Welcome to the Wednesday Walk Around the Web, where we weave & wind through weblinks weekly. Hopefully you will find the links on offer amusing, interesting, or, occasionally, profound. Do you have a link you want to see featured in next week’s Wednesday Walk? Email Glenn!
- Bon Rappetite is an Atlanta restaurant that serves up the best puns in all the land. Come for the Pone Thungs & Hominy, stay for the Ol’ Dirty Custard.
- Finally, Emily Dickinson’s made it to Grindr. (Link contains occasional NSFW anatomical descriptions.)
- Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman is getting a refresh for a new generation.
- This Week in Radical Recontextualization: “Gangsta’s Paradise” meets metal. You can vote for the original in our 90s music tournament too.
- Travis Banks makes his return to these hallowed halls with more contributions. First, let’s take a moment to consider the great contributions to western culture Kurt Russell has made with his arms unencumbered by any fabric. Then, we have something to tell you about Kevin from Home Alone and his sad, sad story.
- A cop who killed a “beloved trophy elk” got a more severe punishment than the murderers of black folk. “Nobody wants an officer like this in any police department,” said a local district attorney.
- In Ireland, a guy was sentenced for punching a Monet painting, aaaaaand apparently also had a bunch of stolen stuff in his home. Haven’t we all been there?
- How did watermelons become a racist trope? One answer is pretty typical: first they were symbols of African-American liberation, so of course white folks couldn’t let that stand. Further digging reveals more interesting history, though the bones of the story are the same.
- Check out an astrophysicist’s recreation of Starry Night using Hubble images.
- When the local news station’s weather computer fails, the broadcasters have to improvise.
- Just so you know, the world’s still awful: in North Korea 80 people were executed for watching the wrong movies. In the US, the Senate Intelligence Committee has released its report on torture by the CIA. And that’s the information they released.
- YouTube’s, like, changed, man.
- Shimer College is the worst school in the US.
- This Week in Art: 3D graffiti floats off the wall.
- If you want to make action comedy, Jackie Chan is a pretty danged good source of inspiration.
- “One size fits most” clothing does a distinctly poor job of fitting several.
As the year 2014 is coming to a close (I hate to be the one to break it to you), it’s time to look back on some of the Wednesday Walk’s greatest hits this year. Permit me a few highlights:
- Who could forget the wondrousness of nature, as seen in the simple joy of a dolphin jerking it so right?
- In Ecuador, the cast of Space Jam was burned in effigy to ring in the new year. Make this New Year’s Eve worthy of remembrance!
- Angela Lansbury is a Dame of the British Empire. How many people have to be taken out before she becomes the queen?
- Composer Wojciech Kilar died almost a year ago. Listen to his Exodus; do it for the Walker.
- Victorian Doctor Mad Libs knows what ails you.
- There have been dozens of proposals for splitting up states in the US. Let’s just go through with all of ’em.
- VIKING WITCHES. That is all.
