that destroyed Pompeii. Check out the article for more pictures HERE

In the past few months I’ve come across a few different pinball articles and news reports. Amongst those were an article about the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas, which I still need to visit, and this story about the world’s last pinball manufacturer.  This is another story about a Chicago pinball company, Williams.  After around 1993 they started to see their sales decrease dramatically and needed something to keep their pinball branch from folding.  They created Pinball 2000.  The design, creation, and eventual decision to scrap this game are all documented in Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball. Check out the site HERE. Clip below…

What I really enjoy about this story is that it all takes place in the Williams Chicago HQ, a tiny one story building that I drove by on my way to work every day. I knew that they made video games inside and I always imagined there was some crazy circus of game making and testing that was taking place inside that little building.  I guess I was right.

Here’s Pixeloo’s latest effort, Niki Belllic from GTA 4.  Pixeloo was commissioned to do this by Playstation Magazine, so perhaps we should let his choice slide. But still, I feel like this one is a little weaker than the otheres.  Maybe it’s becuase the character in GTA 4 already looks so life-like that it isn’t really a stretch to see a person that looks like him.  Besides that, it’s not anything special. It looks like Jason Statham with a fuller beard. Untooning on the left, original on the right. Go to his site HERE

Check out this interesting “children’s” book that teaches kids all about policemen.  Find the whole book HERE

This guys obviously has way too much time on his hands. Remember the old choose your own adventure books of the 80s? Well this guy created a choose your own adventure for the game Pong. That’s right, Pong.  180 pages of moves that, as far as I can tell, only end in you losing a point.  Play through it if you want, or buy the hardcover version on Amazon. I found it on Kotaku, HERE

Just got back from a free two week trek around Israel.  What an amazing country, with amazing people, and amazing falafal and hummus.  I can’t say enough about how much I love that place.  Unfortunately because of our short time and hectic schedule I wasn’t able to bring my nice camera, so there aren’t that many pictures to show. But I’m back now so I’ve got a bunch of new stuff to post. That is all.

…chicken, panda, and Cecropia Silkmoth. Yeah nature is beautiful and amazing and the joy of life, blah, blah, blah. But you can’t help but be both entranced and balls out disgusted by these photo sets of the growth of these animals. The chicken one shows a chicken developing in what looks like a petri dish. The panda shows a panda developing after birth and going from butt ugly to kind of cute. The silkmoth is the craziest. This dude documented the growth of the moth from egg to full on moth. The moth looks like a butterfly and has some great colors. The caterpillar that is the middle stage looks crazy and pretty damn scary. The creepiest photos are when the guy opens up the cocoon to show whats going on inside. And just to gross you out some more, check out the parrot development. Weird how it goes from albino turd to Toucan Sam in just a few quick photos. Links to full photo sets (from haha.nu) are HERE: Chicken, Silkworm, Panda, Parrot

…or else I might not have gotten away with Monday Morning-itis as much as I did.  These pills are called Obecelp and they are for kids who feel sick, and need something more than just a hug and a kiss from mom to make them feel better.  They act as a placebO (get it?) and are just cherry flavored chewable tablets for kids that need some science to get them to 100%.   Pretty good idea, and it would be great to see the look on a kid’s face when he is about 16 years old and remembers these pills and then finally puts it all together.  Priceless.  Check out the NYT article HERE