Tuesday links

[yendi]

1. The darkest material known to man.

2. Yet another lead toy recall. This is what you get for buying generic action figures instead of WWE or TNA ones.

3. We've gotten Elayna hooked on American Gladiators. I should feel shame. I don't. She's particularly happy that the show puts both men and women through the same challenges. She's also caught on to the fact that the hand-bike -- one of two items swiped from Ninja Warrior -- is broken, as it costs less time to drop off and climb the ladder than it does to keep biking.

4. Amazon's Video Game Deal of the Day is Backyard Basketball for the DS for $14.99 (50% off).

5.Happy 50th Birthday, Smurfs!

6. Because you demanded it: High School Musical 3: Senior Year. This one's going straight to the big screen.

7. Good news: Eos is giving away free Robin Hobb ebooks. Bad news: the link on that page seems to be overwhelmed.

8. Interesting idea for the dieters: Tweet What You Eat.

9. There's more evidence that Columbus might have brought syphilis back to Europe. The syphilis-for-smallpox trade is one of those deals that I'm pretty sure neither partner is overly happy with.

10. Don't forget to play Steve Jobs Keynote Bingo today!

11. Finally, Yendiopolis's growth is starting to backfire. We need industry and cops.

Comments

[ex-yakaveng.livejournal.com]

Didn't the original American Gladiators have a 5 second penalty for dropping off the hand bike? That would make it much more fair.

Also, something about it just seems so staged... Maybe it's just the editing. Or my cynicism. Or both.

And are you going to go to Arisia with your lovely wife this weekend?

[yendi]

I though I recalled that the Gladiators waited in the pits and slammed anyone who fell, essentially adding an extra layer of the Gauntlet to the test. But it's been a while since I've seen it.

I'm not a fan of the staging of the interviews (I'd rather get five prelim events instead), but I do love the actual contests. Although I'd like them more if there was any meaning; the Eliminator, although wonderful and very Ninja Warrior-esque, is so hard that a big prelim lead (say, fifteen seconds) amounts to almost nothing.

As to Arisia, indeed, we are both going to be there! :-)

[djeu.livejournal.com]

They didn't actually *do* anything to anyone who fell, they just sorta stood there to help "enforce the penalty". At least in seasons 3-on. I didn't see the first two.

And considering the original Gladiators had the handbike event before Sasuke/Ninja Warrior existed, I'm not sure that qualifies as stealing. The log, though, yeah.

[allah-sulu.livejournal.com]

1. The article was worth reading just for the Spinal Tap reference.
2. Glad that's nothing I have to worry about. It's that endless list of Thomas trains that I had to go over with a fine-toothed brush (we had three of those).
5. Those (http://plif.andkon.com/archive/wc199.gif) bastards (http://www.kentonbsmith.com/blog/uploaded_images/unicef_smurfs-746193.jpg)!
9. At least that makes it a little closer to a fair exchange…

[alladinsane.livejournal.com]

3. Would like a lot less yak and more action from AG...prob too much to ask though...

6. And coming up next: High School Musical 4: The Next Generation

Not A Bumblebee

[thelastrobot.livejournal.com]

I do like that, because of your icon, I read the first item as "the darkest metal known to man".