Greek Frogs Attempt their Own Kind Of Road Kill

As if Greece isn't having enough problems. First their economy crashes and now their frogs are causing cars to crash. Thousands of small amphibians carpeted a major highway yesterday -making three cars skid off the road. No human injuries were reported but they are still investigating the damage to the frogs.

Here is what Greek frogs look like:

And here is not so exciting video of them hopping in the road and some Greek People talking about it.

Shaolin Bear

A black bear named Cloud channels his inner Bruce Lee and shows off his Kung Fu moves. Wait 29 seconds into the video to see him go at it with a staff.

Cloud lives at the zoo in Hiroshima.

1,000 Words

Time.com's picture of the day.

Indigenous people wearing traditional costumes cast their votes at a polling center in Baguio City, north of Manila in the Philippines.

Deli Chic Coffee Cup

This week saw the passing of a man that has touched us practically every day- a few times a day- for years. Leslie Buck, the designer of the omnipresent blue Anthora Coffee cup died at the age of 87.

Buck had no formal art training but rather was Director of Marketing for the Sherri Cup Company at the time. He made no royalties off the design but as sales of the cups grew, so did his profits.

Ceramic versions of the cup are now available. Try www.modlivin.com . Spend the $38.00 in memory of the man who thought of you drinking your morning cup even if you never gave him a thought.

Try to Make me go to Legoland, I say No No No!

Lego's created an official Amy Winehouse Doll to celebrate their 30th Anniversary. They made other celeb-legos too, like Madonna and David Beckham, all of which are not available to the public. So what's the point?

Anyway, regular fans did a better job if you asked me.

Artist: Justin Ramsden

Artist: Craig Stevens, posing with his full-size doll. Wonder what he does with that at home.

Artist: Unknown. But they made the crackpipe look too much like a cigarette.

Amy Winehouse Legos.

Artist: Craig Stevens

Cuckoo for Coconuts

Squirrels eating coconuts.

Bridge in Troubled Water

Let's pretend you run a county in a southern state. In this county there's a bridge. You had to close the bridge last year because, like much of American infrastructure, it was unsafe. To fix it will cost $48 million. Outrageous. So, you decide to tear it down - but that will still cost you $13 million... which you don't have. So what do you do? Call Hollywood of course.

Florida's Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni has appealed to production houses for the chance to blow up the Friendship Trail bridge.

The idea is not so crazy especially for this county. In 1991, they received $50,000 from the producers of Lethal Weapon 3 for the rights to film the old city hall being torn down.

Death Becomes Her Hat

When you're driving down a country lane and spot an animal who's life was cut short by a human driving, you most likely cringe. But roadkill is inspiration for British designer James Faulkner, who creates amazing hats from the feathers and fur of roadside slaughter.

In what is an extreme project in recycling, he resurrects the animals who saw a natural yet untimely death, into couture that will be exhibited May 14 at Edinburgh's Telford College.

"It sounds very sinister, but I find it very satisfying to make something beautiful from something gruesome," says the artist who just finished his milliners course.

Rather than spending all his time driving around the backroads of Britain, Faulkner requests the feathers that would normally be waste from butchers and restaurants in order to create his to-die-for hats.

Butch Cakes

Men like cupcakes too. It's true. And now they don't have to be afraid to admit it. Not the cutesy fairy cakes that GIRLS eat- NO way! Manly men get their man cakes online. BUTCH BAKERY in NY delivers the most masculine of cupcakes right to their door. Or their gym.

The man who brings you these testosterone tarts is David Arrick. He threw away his Wall Street suit and tie to make cupcakes that are anything but cute. With names like Jackhammer, Beer Run, and Big Papi, these cakes will make a man out of you, yet.

Hair Peace

Kate I don't care if you can't dance, just bring it back! Bring back the reverse mullet!

I am sure you would have gotten higher scores on last night's Dancing with The Stars if you hadn't changed that righteous 'do!

Mad Men Live in a Barbie World

To promote the fourth season of AMC's show Mad Men, Mattel is putting out what they call "Barbie Fashion Model Collection Dolls". Joan, Roger, Don and Betty can now live in your dreamhouse. You can sit them by the TV and watch the premiere of Mad Men with them as if they were truly your friends.

Although I applaud the concept and the effort there are a few things missing from the doll collection. A greater attention to detail in this circumstance really could have pushed this idea to higher levels.

The Don doll looks a bit stiff -maybe some props could help him out, like a cigarette, a martini or a mistress in one hand.

Betty looks like one of her mothers was Jessica Rabbit. Her face is kind of off. I think its her eyes. They're to sultry or something but props to the hairdresser.

Barbie must be a little jealous of June, refusing to allow Mattel to cast her in anatomically correct plastic. Maybe it's in old Barbie's contract that she has to be the doll with the top tits because this doll does not do June any justice.

That's a disappointment to men everywhere who were just considering purchasing their first female action figure.

And where's Peggy? Mattel could have dusted off their "Skipper" mold and gave us a Peggy doll too?

The dolls will be available for $75 at stores and at amctv.com.

McFashion Food

Corporations constantly vie to attract new consumers to their brand. Sometimes this means stepping out of their established box to force the customer to view them in a completely new way. This is risky but if successful, could propel their brand to higher esteem and of course, profits.

McDonalds will be experimenting in new ways to change the consumers' way of thinking about their food products. The creative genius of Access Agency will spin the brand into a high-fashion direction.

In the fashion tents of Milan, New York, London and Paris Fashion Weeks, the stylearatti will be dining at "McFancy".

McFashionistas can get their usual McDonalds fare in extraordinary packaging co-created by the fashion labels themselves and of course, served to them by waiters in tuxedos. Private dining areas will fool the eaters into thinking they're not eating fast food.

Wouldn't you just love a Paul Smith Sundae with your Burberry Burger (or Burgberry)...

...and do you want Gucci Fries with that?

Of course!

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Gaga for Fashion

It's hard to choose the best outfits that Lady Gaga has worn but I wanted to pay tribute anyway. Here are my favorite styles from her most popular videos (ONLY the videos- no Live performances). The full videos are at the end of this blog.

The song she does with Beyonce, "Telephone" has such great style. The USA outfit and the Chains are so cool.

But she looks so good wrapped in Crime Scene tape.

From "Bad Romance" the Polar bear coat and the sperm outfit are amazing.

Paparazzi, is my favorite! The crutches are a great prop and the outfit made out of Film (I especially love the hat) is an earlier take on the Crime Scene tape outfit.

Watch Lady Gaga Videos here:

Bad Romance:

Telephone:

Paparazzi:

The Second Coming of Jesus-Cruise/Hubbard

Rumors have been mysteriously appearing on the internet machine (probably from a higher source named Xenu) that Katie Holmes is preparing to be inseminated with yet another Messiah for Scientologists.

Mrs. Cruise spent four hours at the Hollywood Scientology Center last week. Insiders say that was for a pre-pregnancy 'auditing'.

Scientologists believe the "health and sanity of the child begin long before birth". Yes, they actually use the word "sanity". It takes them 4 hours to tell someone that IF they were sane they would leave the Church grounds NOW? I could say that in less than four seconds.

In researching this important story, I found something even more disturbing on the Scientology website, Scientology.org.

Watching their library of videos, I found that all Scientologists interviewed were missing the tops of their heads.

Even those in the B-roll shots.

Well, the last guy might actually have a head top, you can't really tell what's under his turban.

Let us all gather and pray that the new Holmes/Hubbard, I mean Holmes/Cruise Savior of Human and Extraterrestrial Kind comes out of the spaceship complete- head and all.

Sadie, a Scottish Terrier triumphed at the 2010 Westminster Dog Show, bringing home the coveted "Best in Show' trophy.

The most interesting category for me was the Toy Dog Category. This years' trophy was stolen by Smash JP Moonwalk, an overdressed poodle. Typical.

I was voting for the Brussels Griffon myself. The dog that looks most like Chewbacca.

Either way, I don't see how a poodle could beat a pug, but then I don't know anything about dogs.

Eat Off This

I'm thinking of trading in my fine BONE China for this even finer ORGAN China. Designer Lisa Turner celebrates the 19th Century's etchings of the human machine and the beauty of who we are inside with this new dish set. The anatomical drawings will resuscitate any boring lunch. You can get them at tableart.com The teacup? $95.oo and the plate $74.00.

For those that won't bother the waiter when there's a fly on their plate, Monica Tsang has created ENTO, a bug- inspired dinnerware set. You can also find this at Tableart.com.

The artists are part of Paul Bishop's British company "The New English". Bishop organized the group of contemporary designers to turn the table on the traditional English Pottery. Could I have some more, please?

Are Groundhogs the New Messiah?

Punxsutawney Phil has predicted another six weeks of winter after seeing his shadow this morning. Yet Staten Island Chuck has declared an end to winter. So, as for their weather-predicting capabilities, groundhogs are no better or worse than the guys on the six o'clock news.

But how does the woodchuck function as a savior of mankind?

In the film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray is stuck repeating the same day over and over again until he squashes his egotistical ways, learns to be compassionate and generous, and accepts others as they are.

In religious terms, he needs to learn how to live life right.

Some argue that the film's premise is a reflection of the Buddhists' notion of "samsara"-the continuing cycle of reincarnation and rebirth that humans must try to escape. Bill Murray becomes the "bodhisattva"- one who reaches the brink of nirvana and returns to save the rest of us.

However the Jews lay claim to the spiritual essence of the film by indicating that Bill Murray must perform good deeds - or "Mitzvahs" in order to break the monotonous cycle.

His reward is not that of a Christian Heaven nor Buddhist Nirvana. Judaism tells us that our work does not end until the world has been perfected.

Some Christian groups also try to seize the metaphysical examples in the film, either by seeing the Groundhog as a resurrected Christ embodying the hope for rebirth at springtime, or by claiming Bill Murray's character as a portrayal of the man reborn into good.

Whatever religion feels the need to see their prophecies depicted in a screenplay, go ahead. For whatever their claim to the plot of Groundhog Day, they may really have something in common with it. As Spiritualist Anthony DeMello once said, "Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep." As the film portrays, some of us have more imperfections we need to wake up to than others.

Your Boss is Killing You

When we were young, my brother Chris shot our TV with a BB Gun. I think it was because he didn't like one of the characters on screen, and I can see how, if one had a gun on hand, annoying actors may bring upon a need to act.

Today, health researchers are firing their weapons at our beloved boob tube yet again, not for what it is spitting out, but blaming it for sending Americans to an early grave.

A study headed by Dr. David Dunstan, of the Physical Activity Lab at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia found:

"Irrespective of a person's exercise level, sitting for four or more hours watching television was linked to a significant increase in risk of death."

But before you throw your plasma out the window, hold on. Let's look at Dr Dunstan's research again. What the research actually says is that when we're in a sitting posture, we're not using our muscles. Muscle contractions are important for the regulatory processes of the body, such as the ability to break down glucose and use it as energy. That can cause insulin resistance, which can trigger a spike in blood sugar levels, possibly leading to type 2 diabetes.

So your research makes total sense in that inactivity is harmful but why the huge jump to Television Watching? Why is it when a person sits down for a few hours to relax and be entertained they are killing themselves? What about the 8 hours spent SITTING at a desk all day pushing papers?

How is it that the majority of the day, when we are in the office slaving for someone else, for the betterment of industry, ensuring the survival of Capitalism, that time is not harmful to our health at all- but dare watch an episode of the Simpsons, and well that's detrimental to our life. Do it and die!

Scientists, stop attempting to grab headlines to justify your research grants. Just present the facts. It's inactivity and the posture of sitting that is harmful, NOT our TV sets.

So it's not as dramatic to say it like that but scaring people away from American Idol isn't going to do any good. You know if I saw Dr Dunstan on TV spouting this ignorance, I might just go for the BB Gun myself.

Another Great One Gone

In the 1960's "Pop Art", "Minimalism" and "Color Field" competed for art world dominance. Color Field lost.

And this week the art world lost one of the founding fathers of Color Field- Kenneth Noland. Noland died of cancer this past Tuesday January 5, 2010. He was 85.

Color Field painting is defined by Wikepedia as:

"...characterized primarily by large fields of flat, solid color spread across or stained into the canvas; creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. The movement places less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favour of an overall consistency of form and process."

Noland's 'Target Paintings" is a series of nearly 200 paintings of concentric circles he made in the 1950s that helped him break away from the abstract expressionism of the time. He influenced several other artists, most notably Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.

He leaves widowed Paige Rense, Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Digest.