Almost Worth Knowing: Just For Your Enjoyment

Pretty cool Gap commercial... My favorite part is the spinning guy at 0:13!

Almost Worth Knowing: Interrobang and Other Things

Two entries ago (but some days ago), I wrote an entry in which I ask for the name of these symbols:

This mark, as Tony so correctly pointed out, is the Interrobang, a literal combination of the exclamation and question mark punctuations that basically means WTF. As pointed out by Wikipedia, "A sentence ending with an interrobang (1) asks a question in an excited manner, (2) expresses excitement or disbelief in the form of a question, or (3) asks a rhetorical question." I owe my discovery of this punctuation to Jess, who sent me this great article: The Culture of the Interrobang, which inter alia credits Martin K. Specter with the invention of the Interrobang in 1962. The term combines the Latin for question (interro-) with a proofreading term for exclamation (bang). Thanks, Jess. Thanks, Specter. Interrobang‽

On the second note, the "؟" symbol is known as both an Irony Mark and a Percontation Point. Originally, this symbol came to be in the 1580's to denote rhetorical questions in writing. Later on, it came to be used again "by the French poet Alcanter de Brahm (alias Marcel Bernhardt) at the end of the 19th century. It was in turn taken by Hervé Bazin in his book Plumons l’Oiseau (1966), in which the author proposes several other innovative punctuation marks..." Check those out on Irony Mark's Wiki. Pretty interesting...

I hope you guys found that all to be informative. Before I take my leave, check out this video. Maybe it'll leave you feeling a little interrobanged‽

Almost Worth Knowing: Should be Offended, but Can't Stop Laughing...

First off, I'd like to congratulate Doug for earning about 10 points on my challenge from two days ago. I won't bother trying to add to his answers. Congrats!

For some reason, I was inspired today to look up Vegeta's Over 9000!!! Video on YouTube. For those of you who do not know, Over 9000 is an old internet meme based on a short clip of the show Dragonball Z. I've posted my favorite remix below, but the original meme can be found here.

The actual point of today's entry, however, is not an old and obscure meme that any of my readers, who would care, have already seen. Instead, in the course of my studies, I discovered another video based around the same theme. The background is that, at some point, Oprah delivered a speech imploring her viewers to join her in stopping a pedophile ring. The ring, as it turns out, has over 9000 members. Oprah, in her speech, decided to refer to the members of the ring as "9000 penises." A video of the speech can be found here, but it became a meme when it was contrasted against the Vegeta Over 9000 video in a number of ways. The following is my favorite.

Here, the creator made a techno remix of the Oprah speech, turned it into a full song, and then created a DDR/ Stepmania level to match the music. Wow...

Almost Worth Knowing: Headphones So Expensive My Ears Aren't Worthy

First off, I won't say that these are the most expensive headphones on the market. However, I will say that Amazon.com sent me an email advertising a sale on headphones, 15-30% off. The headphones looked pretty nice, but the email didn't give me an idea of the price... I followed the link...

$123.20 (regularly $149.99)?!?


$125.94 (regularly $179.99)?!?

WTholyF!!! Really?! For that price, there better be a little Frank Sinatra clone inside singing in my ear... or at least the clone of a lesser known Backstreet Boy...

Now, I know that there are very fancy noise canceling headphones out there that cover the whole side of your head, have multiples speakers, and a bass system better than that which is now in my car.... but I highly doubt you can do that with an ear bud. So what are you in fact paying for? I don't know. The second pair don't even look good - more like little snow cones in your ear.

To top it off, the Average Customer Rating for the first pair is only a 2.5, while the Amazon rating for the latter is a decently better 3.9. Honestly, for the price these babies cost... both better have a perfect 5.

At least you can get Free Super Saver Shipping.

Almost Worth Knowing: Ellie Kemper on the Office

I know... I am terribly late on writing this blog. I bet a MILLION bloggers beat me to it. Oh well.

A few months ago, I wrote an entry entitled A Great Blowjob in Honor of Valentine's Day, in which I posted a video called Blowjob Girl. Some of you were hesitant to watch it because of its title, but I know that most eventually did anyway. Perverts.

Well, the other day, as I finally got around to finishing Season 5 of The Office, you can imagine my surprise when I saw none other than Blowjob Girl join the cast! That's right, Blowjob Girl, known to her friends as Ellie Kemper, plays the Scranton branch's new receptionist Erin Hannon. She's pretty fun and quirky on the show, and the fans have taken well to her. I can't stop thinking about her dry blowjobs, but to each his own, I guess. I look forward to seeing more of her as the show continues.

"Being on set with them is like being in a dream, except the dream is real and I can reach out and touch them. Except I am trying not to touch them too much, because I was raised right."
—Ellie Kemper, on The Office

Challenge: Without the help of the internets and not counting Steve Carell's illustrious credits, can you name any other works that other office Stars have taken part in?

Almost Worth Knowing: Frogs are Terrifying

I used to think frogs were nice creatures: fun to catch if you're fast, and totally slimy to hold onto. Now I know better. I was just doing some random surfing when I came across an interesting situation. In San Francisco's Golden Gate Pond, African Clawed Frogs, somehow released into the wild, are devastating the ecosystem. These creatures eat anything they can catch and shove in their mouths... including birds.

Did I say birds? I was shocked when I came across that, too, but, apparently, it's true. Moreover, these are not the only frogs that do it. Check out this awesome story I found on this forum.

So, I'm sitting on the sofa, minding my own business, paging through Home magazine when I head a flock of little sparrows gathered around my pond. This time of year, they flock to the taller grasses that seed and feast like crazy!

So I get up and walk to the window slowly (so not to scare them off) and smile as I watch the adorable little things feeding and playing. All of a sudden, one of the frogs leaps out of the water and grabs one of the sparrows by it's rear end and drags it into the water!!!!

So the little thing is SCREAMING and the flock of little birds are going NUTS flying around. I go running out the door, waving my arms in the air and screaming at the frog, hoping it will be afraid of me and let the little bird go.....but NOPE!! So I get to the edge of the water, fall to my knees and do what came to me......I punched the frog in the head!

He let the bird go and disappeared under water. So the little bird is flapping it's wings and scooting on top of the water and screaching and I'm running around trying to reach the thing before the frog comes back. It heads toward the waterfall and ANOTHER frog jumps out of the bushes and goes after the bird!

Errrrrrrrr, damn frogs! So I grab the fishing net, swat at the other frog and scoop the little bird up into the net. I took it out front (for fear ALL of the frogs would form a group and gang attack me) I wrapped it in a towel and got it upright....the poor little thing was spewing water out it nose and beek! It finally perked up and flew down into one of my front gardens.

I swear....these frogs....as much as I enjoy looking at them and hearing them.....they are asking for it!

Not a bad story... but if I punched that frog, it would have exploded.

Next is a video from National Geographic, showing bullfrogs eating everything. You have to see the way the frog eats a scorpion at 0:50. It's in slow motion, so you can watch as the frog bites the scorpion's pincer, then shoves the entire thing in its mouth using its hands.

Reminds me a bit of Bowser. Terrifying.

Almost Worth Knowing: Sorry Katie, but I think I've Found My Future Girlfriend

Some of you may have already seen this on ESPN, but this clip comes from last weekends New Mexico v. Brigham Young University Women's Soccer Game.

The best is the way she doesn't even react or look down after putting that girl on the floor at 0:11. New Mexico Defender Elizabeth Lambert has since been suspended indefinitely. Contrary to popular belief, she was not suspended for the illegality of her actions, but because it turns out she's a Professional Wrestler, in violation of team policies.

Almost Worth Knowing: Last entry's freak-out was fake?

I'm pretty sure that most of you thought the freak-out was fake anyway, but I just want to clarify that you were right. I did some research into the matter before the post, but did not want to post the evidence until I heard what everyone thought. Here's the video that helps set things straight...

Curiously, some people online have suggested that the video I posted today is really the cover-up. Comments suggest that Stephen REALLY is this crazy, and his mom is only trying to save him (and herself) some embarrassment for Stephen's poor upbringing.