The Things You Learn from Government Agencies

While working on my Trademarks final exam, I was running searched on the PTO's website. Out of curiousity, I ran a search for "Harry Potter" (since one of our mock issues is the registration of the title of a single creative work as a trademark). A rather long list popped up, and a rather instructive one at that. It would seem as though Scholastic/Warner Bros., in an attempt to avoid trademark infringement, filed initial applications for a whole bunch of titles that they subsequently dropped - "Harry Potter and the Hogsmeade Tomb" or "Harry Potter and the Mudblood Revolt," anyone?

Not sure if the dropped titles provide any spoilerish insight, but it's an interesting list nonetheless.

Metallicar Jr. Spotted in the Wild!

I was at a car dealership this weekend where the owner was a bit of a classic car afficianado. I'd peeked into the warehouse on the side of the lot and spotted this:



To Compare:



At first glance, I thought it was a "Metallicar" , but it is a two-door, and the headlights are different. The salesman I asked about it did not know what year it was, though based on the body similarity, I'd peg it +/- 2 years from the '67 Impala.

I think Sammy needs one. Then Dean could tease him about it.

Six Degrees? More Like a Vancouver Clusterf**k

I guess I've been watching too much Sci-Fi Channel, but it certainly seems like certain actors have pretty much made the rounds of science fiction (or fantasy) shows produced in the last 7 years or so. The top winner, I'd say, is Grace Park, but listed below are some of the more prolific actors and their current and past roles.

Grace Park
Battlestar Galactica (Athena/Boomer/Sharon)
The Dead Zone
Jake 2.0
Dark Angel

Kandyse McClure
Battlestar Galactica (Dualla)
Smallville
Jake 2.0
Dark Angel

Aaron Douglas
Battlestar Galactica (Chief Tyrol)
Smallville
Dark Angel

Nicki Clyne
Battlestar Galactica (Cally)
Dark Angel

Jensen Ackles
Supernatural (Dean Winchester)
Smallville
Dark Angel

Did Battlestar Galactica just import every Dark Angel bit player they could find? I could probably go on, but I think the point is made.

And the Winner of April Fool's Day is...

Well, I'd say that honor goes to Teevee.org for their magnificent publication, the Television City Chronicle. The mimicry of the New York Times is dead on, as is the content (which there is a lot of). My favorite articles? "Brothers Suspected in Heartland Slayings"(and they even have a female crowd outside the jail demanding their release!), "Manic-Depressive With Blinky Light Saves London, Again", and "Cheerleader Saved; World's Fate Uncertain". Also a great lede: "Ruler of Make Believe Found Dead".

Sadly, Slashdot did not live up to past glories (OMG!!!PONIES!!!), and Google was reduced to, well, poop jokes. Better luck next year.

One More...

I just couldn't resist.

Fun with Sarcasm!

I've loved the idea of the disinspiration posters from Despair.com ever since a friend showed the ones she owns to me. But it appears they have taken their game to a new level - you can make your own posters using their diy Parody Motivator Generator. It is way too fun to play with. It's also a great way to vent rage at particular artefacts of pop culture (see above).

The most useless Mac Widget?

In honor of this site's namesake, I present what may be the most useless of all widgets developed for OS X (at least the German TV listings are useful for Germans): the Morse Code Translator Widget. Get it here.