1. True Hoop: "Poor handwriting on a birth certificate changed Shane Battier's family name from 'Battle' to 'Battier' and they just went with it."



2. I didn't see the movie, so I don't know if I'd agree, but both reviews I read of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (produced and co-written by Guillermo del Toro) criticized the monster design.



3. From the introduction to a podcast: "Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk co-founded BioWare, the RPG-oriented group that now consists of five locations within Electronic Arts. They started out as doctors (actual practicing medical doctors, mind you), and BioWare was once a developer of games as well as medical software."



4. The upcoming Aliens game for the DS sounds terrific.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Comment and win a comic book-themed prize pack.



2. "According to a new report and subsequent story in the Washington Post, in the first six months of 2011, the USPS paid $4.3 million in compensation to workers on 'standby time' – work hours where, due to low mail volume, employees show up to work but just sit in the break room. In 2009, $30.9 million was paid in 'standby' salary."



3. Grantland on the NBA: "Michael Jordan is . . . one of the most adamant owners in favor of reducing player salaries."



4. Since Olly Moss's Resistance 3 cover art is in the news today, allow me to mention that I posted wallpaper-sized versions in May.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. The winners of the Neil Gaiman-inspired short story competition.



2. Weekly Standard reporter in Libya:

I helped call in my first NATO strike yesterday. We were being shelled.

Via.



3. Apparently Ron Artest is going to be on Dancing With the Stars.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Getting banned from Google+ not only leads to being banned from other Google services, but also apparently prevents you from even viewing other people's public Google+ pages.



2. Bill Simmons's latest podcast is an hour-long interview with David Stern about the state of the NBA lockout.



3. The Germanic conquest of England, circa 400 AD:

The massive movement of people was apparently triggered in 407 A.D., the year in which the ailing Roman Empire withdrew much of its army from Britain. Soon afterwards, it stopped paying its soldiers altogether. As a result, the last legionaries took off.



This left the island unprotected, an opportunity that the starving people on the continent couldn't pass up. Angles, Saxons and Jutes left their mound dwellings and broad bean fields in the wetlands of northern Europe in droves.



Entire family clans set out to sea, usually in the spring and summer when the water was calm. Their ships were bulging with household goods, cows and horses. According to an old chronicle, the land of the Angles was soon "abandoned."

Via.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Photos of Shaq and his tiny girlfriend, who was apparently on Flavor of Love.



2. "An employee of the Mark Twain House and Museum in West Hartford, Conn., has admitted in court to embezzling $1 million from the organization that maintains the author's historic home."



3. Penelope Trunk has a good take on negative blog comments.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. File away this prediction by Bill Simmons:

Best-case scenario: NBA season starts in Feb. And that's the best-case scenario. I don't think I've ever been more disenchanted with Stern.

2. Map of time capsules buried under Los Angeles. Via.

3. More 3A Toys news:

ThreeA is proud to announce that it has partnered with amazing Japanese artist Kow Yokoyama to produce Maschinen Krieger in both 1/12 and 1/6 scale! If you think you know Maschinen Krieger think again - ThreeA is about to bring you a whole new world.

Furthermore we will be producing figures for the upcoming blockbuster Reel Steel in 1/6th scale. The Reel Steel movie directed by Shawn Levy stars our own boy from Oz, Hugh Jackman.

4. "The Billionaire Sheikh Who Carved His Name Into an Island." (You can see it from space.)

*At Toycutter: Custom 3A Toys.

*Buy 3A Toys at eBay.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. It's 60% off posters at Zazzle with the code ZBDAYPOSTERS -- I recommend posters by Steve Thomas, Franco Brambilla, and Adam Koford.

2. Apparently there are 60,000 unsolved murders in Rio de Janeiro, and 24,000 victims haven't even been identified. Via.

3. An assertion that China will lose interest in the NBA with Yao Ming retiring. (It's certainly interesting that there's been no other Chinese players to make an impact in the NBA since him.) Via.

4. Portal to another world. And a similar photo from the same street.

5. Remastered children's books of questionable taste.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. "How to Create an In-Case-of-Emergency Everything Document to Keep Your Loved Ones Informed if Worst Comes to Worst."

2. Free mp3 download of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother audiobook.

3. You'll only get this if you follow the NBA, but Dwight Howard and Gilbert Arenas have been engaging in a planking contest at Twitter, and then Dwight Howard posted this.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Reggie Bush has apparently decided not to turn over his Heisman trophy after all. (Good, let them explain some more why he shouldn't keep his trophy, but Cam Newton can.)

2. A primer on the NBA contract negotiations (it's pretty optimistic that a deal will get done).

3. Age of Conan is now free to play.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Chad Ford on the NBA draft:

The process is now both bigger and more impersonal. The more money teams spend, the more they believe they have a competitive advantage by hiding information from others. In 2001 I could get five GMs in a room to talk in detail about prospects (Jerry Krause excluded). Now … good luck. And the result? Despite all the innovations, teams are getting worse, not better, at making draft picks.

Between 1990 and 1999, 37 percent of all lottery picks turned out to be All-Stars. 31 percent were busts.

This decade, just 21 percent of all lottery picks have turned into All-Stars, while a whopping 42 percent are draft busts.

2. Team Fortress 2 is now free to play.

3. San Diego Padres pitcher Evan Scribner wearing a Yoda backpack. (Bottom of the page.)

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Grantland's overview of the NBA teams making lottery picks, and guide to the expected lottery picks.

2. Design a new head for Deadmau5 contest.

3. Here's the 25% to 35% off items at Things From Another World for June. Lots of new single issues and collected editions of comics.

READ MORE - Link roundup

Classic 80's athlete posters get their due at Salon 94. I'm strongly considering picking up one of the L.A. Law posters at eBay.

READ MORE - But where's the Bash Brothers poster?

1. Top 10 NBA Draft Busts.

2. Creepy animated gif from this creepy Tumblr. Found mostly because I wanted to know what Edith Zimmerman looked like after reading this article she wrote about Chris Evans. (The first link is from her Tumblr.)

3. Penny Arcade on the fear of even mentioning hackers.

READ MORE - Link roundup

Up for vote at Threadless.

READ MORE - Saving this one, too

Can't believe they gave up with a minute to go.

*Previously: LeBron abandoning Cleveland desktop wallpaper; video of LeBron losing at HORSE.

READ MORE - Been waiting to post this forever

1. Tax dollars at work in Southern California:

When it's completed this fall, Riverside's Hillcrest High School will be a high-tech academic hub with wireless Internet, a robotics lab, digital smart boards in every classroom and a first-rate performance hall worthy of any "Glee" hopeful.

But no students.

Sapped by state budget cuts, the Alvord Unified School District doesn't have the money to turn on the lights or hire staff for the $105-million campus.

2. Young Jason Kidd.

3. It's a tremendous shame George Takei hasn't been able to show off his personality until the last few years.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. From an overview of Tyler Cowen's life:

In 2002 he published "Creative Destruction," which argues that globalization created much of the art and music we might consider "native." Reggae in Jamaica, for example, borrowed from commercial rhythm and blues broadcasts that drifted over the water from New Orleans and Miami. The fur trade and the metal knife helped create the totem poles of the Northwestern American Indians.

2. You've seen the flying military drones, now check out the ocean-going versions.

3. Charles Barkley says Nike asked him to stop being critical of LeBron James. Via.

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1. Gizmodo wants to hire a graffiti artist (and is actually inviting submissions by any type of artist). (It's a pay gig.)

2. Yet another great post by Jim Shooter about Marvel history, this time starring Bill Sienkiewicz. Click through to read about how he got his start at Marvel. Here's a taste:

Bill wasn’t invited to San Diego that year, but wanted to go. Bill was athletic—probably still is, I haven’t seen him for a while—and just the right size for the Spider-Man costume Marvel used for its character public appearance program (things like the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn).

I told Bill that if he’d wear the costume for a few events, Marvel would pay for the trip, all expenses. Save him significant dough. He agreed.

3. Nike estimates that LeBron James winning the NBA title could lead to a $4 billion bump in business in China. $4 billion approximates the entire NBA's revenues. Via.

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1. From an extended discussion of Brink at RPS:

I was looking at the screenshots I’ve taken vs the screenshots we were sent for previews and things. And it’s just heartbreaking. A mess of text and cramped spaces, not these fantastic looking, exaggerated muscleguys in apple-crisp locales.

2. From Bill Simmons's portrait of Phil Jackson:

When I think of Phil Jackson, two guys come to mind: Young Phil and Old Phil. Young Phil was skinny with dark hair and a goofy mustache; he looked like he came from another era, like someone Larry Dallas would bring over to the Regal Beagle to meet Jack Tripper. Old Phil didn't look anything like Young Phil: white hair, a clean-shaven face, a heavier frame, and a body that was scattered in nine different directions. Still, Young Phil and Old Phil had one thing in common: They kept their cool at all times.

3. Vic Armstrong's World's Greatest Stuntman sounds great. i09 has an extended excerpt about the filming of Total Recall. For example:

Sharon Stone was funny. We all thought that Rachel Ticotin was going to be the big star, she was a fabulous actress, looked gorgeous and yet she went nowhere. Sharon Stone you couldn't drag into the gym, she just didn't want to train, didn't want to do anything, yet she became a superstar in Basic Instinct. Wendy was doubling Rachel and Donna Evans doubled Sharon and did all the kicks and everything else really, we mainly shot Sharon for close-ups. Though I must say she looked dynamite in those close-ups!

Gizmodo has an excerpt about Temple of Doom. The book is 34% off at Amazon.

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NBA player Andrei Kirilenko's tattoo. Via.




Samus by Tom Waterhouse. Via.





Cumulus by Jason Bennion and Christian Nauck for this contest.




The Enchantress and Frog Thor.



Lady Gaga fashion concept by Mike Keefe - - one of several posted here. Via.

*Buy Frog Thor toys at eBay.

READ MORE - Illustration roundup