[male struggle!] newsUnlimited reports that a clenched fist is the new image of Old Spice. “Vegas has replaced it with a clenched fist as a mark of resistance against post-feminist man’s weakness for effete eau de Cologne and skin balm. “The fist is also a symbol of men’s struggle to be taken seriously by women,” he said. “I prefer to think of it not as a stopper but as five fingers of angst and frustrated male desire.”

[comics] The Guardian’s Steve Bell on the deaths in Dover. [Earlier BBC News Story]

[film] Deconstructing Harry — Film Threat on Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News. “GRAFT. One tends to question Harry’s credibility due to the volume of gifts and gratuities he receives from both studios and filmmakers. Not only does he admit it, he begs for it! The only words in a story title that will turn me off faster than “Harry’s Adventure In…” would be “WAAAH! ME WANT PWESANTS!!!” Damn, son. Show some dignity.” [via Ghost in the Machine]

[crime] newsUnlimited on Identity Theft. “You, meanwhile, know nothing of this until – several months later – debt collection agencies begin to harass you. Life becomes Kafkaesque. You inform the police – but they can’t see that you are the victim of any crime. The law holds you liable only for the first $50 on the phoney credit cards and nothing on the other bills. The cops can’t get involved with working out who is the real you. There are drug dealers and paedophiles out there. Take it to Mr Visa and Mr AT&T, they say.”

[weblogging] I Hate Music on Vindaloo by Fat Les. “I could use ‘Vindaloo’ as a springboard for any number of justified rants, but instead I’ll simply say this: FAT LES ARE A SMUG BUNCH OF MEDIA WHORES WHO SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE GROUCHO CLUB KISSING JONATHAN ROSS ON HIS HAIRY ARSE. And I’ll leave it at that.”

[weblogs] Short Term Memory Loss — blogging from India. “Is this the first blog from the Himalayas? Vashisht is the name of this village, and it is all the superlatives you have ever heard about India. Particularly the smelly, dirty hippy ones. But also sun, sights and smells.”

[music] The Observer takes a look at Eminem. “‘Listening to him is like watching somebody lose their head on Jerry Springer,’ says Harry Allen, self-proclaimed hip-hop activist and one-time member of Public Enemy. In recent years, Allen has testified on behalf of artists such as 2 Live Crew and Tupac Shakur in front of Senate Hearings on rap music. ‘Yes, he is coarse and violent. But he’s also indicative of white American suburban teenagers.'”

[tv] newsUnlimited reports that the Germans are to to remake Fawlty Towers. ‘Basil: “So that’s two eggs mayonnaise, a prawn Goebbels, a Hermann Goering and four Colditz salads … no, wait a moment, I got a bit confused there, sorry … I got a bit confused because everyone keeps mentioning the war, so could you…” German: “Will you stop talking about the war!” Basil: “Me? You started it!” German: “We did not start it.” Basil: “Yes you did, you invaded Poland…”‘

[uk/us] American Xenophobes’ Guide to the British Great Britain is a very old country with many treasures, such as the Millennium Dome and the Diana Museum and the Millennium Dome. Among its contributions to Western civilisation are Mrs Thatcher, mad cow disease and beer. [via Nutlog]

[books] Media Nugget of the Day covers Enders Game.

[film / comics] CHRISTOPHER “FUCKING” LEE!! I’m not that interested in Star Wars but that is a nice reference to one of my favourite comics strips so I’m compelled to link to it…

[weblogging in the UK!] Daily Doozer has more details on the PCFormat article.

[comics] The art of Dave McKean. Really great looking site.

[london] Feed on London and the London Eye — includes Quicktime panorama view of the Eye. [via Guardian Weblog]

[weblogging in the UK] UK blogging gets attention from PCFormat computer magazine…

[stuff] This is kind of site you can waste an afternoon on: 200 Most Entertaining Moments of the Millenium. “#126 Anyone who remembers watching the CNN coverage of the Gulf War, gape-jawed, can’t help but to have been impressed by missiles flying down ventilation shafts. Obviously war is terrible, but buildings blowing up will continue to be cool forever.”

[comics] August’s Preview Picks — good list of the best comics out in August.

[film] Media Nugget of the Day reports on The Conversation.

[hells angels] newsUnlimted profiles Sonny Barger. “‘Keith Richards had then threatened to stop playing unless the Angels halted their violence, telling Barger: ‘Either these cats cool it, man, or we don’t play.’ ‘I stood next to him and stuck my pistol in his side and told him to start playing his guitar or he was dead,’ says Barger now. ‘He played like a motherfucker.'”

[comics] Salon reports that Lex Luthor is to run for president. [via Ghost in the Machine]

[BOFH] Who wants to marry a SysAdmin? “There’s no time to waste. We’re all getting fatter and paler by the second. Hook up now before we can’t keep track of our processes anymore and our hair forks all to hell.” [via Just Daz]

[tech] UK ADSL Guide. [I have a crazy dream — cheap unmetered internet access in my lifetime… ]

[minogue] Charlotte Raven on Kylie’s bottom. “Only clearing the net by a couple of inches, Kylie plainly hasn’t spent the day playing tennis. Her racket is loose in her left hand and the all-over-sheen of her body suggests that she’s spent longer being airbrushed in Photoshop than in the elements.”

[MP3] Napster endgame — The US Music Industry moves to close down Napster. Totally pointless, of course, the Net has moved on… check out Gnutella.

[weblogs] How can I have missed UberSearch? [yet another weblog search engine]

[music] newsUnlimited on the semi-breakup of Oasis. “What’s going on is that I’ve had a major disagreement with monkey boy, the singer[…]”

[monarchy] Christopher Hitchens on the the British Royal Family in newsUnlimited. “An old English radical slogan has it that the problem is not the will of some to power, but the will of others to obey. I think that it’s literally true that many people can’t imagine life without the Windsors. And my quarrel is with that very mentality, much more than it is with any actual or potential monarch. One doesn’t wish to demolish people’s household gods, or rip away their comfort blankets, but couldn’t they be just as happy as Jacobites once were, cultivating nostalgia and illusion while leaving the rest of us to get on with it?” [via BlueLines]

[tv] Seven Deadly Sins of Gilligans Island. I’ve been interested in Gilligan’s Island for years… but I’ve never seen an episode! As far as I know it has not been shown on British TV in living memory… but Americans seem to refer to it endlessly in comics and on the internet and for ages it has fascinated me — Who were Gilligan and Skipper? What were they all doing on that Island? Eventually, I found out all the details… but I’ve still never seen an episode… and I’m not sure I’d want to! [via pearls that are his eyes]

[kylie] Following on from yesterday’s post — here is photographic proof of Minogue’s tiny deformed ears… and interestingly it took me ages plowing through Kylie fan sites photos to come up with ones showing her ears. Conspiracy?

[weblogs] Amusing as hell: neighbour sex “uhhhnngghhh…..ahhhhnnghhhh…..pullout, pullout, Pullout, PULLOUT, PULLOUT!!!!” [via Steal This Blog!. It’s being blogged everywhere but I saw the line above and thought: “If that’s not a Linkmachinego quote I don’t know what is!”]