Link roundup

1. Where Did the Korean Greengrocers Go? - - great article about the rise and fall of Korean immigrant-owned grocery stores in New York.

2. Shannon Tindle gave a long interview to Slate about why certain animated characters look so unappealing. (The article starts by taking shots at the look of the gnomes in Gnomeo and Juliet, but honestly, who cares what they look like? Who wants to see a movie about garden gnomes? It's a nonstarter.) Via.

3. If you'd like to work up some righteous nerdy fury, check out this Gawker post on the X-Men First Class trailer:

there is nary a glimpse in this trailer of January Jones as Emma Frost, the disaster casting that your typical American Everynerd has been up in arms about. (At least I don't see her, do you?)

(How could someone know the names January Jones and Emma Frost and think she's not in the trailer? It's almost likes he's trolling for comments to boost page views.)

How to make a Tribble (link roundup)

"A guide for how to make your own non-copyright-infringing version of a tribble."

And a few more links:

1. Apparently it makes good economic sense for Foxconn employees to commit suicide - - the company pays ten years worth of salary to their families.

2. Guild Wars:

Today we terminated more than 3,700 accounts for botting and match manipulation. In cases where guilds were found to be involved in these activities, the guilds were also disbanded. More than a dozen such guilds were disbanded and many others are under continued investigation. Today’s actions are significant not simply because of their immediate impact but also because they represent a new era in enforcement for us.

Via.

3. "By some estimates, about 40 percent of the cases in the Central African court system are witchcraft prosecutions." But is our system really that much more sophisticated?

*Previously: School decides to abandon its witch logo in light of its history of hanging witches.

*Buy Tribbles at eBay.

French Scarlett Johansson vs Spanish Scarlett Johansson

Interesting to see how Glamour modified the photo of Scarlett Johansson for the French and Spanish editions. Via.

*Previously: Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella.

*Buy Lost in Translation posters at eBay.

North Korean Traffic Girls

"Their uniforms, it is said, were designed by Kim Jong II. They rotate only counter-clockwise." There's a photo pool dedicated to North Korean Traffic Girls at Flickr. Via these sites.

*Previously: North Korea's Ryugyong Hotel has been called "the worst building in the history of mankind."

*Buy propaganda posters at eBay.

Little Red Riding Hood (link roundup)

Little Red Riding Hood by John Thacker.

And a few more links:

1. Love is...not being threatened by an elf. Via.

2. Blinged-out Skeletor goes for a ride.

3. Walking up and down escalators is apparently discouraged in South Korea.

*Previously: Surfboard escalator.

*Buy Masters of the Universe toys at eBay.

Two-lane split (link roundup)

Nice trick bowling shot.

And a few more links:

1. Darth Nihilus sketch.

2. There's now a McDonald's at the Louvre. Increasingly, there's less and less of a reason to go anywhere on vacation.

3. Sunday October 4 was Washington's annual Red Mass, "which celebrates the legal profession," is scheduled just before the start of the Supreme Court's term, and is typically attended by many justices and other VIPs. (I tellya, no one does branding better than the Catholic church. Who could not be interested in something called The Red Mass?") Via.

*Previously: Catholic Coloring Books.

*Buy Darth Nihilus toys at eBay.

Popular animated show in the Middle East features four grandmothers? (link roundup)

It's called Freej. You can read about it here, and watch it here. I also learned that Ramadan is not only a holy month, but also the Middle Eastern equivalent of sweeps month. Via.

And a few more links:

1. If you'd like to know what you missed, here's a summary of the first episode of Flash Forward.

2. Depressing corruption exposed in the Food and Drug Administration.

3. Firefighters piled into a fire engine and drove out of the station's garage to go rescue a bleeding man. Unfortunately he was much closer than they realized. Right outside the garage in fact. And they ran him over. Via.

*Previously: Sean Penn talks about his childhood friends, including the guy who ran someone over.

*Buy fire truck toys at eBay.

Funny (and probably insulting) travel posters

Amusing advertisements for the Travel Book Shop by Wirz/BBDO Switzerland show the dangers of traveling without doing a bit of research. Via.

*Previously: Travel Iron levels Tokyo, Rome, and Paris.

*Buy vintage travel posters at eBay

Tentacle Tables (link roundup)

Tentacles tables by Chul An Kwak. More photos here. Via these sites.

And a few more links:

1. What happens when you write to Hasbro and suggest that an improved version of Connect Four would be Connect One? Actually, not a bad idea. Via.

2. Adnan and Rizwan Qadeer are brothers that manufacture bondage gear in Pakistan for sale in America. This article claims that they use "extreme measures" to keep their business a secret (their definition of "secret" apparently differs from mine). "It helps that the dozens of veiled and uneducated female laborers who assemble the handmade items — gag balls, lime-green corsets, thonged spanking skirts — have no idea what the items are used for."

3. Brothel in England caught using Twitter to advertise. Including coupons (Twitter links are NSFW).

4. Cute Castle Crashers monster animated gif.

*Previously: Lego tentacle monster erupts from micro-scale building.

*Buy board games at eBay.

Dragon and wolf (link roundup)

A girl, a dragon, and a wolf (or is it a dragon wolf?) by Chelsea Greene Lewyta. Lots of great, but disturbing and NSFW, art at her site.

And a few more links:

1. Israelis don't want to call the disease "Swine Flu," so instead they're going to call it "Mexican Flu." Via.

2. No photo or video, but use your imagination - - Chihuahua yanked out of owner's sight by 70-mph gust of wind. Via.

3. You absolutely want to see what the Libyan National Security Adviser looks (and dresses) like. (And don't miss the last sentence of Hillary Clinton's opening statement.) Via.

4. That LA judge who kept the lawsuit against Sharon Stone a secret says it was just an innocent mistake. Via.

*Previously: What if the Big Bad Wolf had gone to law school?

*Buy plush dragons at eBay.

Inflatable Frito Bandito

Inflatable Frito Bandito spotted at Flickr. There's various Frito Bandito merchandise on sale at eBay.

*Previously: "Keggy" the mascot.

The AccoLade: Saudi Arabia's all-girl rock band

Now here's what should be on MTV - - The AccoLade, and all-girl rock band in Saudi Arabia that has to keep its performances a secret:

Dina and Dareen wear their hair teased into thick manes and have pierced eyebrows. During an interview at a Starbucks here, they wore black abayas — the flowing gown that is standard attire for women — but the gowns were open, showing their jeans and T-shirts, and their hair and faces were uncovered.

Read more here, and visit their MySpace page. Via.

*Previously: Saudi Arabia calls off camel beauty contest.

*Buy "Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children's Literature" at Amazon.

Demon Polar Bear

I've mentioned M.S. Corley's monster illustrations before. He's posted several more, including the Tuunbaq, which I'm familiar with thanks to Dan Simmons excellent novel, The Terror.

Here's a few more random links:

1. With every edition, The latest Oxford Junior Dictionary says goodbye to more and more words related to religion and nature, and hello to words that describe technology. Via.

2. Boy gets stuck in claw vending machine. Photo link.

3. List of best-named college lacrosse players. Zeppy O’Green gets my vote.

4. Comment and win some Transformer dvds.

*Previously: Most Pretentious Baby Name Consultant Contest 2007.

*Preorder Simmons' upcoming novel about Charles Dickens at Amazon.

Stacy Peralta's "Whopper Virgins" documentary for Burger King

Stacy Peralta and crew took a special portable Burger King broiler to remote areas in Thailand, Greenland and Romania, and gave people their first taste of an American hamburger. The resulting documentary is fantastic:







Here's the Whopper Virgins official site. I highly, highly recommend his surfing and skateboarding documentaries, on sale at Amazon.



*Previously: Gallery of vintage skateboarding stickers;

Vintage photos of Geishas in bathing suits

Click through for 50 photos of Geisha Posing as Bathing Beauties During the Meiji and Taisho Eras of Old Japan. Was there a time and place where this look was considered sexy? Via.

*Previously: Vintage cereal boxes.

*Buy books about Geishas at Amazon.

McDonald's to offer "Beijing Burger" to celebrate the Olympics

Burger patty topped with chop suey and ginger sauce, served with fried "rice sticks." Available in Colombia and Argentina. The USA will dodge that bullet. Via.

*Buy merchandise for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The Armish

See the entire image here.

City in India has to pay residents to use toilets

The town's called Musiri and residents are paid $0.14 a month to relieve themselves toilets rather than the river. More at CNN. Via.

Interesting: Why you don't see two fortune tellers within three blocks of each other

"Ongoing Gypsy dispute may be motive in woman's death in firebombing."

Photo of some guy getting pelted with an orange

Larger version here. Part of Italy's Battle of the Oranges.