Eight Is Great

I've gotten tired of doing Nine By Design.  It's just too many things to come up with on a weekly basis.  Nine random things every week, much harder than it looks.  Eight will be just enough, you tell 'em Dick Van Patten.  I'm also going to take this space to educate people on a variety of things I think we as Americans lack.  Today's Eight Is Great will be focusing on Underrated Plays By Shakespeare.  We need more culture in our lives.  So instead of Hamlet and Macbeth, I'll focus on Timon of Athens and Titus Andronicus.  Without further ado, let's get to some culture.




Underrated Plays By Shakespeare or Famous Pranks/Hoaxes (April Fools)

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch - was a brilliant piece written by one of the great writers of our time for Sports Illustrated, George Plimpton.  Finch's fastball was clocked at 168 mph.  everyone should read the article, but especially baseball fans. 

The Left Handed Whopper - Burger King ran this full page ad in USA Today announcing they have designed a new Whopper for left handed people, so they could have it "their" way.  People actually did go in and order left handed Whoppers, but many also wanted their Whoppers "the regular way."

Orson Welles' War of the Worlds - I remember hearing this re-broadcast as a kid.  Probably, the 50th anniversary in 1988.  I thought it was real and I knew it was a prank.  I can't imagine what people were thinking in 1938.

Taco Liberty Bell - In 1996, Taco Bell took out full page ads in 6 major American newspapers.  They had announced their purchase of the Liberty Bell and it would now be known as the, "Taco Liberty Bell."

The Extraordinary Astronomer Isaac Bickerstaff -This is why you don't mess with Jonathan Swift.

Disney to Buy MIT - Why go to such a difficult school?  They encourage pranks and hoaxes, it's part of the tradition.

Opie and Anthony Announce Boston Mayor Tom Menino Dies - This is one of those pranks gone wrong.  In 1998, O&A announced that Mayor Tom Menino died in a fiery car wreck.  Making this worse was the fact that the Mayor was very difficult to reach that day.  So, even his family believed that he had died.  Opie and Anthony were fired a week later.  Rumor has it all of this was done on purpose so O&A could switch radio stations. 

The BBC airs Flying Penguin Documentary - The key thing that should have given this away was that its hosted by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, but it really is brilliant.


So there you have it, the Eight Is Great for the week.  Cheers, Happy Weekend.



What are you waiting for?  I've done my Eight Is Great.  I'm done for the week.  You can go now.



I've got nothing left...I told you, no more Nine By Design.




Okay...fine.

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest - What happens when a highly respected anchor on a highly respected British show talks about and shows video of a Swiss family pulling pasta off a spaghetti tree?  Utter brilliance.  Remember, this happened in 1957.  It would be funny now.

Now I'm really truly done.  Have a great weekend everyone.