Archive for November, 2006

by Mike Fennelly

(note : the image server here seems to have issues right now – if this turns out to look all wacky and stuff, one of the crack team of PopDigerati IT ninjas that live in my closet will fix it pronto. Or when I wake up tomorrow morning. One of the two.)

Oh boy. I don’t even know where to start with this dude. Let’s just give a brief chronology, and turn this into a bit of a photo essay.

1) Wannabe eBay scammer sells non-functional laptop to what he thinks is an unsuspecting schmuck.

2)Unsuspecting schmuck gets laptop, notices that it’s not as advertised in the ad, then notices it flat out doesn’t work. He emails scammer and says “Dude. Money back. Now.”

3) Wanna-be Scammer. who we now know goes by the name Amir Massoud Tofangsazan, says “Oh. Sorry. I Moved to Dubai. and by the way I have no intention of ever paying you back.”

4) Unsuspecting Schmuck gets pissed. Unsuspecting Schmuck gets even. Unsuspecting Schmuck gets a website.
5) What Scammer thought was an unsuspecting schmuck turned out to be a pretty smart guy, who knew how to do things like…oh…take hard drives out of computers, see what was contained on them, and post the would-be scammers personal information, pictures, wacky-ass porn, and (best of all) all the pictures the would-be scammer had attempted to take up women’s skirts on the train.

a la :

If you want to see the porn, you’ll just have to head over to The Broken Laptop I Sold On Ebay, and learn more by checking out this total d-bag on Wikipedia.

Until next time, Amir Massoud Tofangsazan, we at PopDigerati Salute you, for keeping us entertained when we should have been working. Oh, and it really works better if you put a little camera on your shoe. At least until you get arrested.

Okay, I can’t resist. One more picture – best comment captioning this one gets a shiny brand new penny courtesy of your friends at PopDigerati!

by Brion Lau

A star is born and her name is Christina Dolce (aka Forbidden). Does that ring a bell? If not, how about the “Queen of MySpace”?

The 24-year old Dolce quickly rose to fame shortly after joining MySpace back in 2003. Once she posted her profile and images online, she was beseiged with thousands of requests from “friends”. In fact, she amassed more than 850,000 friends and became one of the most popular profiles on MySpace.

From there things really took off. Dolce’s MySpace fame has translated into her own line of clothing (Destroyed Denim), pictorals in magazines (FHM, Stuff, Rolling Stone, Playboy), and a gig as a spokesmodel for Axe deodorant.

Stay tuned fans because it’s not long before Dolce breaks into the film and television industry.  Check out the latest on Dolce’s website, Forbiddenxo.com.

by Mike Fennelly

Okay – The last thing I want to do is join the celebrity blogosphere, but I got this from a friend fresh off the wire, and I figured if Mehir is still looking for someone to kiss, he could do worse, eh?

“Spears filed legal papers today in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing “irreconcilable differences.” In her petition, Spears asks for both legal and physical custody of the couple’s two children, one-year old Sean Preston and two-month old Jayden James, with Federline getting reasonable visitation rights.”

This is your chance, Mehir. We’ve already established beyond any reasonable doubt that Britney’s standards are… how you say? Lax. This is your time to swoop in with champagne and roses, or whatever a Turkish Stallion such as yourself would use to make the romancing with your woman, and give up on that silly Borat lawsuit. If you really want to eclipse Borat’s fame, there’s only one thing you can do.

Marry Britney.

I’m going to call on all of you, PopDigerati’s loyal readership, to open up your rolodexes, search your contact lists, and show the tenacity of Brian Herzlinger.

We can…nay, we MUST make this love connection happen.

So, Mehir – If you’re reading this, you’d better get your best leisure suit on and douse yourself in the finest Turkish cologne, before our pal Jonny the Monkey gets to her. Hey, she married K-Fed, who’s to say that a monkey is beneath her?

by Brion Lau

“My Date with Drew” qualifies as a one hit wonder. If you watch the movie, you’ll see how this relates to Brian Herzlinger’s claim to fame on the Internet.

What is this movie about?

Here’s the deal. Brian has been crazy about Drew since the 2nd grade when he first saw her in E.T. So now it’s 20 years later and he figured since she hasn’t come knockin’ on his door, he’s gonna have to make the first move.

Problem…

She’s Drew Barrymore!

But wait, it’s not as crazy as you might think. See, Brian figured he’d combine his two great passions in life – making movies and Drew Barrymore – and document his quest to meet Drew. That way he will represent the “everyman”, and his quest will seem noble… instead of just desperate.

Next problem…

Brian is completely broke. And he doesn’t even own a video camera to make this documentary. Fortunately, he recently won $1,100 on a game show! So he figured it must be fate. He will use this cash prize to seize the moment and pursue his dream. And as it turns out, you don’t even need any money to buy a video camera these days, thanks to Circuit City’s 30-day Return Policy. So he grabbed a friend’s credit card and picked out the most expensive camera in the store, knowing he will have to finish his documentary before the camera has to go back.

So now Brian has 30 days and $1,100 to get a date with Drew Barrymore. Rent the movie or buy a copy of My Date with Drew to see what happens.

Motto: “If you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul.” – Drew Barrymore

by Mike Fennelly

Well, I guess with the Borat movie opening up this weekend, we should go digging through the depths of the bowels of the subbasements of the net to produce for you one Mr. Mahir Cagri. Truly the proto-Borat, if there ever was one. Mehir, it seems, was a wee bit lonely back in the stone age of 1999, and was looking for a bit of female companionship. Someone turned him on to the wonders of the internet, taught him the blink tag and how to embed images, and the internet gained an instant celebrity. These days, his site is no more professional, but – alas – the pure innocence of a Turkish man who just wants to kiss you has been sullied by crass commercialism. He’s got videos now though, so that makes it almost worthwhile.

UPDATE  : Mehir pizzed the off, for really — Is he making for the sue? If you good with the law, maybe he kiss you and let you work on the contingency!

Also, If you look in the comments section here, One Mr. Johnny Monkey seems to have his own personal beef with Borat. Either that or he just wants to promote his website. One thing that you can be sure of : He’s no Mehir.

Welcome to the PopDigerati world, Mehir. May it get you kissed.

by Brion Lau

Have you ever heard of Kyle MacDonald? How about the One Red Paperclip? If not, where have you been?

Last year, on July 12, 2005, Kyle started out with a single red paperclip. His plan was to trade that single paperclip for a house. Sound impossible? Not really.

Warning: Stop reading if you don’t like spoilers. Follow Kyle’s story on his One Red Paperclip Blog.

He already achieved his goal! Kyle is now a happy resident of a single family home on 503 Main Street in Kipling, Saskatchewan Canada. Now that I’ve skipped to the ending, I strongly encourage you to read his entire story to see what fascinating products he traded for and the interesting people he met along the way.

Kyle’s story is truly inspirational and shows us that we can do anything if we set our minds to it!

Follow Kyle’s quest to trade his paperclip for a home on his One Red Paperclip blog.

by Mike Fennelly

It’s not really a giant secret that I’m a complete gaming nerd. I’m pretty much constantly on the lookout for something to amuse me while I have downtime, and I’m a big fan of games that are simple to catch on to, yet reward you for paying attention with tons of secrets and in-jokes.

So, obviously the best game in the known universe is The Kingdom Of Loathing.

What makes this phenomenally cool, and therefore PopDigerati-worthy though, is the fact that a 90,000+ member community, including a 24/7 internet radio station, a site for player-made music, and an inordinate number of spoiler and general fansites was spawned purely through internet word of mouth. Started by Zack “Jick” Johnson, and Josh “Mr. Skullhead” Nite back in the mists of 2003, the game has grown from featuring crudely drawn stick figures, and more than a touch of the surreal, to featuring… well… less crudely drawn stick figures. The fact that KoL has built a successful business, and merchandising mini-empire out of a free game makes me give them the nod for “Cool Stuff” here at Popdigerati.

So what’s your favorite distraction at work? What online games keep you up until 5am saying “Just one more minute!” 200 times? More importantly, what makes them cool enough for us to write about? Leave us comments and let us know!

by Brion Lau

Can Flickr really make you famous? Ask Rebekka Gudleifsdottir.

Last year she was a student at the Iceland Academy of Arts just learning how to use a camera. Now she’s one of the most popular photographers on Flickr, an online community where more than 4 million users post and browse photos. Rebekka’s Flickr fame has now translated into an assignment with Toyota where she will shoot and star in a soon to be released advertisement!

Click here to check out Rebekka’s portfolio on Flick.