Link roundup

1. Awesome eye exam photo.

2. Last Exit to Nowhere's new Back to the Future t-shirt is now in stock.

3. American McGee's Alice ARG.

*Buy Alice in Wonderland toys at eBay.

Portland bike lane given Mario Kart power up

Someone painted Mario Kart power ups on a Portland bike lane. Via these sites.

*Buy Mario Kart toys at Amazon.

Are you afraid of your staircase? (link roundup)

"Are you in love with your home, but afraid of your staircase?" China Mieville's blog posts are like ultra-condensed short stories. See also: Forest spirit sign.

And a few more links:

1. A blogger's ill-advised joke cost his employer $1 million when the target of the joke pulled advertising and got allies to pull advertising.

2. Here's a detailed description of the ARG supporting the JJ Abrams/Spielberg project Super 8 (which had a trailer not remotely justifying the buzz the movie is getting).

3. Cory Doctorow describes what happened when he declined to go through a dehumanizing airport naked scanner.

*Previously: The wit of the staircase.

*Cory Doctorow's new book is 32% off at Amazon.

Skull badge for a girl scout troop in California (and more)

Green and gold skull badge by Nerd Merit Badges for a California girl scout troop.

While exploring the Nerd Merit Badge gallery, I learned about the Guerilla Drive-In project in Pennsylvania. If I understood it right, in order to find out where movies will be shown, you have to locate the secret access code. Finding the access code now involves ice cream sundaes and a message recorded in Russian:






And finally, speaking of badges, the Huffington Post is giving them out to reward devoted users:



Via these sites.

*Previously: Camp Fire Girls National Donut Drive Badge.

*Buy I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to Be Destroyed By Me: Emblems from the Pentagon's Black World at Amazon.

Edgar Allan Scissorhands (link roundup)

Edgar Allan Poe is back from the dead and out for blood.

And a few more links:

1. Top Gawker Media story tips: (1) "sex; crime; and, even better, sex crime"; (2) use another site's content, add a little verbiage, and think of it as a "pseudo-exclusive"; (3) post lots of photos, especially of naked socialites.

2. Seems like a solid idea: increase census participation by making it associated with a lottery.

3. Clever tear-off ad promoting Toy Story 3. Via.

*Previously: Poe's Gloomios.

*Buy Toy Story toys at eBay.

Grad Nite at Disneyland circa 1967 (link roundup)

Grad Nite '67 image via these fine sites.

And a few more links:

1. Tron ARG. Via.

2. Wired looks at the game Werewolf:

Its core premise is simple -- a room is split between villagers and werewolves, and the former aren't aware who are their enemies, determined to eat them. Can the werewolves eat their prey before the villagers identify and lynch the werewolves?

Via.

3. Buzz Lightyear Lego CubeDude.

*Previously: Old Disneyland photos.

*Buy Toy Story toys at eBay.

Photos from yesterday's Bioshock 2/International Order of the Pawns event

Yesterday's Bioshock 2/International Order of the Pawns event in San Francisco featured a crime scene and free Splicer masks for attendees. You can see more photos in this gallery and this Twitter feed, and read about the International Order of the Pawns ARG here and here.

*Buy Bioshock toys at eBay.

The codpiece of Sauron (link roundup)

I don't know what this is, but it was found in an antique shop in New Zealand that features a Xena, Hercules and Cleopatra 2525 museum.

And a few more links:

1. Jane McGonigal describes her upcoming ARG Evoke (scroll down). And here's the video trailer.

2. Fun meme: Obama bows to Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

3. Cheating in cricket fighting in Shanghai includes drugging bugs and inserting tiny metal spears into their jaws.

*Previously: Sauron-bot.

*Buy Xena collections at Amazon.

Cleopatra in Space (link roundup)

Mike Maihack has a new webcomic called Cleopatra in Space.

And a few more links:

1. Slick interface for reading a comic. Via.

2. Lovecraftian-themed ARG site for upcoming game The Secret World.

3. Huge percentage of runners in a recent marathon in China were caught cheating (hopping in cars, using stand ins to run for them). The winners had a better chance of getting into higher education. Via.

*Previously: Anthony and Cleopatra were ugly.

*Buy Cthulhu toys at eBay.

Japanese poster for How to Train Your Dragon (link roundup)

Japanese poster for How to Train Your Dragon. Lilo and Stitch is possibly my alltime favorite animated movie, so I'm looking forward to this one. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Letter written in code as part of the Bioshock 2 ARG.

2. Promising baseball prospect Grant Desme is leaving the A's farm system to become a Catholic priest.

3. Not only was there a cartoon called Rocket Robin Hood, but an episode from Rocket Robin Hood was reused as a Spider-Man episode (third legend down).

*Previously: Japanese movie poster for Bullit.

*Buy Japanese movie posters at eBay.

Twins painting Portraits of Dorian Gray (link roundup)

Photo of identical twins Ivan and Malvin Albright painting before and after Portraits of Dorian Gray. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Complicated goings on in the Bioshock 2 ARG.

2. The world's mental illnesses are becoming Americanized.

3. Mickey Mouse turning into Venom. Via.

*Previously: The Wonder Twins vs the subprime mortgage crisis.

*Buy Bioshock toys at eBay.

Dude, what's wrong with your cat? (link roundup)

(Ugly) Missing cat flyer. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Jane McConigal asks, "would anyone play a live action unofficial unauthorized Portal workout game involves 40 flights of stairs? there will be cake on the roof." If you participate, you'll have to carry a gun, and you'll have to make it to the roof to know if the cake is a lie.

2. Dave McKean is auctioning off a drawing from The Graveyard Book at eBay to benefit Haiti.

3. Cakes that seem ready to fall over. Via.

*Previously: Silly waring flyers.

*Buy the Dave McKean-designed cookbook at Amazon.

Nosferatu by Dave McKean (link roundup)

Unfinished painting of Nosferatu by Dave McKean.

And a few more links:

1. New ARG from Jane McGonigal.

2. Turn yourself into a Pocoyo character. Via.

3. Calgary Flames goalie played much of the game with a laser pointer in his face - - Vancouver security was unable to locate the jerk. Via.

*Previously: Dracula by Ben Templesmith.

*Buy NHL bobbleheads at eBay.

Kayaking the Congo (link roundup)

Point of view video of kayaking the Congo. Hard to believe it's a river and not the ocean. Via.

And a few more links:

1. February 2010 DC Comics solicitations have been posted. I didn't see any particularly notable covers, but the Wednesday Comics hardcover is listed, and can be preordered for 27% at Amazon.

2. Russell Davies talks about ARGs and condenses the Bourne Identity movies to a handy pie chart. Via.

3. Twisted street (reminds me of a good Mieville short story).

*Previously: Giant lion-eating chimps of the magic forest found in the Congo.

*Buy spy tools at Amazon.

Sticky Coca-Cola bus shelter ads (link roundup)

Marcel Paris placed velcro on bus shelters to irritate people into noticing that Coca-Cola had a new grip bottle.

And a few more links:

1. Lego ARG. Via.

2. The Great Grunge Hoax of 1992. Via.

3. Chubby Twitter icon.

4. Adam Koford's Twitter icon gallery.

*Previously: Finance site creates hoax news story to generate links to improve it's Google rank.

*Buy Star Wars Lego minifigs at eBay.

Lego mask (link roundup)

Lego mask by Cole Blaq.

And a few more links:

1. Sherlock Holmes ARG. Via.

2. Jason Voorhees cupcakes.

3. Company charged with marketing a bone growth product that migrated through patients' bodies and grew bone where bone shouldn't be. Via.

*Previously: Bone mask.

*Buy Sherlock Holmes toys at eBay.

4 out of 5 skaters recommend... (link roundup)

4 out of 5 skaters recommend Satan over Jesus. See also: Custom monster skateboard wheel. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Funny photos of White House staff passing out lab coats to doctors so they would look more like doctors while posing for a photo op with Obama (to promote health care reform).

2. Augmented reality iPhone app makes the World Trade Center reappear.

3. Google makes some funny recommendations when you type in "Brett Favre is a."

*Previously: ARG sites for FlashForward.

*Buy Disposable: A History of Skateboard Art at Amazon.

Levi's ARG

The new Wieden+Kennedy campaign for Levi's is a scavenger hunt based on fictitious Levi Strauss contemporary Grayson Ozias IV. The grand prize is $100,000, but as with all of these games, I sure wish the amount of time and brainpower needed to win the prize was put toward something a little more valuable. You can read a summary of the campaign here, and visit the official site here.

*Previously: How do you celebrate landing the Levi's ad account?

*Buy books about ARGs at Amazon.

Batman on an elephant (link roundup)

Adam West/Batman poses on an elephant. Via these sites.

And a few more links:

1. Bioshock 2 ARG mask.

2. Excerpt from Roman Polanksi's memoir in which he discusses a relationship with a 15 year old.

3. Parking valets in Los Angeles videotaped committing all sorts of misdeeds (auto-play video at the link). Via these sites.

*Previously: Demon mask.

*Buy Adam West Batman toys at eBay.

Jay Leno takes a shot at Letterman (link roundup)

And a few more links:

1. For future reference: today apparently ends Sea Otter Awareness Week.

2. Steampunk R2-D2.

3. Bioshock 2 ARG delivery boy.

*Previously: Steampunk Star Wars costumes.

*Buy Bioshock toys at Entertainment Earth.