31/07/07
30/07/07
Marcus:
The Guardian loves The Wire so much they've put up series one episode one - all one hour of it - on YouTube for UK viewers to watch. So if you're British and haven't seen it yet - you goddamn lazy hippies - now is your chance. Seriously, go and watch it. NOW.
Marcus: Also read Charlie Brooker on why The Wire is so damn awesome.
Dave: I have to echo Marcus's cries here. Basically if you haven't seen this show, you are wasting my time and yours. It's quite plainly the greatest TV show ever made.
Marcus: Dave will be almost illegally pleased to know Charlie Brooker's documentary, Tapping The Wire, is also available for streaming from El Grauniad. Part une, part deux.
Dave:
Enjoy the latest internet meme...
dave: More info
Marcus: For one moment I thought you were going to rickroll our asses.
gareth: Damn, you beat me to it.
Marcus:
Bob Monkhouse has been digitally resurrected after dying from prostate cancer in 2003. Incredible CG in the ad - I assumed Monkhouse recorded the ad before he died. (This is actually from last month, but I missed it.)
Marcus:
In-house BBC focus group list which ranks the perceived offensiveness of swearwords from 1 to 28. Amusing and needless to say probably NSFW.
Marcus:
Some terrifying Photoshop "retouches", primarily of young girls for those creepy "beauty pageant" things they seem to love in parts of America, and so brilliantly sent up in Little Miss Sunshine. (via)
29/07/07
Gareth:
Faceworx is a free Software which creates a 3D head out of two standard 2D photos.
gareth: Actually when I tried to use it it makes a big horrible mess of everything, but apparently it works for other people I talked to so there you go.
Marcus:
A new advert from Intel appears to show six black guys bowing in servitude to a smug-looking white guy. (Obviously that's not what it's showing at all. Amusing own-goal though.) (via)
Marcus:
Steam Trek: The Moving Picture. Superb early silent movie-era parody of Star Trek. (via).
Marcus: According to the accompanying weblog it was actually made in 1994 on Billaricay Common. The guy responsible went on to do animation for the likes of Monkey Dust and 2DTV.
28/07/07
Marcus:
Motivational posters for motorbike riders. Slightly illiterate in places, but generally cool. (via)
Marcus:
Brand new Lost "Dharma Initiative Orientation Film" for the "Orchard" station. Seriously cool if you're a Lost fan. Not much use if you're not. No spoilers as such, but it's terrific fuel for theories.
Marcus:
The Simpsons Movie has a blackboard opening with Bart writing out "I WILL NOT ILLEGALLY DOWNLOAD THIS MOVIE".
Marcus: This cunning subliminal ruse hasn't stopped P2P sites like the Pirate Bay (who've rolled out their traditional Google-style celebratory themed logo) from instantly rushing out terrible quality camcorder recordings, of course...
Marcus:
Stephen Colbert broke his wrist just before filming his show the other day. Video of Colbert's explanation. (via)
Marcus:
Phil Collins mashed up with Linkin Park (MP3). Surprisingly, my ears didn't bleed. That's as near to saying it's good as I'm going to get. (via)
Marcus:
The Punishment Chair has nothing to do with S&M (at least, not this Punishment Chair). Instead it's "a chair which progressively collapses as the user’s home energy use becomes excessive". Too much energy consumption = no chance of sitting down. It's art, baby. (via)
Marcus:
What Jeff Killed: regularly updated photos of one cat's seemingly never ending quest to destroy the rest of the animal kingdom. Contains graphic photos of ripped-apart rabbits with accompanying innards and the like, so only for those with fairly strong stomachs. (via)
Marcus:
Seven Deadly Sins wristbands. For people who want to show they support sloth instead of being against racism, or anger instead of not liking cancer, I guess. (via)
Marcus:
The DRM imposed on the BBC's new iPlayer can be removed by the Windows tool FairUse4WM. Doing this takes aways the sharing and time limitations on downloaded TV programmes. Great news for users, bad news for the BBC. (via)
27/07/07
Dave:
Outtakes from Smokin' Aces - worth watching to see how bad Ben Affleck is at pool.
gareth: The outtakes were much better than the movie.
26/07/07
Marcus:
Digital Bits has an interesting and persuasive op-ed on why Blu-ray will come out on top in the HD movie disc wars.
Marcus: Note that I'm posting this article without any particular bias. I always assumed (without caring too much either way to be honest) that both formats had an equal chance of winning/co-existing happily until whatever format(s) come next.
Chris:
Time lapse video of a bloke taking several weeks to make a paper model of Howl's Moving Castle. I don't know which is more impressive - the amazing model, or the fact that his pet cat was obviously "helping" while he was making it. Lovely stuff.
Dave:
The universe has imploded!
Marcus: I nearly ran this myself a couple of days ago. The reason I didn't is that George Lucas wearing a "Han Shot First" T-shirt would be amusing... if it wasn't for the fact that StarWars.com sells this T-shirt. So this photo practically counts as product placement. Ngh.
Marcus: Just to reinforce the odious "any cash-in is a good cash-in" commercial mentality of Lucas & co, this T-shirt was first sold to punters as a "limited edition" when the original versions of Star Wars were finally released on DVD in glorious crap-o-vision. So basically it's a smart way of exploiting die-hard fans.
Marcus: Create a controversy by raping your best work, then sell a T-shirt about it. Nice Lucas, very nice.
Marcus: Han didn't shoot first; that implies Greedo shot second, whereas in fact, Greedo never even fired off a shot. Han shot solo. (Aha. Aha-ha.)
Marcus: If you wanted to watch this event in glorious upscaled 1080p, you could do a lot worse than download the fan-made Wookie Groomer: Han Shoots First version of A New Hope. No doubt that this would be very illegal of course.
Marcus: Wow, I haven't been this angry about something George Lucas has done since... well, in fact I've been angry about every single thing he's done to Star Wars in the last ten years, if I'm being honest. Angry fanboy over and out.
Justin:
A US cat that is reportedly able to sense when a nursing home's residents are about to die is baffling doctors.
Marcus:
Guys and Dolls: compelling 45 minute documentary on men who own Real Dolls (horrendously realistic sex dolls that look little short of corpses - Uncanny Valley ahoy!). (via)
Marcus: The documentary is shot in such a way that the men aren't ridiculed, but they nevertheless come across in varying degrees as rather sad, lonely, and occasionally downright creepy (the ones who have girlfriends in particular).
Marcus: Needless to say, not really safe for work.
Gareth:
Brian May, guitarist for Queen, is nearly complete his PhD in Astrophysics
chris: Which is just as well, 'cos the Sky at Night have been referring to him as "Dr Brian May" for several months mow...
25/07/07
Dave:
Loads of football stats.
Marcus: Is that the same Statto as the guy from Fantasy Football League? Probably not, but it would be nice to think it was.
Marcus:
Some unscrupulous ISPs are allegedly inserting ads into the webpages served to their customers. The UW CSE and ICSI Web Integrity Checker will run some tests to see if you're affected. (via)
Marcus:
Unofficial (read: hacky) apps are now available to add custom ringtones to the iPhone. Just imagine that! Custom ringtones. On a mobile phone. Cor.
Marcus:
Site news: I've just added this little bit of code to make linkbunnies more readable for iPhone users. This shouldn't be noticeable to any other browser - but if the site now inadvertently formats your hard drive, e-mail the linkbunny hivemind about it.
Marcus:
Trailer for The Darjeeling Limited, the new Wes Anderson movie. (via)
Marcus: No mention of Bill Murray on the trailer page or the IMDB, although he is rumoured to be in a cameo as the father.
chris: Looks like most of Wes's ensemble are present, though. This is a Good Thing; I'm a big fan of his stuff, so I shall be going to see this when it comes out.
24/07/07
Justin:
Snack Guy, Smoking Guy, Procrastinating Guy - they're all taking turns controlling my brain - Charlie Brooker
23/07/07
Dave:
Fasthosts are having a little bit of trouble with the flooding!
Marcus: Good job we're hosted in AMERICUH. (Seriously, sorry to hear about the flooding, flood-hit people. If it's any consolation, the Thames is going to burst its banks right about now and force me to post future links from a wifi-enabled rubber dinghy.)
22/07/07
Justin:
“How to Feel Awkward in 4 Minutes and 20 Seconds” - Jamie Kennedy hosts an event at E3 drunk, and embarasses himself. Dissed by an Englishman.
Marcus:
Mashable: How To Remove Junk from Facebook and MySpace in Firefox.
Marcus: God bless the Face Off Firefox extension: it removes all third-party apps from Facebook pages. Future versions will allow custom blocklists.
Marcus: I've said it once, I'll say it again - when I ascend to my rightful place as Emperor of the Universe, the only Facebook app allowed will be LOLcats.
Marcus: Also, the linkbunnies Facebook app once I finish it. (Around about 2012. Just in time for the London Olympics.)
gareth: Awesome, I'd been using a greasemonkey script which I think hides the elements after loading, this is probably a lot more efficient.
Marcus: Possibly not - I think Face Off does the same thing, ie stripping out apps with a custom stylesheet.
Marcus:
1960s American anti-porn propaganda film. Nothing short of hilariously unintentional self-defeating self-parody as the presenter demonstrates/promotes example after example of various kinds of porn (there's particularly lingering segments on gay porn and S&M towards the end). Sort of NSFW if you work in the 1960s. (via)
Marcus:
Japanese rice paddies used to create amazing giant reproductions of famous Japanese woodcuts. So good, you'd think they were photoshops.
21/07/07
Justin:
Michael More Versus Bill O'Reilly YouTube
Marcus: I was about to scream "double post" as I remembered posting about this before, but it turns out the clip predates YouTube. In fact I linked to a transcript three years ago.
Marcus: The clip actually comes in a fair way through, and is heavily edited, so it's worth referring to the transcript (direct link to Faux News) too.
20/07/07
Dave:
What happens when blindfolded people try and make clay busts of Lionel Richie.
Marcus: I was expecting efforts which resembled Cubism in 3D - instead, every single one is actually passable, and one or two even match the original (?!).
justin: I liked to imagine that the original video bust was made of her feces.
Marcus: You say that about every single piece of art ever created, though. Even the ones made long before the woman in the "Hello" video (YouTube) was even born, like, say, the Mona Lisa.
Marcus:
R2-D2 smokes a crafty fag in a Star Wars anti-smoking advert. Surely getting prissy old C-3PO to be the voice of anti-smoking is a bad move? I for one would've taken up smoking because R2-D2 was doing it. (via)
Marcus: I ran R2's bleeps through Babelfish and when he drops the cigarette it translates as "I'd finished it anyway, you tedious old nanny state Nazi. I'm off to shag Princess Leia. She wants me because I'm cool. Smoking makes you cool."
Marcus: Also, if you pause it about 20 seconds in you can just make out Luke tip-toeing away with a packet of fags in his hand.
Marcus: Also pleasing: the Mos Eisley Cantina drink-drive ad.
Marcus: Favourite YouTube comment: "So, these two drunks left the bar and jacked the Millenium Falcon?"
Dave:
This is why I don't think I ever want an iPhone. iPhone users do things like this.
Marcus: linkbunnies punishment drones have been dispatched to the people responsible.
Gareth:
MINERVA is the best single player HL2 mod I've ever played; the level design is on par or maybe even better than the original Valve stuff.
19/07/07
18/07/07
Marcus:
The Onion News Network: "All online data lost after internet crash". My finger's so far from the web pulse I didn't realise they did video on the Onion now. Gets funniest towards the end. (via)
Marcus: And with "Study: Multiple Stab Wounds May Be Harmful To Monkeys", American news satire may finally be catching up with superb 1990s UK news satire The Day Today.
Marcus: A great Day Today clip montage, featuring a guy on Death Row dying like Elvis, a Jam festival, and classic Alan Partridge sports reporting. (More clips).
Marcus:
Expansys UK, purveyor of unlocked smartphones for loadsamoney, is offering an unlocked iPhone. Given the lack of price and availability this is almost certainly speculation based on the likely winter UK release date, and the fact that UK iPhones will (likely) be on O2. O2 generally don't lock their phones (my Razr V3im, for instance, wasn't). (via)
Marcus: Expansys are offering the Nokia N770, a hackable first-gen internet tablet thing that runs Linux, for under £75. Not bad at all.
Justin:
Psychologists once conducted a simple experiment with far-reaching implications: They asked people to describe an instance in their lives when they had hurt someone and another instance when they had been hurt by someone else. Interesting article follows.
Marcus: So it turns out that most people have a profound lack of empathy. Who knew?
Marcus:
"iConiCal is a utility for setting iCal's icon and dock icon to show the current date in a choice of colours, even when iCal is closed." A belated Happy iCal Day to all Mac users.
17/07/07
Marcus:
Fido could be the most awesome zombie film ever. It takes place in a B-movie/Pleasantville-style 1950s American town where Romero-style zombies are used as pets and menial servants. Looks wicked funny. Trailer.
Marcus: No UK release date yet, which is crazy. Do the film studios think we'll reject it because it's not Shaun of the Dead?!
Marcus: And that's Billy Connolly as the title zombie! Bejeebus!
gareth: I like zombies.
Justin:
Remember how all those Zinedine Zidane images were floating around the net after England winning the world cup last year? (or whatever happened) - anyway, the Russians are big fans of those kind of things, especially doing it to random background people on the TV news - like big-eyed-guy and dirt-faced-fellow. You know, in spite of their constant brinkmanship, posturing, murdering people on our turf, lording it over us with their gas supplies and conceited-yet-beautiful women - I can't help but feel a special love for the Russians. Their geeks are cool geeks. Right now I feel a strong sense of global-oneness as we are united in taking the piss out of a dude with big eyes.
Marcus: There goes our Russian readership, probably. They exist, you know. They're real. We actually have readers in Russia. Cor.
justin: Nah seriously - in spite of the political events over last night you can put it into context when you think we are all pretty similar at the end of the day. If only the 80s was still here and we could make a film where we make friends with a team of Russian bloggers and learn to overcome our differences and work together- possibly by a shared love of dancing.
Marcus: Yes, we could teach them how to rap, and breakdance, and then when Gorbachev comes over and starts lecturing them on being Communists, they could say "no - we will not do what you say any more, Gorbachev!" and then perform a really cool breakdance routine at him, and make him stumble back, infuriated yet amazed, and try to run off but just run into a lampost by mistake, and then he'd be lying on the ground, with his eyes doing that comedy "rotating around" thing while tweety birds spun round his head.
Marcus:
YouTube: Joe Pesci with his Head on Fire. Does what it says on the tin. Worth it just for the anthemic 80s music. (via)
16/07/07
Dave:
Ricky Gervais rests on his laurels.
Marcus: Direct link to movie, just in case it gets moved off the front page. Language NSFW.
Marcus:
Watching all six Star Wars movies simultaneously. (via)
Marcus: Some way over the event horizon of Going Too Far.
15/07/07
Marcus:
Project Gotham Racing 4 on the Xbox 360 will have cars and motorbikes racing together, which is the most super awesome game decision since Tetris had the whole "tessellate blocks" concept.
Marcus: For an exhilarating real-life version, check out Fifth Gear's Honda Civic vs Honda Fireblade battle. Quick and dirty 1:56 version; better quality and detailed 7:54 version.
gareth: I'm excited - this is a really good series.
Marcus:
Latest news from the British Army in Iraq: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."
Marcus: Reader Rhodri actually e-mailed this link in a couple of days before I posted it, but, er, I forgot to check the linkbunnies e-mail so didn't know.
Zanna:
A blog of a man known as 'little kid with a beard'. his book reviews are worthwhile and have set me on the track of some new authors and his judgement seems pretty damned good
14/07/07
13/07/07
Gareth:
75 year old woman with the world's fastest internet connection. 40 gigabit seems a bit low for the world's fastest, although I'm guessing they're not including businesses.
12/07/07
11/07/07
Marcus:
Charlie Brooker: The truth is that airlines have only three types of seats: Misery, Misery Lite and Slightly Comfortable. On good form here.
Marcus: Also interesting to read he's filmed an on-location documentary about The Wire.
10/07/07
09/07/07
Justin:
I'm not going to lie to you - you can now get vaginal scent sold in small bottles for whatever reason.
Marcus: Finally! We can all live the dream and smell like vaginas. "Yes, I am over 18 and I enjoy juicy erotic".
Justin:
When she heard that a Newcastle councillor had recommended a family of ginger children dye their hair to avoid bullying, Louise Crowe decided enough was enough. Here, she reveals why the time is right for a redhead revolution
08/07/07
06/07/07
Marcus:
The Xbox 360's warranty has been extended - worldwide, and retrospectively - to three years. Red Ring of Death-tastic news.
Marcus: Wikipedia on the (Microsoft-denied but widely reported) high failure rates of the 360.
05/07/07
Marcus:
Dethroner has seen the new Transformers movie. No real surprises, but it's "sort of terrible". The Transformers themselves sound cool though, and without a doubt they're the sole reason aging fanboys (such as yours truly) will be going to see this movie anyway. Nobody was seriously expecting an actual proper film with an interesting and original plot, were they?
Marcus: "Every time the robots are on the screen, you’ll find your digits clutching into an irresistible fist, ready to be joyously thrust upwards into the base of the skull of the movie-goer in front of you."
Justin:
Tour of the Hasbro factory looking at concept art for the toys of the new Transformers film.
04/07/07
Justin:
Remember that free energy device from Steorn that caused such a kerfuffle a while back? Well it looks like their product, the Orbo is about to be demonsrated for real.
justin: Orbo? robo? roob? Rube Goldberg? "Rube" as in patsy? Borrow?
Dave: This seems to be a bit of a non-event. What do we reckon? Same story as the Doctor who lied about cloning?
Dave: I'll be honest it all sounds a bit Alex Chui to me.
justin: I just glanced at your link "Doctor who lied about cloning"? - he's seen it first hand.
Marcus: Alex Chui didn't send us the immortality rings he promised. Alex Chui is dead to me.
chris: What a surprise, the demo has been postponed because of technical difficulties...
Dave: LLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS
Marcus:
Happy Indepentory Day, Americonians!
Dave:
This nutcase is counting to 1 million live on the Internet.
justin: Man, me and Tim worked that one out ages ago. We even took the idea to Capital Radio but they wouldn't let us in.
Marcus: The lazy bastard was fast asleep when I checked just now. Call that dedication? Because I don't.
Marcus: Apparently, if you counted continuously, it would take you just over a month to reach a million.
Justin:
Mexico's telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world's richest person, according to a respected Mexican financial website.
03/07/07
Marcus:
HMV is to start selling EMI's back catalogue DRM-free, at a higher bitrate than the iTunes store and at least 20p per track cheaper, too.
Dave:
American Politics is a f*cking disgrace. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Marcus: Bush should be ashamed of himself for sure. It is pretty gobsmacking how brazenly corrupt those in power can be, isn't it?
Marcus: I wouldn't blame the American people though. Most of them didn't even vote for him. By the same token, I wouldn't want the rest of the world judging me by the actions of the UK government.
Dave: Bah.
Marcus:
Incredible demonstration of 3D sound, set in a virtual barber's shop where you undergo a virtual haircut. Use headphones and close your eyes. The realism borders on the supernaturally creepy. (via)
Marcus: Download a (likely higher-quality) MP3 here.
Marcus: On a related note, here are some examples of the audio illusion known as Shephard's Paradox. Loop the MP3s for the effect.
Marcus:
Pepper's Ghost is the Victorian-era ghost illusion method used in the Dance Tonight video (below).
Marcus:
YouTube: Michel Gondry music video for Paul McCartney's Dance Tonight. (via)
Marcus: Featuring Mackenzie Crook as a postman and - crikey - a ghost Natalie Portman.
Marcus: Don't miss the terrific behind the scenes short too. It turns out the clever ghost effects are created in a very old-fashioned way.
Marcus: Love the "Pong on bookcase" bit. Gondry is five kinds of awesome, really.
02/07/07
Marcus:
Tip: The correct posture for riding a motorcycle.
gareth: I'm getting a 404 on that one.
Marcus: Seems ok now, maybe the site was down?