Chevy Creates World’s First Billboard Made from Pennies, By-passers Strip it Clean

Chevrolet created havoc with its 20-foot billboard advert made entirely from one-pence coins in London’s New Oxford Street. The unique billboard that consisted of 20,000 pennies was created to advertise the 769,500-pence starting price of the new Aveo. Understandably, it didn’t take long for hundreds of opportunistic by passers to strip it clean. To be exact, the penny-billboard only lasted for a mere 30 minutes.

Chevrolet’s Les Turton commented: “There have been some great car adverts before, but none that has stopped traffic and actually put money back into the motorist’s pocket so this is certainly a first. We’re glad we’ve topped up lots of people’s wallets, purses and, in some cases, rucksacks, but it would have been nice for the billboard to last a little longer than 30 minutes.” (From CarScoop)

 

‘Fanboy’ Makes Merriam-Webster’s List of New English Words

Thanks to the new Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, the word fanboy is now officially a member of the English language.

The folks behind the Merriam-Webster dictionary have added more than 100 words and phrases to the new edition of the Collegiate Dictionary, and a popular gaming-related one is among them.

The word? Fanboy, that popular go-to word on gaming forums and comment threads across the Internet.

Here’s the official definition, as found in the Collegiate Dictionary, along with the year when Merriam-Webster first saw its unofficial usage. You’ll never guess how old it is!

“Fanboy n. (1919): [a] boy who is an enthusiastic devotee, such as of comics or movies.

The Office Webisode: Kevin’s Loan, Episode 1 – Money Trouble

Sub Pop Turns 20

Despite the fact that Sub Pop has been declared dead twice in its 20 years on Earth, the venerable indie label that has taken its lickings kept on ticking, right up to the present day. Co founder/label president Jonathan Poneman says he started the label as “a blindly ignorant music fan.” And after breaking Nirvana, helping birth emo with Sunny Day Real Estate and changing lives with the Shins, Poneman is a savvier businessman but not a cynic. “Fandom always drives what we do,” he says. “When you get down to it, we’re all a bunch of music nerds.”

Here are Sub Pop’s top 20 moments.

Patton Oswalt’s High School Commencement Address

From Patton Oswalt:

Here’s the actual speech I gave at my old high school on June 18th. Well, more or less. There were some extra, last-minute thoughts I threw in there. I think the core idea of what I was trying to say was unchanged.

Free Slurpees Today

Do you love Slurpees? How about a free one?

Well, 7-Eleven’s participating stores are offering customers a free Slurpee to celebrate their 81st birthday on – when else? – July 11, 7/11/08, also known as 7-Eleven Day!

As has been the tradition for many years, the company will celebrate July 11 with free 7.11-ounce Slurpee drinks for customers visiting its U.S. stores. Special birthday cups will be available while supplies last.

 

Hidden Mickeys

In 1992 it was announced by Disney that they were to begin reforesting parts of Florida in an effort to give something back to the area. The furthest they got was to plant Mickey’s Forest (above), a collection of 50,000 pine trees shaped in a way that should be familiar to the majority of people reading this. Surprisingly it’s relatively unknown to tourists and locals alike.

That familiar shape known as a Hidden Mickey can be found throughout the Disney parks and properties.  In designing, constructing or adding the final touches to an attraction, Imagineers (Disney Engineers) subtly “hide” Mickey Mouse silhouettes in plain sight. It has now become a tradition and Disney fans everywhere search for Hidden Mickeys in Disney movies and theme parks.

An example is this plate configuration found at the Haunted Mansion.

More information about Hidden Mickeys and their locations can be found here.