Valleys and Troughs

Morning Marginalia: the oldest Santa.

Because we love Christmas so damn much, we thought we'd share with you a little something of it's history: the oldest santa ever:

Known as the "Blue Santa," the object was made circa 1884 by The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company, which burned to the ground in 1904. The figurine is 2.5 inches tall.

We weren't kidding, by the way. We believe Christmas to be the single-greatest concept ever engendered by Man, and are glad to celebrate its heritage in any way we can. Eight more days!

Xmas VALLEY.

via discoverynews

Morning Marginalia: Robin Hood trailer.

It's been a long time since Ridley Scott's Robin Hood - starring Russell Crowe - was announced, and we remember reading somewhere that it was delayed for the usual reasons (read: dead hooker in Ben Affleck's trailer). Pretty standard role for Crowe, who's joins up once more with Scott after the pair worked together on Gladiator all those years ago. Cate Blanchett plays Maid Marion, which is an interesting choice. If nothing else, we know that Russell Crowe has the ability to carry a period-fiction piece. It is what the man does.

VALLEY

Morning Marginalia: Lamborghini Ankonian concept.

Because it is just so beautiful and it looks more like the Tumbler than any car we've ever seen, we point you to a new concept designed by Slavche Tanevsky for Lamborghini, the Ankonian.

Even if it never gets made, someone out there is moving things in the right direction. Good times.

VALLEY

via askforcars

Morning Marginalia: Stormtrooper demotivations.

If any lifestyle lends itself naturally to the understanding of valleys and troughs, it is that of the Imperial Stormtrooper. Total anonymity, thankless sacrifice, and they're always dropping the ball when everything is on the line, usually in embarrassing fashion (think Ewoks). This guy definitely gets it.

TROUGH.

via Geekologie

Internet so much huger than you could have imagined.

We are thankful for nothing more than the internet, and have always held the belief that its effect on our daily life can hardly be measured. Well, thanks to the minds at Online Education, that is patently untrue. The graphic is pretty self-explanatory, but it just staggers the mind to think that an aspect of our lives that is so totally pervasive and ubiquitous has been around for what, a little over a decade? And 210 billion emails daily? That's roughly 35 times the population of the earth. Not bad for a series of tubes.

VALLEY

via geekologie.

Morning Marginalia: Sarah Palin enters rarified breast-signing air.

That's Sarah Palin's signature on the chest of the unfortunate little creature above, which signing occurred at a Costco in Utah, which certainly make sense. We imagine it was part of Palin's publicity/book tour, but can't be bothered to confirm this. Normally we'd applaud this sort of thing on general principle, but nothing about Sarah Palin and her status as some kind of celebrity amuses us. Some things are just too depressing.

TROUGH, for obvious reasons.

via gawker

Morning Marginalia: Kids in the hall return, kind of.

The Kids in the Hall are back, more or less. The crew is reuniting for a new series called Death Comes to Town, which will air on CBC in a place called Canada. The logistics of how the series will make its way to the United States, where things actually matter, are unclear. Still, it's been too long since these guys have been together. Let's hope they can still make magic happen. The preview:

VALLEY

via WarmingGlow

Highlight of the night: hot chocolate spoons.

This is going to be awkwardly phrased. Chocolate Company, a Dutch distributor of ... chocolate, has made available a line of wooden spoons with various kinds of chocolate at the bottom for stirring into drinks. Namely, hot chocolate. That should fill up the monthly quota for the use of the word "chocolate." The spoons are called "hotchocspoons," which if nothing else is sensible. The flavors range from strawberry & pink pepper to amaretto & macaroons, and a set of 20 will run you €50, which works out to more dollars than we'd like to consider. One can never put too high a price on pure milky happiness.

VALLEY

via plunderguide

China wants its pandas back, whenever we get a chance.

China is America's biggest creditor (TROUGH) and they've begun calling in their debts - beginning with Tai Shan, the only panda cub born at the Smithsonian National Zoo to survive to adulthood.

Under the Smithsonian's panda loan agreement, any cub born at the zoo must be returned to China for breeding. Tai Shan was born in 2005 and was supposed to be sent back to China in 2007, but the zoo was granted an extension to keep the panda for two more years.

Of all the indignities. Pandas are an astoundingly rare commodity, and are notoriously difficult to breed - some naturalists even argue we should give up on trying to save them altogether (which sentiment we find absurd, and so do most people who have, you know, a heart), and we are left to wonder if we shouldn't try to hang onto as many as we can. God knows we've taken firmer stands on issues of less significance than the propagation of the one species that is literally the symbol of wildlife conservation. We suppose there's something to be said for international cooperation with this sort of thing, though. Sadly it's an issue that may not trouble us for too much longer.

TROUGH

via Discovery

Morning Marginalia: Lego comic art: awesome.

From artist Ulises Farinas, author of the webcomic MOTRO, draws scenes from Marvel and DC comics acted out by Lego people. This strikes us as a conceptualization that is long overdue, legos and comics being two of the pinnacles of human achievement.

VALLEY

via io9