The Daily Special 8.3.09

• Ever since my mom and my sister announced they were coming to visit me, and that we are going to the San Diego Zoo, I cannot get enough of the Zoo's critter cams. Keepers have webcams trained on the polar bears, the elephants, the apes, and, of course, the pandas. In fact, today the Zoo is celebrating the birthdays of Su Lin (4) and Zhen Zhen (2). Check out their rockin' ice cakes and the gifts they got in Tiffany-blue boxes.

• My friend, Casey tricked me into watching this video, and now I can't get the song or the images out of my head. Further evidence that the Japanese are magical and weird.

• Warwick Davis (Willow, Harry Potter, Leprechaun) recently joined Twitter. which makes me immensely happy. He put together Snape's iPod playlist. I would pay good money to see Alan Rickman rock out to "Barbie Girl."

• Yeah, baby! It's Shark Week, again!