Day 131: The Beatles Get Lei’ed

originally published May 10, 2012 Every so often I come across a website that reminds me, “This is why the Internet exists.” Having undertaken a ridiculous labor of love myself (this one), I feel a kinship with David Barratt. His site states that “if every citizen spent a little bit of time playing the ukulele, […]

Day 130: Up The Arch

originally published May 9, 2012 In the little corner of oil-rich, prairie-heavy Canada that I begrudgingly call home, it takes a while for things to get done. We recently finished construction on a 28-storey office tower that took three years to complete. One of our busy bridges was fattened by two lanes, which also took […]

Day 129: The Apollo 10 Crew – Ass-Kickers Of Space History

originally published May 8, 2012 Launched in May, 1969, The Apollo 10 mission was critical to executing the successful July moon landing. But what about that trio of astronauts whose names are anything but household, who took the run before the big run? On the one hand, these three men strapped themselves into a capsule […]

Day 128: Sex-Ed, Taught By A Teacher Who Doesn’t Want To Be There

originally published May 7, 2012 Hello everyone. Mr. Villanova had to run out due to a personal emergency, and I’ve been asked to fill in for today’s lecture on… human sexuality. I’m going to be up front with you kids – I don’t feel comfortable talking about this subject. Please don’t laugh, don’t even giggle. […]

Day 127: Bad Video Game Art

originally published May 6, 2012 Are video games an art form? If you ask Roger Ebert, his answer would be a resounding “no.” But I would argue that there is art involved in the game world, whether it’s designing a likeable protagonist character, an immersive and often colorful environment, and even in designing the game’s […]

Day 126: Print This Article And Stick It On Your Fridge

originally published May 5, 2012 There comes a point in sifting through a potential subject when I reach a three-tined fork in my research road. The path easiest taken is always another click of the Random button, a hyperdrive to some other remote corner of the Wikiverse. Or, if there’s enough material, I strap in […]

Day 125: Nine Shakespearean Sonnets About Immortality In Fiction

originally published May 4, 2012 In honor of reaching the 1/8th benchmark of what I’ve come to call “My Bat-Shit Crazy Project”, I felt I should contemplate a larger issue – something beyond stacking chairs and arctic wastelands. Yes, even something beyond bacon. Luckily, Ms. Wiki bestowed upon me the gift of Immortality. Well, the […]

Day 124: Where Hell Froze Over – Ellef Ringes Island

originally published May 3, 2012 Today’s challenge is to write a thousand words about an uninhabited slab of land that almost nobody wants to visit and even the gods seem to hate. For this task Ms. Wiki has deserted me upon Ellef Ringnes Island, located in the northwestern quadrant of that hideous near-dead tundra of […]

Day 123: The Super Bowl Shuffle – When Football Goes Musical

originally published May 2, 2012 In that dark cosmic closet that holds all the universe’s most famously bad ideas, there is a tiny spot on a high shelf for the 45RPM record known as the Super Bowl Shuffle. If you’re already craving a taste, here’s a link for your pleasure: If you watched that entire […]

Day 122: The Most WTF Disaster Ever? The General Slocum

originally published May 1, 2012 Today we’re setting sail (without actually using a sail) on the General Slocum. Some may read that and think, “Hey, isn’t that the name of that military-themed adult film that I watched last weekend?” Others are probably saying, “What a dick. He just made a porno joke out of a […]