Quick Hits

I've got some work to do before I sit on my ass for the Super Bowl (don't forget to join us on the Virtual Couch!), but here are some interesting things:

An excellent analysis on why newspapers are failing. The indictments fly fast and furious, and they're all well deserved. Especially Wall Street. As news media became consolidated and corporatized, publishers became more interested in meeting this quarter's earnings and growth targets, instead of paying actual reporters and critics. There is nothing in my local paper (at about $150 a year) that I didn't already read online the day before. The only thing I miss is the comics page. I took care of that with a $12.95 annual subscription to comics.com. Sure, I could read all the strips I like for free, but that would entail about 50 clicks. Instead, I have a home page on which 25+ comics are consolidated for me.

If you've never heard of 2 Girls 1 Cup, consider yourself lucky. If you've heard of it but never seen it, consider yourself blessed, and be thankful for your a) self-control or b) lack of curiosity. In my case, it's A. I know what it is, and while I am curious, I'm not stupid. There are certain things you can't unsee. It is the pretty much the only thing out there in that genre of gross-out internet content that I haven't seen, and that is by design. I suggest you follow my lead on that one. On the other hand you MUST watch this slideshow, little filmclips of people watching 2G1C for the first time. A brilliant, if sadistic, little experiment. I've watched each of these people two or three times, and it gets better each time. Absolutely incredible.

This is old news by now, as it spread ridiculously fast, but just in case you haven't seen it, you're welcome. Hell, even if you've seen it, watch it again. I'm well over a dozen times already, and it still hasn't gotten old. I love Sarah Silverman, and major major props to Matt Damon (MATT DAMON!) for being such a shithead (and I mean that in the good way). Wiseasses rule.



Another must-see, is this political ad. So to speak. I don't even know if I should call it an ad, because it doesn't appear to be directly linked to Obama, and he doesn't do that "and I approve of this message" at the end. Brilliantly executed, and quite powerful. As Furious says, this would be the most talked-about Super Bowl ad of all time, if they could get it on.

Here's the YouTube version, in case you have trouble with the main link. I suggest watching it at DipDive if you can as it's much cleaner video. YouTube does some serious compression.