Here are a few things that have been amusing me as I’ve waited for this afternoon’s forecasted snow to arrive:

• Zombie Portraits.com is exactly what it sounds like: you submit a photograph of yourself to the artist and receive back a painting of how you’ll look look when the cosmic rays/mutagenic virus/evil magic turn you into a flesh-eating zombie. I’d like a picture of me as a zombie, but not so badly as to justify the $80 fee. A man’s got to have his priorities, after all, and 80 bucks could buy me a couple of these.
• Photos of the Telecalculograph, a pretty nifty PC case-mod done in the “steampunk” style. (For those not in the know, steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that takes place in Victorian England or similar settings. Details here.)
• People of the Jedi faith try to get UN recognition. (There was a time when I used to answer “Jedi” if people asked my religion, but that was just a smart-alecky response to a question I didn’t want to answer. These guys take it far more seriously than I ever did.)
• More portraits, this time beautiful photographs done in the atmospheric, black-and-white style of film-noir movies. When I finally get a book published, I want this guy to shoot my dustjacket image.
• This one’s long out of date, but still funny: Conan O’Brien’s Triumph the Insult Comic Dog goes after Star Wars fans as they wait in line for Ep III.
• Somebody’s building a housing development modeled after Tolkien’s Shire, or at least the vision of it which appeared in Peter Jackson’s movies. I’m not sure how I feel about this… it would be the ultimate in geek bragging rights, I suppose. “Hey, look, I live in a hobbit hole!” But ultimately, it just seems a little too contrived to be desirable, a gimmick like that Simpsons house they built in Nevada a few years ago.
• And finally, Viking kittens! Which is exactly what it sounds like… music-video animation of sea-borne pillaging felines in horned Nordic helmets, brought to us by the same guy who did those horrific (and thankfully shortlived) Quizno’s ads.

And on that note, I’m heading out into the storm, bound for home. Hopefully my taun-taun won’t give out on me and force me to crawl inside its stinky ol’ carcass for warmth…