1. I mentioned before that I actually preferred Last.fm to Spotify because it does a decent job streaming songs you might like, while Spotify is just a big library. Well, here's Lifehacker's recommendations for how to get a similar service at Spotify.

2. I'm not sure if I've posted about this before, but Boise State's college football team has enjoyed an unfair advantage for years - - they wear blue uniforms and play on a blue field, which makes it very difficult for opposing coaches to study their formations (the players blend into the background). Well, they can't wear the uniforms on that field anymore.

3. Japan is drilling for "burning ice," hoping it will replace nuclear power.

4. Free ios games (at least as of this moment): Allied Star Police by Popcap, To-Fu: The Trials of Chi. Via.

READ MORE - Link roundup

Gallery of photos from a trip to Disney Sea in Japan.

*Buy Tokyo Disneyland toys at eBay.

READ MORE - Disney Sea in Japan

Photo of a Rosy Maple Moth.



Cat, lightning, volcano wallpaper.



Faux virus wallpaper.



Cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji.



Darwin, Tesla, and an explosion of science.

READ MORE - Image roundup

1. You didn't really buy that nonsense about how great the yakuza was for keeping order in Japan after the tsunami right? The nuclear power plants failed probably in no small part because they were dominated by the yakuza.

2. The latest incredibly raw personal story from Penelope Trunk - - the heart of the post is a really good message - - if you want a happy relationship, you have to be brave enough to tell you partner what's really bothering you.

3. The BBTS has new Marvel Universe preorders - -sets feature Tony Stark, Iceman, Absorbing Man, Astonishing Wolverine, Magneto, Ultron, Darkhawk, Sub-Mariner, X-23, Steve Rogers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy I posted earlier today.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Julie Taymor blaming others for the failure of the Spider-Man musical:

“It’s very scary if people are going more towards that, to have audiences tell you how to make a show,” said Ms. Taymor, a Tony Award-winning director of “The Lion King” and other stage works and films. “Shakespeare would have been appalled. Forget about it. It would be impossible to have these works come out because there’s always something that people don’t like.”

Because everyone knows of how respectful audiences were in Shakespeare's time.

2. Idoru used to promote a Japanese ice cream. Here's the commercial itself. Via.

3. Transformers: Turn Off the Moon kid's meal toys at Burger King.

4. I like the muted colors on this blog layout. Even the icons look like they were doodled in ink.

5. For Californians, one pundit's analysis of the current budget battle.

*Buy Happy Meal toys at eBay.

READ MORE - Link roundup

Tokyo Rockabilly Club. (Lots more videos and pics available.)



Jello prank.



Penguinologist.



The view from Mount Reinebringen.

READ MORE - Image roundup

Decaying theme park attractions by Daniel Danger for his show at Cotton Candy machine. Via.

And speaking of abandoned theme parks, check out this gallery of photos of Gulliver's Kingdom, an abandoned theme park in Japan based on Gulliver's Travels:



Via.

*Buy amusement park collectibles at eBay.

READ MORE - Decrepit amusement park attractions by Daniel Danger

1. Photo gallery of Salarymen Sleeping in Tokyo Streets.

2. "Harvard and other major American universities are working through British hedge funds and European financial speculators to buy or lease vast areas of African farmland in deals..." This land grab is definitely not a new story, although it's interesting that the universities are in on the action.

3. BPRD Plague of Frogs #1 is a free digital download right now.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. T-shirt design contest, where the goal is to remix McBess's art.

2. Niche blog The Yelp Elite highlights amusing comments by Yelpers. For example:

Russo’s is a master of details…can’t help but notice the napkin changes that are made throughout the evening….1st is a Damask napkin, followed by a Chic dinner napkin and later changed to a Wilshire dessert napkin….Can’t imagine the huge pile of linens in the laundry area.

Via.

3. Tsunami stones in Japan:

Hundreds of so-called tsunami stones, some more than six centuries old, dot the coast of Japan, silent testimony to the past destruction that these lethal waves have frequented upon this earthquake-prone nation. But modern Japan, confident that advanced technology and higher seawalls would protect vulnerable areas, came to forget or ignore these ancient warnings, dooming it to repeat bitter experiences when the recent tsunami struck.

Via.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Quantum Mechanix collectibles are buy 1 item, get a 2nd at 40% off until April 18th at Entertainment Earth. (That includes Battlestar Galactica Propaganda Posters, and Battlestar Galactica Evolution of the Cylon Poster.)

2. Elderly Japanese commonly store their money in home safes, and recently hundreds of safes swept away by the tsunami have come back ashore.

3. If you missed the announcement, this month's art contest is creating a 404 error page for the Nintendo 3DS.

READ MORE - Link roundup

Alex Pardee created this print to honor the engineers trying to get the Fukushima reactor under control Proceeds will go to the engineers' families.

READ MORE - Heroes print by Alex Pardee

1. Tremendous news - - ESPN is bringing back Jon Gruden's quarterback camp:

Gruden will conduct film sessions with Ryan Mallett of Arkansas, Jake Locker of Washington, Andy Dalton of TCU, Cam Newton of Auburn and Blaine Gabbert of Missouri as part of an hour-long special that will air Thursday, April 21.

2. Supposedly, foreigners in Japan who left after the tsunami are being called "fly-jin."

3. Katy Perry's cat is named Kitty Purry.

READ MORE - Link roundup

Illustration by Thomas Allen for Newsweek.



Zombie hunting bride and groom wedding invitations. Via.



T-shirt by The Beast Brothers to benefit Japan. Via.



Machine Man by Farel Dalrymple.



New Yorker cover by Christopher Niemann.

*Buy Machine Man toys at eBay.

READ MORE - Illustration roundup

Just a small selection of the already enormous amount of art contributed to the Tsunami project. It'll be auctioned off to benefit Japan and also sold as a book. You can participate here.


Mathieu Forichon.



Olivier Ferra.



Mara.



Éléonore Della Malva.



Labourot & Lerolle.



David Revoy.



Giovanni Rigano.



Menzan.



Alödâh.



Xavier Colette.




Aurélien Morinière.



GrivetArt.



Rémi Maynègre.



Krystel.



Kuru.



Quibe.



Clément Lefèvre.



Hk.

READ MORE - Tsunami art project

Supposedly 100 of these drops must be completed.

READ MORE - Watch helicopters dropping water on the Fukishima power plant

Apparently this statue is at the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant. (I couldn't find mention of it anywhere else.) Via.

READ MORE - Happy Atom Statue at the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant

1. "Family firms" (firms where one relative takes control of a business when another relative steps down) do far better in Japan than the rest of the world. Why? Because Japanese families adopt an adult to run the family firm.

2. Jim Shooter started writing The Legion of Super Heroes when he was in high school, and based the characters on kids he knew:

With Mort's blessing I struggled to find raison d'etre for a character called Bouncing Boy, who previously had been offered up at face value, and played straight and serious. I found my Bouncing Boy among my Bethel Park Senior High classmates, in the person of a friend whose initials, T.K., and slightly rotund body had earned him the nickname "Teakettle." Going through high school coping with a weight problem and the name Teakettle is not a whole lot different, I think, than being Bouncing Boy in the Legion of Super-Heroes. Thus, in my mind, they became one, and BB grew into a bright-but-insecure, self-effacing, lovable guy who was resigned to the role of comic relief and once described himself as the Legion's "...self-appointed chief of morale."

3. "An NFL lockout could have dire snack food consequences, and the chicken wing industry is bracing itself for the worst."

READ MORE - Link roundup

Posters by MIMIC and Patricio Oliver on sale for $15 to benefit Japan.

READ MORE - More posters for Japan

1. More fascinating predictions about what Japan's nuclear future will look like.

2. Don't forget to participate in the X-Men poster design contest where the prize is four t-shirts from Last Exit to Nowhere. I've heard the movie described as a James Bond movie with Magento as Bond. And the trailer looks like the X-Men with a Mad Men-style makeover. You're in no way limited to using only Xavier and Magneto in your poster designs.

3. There's still art available from the Super Punch tarot at Bear and Bird.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Absolutely fascinating educated guess as to what's going on with the failed nuclear plant in Japan.

2. Destructoid gave the Dead Space 2 add on "Severed" a 6 out of 10.

3. A detailed look at how the Haunted Mansion's stretching portraits have changed over time. Via.

*Buy Disneyland collectibles at eBay.

READ MORE - Link roundup