geekosystem

Noticing the obvious lack of strange doodads on the market, Metallica has announced a merchandising deal with Vans that will see three different releases of varying oddity. The first and last will be rather straightforward Metallica-branded shoes. It's the middle release that promises to be truly weird. Dubbed "Passion Projects," the line will feature designs from the band, including a shoe that plays clips of Lars Ulrich speaking with each step.

Godfather of the computer age, Alan Turing, will be getting his face on some currency -- just not, y'know, real money. Turing's face will grace each and every bank note in the newly announced Monopoly: Alan Turing Edition. Based on a design that Turing played with friend Max Newman, the game, released by Bletchley Park Code Centre, where Turing did the codebreaking work that was instrumental to an Allied victory in WWII, is designed to teach players facts about Turing's life. Believe it or not, this Google-funded endeavor is just the latest of hundreds of bizarrely branded takes on Monopoly that are things that exist in the real world. You can get a look at some of out other favorites after the jump.

The year was 1991. Metallica's Black Album had just been released, Terminator 2: Judgment Day was dominating the box office, and the children's TV network Nickelodeon aired the first episodes of three animated series -- Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy, and Doug -- collectively called "Nicktoons." Rugrats proved to be quite successful. The adventures of the show's inexplicably loquacious infants spanned nine seasons, launched two spinoffs and three feature films. Likewise, Ren and Stimpy's often crude and outlandish toilet humor helped cement its status as a cult classic for adults and children alike. But the third show, Doug, didn't manage to make quite as big a mark on the hallowed halls of animation history.

From the blog Whose Voice is That? comes a truly extensive post on tonight's Grammy nominees, or at least those who also have voice acting credits. WViT's list covers a number of areas within our geeky purview, including David Bowie, Yogi Bear, Mos Def, Metalocalypse, and more.

Our three favorite new bytes of knowledge are: