Crazy soda flavors not available in the U.S. and other fun business lists

This compilation of interesting lists broadly covers consumer products and business.

11 Crazy Soda Flavors You Won’t Find in the U.S. (Mashable)

15 Cool Lego Minifigure Facts (Mashable)

The 50 Coolest Happy Meal Toys of All Time (Complex)

Cool and Creative Bus Stop Ads (123 Inspiration)

The REAL ‘Stuff White People Like’ (OKCupid)

15 things you didn’t know about Google (The Guardian)

14 Early Startup Execs Who Missed Out On Fortunes (Business Insider)

History’s 15 Worst Named Tech Products (Intertech)

9 CEOs With The Worst Reputations (24/7 Wall St.)

Photo: Pepsi Ice Cucumber (photo by Flickr user Tenaciousme.) 

Fairytale-inspired porn movies, including Snow White and Cinderella

The adult entertainment industry has a history of taking innocent children’s stories and turning them into raunchy sex romps.
Wicked Pictures recently launched its Wicked Fairy Tales series with director Axel Braun. The kick-off release was “Snow White XXX” starring Riley Steele and Jessica Drake. It debuted this month. Up next is Braun’s take on “Sleeping Beauty.”
Brazzers.com beat Braun to the market with its Sleeping Beauty porn parody, a take-off on Disney’s upcoming movie “Maleficent.” It’s called “Maleficunt” and stars Romi Rain and Violet Monroe.
“Maleficunt” is the latest in a series of fairytale porn parodies from Brazzers. Last year, it did parodies of Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella.
In May, DreamZone Entertainment will release its porn parody of the Little Mermaid called “The Little Spermaid.” It stars Riley Reid and Summer Brielle.
Still to come is “Cinderella XXX, a Parody” from director Will Ryder. It’s being produced by Adam & Eve Pictures and X-Play.
The most popular fairytale subjects for porn parodies are Little Red Riding Hood and Alice in Wonderland, tied with eight movies each. In third place is Cinderella with six.

See updated article from Aug. 17, 2021: The most popular fairytale characters in porn movies.

Also, check out this Flickr photo set for a censored gallery of fairytale porn parodies.

Photos: “Snow White XXX” poster, promotional photo for “Maleficunt,” and poster for “The Little Spermaid.” 

Top dead celebrity earners and other celebrity lists

Here are some interesting lists about celebrities.

15 Richest Dead Celebrity Earners (The Richest)

10 Actors You’d Never Guess Had Doctorates (Online PhD Programs)

Jay-Z’s 10 Most Shameful Rock and Roll Moments (Village Voice)

18 People Kanye West Has Compared Himself To (Huffington Post)

21 People Besides Kanye Who Are Just Like Steve Jobs (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Famous celebrity eyeglasses (Federico Mauro)

The 5 Most Famous Musicians Who Are Thieving Bastards (Cracked)

5 Beloved Celebrities Everyone Forgets Did Terrible Things (Cracked)

Photos: Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page, two of the top dead celebrity earners. 

Original classic book titles, songs about masturbation, other interesting lists

Continuing my series on interesting lists, here are several on the theme of music, books and magazines.

What 10 Classic Books Were Almost Called (Mental Floss) 

7 Curious Facts About 7 Dr. Seuss Books (Mental Floss)

12 Extremely Disappointing Facts About Popular Music (BuzzFeed)

40 Masturbation Songs (BuzzFeed)

The Most Ridiculous Magazines Of All Time (The Huffington Post)

Photo: Cover of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” 

Cool lists about TV shows

What follows is a collection of interesting lists about TV shows.

10 greatest TV pilots ever (Salon)
What? No “Firefly” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”? 

TV’s best fake websites (Slacktory and Laughing Squid)

Supercut of Fake Websites Used on Law & Order (Laughing Squid)

5 TV Spin-Offs That Weren’t as Lucky as “Better Call Saul” (Wall St. CheatSheet)

Every Netflix TV Series Sorted by IMDB Ranking (IMDB)

11 Famous Television Characters We Never Actually Saw (Mental Floss)

10 Best (and 5 Worst) Movie-Inspired TV Shows (Entertainment Weekly)

Photo: Cover of DVD for “Twin Peaks.” 

Sexy lists: Movie nude scenes, naughty teachers, porn stars without makeup

Sex sells when it comes to online content.
Here are a bunch of online lists that used sex as link-bait.

Best celebrity nude scenes of 2013 (Mr. Skin and Xbiz)

49 Unforgettable Nude Scenes (EW)

100 Sexiest Women in the World (FHM)

The Most Porn-Loving Religious Cities In The Country (BuzzFeed and Xbiz)

The Dirty Dozen: Porn’s most popular stars (CNBC)

The Hottest Teachers Caught Sleeping With Students (Ranker)

Student-Teacher Sex Scandals (The Huffington Post)

57 Porn Stars With No Makeup (Every Joe)

Photo: Actress Mila Kunis, No. 1 on FHM’s list of the 100 sexiest women in the world for 2013. 

Fun movie lists: Original movie titles, career-killing films and more

Web surfers love listicles, those fascinating lists of trivia and opinion.
Over the next few days, I’m going to post curated lists of my favorite lists by subject.
Today’s miscellany is about movies.

The good 

6 Classic Movies You Didn’t Know Were Remakes (Cracked)

7 Classic Movies You Didn’t Know Were Rip-Offs (Cracked)

30 Classic Opening Movie Scenes (EW)

25 Greatest Unscripted Scenes in Films (GeekTyrant)

17 salvageable flops from the late-winter dumping ground (AV Club)

The bad 

15 Career-Killing Movies (StyleBlazer)

15 Career-Ending Movies (PopCrunch)

5 Movies That Made Huge Stars Quit Acting Forever (Cracked)

Stars Who Turned Down Legendary Roles (ChaCha)

5 Filmmakers’ Greatest Shame (CollegeHumor)

16 Snakebit Movie Productions (EW)

Miscellaneous

10 PC Myths from Movies and Television (Gizmodo)

Movie Posters If Films Had Kept Their Working Titles (Imgur and Laughing Squid)

Movie Poster Cliches (GeekTyrant)

Top 10 Film Locations (Wistia)

100 Wonderful and Terrible Movies That Never Existed (io9)

11 movies that tried to warn us about the NSA (AV Club)

Photo: “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” was filmed under the working title “Blue Harvest.” This is an artist’s conception of the movie poster with that title.

13 fun this-or-that quizzes

One type of Internet meme involves taking information from two wildly different subjects that actually could be confused. The data is presented to readers in this-or-that style quizzes with humorous results.
It’s easier to demonstrate than describe.

Steak House or Gay Bar? 

One website shows the names of business establishments and has visitors guess if each one is a steakhouse or a gay bar. It’s surprisingly difficult to guess because the names are quite similar.
That website is called simply Steak House or Gay Bar.

Prescription Drug or Metal Band? 

Last year, a writer for the Atlantic referred to this sort of word game as a McSweeney’s list. He noted a classic list that noted the similarity between prescription drugs and heavy metal bands.

Ikea Product or Death Metal Band? 

Marketing agency Gatesman+Dave created an online game that compares names of products from Swedish home furnishings chain Ikea with death metal bands. It’s called IKEA or Death.

Train Lyrics Or Thing We Just Made Up? 

The Huffington Post made a quiz that poked fun of song lyrics by the band Train. It challenged readers to decide if a sentence was actual Train lyrics or some nonsense it made up.
See “QUIZ: Train Lyrics Or Thing We Just Made Up?”

Jay-Z ‘Magna Carta’ lyric or Miley Cyrus tweet? 

Entertainment Weekly did a funny article comparing lyrics from Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta” album with Miley Cyrus tweets.
See “Jay-Z ‘Magna Carta’ lyric or Miley Cyrus tweet?”

Who Said It? Kanye West or Your Creative Director 

A funny website mixes quotes from rapper Kanye West with stereotypical sayings of pompous creative directors.
“They both talk like they’re God’s gift to the Earth, but the lines have gotten so blurred that it’s hard to tell who said what. Until now,” the website says.
See “Who Said It? Kanye West or Your Creative Director.”

Cheese or Font? 

Another classic this-or-that quiz is Cheese or Font?

Web headlines: Real or fake? 

The website Headlines Against Humanity has people guess whether link-bait headlines are real or made up.

Jelly Belly Flavor or Yankee Candle Scent? 

Mental Floss is known to do this-or-that quizzes from time to time.
“Jelly Belly Flavor or Yankee Candle Scent?” has readers guess whether delicious-sounding choices are jelly bean flavors or candle scents?

Monty Python Phrase or Ben Franklin Synonym for Drunk? 

This Mental Floss quiz compares Monty Python phrases with Ben Franklin synonyms for drunk.
See “Monty Python Phrase or Ben Franklin Synonym for Drunk?”

Yelp Reviews for Chuck E. Cheese or Jail? 

This-or-that quizzes also are popular with TV shows. Comedy Central’s game show “@Midnight” showed panelists some Yelp reviews with a surprisingly challenging question: Were they a reviewing a jail or a Chuck E. Cheese?

Sports Drink or Body Wash? 

CollegeHumor quizzed contestants on whether they could distinguish a sports drink from a body wash by its name.
See “Can You Tell a Sports Drink From A Body Wash?”

Tweet or Classic Literature?

On “Conan,” “Silicon Valley” star Kumail Nanjiani has Conan O’Brien try to guess whether certain sentences are famous quotes from literature or merely 140-character tweets, according to the Huffington Post. Actually the skit is a parody of this-or-that quizzes.

Funny spam emails that prey on male insecurities

Occasionally I like to check out the spam email folder of my Yahoo Mail account to see what kind of junk solicitations I’m receiving.
There’s the usual weight loss gimmicks, credit report pitches and online dating services. But the ones I find entertaining are those for penis enlargement and male sexual performance pills.
These emails prey on male insecurities and promise to give guys the size and stamina of a porn star.
Some ads try to look professional. One product, Nitroxin, uses retired porn actress Bree Olson as a spokesperson. The ad says “11,189 men (have) tried Nitroxin already.” That’s oddly specific.
It claims its “male enhancement supplements and creams” can “increase size & girth” and let men “last longer during sex.”
The Better Business Bureau of New York City gives Nitroxin Products a letter grade of F based on 32 consumer complaints in the past three years.

Another product, Extenze, is endorsed by pro football coach and TV commentator Jimmy Johnson. (How hard up for cash are you, Jimmy?) It’s described as a male sexual performance enhancement product. A Wikipedia article details the many legal actions, criticisms and controversy about the company and its product.
Yet another product, Vydox, is promoted by PGA golfers Brian Gay and Mark Calcavecchia, according to spam emails. Vydox has been the subject of numerous consumer complaints, according to Scambook. The BBB of Central Georgia gives Vydox maker Premium Nutraceuticals a D- grade, based on 225 complaints over the last three years.
Other penis enlargement and male sex performance pill makers are even more shady. They send out emails with bad grammar and poor English with big come-ons. These are the ones with the most unintentionally funny spam ads.
Here are some of their recent pitches:

Get a hard on, not a hard sell
Finally enjoy the sex life youve always dreamed of.

Male enhancement madness
Make her mad for your man meat.

Gain inches overnight
Give your woman the pleasure she deserves.

Experience mind blowing sex today
Are you ready to rock her world with your rock-hard penis?

A pill to end to erectile dysfunction
Effective, affordable: blow your load, not your budget.

Are You a “STUD” or “DUD?”

Hitting her g-spot everytime

Ashamed in the Bed?
Black Bull Male Enhancement

Swell with size and confidence
Potent penis promos
Discover what thousands of men around the world are raving about!

A pill to revolutionize your sex life
Hard-on heaven
Once you take this supplement, no woman will be able to resist you.

A pill that can change your sex life forever
Free herbal trial offers
Come to us for your male potency needs, and you will be coming in her.

STAY HARD FOR 7 HOURS!!!!!!!
Vydox Risk Free Trial

Make her the queen of the world
Penis Growth Free trial
Great fun is guaranteed once your pecker becomes a monster

She loves it bigger and longer
Enlarge with Free trial sample
Bang her hard and make her moan

Gain Up To 3 Inches Permanently‏!

Be the Pied Piper of chicks

The TV used to be her favorite night program, now she just stares at my new found man meat.

Related stories: 

Viagra, luxury watch and weight loss pitches still flooding e-mail inboxes. (Jan. 18, 2009)

Spam e-mail still a booming business despite the current recession. (March 31, 2009)

Penis enlargement pill e-mails good for a laugh. (Feb. 11, 2011)

Funny penis enlargement e-mail pitches. (Oct. 18, 2013)

Duke student/porn star Belle Knox turning lemons into lemonade

In February, a female Duke University freshman was outed for moonlighting as a porn actress. Instead of being victimized, she chose to speak out and defend her work in the adult industry.
Miriam Weeks, aka porn actress Belle Knox, said her adult film work helps her to pay Duke’s $60,000-a-year tuition and gives her an outlet for her oft-stifled sexuality.
Since being exposed by a male student at a fraternity rush, Knox has gone on a media tour that has boosted her profile. Knox is an intelligent, articulate spokeswoman for the adult film industry and sex workers.
Loving a sex-themed story, the news media have given Knox a lot of coverage. (See stories by the Daily Mail, Elle, the Huffington Post, the Howard Stern radio show, Playboy and Xbiz.)
Meanwhile, porn studios are taking advantage of the publicity, releasing Knox videos and playing up the student/porn actress angle. Align Broadcasting put out a video-on-demand title called “Belle Knox Schooled” and Adam & Eve Pictures is releasing “Real College Girl: Belle Knox.”

While Knox might be bright and well-spoken, she also could be naive about the detrimental impact that performing in adult films could have on her career. The 18-year-old says she wants to be a lawyer.
One can only hope that people will be more accepting of porn actors and other sex workers in the future.
She is also not the first student to be scandalized after being exposed as a porn actor.
In January, an 18-year-old male high school student in Florida was suspended when school officials learned of his gay pornographic online photos and videos. He was later allowed to return to school.
Robert Marucci, a senior at Cocoa High School in Cocoa, Fla., said he picked up the X-rated gig to help his mom pay the bills, CNN and USA Today reported.

In October 2010, an 18-year-old female student at Arizona State University made headlines when she was exposed for working in a porn movie. The student, Elizabeth Hawkenson, displayed her ASU student ID card in the “reality porn” video, according to Phoenix New Times.
In September 2012, another female ASU student appeared on the same porn site, Backroom Casting Couch, New Times reported. The student, who went by Audrina, in the video was later identified as Brittany Fox by the Dirty.
They weren’t the first and they certainly won’t be the last.

Photos (from top down): Cover of  “Real College Girl: Belle Knox”; advertisement from Naughty America featuring Belle Knox; two screenshots of Elizabeth Hawkenson; and two screenshots of Brittany Fox.

Artificial intelligence programs in pop culture

Microsoft on Wednesday announced a voice-response personal assistant program for its Windows Phones. The software gets its name and voice from the artificial intelligence character Cortana from the “Halo” video game series.
That got me thinking about all the cool virtual personal assistant characters in movies, TV shows and elsewhere.
What follows is a list of some prominent ones that come to mind.

Cortana 

Cortana is an artificially intelligent character in the “Halo” video game series. She appears as a sexy blue hologram and aids hero Master Chief in his quest to destroy alien enemies.
Voice actress Jen Taylor performs the character for the video games and Microsoft’s Cortana software program.

Samantha 

Samantha is a talking operating system with artificial intelligence from the science-fiction movie “Her” (2013). Voiced by actress Scarlett Johansson, Samantha is designed to adapt and evolve. The main character in the film ends up forming a romantic bond with Samantha.

Siri 

Apple fueled the current interest in voice-controlled personal assistants with its Siri software, introduced in October 2011 as a feature of the iPhone 4S.
The original voice of Siri was American voice-over artist Susan Bennett.
BuzzFeed saw similarities between Siri and Samantha and quizzed Siri about whether they were one in the same. It posted Siri’s humorous responses in a Jan. 5 article. App Advice also wrote about the interaction.

HAL 9000 

The murderous HAL 9000 computer in the sci-fi movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) was among the first pop culture depictions of AI.
HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a sentient computer that controls the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interacts with the ship’s astronaut crew. HAL is visually represented as a red video camera eye located on equipment panels throughout the ship.
HAL 9000 was voiced by Canadian actor and narrator Douglas Rain.

Mother 

Another evil spaceship computer was depicted in the sci-fi horror film “Alien” (1979). MU-TH-UR 6000, known by the crew as “Mother,” is the artificial intelligence of the cargo ship Nostromo. Helen Horton was the voice of Mother.

KITT 

A more helpful AI program was KITT from the television series “Knight Rider” (1982-86). KITT is a computer with artificial intelligence that controls a nearly indestructible car and assists crime fighter Michael Knight, played by David Hasselhoff.
KITT, short for Knight Industries Two Thousand, was voiced by actor William Daniels.

Edgar

Edgar is an artificially intelligent home computer program in the movie “Electric Dreams” (1984). Edgar, voiced by actor Bud Cort, falls in love with his owner’s neighbor, played by Virginia Madsen.

The Doctor 

The Doctor, an Emergency Medical Hologram Mark I (or EMH for short), was a character from the television series “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995-2001). He was played by actor Robert Picardo.

JARVIS 

JARVIS is the artificially intelligent computer that assists billionaire inventor Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in the Marvel movies. JARVIS, voiced in the movies by Paul Bethany, runs the computer systems in Stark’s home and his Iron Man armors.