K-Squared Ramblings

Cheese!

This just looks like something out of a Wallace and Gromit movie. I mean, seriously. “Cheese Information Center?” “The Ultimate Cheese Guide?”

(Found at an Albertson’s grocery store.)

Dancing Liberty

Add this to the list of jobs I don’t want: Dancing Statue of Liberty mascot.

This poor guy—yes, guy—was dancing around in front of a tax preparer’s office last weekend. Faces have been blurred to protect the innocent.

Red Wolf Riding Hood?

We went to see Scott Shaw’s show, Oddball Comics last night. Maybe a block away from the Acme Comedy Theatre, we saw this billboard:

It’s hard to see in the photo, but they’re touching their index fingers together. There’s nothing else in the center of the billboard, just empty space.

As near as I can tell, they’re combining Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf, a mirror universe, and a pair of Vegas showgirls. All of which adds up to a resounding: “Huh?!?”

Commies From Mars!

The Grand Comics Database* is a project to index the titles, dates, credits, covers, and character appearances in every comic book ever published. A sidebar on the home page shows the latest cover scan contributed. A couple of days ago, that cover scan was this:

The image links to the GCD entry, which is still a stub right now, but apaprently it was printed in 1973 by Kitchen Sink Press. Here’s the kid’s thought balloon:

I’ll play along with these filthy commie invaders from Mars until I can get to my shotgun! I’m little, but I’m all American!

On a related note, I’ve just made reservations to see Scott Shaw!’s show, Oddball Comics, running in LA through February (hat tip: News From ME).

*I’ve found it very useful for finding info for my Flash site. Unfortunately it isn’t big on supporting characters, so I’m still tracking down issues myself to fill in the details. On the other hand, this way I can acutually read the stories.

Caught in the act

This sort of thing just goes to prove that no one has quite the same college experience, even at the same college. (In this case, the UCI School of Humanities, where I spent two years before coming to my senses and switching to a major I actually liked.)

It’s probably just as well.

The best line has got to be the grad student saying, “You’ll report me for your having sex in my office? ”

(via The Esoteric Science Research Center)

Online Organleggers

Here’s the WTF?!?!?!!!! moment of the day. Actual spam received over the weekend:

Sell Your Organs Online!

Reply to this message if your interested in selling your organs!

Seriously, what the hell?

Forget the fact that selling organs is illegal in the US. And I’m sure mailing them across state lines would be a felony. And you sure as heck can’t list them on eBay. Or Amazon—can you imagine? “15 new and used livers available.” “Customers who purchased kidneys also bought…”

What does it smell like?

Another discovery at the mall on Saturday: “The Essence of Adventure.” I honestly cannot figure out what the target audience is for this. I mean, a Hummer fragrance? Does it make you smell like you’ve been driving in mud all day? Is it a bottle of engine oil? Is it supposed to give you that new car smell? Is it supposed to increase your chances of getting—uh, never mind.

Seriously, who came up with this idea? And are we likely to see Jeep cologne next? Maybe BMW or Mercedes fragrances for the more sophisticated market?

Not so comforting

We had some free time before seeing Serenity again on Saturday, so we wandered into Hot Topic. (Katie finds T-shirts there from time to time, and it’s always interesting to just look at the slogans you wouldn’t think of actually wearing.) Well, they’ve had a line of Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise for a while, so of course they’ve added a line of Corpse Bride tie-ins. Including this:

OK, I understand the movie-tie-in-on-a-blanket concept. I had Empire Strikes Back sheets when I was a kid. And I understand that they’re targeting the goth audience. But somehow, as much as I liked the movie, the words “corpse” and “comfort” don’t fit together in my mind!