Whiz of the Web: Thirsty Thursday

• For what should be obvious reasons, we're curious about G4's upcoming comedy cartoon Code Monkeys, which promises to be "chock full of video game references, as well as 'guest stars from the past and future of gaming,'" including folks like Steve Wozniak, David Jaffe, and Nolan Bushnell.
• Heh. This is pretty cool: a video of Mario Paint playing the intro to a Coldplay song.
• We still question whether it even makes sense to have a version of the Taiko drumming game for a portable game system that you will pretty much be unable to play on a train, or while walking around (making it essentially not a portable game anymore), but this Japanese commercial for the DS Taiko does make it look like a lot of fun. Crazy fun, in fact.
• By the time this post appears on the site, you should be able to go watch the new trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. Assuming it will be possible to get through to it via the choked tubes of the internets.
• A Japanese firm has invented a glove that allows you to feel 3D images. Apparently the idea is that you'll be able to use it to hold hands with somebody over a video phone, but Shiny Shiny had the same first thought about this that we did: porn!!
• MySpace is apparently going to launch a video service that's open to non-members called MySpace TV. Of course, members will be able to use it to embed videos into their pages. You know, to go along with all the embedded music, background wallpaper images, flashing animated gifs, and marquee text headlines.
• Warner Brothers has lost the rights to Conan, but fear not, oh fans of the wanderer of the Hyperborean age! New Line might pick them up, and a movie could still happen! It just won't be anything like the one that Warner spent so long trying to develop.
• Ryan Gosling has signed to co-star in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lovely Bones.
• Joss Whedon is auctioning off dinner with him at the ComicCon. The auction starts July 2nd, so mark your calendars. Watch it, though; mention Alien 4 to him too many times during dinner and he might just take off and leave you with the check. (Via)
• Apparently they opened a women-only beach in Italy, and had the lady who plays Lara Croft there for some reason. Whatever, we just like the pictures. (Via)
• According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, video game spending will overtake music spending as early as this year. Crazy! Guess this gaming thing really is taking off.
• Stop hoping for an external hard drive for your Wii; it ain't going to happen. Well, not officially, anyway. We're sure you could hack one together somehow.
• We're happy to hear that indie shooter TUMIKI Fighters will be getting an official, expanded version released on the DS in Europe in the fall (under the name Blast Works: Build, Fuse & Destroy), but kind of miffed that there's no US release date yet.

Image Credit: Flickr user fredcamino