The Smarmy Carny

Here we go! Blogathon 2007 has officially started. For the next 24 hours, I'll be posting at least every 30 minutes, so try and keep up!

This year, I'm blogging for One Economy Corporation, a charity that focuses on bringing technology to low-economy people. More information to follow!

Keep reading throughout the event for Grating Ratings, in which I will grade various random topics. It should be fun, and your opinions are welcome!

Sponsorship total: 4 pledges for $50.00

Since the Blogathon starts tomorrow, Saturday July 28, 2007, I worked for a few days on a 60 second commercial for the site.

The quality isn't as great as I'd prefer, but it's time to call it finished:

As some of you can tell, I relied on some good old Electric Company techniques. I'm no Morgan Freeman, but I got the job done.

If you can't understand that puppet's lousy voice (I got the cheapest voice coach I could find on 12 minutes' notice), he's telling you that Novac will be grading different topics including Seinfeld characters, condiments, driving pet peeves, types of precipitation, and many many more. This is all part of the "Grating Ratings" I will be blogging during the Blogathon.

Oh, and if you're into YouTube, you can just clicky.

Thanks to Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com for supplying the royalty-free music!

Blogathon 2007

Starting Saturday, July 28, 2007, hundreds of blogs across the world will unite and blog continuously for 24 hours to help support various charities.

Blogathon is an annual event where bloggers choose a charity (a 501(c)(3) organization) to support. Each blogger must post something every 30 minutes for the entire 24-hour period beginning on July 29, 2006, at 9:00 AM EST. In turn, anyone can sponsor a blog that is participating. A sponsorship is basically a pledge to donate money to that blog's charity. You know your money is safe because any money you pledge is given directly to the charity itself, not to the blogger or the Blogathon website.

The Smarmy Carny is participating in Blogathon for the second year. This time around, this blog will support a charity called One Economy Corporation. One Economy is a charity that helps close the technology gap for lower-income people. Their Bring IT Home campaign brought broadband internet access to 200,000 low-income people. They also run The Beehive, a website aimed at low-income families and individuals. To find out more about One Economy Corporation, head over to The Smarmy Carny's Blogathon page. Also be sure to read the blog during the Blogathon and find out much more detailed information on One Economy's efforts!

Want to learn more about how to sponsor this blog and what The Smarmy Carny has planned during the Blogathon? Check out the Blogathon page on this site. Interesting in participating in Blogathon as a blogger? Check out the official Blogathon website.

Springfield, Vermont has been announced the Simpsons' home state in a vote organized by USA Today. It will host the official premiere for The Simpsons Movie on July 21.

The Simpsons' mystery home state has long been a running gag in the series. For instance, Marge once gave their address over the phone as "742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, Oh-hiya Maude, come on in!," leading the audience to falsely believe that Ohio was about to be named the home state.

According to some research posted on The Simpsons Archive, there are 71 Springfields in 36 states. Each of the following 14 Springfields submitted a video promoting their own Springfield as the home to The Simpsons:

• Springfield, Colorado
• Springfield, Florida
• Springfield, Illinois
• Springfield, Kentucky
• Springfield, Louisiana
• Springfield, Massachusetts
• Springfield, Michigan
• Springfield, Missouri
• Springfield, Nebraska
• Springfield, New Jersey
• Springfield, Ohio
• Springfield, Oregon
• Springfield, Tennessee
• Springfield, Vermont

See the promotional videos from each of these Springfields at USA Today. The other towns will be rewarded with screenings of The Simpsons Movie the night before the movie opens nationwide.

As posted in December, the NewOpenWorld Foundation narrowed the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World from a field of 200 possible sites down to the final seven that were ultimately chosen by the world in a global vote.

And the winners are:

• Chichen Itza Aztec site — Yucatan, Mexico
• Christ the Redeemer — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Colosseum — Rome
• Great Wall — China
• Machu Picchu — Peru
• Petra city — Jordan
• Taj Mahal — Agra, India

America owns gluttony again!

In 2006, there was speculation that Joey "Jaws" Chestnut had a chance to beat Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, who is the man when it comes to eating competitions. After all, Chestnut was the first American to break the 50 HDB (hot dog and bun) mark in 12 minutes. Chestnut ate 52 HDBs but still fell short in 2006, losing to Kobayashi by just 1¾ HDBs.

This year, however, the record was shattered yet again at the 2007 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Championship. The record of 53¾ HDBs in 12 minutes was set last year by Kobayashi. It was decimated as Chestnut ate 66 HDBs in 12 minutes. That's an average of 5.5 HDBs each minute, or one hot dog every 11 seconds!

Kobayashi recently had a wisdom tooth removed, but still broke his own record by eating 63 HDBs. He said he'll be back next year for a rematch.

The top six eaters all broke their personal records this year. Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas upped her personal best and raised the women's record by downing 39 HDBs in 12 minutes.

As usual this July 11th (7-11), you can stroll into participating 7-11 stores for your free 7.11 oz Slurpee. While supplies last — "supplies" being the tiny cups. (I'll warn you that if you have to go far out of your way, it's not worth it due to the size of the cup.)

Something much more interesting is happening at a dozen 7-11 stores around the country: They are transforming into Kwik-E-Marts, the convenience store run by The Simpsons' own Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. From the logo on the store to the products inside, The Simpsons will rule the store. You can get a Squishee, the Simpsons version of the ever-popular Slushee. Also available are Buzz! Cola, Krusty-Os cereal, and Radioactive Man comic #711. Sorry, no Duff available, and you can't eat my shorts, either!

7-11s in the following locations will turn into Kwik-E-Marts for a limited time:

• Burbank, CA
• Chicago, IL
• Dallas, TX
• Denver, CO
• Lake Buena Vista, FL/Orlando, FL
• Las Vegas, NV/Henderson, NV
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York City, NY
• San Francisco, CA/Mountain View, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Vancouver, BC/Coquitlam, BC
• Washington, DC/Bladensburg, MD

To find out which 7-11 in each city gets the transformation, head over to the Kwik-E-Mart page.

You can also register for a chance to be animated in The Simpsons Movie.