PAINTING BY NUMBERS
People love an arty concept — especially one they can buy a piece of. And onethousand paintings.com does exactly that, selling 1,000 canvases, numbered 1 to 1,000, for a price that depends on how many paintings have been sold so far and the number on the painting. This means that each painting has a maximum value of $1,000 minus its number. However, an initial discount of 90 per cent applies, decreasesing by an absolute 10 per cent for every 100 paintings sold. Thus, since 546 have been sold at the time of writing, the availability page states that the lowest available number, 34, has a current price of $579.60 and a maximum value of $966. Phew. If you still have no idea what I’m talking about, visit the website, which explains all. www.onethousandpaintings.com
DEVIL’S IN THE DETAIL
Feared by parents everywhere, backmasking has long been the demon hidden between the grooves of many a heavy metal and rock LP. But did Led Zeppelin hide satanic messages in their music that could be discovered if their songs were played backwards? Jeff Milner decided to find out. Using newly acquired skills in Flash, he excerpted: “If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now, it’s just a spring-clean for the May queen.” Then he played it backwards and it said: “Oh here’s to my sweet Satan. The one whose path would make me sad, whose power is Satan.” Conclusive proof then. But be ready for a real shocker, there is more: John Lennon’s “Imagine all the people”, when played backwards, reveals “The people war beside me”, and the Pokémon Rap’s “Gotta catch ‘em all” is “I love Satan”, repeated again and again. Internet tongue-in-cheek fun at its best. www.jeffmilner.com/backmasking.htm
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PODCAST OF THE WEEK
Living in the digital age, it’s easy to forget how popular radio was when television was in its infancy. The Brando Classic Old-Time Radio Podcast seeks to remind us of the huge stars and classic programmes it once hosted by unearthing an hour of varied American wireless entertainment every episode. Highlights so far have included Frank Sinatra playing tough guy Rocky Fortune in the NBC show of the same name, comedy with Jack Benny, and Fulton Oursler’s life story of Jesus Christ, The Greatest Story Ever Told, first broadcast as a weekly radio show in 1947. www.brandoclassicotr.com
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BLOG OF THE WEEK
As everyone knows from Lost in Translation, Tarrant on TV and countless showings of Takeshi’s Castle on Challenge TV, Japanese television is often disturbing and baffling in the most entertaining way. The blog TV in Japan (left) cherry-picks the best, or more truthfully, the most wacked- out clips to bring us such oddities as ghosts appearing in lounge singers’ acts, and housewife-exciting behind-the- scenes male shower scenes. The commentary normally goes along the lines of: “This is a side project of some really big stars. Shot in front of a green screen. With mind-trippingly ridiculous visuals. And rabbit suits. In space. On TV. In Japan.”www.tvinjapan.blogspot.com