My head is throbbing, my skin feels like sandpaper, and my mouth tastes like the entire Russian army retreated through it on its way back to Moscow.
No, it was not from those Jagermeister and NyQuil jello shots. That was last week. It's a hangover from overindulging on April Fools' Day pranks yesterday. It's my favorite holiday, and I just don't know when to stop. Here are the ones that stuck most in my memory, or what's left of it.
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1. Google = Topeka
Last month, in an effort to show just how desperate it was to get Google to build it a free, superfast, fiber-optic network, Topeka, Kansas, officially changed its name to "Google" for the month of March. Yesterday, Google returned the favor. Per the Official Google Blog:
Google employees once known as "Googlers" should now be referred to as either "Topekers" or "Topekans," depending on the result of a board meeting that's ongoing at this hour. Whatever the outcome, the conclusion is clear: we aren't in Google anymore.
Of the many pranks Google has pulled over the years, this may be my favorite, just because it's so simple and perfect.
2. Hulu wants brains
If you visted Hulu yesterday, called up a video, and hit the 3-D option, you'd be presented with a pop-up window labeled "Hulu Confidential -- For Internal Use Only." A 10-minute "Lost"-inspired training video featuring Alec Baldwin doing his best Rod Serling imitation:
The content kept on coming and the channels kept growing, many of them beamed directly from space, culminating in the phenomenon dubbed "Reality TV." A scriptless, plotless, pointless, thoughtless, relentless genre that dished up all the experiences humans missed while sitting on their couches: their lives. And yet, no one cared. Why go to the exhausting effort of living a life when you could absorb one on TV?
The video features some surprise cameos, including one from the Fake Steve Jobs. Yes, TV is rotting your brain -- and that's a good thing, because it's so much more delicious that way.
