At least Chelsea’s boyfriend never pulled this crap.

Max linked to a good article about the current European culture of fear. As an American currently living across the pond, I definitely think that the “irrational fears” are worse over here than at home. Sure, Americans distrust the government, but the British distrust everybody. Back home in Indiana, the only thing I really feared was a car accident (whether from a drunk driver or hitting a deer). Here, though, we fear the trains, we fear the beef, we fear the cell phones. We have the disasters to back it up, too! Personally, my big current one is that “deep vein thrombosis,” seeing as how I’m flying to Sydney in less than two days. My doctor advised that I take half an aspirin and move around a lot, but after reading that article I think I’m going to be jogging laps up and down the aisles. (What about alcohol? Alcohol thins the blood, right? Bring on the cocktails!)

Edited 01/03/2025: Link is unfortunately dead now.

HOLY COW! The Harry Potter movie trailer is available online! You’ve gotta see this thing… For now, you can only get it in a streaming version from the official site, but Entertainment-Rewired Magazine is going to have a downloadable version soon here.

Was that not amazing? According to AICN, the score was done by John Williams (of Star Wars fame). I really hope they manage to keep that dark, eerie feel through all of it. It looked more like a Tim Burton movie than a Chris Columbus one! Everything looked amazingly like how I had pictured it from the book. I loved the editing too, jumping from the letter to the train to the Great Hall. I really, really hope that the film lives up the quality of this trailer. *fingers crossed*

“Hi, I’m Chandler. Could I BE anymore on drugs?” An open letter to his fellow cast-members from Matthew Perry. Hilarious.

Edited 01/03/2025: Ouch. In retrospect, that’s in pretty poor taste.

Uh-oh. Snookums already dislikes the Mouse House for what they did to his beloved Winnie-the-Pooh, and this Coke business could very well push him over the edge. He does not take kindly to childhood icons becoming merchandising whores.

I just stumbled across a totally fascinating publication called The Naming Newsletter, which bills itself as “A Quarterly Report On The Strategy & Tactics of Naming.” There are lots of little articles filled with tips and lessons for naming a business or brand. I especially liked “Where Did They Get That Name?” Did you know that “Chef Boyardee” is a phonetic spelling of “Boiardi”, the man who invented the recipes?

Where the hell have I been? Apparently the official site for Bridget Jones’s Diary is up. You can even see the preview trailer, which I wasn’t a big fan of. The clip itself — Bridget and Daniel making out on the floor — seemed very true to the book, but the editing and music of the trailer give it an overall sucky vibe (at least, to me). They also restrict Zellweger’s voice to a couple of “Oh!”‘s, so it’s hard to get a feel for the accent. It does sound a bit posh for Bridget, though.

The Onion shrewdly observes that everyone should have a supportive gay friend to counsel them on romance. I’ve got one. Have you?

According to the London Zoo, my ideal animal blind date would be a “Moon Jellyfish.”

If the jellyfish wants you, you’re an easy catch. It’s covered in stinging cells, which are used to paralyse its prey. Conversation is doomed if you don’t enjoy speaking to a cucumber, since the jellyfish consists of 96% water and that doesn’t leave room for much of a brain… Treat yourselves to an afternoon in a flotation chamber.

Which sucks, because if there’s one kind of animal I hate, it’s the slimy ocean-dwelling kind. *shudder* Why couldn’t I have gotten a nice kitty cat? (Link courtesy of Brigita.)

“It’s a souvenir of a national disaster. It’s a very British thing to do, isn’t it?” The scavengers have descended upon the remains of the Millennium Dome. The most expensive item sold at auction yesterday was a “Giant hamster and cheese,” which was purchased for £3,000 for a visitor attraction in Kent. Very sad.