Annals of Human Creativity! |
Recent A&E-related submissions to idea-a-day.com, a service that sends one free idea a day to subscribers:
SPORTS: Create a "safe space" at soccer grounds after the game has ended where rival fans who wish to fight each other can make their way to the pitch and hurt each other. No innocent fans need be involved and the emergency services can choose whether they wish to intervene. (Submitted by Anya Thorsteinsdottir)
MUSIC: Include additional biographical information with all music CDs which expands on the original sleeve notes. The information would explain what drugs the band were taking during recording, what personal problems the singer was going through, what the internal rifts were in the band and would give the listener a much fuller appreciation of the music. (By Chas Bayfield)
DINING: Design wine bottle labels so that they can be peeled off. Consumers can stick the labels somewhere safe to remind them at a later date of a bottle they enjoyed should they wish to buy it again. (By Rebecca Wood)
HOME: Develop a home entertainment system so that sensors detect the mood of the person entering a room and play music accordingly. (By Ellie)
WEB: Develop a system where a television can be connected to all computers in a house, allowing adults to check in on what their children are looking at on the internet. (By Graham Parker)
Book You Probably Won't Read But Should |
Little Green Handbook: Seven Trends Shaping the Future of Our Planet
Ron Nielsen
Picador, $15
This book says it plain and simple: We're using up our planet. Ron Nielsen identifies seven trends shaping the future of planet Earth, and, sad to say, they're not going to be easy to reverse. For starters, there are simply too many people and the resources they need are diminishing. Our water supplies are shrinking and our polluted atmosphere traps greenhouse gases. Plus, the way our society runs has produced great wealth and great poverty—a recipe for social unrest. Nielsen does throw us a few rays of sunshine. Soon, global urbanization will reach the halfway mark. Good news, because when the oil crunch hits, we can all walk to work together rather than drive. Yeah, that's the good news.
DVDs |
John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection (NR) (5 stars)
$79.98
The John Ford Film Collection (NR) (5 stars)
$59.98
John Wayne: An American Icon Collection (NR) (3 stars)
$26.98
Like "diva," the word "icon" has lost all meaning or power to impress. But as an icon, John Wayne was all that and a bag of chewing tobacco. Whether he wore a Stetson or a military uniform, he stood for America. John Ford, this country's greatest film director, saw in Wayne what much of the world saw in the U.S., and they accounted for many of the most memorable cinematic moments of the 20th century. (Wayne would also embody our leaders' impatience with the rest of world's reluctance to go along with the program laid out by Wall Street and the Pentagon.) Warners' John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection is comprised of such essential titles as The Searchers, Stagecoach, Fort Apache, The Wings of Eagles and others. The John Ford Film Collection extends his vision beyond the Wayne iconography in Cheyenne Autumn (seen as an apology of sorts for the racist excesses of The Searchers), The Informer, Sergeant Rutledge, The Lost Patrol and Mary of Scotland. There's little to recommend John Wayne: An American Icon Collection, which includes Seven Sinners, The Shepherd of the Hills, Pittsburgh, Jet Pilot and The Conqueror, in which the Duke played Genghis Khan—generally acknowledged to be Wayne's worst movie.
Maxim Does Vegas! |
This week Maxim announced a deal for a hotel-casino, scheduled to open in 2010 near Circus Circus. How will creators give the place that Maxim touch?
Video poker and other lengthy, tediously literary games replaced by high-stakes Jell-O wrestling.
Maids required to drink on the job.
"Living sculpture" of bulimic supermodels erupts every half hour in hotel lobby.
Lengthy, tediously literary all-you-can-eat buffet replaced by huge pyramid of hot wings.
Soft-core porn in lobby, elevators, men's rooms, valet area, cashier line, buffet line, showroom line, nightclub line, gaming tables, slot machines, lounges and all miscellaneous spaces, as well as hotel room.
Absolutely no fruity French-Canadian acrobats, ever.