ZooBorns: Animal Babies from Zoos Around the World

I love cute things.  Cute baby animals especially.  ZooBorns is my new favorite website for this reason.  Not only do they have pictures of cute and exotic animal babies from zoos and aquariums across the globe, but they also give information about the animals and keep you updated on their stories.

ZooBorns also has the animals in categories, so if you love otters, click on the “otters” link and it will show you all the otter stories.  You can also sort by zoo or aquarium, so you can see the stories about the animals at your local zoo or your favorite zoo across the world.  It’s a fun site that is also educational and helps to promote the well-being of animals.  Click here to check it out: ZooBorns

Since I’m from Cincinnati, I looked up the Cincinnati Zoo stories, and there was a great one about a baby cheetah and a Anatolian shepherd puppy becoming friends.  Tommy T the cheetah and Pow Wow the puppy were introduced when they were babies and have become good friends.  The site has some adorable pictures and this great video of their first meeting:

Grocio – Find Cheap Groceries

When I go grocery shopping I know the things that are cheaper at one store and those that I wait to pick up at another for better prices.  I always thought it would be nice to know what the sales were before I headed out, and which store would give me the cheapest price overall so I didn’t have to go jumping from place to place.  Grocio is a new web service that has given us that option.

The site has a simple and quick registration, where you put in a user name and your zip code.  Then you will be able to compare prices at stores all around your area without having to leave home.  You can choose which stores you want to compare, then type in your grocery list.  Grocio then will give you the cost of buying those items at each store you selected and let you know what your total would be at each place.  They also match coupons to your purchases which you can print out and bring to the store with you to save extra money.

Grocio is a completely free service which is launching this week in Arizona and will soon be all over the country.  You can register now and they will let you know when it is available in your area.

Click here to visit the site: Grocio

Click Read More to see a quick instructional video on how the site works.
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Star Jones Launches Blog: Positively Star

Star Jones celebrated her 47th birthday today by launching a blog, Positively Star.  I had to check it out, just to see what Star Jones could possibly have to share that is so important.  Well, go figure, it’s one of those female empowerment, love life, live in the moment, celebrate yourself blogs that makes me want to do everything opposite of what it says just to find a source of anger in these overly optimistic people.

For example, Star has dubbed Wednesday as “Wonderful Wednesday,” saying, “What is wonderful in your life?  Why are you happy?  What gives you joy?  Who makes you happy?  This is the place and time to cheer our lives and loves!”  I got my hopes up when I saw “Tell it Like it Is Thursday,” thinking there would at least be one day a week to vent and complain, but no.  She describes it as “What issues matter to you?  What can we do to be better? How can we elevate our own game?  Let’s challenge each other to take it to the next level.  Joyous Praise and Gentle Criticism…all in an effort to grow.”

Okay, it’s really not a bad thing to be positive.  It might not be my personal way of life, but I appreciate those who are genuinely happy.  But actually blocking out anything that isn’t happy and sunshine isn’t the way to go.  When Star got a few negative comments on her blog what did she do?  Admit that life isn’t always perfect?  No.  She compared those people to the KKK!  She put up a picture of a Klan member and said, “all of you anonymous stone throwers  might as well be wearing a white sheet…(and I don’t care what color your skin is under it)…because you’re a  bunch of cowards.”  So apparently Star really can’t handle criticism.  And anyone who doesn’t agree with her must in a racist group.  Be careful if you decide to comment on that blog.  You might get grouped in with the KKK.

If you want to see Star’s prozac enhanced words for yourself, check it out here: Positvely Star

Green Day’s American Idiot Musical (Appropriately Named)

This isn’t the first time a band’s music has been made into a musical.  ABBA’s music inspired Mamma Mia! which has seen incredible success, and the music of The Who led to Tommy which hit Broadway in 1993.  But Green Day?  Not exactly what you would call a “classic” band.  Green Day might have led the way into the punk movement, but does that make a good musical?  No matter what I say, the Grammy winning band does have extreme popularity.  The American Idiot album sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

I admit I was a fan of their early music.  I probably listened to “Basket Case” on repeat for a year.  But then when I saw what they had done to popular music I was appalled.  Thanks to Green Day, we now have punk bands overflowing the radio stations, with their whiny vocals and unorganized guitar jams.  It seems like any dirty angry kid can start a punk band now.  If bands like All American Rejects and Sum 41 can make it, anyone can.

From my observations, here are some tips for a successful punk band.  Tip 1: Don’t shower.  Tip 2: Get angry over unimportant situations.  Tip 3: Lyrics must be hard, if not impossible to understand.  Tip 4: Do totally crazy and disgusting things, like drink your own urine on stage (I’m not making this up.  Pete Wentz of punk band Fallout Boy just did this at a live concert last week.)  Tip 5 (Most Important): WHINE CONSTANTLY!

So if these are the keys to a good musical these days, then art and culture is about to take a violent downturn with American Idiot rocking theatre stages.  Michael Mayer, a Tony Award winning writer, co-wrote the musical’s book with Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day.  Billie Joe came up with the ideas for the punk musical, and the band will be credited with all the music for the show.

So far no one is willing to give a summary of the storyline for the musical, but the theme of the album was that of a post-9/11 society dealing with “broken dreams” and the realities of life.  They have announced that there will be 19 characters in the show, all in their 20s.  Characters in the album include Jesus of Suburbia (and his drug-dealing alter-ego St. Jimmy) and Whatshername (St. Jimmy’s anarchist girlfriend), so these might be some of the same ones used for the musical.

American Idiot will open on stage at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in September.  Funny that one of the songs from American Idiot is called “Wake Me Up When September Ends”…

Ziggy the Painting Dog

Ziggy is a Pekingese who “loves” to paint.  At least his delusional owner says he loves to paint.  She picks the colors, then he swipes the paintbrush on the canvas and creates “abstract art.”  From watching some of Crazy Dog Mom’s YouTube videos, it looks like Ziggy wishes he was dead at times…which makes him much like any other artist really.  You have to be a little angsty and emotional to make great art, right?  Sometimes he paints away like it’s the greatest job on earth, then in other videos he falls over and pretends to be dead to get out of work.

Ziggy seems to be getting a little sick of stardom…he is busy these days, being featured on news programs around the world and also hosting his own “talk” show.  “The Ziggy Show” airs on BlogTV.com Sundays and Wednesdays at 9pm EST.

The funniest part to me are the names that Crazy Dog Mom comes up with for Ziggy’s paintings.  The one above is called “Summer Palace,” for example.  I’m sure that Ziggy was envisioning a summer palace when he painted that.  They should probably all be titled “Dog Food,” because I’m sure that’s what most of his inspiration comes from.

Click Read More to see some videos of Ziggy painting.
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MTV to Actually Play MUSIC?

MTV stands for “Music Television,” in case anyone has forgotten.  It’s been years since MTV actually played the music videos which first made them famous.  Over the past 10 years or so, as reality TV has grown in popularity, MTV has created a lineup of shows that catered to a young reality hungry audience.  They did create the first reality show (“Real World”) after all.  And from there it went on to include things like “Road Rules,” “The Hills,” and reality dating shows such as “Next.”

We all might agree that MTV’s reality shows are much less realistic than any other.  The way people live on “Survivor” probably comes closer to real life than “The Hills.”  Unless you are a multi-millionaire 20 year old with 5 boyfriends and a job where you gossip to co-workers all day about how difficult your life of clubbing and beach parties can be.

So what happened to the music on Music Television?  Apparently it’s going to get another chance.  On MTV’s new segment, “AMTV,” they will once again start playing music videos…for 6 hours a day!  Of course, it will be between 3am-9am, but at least it’s a start.  They are calling it a test-run to see if viewers really are interested in seeing more videos, as so many people have been asking what happened to the music part of MTV.  With the recent cancelation of “TRL,” the only music show they had left, it seemed as though MTV was completely done with music.  It’s great to see it gets one more chance, even if all the viewers will be sleeping through it.

Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island

Martin Scorsese’s newest film endeavor, Shutter Island, has been slated for an October 2nd release date.  With one of the most popular directors of our time and an all-star cast (which includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer, and Michelle Williams), this is a film that will probably dominate the theaters just as The Departed did a few years ago.

The film is based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, who wrote Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, which were also turned into critically acclaimed films.  IMDb’s summary says the drama “is set in 1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding on the remote Shutter Island.”

The teaser poster was released this week, and the RopeofSilicon website managed to get their hands on a copy (above).

Sherlock Holmes Teaser Poster

The teaser poster for director Guy Ritchie’s new Sherlock Holmes movie, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the detective, was released at ShoWest.  The poster is pretty simple, which is typical for a teaser — just enough to get you interested in seeing more.  A few stills from the film have also surfaced recently, getting mystery fans excited about the movie’s potential.

Guy Ritchie’s very public divorce from Madonna hasn’t exactly hurt his fame status lately either, and will undoubtedly pique more people’s interest towards his new work.  I haven’t exactly been very impressed by any of the promos for the film so far, but I guess it’s still too early to tell.

Jude Law co-stars as Watson, and Rachel McAdams will play Irene Adler.  The film hits theaters this Christmas.

The Outbreak – Interactive Movie

When you watch a movie, do you yell at the characters?  Get frustrated when they make the wrong choice?  Scream at them for going down a dark hallway alone when a killer is on the loose?  With the new interactive online film, The Outbreak, you have a say in every major decision the characters make.  You watch about 2 minutes of the movie, then you are presented with a screen with two choices.  What you pick will decide the fates of the characters and change the outcome of the movie.

The Outbreak begins with a group of people running into a house from a zombie attack.  One man is bleeding and they have to decide if they should kill him or not — did the zombies infect him?  Is he going to turn?  It’s up to you; your first choice is to let him live or die.  From that decision the movie can go different ways, and you will be presented with more choices as you go on.  It’s a lot like those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books that used to be popular.  I loved those as a kid, and this is the future of that idea.

Would you survive a zombie attack?  Are you really smarter than the characters you yell at in the movies?  Click here to play the movie and find out: The Outbreak

Click Read More if you want to check out the trailer for the film.
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London’s Container City

Since tonight is Earth Hour, I thought it was appropriate to concentrate on the subject of the environment.  Container City in London was designed by Urban Space Management in 2001.  It is made completely from shipping containers with recycled materials added in for windows and balconies.  Shipping containers are usually sent to the dump after they are used, but by turning them into homes and offices, Urban Space Management has created the ultimate plan in large scale recycling.

The city looks modern and unique, and is also an incredibly cheap option.  Building materials are already there, so the cost of construction is very low and the process is fast.  Using more materials that are ready for use instead of creating more helps out the environment and the cost of living — two things that we are having a problem with in the world today.

The History Channel did a special on Container City, which you can watch after clicking Read More.
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