Soundalikes: Peter Gammons

Anyone else think ESPN's Peter Gammons sounds like TBS's Buck Martinez?

Music: White Stripes rip-offs

Have you seen the ad for the Honda Insight with the song that sounds like a parody of "We're Going To Be Friends"? Apparently, it's a band called Rabbit. (Google returns two other Rabbit bands, so I would think a name change would be in order - if I thought they had any future. I think this kid has more potential.)

This Magnum ice cream bar ad is a more obvious rip-off (this time of "My Doorbell").

On a happier note, here's the new video for The Dead Weather, "I Cut Like A Buffalo" - with a B. P. Fallon cameo! Truly the Zelig of rock & roll.

YouTube: Spiders

Spider crawls over the Pope (but the cockraoch on his left cheek doesn't budge). Obama would have had that sucker.

Anchorwoman reports on fly that landed on her nose.

Reporter swallows fly and swears.

Music: Blacklist

The Rich Girls Are Weeping recommend Blacklist - and I definitely hear the Cult and the Church in there.

More videos of Blacklist on YouTube, including one of them covering a band I'd never heard of, Asylum Party - definitely in the same zip code.

Speaking of the Church, Steve Kilbey has collaborated with fellow Aussie Martin Kennedy - the songs on MySpace sound great.

Advertising: AdSense

Google's worst ads ever - when AdSense's contextual advertising misfires. The funniest is the non-Google "severed foot" one.

And this is old, but you can kill those sponsored links in Gmail by adding a few words about death and other tragedies.

Music: Storybook Lovesongs

Prompted by the death of Willie DeVille:

• Willie DeVille, "Storybook Love" (used in "The Princess Bride")
  
• The Partridge Family, "Storybook Love" (they say that only a few hundred people heard the Partridge Family at the time, but every one of them started a TV show family band)
  
• The Superbs, "Sorybook Of Love" (I had never heard of this sweet-sounding group)
  
• The Triffids, "Fairytale Love" (sadly cut short, and set to incongruous, if not completely inappropriate, scenes from "Finding Neverland")
  
• Sara Bareilles, "Fairytale" (inoffensive)
  
• Alice In Chains, "Fairytale Love Story" (included for completeness)
  

At least three of these singers are dead now, so David Cassidy should be worried.

Art: Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali on "What's My Line" - what a card! And Dali in three commercials.

Documentary (part 1 of 3) about Glasgow's acquisition of "Christ of St John of the Cross".

Trippy Dali-influenced video of uncertain provenance.

It reminds me of visiting the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida with my parents. My mother dashed around the exhibition while I moved slowly from painting to painting. She came up to me and asked, "Do you think he was a bit mad?"

Film: John Hughes

RIP, John Hughes. It does make you wonder if there was a curse on "National Lampoon's Vacation". First John Candy, then Imogene Coca and Eddie Bracken, and now writer John Hughes. Not to mention Chevy Chase's career.

Great scene from "Some Kind Of Wonderful", with the hottest tomboy in movie history. "Break his heart and I'll break your face."

Design: "I Can Read Movies"

These fake retro book covers are fantastic.

Baseball: Improved Initials

There's been something I've been meaning to blog all baseball season: the dumbness of the Texas Rangers' decision to have multiple uniform colours. I caught a bit of the St. Louis Cardinals on EPSN - 90% of the fans were wearing red to support their team. What a great sight. Then I flipped over to the Rangers game, where there was a mess of blues and reds (in among the burnt orange, khaki, yellow...) Pity the poor Rangers fan who wants to support his team and dons a blue shirt - only to find the team playing in their alternate red uniform.

But that's not why I'm here. There are some MLB players whose last name demands that they have a certain first initial. Sadly, in all cases, they have a less funny actual initial. Still, here's hoping they name their offspring appropriately, and raise them to follow in their footsteps.

• Tampa Bay's Willy Aybar should be Gary Aybar - G. Aybar.
  
• Detroit Tiger Brandon Inge should be Marlon Inge - M. Inge.
  
• Rangers reliever Darren O'Day should be a Tom or Ted - T. O'Day.
  
• L.A. Dodger James Loney should be B.A. Loney.
  
• Chicago White Sock Jim Thome should be Albert Thome - A. Thome.
  

Honorable mention for Lyle Overbay for almost being "Loverboy".

Meteorology: Clouds

Eerie "popcorn" clouds were seen in the NY skies this week - apparently, they're Mammatus clouds (and, yes, "mammatus" is from the same root as "mammary").

The Daily Mail has amazing photos of another new cloud formation, Asperatus clouds.

Check out Flickr for more photos of Mammatus and Asperatus clouds. I love this one. Ooh, I think I caught someone cheating on Flickr - here's one of those Daily Mail photos (by Ken Prior) being passed off as her own!

Music: Jim James

Jim James of My Morning Jacket is going by the name Yim Yames for some side projects, including an album of George Harrison covers. You can download "Behind That Locked Door" in exchange for your email address. (You can also preview it on his site.) He is also in Monsters Of Folk, a supergroup with M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis.

Bonus: live cover of "The Rainbow Connection".

YouTube: Michael Jackson Covers

Michael Jackson was a sad, twisted, horrible person, but we can still enjoy other people singing his songs.

• Chris Cornell, "Billie Jean"
  
• The Philippine Madrigal Singers, "Man In The Mirror"
  
• Sanchez, "Ben"
  
• Ina-t, "Black Or White"
  
• Sharon Levy, "The Way You Make Me Feel"
  
• Jackson State marching band and cheerleaders, "P.Y.T."
  
• Emm Gryner, "Beat It"
  
• KT Tunstall, "I Want You Back"
  
• Ian Brown, "Thriller"
  
• Miles Davis, "Human Nature"
  

And here's a playlist of all the songs, for your convenience.

Music: Songkick

The New York Times had a piece on Songkick, a website that allows you to track your past (and upcoming) concerts. I dug out my diaries from 1988 and 1989 and started adding some that I attended. I couldn't believe how many "gigs" (as we used to call them) I went to when I was a lad. In 1989 alone, I saw Neil Young, Kelly Willis*, Cowboy Junkies, REM, Tanita Tikaram, the Go-Betweens, Jonathan Richman, the New Bohemians (with Steve Forbert supporting), the Cure and the Pixies. That's sick!

By the way, I added the Pixies for October 21, 1989. Someone else had added the Pixies for the same date in London. This fan page shows October 21 free, between London and Austin dates, so if they flew over in time for the Dallas concert, they must have been a little jet-lagged.

* Kelly Willis was lead singer for a group called Radio Ranch, who supported the Wagoneers.

Humour: John Hodgman

John Hodgman roasts Barack Obama - good stuff. But get a load of those stony-faced Radio and Television Correspondents in the audience - what a shower of dullards.

Media: Sana Syed

I saw a very cute reporter on Dallas-area CBS affiliate, KTVT, the other day - Sana Syed (watch the Six Flags bankruptcy video). Much as I enjoyed seeing her, it wasn't even close to the ecstacy experienced by this OKC blogger:

"There was so much beauty pouring out of her I didn’t know where to look...Her hair was on its game, gleaming like wet black silk, flowing down in Sana’s patented little S-curve as it hit her shoulders....Her skin was as beautiful as if someone had airbrushed her with a light caramel-colored satin. Her lipstick was exquisite."

Then again, he talks about all the female news people this way, gushing over their beauty and fashion. I'm guessing he has a well dug in his cellar, with a little news desk at the bottom. He lowers makeup in a bucket and says, "It puts on the eye shadow and it turns to Camera 3 to recap the headlines."

Methinks Sana got out of Oklahoma just in time.

MP3: Magnet Magazine

Magnet Magazine has some great free MP3s:

• Denmark's Choir Of Young Believers
  
• Durham NC's Megafaun (great beards)
  
• Former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle
  
• Canadian "psych/folk duo" Lightning Dust
  
• Telekinesis (compare "I See Lightning" to Liam Finn's "I'll Be Lightning")
  
• Former dBs Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey have reunited
  
• Magnolia Electric Co.
  
• Cub Country
  

Advertising: Photo Shenanigans

Toronto city guide photoshops black guy's face into stock photo of what looks like a Latino family (and did it really badly too). This was caught by someone using TinEye, mentioned here recently. Toronto is still using the photo.

What is it with Canadian tourist boards and their lack of visual ethics? Recently, they were promoting Alberta with film of kids on an English beach. What makes it worse is that Alberta is landlocked.

Photography: 130 Megapixel Scanner Camera

Camera built from old scanner and camera lens - I don't understand how it works, but very cool. Sample photos.

Media: Fox Business News

Amusing clip of Fox Business "reporters" playing "pass the parcel" with breaking story none of them knows anything about. Expect a Daily Show parody tomorrow.