I’m starting to like the ring of that title, so maybe it’s something I’ll stick with for the next couple of weeks. Anyways, here are a few stories that I bumbled my way into these past couple of days.

Over in the UK, a man burst into flames after being shot with a taser gun. Apparently, he was putting up a resistance against some police officers and the cops tried to subdue Juan Flores Lopez (47) with pepper spray. When that didn’t work, they shot a few hundred (thousand?) volts through his body via a taser, but what they apparently didn’t know was that Lopez had doused himself in gasoline. In effect, Lopez burst into flames and died shortly afterwards. You’ve got to wonder if this was a suicide, because it’s not uncommon for criminals and other types to put themselves in front of police fire (no pun intended). Crazy stuff.

Sticking with the other side of the Atlantic, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has issued its first video game ban in ten years. Manhunt 2 is one of the most hotly anticipated titles this summer. The premise is that you are an escapee from an insane asylum and the game involves hacking and slashing through enemies, killing them in the most gruesome of ways. Sounds like a pretty awesome video game to me, and realistically, it’s probably no more violent than any other first- or third-person shooter that we’ve seen before. The chainsaw gun in Gears of War is pretty bloody, so how is Manhunt 2 really any different? They say that it is “distinguishable from recent high-end video games by its unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone in an overall game context which constantly encourages visceral killing with exceptionally little alleviation or distancing.” Because of the ban, the game “cannot be legally supplied anywhere in Britain.” It’s also received an Adults Only (AO) rating in the United States, meaning that it may not be available through regular retail outlets. Blah, whatever, it sounds pretty awesome to me. And it’s coming out for the Wii too.

I’m reasonably happy with my Dell laptop, but I can always use a bigger LCD to do all my PhotoShop’ing, web browsing, and random computer activities. Thankfully, there are no fewer than two contests going on right now wherein I can potentially win a nice large viewing screen. BlueFur wants you to vote for their blog in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. Already did that, so I guess I’m in! Gimme that 22-inch widescreen.

But wait, there’s more. Make money expert John Chow has teamed up with hosting Canada provider BlueFur to give away a 24-inch widescreen LCD. That’s like a whole two-inches more awesomeness. I wonder if it’s a conflict of interest, though, considering that I write for both those guys.

Unfortunately for everyone who has watched television in the last 35 years, Bob Barker stepped down as the host of The Price is Right last week. It was a sad, sad day for everyone involved. I grew up watching the yodeling cliffhanger, the Plinko chips, and raving contestants jumping up and down ecstatically. I still remember when a middle-aged woman wanted to bid $100,000 on her showcase and Bob had to remind her that the display only had room for five digits. Anyways, now that Bob isn’t going to do the show anymore, they’re looking for a replacement and — for better or for worse — Rosie O’Donnell is the frontrunner. Please, no. No. No. No. Don’t do it, CBS. I have yet to meet someone who actually likes Rosie. There’s a reason why her talk show was canned. There’s a reason why she’s no longer on The View. You don’t want her to mar the legendary Price is Right.

So… that’s what’s up.