Hello! And welcome to the 124th EVER newsletter from rathergood!

We have created literally the best thing ever. Here is Pork Force!

http://www.rathergood.com/porkforce

Marvel as the porcine warriors fight for your freedom!

You will be needing a Pork Force t-shirt. They are the must-have accessory for the summer. You can get one here:

http://bit.ly/porkforce-tshirt

Hey, I've whacked a few photos from the Pork Force shoot on flickr if you're interested:

http://bit.ly/cyrRmb

You can get the mp3 of the Pork Force Theme from the music page as usual:

http://www.rathergood.com/songs

I think that's about it for this week, except to tell you how much I love you. I love you so hard I'd make you a delicious shin cup! Everyone knows that shin cups are the most delicious thing that a human can possibly eat- it's right there in the second law of zakthermodynamics- and that's SCIENCE! When you eat a shin cup it makes you SHINVINCIBLE! It's a massive rush! The best rush you can get! Better than any other rush there is in the world!

I'll tear out my shins and whittle them in to a cup for you! A wonderful shin cup all of your very own! There's one small problem, which is that I'm not a hundred percent sure whether you're supposed to make a cup from shins, or have a cup containing shins. I'm not sure which way round it is. I guess whichever I choose, there's a 50% chance I'll be giving you the greatest gift it is possible for one human to give to another, and a 50% chance I'll just be knacking up my shins. So I guess I'll do the whittling my shins in to a cup thing, rather than tearing them out and putting them in a cup, and hopefully you will be RUSHING LIKE A BLEEDIN' POLECAT WITH ITS FACE STUCK IN A JAR OF DISHWASHER RINSE-AID!

If I achieve that, then my shins will have transcended, and their loss will be well worth it to me. If I got it the wrong way round and the cup made of my shins just depresses you and makes you feel maudlin and lucklustre, then I'll have totally knacked up my shins for no good reason and I'll be gutted, frankly. But hey, I'm willing to take that risk, because I LOVE YOU THAT HARD OH GOD YES I DO.

Mwah mwah extrasuperduperhugsandkisses!

Yours sincerely

Joel Veitch

Founder of rathergood.com
Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
Winner of 3 Webby Awards
Master of Arts (Electronic Media) Oxford Brookes
Bachelor of Arts (English and History) University of Leeds
Marksman (.22, 5.56, 7.62, LMG)
Former Sixer of Grey Six, 19th Forest Hill Cub Scouts
Former Member of MGS school cricket team
Former Sergeant, Combined Cadet Force (RAF Section)
Silver Swimming Badge
3rd best Cross Country runner in my class at age 12
Once had a letter published in the New Scientist
Attended one-night Pork Butchery Course
Keen amateur ukulele player
Bronze lifesavers swimming badge
Full clean driver's license
Passed Cycling Proficiency Test
A levels – English Literature, French and History, all grade A
GCSEs 7xA 2xB
Good understanding of the principals of flight
Good understanding of the principles of spelling
Winner of the Head's Prize for Progress, first year, Aylesford School
50 meters swimming badge
Once did a wee in a loo containing Dannii Minogue's wee
25 meters swimming badge
Amateur experimental rocket / meat scientist
Has caught piranhas on a hand line
Willing to learn semaphore if required
Able to sing The Girl From Ipanema and Mas Que Nada in Portuguese
Survivor of Trans-Atlantic Airplane Fire Horror
Wielder Of The Power Of Science
Inventor of the Dictator Finger Thingdicator
Defeater of Transformers (regardless of voltage)
Founder member of the super-secret League Of Internet Justice
Has eaten chicken madras for breakfast
Commander In Chief of Pork Force

Hello! And welcome to the 123rd EVER newsletter from rathergood!

Number 123 is a very special number for a newsletter, and so today I have something very very special to treat you with. I have a love song for you. A beautiful, beautiful love song. Fallopia loves Chinchap, and Chinchap loves Fallopia! What a wonderful, joyous world we truly live in! I think you'll agree that this is a new high point for human culture. This is about as good as it gets, frankly.

http://www.rathergood.com/chinchap

Isn't that the single best thing you've ever seen? YES! YES IT IS! If you think it's not then frankly you are mistaken.

You should buy a wonderful Chinchap tshirt so that everyone else can have their lives improved as well. You'll be the most attractive human in your vicinity! Here's a link to buy one BUY ONE BUY ONE NOW!

http://bit.ly/chinchaptshirt

Hey you can get the mp3 if you like – it's on our music page here:

http://www.rathergood.com/songs

Under New Songs, unsurprisingly, what with it being new and also a song.

That's about it for this week except to tell you how much I love you! I love you so much! I'd learn from the owls how to make pellets for you! Then I'd swallow dead rats whole, digest their digestible bits, compact the indigestible bones and fur in to pellets in my stomach and vomit them back up in big gory hairy bony lumps! Then I'd take each one and carve a bust of your face from it. I'd do about 15 a day! Then every night I'll break in to your house while you sleep and array the day's Joel-pellet you-busts around your sleeping head, so that when you awake the first thing you see will be my wonderful present that I made for you and it will make you HAPPY!

Mwah mwah big sloppy kisses!

Yours sincerely

Joel Veitch

Founder of rathergood.com
Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
Winner of 3 Webby Awards
Master of Arts (Electronic Media) Oxford Brookes
Bachelor of Arts (English and History) University of Leeds
Marksman (.22, 5.56, 7.62, LMG)
Former Sixer of Grey Six, 19th Forest Hill Cub Scouts
Former Member of MGS school cricket team
Former Sergeant, Combined Cadet Force (RAF Section)
Silver Swimming Badge
3rd best Cross Country runner in my class at age 12
Once had a letter published in the New Scientist
Attended one-night Pork Butchery Course
Keen amateur ukulele player
Bronze lifesavers swimming badge
Full clean driver's license
Passed Cycling Proficiency Test
A levels – English Literature, French and History, all grade A
GCSEs 7xA 2xB
Good understanding of the principals of flight
Good understanding of the principles of spelling
Winner of the Head's Prize for Progress, first year, Aylesford School
50 meters swimming badge
Once did a wee in a loo containing Dannii Minogue's wee
25 meters swimming badge
Amateur experimental rocket / meat scientist
Has caught piranhas on a hand line
Willing to learn semaphore if required
Able to sing The Girl From Ipanema and Mas Que Nada in Portuguese
Survivor of Trans-Atlantic Airplane Fire Horror
Wielder Of The Power Of Science
Inventor of the Dictator Finger Thingdicator
Defeater of Transformers (regardless of voltage)
Founder member of the super-secret League Of Internet Justice
Has eaten chicken madras for breakfast

Helloooooooooo! And welcome to the 122nd EVER newsletter from rathergood!

I've got two AMAZING bits of purest joy for you today! First off, here's a brilliant game! It's called Unnatural Selection, and it involves evolving creatures from worms! There are 16 creatures to discover all in.

http://rathergood.com/unnatural

Also look! Here's a funky kitten!

http://rathergood.com/funky

YEAH! You can get the mp3 of that amazing funk tune here:

http://bit.ly/bugRkr

If you're interested, we got a mention in this French article about kittens and the internet here:

http://bit.ly/dD6lla

I think that's about it for this week, except to tell you that I love you. I love you SO HARD! I'd do anything for you! I'd sit in a damp, dark cellar with a bunch of worms and a carcass, evolving lovely vicious bloodworms and bloodslugs for you! You could keep them as pets! Also I'd make sure you always got enough fish! I'd use science and genes to replace my fingers with lampreys! Squirming, slimy, many-toothed blood-sucking suction-faced lampreys! Then I'd dangle my hands in the water (lake, stream, river, whatever is nearest) and let each of my lamprey fingers suck itself on to a fish and start sucking the life out of it. Once I'd got a handful of lovely fishes, I'd bring my lamprey hands out of the water and giver you the fish for your tea! You'll always have fish! What a wonderful world that will be! I won't be able to pick anything up except fish of course but that will be a small price to pay for your happiness. Also, you should probably steer clear of the lampreys, they are VICIOUS! You don't want those blood-hungry parasitical chompers getting hold of you. Again, though, never being able to touch or even for that matter approach anyone again is a small price to pay for your happiness.

Mwah mwah big sloppy kisses!

Yours sincerely

Joel Veitch

Founder of rathergood.com
Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
Winner of 3 Webby Awards
Master of Arts (Electronic Media) Oxford Brookes
Bachelor of Arts (English and History) University of Leeds
Marksman (.22, 5.56, 7.62, LMG)
Former Sixer of Grey Six, 19th Forest Hill Cub Scouts
Former Member of MGS school cricket team
Former Sergeant, Combined Cadet Force (RAF Section)
Silver Swimming Badge
3rd best Cross Country runner in my class at age 12
Once had a letter published in the New Scientist
Attended one-night Pork Butchery Course
Keen amateur ukulele player
Bronze lifesavers swimming badge
Full clean driver's license
Passed Cycling Proficiency Test
A levels – English Literature, French and History, all grade A
GCSEs 7xA 2xB
Good understanding of the principals of flight
Good understanding of the principles of spelling
Winner of the Head's Prize for Progress, first year, Aylesford School
50 meters swimming badge
Once did a wee in a loo containing Dannii Minogue's wee
25 meters swimming badge
Amateur experimental rocket / meat scientist
Has caught piranhas on a hand line
Willing to learn semaphore if required
Able to sing The Girl From Ipanema and Mas Que Nada in Portuguese
Survivor of Trans-Atlantic Airplane Fire Horror
Wielder Of The Power Of Science
Inventor of the Dictator Finger Thingdicator
Defeater of Transformers (regardless of voltage)
Founder member of the super-secret League Of Internet Justice

We went to the wonderful ROFLCon! Yeah! It's a conference of people who make stupid stuff on the internet, basically, at MIT, and it was TOTALLY AWESOME! Here is the story of our adventure!

On Thursday we went to get on our plane to Boston from Heathrow. The Heathrow Express had been on fire, so Ed was a bit late, but it was OK. Me and Ed both got singled out for extra security checks before we got on the plane which was a bit odd but they didn't do full cavity searches so it could have been worse.

Half way out over the Atlantic, we noticed the plane was doing a major banking turn, which seemed a bit odd. Then we noticed the crowd of people around a seat on our row. I could see what looked like an oxygen bottle through the crowd so assumed someone had had a heart attack or something. “Oh dear” I thought. “Oh dear oh dear.” Then I realised that it wasn't an oxygen cylinder- it was a fire extinguisher. The plane was on fire!

A steward was there, with his professional and very badly strained grin still plastered to his orange face, emptying fire extinguishers in the chair. We took off our headphones at this point to pay attention. The captain came on the tannoy - “We have had a seat fire. We are diverting to Shannon. There is no need to panic.” I reckon they should use the phrase “no need to be concerned” in these situations. When the captain says your plane's on fire and you shouldn't panic, it definitely sounds like he might be lying about the need to panic.

Just mentioning panic is a bad plan when you're on fire 10 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

Also, no-one is reassured by the steward with the fire extinguishers asking “what film were you watching that was so good your seat caught fire?” - that is just not convincing.

I looked out the window and saw a 747, lit gold by the setting sun, whoosh past in the opposite direction at really impressive speed. It didn't look very far away.

Anyway we flew to Shannon where we sat in the plane on the runway for a couple of hours or so. Firemen came on board to check whether we were still on fire or not – I got this photo:

As you can see from this photo we were more excited about being on fire than frightened. This is because we are not really very clever.

After some considerable time we took off for Boston again. No power in the back so no films or music and no light to read by. Sounds bad but it enforced sleep so was actually OK.

We arrived in the early hours, checked in to the Cambridge Marriott and got some kip before the conference in the morning.

First thing, we went and had a massive breakfast with Matt and Ed from the Viral Factory. YEAH! Then registration, which was basically the internet distilled in to a single room. Loads of amazing people there! Met up with Jason Steele and Chris Alex from FilmCow. Jason is the creator of Charlie The Unicorn – one of the greatest achievements of Western culture.

Also Dan Walsh, the lovely dude who does Garfield minus Garfield and the guys from Sleeveface.

Anyway I was on the very first panel after the introduction keynote. It was The Longview Panel, which I was on with the amazing and multi-talented Neil Cicierega, who I've known of for many years originally for his animutations but who is now more well known for The Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny and the Potter Puppet Pals:

And the truly lovely Rob Cockerham of http://cockeyed.com/ who makes great things in the real world and plays pranks and stuff.

Basically we've all been making things for 10 years or so which in internet years makes us like a BILLION YEARS OLD so we were talking about how things have changed, that kind of thing. It was great.

That evening we decamped to the pub where I met a dude who turned out to be LEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS

I also met Charlie Schmidt, the legendary man who owned and performed with Keyboard Cat! Here we are looking lovely!

Charlie is an amazing man and should be proclaimed King of the Internet. When he is in charge, the world will be a better place.

http://charlieschmidt.com/keyboardcat.asp

On Saturday I saw Jason Steele's brilliant panel with Nick Prueher from the Found Footage Festival

As well as Dan Walsh talking with Chad Vader and the Juggernaut Bitch guys. l also watched the autotune the news brothers do a panel with the Fake AP Stylebook people and I was really pleased to see Big David and Little David from David After The Dentist talking on the same panel as Charlie- they were very lovely. Also I will be in the background dancing on the next video from Matt Harding from http://www.wherethehellismatt.com

Then the very interesting end panel with Greg Rutter from youshouldhaveseenthis.com, the guys from Know Your Meme, Ben Huh from I Can Haz Cheezburger and failblog, and moot from 4chan.

On from there to a lovely VIP party, then to the official ROFLParty at Machine in Boston, which was a gay club and hence only had one toilet, though I never heard any complaints from the ladies about having to walk past lots of guys at the urinals.

After that we ended up in the hotel room of the guy who made Obama Girl, drinking with Charlie Schmidt, the guys from Sleeveface and Dan Walsh.

The next day, nursing hangovers, we headed back to Blighty without catching fire at all in any way.

All in all it was a truly truly wonderful time with truly truly wonderful people! Hoorays for ROFLCon! Hoorays for The Internet!

The ever-wonderful Attack Of The Show featured our Axolotl Song last night. Hoorays!