Wizard of Oz cupcakes

Wicked With cupcake by Kelly's Sweet Rewards. Via.

*Previously: Melted witch cookies.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars recipe.

Link roundup

1. 5 secret drinks at Starbucks including the Snickers Frappuccino (Java Chip Frappuccino with caramel and toffee nut).

2. Online ads:

Who’s buying the lions’ share of advertising on news websites? Nobody. For most of the 22 news organizations PEJ studied, the top category of advertising was in-house — ie. self-promotional ads for the publishers’ own products or services. Those accounted for 21% of the ads on in the sample of websites the study tracked, a group that includes newspapers like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, web-only outlets like Yahoo and the Huffington Post, magazines like Time and The Atlantic and TV networks’ web companion sites like cbsnews.com and cnn.com

3. Looks like Kickstarter will make close to $100,000 by the time Double Fine's Kickstarter ends.

4. If you don't mind spamming your friends on Twitter, MTV is giving away a big McFarlane toys prize pack.

5. Here's another art idea, create a poster for Angelina Jolie as Maleficent.

Link roundup

1. Criticism of the metrics Petraeus used to decide who to promote.

2. Serious Eats says the bacon shake at Jack in the Box is terrible, but recommends this bacon shake recipe.

3. The Magicians did not get picked up by Fox.

4. Jurassic Park brochure reproduction at the BBTS.

Chocolate Zombie Head Bon Bons with Cherry Brains

Chocolate Zombie Head Bon Bons with Cherry Brains on sale here.

Link roundup

1. Panasonic lost $10.2 billion for the year. Via.

2. How (and why) to set up Google Cloud Print.

3. A lawyer has the url rapesq.com. Via.

4. Bacon-flavored shake at Jack in the Box. Via.

Purple Ombre Sprinkles Cake recipe

Purple Ombre Sprinkles Cake recipe (many more gorgeous desserts lurk at the site). Via these sites.

Oreo crumb case

Oreo crumb case by the Miami Ad School.

Link roundup

1. In anticipation of DC Universe Online going free to play, here's character building guides. (Anyone have any suggestions?)

2. Homemade Oreos recipe. Via.

3. For Games Workshop fans, a Tumblr devoted to John Blanche (although I like his miniatures a lot more than his illustrations).

4. Those Mad Magazine/DC Comics action figures I posted yesterday are now available for preorder at the BBTS.

I'm not here, I'm in Kirkwall

Really short article today for Fat Tuesday. Today is not only a day to pig out, eating desserts and other fatty foods (because even if you don't celebrate or believe in Lent, who doesn't like dessert?) Today is also the call to power. That's right, Dragon Age 2.

Installing this now, and from the demo... Varric is already The Man.

I've been a Bioware fan since the original Baldur's Gate, and have owned almost every game they've published since (and beaten most of them.) The focus on strong narratives, and getting something out of talking with the characters in your party and addressing their needs, learning their pasts, or just not angering them so much they attack you or leave...

Now Minsc Leads! Swords for Everyone!

I think the storytelling and art direction started strong and just got better and better. I'll likely do a few more DA2 articles in the next few days, so I'll get back to more stories of unemployed life and other geek culture (movies, music, TV and comics) articles once I've gotten this out of my system. I can even use Dragon Age to talk about a few of those divisive issues I touched on yesterday, in particular DRM and DLC in games.

Should be fun.

So enjoy your Mardi Gras week, get plenty fat on desserts, (I know I will) and here's a picture of a traditional food eaten this week, the Paczki. (I'm Irish, but I grew up in and currently live in a half hispanic, half polish area.)