Neat map of London where all the streets are removed and all that\’s left is the street names.
[ From Swiss Legacy ]

If you\’re one of those people who likes popping bubblewrap, Bandai makes a toy that electronically simulates bubblewrap. It has 8 bubbles and it\’s supposed to feel just like popping the real thing, complete with sound effects. It seems pretty clever, though people might look at you funny if they see you using one.
[ From Boing Boing ]

I bet Flava Flav\’s all over this.

Great article from The New Yorker on the Cult of Leica

Asked how he thought of the Leica, Cartier-Bresson said that it felt like \”a big warm kiss, like a shot from a revolver, and like the psychoanalyst\’s couch.\” At this point, five thousand dollars begins to look like a bargain.

Emilie Autumn does a great instrumental cover of Always Look On The Bright Side of Life on, I think, a harpsichord?

Cool photos of some subway stations in Stockholm, Sweden. I love the exposed bedrock, it looks like the secret entrance to some James Bond villain\’s secret lair.
[ From Coudal Partners ]

All of Wes Anderson\’s AT&T; commercials on one page. I can\’t wait till The Darjeeling Limited comes out.

My favorite contest, the World Beard & Moustache Championships, is back for 2007. I like the categories they have, like Musketeer, Dali, and Partial Beard Freestyle. One of these days I\’m gonna take a sabbatical from work and devote a year to growing a beard full time. Then maybe people will respect me.

Here\’s an interesting article about the German fascination with Native Americans. They have clubs, magazines, trading cards, powwows, and theme parks.

At powwows – there are dozens every year – thousands of Germans with an American Indian fetish drink firewater, wear turquoise jewelry and run around Baden-Württemberg or Schleswig-Holstein dressed as Comanches and Apaches.

I\’m sure the Germans are just as puzzled by our love of The Sound of Music.

And similarly, the French love country music.

Trial of \’Chess Board Killer\’ begins in Moscow

After his arrest last year, investigators said he claimed to have marked off the squares on a chess board, a square for every victim, with a goal of filling all 64 squares. The Russian news media promptly assigned him a new name: the Chessboard Killer.

I have 2 punchlines for this:
1. At first they were going to call him the Checkers Killer, but that\’s kind of wussy.

2. They would\’ve called him the Checkers Killer but the press is saving that name in case someone kills Chubby Checker.