Linkwad.

1. People you didn’t know were part Asian, via @Sugarfreak. I knew about Karen O, but none of the rest.
2. I have a mental list of people who make me feel old, and yes, there are lots of professional athletes on the list.
3. This is an accurate critique of Parks and Rec, but it’s kind of like complaining that you never see anyone on Friday Night Lights being taught to pass block, or that the Community study group never seems to actually study or go to class or take tests.
4. Old drivers are the worst, via Caroline. In my experience, Maryland drivers are also pretty stunningly bad.

“The most brilliant marketing in the history of wine.”

This excerpt from Empire State of Mind makes me want to read the whole thing:

What goes along with Armand de Brignac is Jay-Z. The rap­per put the flashy bottle on the map when he featured it in his 2006 music video for “Show Me What You Got.” The video is typical of mainstream hip-hop, with one pos­sible exception: toward the end, a waiter presents Jay-Z with a bottle of Cristal champagne, and Jay-Z declines with a sweep of his hand. In its place, he accepts a gold bottle of then-unknown Armand de Brignac. Coming from some­one who’d been rapping Cristal’s praises for years–and once bragged that he was “popping that Cristal when all y’all thought it was beer”–this marked a major departure.

The rest of the piece investigates whether “Armand de Brignac was Jay-Z’s latest business venture… worth about $50 million.”

Linkwad.

1. A reasonable argument against NFC payments which basically boils down to, “Do you really need this?”
2. A Kinect hack helps the blind “see.” Related: this profile of a man who taught himself to echolocate.
3. The problem with the NYT “ejecting as many free-riders as necessary and soaking as many of the habituated” as possible is that, over time, your habituated reader pool dries up. So yes, you can count me among the skeptical.

Grumbling about Community.

I think this sums up the irritation Community has been causing my friends and me:

[Dan Harmon] admitted that he’s lately been compensating for the constant threat of cancellation by packing every gimmick he can possibly think of into the current season.
[...]
“As sure as I was we were only gonna get one season, when we got a second season I was positive we only were gonna get two seasons”, he said frankly. “So I made sure – this is for better or for worse – that I did everything I could ever possibly do second season. So if we do a third season, it’s gonna be “bo-ring”! But the good news is, I’m really proud of this season. We did everything I could possibly think to do.”

Obviously, doing  “everything I could possibly think to do” isn’t the best plan–editing is a good thing. Community‘s up-and-down episode quality has turned me off this season, although I’m not willing to write the show off yet.

Linkwad.

I know I promised  fewer of these, but the Internet is full of amazing things. Trust me–they’re worth it.

1. Make a micro-motorcycle from cigarette lighters. So, so cool.
2. Exit Through the Gift Shop and Thierry Guetta/Mr. Brainwash were real, according to a guy who worked with Shepard Fairey. The linked interview is definitely worth reading, too.
3. Dark gun-control humor, via @Nancethepants.
4. Killer guitar riffs prime your brain with dopamine.