Link roundup

1. Gizmodo wants to hire a graffiti artist (and is actually inviting submissions by any type of artist). (It's a pay gig.)

2. Yet another great post by Jim Shooter about Marvel history, this time starring Bill Sienkiewicz. Click through to read about how he got his start at Marvel. Here's a taste:

Bill wasn’t invited to San Diego that year, but wanted to go. Bill was athletic—probably still is, I haven’t seen him for a while—and just the right size for the Spider-Man costume Marvel used for its character public appearance program (things like the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn).

I told Bill that if he’d wear the costume for a few events, Marvel would pay for the trip, all expenses. Save him significant dough. He agreed.

3. Nike estimates that LeBron James winning the NBA title could lead to a $4 billion bump in business in China. $4 billion approximates the entire NBA's revenues. Via.

Video of LeBron James bumping his current and former coaches

Video of LeBron James bumping his current coach (Erik Spoelstra) and former coach (Mike Brown). Via these sites.

*Buy LeBron James toys at eBay.

LeBron's Choice

UPDATE: Well, I gave ESPN too much and too little credit. They absolutely deserve credit for figuring out that LeBron was headed to Miami, and reporting as much. But they also put together an excruciatingly unwatchable show. Very strange for LeBron to choose to make the announcement a tv event, and then act like he was facing a firing squad during the show.

As of 5:05, ESPN is still reporting that all signs are LeBron signing with Miami. If LeBron signs with Cleveland instead, we'll know that ESPN is totally unreliable and/or totally unreliable because they're intentionally manufacturing a fairy tale (like their parent company, Disney). So, the narratives to look for in tonight's epic show:

1. Fairy Tale: Once upon a time there was a king in cleveland. He experienced a challenging defeat and was sorely tempted to abandon his kingdom and move to a glamorous city. But he was brave and loyal, and stood by his faithful subjects.

2. Watch ESPN and LeBron play up the misleading claim that advertising dollars earned during the one hour show are going to charity. Compare that claim to any visible evidence of LeBron's personal sponsors, which include Nike, State Farm, and Microsoft, which has a giant Bing search box on LeBron's personal site.

To get up to speed for tonight's telecast, read Bill Simmons's article on LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. Wade and Bosh apparently had a documentary crew follow them around as they wrestled with their decisionmaking.

And here's two LeBron videos:


Lebron degrading a ballboy.



LeBron losing at HORSE.

Video roundup

Tremendously boring video featuring Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear discussing The Mongoliad.



Cool commercial by Wieden + Kennedy for the Honda CR-Z.




Lebron James degrading a ballboy.



Scott Pilgrim videogame trailer.

Lost Wars: Because Adding Jedis Can Fix Anything -- powered by Cracked.com

Lost finale/Star Wars mashup.




Disturbing video shows how a starfish rights itself when turned upside down. Via these fine sites.

Cartoon Brawl t-shirt (link roundup)

Today's $9 Tee Fury t-shirt by Damian King features classic cartoon characters fighting.

And a few more links:

1. From Bill Simmons latest excellent mailbag:

maybe there should be a Real Men of Genius Hall of Fame. Our first draft class could include, the guy who came up with the idea for women to shave their legs; Danny Biasone (the guy who invented the 24-second shot clock in basketball); the guys who invented aspirin, Halloween, the snooze button, the remote control, pizza and gambling. That's a killer first class. And my friend Wildes thinks we should throw in the first guy who looked at a cow and said "F this, I'm drinking that milk" in a fit of thirsty bestiality. That's a strong first class.

More importantly ... couldn't you want to walk around a Hall of Fame like this for hours? Why doesn't it exist? Why hasn't Budweiser built a Real Men of Genius Hall of Fame in St. Louis? This wouldn't replace the Arch and Albert Pujols as the No. 1 attraction in that city?

2. And from the same mailbag, have you heard of the LeBomb James? Pour 3 packs of Splenda on your hands, drop a shot of Crown Royal into a glass of Red Bull, chug it down, then throw the Splenda up in the air like baby powder.

3. There's apparently a new, increasingly popular formula for making methamphetamine that involves simply shaking the chemicals in a bottle. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Darwin fans), it's just as combustible as the old way, and frequently leads to bottles exploding in people's hands. Via.

*Previously: 2 inmates brawl over Woody Allen.

*Buy NBA bobbleheads at eBay.

Homemade Coraline Doll (link roundup)

Mammazakka made a tiny Coraline doll. More photos, including a few in progress shots, in her Flickr gallery. Relatedly, recent posts at Evil Buttons, my Coraline site, have included more giveaways and Coraline concept art.

And a few more links:

1. LeBron James weighs is 6'8", but supposedly weighs more than the center on his team - - 7'3", 260-pound Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

2. There was a thriving market for used light bulbs in the Soviet Union. Go here and scroll 2/3 of the way down to find out why. Via.

3. General Motors, which accepted $9.4 billion in bailout money from US taxpayers gave Super Bowl MVP and multi-millionaire Santonio Holmes an $85,000 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Platinum. They did it with as little publicity as possible to avoid uproar. Via.

4. If you're interested in what sort of traffic "big" websites get, Atlantic.com is crowing that their new "Business Channel" gets 20,000 page views a day.

*Previously: Video of LeBron James losing at HORSE.

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.