Piecost.Net

[via Look at this fucking hipster]

[from Popjam]

Australians who grew up in the 1990s and didn’t have any TV reception limitations will more than likely remember The Late Show.  One of the thoughtful services this hour-long show offered was a toilet break at half time, where if necessary you were given 2 minutes’ respite from the sketch-based hilarity in which to pop out of the loungeroom – during which time they filled the space with selections from 1987’s daytime amateur talent show Pot Luck.

One of the appealing things about Pot Luck was resident judge, TV chef Bernard King.  In many ways King predated Simon Cowell’s bitchy behaviour, and possibly elements of Gordon Ramsay as well.  It is readily apparent that the auditioning process, assuming there was one, was significantly less stringent than in today’s equivalent programmes such as Pop Idol, X Factor, etc.  And yet watching these honest efforts by people with a passion for their art being given a chance to perform seems kinder than the snide packaging of “hilarious entrants in first round of auditions” in the more recent shows (yes, like William Hung).

A few highlights from the Pot Luck vaults, via The Late Show vaults…

1) David Thai, with his heartfelt rendition of John Farnham’s “Pressure Down”.  And choreography inspired by Michael Jackson, it would appear.

2) The promising moves of Todd Rixon, although unfortunately the performance was cut short due to dance-related calamity.

3) RAZIA.

Yes, it was Razia who garnered the immortal review from King – “Talent: nil. Presentaion: nil. Potential: totally nil. But a sum total of 10 for generosity”.

4) The Nelligan Sisters.  I used to have nightmares about this.

5) And finally, the incomparable… Piffy!

[prompted by MarkE]

Excellent, excellent bit o’ history here – Lucas & Spielberg chewing over ideas for their upcoming flick, Raiders of the Lost Ark, with their chosen writer, Lawrence Kasdan.

Kasdan — Do you have a name for this person?
Lucas — I do for our leader.
Spielberg — I hate this, but go ahead.
L — Indiana Smith. It has to be unique. It’s a character. Very Americana square. He was born in Indiana.
K — What does she call him? “Indy?”
L — That’s what I was thinking. Or “Jones.” Then people can call him “Jones.”

[Can't remember where I dug this one up - oops!!]

6 terabytes of disturbingly fast disk thanks to a RAID setup of 24 solid state drives.

Told you it was a nerd thing.

But… damn!

Genki Wear, purveyors of movie/TV sci-fi replica jewellery (which, let’s face it, is the natural extension of the sensible and normal love we all secretly harbour for the idea of owning a replica of the Headpiece of the Staff of Ra) are announcing a new range of cologne modelled on the Star Trek original series.  I wish I were making this up.

For the macho yet romantic stud in your life, why not buy a bottle of “Tiberius”?  Seemingly distilled from essence o’Shatner, “Tiberius Cologne for men is difficult to define and impossible to refuse”.

If you pump the spray nozzle, there's a pause of about 2 seconds before the stuff comes out.

Or, for the man who likes to live each day like it’s his last, why not embrace the mandarin, bergamot, leather and musk notes of Red Shirt?  As the box prophesies, “Because tomorrow may never come”.

[TrekMovie]

Foremost in my mind (because we had no hot water in the house this morning) is the quest for The Perfect Shower, and the Aquapeutics corporation may be the winners here for their new luxury shower, featuring (among other thing):

• Touch screen TV
• 6mm tempered glass
• Copper faucet
• Stainless steel frame
• Multi-function rotation sliding bar
• 4.5KX steam generator

Can't see a Turbo Boost button though...

Of course it limits your options as far as having a shower curtain with prints of t-bone steak on it, like we do.  But on the balance of it, I think I’d prefer this US$4200 piece of water-delivery excellence.

[Inquisitr]

Recently learned of a UK-based dog minding database, who have obviously based their name on a well-known chain of British discount shops.  Unfortunately (I guess) as a recently new arrival, the name they’ve chosen isn’t so much an obvious play on words relating to that shop chain, so much as a frigging disturbing concept.  The dog minding website?  Hound Stretcher.

Seems that Anne Loucks has come up with a foolproof system for dealing with EULAs (EULAe?) – get her cat to agree with them.  Cats aren’t generally legally liable for breaches of contract (presumably), so whenever she comes across a big arcance chunk of agreement text which she doesn’t know whether it’ll be detrimental to her agreeing to, she fits her keyboard with the special cardboard thing  then waits for kitty to ratify the agreement.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

[via /. - where they're (predictably) arguing about whether this setup would genuinely affect the legally bindingness of the EULA]

Following previous entry on Chris Morris and John Clarke, I stumbled across the latter’s new website, which features footage from 1985 of one of the infamous Reports on Farnarkeling.

By way of explanation of what Farnarkeling is, the website offers:

In essence, Farnarkeling is engaged in by two teams whose purpose is to arkle, and to prevent the other team from arkeling, using a flukem to propel a gonad through sets of posts situated at random around the periphery of a grommet. Arkeling is not permissible, however, from any position adjacent to the phlange (or leiderkrantz) or from within 15 yards of the wiffenwacker at the point where the shifting tube abuts the centre-line on either side of the 34 metre mark, measured from the valve at the back of the defending side’s transom-housing.

It’s virtually straight from the face-hole of Morris himself…