Category: default || By jt3y

Things I found on the Internet while looking for other things:

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Jim Romenesko, maintainer of the Obscure Store (a Web site of bizarre headlines) and the Poynter Institute's media gossip page, has launched a Starbucks gossip Web site.

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When I first saw Jimmy Johnson's "Arlo and Janis" comic strip (in the New Yawk Daily News, I think), I didn't like it, but the more I see of it, the more it grows on me. Johnson eschews obvious comic strip gags and goes for more subtle, situational humor. It takes some time to understand where he's coming from, but when you do, the whole strip clicks.

I recently discovered that Johnson maintains an online journal and archive of his favorite cartoons.

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Former WDVE-FM (102.5) morning man and current night-time host Scott Paulsen has a Web site, where he reports that he's working on his second novel. His first is available for purchase at the site. His wife, Kit, is a rather accomplished watercolorist and is accepting commissions.

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There was a rather run-of-the-mill letter in Pitt's student newspaper, The Pitt News, from a Florida undergrad who says he refuses to attend the university because of its policy against granting fringe benefits to same-sex unmarried couples. (In the interest of full disclosure, I not only draw a paycheck from Pitt, I'm also a student, but opinions expressed here are not those of the University of Pittsburgh.)

But while the letter is only average, there's been a nasty battle of words raging on the Pitt News Web site among the paper's readers and the letter writer. Flame wars can be very, very funny --- so long as you're not the target, of course.

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Before I go any further, keep in mind that I try to keep this feature suitable for children, or at least clean enough for a family newspaper. However, some things are too good to pass up. If you're easily offended, now is the time to leave and look at something less edgy.

You're still here? Cool. And a-a-a-away we go!

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Alert Reader Jeff passed along a link to this report from The Smoking Gun about a group of people in Ohio who attacked a peeping Tom who apparently was spying on a little girl. The police found the perpetrator with a tree branch stuck in a place where you wouldn't normally expect a tree to be growing.

An account from the Lorain, Ohio, Morning Journal is available online. The peeper/victim is in the hospital in fair condition; the people who are attacked him are charged with rape, assault and related offenses.

Boy, talk about not knowing whose side to root for ...

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Speaking of perversions, consensual and otherwise, Dan Savage had a great line in his syndicated "Savage Love" column this week, which runs in Pittsburgh City Paper and elsewhere. (And don't try to tell me you don't read it, you big faker, you know you do, right after "News of the Weird.")

I'll clean it up slightly, and you'll have to go read the column to understand the context (this should be obvious, but there's adult content there, in case you didn't know). Anyway, Savage wrote this response to a reader's letter (and the last sentence is priceless):

(B)estiality is one of the "big three" perversions that I'm simply never going to budge on. I will always disapprove of f---ing animals, molesting children, and eating poop. (A scat scene with a lamb would hit the trifecta of my disapproval.) Yes, yes, I know: A mind is like an umbrella --- it only works when it's open. But if you're going to have a closed mind about just three things, f---ing animals, molesting children, and eating poop are good picks, don't you think?

Well, you'll get no argument from me.

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Now, if you really want to see something sick, twisted and disgusting, feast your eyes on this (tip of the Tube City hard-hat to Lileks):

Steven Seagal was the first Westerner to open a school of martial arts in Japan. The general public knew through his many films of action but it is another facet of his personality which emerges in 2004! This enthusiastic follower of Buddhism delivers an awesome album already bubbling on the charts in France!

Ingredients: Steven Seagal delivers titles to the American ultra consonances (blues, folk) but also of more directed songs world (ragga, Arab musics). Surrounded by prestigious guests (B.B. King, Stevie Wonder...), the actor adds a new cord to his arc!

Excuse me, I think I'm going to be sick. I mean, I could stomach Savage's discussion of coprophilia and bestiality, but the thought of Steven Seagal singing is too much for my weak constitution.