Whiz of the Web: Wednesday Whiz-Up

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.

• As we all know, because it is front page news across the country for some reason, Paris Hilton is currently in jail. No doubt there are cameras recording it all for a future reality TV show, but just in case there's not, you can experience her time in prison for yourself right now via the online game The Prison Life: Paris. This is a pretty tame but amusing game that involves stamping license plates. But we're sure there are far less... tasteful games out there based around the same subject... (Via)
• Kids are using electronics, and therefore gaming, at younger and younger ages these days. In fact, in 2007 the average age dropped from 8.1-years-old to a rather astounding 6.7-years-old.
• In case you were interested in learning more about that historic recent meeting of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the D5 conference, you're in luck! You can download a free podcast of the event (in either pure audio, or audio and video format) on iTunes right now!
• Speaking of free stuff, XPN's free download this morning is a track from an upcoming collection of rarities by Nick Drake (it's called Family Tree, and will be released on June 19). Nice.
• We told you in yesterday's column that there was going to be a history-making Pac-Man announcement from Microsoft later that afternoon. As it turns out, the big announcement was that Pac-Man Championship Edition will be released on Xbox Live today. Before you yawn too loudly, keep in mind that Joystiq has actually played the game, and they say it's actually quite neat. It's a more direct sequel to the original Pac-Man than recent Pac-Man games have been, and in fact features the first new mazes for the game in 26 years, including mazes that change dynamically as you play.
• Fact: Star Wars is cool. Cute illustrations of Star Wars characters are therefore also cool. And you can enjoy looking at a number of such illustrations at illustrator Jeff Victor's blog, Wicked Crispy. Enjoy! (Via)
• Speaking of cute illustrations of famous characters, how about that Fat Wonder Woman Blog? It's turning a year old this month! Celebrate by providing the site with a nice fat Wonder Woman sketch that includes a birthday cake. Or just check out one of the latest, greatest, non-birthday-related contributions right here.
• Morgan Spurlock, creator of the amazing documentary Super Size Me (which we saw for the first time at the Philadelphia Film Festival), is currently trying to finish up a documentary about the search for Osama bin Laden in time for the Toronoto Film Festival, which starts on September 6.
• There were rumors a while back about a film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice that would be set in the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, star Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan, and "explore greedy gambling and money as well as the relationship between Antonio and Basanio using the city's gay scene." Sounds fabulous, but there's no knowing if that entire concept has survived intact; all we know is, according to a recent interview with Stewart, he will produce and star in an adaptation of the play by John Logan.

Image Credit: Flickr user Joi