Hamster, meet snake. Snake, hamster.

A dwarf hamster that was offered as a meal to a rat snake in Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo has made friends with the snake, reports The Associated Press. The hamster, named Gohan ("meal") as a joke, even takes naps on the snake's back. The snake, Aochan, has developed a taste for frozen rodents, instead. The zoo, which keeps mostly livestock animals, promotes "cross-breed interaction," says keeper Kazuya Yamamoto, but the Gohan-Aochan case "was a complete accident."

And here are some pictures...

sponion

This site is what you'd get if you crossed the Onion with espn.com. Of course, I love it.

As my friend Ben said, we're obviously idiots for not coming up with this idea ourselves.

http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

cockeyed, again

Rob Cockerham is great.

i love this game

slam slam slam slam. I've said it countless times before, but it's still true: I wish I could dunk.

art imitates NES

Mike Tyson's Punch-out. Live and on stage. Awesome.

Least intimidating team mascot

In Japan, ace pitcher Hiroki Kuroda has re-signed with the Hiroshima Carp for an estimated 200 million yen ($2-million). It's the highest salary in team history. "I'm glad to reach the 200-million mark," Kuroda said. "It makes me feel I need to pitch very, very responsibly."
-- globeandmail.com

This got me to wondering which major sports team has the least intimidating mascot. Front-row contenders include:
New Orleans Saints
St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals
Toronto Blue Jays
Baltimore Orioles
Minnesota Twins
Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox
New Jersey Nets
New York Knickerbockers
Orlando Magic
Pittsburg Penguins
Anaheim Mighty Ducks
Toronto Maple Leafs

But I think first prize has to go to the Utah Jazz. What's less intimidating than a smooth saxophone solo?

a ha!

I feel a little bad posting these links right now.

Here's why. I'm in the middle of kind of a major project -- namely, watching all of the commercials from the 2004 Cannes Lions film festival and picking my favorite 100 -- and I didn't want to post any of them until I finished the whole list. The thing is, I just found two more Familiprix commercials, and I love Familiprix commercials. They're funny, clever and Canadian, and I can't resist posting them.

So this is a little premature, but I'm really excited about it. The number of Familiprix ads I was aware of just doubled. Huge.

Familiprix 3
Familiprix 4

word of the day

Meanderthal: A person who walks particularly slowly and aimlessly, often toting cellphones and delaying pedestrian or motor traffic.
-- globeandmail.com