Indexed: End of 'The Weekly World News'

I think the site Indexed is funny and very clever, and this card reminded me about the tragic end of one of the most entertaining media creations ever - The Weekly World News magazine:


In high school, me and my friends would religiously read the absurdities contained in The WWN during the pre-internet Dark Ages. Of course the greatest story & accompanying picture ever contained in it was the infamous Bat Boy. I had a T-shirt with this picture on it (that I'm surprised didn't cause me to be committed to an insane asylum by my teachers):

I'm pretty sure my mom used to try
hiding this shirt from me so I couldn't wear it.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti: Quoteable Anarchist

I found this quote by Italian-American Anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti to be visionary & inspiring. Which is why it isn't surprising that he was executed 80 years ago. I guess in the 1920's "Anarchist" was the #1 scary term for the commies/terrorists/boogiemen of the day...

"I champion the weak, the poor, the oppressed, the simple and the persecuted. I maintain that whosoever benefits or hurts a man benefits or hurts the whole species. I sought my liberty in the liberty of all, my happiness in the happiness of all. I wanted a roof for every family, bread for every mouth, education for every heart, light for every intellect. I am convinced that human history has not yet begun, that we find ourselves in the last period of the prehistoric. I see with the eyes of my soul how the sky is diffused with the rays of the new millennium."

...It's like someone summed up the complete opposite of the Bush, Inc./neocon philosophy!

From the Democracy Now! interview:
"Sacco and Vanzetti: 80 Years After Their Execution, A Look At The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind"

It's amazing how major events are just forgotten over time. The infinite number of human experiences lost to history is mind-numbing. Thankfully (maybe), the internet & Google are attempts to reverse the trend.

Art by The "Mentally Ill"

I saw these posts on FindingOptimism.com about art by people who supposedly had "mental illness". That description probably fits 95% of us artists, so I guess it's probably just as representative as a random sampling would be!

Art by the Mentally Ill (Part 1: Famous)

Art by the Mentally Ill (Part 2: Not So Famous)

Picasso and Monet have nothing on John Cadigan, who created this superb optical bug-out monkey design:
After looking on his website, I was interested by his mission statement, "... A large part of art and spirituality are essentially mysterious. Francis Bacon said that the job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery."

I feel that sentiment whole-heartedly, which is one reason I created "Da Vinci's Challenge" - to evoke a sense of mystery in an accessible and stimulating way.

Bible Fight Game

Adult swim has a Flash game version of a concept I've always wanted to make - religious characters in a 'Street Fighter' type game.

[adult swim] Bible Fight Game

What better battle to have than the Prince of Peace vs. the Prince of Darkness?

Another great, twisted game on the Adult Swim website is the game '5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself)'.

Dick Cheney Ignores Himself

It's hard to believe that anything resembling the truth ever came from Darth Cheney...

Dick Cheney in '94
"Invading Iraq Would Create a Quagmire."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCccFPZAHV0

Let the Machine Wars Begin...

It's fascinating how in this day & age, finding more technologically efficient ways to destroy human life is somehow considered progress. I wonder sometimes, "Haven't these assholes ever seen Terminators 1-3?" All the ingredients are stewing - even liquid metal 'ferrofluid' technology for a T-1000 Liquid Terminator.

"U.S. Military Expands Robot Patrols in Combat Zones"

We are literally one step away from a Robocalypse. I have compiled the visual evidence and it should be enough to make all of us humans squirm like the bacterial sacs of protoplasm that we are.
I don't think anyone ever anticipated just how easily Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" could squashed by a Pentagon-sponsored tank tread.


1st Step: Army Ground-based Robot
Result: Terminator Hunter-Killer

1st Step: DARPA's prototype robotic hand
Result: An army of T-800 cyborgs




1st Step: Ferrofluid dynamic sculpture
Result: Mimetic poly-alloy liquid metal T-1000




Meanwhile, the Japanese are teaching their robots how to dance instead. I'd definitely rather have souless machines tearing up the dancefloor than tearing up people.

"Japanese Teach Robot to Dance"

Create Your Own Simpson Avatar!

Although I haven't seen the Simpsons Movie yet, I have been a huge fan since I first saw them on the Tracy Ulmann Show when I was a kid. It has been standard Sunday viewing after dinner at my parents house for over a decade.

The movie website lets you make your own Simpsons avatar. There's not a whole lot of choices, but it's enough to have a little fun with. I made the Simpsons version of myself & promptly downloaded my Springfield doppelganger. If the shirt was un-tucked & the pants had cargo pockets, it would look like a photograph...

Oil & War - Business First for Bush, Inc.

CNN: "$20 Billion Arms Sale to Saudis"

I thought this cartoon from Bartcop.com pretty well summed up the total hypocrisy of anything that comes out of The War Monkey's mouth, especially regarding the propaganda promoting the inherently un-winnable arms & security profit bonanza called "The War on Terror".

Supposedly, most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
However, since that country is sitting on black gold, & the Saudi royal family controls the country, America has formed an oil-money-weapons symbiosis with the Saudis.

Speaking of 'symbiotes', what's the saddest part of the whole deal? There is a certain country/imperial outpost that our compromised government officials must now openly receive permission from before any move is made. Acting truly "Holy", as usual... as in "Holy Crap":

MSNBC: "Israel OK's U.S. Arms Sale"

Bush & Cheney's America is like a rich addict who does business with a drug dealer, even if the dealer smashes & shoots up his Ferrari... and then sells the dealer more weapons while buying more drugs at the same time, instead of taking steps to get out of his mess.

On the other hand, if you have gone so far down the rabbit hole that you don't think there were Saudi hijackers, then I guess that analogy is partly bogus.

Coverpop

Coverpop.com

I found this site through it's series of patterned chromatic music wheels.

The technology that gives the site its name, though, makes pictures or patterns out of photos from sites like Amazon.com or Flickr.

The 'Coverpops' either arrange mined photos into a recognizable image or a pattern based on image attributes. It is like a visual Google Product Search.

These images link to my 2 favorites:

A Spiral using images of color fields on Flickr.

Sc-fi & Paranormal Covers from Amazon used to create a Grey

Top Video Game Monkeys

MTV has a list of the Top 10 Video Game Monkeys.

The digital primates range from
Monkeyball's cute cartoons with big spiral ears & Pacman eyes-

-to the Justice League's super-brained enemy Grodd.

...who looks like he's about to knock those other monkeys around

Funny Sale Sign

I saw this sign on a box of junk & assorted crap at a flea market while I was on vacation in the Poconos.

Capitalism at its finest...

I should have stolen the sign.