A photograph of a potato might be the 15th most expensive picture ever.

The photo of a relatively circular, slightly dusty potato with the subtlest of root matter left on it sold for $1.08 million in a private sale.

Titled Potato #345 by Irish visual artist Kevin Abosch, the spud was chosen as the subject for specific reasons. "I see commonalities between humans and potatoes that speak to our relationship as individuals within a collective species," says Abosch.

Damn right. Have you ever seen a bunch of shoestring fries boiling in a vat of oil at McDonald's? If you blink, you might swear you saw middle America sweating it out on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Potatoes are us!

Abosch isn't done waxing deep thoughts though. "Generally, the life of a harvested potato is violent and taken for granted. I use the potato as a proxy for the ontological study of the human experience," he says.

He's speaking to my soul. The next time I look in a mirror and see myself as dusty and round, it's not because I'm overweight and didn't bathe--it's because I'm just a proxy for a potato.




Photo: Kevin Abosch

McDonald's Hamburger University is more discerning than Oxford, Cambridge, or Harvard.

This sort of story comes out every few years, and it's popped up again.

Nearly five years ago, news came out that Harvard University, with its 5.9% acceptance rate, was easier to get admitted into than McDonald's Hamburger University campus in Shanghai, which accepts fewer than 1% of applicants.

Now, news from London's The Mirror newspaper shares the same 'duh' moment shocking revelation that Hamburger University is also more discerning than Oxford University (18% acceptance rate) and the University of Cambridge (20.8%).

I think we all know the truth that students at Oxford and Cambridge are really just future Burger King employees anyway.




When are we going to come together as a human race and collectively admit that Ronald McDonald is freaky as hell? I don't want him smiling at me. The only people that smile like that want to invite you down to their basement--and my wealth of knowledge of bad Hollywood movies proves that you never come up from the basement once you go down.

Saturday Morning PSA of The Week: Michael Jordan had a lisp?

Saturday mornings are known for two things: Saturday morning cartoons and Saturday morning public service announcements.

Today's PSAs are all information and no imagination--but yesteryear's? Those were full of drama, plot lines, and cameos from B-grade celebrities, all wedged into one minute or less of absolute fantasticness.

Consider this a trip back in time to when PSAs were sometimes worth watching more than the cartoon.

This week's PSA:  Michael Jordan is very earnest.



Random Thoughts and Questions:
1.)  The Casio keyboard accompaniment is a nice touch.
2.)  When did Michael Jordan lose the Cindy Brady lisp?
3.)  At 18, you've lived 1/4 of your life? Not if you're eating McDonald's.
4.)  "You can just about be anything you want to be." I want to be Dumbledore's brother. Make it happen, Jordan.
5.)  Yeah, yeah, yeah, but how do Magic Johnson and Larry Bird feel about kids on drugs?

British Happy Meals will now have a book inside.

Admittedly, it's a crappy book--always themed, like oceans or jungles, filled with connect-the-dot puzzles and coloring--but a step up from miniature Barbies and Disney-promo plastic wind-up toys? Maybe?

With an expected 15 million miniature books included in Happy Meals between now and 2015, the move will make McDonald's the largest book distributor in the UK.

A sign of the apocalypse? Sure. Seems more legit than the whole Mayan letdown.

Alphabets as architecture.

Flavorwire has a list of various architecture throughout the world inspired by--or incorporating letters from--the alphabet.

Fancy architecture though--so don't expect to see some love for McDonald's on this list, despite every location being pretty much an architectural makeout session with the letter M.

Some samples from Flavorwire:

Amsterdam...

...Ede, Netherlands...

...and Vancouver, British Columbia.
(That's a poem wrapped around every floor. Squint.)









Still, nothing matches the architectural majesty of the original: