At [The Smoking Gun: Backstage Pass]:http://www.thesmokinggun.com/backstagetour/index.html there’s an archive of “concert riders” which basically attach to the contract between a performer and the concert venue. It’s really quite amusing. Most of them seem to have basic stuff, making sure artists rake in as much as possible, and strictly denying the concert organizers from profiting from the artist’s brand.

Some interesting bits from Britney Spears’s contract rider include: specs for furnishments of the dressing room, and a fine charged in case the dressing room’s phone number is leaked. Don’t forge the specs on the catered tuna salad, and the required bucket of KFC for the band. 😀

From [K10K]:http://k10k.net :
[Favourite Website Awards (FWA)]:http://www.favouritewebsiteawards.com — It’s got links to a bunch of cool websites. Most importantly, it’s got a category for “recreation and games”, which has a bunch of nifty little stupid flash toys.

Check out [Simwork]:http://ezupa.com/simwork/

I’d better close that tab before it sucks away too much time. 🙂

Am I the last person to hear about [John Titor?]:http://www.johntitor.com Anyway, I read it on my [brother’s blog,]:http://www.paxasiana.com/index.php?p=41
and it really is an interesting read. Is it real? Is it fake? I’m so, so skeptical, but the whole thing speaks to me like a really engrossing science fiction novel. Have a look, it’s up online, and it’s fun to read the posts. If it’s a hoax, the perpetrator has been keeping the mouth shut pretty tight. Let me know if you find something conclusive.

Anyway, since this whole deal happened a few years ago, I feel like there’s this secret club of people who know what’s going on, who are up on the latest interesting things, and who never tell the likes of me. *sigh*

So Bento boxes are are sort of boxed meals. It’s a Japanese food thing. There’s a Chinese equivalent that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as well (bien dan?), but I don’t think the Chinese ones aim for as much visual appeal. I could be wrong though.

For a more in-depth intro to bento boxes, here’s a [book]:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4889960732/104-7123113-7355903?v=glance about them, and a [blog entry]:http://www.cosmicbuddha.com/adam/archives/000419.html about them. But you know, there are some really [bizarre bento boxes]:http://www-personal.umich.edu/~msittig/bento/ and even a [moblog]:http://mito.typepad.com/photos/bento/ featuring real-world production-quality bento boxes. You really must visit the page about bizarre bento boxes though. It’s awesome. Trust me.

For comparison, check out what [Air France’s meals]:http://www.airlinemeals.net/meals/AirFrance161180.html look like.

I love talking about food. 🙂

Jumpin’ Jehosaphat! I’ve fallen prey to another one of those useless quizzes. This one was just too nerdy to resist– Which biological molecule are you?

You are water. You’re not really organic; you’re neither acidic nor basic, yet you’re an acid and a base at the same time. You’re strong willed and opinionated, but relaxed and ready to flow. So while you often seem worthless, without you, everything would just not work. People should definitely drink more of you every day.

Take the quiz

Oh man, you should check this out. Some guy is selling his ex-wife’s wedding dress. Go on, click on the link and have your dose of American culture for the day.

eBay item 4146756343 (Ends Apr-28-04 15:37:01 PDT) – SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE

As of this posting, it’s up to $15k. Wow. And don’t I feel proud for contributing to the item’s blogdex rating.

….and I fall prey to more silly online pseudo-personality quizzes. *shrug*

Take the OS quiz

Take the bubble tea quiz

Has anyone estimated how much productivity is lost taking these quizzes? Probably not as much as spam. Though for me, probably more… Thunderbird has been doing a pretty decent job at filtering.

I saw this animated gif on one of these webboards, and I just couldn’t resist posting it. 😀

I came home from work, saw this on my screen, and just thought I HAD to take a screen cap. Note the “share rating” kind of in the middle on the right. Dude, I 0wnZ. hahahaha

Here’s a [recipe]:http://www.icatoia.freesurf.fr/cuisine/tarte%20salee/60.htm for a zucchini tart/quiche-ish thing. Tasted fine, but the crust was too hard (what temperature do you bake it at, since the recipe has a typo?). One of the dishes showcased at last Saturday’s cooking extravaganza 🙂