Yep, there’s enough material out there for a two-parter. (If you missed part I, it’s here.) I should mention that above all others, one band takes the grand prize for serial killer songs — the Japanese metal group Church of Misery, who in 10+ albums, have rarely written a song not about a serial killer. Here’s a sampling of their work, about California serial killer Ed Kemper:

Gary Gilmore: The Police, “Bring on the Night”
This spree killer was famously written about in Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song. Killed by firing squad in California in 1977, he accepted his death sentence and fought hard against the ACLU and other groups working to grant him stays of execution. He was so impatient, he even attempted suicide twice in prison. The Police’s song doesn’t reference Gilmore directly, but the theme fits him like a glove.

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Today’s Brain Game is like a 3 x 6 crossword; enjoy!

Treat each of the six clues below like “across” clues in a crossword puzzle – use the blanks next to each clue to solve it with a three-letter word. If you’ve done so correctly, the letters you’ve used should also spell three six-letter words running down the puzzle. Good luck!

The Mysterious Downfall of the Neandertals. The standard theories of why they disappeared don’t hold up, so scientists are looking in new directions. (via Metafilter)
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If you thought Jill and Kevin’s wedding entrance was exceptional, you should see what they did for the divorce!
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Respect For the Fungus Overlords. The Loom explains the details of zombie ants and the fungus that controls their lives and deaths.
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Top 10 Ironic Ads From History. Sometimes a wonderful ad campaign will come back to bite years later. (via Boing Boing)
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Crows can recognize individual people, but can you recognize a particular crow in a photo lineup? NPR presents the quiz and an accompanying video about crow research. (via the Presurfer)
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The 10 Manliest Names Ever belong to soldiers and strongmen. I wouldn’t want to backtalk any of them.
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8 Unique Magazines. Niche publishing brings the weirdness to your local newsstand -or even your mailbox!

I’m a sucker for cover songs, especially of the acoustic variety (most likely out of some subconscious desire to be a musician).  Tonight for the Late Movies, I’ve assembled a few of my favorite covers: everything from Rihanna to George Michael.  Some of these are haunting, some of them are just fun. Enjoy!

Here’s a cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya” by Mat Weddle.  It really makes you appreciate how great the original lyrics are. (more…)

The venerable CBS News commentator has said a lot of crazy stuff over the years. We’ve compiled fifteen sayings. Can you pick out the actual Rooneyisms?

Take the Quiz: Did Andy Rooney Really Say That?

I was watching Bonnie and Clyde last night (I’m going through this gangster phase right now) and noticed a strange thing – Willy Wonka, sitting there in the backseat as a hostage in the gangsters’ car. Turns out the 1967 movie was Gene Wilder’s feature film debut. Not bad for a first movie, huh? Every actor has to start somewhere, of course, and some start a little higher than others. We’ve done quizzes on the embarrassing beginnings of thespians before; it seems only fair to talk about the pretty good beginnings as well.

1. Richard Dreyfuss‘ first film role was as a stage manager in 1967’s Valley of the Dolls.
2. Tommy Lee Jones can first be seen on the silver screen as Hank Simpson in Love Story.
3. Benicio Del Toro’s big film break wasn’t in a classic movie in the usual sense of the word, but I think it’s a pretty great movie, myself: Big Top Pee-wee from 1988. He played Duke, the Dog-Faced Boy, pictured here to the left.

4. Cuba Gooding, Jr., can claim a small role as a barber shop customer in Coming to America as his movie debut.

5. Anjelica Huston has got to have one of the smallest film debuts ever – she provided Agent Mimi’s hands in the first Casino Royale.

6. Geena Davis played April Page in Tootsie in 1982, her first time on the big screen.

7. Anna Paquin, who is currently starring in one my favorite T.V. shows right now, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the ripe old age of 11 for her work in The Piano. It was her first movie.
8. Matt Damon had a single line in his first-ever movie: it was Mystic Pizza in 1988, and the line was, “Mom, do you want my green stuff?”
9. Laura Linney’s first role was as a teacher in the movie Lorenzo’s Oil with Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte.

10. Kevin Bacon had a brief role in the classic frat movie Animal House as rival pledge Chip.

Share your favorites in the comments! We’ll even take the bad ones.

Golan Levin is an artist who uses “the tools of his day” (meaning computers, robots, and tools of science) to make his art. Check out this TED Talk in which he gives demos of his awesome interactive artwork — people make visible, interactive shapes using their own shadows on a projection screen; a computer creates visible, synesthetic shapes out of human speech as users speak into a microphone; computer-generated speech-recognition live subtitling; art that can react to its viewers; and so on.

Worth a look if you’re interested in cool stuff done with computers. Cool art stuff.

This article was originally posted last summer.

By Erik Sass

What do these wits, terrorists, and philosophers all have in common? Well, there’s one thing they didn’t have: a job.

1. Osama bin Laden

Before he started fighting for his own violent version of Islam, terrorist Osama bin Laden led the life of a playboy. Born around 1957 to a wealthy Yemeni father and Syrian mother, bin Laden was heir to part of the massive fortune his billionaire father had accumulated in the Saudi construction business. As such, he squandered his days, acquiring a reputation for drinking too much and womanizing in his teens and early 20s in Beirut, which was then a cosmopolitan tourist hot spot. In fact, he didn’t become a firmly committed, full-time Islamic radical until he went to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. That’s where Osama began his improbable transformation from a rakish ladies’ man to a mass-murdering zealot, never having worked a day before then.

2. Socrates

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Note from Jason: My wife gave me a very nice Lacoste watch for my birthday, which led to a ‘What’s the difference between IZOD & Lacoste?’ discussion. If your significant other gives you a very nice Lacoste watch on your birthday and the conversation takes a similar path, here’s what you need to know.

The Dilemma: You want to look preppy. But how?

People You Can Impress: Polo players, Republicans, everyone at the club

The Quick Trick: Get a Lacoste shirt and you’ll have the best of both worlds.

The Explanation:

As it turns out, Lacoste is a subbrand of IZOD. As Aristotle would put it: All Lacostes are IZODs, but not all IZODs are Lacostes. These days, both brands are owned by the garment giant Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, so the difference between Lacoste IZODs and non-Lacoste IZODs is primarily marketing. But the difference between the men behind IZOD and Lacoste is vast indeed. (more…)

Last week, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of putting first man on the moon and NASA fever is in the air. There’s even newly renewed talk of space tourism. But for now, let’s remember the space travel technology we’ve got. Can you name the six space shuttles (including two that are no longer with us) in just two minutes?

Take the Quiz: Name the Space Shuttles