Sonic the Hedgehog has fallen on hard times

16-Bit Recession and David Lo-Pan-themed alphabet zine by Steve Wierth, who has t-shirts on sale here.

*Buy Big Trouble in Little China toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. The Los Angeles Times looks at highrise penthouses in Los Angeles that the owners can't seem to rent out. "The top two floors of a premier Westwood high-rise have been empty since the building was completed in 1989."

2. There's now a website for the new American McGee Alice in Wonderland game.

3. Gawker has picked a fight with 4chan.

*Buy Alice in Wonderland toys at eBay.

New toys by Tristan Eaton (link roundup)

Some of the new toys revealed today by Thunderdog, which also recently placed items on sale at Zazzle.

And a few more links:

1. Spaghetti with Sardinian Bottarga recipe.

2. North Tyneside is setting up fake store facades to make areas look less blighted. Via these sites.

3. Psychonauts fan art.

*Previously: Is your child a tagger?

*The Psychonauts Official Strategy Guide is $599.99 at Amazon.

Pocket Firefox logo (link roundup)

Pocket Firefox logo by Yaroslaff Chekunov.

And a few more links:

1. Less you think we're even close to passed the current economic transformation, the NY Times has announced that it has to eliminate (at least) 100 newsroom jobs.

2. And Hawaiian public schools will be closed pretty much every Friday for the rest of the school year. (I guess if parents are laid off, they'll have time to watch the kids.)

3. And Pennsylvania anticipates the need to layoff more workers, also.

In other words, no matter how secure your job seems, now is the time to save money, network, and learn some new work skills.

*Previously: Reimagined Firefox logo by David Lanham.

*Buy Firefox posters at eBay.

Zeppelin crash poster (link roundup)

One of two disaster-themed posters by Bart. And don't miss the book covers he created for John Dickie's Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia.

And a few more links:

1. Northland Professional set up billboards throughout the city of Graz, covered in caps, gloves and scarves for people to take. Via.

2. There was a recent criminal trial where the defendant had a tattoo on each eyelid. The word "Lying" was on one, and "Eyes" was on the other. Via.

3. List of malls and restaurants that may be going out of business soon. My local mall is terrible (no nice restaurants, inadequate seating in the food court, parking lot full of crazy angry drivers, no movie theater) and yet it's packed every weekend. Via.

4. Article from 1859 complaining that chess was making people fat. Via.

*Previously: Mafia Tetris.

*Buy vintage chess sets at eBay.

Vampire ad with breakaway stakes (link roundup)

Clever ad for vampire series True Blood features breakaway stakes. More photos here. Via these fine sites.

And a few more links:

1. If the movie 300 was about the stock market collapse.

2. Fishing with Swamp Thing.

3. So disturbing it can't possibly be real carousel seats. UPDATE: The Awkward American says the carousel is at Parc Asterix in France.

4. If Street Fighter's Vega was a woman, perhaps?

*Previously: This...is...CAKETOWN!

*Buy Street Fighter action figures at eBay.

Fairy Tale Titan (link roundup)

As far as I can tell, this fairy tale giant mech is one of several illustrations by Samuel Ribeyron that are on display here and part of a new book. Here's his webstore.

And a few more links:

1. Suicide by volcano can be funny.

2. Neon sign FAIL.

3. Supposedly unemployment combined with underemployment is 20% in Los Angeles. Relatedly, when I asked why I had to see the cashier at the gas station rather than just paying at the pump, the cashier told me I lived in a high-fraud area. Via.

4. Creepy fallen tree. Reminds me of Greek myths about people being turned into trees.

*Previously: Neon sign desktop icons.

*Buy fairy tale toys at eBay.

Plane-eating giraffe (link roundup)

"The Giraffagon" is one of two paintings recently posted by Amanda Visell.

And a few more links:

1. Next time someone claims with a straight face that modern (and legal) training techniques explain why athletes have gotten bigger and faster, ask them why free throw shooting hasn't improved in 40 years.

2. Supposedly, the median price of a home sold in Detroit in December was $7,500, and there's no major grocery chain in the city.

3. Photo of a Burger King salad illustrates the recession nicely.

4. Fascinating article by Michael Lewis about the financial collapse in Iceland. First of all, it mentions someone named "Snorri Snorrasson." Second, it includes information like this:

Alcoa, the biggest aluminum company in the country, encountered two problems peculiar to Iceland when, in 2004, it set about erecting its giant smelting plant. The first was the so-called “hidden people”—or, to put it more plainly, elves—in whom some large number of Icelanders, steeped long and thoroughly in their rich folkloric culture, sincerely believe. Before Alcoa could build its smelter it had to defer to a government expert to scour the enclosed plant site and certify that no elves were on or under it. It was a delicate corporate situation, an Alcoa spokesman told me, because they had to pay hard cash to declare the site elf-free but, as he put it, “we couldn’t as a company be in a position of acknowledging the existence of hidden people.” The other, more serious problem was the Icelandic male: he took more safety risks than aluminum workers in other nations did. “In manufacturing,” says the spokesman, “you want people who follow the rules and fall in line. You don’t want them to be heroes. You don’t want them to try to fix something it’s not their job to fix, because they might blow up the place.” The Icelandic male had a propensity to try to fix something it wasn’t his job to fix.

Read the entire article here.

*Previously: Visell's Fallout Dragon.

*Buy Amanda Visell toys at eBay.

Adorable Probe Droid (link roundup)

An adorable Probe Droid by Adam "Ape Lad" Koford.

And a few more links:

1. Huge law firm Latham & Watkins is laying off 190 lawyers and 250 support staff.

2. Everything you learned in school is wrong. Sugar doesn't make people hyper. Via.

3. How to report a feed scraper to Google.

4. Supposedly, "at least half the concession stands have been closed for every Clippers home game this season -- except when the Lakers or Celtics were the opponents."

*Previously: Galactus by Koford.

*Buy probe droids at eBay.

Vintage Disney ads are so funable (link roundup)

Kevin Kidney has posted several funable and friendlyable vintage Disney newspaper ads.

And a few more links:

1. Real life hobbit house in Wales. Via.

2. Princess Peach cosplay.

3. At my Coraline site Evil Buttons, Coraline's plush button squid.

4. Article about a small Ohio town that relied on DHL as an employer and is now suffering from massive layoffs. One worker named Keith Rider describes the lost job:

We could tell you what we did on a daily basis, but you wouldn't believe it. You know, boxes in a big container, and it'll weigh 800 pounds, you push it out the door through eight inches of snow, and push it up on a barge, and we were idiots enough that we did it by ourselves. We worked as a team, and we had a good friend right along side of us."

Read the rest of the long article here.

*Previously: Armored Samus cosplay.

*Buy "Style Deficit Disorder: Harajuku Street Fashion" at Amazon.

Alice in Wonderland art by Fernando Falcone (link roundup)

Creepy Alice in Wonderland art by Fernando Falcon. More in his gallery.

And a few more links:

1. Seth Godin artfully explains that you should cultivate relationships with lower level people that might be able to help you, and not dream about having a meeting with a star or ceo.

2. "[T]he worst of the crisis is hitting states that largely didn’t experience a housing bubble." Via.

3. Forget what you've seen on tv, "There is no such thing as a voice print" . . . There is no single feature of a voice that is indelible that works like a fingerprint does." Via.

4. In columnist's final story, he reveals that the people and coffee shop he frequently wrote about were imaginary. Via.

*Previously: Stylish Alice in Wonderland.

*Buy Alice in Wonderland toys at eBay.

Jason de Caires Taylor's underwater sculptures (link roundup)

Jason de Caires Taylor creates sculptures that are placed in the ocean. You can see his work, buy prints, or commission a statute here. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Gawker's 10 worst media moments of 2008.

2. Seattle's politicians have interesting priorities, deciding not to use salt and chemicals to make roads safely drivable because the salt is bad for the environment. Via.

3. Police find mosquito in car, extract dna from blood found inside it, and match dna to suspected car thief. Via.

4. Harvard's endowment fund might have lost $18 billion. Via.


*Previously: Video of underwater restroom.

*Buy "The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries" at Amazon.

Downloadable Credit Crunch board game

Download the Credit Crunch board game at The Economist. They really went all out - - pdfs of the board, money, cards, and player tokens. Via.

*Previously: Board game comes with Philip Pullman's Golden Compass prequel.

*Buy ouija boards at eBay (they give as good advice as any investment expert).

Christmas images from James Jean and Bioware (and more)

Toymaker by James Jean. High res here.



Christmas tree by James White.



Two Bioware desktop wallpapers.



Gingerbread foreclosure.




Peepshow.



Cool Surface.

*Previously: Custom Toyota Matrix by James White.

*Buy the "StarCraft Widescreen DVD Movie" at Amazon.

St. Gallen's Cathedral as a hot air balloon

Kubicek Balloons can turn just about anything into a hot air balloon. Go here to see how they created a St Gallen's Cathedral hot air balloon. I wonder if they could make the house from Up without the basket hanging down. Via.

Here's a few more random links:

1. Creed owns the top Google result when you search for worst band in the world. Whatever. I like Creed. Via.


2. Media Molecule rounds up videos of its favorite Little Big Planet levels.


3. Supposedly, a woman was (consensually) kissed so hard that she temporarily lost her hearing due to the suction. The guy's got the "deaf kiss."


4. Mock movie poster does a nice job of summing up the auto bailout.


*Previously: Church tank.

*Preorder "The Art of Up" at Amazon.

Gawker Media fired 19 of its 133 writers

You can read Nick Denton's explanation for the move here. My favorite of the Gawker sites, Valleywag, fired three of its five writers.

*Previously: How top bloggers earn money.

*Buy The Gawker Guide to Conquering All Media at Amazon.