Back in the eighties, when Tom Cruise was a measly OT-I (Operating Thetan I), the Scientology movement took to the airwaves, interrogating the Webster-watching public with hard-hitting questions like, "What gets in the way of clear thinking?" No answers were provided, but a curious or desperate viewer could continue this spiritual journey on the provided Dianetics page number.

I remember my sister and I having a laugh at L. Ron's expense back in the day; we were still in the single digits. I found this Dianetics commercial on YouTube. And sure it's ridiculous. But to a nine-year-old? I'm not sure why we found it so absurd. The music is reminiscent of the Goonies II soundtrack. For you eighties-movie buffs out there, you're right: there was no Goonies II film. Goonies II was the Nintendo sequel in 1987, years ahead of its time in theory.

And of course there's a Goonies II clip on YouTube. Seventeen glorious minutes.

Getting back to the Dianetics commercial, does anyone remember this campaign? Was the stigma of Scientology as prevalent? Were my parents feeding us anti-L. Ron propaganda? This forced self re-evaluation is why YouTube drives me crazy.

According to Wikipedia, The Big Lebowski contains 260 "fucks" in the 117 minute running time, averaging 2.22 fucks-per-minute. I know what you're thinking:

"But I don't have 117 minutes to watch this glorious fuck-fest, Mr. Muggler."

Don't panic, my friend, we got your back: The Big Lebowski - F_cking Short Version (via Table of Malcontents)

Hey, was there a big soccer game or something, recently?

I don't know. I couldn't get into it...the whole World Cup thing. A guy totally trashing his career with a headbutt, and having fifty parody videos on YouTube...that I can get into, but the actual game puts me to sleep faster than a State of the Union address. And it's not like I'm not into sports. I watched the Wimbledon final that same day, watched the Mickelson meltdown at the Open, cheered for the Heat and yelled "who?" when the Knicks made their first round pick, and I'm counting the days until NFL pre-season. Still, it only takes ten minutes of soccer before I'm screaming "somebody fucking score" at the TV. Then again, about ten bajillion people think otherwise.

So this got me thinking...What other sports are there that thousands (maybe tens or hundreds of thousands) of people follow, that I'm basically unaware of? We all know the networks are thinking the same thing. As more channels pop up, and the target audiences get more segmented, programmers turn to more obscure events that have built-in followings. ABC's doing it with the the National Spelling Bee, proving you're never too young to be exploited. ESPN's bettting on dominoes for the Latin audience, and was that juggling I caught on ESPN2 last weekend? (That one actually drove me outdoors) So I wondered, what other sports are there that I don't know about but could possibly bet on because I have I have a bit of a problem? Let's take a look...

A nice little soundbyte from Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion:

On Sunday YouTube said it hit 100 million video streams per day.

Last week the four TV networks suffered their lowest weekly ratings ever.

Coincidence? I doubt it.

While the numbers don't exactly match up (it's TV's off season, and if you count up all those YouTube viewers watching 3 minute clips, it still doesn't amount to much compared to Network Eyeballs per Hour), it must still be a worrying figure for the Big Four.

5) Been away for a while, so I'll start small with a fun birdhouse...kinda cool, but fairly unnecessary, like this list.
4) Yes kids, before e-mail we sent letters. And before we bought new iPods every month, we had wallets to put cash in.
3) I've seen a few bags that double as iPod boomboxes. But this is the first one that doesn't look particularly stupid.
2) Yup, it's exactly what you think...four pictures of logs that you can put in front of your fireplace. And yet, I need it.
1) And they say this iDeck allows interaction with the original album art. I like it because it looks like an old gramophone.

- If you steal a bike in Manhattan, will anyone stop you? No, but that's only because we're busy blocking out the car alarms.
- Sure, some of the photos on flickr are great, but are they art? The Pace MacGill Gallery thinks these self-portraits are.
- You're curious what type of woman dates Flavor Flav, but not willing to order Spectravision to find out. Click here.
- I once sat through an entire Whose Line is it Anyway weekend marathon without getting up. And yes, I'm available.
- And you read the recent YesBut review of A Scanner Darkly. Now watch 24 minutes of the flick and write your own.