Saturday, October 31

The Longest Oop Featuring The Detroit Pistons And Like 24 Random Cameos



The Detroit Pistons are a professional NBA basketball squadron, but recently, one of the balls they attempted to alley-oop went missing. It makes quite the journey before ending up back home, where it belongs. See if you can name all the cameos in this, from John Oliver to Eminem to the guys from The Starters. There are plenty of appearances, and it's quite wonderful, all set to The Four Tops' "Reach Out (I'll Be There)."


Music Video For Weezer's New Music Video Will Make You Crave Cannolis




Weezer has a new song called "Thank God For Girls." It has gotten mixed reviews on YouTube, but I'm kinda digging it. The music video is...well, it's something. It's a man sitting in front of a painting of Jesus, eating a plate of cannolis. I don't understand it, and I don't particularly like it. But man, do I want a cannoli now. Just one, though. Not a plateful.

Friday, October 30

"Every Press Conference Ever" With Weird Al Yankovic



Do you ever find yourself tuning into a postgame press conference and finding the answers a little...repetitive? Well, The Kicker feels your pain. They brought in Weird Al Yankovic as "Grizzled Coach" to respond to some questions we just hear all the time, from many familiar faces. This is very well done, and a bit TOO accurate. Enjoy!


Wednesday, October 28

Billy On The Street "Goes New York" With Jason Sudeikis



Billy on the Street is CRACKING ME UP. I just discovered it's on TruTV, and apparently has been for several seasons. Who knew?! Well, now I do. And you do, too, unless you've already forgotten the previous sentence.

In any case, the most recent episode finds him donning a New York "bro" accent with Jason Sudeikis, and rumbling through the streets. The cast from Veep gets a shout out, dollars are tossed around, and there's even a tailgate before a showing of Wicked. It's jam-packed, and it's terrific. Enjoy!


Tuesday, October 27

Barbie Commercial Tells Girls To Imagine The Possibilities



This Barbie commercial has been making the rounds lately, and for good reason. It's rill cute. Thanks to some well-placed hidden cameras, we get to see people reacting to young girls in "adulthood" career paths, like a veterinarian or a scientist. The message? Just like there are limitless possibilities for your Barbie dolls, so too are there limitless possibilities for your own life. Pretty terrific.




Monday, October 26

Jeopardy Contestant Insults Liberals With Wrong Final Jeopardy Answer




Becky Sullivan did her best to answer a question on Friday's episode of Jeopardy! Particularly, she was asked during "Final Jeopardy!" what a certain flower was that's also a disparaging term for liberals.

Apparently not know the correct answer ("bleeding heart"), Sullivan took the opportunity to go viral, writing down "pansy" as her response, finding "a way to insult the liberals in this country," according to Trebek. Sure, she lost $6,000, but it was probably worth it.


Sunday, October 25

CollegeHumor Pays Tribute To Angels In The Outfield With 30 For 30 Parody




Angels in the Outfield is a classic movie, fo sho. But it's a little bit of an unbelievable story. That's why it'd be perfect for an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary. College Humor feels the same way, and made an incredibly spot-on spoof of the sports giants' films. It features real cameos from actual ESPN and MLB analysts, and remember that Matthew McConaughey was in this movie? Yeah, me neither. Enjoy!

Friday, October 23

Billy On The Street With Anna Kendrick Versus Katy Perry's Cat



The highly enjoyable Billy on the Street is back, and this time he's viewing everyone's favorite Anna Kendrick. She answers a ton of questions about Katy Perry's cat, Kitty Purry, and while the questions are admittedly a bit easier than usual, I'm pretty sure this is the best I've ever seen someone do at this game. So well done, Miss Kendrick. Applause all around.

Old Video From 2006 Shows Heath Ledger Kissing A "Random" Fan




This video is nearly a decade old, but it's still pretty fantastic. Heath Ledger is in the middle of answering some stupid question when he's ambushed by a screaming fan on the red carpet of a film he had recently done. That fan was Kath and Kim star Magda Szubanski, and rather than shoo her away, Ledger leans in and plants a big kiss on her. Naturally, Szubanski immediately faints. Whether this was staged or not, it's a terrific gesture from the late actor.


Thursday, October 22

Nintendo Releases "Wild Gunman" For "Back To The Future Day"



If you did just about anything today, from going online to talking to a stranger, you probably learned it was "Back to the Future Day." In the sequel Back to the Future II, Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to the future, which was set for October 21, 2015. This means that after today, this entire movie is set in the past. That's kind of depressing.

Anyway, there's a scene where Marty goes to play an arcade game called Wild Gunman. He completely owns it, and now you can, too! Without fanfare, Nintendo's European division released a port of the game on Wii U. It's not quite the same thing as an arcade machine, but it'll do the nostalgia job quite nicely. And if you need some motivation, here's Marty kickin' butt in the movie:


Tuesday, October 20

Annie B's Caramels Will Satisfy Any Sweet Tooth

Once, when I was a child, I poured some caramel over a bowl of ice cream I was eating. It was delightful, so my silly child brain thought that dumping an entire jar of caramel into a bowl and eating it straight up was the way to go. Fun fact: That is NOT the way to go.


Instead, caramel is so much more enjoyable in candy form. The good folks at Annie B's demonstrate that with their products, which they were kind enough to let me sample. The family-owned caramel company has been handcrafting caramel for over 30 years. Each individually wrapped caramel is made using simple, local ingredients like brown sugar, water, corn starch, butter, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, inverted sugar and natural flavor. Each piece is made by hand with the exception of cutting and wrapping of the caramels. And when you make things by hand, you know it's got that extra special touch.


Annie B's offers chocolate caramels, chocolate raspberry caramels, and my personal favorite, the chocolate sea salt caramels. In fact, I'm convinced you could put sea salt on anything and it would taste delicious. But just in case, play it safe and put it on a caramel. Trust me, your taste buds will thank you.


Monday, October 19

Colts Fake Punt Gets Remade As Tecmo Bowl Game



Oh, yes. The Colts fake punt is the gift that keeps on giving. This time it's in the form of Bestonium and The Cauldron making a beautiful recreation of the fake punt in Tecmo Bowl form. And it is every bit as wonderful as you'd imagine.


Maine Football Team Trolls Colts Unsuccessful Fake Punt Attempt




The Colts tried an awful, mind-boggling fake punt last night against the Patriots. Predictably, the internet laughed at them. The Maine Black Bears, though, took it one step further: they showed a similar "swinging gate" fake formation (albeit on an extra point) that actually worked. The footage is from a 2011 game against James Madison, a game Maine won on this two-point conversion. Pretty fantastic stuff.



Um, What Are The Colts Doing Here?



The Colts played the Patriots Sunday night, and unsurprisingly, were not blown out. I say surprisingly because, if you remember, it was the Colts that subjected us to a summer of Deflategate nonsense. You would have thought the Patriots would have absolutely demolished them.

And they did, at least on this play. Take a look at that formation up there in the picture above. That's the Colts, from their own 37 yard line and down by just six points in the fourth quarter, lining up for a fake punt. But...nine guys are to the right of the line of scrimmage, with just one snapper (WR Griff Whalen) and one quarterback (S Colt Anderson) faced with like five Patriots in the vicinity. As you can probably guess, this did NOT end well.


The Patriots got the ball after the turnover and promptly scored to go up by 13. The Colts ended up losing by seven. Just questionable decision-making all around.

Sunday, October 18

Corgi Puppy Can't Deal With Mini Pumpkin




This corgi's name is Bilbo, and it simply cannot handle being near a miniature pumpkin. We feel your pain, 'bo. Thanks to JackieOcean for putting this video up and making a few folks smile.

Thursday, October 15

If Netflix And Chill Were Real



"Netflix & chill" is a new phrase that's taken the world by storm over the past few months. It boils down to inviting someone over to watch some Netflix, implying you'd just "chill" with 'em. Maybe catch up on a quality program like Peep Show or Bob's Burgers. But really, you have different plans. You want to do more than just chill. You want to get ICE COLD. Or...you know, something like that. This video explores the pains of trying to watch as just friends.


Jose Bautista Flips Bat, Canada Explodes


Wednesday's deciding Game 5 between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers was fairly ho-hum until the seventh inning. That's when things got WILD.

The Rangers, who were up 2-0 in this series after winning the first two games in this very same building in Toronto, had a runner on third and Shin-Soo Choo up at the plate. And...well, something I've never seen before happened:



Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin is trying to throw the ball back to the mound, and he hits Choo's bat. But Choo was simply going through his in-between pitches routine and wasn't interfering at all. The runner on third scored, despite the umpire initially blowing the play dead. After a review, the run counted, and fans started throwing trash on the field:




BUT NOT TO FEAR. The Blue Jays still had Jose Bautista going up in the bottom of the seventh, and Joey Bats delivered with the equivalent of a basketball dunk posterizing someone:


LET'S GO HOME.


Tuesday, October 13

Brooklyn Rat Takes On Pigeon In Classic Battle Of Rodents


Epic Rat vs Pigeon fight in WilliamsburgThere can only be one! 󾇂🐀󾇂🐀󾇂🐀󾇂
Posted by New Yorkers on Tuesday, October 13, 2015


In what can best be described as "typical New York," a rat fought a pigeon in Brooklyn. And by fought, we mean killed. Someone caught it on video, so...enjoy?


Sunday, October 11

Dion Lewis's Catch And Touchdown Run Is The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of


The Patriots, in traditional New England fashion, stomped on their opponents today. The hapless victim this time around was the Dallas Cowboys, playing without their starting quarterback and top receiver, among other injuries.

Someone who WAS playing, though, was Patriots running back Dion Lewis, who made an absurd one-handed grab before juking four Cowboys players en route to a touchdown. It really must be seen to be appreciated, so...enjoy!


Saturday, October 10

Rams Linebacker Daren Bates Mocks Clay Matthews





With the Rams set to take on the Packers on Sunday, St. Louis linebacker Daren Bates is doing his best to make an impression. On practice Friday, Bates donned a yellow wig and took his job of roleplaying as Matthews to heart. It's quite spectacular. Will it result in a win on Sunday? Only time will tell!


Raven Symone Says She Wouldn't Hire Someone With A "Ghetto" Name



I remember thinking Raven Symone was kind of cute on That's So Raven (though of course her friend was much cuter). Either way, it's gone downhill. And now, sporting a hairdo that can be best be described as "rooster-esque," Symone is making waves on The View. Not in a good way, either.

Revisiting the wonderfully distasteful "Top Ghetto Names" video from...I don't know, a dozen years ago? the quintet of ladies at the table discuss if you'd be discriminatory against someone because of their name. Raven Symone would be, saying she wouldn't hire someone if their name was, say, "Watermelondrea." I'm assuming it's because it's a "ghetto" name, and not because it would make you want watermelon every time you talked to them, but either way, not the best work by Symone.




Friday, October 9

Royals Crew Member Gets Swallowed By Tarp During Rain Delay


Rain delays are a common part of baseball games. And quite often, the grounds crew is able to cover the field with a tarp without incident. Then other times, you get fantastic displays like the one in Kansas City.

With the Astros beating the Royals 3-1 in the top of the third inning, Mother Nature started getting angry, and rain began pouring down. The game was delayed while the crew began doing their thang. Unfortunately, one unlucky crew member slipped and fell. The tarp did not care and just kept rolling.



Fortunately, Tarp Guy, as he is now and probably will forever be known by, escaped uninjured. Those tarps are dangerous!

Thursday, October 8

Celebrate the 35th Anniversary Of College Music Journal Music Marathon, Sponsored by Champion


College Music Journal (CMJ) and Champion Athleticwear are teaming up to make sure the 35th anniversary of CMJ's music festival is the best one yet.

For the fifth consecutive year, Champion is the official sponsor of CMJ Music Marathon – one of the world’s most important platforms for the discovery of new music. Every year, CMJ takes over New York City with live performances, exclusive parties and cutting edge conference events.

Things kick off on October 13, going until Saturday, October 17. There are an absurd amount of artists playing, too; everyone from Acid Dad to The Wonder Years will grace the stage at some point during the event. If you're in NYC, it's not one to miss. Badges are still available on the website, and rock your Champion gear so you stay cool the whole time.




Wednesday, October 7

Angry Email About Hating Dance Music Gets Turned Into Giant Billboard



Steve Albini really doesn't like dance music. And understandably so, as quite a bit of modern dance music is, in a word, terrible. Albini is much better at describing how it irritates him than I am, and he didn't mince words in an email to producer Powell, who was writing to the former Big Black frontman to see if he could use a Big Black tune as a sample in one of his songs, "Insomniac."

Albini's response was pretty legendary; he digitally condemned all dance music has to offer, and said he didn't care what Powell did with his music, but he wouldn't be listening to it. Albini, noting the response was generating a bit of buzz, asked if he could use it as a billboard. Albini's reply? "Still don't care." Excellent. Here's the full text of the email below:

I am absolutely the wrong audience for this kind of music. I've always detested mechanized dance music, its stupid simplicity, the clubs where it was played, the people who went to those clubs, the drugs they took, the shit they liked to talk about, the clothes they wore, the battles they fought amongst each other...

Basically all of it: 100 percent hated every scrap.

The electronic music I liked was radical and different, shit like the White Noise, Xenakis, Suicide, Kraftwerk, and the earliest stuff form Cabaret Voltaire, SPK and DAF. When that scene and those people got co-opted by dance/club music I felt like we'd lost a war. I detest club culture as deeply as I detest anything on earth. So I am against what you're into, and an enemy of where you come from but I have no problem with what you're doing...

In other words, you're welcome to do whatever you like with whatever of mine you've gotten your hands on. Don't care. Enjoy yourself.

Steve


Persil Is Pretty Fantastic Detergent



Laundry detergent and cleaning supplies are hardly exciting topics, but the good folks at Persil sent me a sample of their ProClean Power-Liqud 2in1 laundry detergent, and it's pretty wonderful. As someone who is quite filthy–in fact, just today I splattered a bunch of five-cheese marinara sauce on my jeans–it's nice to have a detergent that'll get those stains out. Here are the benefits of Persil's detergent, in tidy bullet point form:
  • Pro-Lift Technology™ for the most powerful Persil stain-fighting detergent
  • Optimized for use in all washing machine types, including high efficiency (HE) washers
  • Use with white and colored laundry

And if that's not enough, the company has delightful commercials. Check out this ad from several years ago. Stay clean!




Monday, October 5

Honest Game Trailers: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater



Smosh TV is back with another Honest Game Trailer, this time to the tune of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. And I certainly agree: the music is the best part of that game. Now let's go do some kickflips. Enjoy!




Sunday, October 4

Austin Now Has Its Own Wakeboard Cable Park

Next Level Ride, a wakeboard cable park owned and operated by husband and wife team, Curt and Niki Sotkovski, just opened off of Highway 71. The pair joined a wakeboarding team in college, and that hobby turned into full-fledged passion, culminating in the creation of the Austin park.


A wakeboarding cable park is a man-made body of water, surrounded by large towers that connect a cable. A wakeboarder holds onto the cable as he or she is pulled around on the water navigating obstacles like ramps and rails. 


At Next Level Ride, the majority of the obstacles are custom-made by the Next Level Ride team. Riders of all ages can enjoy this fast growing outdoor water sport, even if you're as wildly inexperienced as me. Curt and Niki’s sons, Jackson (six years old) and Maddox (four years old) are getting the hang of it as they get lessons from their parents and Park Manager, Mike Pempsell on the Little Bro smaller cable. And if they can pull it off, anyone can.


The core Next Level Ride team have all graduated with kinesiology degrees, and are invested in helping people learn how to get their boarding on.


Even more events and obstacles will be added in the coming months, but for now, passes to the park can be purchased at http://nextlevelrideaustin.com. So take advantage of living in a place with nice weather 345 days of the year and catch a few waves! You'll have fun and make the Beach Boys proud. Win-win all around.

ESPN Cuts To Unaware SportsCenter Anchors During Dabo Swinney's Postgame Speech



After Clemson's emotional, close 24-22 win over Notre Dame last night, Dabo Swinney was interviewed about the win on the field. He spoke about...well, viewers didn't entirely know, because the broadcast cut away to ESPN anchors Jay Harris and Kevin Connors fiddling around on their tablets, likely making last-minute preparations for the show.

ESPN said it was just a technical glitch, though a lot of Twitter isn't buying it, as the cut happened as soon as Swinney started thanking God. I obviously don't know ESPN's intent, but having been in that situation where the broadcast cuts away to me when I wasn't paying attention, it's very annoying. Check it out below:



ESPN did post the interview in full, if you just didn't want to miss a single word Swinney said.


Friday, October 2

Chicago By The Sea - A Locally Sourced Joey Podcast




In this episode of Locally Sourced Joey, I speak with friend of the podcast Sarah Lewis. We talk about my former and her current home Chicago, how to make delicious recipes, and our favorite curse words. The answer may shock the **** out of your ears. Listen along, won't you?

Thursday, October 1

CardNinja Lets You Carry Your Valuables All Inside Your Phone


I'm a big fan of not having a ton of things in my pocket. But between wallet, phone, home and car keys, the occasional original iPod (yes, I am an old coot), and whatever other chapstick/sunscreen/Offspring CD from the mid-90s I want to keep in there, my pants get bulky super fast. And just the other day, the clip on my wallet broke, so what am I going to do with all of my extra cards and cash?

Enter CardNinja. This essentially serves as a pocket that fits snugly on your phone. The good folks from CardNinja sent me a sample to test out, and it's pretty wonderful. It's a spandex sleeve, so it can expand if you have some chunkier cards or wads of cash, and unless you're cramming in everything you own (CardNinja claims to hold up to eight cards and cash), you should be good to go. I've never had an issue with anything falling out, and I'm one of the most slovenly, unorganized people I know.


Of course, you'll need a smartphone to do this, but in this day and age, that's probably not even a concern for most people. And theoretically if you didn't have a smartphone, you could slap CardNinja on anything vaguely iPhone shaped and it would probably work just as well. Though I don't condone that, because why risk not following directions? If I ever decide to start running again, CardNinja's a good thing to have for when I invariably buy like six Gatorades after a brief two minutes in the Austin heat.


CardNinja retails for $9.99, and you can pick it up from a ton of places, including CVS and Amazon. Check it out!

Corpse Flower Blooms At Chicago Botanical Gardens




Having grown up in Chicago, I'm glad I got to visit the Botanical Gardens. There's plenty of good nature to see there, but recently, Alice the Amorphophallus Titanium, also known as a corpse flower, has popped up in full bloom.

Corpse flowers are so named because they smell like rotten flesh. Alice may look cool, but man, does she probably stink. I'll enjoy her from the safety of behind my computer screen.