[weird] Dearly departed to heat Manchester crematorium — Mega City One’s Resyk comes one step closer … ‘A Manchester crematorium where “grieving friends and relatives have complained of the cold during services” will tackle the problem by using the “body heat” generated in the incineration process to crank up the temperature…’

[funny] Improbable Pop-Up Books — funny photoshop contest from somethingawful.com …

[comics] The Rack — I’ve really been enjoying these entertaining comic strips about life at Yavin IV – a Southern Californian comic shop. Check out the start of the comic strip or this weeks staff new comic picks.

[fun] Concentrated Stupid — a webpage showing a random example of the concentrated stupidity of the Internet … ‘u kno dissin tom and if he knew he be deleted all of uscryingnaw playingprobly delete u for posting thislol’ [via Waxy]

[tv] The GOP Primary Field in Buffy Villains — great list which neatly sums up Republican Presidential candidates (especially for non-american Buffy fans) … ‘John McCain as The Master – The oldest vampire. Got killed early, but there’s some talk about how he might rise again.’

[war] Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? [Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3] — a wonderful long series of blog posts from Errol Morris as he obsessively examines two early war photos taken during the Crimean War to decide if they were staged or not … [via Metafilter]

‘Much of the problem comes from our collective need to endow photographs with intentions – even though there are no people in the frame, including Fenton himself, who is conspicuously absent. The minute we start to conjecture about Fenton’s reasons, his intent – his psychological state – we are walking on unhallowed ground. Can we read Fenton’s intentions off of a photographic plate? Is there anything in the letters that tells us what he was really thinking and what really happened?’

[blogs] WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier — a blog posting letters in real-time (ninety years after they were written) from a English Soldier in World War I to his family … ‘Three days after, we were called up the line again of course I went this time. We had to go to the front line were it was on the Menin Road no doubt you have heard about it. We were there for three days it was awful the shelling day and night.’

[house] It Could be Lupus — a compilation of House lupus moments. And remember: It’s not Lupus, it’s never Lupus. [more…]

[comics] Darkseid Chick Tract — nicely done Jack Chick Tract starring Darkseid …

[cats] The Kitten Channel — because the Internet is all about cute kittens … ‘OMG!!! KITTENS!!! All the best kittens and cats on the interweb – that’s the newest flickr photos, and YouTube videos in one place. Plus a hand-picked selection of the cutest and funnest cat and kitten related pictures, videos, news, views and gubbins on our blog.’ [via More(ish)]

[conspiracies] The Random Conspiracy Theory … ‘O. J. Simpson is looking for proof that one of several children within seven miles of Cincinnati has caused the resignation of Godzilla.’

[comics] Four Colour Funnies in the Old Grey Lady — Metafilter discuss comics from Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Seth and others published in the New York Times Magazine.

[comics] The Fabulous World of Glamourpuss — a new comic from Dave Sim.

[blog] Zoom – the blog of documentary filmmaker Errol Morris.

[space] Astronomy Pictures of the Year for 2007 — another end of the year list from the always worth visiting APOD.

[blogs] Best Blogs of 2007 That You (Maybe) Aren’t Reading — an end-of-year list from Fimoculous.

[vids] 2007’s top 10 online videos — this video of 1500 prison inmates in the Philippines performing Thriller is worth checking out … [more…]

[london] Evening Standard Headline Crisis 2007 — another years worth of headline boards from the Evening Standard – just try not to think about the stories behind them too much…

Click on the images for the full set

[comics] On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, My True Love Gave To Me… — a Christmas Special from Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog.

[blogs] Top 10 Tips for New Bloggers From Original Blogger Jorn Barger — Jorn’s the Daddy of link-blogging so very little I can add here but I’ve always felt pull quotes and some nice visuals from what you’re linking to is important as well – it’s the great weakness of delicious and Tumblr’s great strength … ‘If you spend a little time searching before you post, you can probably find your idea well articulated elsewhere already.’

[funny] Porn For Girls By Girls.com — another spoof website from The Internet Now in Handy Book Form …

[funny] Important question of the day: How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight? [via linkbunnies.org]

[kipple] Philip K. Dick on Kipple — brief 43 Folders post on Kipple … ‘I think kipple is the main problem with my computers. It’s not just adware (on the Windows box), but the weird little things that wind up in the nooks and crannies. Installers for demoware. Photographs of children. Zipfiles loaded with mp3s… of songs that I already have in other directories, or on other machines, or on CDs on the shelves on my walls.’

[movies] Blade Runner: Final Cut Review — nice comprehensive review of Blade Runner: Final Cut … ‘Back in 1982, actress Joanna Cassidy wasn’t allowed to do the stunt where Zhora crashes through the window panes. But if you watch the film closely, especially now in high-definition, it’s painfully obvious that it’s a stuntwoman in those shots. So Cassidy was brought back in, dressed in her original costume, and was shot on a greenscreen stage, going through the same movements as the stuntwoman. Her face and body angles were matched to those of the stuntwoman’s frame by frame. Cassidy’s head was then digitally inserted over the stuntwoman’s, and the resulting image was blended, color-corrected and matched seamlessly. So now, when you see Zhora crash through the glass, it’s actually Zhora all the way through. The result is amazing.’

[comics] Interview with Brendan McCarthy … ‘I’ve got about seven new pitches out with various comics companies at the moment, but I’m not working on an actual comic at the moment… ‘

[xmas] Santa putting children’s information at risk, warn experts … ‘Data protection laws lay down strict conditions for the use of personal data and there is no evidence that Claus has an adequate compliance programme in place. Children across Britain who write letters to Claus with a list of gift requests are not told for how long that data is kept, or if it will be used for other purposes such as marketing by third parties.’

[wrestling] The Ring Cycle — Jon and Joel Ronson investigate WWE and the Chris Benoit double murder and sucide … ‘Bodybuilders beat each other to a pulp. Women in bikinis beat each other to a pulp, sometimes with midgets on their shoulders. From time to time the wrestlers lay out their philosophies for the camera. My favourite philosophical wrestler is John Morrison, who says, “Join me in the palace of wisdom or continue to be slaves to society. I am a portal to the infinite. You are temporary, a fleeting footnote to an average reality.” His palace of wisdom seems to involve hammering opponents’ faces into the floor.’

[movies] What’s new in Blade Runner: The Final Cut? — contains some spoilers … ‘In the scene where Batty confronts Tyrell, the line, “I want more life, fucker” has been replaced with “I want more life, father”.’ [via linkbunnies.org]

[comics] Another weird comic guest-star: Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen meets Don Rickles … ‘Kirby’s early 70s run on JIMMY OLSEN was his first work for DC after leaving Marvel, and DC let him go hog wild with the book. Kirby used it as a springboard to introduce his “Fourth World” concepts like Darkseid, the New Gods, etc. Oh, and famous insult comic Don Rickles’ twin, “Goody” Rickles.’

[comics] Scans of Daredevil #133 — from 1976 – oddly guest starring Uri Geller … ‘Daredevil, Wait For Me — I’m a Mentalist, not an Acrobat!’