I hope the final product doesn't disappoint...

The trailers for this movie are making me more and more excited with each new one they release.

Much better than a Sexman review...

Star Wars came out at about the time most of the Kool-Aid Gang was three years old, so it was rather amusing to see how this three year old summed it up. I guess this is pretty much what I thought of the movie, too, back then:

I'm f**king Fandango...

Not really, but Fandango just seemed to have the exact number of syllables to fit with the theme.

If you haven't heard, Kevin Smith is currently making his next film Zack and Miri Make a Porno starring Seth Rogen. And not to be left off the current viral craze wagon, they made their own version. It's pretty NSFW for language. And anything after this will be like beating a dead horse:

Talk about being one-up'd!

"It's like a million butterflies flying in my behind ..."


You know you've hit the pinnacle when you have Brad Pitt and Huey Lewis supporting you.

Saggy Sammy

My favorite sketch from the new "Whitest Kids U Know" last night. NSFW at the end, but oh so funny.

Best Gas Mileage? - Try a Vehicle Built in 1973

This makes me believe that car companies and oil companies collude to keep us purchasing plenty of fuel and archaic technology. Not the old "car that runs on water" story.

In 1973, Royal Dutch Shell sponsored a contest to see who could design the most fuel efficient vehicle. The winner, which looks surprisingly like a normal, 1950s car, holds an efficiency record that still stands today.

A chop-top, steel frame 1959 Opel T-1 was equipped with devices that heat and insulate the fuel line so the gasoline entered the engine as a lean vapor with astonishing results: 376.59 miles per gallon.

To be fair - not all of the car's features would work for mass-production. The car is very narrow, uses super-hard low-friction tires, neither of which make the vehicle particularly drivable. The interior is stripped of everything but a seat and lacks a top. But note that even if the car were made more suitable for mass-consumption and lost 200 mpg, it would still get 176 mpg and outperform everything else on the road today.

Source: EENews.net

The sign says it all.

Oh yeah, if you're watching this in a sensitive place, wear headphones.

Tetsuo! Akira! - And other movie news...

Overall, I was a tad disappointed with how the X-Men movies turned out (not just because of the mischaracterization of Cyclops), but Hugh Jackman's casting as Wolverine and his portrayal of Logan actually was a pleasant surprise. And this promotional picture for the upcoming movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine just about floored me--how spot on is that? Word is they have quite a few cameos planned to make any comic book fan giggle with delight in the theaters including everyone's favorite Cajun Remy LeBeau aka Gambit.

Oh, and in other geek movie news, Leonardo DiCaprio apparently will be producing and starring in a live adaptation of Akira. I actually think DiCaprio is capable of some pretty classy work, so I'm thinking this may not suck at all, although I'm betting they change the names and places around--last I remember, Leo doesn't look anything like a Japanese kid. I'm still on the fence about Tobey Maguire as Rick Hunter in that Robotech adaptation, though.

It's only available in Europe right now.

Ever have those days where you just need a beer ...

... or two?

Sometimes I wonder about who to feel sorry for in situations like this. I feel for the guy, but at the same time can you really be that oblivious to what your girlfriend thinks? The answer is easily yes, because I know that I have thought I had it all together before, and the smack across my face was really good for me in the end. My first thought is to not feel sorry for the girl, but then she has to live with being known as Ms. Rejection for a long time.

Nike had "Just Do It!"

Barack Obama has "Yes We Can."

I saw a little blip on the news tonight about this video put together by Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas. Its kind of a catchy video.

Has the Halo Series Been Knocked Down for Wild Willie?

Many of you know that in my past I was a huge Halo fan, but the birth of my daughter squashed all video games in my free time. I am almost ashamed to admit that I haven't even seen Halo 3 in action. Last week an interested thing happened. I got to play a video game. A couplemy wife and I know have the game Rock Band and convinced us all to play. I found it wildly addictive and massive fun. I would venture to say that it wouldn't be much fun alone, but I can't make that assessment because I have never played that way.

The game is played at most with four people. There is lead guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. It is really pretty simple. For the guitar and bass you have to hit the right button and strum the guitar at the same time as a button passes a certain point on the screen. Similar to the guitars are the drums, except that you pretty much just hit the appropriate drum head or foot pedal at the appropriate time. Vocals tests your pitch as you sing into the microphone. Your first goal is to make it through any song of your choosing (at least the 25 or so that you start with) ranging from 60's rock all the way up to present. (I got to play lead guitar for Boston's Foreplay while my wife played bass.) To make it through a song you have to hit so many notes right or the crowd boos you off stage. If anyone in your band sucks, another member can save them by playing really well. But get this ... playing really well won't do it alone, you have to throw some physical flare into your play like playing your guitar in an upright position. Your second goal is to score points through perfection. One thing that really drew me in was how unsatisfying it was when you missed a note. Your sitting there playing your guitar solo and you miss a note and the sound coming from the tv misses the note too.

I would highly recommend anyone from the Kool-Aid gang picking this up and playing it with friends. And on our next get together, this is going to be a must for wherever we are all staying.

And I haven't even seen any of the 2008 movies yet...

J.J. Abram's version of Star Trek got pushed back to 2009, and it looks like another movie I was anticipating for this year will be delayed as well. Ain't It Cool News has what may be a clip from Where the Wild Things Are. It looks to be pretty quirky, pretty cool, and pretty much what you might expect from Spike Jonze. Is it too early to be salivating about 2009 movies already?

Whitest Kids U' Know

I'm not sure if anyone else watches this show, but I've been hooked for about a year now. This video is probably the most well known skit of thiers on the internet. It's very Kids In The Hall, which is a good thing.
Oh, and also worth checking out by these guys is the first ever rap video about getting high with dinosaurs. Pure gold.

Cue the "waa-waa" horns and the James Bond theme music...

As the Kool-Aid Gang probably knows, my fascination with Lotus cars began with the Espirit back when I first saw Roger Moore drive one straight into the depths of the sea and watched it turn into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me. Obviously, it was a preposterous idea that a car could submerge underwater like that, but for a young kid like me with no sense of the laws of physics, it was just super-cool--you might even say, dangerously cheesy.

Anywho, some guy in Switzerland has actually made this a reality, using the modern Lotus (an Elise) as the framework for his own Q-Branch vehicle. I guess it's not truly the James Bond submarine car--it has an open top in order to overcome buoyancy issues and you basically have to use a diving respirator to breathe. Still, it's kind of a fun idea and just goes to show you what one can do with too much money on their hands.

This Weeks Lunch Break Field Trip

Stephen Colbert recently contacted the National Portrait Gallery hoping to donate this portrait of himself from his show. While this triple portrait is not one that would typically be accessioned into the Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection, NPG agreed to go along with the joke and hang the portrait for a limited time.

In several episodes of The Colbert Report, Colbert tries to convince the Smithsonian that he should be considered a national treasure. He attempts to donate his portrait to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, but the museum’s director suggests that perhaps Colbert should speak to the National Portrait Gallery. Finally, after much "discussion," the director of the National Portrait Gallery finds an appropriate place to hang Colbert’s portrait, in between the bathrooms and above the water fountain.

The Clone Wars Cometh!

I woke up to a huge email from LucasArts with links, and photos, and well, I'll just let the story do the talking.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars In Theaters and on Television in 2008
February 12, 2008

A new era of Star Wars entertainment begins in 2008 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas, premieres as an all-new feature film in August, followed by the television series debut in the fall, in a partnership announced today between Lucasfilm Ltd., Warner Bros. Pictures and Turner Broadcasting System Inc.
Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes audiences on incredible new Star Wars adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with an eye-popping, signature animation style. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will open in North American theaters Friday, August 15. International release dates will be announced soon.

"I felt there were a lot more Star Wars stories left to tell," said George Lucas, executive producer of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. "I was eager to start telling some of them through animation and, at the same time, push the art of animation forward."
The theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is only the beginning of all-new Star Wars adventures that continue in the fall when the long-awaited television series premieres on Cartoon Network, followed by airings on TNT. Details regarding international broadcasts will be announced shortly. Star Wars: The Clone Wars showcases an entirely new look and feel to the galaxy far, far away -- combining the expansive scope of the Star Wars Saga with state-of-the-art computer-generated animation. Each week, viewers will see a thrilling, 30-minute "mini-movie" created by the talented artists at Lucasfilm Animation.

On the front lines of an intergalactic struggle between good and evil, fans young and old will join such favorite characters as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala, along with brand-new heroes like Anakin's padawan learner, Ahsoka. Sinister villains -- led by Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and General Grievous -- are poised to rule the galaxy. Stakes are high, and the fate of the Star Wars universe rests in the hands of the daring Jedi Knights. Their exploits lead to the action-packed battles and astonishing new revelations that fill Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
"Warner Bros. and Turner are uniquely positioned to deliver on the enormous potential of The Clone Wars because together they offer a world-class opportunity: the theatrical and home-video distribution of Warner Bros. and the broad reach of the Turner Networks," said Micheline Chau, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lucasfilm Ltd. "This terrific combination hits the key demographic groups, ranging from kids to adults, that make up the Star Wars audience."

Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, added, "This is a breakthrough project -- returning Star Wars to the big screen in a completely new way while beginning an exciting new chapter in George Lucas' legendary saga. We immediately felt that it would be a fantastic theatrical event and are thrilled to be bringing it to moviegoers."
"Nothing like this has ever been produced for television," said Stuart Snyder, President/COO Turner Animation,Young Adults & Kids Media. "For 30 years, Star Wars has shown that it appeals to a huge breadth of fans. The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network will be appointment television for everyone in the family. We're thrilled to be working with Lucasfilm again and very excited to be playing a role in bringing this remarkable adventure to viewers."With a new story each week, Star Wars: The Clone Wars continues the tradition of thrilling stories, astonishing visuals and extraordinary music that have always been the hallmarks of the Star Wars Saga.

Lucasfilm Animation, which is based in Marin County, Calif., with a studio in Singapore, has produced more than 30 all-new episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and production continues on even more exciting episodes.

A Sexman Review

NSFW due to some foul language. Who knew bees couldn't lift a plane but elephants probably could.


Finally, if you are extremely bored you should go check out the Sexman's thoughts on porn. I will tell you beforehand that he does not condone porn.

"I've Got Mouths to Feed" ...

This is how I remember the quote from former NBA player Latrell Sprewell a few years back when he balked at a $21 million contract offer he received. ESPN has the actual quote as, "I've got a family to feed." Regardless of the actual wording, I remember sitting around with my buddies talking about the sheer ignorance and audacity that he had to say such a thing.

I am not one to believe in Karma, but often times when something happens that others would call Karma I do end up with a little bit of satisfaction. I just read that his 70 foot $1.5 million yacht is being siezed because his house is in foreclosure. What is crazy about his statement is that nobody else offered him another deal and when he turned down the $21 million dollar contract he never played again in the NBA. How is it you go from having mouths to feed to all of a sudden not having mouths to feed? Well this is a stupid question on my part because the reality is that he shouldn't have said those things in the first place. He should have just said its not worth my time. The sad part is that it obviously was worth his time to keep playing because he might not be able to feed his own mouth in the near future.

And now we know why the New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl...

Apparently, Gisele Bundchen, supermodel and girlfriend of Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady, stated prior to the Super Bowl, "If the Pats lose, I'll run naked through Mid-Town Manhattan."  I guess this gave Eli Manning the motivation to pull of this escape artist feat:

I mean, you figure Tom Brady sees her naked every day, so what did he really have to play for? For some reason, I imagine Eli calling up his brother Peyton after the game and saying, "Dude! We're going to get to see Gisele's boobies!"  Alas, Gisele retracted her words citing the time it would take out of her day:

"It was a mistake and I'm sorry I said it. I don't know what I could have been thinking -- Midtown Manhattan is a parking lot any time of day or night. It'd take 30 minutes just to make it from the Theater District to 34th Street. And what if I ran into the Naked Cowboy and had to pose for pictures with every out-of-town Tom, Dick and Harry? Tack on another 30 minutes, easily. How 'bout I simply flashed my breasts from a billboard in Times Square and call it a day ... will that work?"

Too bad, but at least the Giants didn't lose or else we would have been subjected to Tom Coughlin's wager:

"Belichick is behind this, I can smell it. He wants us going into the game thinking his team is distracted and conflicted. First off, I'm not going to have the girlfriend of an opposing quarterback run naked on our home turf. Second, if Bill wants to play that game, fine. If the Patriots win, our offensive line will run buck naked through the streets of Foxborough. That's over 1,000 pounds of highly repulsive man-meat. Your move, Belichick."

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the Rat. Legend has it that Buddha staged a race across a river with the animals of the Chinese zodiac to determine the order of the lunar calendar. The race was almost won by the determined Ox, but at the last minute, the Rat who had been riding on his back, jumped off at the end to win the race--sneaky bastard. And if you were curious, Tigers, you came in third. Thus, the Rat comes first in the cycle, meaning this year is a good time to start over and begin anew.

Perhaps I'll use this year to start over with learning Mandarin Chinese, which I might be able to achieve doing what I do best--watching TV! From The Boston Globe (via Pop Candy):

Kai-lan Chow, the newest addition to Nickelodeon's "Nick Jr." preschool block, has big, wide-set brown eyes and a penchant - like some others on her network - for breaking the fourth wall. Many times in every episode of "Ni Hao, Kai-lan," the new animated series that launches at 11 a.m. today, she will gaze beyond the TV screen and ask her audience for help. Often, the task will involve repeating a word in Mandarin.

Of the many goals packed into every half-hour "Ni Hao" episode, this is the most inventive and ambitious: To give preschoolers a rudimentary lesson in the Chinese language. (Ni Hao, incidentally, means "hello.") There is precedent, of course; PBS's "Sesame Street" taught a generation to count to 10 in Spanish, and Nick Jr.'s "Dora the Explorer" and "Go, Diego, Go!" have continued the tradition. "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" promises political relevance, too. Of all the languages worth knowing in the future, Mandarin ranks high.

Strange to think that Wild Willie's and Fandango's kids will probably know more Chinese than me. Now, even they can make fun of me behind my back with my wife and her family.

This from Pearl Jam?

Based on the results of Super Tuesday, it looks like Barack Obama may have a chance to squeak by Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, which would make me happy on so many levels. Considering John McCain pretty much has the Republican side of things wrapped up (barring Chuck Norris roundhouse kicking him out into space in his support of Mike Huckabee), I can foresee an Obama vs. McCain matchup come November. It's strange that I find it hard to decide which one of these guys I'd vote for, considering that their platforms are polar opposites in many ways. I head this campaign song for Obama, though, that was written and performed by a few members of Pearl Jam which made me think twice. I'm almost leaning back to the right just so I won't have to hear "Rock Around Barack" endlessly on election night.

Because you never know what you'll need that extra hand free for...

Some chicken franchise on the east coast called BBQ Chicken has come up with this nifty cup that holds both your chicken nuggets and your beverage of choice:


Col-Pop: The Future of Fast-Food Technology from Adam Kuban on Vimeo.

Personally, I think it should come with some sort of apparatus that holds the cup just under your mouth like they make for harmonicas so you could eat and drink hands free.

For those with really bad vision...

This telephoto lens looks like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. It costs $99,000. Used! At least it comes with a lens cap.

You can make anything sound dirty...

I know I haven't watched Sesame Street in awhile, but man, has it gotten racy:

A real Robocop can't be that far behind...

Dean Kamen is a world-renowned American inventor responsible for medical breakthrough devices such as the insulin pump to neat gadgets that we still don't quite know what to do with like the Segway.  His current work focuses on robotic appendages for amputees, and he's already close to perfecting a prototype arm to submit for clinical trials.  Dubbed the "Luke" arm after Luke Skywalker, this video shows just how advanced this artificial limb is in real life.  I had to blink a couple of times watching the amputee suited up with this thing because I thought I was watching a science fiction movie for a minute.

Kirstie Alley and Kelly Preston to the rescue...

I tend to get bothered by celebrities mouthing off about the evils of modern science, when most of the time they have no idea what in the heck they're talking about.  Put on a bonafide person with a respectable degree who's actually dug into the research from peer-reviewed literature instead of someone who's had a few superficial conversations with anecdotal cases and gained most of their "scientific" knowledge from Wikipedia, and I might listen.  March out on the street yelling and waving inflammatory signs with statements that have absolutely no merit, and I just want to throw an egg at you.  

Most of the time, I think the fanatic wackiness of Scientology is overblown and feel like everyone should just leave them alone.  But then, I see crap like this:

It's one thing to demand the medical community investigate possible links of anti-depressive medications to suicidal ideation.  It's quite another to insinuate psychiatrists are drug dealers and kid killers.  Kirstie Alley's kid looks depressed just having to march with this group of bozos.

My Lotus fantasies never end...

Coming soon from the engineers across the pond in England is the latest example of pure driving excitement from Lotus.  The 2-Eleven is completely built for a track.  No air conditioning, no stereo--it doesn't even have a windshield.  All of this saves insane amounts of weight making it only 1,477 pounds and gives it a 0-60 mph time of 3.8 seconds using a tiny 1.8 liter engine.  This is like a go-kart on steroids!  

As I was reading about this car on Wired magazine's website, I followed the links to the official Lotus website, which has been heavily updated since I last perused it a few months ago.  I was a bit surprised that they don't make the Lotus Espirit anymore, with or without submarine capabilities.  

Anywho, I want the Kool-Aid Gang to promise me that if any of you stumble across all sorts of disposable income, you will take us all to the Lotus Performance Driving School.  I'd suggest we all meet up there sometime soon, but the course costs $995 for only a one day program--not the sort of cash I've got lying around.  Ah well.  More to dream about, I guess.  I recall Fandango and I briefly playing around with the idea of making a trip out to Germany, renting out a couple of Porsches, and going nuts on the Autobahn.  Maybe that's a more realistic endeavor.  Who's in?

Hopefully you didn't have these bikini clad women in mind for Firecracker George's car...

I don't know if Wild Willie is still the frugal penny pincher that he used to be in his youth, but he may want to lay off the healthy lifestyle and fatten up.

In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal, Dutch researchers found that the health costs of thin and healthy people in adulthood are more expensive than those of either fat people or smokers.

Van Baal and colleagues created a model to simulate lifetime health costs for three groups of 1,000 people: the "healthy-living" group (thin and non-smoking), obese people, and smokers. The model relied on "cost of illness" data and disease prevalence in the Netherlands in 2003.

The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, obese people racked up the most expensive health costs. But because both the smokers and the obese people died sooner than the healthy group, it cost less to treat them in the long run.

OK. So the point of the article isn't really to let your flab fly, so don't go crazy with the Ben and Jerry's just yet.  But it does question this notion that obesity and smoking are the primary culprits for the rising cost of healthcare.

On average, healthy people lived 84 years. Smokers lived about 77 years, and obese people lived about 80 years. Smokers and obese people tended to have more heart disease than the healthy people.

Cancer incidence, except for lung cancer, was the same in all three groups. Obese people had the most diabetes, and healthy people had the most strokes. Ultimately, the thin and healthy group cost the most, about $417,000, from age 20 on.
The cost of care for obese people was $371,000, and for smokers, about $326,000.

The results counter the common perception that preventing obesity will save health systems worldwide millions of dollars.

"This throws a bucket of cold water onto the idea that obesity is going to cost trillions of dollars," said Patrick Basham, a professor of health politics at Johns Hopkins University who was unconnected to the study. He said that government projections about obesity costs are frequently based on guesswork, political agendas, and changing science.

Better late than never.

Yeah, I said that I'd do this back in September, but I just got around to it. Here's my new car. It got a bath on Sunday so I figured I take a picture before it got dirty again.

Unleashed The Force Is

I've been keeping you all ahead, abreast, and afoot of this game for some time now. Check out how much more sharp it looks now then the last teaser I posted. This game is shear euphoria. Still no official release date but I've already seen tie-in Lego sets and toys on shelves.

It's like Firecracker George speaking Willie-ese...

Mechwarrior: Living Legend

Microsoft still holds the rights to making Mechwarrior games. Even though it was the best selling video game franchise of the 1990's they currently have no inteerest in a new project. Some fans would shrug and go on with thier lives. Not Battletech fans! We never say die and rarely stop talking about it. A group of fans is currently creating a full conversion mod (basically making a whole new game out of another) using the engine from 2007 game of the year Crysis called Mechwarrior: Living Legend. Although the actual game is still an early build, I have been posting on thier forums and following the progress a year now. The team finally released the first real video showing off the incredible enviroments and some ground and aerotech action. It also has an assault on a grounded dropship that is right out of my most fevered Battletech dreams!

Eli Manning and Charlie Brown win out on the same night--what are the odds?

As much as I should hate Bill Belechick and the Patriots (especially with his typical sore loser attitude running off the field before the game was even officially over), I was actually pulling for New England to win last night. Oh well. Those were some exciting closing minutes anyway, and you've got to give credit to the New York Giants--in their last three games they beat the three best teams in the NFL to win the championship. You can't argue with that. Maybe Romo and the Cowboys weren't as bad as I've been saying. Maybe the Giants defense really is that good.

Anywho, the Super Bowl commercials weren't quite as compelling. I think the Coca-Cola commercial with the Stewie and Underdog balloons battling for the bottle of Coke was my second favorite of the night.



What was first? Why, the Iron Man trailer, of course--it was AWESOME!!! And a Tesla Roadster product placement to boot. Oh, please don't let the movie suck. Please don't let it suck...

Hey, Kimmel. How you like THEM apples?

I'm probably the millionth person to post this video on my blog.  Oh well.  I thought it was pretty funny. Do you know where your significant other is right now?

You never know when leaf men will suddenly jump out for some dancing and a game of soccer...

Goldfrapp's fourth album, The Seventh Tree, comes out towards the end of the month.  I've enjoyed all of their prior work which kind of takes bits of synth-pop, techno, and the lush sounds of a John Barry-penned James Bond film score orchestration.

The video for their upcoming album's first single, "A & E." is quite a departure from what they've done before, and kind of shows why I seem to get a bit spooked by the idea of camping in the woods:

In case Firecracker was thinking about trying the online dating thing again...

Over on the TierneyLab blog from The New York Times, John Tierney tries out an experiment with his wife where they both register on eHarmony and wait to see if their online profiles match them up:

After we filled out the questions, we each were given a personality profile. It was pretty general — and tactfully written so that it emphasized the good aspects of each trait — but it seemed reasonably accurate to each of us. There were five general categories. We got identical ratings for extraversion and emotional stability. We got pretty similar ratings for conscientiousness (I was “flexible”; Dana was “very flexible”) and openness (I was “curious”; she was “very curious”). Our biggest difference was in the category of agreeableness: Dana was rated as consistently taking care of others, while I was consistently taking care of myself. EHarmony tried to put the best spin on my selfishness by explaining: “You believe that compassion has a role to play in your life, in a structure of values that encourages people to take care of themselves. Uncritical tenderheartedness does as much harm as good. . . . Fostering such independence is the best way you find there is to love and care for others.”

Then, presto, eHarmony started providing matches. Dana got more — understandably! — but even selfish me got several dozen over the course of the next week. Unlike some of the Lab readers who complained about the abundance of devout Christians on eHarmony, we weren’t overwhelmed with evangelical partners. There were, though, many people passionately devoted to walks on the beach.

We got a lot of matches in the New York area, and some farflung ones, too, but not the match that we wanted. Even though we’d said we wanted nearby matches and had entered the same ZIP code, eHarmony didn’t match us. Does this mean that there’s something wrong with eHarmony, or with our marriage?

My wife regularly asks me why I love her, and I often struggle to find the ways to verbally express what it is that I feel.  It's a feeling that's almost so a part of me, it's difficult to confine to words.  Maybe it isn't that easy to tangibly describe human connections like this.   In the end, I guess even fancy computer algorithms can't figure out the essence of love and chemistry.

If this doesn't convince you to go see Rambo, nothing will...

Forget my Cheetos Cheesy scale. I need to change our movie review format to mimic this real-life McLovin:

Pigs are flying...

WTF? Sometimes, I think Ann Coulter just says stuff for the publicity:

The decline of world IQ can be supplemented by Wikipedia...

I know reading has been on the decline worldwide, and even I haven't actually read Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel or the Stanley Kubrick film adaptation, but surely the name Lolita conjures up a slightly creepy pedophilic image in most people's heads.  Maybe not:

Woolworths has withdrawn bedroom furniture for young girls bearing the sexually charged name Lolita after a campaign waged by a mothers’ online chat room.

The Lolita Midsleeper Combi, a whitewashed wooden bed with pull-out desk and cupboard intended for girls aged about 6, was on sale on the Woolworths website for £395.

At first I thought this was probably some trendy sales ploy, as if the company was trying to be provocative to make some sort of statement. Alas, it was merely the result of a bunch of idiots in their marketing department:

Whereas many mothers were familiar with Vladimir Nabokov and his famous novel, it seems that the Woolworths staff were not. At first they were baffled by the fuss. A spokesman for the company told The Times: “What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either. We had to look it up on Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now.”

Of course, that's not even the most alarming thing:

In 2006 Tesco was removed its pole-dancing kit from the toys and games section of its website after it was accused of destroying children’s innocence.

It got me thinking, though--have any of you ever met anyone named Lolita?  Would you be a bad parent if you named your daughter that?