Here now are some creative match-ups of college football teams and rappers. USC is 1/3 of the way down the list, teamed up with Mr. Beyonce Knowles for obvious reasons.

I'm posting this for two reasons: 1. because it's a fun read (especially if you're into college football and rap music, which I can say I am with 50% certainty), and 2. because I'm ashamed that one of my friends (his LJ screen name looks suspiciously like rollotomossey) didn't think this up first. And if he had, I have no doubt that this list would be 10 times funnier.

I'm actually trying to work on the lousy report for work here at the house...it's shades of college, all the way. This is bringing me back to the long nights when I'd be finishing a paper hours before it was due (the difference being that this report is due at the end of the workday tomorrow, but still, I'm not taking any risks with it).

I have now been sidetracked by a wonderful wonderful blog featuring mp3s of indie bands/artists covering Top 40 hits. If you have speakers or headphones and some time to kill, check it out.

The following statement is about as useful as telling you the sky is blue, but...I LOVE the fact that Sufjan is featured covering R.E.M. in a nice, wispy, and Sufjan-y rendition of "The One I Love." In a strange way, hearing this gave me the feeling that one gets when discovering that two friends who run in different social circles are actually good friends themselves (I know, what a lame comparison--only I could come up with something so sentimental to describe this). Really, though--it makes me very glad to see this musical convergence.

I also highly, highly recommend the Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie/Postal Service) performance of Avril's "Complicated". I'd describe it as "precious" if it weren't so hilarious. Especially Ben's Seinfeldian comment to the crowd: "The thing about that song that I love is...I don't really understand what's so complicated. It seems pretty cut and dry."

Anyway, I best be getting back to the report. Thanks to Stereogum for providing the quality distractions, as always.

CNet.com has posted a list of the Top 10 Web fads of the past 10 years.

It's a fun read, especially if you were into the fads at the time they were really popular. For the record, I've seen or participated in six of these memes (though, to be fair, I only recently learned about the "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" video, so I suppose that shouldn't count).

Looking back at some of these historic moments of the World Wide Web, one can't help but think back to where he was, what he was doing, and who he was with when these websites made big waves on the cultural radar. It seems like only yesterday that my freshman year roommate and I were ordering the Mahir "I Kiss You!!" t-shirts (yes, we really did, and I unfortunately have photographic evidence somewhere). Similarly, during sophomore year, my group of friends killed time by rating people on HotorNot.com (and, in one case, we ended up finding the picture of a USC Song Girl that I was pretty much in love with at the time...needless to say, she got a '10' rating from me). Ahhh, fond memories, all.

However, I don't think the list is the end-all, be-all of Top 10 Web fads lists. Where is Homestarrunner? Or the Numa Numa kid? Or the guy that sold his ex-wife's wedding dress on eBay for beer money? Are there any other good ones that I'm missing?

Hear "Soul Meets Body" streamed here on MySpace.

You know that "team-building" game that's often called "The Human Knot," or some variation thereof? Sure you do: it's the one in which everyone gets in a circle, grabs random hands, and then has to work together to un-tie the knot. Yeah, I hate playing it too.

Well, despite the fact that this flash game totally reminds me of the Human Knot, I've still found it to be quite addicting. Give it a try--the idea is to move the cicles so that none of the cords between them cross.

Be forewarned, though: you'll have visions of these stupid cords and circles in your sleep if you play this game long enough. At least I did last night.

Kottke--a fellow shower-lover--writes about a study showing that taking regular showers can be hazardous to your health. Showering...a health hazard?!? Apparently, you run the risk of inhaling evaporated manganese, which can cause damage to the nervous system. Who knew?

I certainly hope that this is one of those studies that's quickly repudiated (perhaps in two years they'll discover a correlation between long life and taking lots of showers)...but even if that's not the case, I don't think the revered status of the shower stall in my book will diminish. It's always been my little sanctuary and think-tank, as showering is one of my favorite pasttimes.

So if I die from manganese-poisoning in the near future, please file a wrongful death lawsuit against the good folks at Price Pfister for me.

Thank you.

A Bleat-like post follows...it's long and it meanders aimlessly, but you might find it kinda entertaining. Or not. However, to the intrepid reader (or cheater), there's a nice treat at the end.

( Here we go! )

I thought I would steal one of Jason's signature pieces, something he calls "remaindered links." Basically, they're a bunch of articles that I read and found to be interesting, and I'm passing them along to you with little to no commentary on each.

Let's give this a shot, shall we?

Lileks now has an extra blog on his site that he uses for special rants.
As someone mentioned somewhere else, Lileks is at his funniest when he's pissed.

A great article I discovered while browsing the first of Lileks' rants: "When Drama Becomes Propoganda"
Thoughts on how politicized art has become predictable and rather uncreative these days. I actually saw the play "Nine Parts of Desire," and had the same reaction as the artist: I expected it to be a completely anti-war/anti-Bush diatribe, but was pleasantly surprised to find it fairly balanced, and just plain moving. A wonderful show.

I, for one, welcome our new Intel overlords.
Yesterday's announcement that Apple will start making Macs with Intel (chips) Inside sent shock-waves through the Cult of Apple (of which I am a proud member). Kottke has more. I'm just hoping with all that is within me that Apple didn't sell its soul to the Devil on this one. I'm inclined to trust Steve Jobs, though (it's probably the disarming turtle-neck/jeans combo he always wears).

A literary map of Manhattan
For the bookworms and NYC fans in the audience, this is a fun thing to look at. "Here's where imaginary New Yorkers lived, worked, played, drank, walked, and looked at ducks."

"Deep Throat, J-School, and Newsroom Religion"
Jay Rosen is a journalism prof at my current employer, and as a holder of a B.A. in journalism, I found this to be an interesting read. Mostly because I didn't know about the new $6 million initiative in revising journalism education that USC and four other top j-schools just embarked on.

A great article on the DVD release of Pete and Pete in the LA Times.
I know I'm obsessing about this show now, but here's why I really liked this article: "Like any good R.E.M. song, we would undercut the sense of sentimentality with a lot of mumbling." Needless to say, I'm happy to hear that the show's creators were seemingly influenced by R.E.M.

"Yale grades portray Kerry as a lackluster student"
I include this not for any overtly political reasons--rather, I just want people to get a load of the picture of Herman Munster at the top-left (and the picture to the right is possibly that of his son, Eddie, years later). NO WONDER Kerry didn't release these records 'til after the election!

"WHAT continues at mills in Duluth and Grand Rapids?!?"
They may correct the title by the time you read this; I sure hope they don't, though. Thanks to Dad for the link.

Slow day at work + Lack of desire to write a decent, thoughtful entry = A chance to discover some utterly, utterly useless--and utterly captivating--websites to kill time.

My favorite one of the day: Gizoogle. You've probably seen this before, and if not, well, with a name like 'gizoogle', you pretty much know where this is going. It's a fine, fine translating service, if ever I saw one. I spent some time reading my own LJ to see how a gangsta might've written it (fair warning--the f-word gets tossed around a bit).

I love it. Try it out on your blog (or other favorite website), and see what you would've said if you were straight-up gangsta.

I've spent half the morning reading through none other than Darth Vader's blog.

Wow. I've heard of Star Wars-geekery, but this is ridiculous. And thoroughly engrossing. The comments section is also worth checking out, as it, too, is chock-full of amusing SW-geekery.

One of my favorite posts is Parenting 101, which is Darth's side of the story regarding the climatic scene in The Empire Strikes Back. He laments:

Okay, I admit it. I cut off the kid's hand. Everything went downhill after that.

Blast! Blast! Blast! I am such an idiot.

Is it just me, or is Darth Vader sounding a bit like Napoleon Dynamite?

Anyway, more topics--of trivial and less-trivial nature--to come shortly.

I stand by my earlier comments about the Simpsons, and how I really have little faith in the show these days.

BUT, that doesn't make me any less jealous that Helen got to go to the 350th Episode celebration at the Fox studios. Check out her post on the festivities--she's got some great photos.

AND, on top of all that, she was given a Homer Simpson gumball machine!

As Napoleon might say...

OK, I fully admit that I'm a map geek, and this may only apply to other map geeks...BUT:

The satellite option on Google maps is so cool. And a great time waster to boot.

I started out with a few places that are near and dear to my heart: Beatty, NV (which is by far the prettiest map I've seen yet), Sunnyside, NY (my residence, of course, is being pointed out), USC, the Corner Bistro, and even Babbitt, MN, where my grandparents live (though the map looks really frightening--I never noticed the evil purple hills to the south when I visited them).

After that, I decided to check out a few other places that I've heard many things about over the years...places like: Selma, AL; Fort Hancock, TX; Athens, GA; Issaquah, WA; and Fenway Park.

I could go on like this for hours, really. But I'll stop and open the floor for suggestions--I'm especially interested in seeing the random places that people are able to locate with this thing (like, say, the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX).

God bless Google.

Man, is there nothing the Japanese can't come up with?

This will take some practice, but I'm hoping to start folding ALL of my shirts this way. (Via ReadyMade Magazine)

More random posts to come...I'm in a blogging mood today.

Oh...and if you're cruising around on albinoblacksheep.com, you'll surely not want to miss this hilarious movie...it's quite possibly the single greatest moment of the last two millenia, and most certainly the reason why the internet--and even the computer--was invented. Thanks be to shaggy for showing it to me last week.

...comes a delightful little Russian flash game featuring these cute Marvin the Martian lookalikes. I'm not exactly sure what a "babycal" is, but I'm doing my darnedest to knock as many of the little guys on the head with these so-called 'babycals.' It's too random NOT to try for yourself!

OK, so maybe working in an office where I sit in front of a computer all day has its perks, after all.

This is my new favorite magazine.

Though this one, closely-related, is pretty good as well.

These could be considered your favorite magazines, you ask? Well, yeah! Should that come as any surprise when you're talking to a guy who wants to eventually turn his iMac into an aquarium?