Links for 2010-12-14

"Tired of building vinegar-and-baking-soda volcanoes for your children's science projects? Recreate the collapse of the Metrodome roof instead.

Materials needed: green construction paper, some wooden dowels, a paper towel, about 500 artificial sweetener packets, and a cellphone. Glue some wooden dowels to green construction paper. Moisten a paper towel and fasten it to the top of the dowels. Then puncture it slightly and keep dumping artificial sweetener on or near the puncture spot until the roof gives way. Once the "field" is covered in white powder, use the cellphone to send a series of text messages from Brett Favre to explain how the Midwestern blizzard and the breathtaking footage of a major architectural landmark caving in is really just a backdrop for his personal saga."

"Given the number of unhinged characters he's played on screen, the news that Joe Pantoliano has founded a charity devoted to "removing the stigma associated with mental illness" might provoke a knowing chuckle. But notwithstanding the organization's name, the founder of No Kidding, Me Too! is not joking around. A venerable character actor with memorable parts in The Matrix, Midnight Run, The Goonies, and Risky Business, plus an Emmy-winning turn on The Sopranos to his credit, Pantoliano was diagnosed with clinical depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) several years ago, and has since devoted himself to making the forthright discussion of what he calls "mental dis-ease" cool. In his documentary, No Kidding! Me 2!!, he details his own story as well as those of others living with mental illness, and he's tapped such celebrity pals as Harrison Ford and Anthony Edwards to help spread the word that talking about the subject can be "sexy." "

Not for those prone to motion sickness.