It's exciting, innit, to see little baby internet grow so big, and so useful! So much free crap!

Still, there are nights when you read about a fella (f'rinstance, Naftule Brandwein) performing for Murder, Inc. in the 1920s, dressed in an Uncle Sam suit draped with hundreds of Christmas lights which almost electrocute him when he gets too sweaty. And you think, Great! I'd like to see a picture of that! But there isn't a picture anywhere. There's scarcely any music.

Here is some audio from PBS, and here is where I found the best photo.

For more Naftule, I guess you just have to hit the record shops. If there are any left.

It may be more expensive than a sheet of blotter acid, but it will have the same immediate effect, and will not reduce your brain to a cheesy rind: the Terry Gilliam's Personal Best DVD.

55 minutes of cut-out historical figures shuffling about and wagging their jaws, for your amusement. Plus helpful tips from the Gill hisself.

I spent my hard-earned money on this, and boy am I glad I did.

It has happened to all of us... you wake to find hundreds of sightless muppets playing klezmer music in your apartment, coaxing you into the afterworld, beaning you with hard black bread. Still, it's refreshing to see a film about this sort of humdrum daily goings-on. Thanks, again, to the HCB - the hardest working man in show business.

I recommend checking in at the famous hydrocephalicbunny blog at least every day, if not every 20 minutes or so, but today is an especially irrresistable day. The HCB man has important updates regarding sculptures by John Casey (at right), animation by Richard Condie, and a terrific video for Sigur Ros by Liron Damir. I have said it before, and I say it again: make HCB part of your daily wakeup, alongside multivitamins and feeding the gerbils. A must!

Apologies to Russian-speaking wee ones reading this, since this clip seems to have been dubbed with Russian dialogue that sounds like it may not be entirely wholesome. But the visuals are just so gumbylicious, and the tenor of the mismatched dialogue is pretty giggly. Plus, it's free.

It's from russiananimation.com, via cartoonbrew. Lots of great stuff at these sites, and of course at youtube!

Wal-Mart will begin selling anti-gravity coils in 2009, according to this news brief. From sciencedaily.com.

I hope everybody knows how much fun flickr is... I can spend hours poking around it. I just figured out how well its "most interesting" feature works when you look up a favorite artist/architect. Try it!

Gaudí

Hundertwasser

Niki de St. Phalle (more here)

Simon Rodia

Guimard

...and then feast your eyes on sint-katelijne-waver's set of pictures (above). Not too ugly, eh?

There is so much amazing octopus footage online now, it's hardly worth putting on the giant brass helmet and walking around the ocean floor anymore.

Today is a special day: the day that Gabe Hufstutler posted his logo for Random Cartoons at the Frederator blog. I hope we see more of this promising young talent in the near future. Thanks Gabe!!

Why The 1970s Scared the Bejeezus Out Of Me:

1. The Superfriends danger theme (sadly, this seems to be unavailable online at the moment, but here are some Superfriends arrangements to put you in the right mood - I recommend this LIVE RECORDING OF A MARCHING BAND playing the SF theme). I actually have a Pavlovian fear response to this theme, if I so much as remember it.

2. The Dunwich Horror. Available for any 3rd-grader to read, at the local library.

3. A Pictorial History of Horror Movies by Denis Gifford - a terrifying monster book my friend Bob had. Scared me but good, when I was 7. A bunch of times.

4. Power Records' The Mark of the Man-Wolf Book and Record (at left).

5. The vampire from Star Trek.

6. The vampire from Buck Rogers. (thanks, Jeff, for bringing that up again).

7. Finally, and most traumatically, Oompa loompas .