Absolut Vodka anyone? 
This is one of the best ads I've seen on the Web. It's better than those stupid, shoot the monkey ads because it has an aspect of creativity to it. Absolut has always done a fantastic job with advertising and I think they are adapting to the Web very well. I think the coolest thing about this ad though, is that it seems to change. One time I designed the background of the ad and the next time I was playing the Absolut version on Simon. Who knows what it will be next. In any case, I thought you should all check it out. And don't be afraid to click on it. It won't take you anywhere, it just lets you play. How cool?

Shopping Spree 
If I had the money to blow on a variety of video game related fashion, I think I would buy the following items:

• Activision t-shirt—Because the best Atari games were made by Activision and what is cooler than retro-brand pride?
• Call Mario Bros.—Because anyone who doesn't respect the plumbers gets pummelled.
• Pac-Man knit hat—Because those ghosts are just so damn cool. I can't get enough.
• Distressed Pitfall t-shirt—Because Pitfall was awesome and these colors are too.
• Contra Code t-shirt—Because I'll never forget the code and anyone else who knows it is cool by me.
• Triforce t-shirt—Because I found all the pieces to the triforce once and I'm damn proud of it.
• "Everybody Loves a Player" t-shirt—Because it's true, but I'm a the dork version.

But if these aren't up your alley, maybe you should try picking out your own '80s video game t-shirts. I'm sure you can find something you like. And with Christmas coming up I'm sure this should give you a few ideas. Pleasure!

The Fantastic Four Trailer 
Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, The Thing are coming to a theater near you this summer and it looks to be pretty awesome. Check out the The Fantastic Four Trailer over at Screenhead to see what I'm talking about. I was never big into the comics, but I remember watching the Saturday morning cartoon almost religiously, so I'm pretty psyched for this movie. Let's just hope it's more like X-Men and Spiderman and less like Daredevil, Punisher, and Hulk. I'll keep my fingers crossed and I'll let you know if I hear any more about it. (via Screenhead)

I got to play Nintendo at work 
I knew there were advantages to working at a newsweekly, but I never thought it would pay off in video games until today. I've been bugging one of the technology writers about the new Nintendo DS and he received one by mail yesterday and told me I could play with it. Well, today he made good on his promise and told me I had all day to play with the DS and let me just say, it's pretty cool. The Metroid Demo makes good use of the touchpad. You use it as you to turn, aim, and jump and then use the control pad to strafe, shoot, and move forwards and backwards. It's a really cool concept. The DS also seems to come jam packed with networking abilities. It has the ability to start and join network games of Metroid, but it also has something called PictoChat, which lets you join one of four chatrooms to type and draw pictures. Each room can hold 16 people and it looks like it would be a fun way to gather interest for a network game of sorts... or just kill some time on the metro. Unfortunately, no one else in the building has another DS, so all of those fancy network abilities are untestable. Still, it looks cool and I can't wait to get my hands on one of my very own. In the meantime though, I'm going to try to work as quickly as possible so that I can play with it some more. And, in other news, it looks like they'll be shipping the DS a week early. So go pre-order it or put it on your Christmas list and we can meet up on the metro for some wireless chat and gaming.

Be a schoolyard bully (for fun and profit) 
Ever been picked on? Ever picked on someone else? Want to waste some time running around the school yard pushing kids into the sandbox and taking their lunch money? Well, now you can recreate that old playground magic with Schoolyard Bully. You run around the schoolyard on recess pushing kids down and trying to keep them from telling the principle. It's surprisingly fun and highly addictive. My high score is somewhere around $550, so see if you can beat that. Oh and if you are using Firefox, you might want to try this link as I had problems with the one above in mozilla. (via Joystiq)

Crazy Asian Drinks 
This site is pretty entertaining. It's a bunch of "reviews" of Crazy Asian Drinks. They scour Asia, from Korea, to Vietnam, to Japan, and beyond in search of some of the most horrible drinks. Then they sample them and write about how much they taste like bodily fluids. Some of the descriptions are pretty funny to boot. It's a good way to kill some time and get a laugh. Enjoy... and don't even try getting me a can of Pocari Sweat, Grass Jelly Drink, or Young Coconut Juice with Jelly for Christmas, because I know where you sleep and I will hunt you down. But let me know if you are getting some for someone else, because I'd totally watch them drink it. (via Screenhead)

The magic of colored lights. 
Lite-Brite, Lite-Brite, Turn on the magic of colored lights. You remember the tune. Well, now you can take a break from all that stuff you're supposed to be doing and play around with your own virtual Lite-Brite. It's just like the original, except you don't have to worry about losing the pieces or replacing that stupid black paper you were supposed to punch through. Anyway, this is an old favorite, but recently brought back to my attention. So enjoy! (Little Ray of Sunshine)

And like Jehovah, I am risen again! 
Okay, so I hit a busy period at work. Then I got sick. Had a fever. Whined like a little girl and missed some work. But now I'm on the road to recovery and managing to keep up with my work and so I do declare. This blog is back in business. And to show you my loyalty, I've gone out and found you something to completely waste your time. It's fun, it's hard, and I know you'll like it. It's called Shootin' Starz and the object is to blast the stars as they fly by the target. So give it a whirl, and by the time you've gotten the hand of it, I'll have something else for you. Enjoy!