So apparently Apple filed a patent for a smart bike. Not really sure why they did that, or how that fits into their business plan at all. It’ll be interesting to see what this turns out to be, though.

Of course, you’ll have to avoid using the bike in one specific way, or else risk the wheels falling off or something.

In the Family Guy episode Patriot Games, there’s a part where Peter scores a touchdown and proceeds to sing an entire song from a 1957 Broadway musical. I remember being really annoyed by this because, aside from not getting the reference, the five minute piece served as little more than filler, ultimately wasting around a fifth of the episode. Recently I saw that Seth MacFarlane is in talks to record an album of 40s and 50s show tunes. I then quickly realized what was going on here: Seth MacFarlane is super alt.

Consider this: within the hipster movement, you’ve got a bunch of people who are trying to bring back really old school styles from the 40s and 50s. They have ridiculous mustaches, wear vests and things like that. Having a working knowledge of show tunes from eras like that is totally within hipster territory. And recording an album of such songs? Even more alt.

But here’s the subversive part: MacFarlane has managed to integrate his hipsterness with his TV shows by working obscure references into episodes. What’s a better way to show how you know something that no one else does than to insert references into a show that’s watched by millions? Totally alt. Further, MacFarlane is taking his fame from such references and is funneling it into an album of music that’s predicated on that same obscureness! He’ll now have an album proclaiming how alt he is – but having an album released on a major record label is decidedly not hipster. It’s brilliant.

So well done, sir: you’ve managed to turn your hipster self into a cash cow that’s also mainstream.

I grew up watching Iron Chef Japan on Food Network. This was back in the early days, before Guy Fieri, Paula Deen and the Neelys ruined the whole place. But back then, there was something magical and hilarious about the show. Maybe it was whatever crazy thing Kaga wore each week; or the frenetic atmosphere of everyone running around; or maybe just something about the dubbing. Some combination of all of those resulted in a show that drew me in.

But I think above all, it was the music that drew me in. At the time I didn’t know the music was mostly from Backdraft (there was a little Glory in there as well) but the cues they used just fit so well with what was going on. A month or so ago we started getting the Cooking Channel, the sister channel to Food Network. And I was so excited when I saw that they were going to air the original Iron Chef!

If only. The dialogue and spectacle of the show were all there, but the music.. they gutted the Backdraft music and replaced it with some horrendous generic piece of crap. Maybe it was just my nostalgia kicking in, but something just didn’t feel right. Could the people at Scripps really not find some better piece of music? Hell, just use some epic-sounding trailer music; there’s plenty of it out there.

But oh, how disappointed I was. Scripps, if you’re reading this, I implore you to bring back the music that you used before. Pay Hans Zimmer his rights to the music and just be done with it.