Blinq

She Pinches

Who's been crabbing the great hipsters of Philadelphia?

It happened last Wednesday to Beto Alvarez, bassist for the band Walker Lundee and illustrator at the Inquirer.

First thing in the morning, he stepped out of his Northern Liberties rowhouse and looked down at his feet. There it was, a cooked crustacean, with a dash of Old Bay, pinching a little sign that said, "You've been crabbed."

He and bandmate Robert West kicked it to the curb and went to work. There have been a half dozen other crabbings over the past week. Philebrity reports of a localized invasion. There's Kris Muller and Mike Kennedy, who play in the band Audible. Brian Wilkinson from Like a Fox was crabbed. The guy known as The Virtual Bruder, too.

"Just random people around Northern Liberties and Fishtown," says Alvarez, 28. "It's kind of funny. We're not sure who's doing it. It's been the talk of every event I attended this weekend. Everyone was accusing each other of it."

"Now there's a MySpace page."

Someone who goes by CraB has created a page on the social network site that leaves a trail of evidence.

That page, with the phrase Uvebeencrabbed in its address, was put up by a prankster who identifies herself as a 27-year-old Philly gal. In the bio area, she writes: "I am a crab. And I am coming for you."

She drops more hints, listing her musical interests as "surf rock, all of the time." Her favorite flick? Attack of the Crab Monsters. On TV she's partial to "Flipper" and "Snorks." Old Bay is her hero. You can guess her sign.

Mike Kennedy of Audible got two messages from the crab requesting a MySpace friendship on Thursday. He ignored them. "I assumed it was probably an emo band from Long Island of thereabouts."  It was about then that girlfriend/bassist Kris shouted from the front of the house, "Why is there a crab on our front step?"

By email he wonders if it is some devious promotional technique for something that will reveal itself later. Or "one of our weird friends who was bored."

Wilkinson was watching the Phillies on TV last Wednesday when the crab came calling. "I'm actually wondering when this person is going to step forward, but then again, it would be even funnier if they kept a mystery," he emailed.

CraB has posted four videos of crustaceans in action, although one of them is from a Honda Element ad. From the videos, it seems she has some confederates - a guy who does the shooting, and another woman who sports a serious farmer's tan.

CraB's got a bunch of friends, including several of her victims. She uses the site to taunt her victims.

Dirty Boots wrote, "The street cats are loving you crabby ... r.i.p."

After getting nowhere being tough in a message, The Virtual Bruder softened his approach:

"Make yourself known crab! Show me to where there are more of you. I'll bring beer if necessary."

The Dark Side Of The Rainbow

Have you heard of the explorers who've charted the striking similarities between Pink Floyd's master LP, The Dark Side of the Moon, and the MGM classic film The Wizard of Oz?

Apparently, if you cue the album at the same the movie starts all sorts of strange things happen, convincing some that the record is really an alternative soundtrack to Dorothy's story.

Skeptical, you say?

I was never motivated enough to try it at home - and yes, sites describe in great detail how to set up the multi-media show.

Now it's been done for us.

Milk and Cookies has provided a video link to the 43-minute mash-up. The movie is, of course, longer than the album. Apparently, to last through the entire 101-minute flick, you need to play "Dark Side" a couple times, and while the magic still works, it's strongest the first time around.

The Definitive List catalogues the too-coincidental-to-ignore moments - more than 100 of them! How David Gilmour sings "balanced on the biggest wave" just as Dorothy balances herself on the pig pen's rail. How the slide guitar in "The Great Gig In The Sky" introduces the coming tornado.

My wife, who has seen the movie enough to be able to utter every line from memory, made it through about eight minutes of the Milk and Cookies video before proclaiming, "whoever did this took far too many drugs."

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