The Smarmy Carny

This post has been re-posted at Random Fodder, Novac's personal blog.

A great site to stop at is NameDecoder.com, which brings us the Cyborg, Monster, Sexy, and Gamer Name Decoders. (The Gamer Name Decoder isn't out yet, but it has been promised!) Unfortunately, there's not much else at the site, but these decoders and fast and easy.

Of course, these results have been added to my Personality Quiz page. Check out the dozens of quizzes I have posted, and get to know me more in depth than you'll ever care to.

Here are my results for each of the three available quizzes:

The Cyborg Name Decoder:

Networked Operational Violence and Assassination Construct

The Monster Name Decoder:

Nefarious, Orphan-Vaporizing Abomination from the Crypt

The Sexy Name Decoder:

Nocturnal One Volunteering Arousing Caresses

Ever had a question for a ninja that you simply had to have answered? Well, here's your chance!

Check out Ask a Ninja. If you've come to this site, chances are you'll love it.

Don't miss an episode. Add Ask A Ninja as your MySpace or Friendster friend for bulletin updates and subscribe to the Ask a Ninja podcast via iTunes.

Click to watch

Gotta have more? Must have some behind-the-scenes footage? Impossible! Unless, of course, you check out an ABC News Video report on the Podcast Revolution featuring Ask a Ninja.

I look forward to killing you with kindness soon!

IE7's beta 2 preview has been released for public download, so long as you're using Windows XP SP2.

The beta boasts features such as tabbed browsing, toolbar search boxes, streamlined user interface, and instant RSS feeds . . . all items that I have been using with Firefox for well over a year.

Surprisingly, the developers bothered to listen to feedback posted on some sites such as Position Is Everything's "Explorer Exposed" page. Of course, the key word (their choice) was that they fixed most of the bugs posted there. They also enabled :hover on all elements, not just on <a> tags, which is welcome news to me.

All in all, reading through the changes, I am pleased that Microsoft has finally gotten on the ball, fixed some of their most heinous issues, and actually started conforming to standards, instead of expecting the standards to conform to them.

But still, so what? Even if IE7 is created equal to Firefox (which I am not going to claim), it won't matter for long, because Microsoft doesn't fix their bugs. Firefox bugs are fixed even before they can be exploited. Use Firefox, not Internet Explorer. End of story.

The Razzie

Now that the real nominations have been presented, allow me to give you the scoop on the Razzie nominations.

If you're not familiar with the Razzies yet, the Razzie is an award given as a sort of anti-Oscar for the worst achievements in film.

Some may remember that I was upset about the Razzie's blatant political agenda last year, but with the lack of any popular political mockumentaries, the same problem couldn't have been repeated.

And the Razzie nominees are . . .

Worst Picture

• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
• Dirty Love
• Dukes of Hazzard
• House of Wax
• Son of the Mask

Worst Director

• John Asher – Dirty Love
• Uwe Boll – Alone in the Dark
• Jay Chandrasekhar – The Dukes of Hazzard
• Nora Ephron – Bewitched
• Lawrence Gutterman – Son of the Mask

Worst Actor

• Tom Cruise – War of the Worlds
• Will Ferrell – Bewitched and Kicking & Screaming
• Jamie Kennedy – Son of the Mask
• The Rock – Doom
• Rob Schneider – Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo

Worst Actress

• Jessica Alba – Fantastic Four and Into the Blue
• Hilary Duff – Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and The Perfect Man
• Jennifer Lopez – Monster in Law
• Jenny McCarthy – Dirty Love
• Tara Reid – Alone in the Dark

Worst Supporting Actor

• Hayden Christensen – Star Wars III
• Alan Cumming – Son of the Mask
• Bob Hoskins – Son of the Mask
• Eugene Levy – Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and The Man
• Burt Reynolds – The Dukes of Hazzard and The Longest Yard

Worst Supporting Actress

• Carmen Electra – Dirty Love
• Paris Hilton – House of Wax
• Katie Holmes – Batman Begins
• Ashlee Simpson – Undiscovered
• Jessica Simpson – The Dukes of Hazzard

Worst Screenplay

• Bewitched – Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron & Adam McKay
• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo – Rob Schneider, David Garrett & Jason Ward
• Dirty Love – Jenny McCarthy
• The Dukes of Hazzard – John O'Brien
• Son of the Mask – Lance Khazei

Worst Remake Or Sequel

• Bewitched
• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
• Dukes of Hazzard
• House of Wax
• Son of the Mask

If you thirst for more horrible movies from 2005, check out IMDB's Worst of 2005 list, based on votes by IMDB members.

This post has been re-posted at Random Fodder, Novac's personal blog.

I received an e-mail from PayPal yesterday that was — get this — actually from PayPal!

The content of the e-mail had nothing to do with unauthorized access to my account, the need to update my login information, or the addition of a strange e-mail address. It was all boring stuff about the PayPal Money Market Fund.

The most interesting thing I noticed about this e-mail? Unlike every phishing e-mail, this one had no links . . . not even valid ones back to paypal.com.

Ahh, "Mahna Mahna." Yes, it rules, and it predates "Numa Numa" by quite a while.

Mahna Mahna is so great because it's one of those pseudo-popular things . . . something you can mention by name in a crowded room and instantly grab 5 or 6 people's attention, yet something you can also mention to a dozen people who have no idea what you're talking about.

For those that don't know, Mahna Mahna is a skit that appeared on The Muppet Show back in 1976. The song itself has quite a history, but the popularized version is, of course, the Muppets' version.

Statler asks, "The question is: 'What is a "Mahna Mahna?"'"
Waldorf replies, "The question is: 'Who cares?!?'"

Watch it here:

Watch or download Mahna Mahna at Google Video.

If you're still reading this even after I've posted the link, feel free to read some of these facts here, courtesy Wikipedia:

• "Mahna Mahna" is readily available on DVD and CD!
• The song was originally written in 1968 by Piero Umiliani for the softcore documentary Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso (Sweden, Hell and Heaven).
• In 1969 it was recorded by Henri Salvador under the title "Mais Non, Mais Non."

• The Muppet Show soundtrack album featuring Mahna Mahna hit number one on the UK charts.
• A cover was performed by Cake on For The Kids, a 2002 compliation album that also features Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan, Tom Waits, Darius Rucker, Sixpence None The Richer, Guster, Five For Fighting, and Billy Bragg & Wilco. The album benefits the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic references the Muppets sketch in "Couch Potato."

Soy un perdedor

This Sunday's Site is fd's Flickr Toys.

fd's Flickr Toys had me cracking myself up. I definitely suggest you pick an embarassing picture and use it with Billboard or Movie Poster. If you have a Flickr account with at least several friends, check out Name That Contact.

For best results, get a Flickr account if you don't already have one. Some of the most fun features don't require a Flickr account, but some of the interesting ones do.

Here's a list of just some of the fun toys available over at fd (as described by the author):

• Badge Maker: See the badge I made with this tool! Make your own (unofficial) flickr badge. Print it out, laminate it, wear flickr with pride! Show the world how truly photographically geeky you really are!
• Captioner: Now with Captioner you can add comic book style captions to your digital photographs! Put words in someone else's mouth. Make an entire comic based on your photos. Tell a story.
• Magazine Cover: Make your own magazine cover! Be a superstar! Prove to your friends how famous you really are!
• Motivator: Inspire! Motivate! Mock! Armed with a digital camera and that non-stop wit of yours, you now have the power to turn a simple photograph into an inspirational message that will burn forever in the hearts and minds of dozens.

• Billboard: If you've got something important to say, say it BIG. Billboardize your message and a fabulous photo from that spiffy digital camera of yours.
• Movie Poster: Make your own customized movie poster. Be a star, spoof your family and friends. You're the director and executive producer of your very own super-blockbuster.
• Trading Card Maker: Ever wanted to honor and immortalize someone you love? What nerdierbetter way to show them you care than to put their mug on a trading card! Or make a whole deck and create your very own collectible card game.
• Calendar: Create a calendar using your photographs. Know what day it is at a glance! Plan ahead! Impress your friends with your pre-cognitive powers!
• Name That Contact: How well do you know your Flickr contacts? Can you spot them from their photos? Take the quiz and find out! And get to know your contacts better in the process.