Cool Shit 6/28

Dammit I know this movie will be awful, but I'm intrigued!



Interview with Chuck Klosterman.

Silk Road is so early 2013. Get your illegal stuff now with Atlantis.

Apparently this is real and not Hollywood special effects...



Capturing the Friedmans is a great movie; now it seems there could be a sequel to it, with what has recently been going on with the case.

Making the Game of Football Better

Chuck Klosterman, author of a number of pop culture books, and semi-frequent contributor to GQ, offers up five ways he would tweak the NFL to (in his eyes) make it better. Number three certainly intrigued me...

3. Microscopically increase the success of onside kicks.
Onside kicks work about 24 percent of the time. But that's a misleading figure; they rarely work if the opponent knows they're coming. From an entertainment perspective, it would be nice to increase the likelihood of the kicking team recovering its onside attempt, but not by too much—if teams suddenly recovered 40 percent, the game would become a farce. So how do we slightly increase that possibility? By changing where the receiving team lines up. Right now, it's ten yards from where the ball is kicked. Make that fifteen yards, which would force the receiving team to charge forward once the ball is kicked. It wouldn't change the metrics dramatically, but it would give the trailing team slightly better odds.

While I agree with him that this would probably make onside kicks more challenging for the teams involved, I think it would also drastically increase injuries, since you've now introduced the element of charging athletes to both sides of the ball. I can't imagine their collisions wouldn't cause some significant damage. And in this world of concussions under the microscope, I think we might want to rethink this one.

Links of Interest 2/25

Alec Baldwin isn't just an award-winning actor. Apparently he's also an expert on nuclear power.

The new Karate Kid movie sounds interesting.

Athletes are people too. People who screw up.

When you're ready to grow up, start ordering some of these at your local watering hole.

A cool concept in my eyes, though the trailer really doesn't do much for it, it my eyes.

If you're hungry why not mosie over to A Holy Sandwich, and see what people enjoy in their way of a sandwich.

Seriously, what the fuck is up with Claire?

I'm all for the "batshit insane" strategy when it comes to sports, war, heck even life. So were these guys. And look how it worked for them.

So, what does it take to be a border police officer in Afghanistan?

The Chuck Klosterman tribute to the band Pavement.

Links of Interest 10/27

The fight for “clean coal.”

Arrogance on tv. Why are they popular? Because some people like it, and some people don’t, and neither group turns it off.

Chuck Klosterman has a new book coming out. So he’ll be making the rounds…

Could Paranormal Activity kill the Saw franchise?

Diving into what made The Twilight Zone so good – the endings.

Tired of the same old way to search youtube for related videos? Check this feature out.

Looking at how Kubrick’s editing made The Shining that much scarier.

Scary ghost movies.

One day our society will realize the genius of Maury Povich, and give him the credit he deserves.

A female writer writes about working for David Letterman.

Links of Interest 10/21

Interview with Willem Dafoe.

Sure, Saturday Night Live did a parody of it, but then it started to become a reality. But is there any advantage to adding blades to a razor?

Will we ever see the company Atari as truly visionary?

Buzz Bissinger, the guy who wrote Friday Night Lights (and who once accused me of stealing his jacket – long story), is not a fan of Moneyball.

A closer look at laugh tracks, by Chuck Klosterman.

Do you know why the north and south poles are different?

Asteroids, the arctic tundra and hovercrafts. Wasn’t this the plot for Kate Beckinsale’s last movie?

Here’s something I can get behind – letting children watch the right kind of television shows.

A list of the top 13 game show hosts. I’m gonna be honest – think this list is good. Recognizes some of the people you might not immediately think of (Chuck Barris) and shies away from throwing up some current guy just to be with the times. Might move Dawson up some, but hey, who am I? (via popcandy)

I love spiral staircases. I really want to install one in my house. Probably not one of these though. Unless I can get the Jesus one. (via mental floss)