Who watches the... Peanuts?

File this under 'What the F---?'

The Cat Piano - trailer from PRA on Vimeo.

Found this on Cartoon Brew. Had to share. Just don't ask me to explain it.

If Abraham Lincoln Owned an iPod

NPR did a great story talking about Lincoln's tastes in music. The question posed NPR's music expert, if Lincoln owned an iPod, what would be on his playlist? His tastes ranged from Classical (the lesser known opera, Martha) to popular (Genie with the Light Brown Hair). Lincoln loved the opera... and even got in trouble for going, his critics saying he should be focusing his attention on the war. Perhaps his most controversial favorite was Dixie. When the war ended, he insisted that it be played during the post-war celebration, saying that Dixie belonged to the entire Union. You can hear the story here.

Allow me my geek moment...

Update 2/17: Read the review on NPR here.

Boy Photoshops Girl...

To celebrate Valentines Day, here is a true romantic story about a young couple falling in love across an ocean. Aaron Nace, 24 lives in North Carolina. Rosie Hardy, 18 lives in Buxton, England. Up until a few months ago, they had never met in person. They met online and fell in love. The only way they could be together was to send one another photos of each other and Photoshop themselves together. The results are quite extraordinary. Some are so realistic you would never guess they were shot separately. Some poses are pure fantasy, some make a social statement, but mostly it is about them being together and in love. They posted the results here on Flikr. The online community has embraced the couple; they have developed quite a following of their visual journal. You can read the complete story on msnbc here. They have since met and have formed a joint photo retouching business, called ARF, and plan on eventually getting married.

Coraline

Coraline is a must-see for animation fans. It is truly a unique film. Directed by Henry Selick, (Nightmare Before Christmas), and based on the book by Neil Gaiman, this film is a darker brand of storytelling than most animated films. More in the spirit of the original Grimms' Fairy Tales. A young girl, Coraline, and her parents move from Pontiac, Michigan to a new town. Coraline is lonely and bored, impatient for attention from her parents, who are preoccupied with finishing their book on deadline and don't want to be bothered. Coraline discovers a secret door. She climbs through to a mysterious parallel world, where everything seems better... more colorful and magical. There, she meets her "other" parents and "other" friends, who lavish attention on her and give her extravagant meals and gifts. Only one thing... everyone in this world has buttons where they should have eyes. Creepy!

The rest you have to find out for yourself. Go see it!

Update 2/17: Read the review by Bob Mondello on NPR here.

Facebook

I finally broke down and joined the world of Facebook. Totally awesome! In just a few days, I've reconnected with almost 20 people I haven't spoken to in close to ten years! What a great site!

Use caution! Zombies ahead!

MSNBC is reporting that people are hacking into road signs to post humorous messages. What the government won't tell you is that these messages are not hoaxes, but REAL warnings. Drivers beware!

Trickle Up Economy

Lawrence B. Lindsey, a conservative columnist for the Washington Post, proposed an interesting idea for creating a stimulus that would have an immediate impact: cut payroll taxes in half. Employees and employers would both have the immediate benefit of more money in their pocket. Employees can use that extra $1500 or so to pay off debt (and therefore solidify struggling banks) or spend, pumping money directly into the economy. Employers would be less likely to lay people off because they would have more capital to continue to pay their employees. Rather than give money directly to banks and hope they spread it around, the little guy would get the opportunity to take care of their own debt/mortgage. Lindsey calls this a "trickle up economy." To compensate for the loss of revenue for Social Security, which comes out of payroll taxes, Lindsey suggests taking money that would have gone toward a stimulus package and put that money into social security. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Having said that, I do think that some kind of stimulus and investment in our infrastructure is overdue – repairing bridges and roads and upgrading our electrical grid so we can be competitive (and safe) is a no-brainer. Creating a greener, healthier environment SHOULD be a no-brainer.

A disclaimer, Lindsey DID work for the Bush administration, and I don't pretend to understand everything he has to say in his article, which you can read here, but it certainly offers a fresh perspective.