We've all gotten the email - some prince in Nigeria needs your help to move millions of dollars around and if you send $100 here and $1000 there you get it back a thousand fold. This king of all internet scams is so unbelievable it's been poked fun at a thousand times - even Saturday Night Live has referenced it a couple of times (most recently Anne Hathaway joked: "I found this amazing new guy, we met on the internet. I usually don't read letters from strangers, but how often do you get an email from a Nigerian Prince? He's such a sweetheart, and - not that it matters - but he's incredibly wealthy.")
That's funny and all, but consider this: the scam is still out there for a reason, and that reason is that there are actually people still falling for it.
For example, Janella Spears from Sweet Home, Oregon recently "went public" with her experiences - a story that ultimately ends with the nursing administrator and reverend investing over $400,000 into the fictitious deal.
$400,000. That's almost half a million dollars she shipped away, and not all in one payment, mind you. This was a total achieved over two years of scammage, and all of it seems gone for good (which, by the way, begs the question - where did it go?).
It's been mentioned before, and over the last week it's gotten a moderate redesign. So, in a shameless act of cross-promotion, today's highlighted blog is "Too Much Taxi" (backstory too complicated), where TLM contributes and whose focus is mainly on clothes, shoes, and other things from the world of fashion. They also have random posts on TV, celebs, etc - topics somehow complimentary to content found here (minus the obits and holiday shout outs, of course :)
Speaking of which, make sure you thank a veteran today...
This morning I see an ad for a new TV series called "Scarlet" that apparently premiered last night. The show looked interesting enough and I went over to the DVR and searched for it to record an episode...but it was nowhere to be found.
So I went to the site, scarletseries.tv, and saw the trailer, interviews, and even a behind the scenes vignette. Nowhere, however, was there a mention of a channel. I was quickly losing interest (and some patience) and after a quick search to see if anyone saw it and found it worth watching I discovered the horrible truth:
The "hit new TV series" referred to was not a show at all, but rather a new line of televisions by LG.
It's just an ad campaign, and I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. The news section of the site gives the (very biased) story of the "premiere". My favorite line was "To Win the Game, We Have to Change the Rules"...their way of rationalizing this scam.
The fact that I saw the ad on a podcast for the Onion News Network should have been the first clue. That it was voiced-over by that guy with the deep, melodramatic voice should have been another. Hopefully, at least for my own ego, I wasn't the only one who got duped.
Oh, and by the way, even though this fraud may have gone according to plan, I think the overall idea may backfire. I'm not sure playing someone for a fool will generate sales. As of know, I know I'll certainly never buy one of these things.
Um, not that I was played for a fool or anything....
I came across this on The Graphic Mac...and felt the need to post about it immediately. Apparently someone had entirely too much free time on their hands and created a song using only the system sounds from OSX. Ok, I'll give an "A" from creativity.
If you actually want to tweak this, you can download the actual Garageband file here.
One thing I've definitely procrastinated (see yesterday's post) is writing about an upcoming movie I am ridiculously excited about: "Cloverfield".
For those who missed the previews when they saw "Transformers" last summer (and for the rest of you who forgot to go altogether), there is a new movie coming out this month by J.J. Abrams, the creator of "Lost". At that time all we saw was a trailer that gave new meaning to the word "teaser" as the only information we got was that Abrams was the creator, it had something to do with the date 1-18-08, and the head of the Statue of Liberty was going to fly down a New York City street.
Now that's a way to start some hype.
New commercials and trailers are out, and the intrigue has only been magnified. As if the vague imagery of buildings falling, bridges collapsing, soldiers launching missiles and people exploding behind curtains wasn't enough, there is also an entirely different kind of promotion machine out there, and it exists entirely on the web as a super-viral marketing campaign.
For starters, you have 1-18-08.com, a frustratingly vague site that features a bunch of pictures, complete with timestamps and all apparently taken on...wait for it...January 18, 2008. Since it's inception users have been able to move the pictures around, and over time newer (and just as vague) abilities have been packed in. For example, if you take certain pictures like the Japanese chef and give them a quick little drag down and up you can flip them over revealing handwritten notes or, in this case, what looks to be a recipe in Japanese. The most recent addition to the site is a monstrous roar that you'll hear exactly 6:00 minutes at the site (or by just clicking the play button below).
There are countless fan/speculation sites out there (like CloverfieldClues), and if you really want to waste some time you should read the boards at the IMDB page. People go to great lengths doing things like analyzing the trailers and commercials and putting mash-ups on YouTube, most of which revolve around glimpses of the monster.
Many of the characters in the upcoming movie have MySpace pages. A fictional beverage named "Slusho" (which may or may not be an integral part of the plot) has its very own site too, as well as a slew of (odd) commercials. I wouldn't be surprised if we see an actual Slusho beverage available for purchase if the movie takes off.
Slusho's also-fictional parent company, the Tagruato Corporation, also has a site full of over-the-top detailed bogus information. There's even a site for the anti-Tagruato T.I.D.O. Wave, part of "a nonprofit, grassroots, environmental activist organization dedicated to saving our planet from the world's most nefarious corporations". Cool. Why not...
I just am really hoping the movie lives up to at least half of its hype. Oh, and please don't be Godzilla, please.
Well, it's 8:16 PM. I certainly waited long enough today to say:
HAPPY PROCRASTINATOR'S DAY 2008!
If you are at all like me, you'll find yourself sometimes waiting to do things until the last second. It's as if time speeds up the closer to a deadline you get. Below is a good illustration of what I mean (taken from a site with a more elaborate take on the idea).
Of course, there are ways to overcome procrastination, the seemingly most sensible being to set up schedules; i.e. to responsibly start and work through tasks so as to finish on time without any kind of rush near the end. Sounds good in theory, sure. Many procrastinators seem to find alternatives, however, that puts the onus of change somewhere else...namely, their clocks.
It was not that long ago that every clock in my house displayed different times, all of them fast. For my personal alarm I would close my eyes and pay attention to something else while setting the time so I wouldn't know exactly how many minutes fast it actually was. That way, when the alarm went off in the morning, I couldn't calculate what the actual time was and then rationalize another snooze cycle. The mystery of what time it actually was is what ultimately got me up, because I didn't want to be that late.
I've since gotten on board with actual time (and yes, all the clocks in the house tell the same time more or less), though the trick of not knowing how fast a clock is is still a tool commonly used by procrastinators everywhere. To make this even easier, David Seah has created The Procrastinator's Clock, as seen below. It's guaranteed to be up to 15 minutes fast, but it may be the right time, so watch out!
Well, it's New Year's Eve, and what could be more appropriate for this time of reflection than a top 10 of 2007 lists?
How about 50 of them.
TIME recently posted their "50 Top 10 Lists of 2007" complete with pictures, text blurbs, and lots of video clips, a testament to the popularity of online communities like YouTube and Google Video.
In my meandering across the web for yesterday's post about Futurama, I came across lots of images and stills from the series. I also came across some original artwork, like the image above by "Satomi-Chan", that portrayed the show's characters as if they were anime. I was particularly impressed with the less-bubbly work of "spacecoyote", and her vision of the Futurama world (and also the Simpsons world), as seen below. Both galleries, hosted at deviantart.com, are definitely worth checking out.
TLM found the compliment to "ICanHasCheezBurger" today...and this one is (dare I say it?) for the dogs. It's called "IHasaHotDog" and is similar in format and unique vocabulary to it's catty cousin. There's another post about it over on TMT today, too.
Though we may be just a little biased, we both agree after going through lots of the pics on the site that cats are definitely funnier than dogs...but there are still gems like this:
Firstly, Happy Birthday Dan. Get all that BAmBUu stuff lined up and ready to go.
Secondly, in light of a conversation yesterday revolving around the many stellar performances Keanu Reeves has delivered to us on film (I know, I know...), I found this on YouTube. It's an animated clip from larger collection at a site called "How It Should Have Ended".
Unfortunately there's no parody there for "Ocean's 13", but I guess that movie's a parody of itself already.
Pirates vs. Ninja...why is that again? I'm sure there is a story (more than just "the Ninja were jealous that Pirates had their own day"), but today is the Day of the Ninja, so celebrate by busting out your black ski masks (just don't walk into any convenience stores!).
Last year "Ask a Ninja" enlightened us as to the origin of the day (see below), but for some reason I don't think he's being entirely serious...you be the judge.
To commemorate this year's birthday of Baseball Joe, I'm including a clip from the "Baseball History Podcast", something I think he'd enjoy. Too bad most of this week's episode revolves around the Highlanders (soon to be Yankees) and their totally disreputable star, Hal Chase.
If you want to subscribe to the podcast, you can find it in the iTunes directory, or alternatively just subscribe to http://bhp.libsyn.com/rss. Happy Birthday Pop!
I found this on Joel Spolsky's "Joel on Software" blog...and it's pretty fresh. It's a Google Maps mashup called Walk Score, which, once you supply an address, gives you a list of stores, bars, restaurants, and parks in the area. and, as it's name implies, a "walk score". They are pretty big on getting people to walk places, and identify themselves primarily as a tool to "help homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods."
Our place only got a 58 out of 100 (I believe that's just failing), not surprising since we now live in a suburb. My last place in Eastie got a 75, which leads me to believe whatever algorithm they use to calculate this score doesn't take into account personal safety while walking.
I thought a little levity was in order today. TLM showed me a site a few days ago called icanhascheezburger.com, and I agree with how she described it to me: you may think it's stupid at first, but then you keep looking and you eventually find something hilarious. This is my recent favorite:
I can remember the first time I signed into Yahoo messenger all those years ago. I encouraged many of my friends to sign up for a Yahoo account just so they could use this wonderful new technology with me. In fact, I remember seeing recently a TXT somewhere on a backup disc that contained a transcript of a chat with AL-9000 (yeah, I was geeky then, too).
Then along came AIM. "Meh, who needs more than one of these things anyway?" I thought to myself, "Besides, all my friends are on Yahoo".
Such was not the case for too long, especially after the introduction of iChat. Even I, an ardent AOL hater, signed up for a free AIM account just so I could use this new IM client. Eventually, a dilemma evolved: how do I monitor all of my Buddy Lists at once? A better question: is there an easier way to monitor them all without having to open up all of these programs.
In fact, many people wondered the same thing, and consequently many solutions have sprung up over the years. My new personal discovery: Meebo. Not only do they allow for AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Jabber accounts, but they also have a nifty feature called MeeboMe that lets you put a "live chat" box (or whatever you want to call it) right on your blog (um, take a look to the right). Any visitor who wants to drop a line or chat love can do so through the Meebo widget, and it's as if they were on your buddy list.
You don't download Meebo; it's web-based and you let it stay open somewhere on your screen. Besides that the only downside I can see so far is no audio/video chat, but that's not uncommon. Oh, and let's hope you don't get MeeboMe'd to death from randoms who want to tell you how awesome your blog is....we do have actual jobs and work to do, after all.
So I stumble upon this site called BustedTees and almost immediately my inner adolescent manifests itself and I'm thinking not only about which of these I'd wear, but also of all those shirts I used to own. I had quite a collection, albeit in high school. Among those I can remember were a black Huckleberry Hound shirt, a "Don't Have a Cow, Man" Bart Simpson tee, a Speedy Gonzales shirt...I even had an original black Phillie's Blunt shirt (that wasn't telegraphing anything to the police, noooooo).
As I'm about to add to my cart a red shirt featuring a chimp in a beret with the words "Viva La Evolution", TLM walks in. I think to myself, "Great"...who better to enjoy a little online shopping with me? Instead, I'm told "I would rather you get something more age-appropriate. You can quote me on that." (see below!). Well, all it took was another look at their online catalog until we found something she thought was worth buying: a tee that read "Jesse and the Rippers", a reference (obviously) to the band John Stamos fronted in the TV show "Full House".
"I would rather you get something more age-appropriate." -TLM
So, is TLM right? Are these shirts meant to be worn only by high-schoolers and people born in the 90's? There were definitely some that I would guess people that young wouldn't understand, yet still there does seem something weird about wearing something that said "Leave Lindsay a-Lohan" or had a picture of William Shakespeare and the phrase "Prose before Hos". Should I live with reckless abandon and buy a few?
Hmmmm....maybe I'll just buy a few as "Christmas presents"...
I posted over on the TRintuition blog today about using its workBench to create scavenger hunts for a "basic computer use" class, an activity akin to what I used to use back in the late 90's.
(byugh...that feels like yesterday but was really about a decade ago).
Well, it's hard to believe another year has passed since the last observation of the International "Talk Like a Pirate" Day (and our 100th post), but today's the day yet again, and though I'm not with the other landlubbers I work with today, I'm sure they're annoying whoever is around them with a fair amount of aye's, ye's, matey's, and the perennial yaaaaaaaaaaar's. Of course, no Talk Like a Pirate Day would be complete without the "Pirates Life for Me" song stuck in your head, so here you go:
To commemorate this year's version, I've embedded below something about Pirate Flags I made in an RIA called the workBench, put out by TRintuition (who happen to be giving away free accounts right now). It took me all of 10 minutes to make, and that's only because I went to the trouble of finding all the images etc. I'll guess that most people can generate basic, blog-ready content in much less time than that.
If you do sign up, tell them The Neoteric sent you!
Content found on The Neoteric is of no particular genre, topic, or focus, other than it was all at some point, in some way, interesting enough to me to write about.
In light of Google's announcement that 
