Two caveats up front: One, I’m told that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are “lame,” and that for liking them i am “lame.” I’ll live.

Two, I’m usually not a fan of people and or/organizations who try to pretend they’re really into the idea of someone making them a video cause, you know, they’re so hip and with the Internet age, when really they just want to save money and have someone else to do their work for them.

That said, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are doing just that. And, well, let’s just say I was never that consistent with my principles. They’re offering $5,000 and a trip to Paris to meet the band if you make their next music video, and the contest lasts two more weeks. I’m sure we have some video junkies here who could take the prize — I expect a cut. Official rules are here; below, lead singer Anthony Kiedis discusses the rationale behind the contest and how to win.

We’ve had a fair bit of server pain in the last couple weeks, so to make amends, I thought I’d drop this video about the man who invented Pac-Man on y’all. (via Henry Abbott and TrueHoop).

[Yes, it's totally fake. But it is Friday and it is funny.]

This week’s question:

So that was March—what’s the Maddest gamble you ever made? Did it pay off?

Next week’s question:
April fools! What’s the most successful prank you ever played?

Did an iPod save a soldier’s life? Looks like it from this photo and accompanying story. Evidently, the bullet hit the iPod and not the body of Kevin Garrad of the 3rd Infantry Division, on a street patrol in Iraq at the time. Whether true shot or Photoshop, the comments from Flickr members (e.g. “Did he have applecare?” “Best of luck getting a new iPod, It’s an HP branded one, Apple won’t even talk to you if you have one of those.”) are amusing.

There are lots of photo-a-day projects online, including a lively one on a little site called Flickr (it’s where we found Meredith Farmer, whose self-portraits we recently featured). As a random voyeur, part of the beauty of these projects is virtually encounting all sorts of new people, places and faces. But sometimes you still stumble across a face you know, like Rachel Kramer Bussel, who’s bound for greatness here in Bill Wadman’s 365 Portraits series. Very nice to see you, RKB.

We’re not shy about our appreciation of pregnant women, offered on the site via our professional shots by Jennifer Pliego and my personal shots with any friend I happen to run into who’s in her third trimester. So I was thrilled to hear about the new book, Birth of a Mother, from Pascale Nadya Wowak, done on the self-publishing site Blurb. Thing is, you don’t need to see shots of pregnant women doing awesome backbends on incredible beaches and adorned by Blake and Rachel Carson quotes to appreciate what’s before you. But it doesn’t hurt. Wowak does a graceful job of pulling together inspiration from all sorts of places; you just can’t help but be moved, even if, like me, you’ll never feel what these women are feeling. A photographer’s passion + the DIY publishing site Blurb = a true labor of love. (Tip o’ the belly to Girl Gone Child. )

In other baby news: We’re having a baby naming contest. Friend of SMITH, Lori Leibovich (the good-looking one on the left), has a girl inside her and needs a name toute suite. Relevant deets: It’s a girl and she’s looking for a name that starts with N, S or F (per a deceased grandparent rule; it’s a Jewish thing, you might understand). The new chick will take her father’s surname, Kanter. Leave any notion you have in the comments here. Winner gets a first-edition SMITH baby tee and, let’s face it, one great story to tell.

It’s been seven days since I was laid off from my magazine gig and I am bored.

Like really, really, really bored. And while I’ve been trying to fill my time with trips to the gym (working on the beach bod), jaunts into the city for coffee (love Porto Rico), and the occasional lunch with pals who feel sorry for me (fabulous), I’m still pretty bored.

So, when I found this wild article in The Guardian today about boredom, I had to share it with SMITH.

First, some points from the piece:

Some surveys put the percentage of people who yearn for more novelty in their lives at around 70% and rising.

Until at least the 17th century being bored was an elite privilege, bragged about by princes and the nobility.

The paradox is that boredom seems to have become democratised in exact proportion to the explosion of reasons not to be bored: books, affordable international travel, and the mass media.

OK, so what does this mean? Well, the more bored we are as a species, the more likely we are to create really boring websites for the increasingly dull masses. Check it: There’s one site called Cheddarvision, which invites VERY bored voyeurs to watch cheese mature, and there’s another site called watching-paint-dry.com. Wow. That’s really depressing.

Bored at work or been laid off? You can read more about the explosion of boring websites here.

As I was skimming through today’s news stories, one caught my attention. The LA Daily News featured a story—yes, an entire story–about Yaakov Horowitz, the chief Rabbi at Manischewitz—you know, the place that makes matzoh.

Well, besides being a fan of matzoh (especially when it’s dipped in chocolate), I’m fascinated by folks who work unconventional gigs—and if you can earn a buck doing what you love, better yet.

So I confess–I think Horowitz’s job qualifies as being off the beaten path, but in a really cool way.

Horowitz lives, eats, breathes, and sleeps matzoh. He not only oversees the production of more than 75 million sheets of matzoh (that’s a lot of matzoh), he used to travel around the globe in the name of matzoh. Now he’s designing new ovens (the first in almost 70 years) for Manischewitz!

You can read more about matzoh and Horowitz here.

Le Grand Content is an entertainingly perverse take on the meaning of life by Clemens Kogler—in the form of as PowerPoint presentation.

And while you’re there, don’t miss the hypnotic Herr Bar, set to music by Clark.