Phantasmic Links 8.20.07

After my ”wild” night out, I went on to have an even busier weekend. Saturday evening wasn't so bad, an Italian procession that only took about an hour. The highlight of that job was the search for our friend Bill's missing sunglasses, only to discover after the gig was over that the old guy had them in his hat, which was on his head.

My dad faced his own challenges on Sunday, as did I. Though a simple subway transfer would have left us half a mile from our destination, he was adamant about staying on the same train since it would only leave us 3/10 of a mile further away and there was no guarantee the other train would be there. I had to concede since there were several cancellations or diverted lines due to weekend construction, as is typical in New York City. The problem is, while midtown is a grid, easy to navigate, downtown is a series of circles, diagonals, and streets with names rather than numbers. I was sure we were heading in the right direction, but my dad had his doubts.

After climbing the stairs and pausing to catch his breath, he repeatedly asked me if we were going the right way. When I started ignoring him and pressing on, it wasn't long before he was asking strangers on the street, “Are you familiar with New York?” I thought it was bad when he openly talked about our destination or itinerary in the subway, a place in which I exercise silence as a matter of safety and common sense, but stopping people on the street was definitely worse. At one point he stopped a homeless woman that was muttering random phrases like “radish” or “cummerbund” to herself. He's hard of hearing and didn't pick up on the madness. When I pulled him away, he insisted that “he was wearing a uniform.” Apparently a lady in a stained blue jumpsuit qualifies as a guy in a uniform for my old man. At least when we saw a shirtless black man lying on the edge of a fountain moaning, “Crack did this to me!”, my dad didn't ask for his advice.

After doubling back, we actually passed an information booth and my dad got a map which confirmed I was walking in the right direction to begin with. We met up with the band and, except for a long wait and a little drizzle, had a good but exhausting day. I'm sure the week ahead of me will be almost as interesting as my weekend was, but we'll now deal with this week's PHANTASMIC LINKS:

The world lost a great artist and comic book talent last week with the untimely demise of Mike Wieringo. He had a great blog and I loved seeing his daily sketches as well as his finished pieces. SwanShadow had some words(and of course pictures) to remember “Ringo”, and Newsarama has a collection of remembrances from comics professionals.

TIME has a great collection of Antarctica photos.

Chihuahua or Gremlin? I know I'm scared. Hat Tip: B13.

”Phrogging” occurs when someone lives in a house without the owners being aware of their uninvited guests. What dangerous stunts will crazy kids think of next?

The Skeletor Show offers some of the funniest remixes of an ‘80s cartoon I've seen yet.

I guarantee this link will synthesize viral mindshare. HT: J-No.

Curt seriously needs to get discovered soon. To quote one of the people I passed this video on to already, “He's better than half the actors on SciFi Channel.” I'd have to agree.

Darrell has some truly scary examples of movie posters depicting REAL horror.

I really want to see more episodes of Street Fighter: The Later Years. Ras-putin! HT: Rey.

This Sketch-Fu is immensely strong, and immune to nearly any piracy. When it's properly used, it's almost invincible. HT: J-No.

Hey, who wants to watch stuff decay?

Bloonsworld takes a popular online game and puts level design in the hands of users. Very addictive.

Finally, how high can you jump your marshmallow thing in Avalanche? My current record is 219 ft.

Have a link to a game, movie, article, or anything else you think might be “phantasmic”? E-mail me and it just might appear in an upcoming PHANTASMIC LINKS!