Things I Think Are Kinda Cool

It’s-A-Me…Mario!

Floppy Disk Mario

Toast Mario

Poker Chip Mario

Lego Mario

Soda Box Mario

Post-It Note Stop Motion Mario

Now THIS is incredible:

-via Joystick Division

It doesn’t get much geekier than this…a Japanese violinist plays classic video game soundtracks and sound effects while the game is being played.  I especially appreciate that he bows at the end of each video – very respectful.

Super Mario Bros.

Donkey Kong

Super Mario 3

-via Buzzfeed

BRAIN:  Summer’s almost here…are you excited?

YOU:  Absolutely.  I’m looking forward to getting involved in some new projects.

BRAIN:  Great…tt’s nice to see you engaged and ready to apply yourself.  What projects?

YOU:  ’America’s Got Talent’, ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’, ‘The Bachelorette’, ‘Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami”, and drumroll please…’Jersey Shore 2′!   I can’t wait to see what trouble that lovable and precarious Snooki gets into this year!

BRAIN: … I think we have a Situation on our hands.

————–

* I know it’s hard to believe, but Cheetos (my ultimate favorite) aren’t natural.  I know, crazy.  Find out how a silo filled with cornmeal becomes a delectable guilty pleasure.  And if anyone knows how I can become one of the ‘quality control’ experts on the assembly line, please let me know. – Wired

* This is the true story of 3 mental patients who each believe they’re Jesus Christ, picked to live together in a mental hospital and have their lives observed, to find out what happens when delusional people stop being crazy, and start being…well, they’re still crazy at the end. - Slate

* With hi-tech 3D graphics being shoved down our throats lately, why are so many designers still attracted to crudely simple 8-bit pixel art?  Is it simply nostalgia, or the challenge of representing an image with as little information as possible? – Ars Technica

* Are the lovers in Botticelli’s “Venus and Mars” high on aphrodisiac drugs, the Renaissance equivalent of popping Ecstasy pills?  According to an art historian, it’s absolutely possible.  Break out the glow sticks and pacifiers.  - Guardian

* Legendary American author Mark Twain wrote an autobiography with strict orders for it to not be published until 100 years after his death.  Time’s up, and we’re about to learn some dark secrets about him.  Let’s just say he wasn’t always Mr. Nice Guy.  - Independent

* Warning!  Cuba is overrun with condoms!   Don’t worry…Cubans have invented countless non-traditional uses for condoms, like smuggling alcohol into clubs, doubling as beach balls, attaching messages to the legs of messenger birds, becoming missiles in kids water balloon fights…the list goes on and on. – Global Post

* Surveillance cameras are only useful when a pair of eyes are actually watching the footage being recorded.  But whether you like it or not, the future is finally here, and it’s not humans doing the monitoring…automated computer brains have taken over in many areas. – Popular Mechanics

* Attention geeks:  It’s been 28 years since Mario first appeared in a video game.  Enjoy this essay which explains what it is about that little mustached Italian that keeps us coming back for more koopa-stomping and Princess-saving fun. - 1 Up

After 15 hours of affixing tape to his walls, Youtube user and NES fan Brusspup fired up his black lights…and voila:  the pinnacle of geekiness.  Watch until the end to see how the illusion was created.

-via Unique Daily

If you were obsessed with Super Mario Land on the Gameboy as much as I was, this rap-remix will bring back some amazing memories…I forgot how trippy this game was (aliens, huge tarantulas, mystical pyramids) – plus, Mario was cheating on Princess Peach with some chick named Daisy!  OK…enough geeking out for one day – just press play:

-College Humor via Buzzfeed

I couldn’t resist any longer…these are the most impressive pumpkins I’ve seen across the web over the past few weeks.  Enjoy!

FIRST PLACE:  Kanye Interrupts
(Awesome job from my friend Nuel Cho at ADA!)

(“Yo ADA…I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish BUT…Charlie Brown had one’a the best pumpkins EVER!”)

SECOND PLACE:  The Flasher

THIRD PLACE: The McPumpkin Burger

FOURTH PLACE:  Swayze Retrospective Tribute

FIFTH PLACE: The Drunken Frat Boy

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

via Walyou, Botropolis, Womans Day, Gin Blog, & Unique Scoop

If you find this even remotely as cool as I do, you’re definitely a fellow Nintendo-geek. Jazz pianist Scott Bradlee and saxophone player Ben Golder-Novick teamed up to create incredible interpretations of background music from the best 8-bit Nintendo games.  It’s impossible NOT to love this!

-via Buzzfeed
-Scott Bradlee’s Youtube page

(Random sidenote:  Thanks to all my readers who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday. You guys are definitely kinda cool…)