Phantasmic Links 4.24.05

I love Brooklyn. Only there can you stand in the back of a church and listen to a priest speak in fluid Italian, only to switch to English to address the children and suddenly sound like Rattrap: “Ay, how you kids doin'? You, what's your name? Jack? How ya doin' Jack? You kids know how ta get ta heaven? Jesus, yeah, fugeddaboudit!” I'm exaggerating, but not by much. He did go on to explain that you should never ask for directions in Italy, because if anything Italians are TOO helpful and will tell you too much, even if they don't actually know how to get where you want to go. This may explain the obligation I felt when I worked in a gas station to figure out directions for people when a simple “I don't know.” would have freed me to get back to the pumps.

I also love hearing the old-time musicians talk about when gum was a nickel and you could get two cigarettes for a penny. I'm not sure if I added anything to the conversation by mentioning I set foot in a comic book store this week and saw they now cost $2.99, when they were $1.25 when I stopped collecting and had just gone from 75¢ to $1.00 when I started. I even remember seeing some in the supermarket for 65¢ when I was younger before I was collecting.

Brooklyn is a great workout. I can walk for two hours through the streets, and because the pavement is uneven and potholes are plentiful, my muscles feel like they got more use than when I run at full speed on the treadmill in gym. All in all, it was good to get out to Brooklyn for a few hours today, and it's good to be in and posting this week's PHANTASMIC LINKS:

With a name like ”Anakin Dynamite”, I hardly think this first link needs much explanation.

AverageJoe beat me to posting the new picture of Superman from the upcoming movie. I'm reserving judgment until I see this in motion in a trailer, but after seeing this picture I have to say I have some concerns...

Hey, just in case you ever need to start a fire with a soda can and a chocolate bar...

Speaking of gas prices, the best I can get right now is $2.37. Even with this Gas Buddy Rey sent me, it's still rough out there.

Speaking of Rey, his brother sent me an RPG-style flash battle of the consoles. It's really cool and not that long if you're a huge gaming nerd, and I appreciated quite a bit of the humor in it. On the other hand, if games aren't your thing, a half hour flash movie may not be for you, although you can still be impressed how much they fit into 1.4MB.

This is the future of music. I had seen this over a week ago so it may be old, but I had never been able to get the WMV version to play all the way through on my IMAC. Now having seen it, I can share both.

This week, a co-worker shared a Love Letter to Condi...

MAD Libs!

Find your personal Mondrian.

Can the computer guess which sitcom star or dictator you are?

I can't be sure, but I think this video is about someone trying to escape hell...

This video proves that opposites attract, and even losers can have a happy ending given the opportunity to save the life of the one they're attracted to.