If you haven’t seen Spooky Scary Skeletons already, go and check it out. The animator – Zekey – is now working for Weebl’s Stuff animating things, and this is just a little animation that he put together. It’s completely wonderful and feels a bit Tim Burton-esque.

Connosieurs of Disney cartoons may remember the rather wonderful Skeleton Dance from 1929, which this reminded me of (a bit). They remade it in colour some time in the 30s, which is the version I remember, but here’s the original black and white (which I’ve always wanted to see since I saw the remake, ironically. Funny what knowing there’s another version will do to you):

International Talk Like A Pirate Day (here in the UK, in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care) is almost upon us (Friday the 19th in fact).  So it’s time to get your pirate name out, dig out those flags, blow up the inflatable parrot and get ready for 24 hours where every other word is “yarrr…”.

You’ll also need a pirate name. Mine is:

Google’s little marketing comic for Chrome has proved a goldmine for satirists, as The Register shows…

(In case you’re wondering, I’m still using Firefox thanks.  Yes, it’s fast but I’ve too many Firefox plugins to switch.  Hmm – is there an article in that somewhere?)

Now that they’re remaking it, and Russell Brand almost certainly won’t be in it (as much as I love his work – and having met him – I can’t but help think this is a good thing for all concerned), I thought I’d recap five things we should all learn from Rocky Horror…

5. Don’t judge a book by its cover

4. It was great when it all began

3. Does anyone here know how to Madison?

2. Bide your time

1. Don’t Dream It, Be It

Just thought I’d share with you some of the weirder subject lines I’ve got in spam lately, some of which are quite amusing.

For example, apparently “McCain unsure whether Obama a secret hippopotamus“. Yes, you heard it here first folks: John McCain not sure whether Obama is actually a large African behemoth (the Victorian name for the hippo, donchaknow?) in disguise. The tagline in the message was “UFOs sighted over UK“, which either speaks reams about the sender’s state of mind, or their opinion of mine. I didn’t click – I don’t want to buy any Viagra or fake Rolexes (I have a real Philippe Mercier, thank you, which has sentimental value far above its monetary one.)

Apparently a shocking video shows “Spongebob and Gay Sex“, which is at least more inventive than the hundreds of “Angeline Jolie nude movie” variations going round, and even slightly more believable than all these UPS tracking numbers I keep getting sent… or the “Important Message from Abbey National %CURRENTDATE“. Wow, that Mr %CURRENTDATE must be having a hard time with those bank charges, eh? Still, distinctive name – must make tracing the family tree easier.

I was interested to note the headline “Ronald Reagan chief suspect in bank robbery“. My, he gets about a bit, especially for someone who died several years ago. Perhaps it’s not the same one, just someone with a similar name. Still, it was less disturbing than the headline “Bush ‘Troubled’ by Gay Marriages. Declares San Francisco Part of ‘Axis of Evil’“, or “White Male Workers Banned in Britain” (I’d have heard by now, surely…) Still, nice to see the war on terror keeps expanding…

And in celebrity news: “Tiger Woods Will Call Next Son Monkey” (in honour of the Chinese Olympics?), “Paris Hilton Initially Denies Having Inverted Nipples“, “Osama Sighting Confirmed In NYV“, and “Mick Jagger To Make Big Screen Debut” (hint to spammers: IMDB is your friend).

Oh, here’s some good advice: “Say goodbye to your diseases!“. Righty ho then, “goodbye diseases”. Nope, still got ‘em.

What’s this? Alistair says “Let me show you my tits“… no, can see three out the window, hopping about in the garden thanks. Lovely little birdies they are too. Oh look – one just caught a worm. How sweet. I assume you meant birdies, Alistair? (Or would you like a book of names for Christmas?)

“July 80% OFF“: so I can have a whole month for only 6.2 days? Where do I sign up?

And finally, on a sad note: “Flat Earth Society Disbanded“. Apparently, “Germans have landed on the moon as early as 1942 and have made contact with half a dozen alien races“, which explains everything, of course.

Really, you couldn’t make this stuff up. Well, actually, you can, of course. Because whichever numpties sent me this trying to sell me Viagra, fake Rolexes or membership to frankly dodgy websites thought I’d do no more than have a good laugh. Had any good ones yourself? Post a comment and we’ll all have a laugh