Occasional Links: The Kool Penguin Edition

Did the advertising mascot for Kool cigarettes inspire Bob Kane to create The Penguin? Bat-Blog has the answer.


Speaking of which, a group of angry clowns protest Harvey Dent's run for district attorney -- was it a viral marketing campaign? Or real angry clowns?


It's a couple of days after the holiday, but here's a Buffy the Vampire Slayer themed marshmallow bunny diorama
Your new Star Wars toys are available in Muppet or Disney versions (what was that thing about George Lucas being protective of his original creative vision again? did that include Gonzo as Darth Vader? did I miss something?)


Read Jeff Lemire's 5-page western The Horseless Rider for free on his blog


The new Friday The 13th remake will star Jared Padalecki from the TV show Supernatural...and the new Tintin will be this fellow:


In other news, they are actually remaking Friday the 13th. And that kid's a little creepy.


Destructoid gives suggestions on how to revitalize the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise:

"Sonic's over the hill. He's clapped out, worn out and ready to be thrown out. As someone who adored the speedy woodland creature as a child, it's horrible to have to say that, but it's true. He was introduced as the cool and sassy alternative to a reserved and "boring" Mario, but looking at the two characters today, it's easy to see which is going strong and which has aged very, very badly."

If Sonic the Hedgehog is over the hill, I must be ancient. I played games on the original Atari system. I remember taking that original Atari system out of the box and smelling its just-out-of-the-box fresh smell.



Apparently if you stare at the center of this picture for 30 seconds, you will shit bricks. Let me know how that goes.



Somebody actually edited together all the creepy scenes from the infamous child molestation episode of Diff'rent Strokes. I'm sure the producers had good intentions with this episode, but it was one of those television watching experiences as a child that freaked me the hell out, introducing me to concepts like middle-aged men doing photo shoots of little boys on safari with their shirts off. Biggest creepiness of all -- the way the laugh track or studio audience chuckles during inappropriate moments. Oh, Arnold is about to get involved in a child porn ring -- that's freakin' hilarious.

Now, if I remember correctly, there was a separate episode where this photographer tried to rape the sister after tying Arnold up with duct tape. Wow. You can see how by the time The Cosby Show and Family Ties came on, we were fairly starving for something a little less...dramatic.

Though there was always that episode where Tom Hanks played Alex's alcoholic uncle. Alright, enough reminiscing!