Five Things That Are Great This Week

[Currently Listening To: The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off]



Since I feel like procrastinating for a few minutes, I'm going to list a few things which have brought me joy over the past week, and I feel are worth checking out:

Monster House 3D

Big-budget animated movies have been mostly terrible for quite a while now. They've traded in the magic and timelessness that made the classic Disney animated movies so great, and instead pander to fads and disposable pop-culture references for attempts at humor. The glaring exception is Pixar, who I think makes absolutely brilliant and timeless movies (although I couldn't bring myself to see Cars) - so it's good to see another animation studio following their lead with Monster House, a surprisingly bizarre and funny movie which contains absolutely no hip-hop zebras or ludicrous song-and-dance numbers. If you like Roald Dahl or Tim Burton, you'll probably enjoy the movie's morbid humor as much as I did. Seriously the most fun I've had at the movies in a while. And best of all, it's playing in 3D in certain theatres, which I can't recommend enough, as it's some of the best-looking 3D I've ever seen. I've been hearing a lot about the resurgence of 3D movies (James Cameron and George Lucas seem to have huge boners for it of late), and after seeing Monster House look as jaw-dropping as it did, I can't wait to strap on the plastic glasses at more and more movies in the coming years. In fact, I heard Nightmare Before Christmas is getting the 3D treatment later this year, which should be pretty rad.


Scary Broken Peewee Herman Doll

Yesterday my neighbors were having a moving sale, which was a curious peek into their weird little world. They had an odd assortment of mostly 1980's-originating items, like Nagel prints and cheap modernist furniture and Garfield window clingers. But one item stood out as a shining gem amongst everything: A vintage talking Peewee Herman doll. You know, the kind where you pull the string, and he says a variety of different Pewee signature phrases? At $15, it was a steal, so of course I grabbed it. The neighbor lady lamented that the old doll's voice box no longer functioned, but walking back to my apartment, I pulled the string just for the hell of it. To my surprise, the doll did talk, but in a crackly, distorted way that was downright scary. I suddenly realized it was the perfect beginning of a horror movie, which made me think that someone should do a remake of "Child's Play" but with an evil Peewee Herman doll.

Needless to say, the doll is my new prized possession - and since there's no way to effectively describe what Scary Broken Peewee Herman Doll sounds like, I whipped up a little Flash movie to recreate the experience of pulling his string - these are the actual sounds that come out of him. Enjoy:



(here's a direct link if the embedded one above doesn't load)


bitGenerations

I love my Game Boy Micro. I adore it. Sure, the DS Lite is an awesomely sexy and fun system which I can't recommend enough, but for simple, stick-it-in-your-pocket anywhere gaming, the tiny size and oldschool game library of the Micro is unbeatable in my book. Unfortunately, with the immense popularity of the DS, Nintendo's support for the Game Boy is waning, and I fear we're not going to see many good new games come out for it.

Thankfully, Nintendo of Japan has my back - they've just released bitGenerations, a series of stylish, ultra-simple Game Boy games that are strangely addictive and unlike anything else out there. Since they're only out in Japan you have to get them online, but even as an import they're only $25 each, and they come in damn sexy packaging. I haven't picked up the most recent four that have come out, but my favorite from the first series is Dotstream, where you control a single-pixel line racing against other lines, which weave in and out of each other to avoid geometric obstacles. It's surprisingly difficult and addictive, and it's incredibly cool-looking - graphic designers will appreciate the attractive retro simplicity of the graphics. Or maybe it's just that those pixelated lines remind me of an awful lot of another strangely familiar graphic element...


The Hot Diggity Dogger

I don't even like hot dogs that much, but ever since I was given this ridiculous appliance, I've been eating them almost daily. The Hot Diggity Dogger is like a toaster for hot dogs. You stick them in (you can cook two at a time) along with the bun, and a minute later it pops them up, cooked to perfection and yes, even with the buns lightly toasted. I know it doesn't sound that exciting, but hey, I've been cooped up in my apartment for weeks doing work, so it's the little things that keep me going. Next I might have to step it up a notch with the Corn Dog Fryer, which apparently can deep fry ANYTHING. Think of the possibilities! Could one potentially deep fry gummy worms? There's only one way to find out...

TamLand

Last but certainly not least is Tamar's new bizarre little world, known as TamLand. She always does these strange and funny drawings in her spare time, so I told her she should scan them and make them into a website, and thus, the glory of TamLand was born. Go, and explore, and be in awe of genius like this: