Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you folks. That's a pair of Mickey D's Chicken McNuggets in their natural habitat slurping down some barbecue sauce. They're part of the Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill that opened in New York City's West Village earlier this week. Other critters at this decidedly strange pet store include a pair of fish sticks swimming happily around a bowl. There's also a wide selection of hot dogs that behave oddly like snakes as they enjoy the warm rays of heat lamps. There some more conventional pets too, like a rabbit that preens in its cage applying her makeup.

I haven't been to the Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill yet, so I'm not sure what kind of food they serve. It strikes me as kind of cruel to eat chicken nuggets and hot dogs once you realize they're sentient beings. If I were a betting man I'd say the whole operation is a big hoax and that they don't sell any pets or cook anything on a charcoal grill at all. And that's because it is a hoax of sorts. All of the "pets" at the store are actually animatronics designed by the prankster artist Banksy as part of his latest show.

Village Pet Store is located at 89 7th Avenue between West 4th and Bleeker Street and is open from 10 a.m. to midnight until Halloween. Those not in the New York City area can check out the bizarre goings on in this video. I'll leave it up to the critics to decide whether this weird little emporium qualifies as art. At least the dude found an amusing way to repurpose Chicken McNuggets.

[via Wooster Collective]

Maccie-dees Australia has released details of its new children's dinner menu to be marketed as a healthier alternative to its 25-year-old Happy Meals range. The new menu, which will include pasta, noodles, rice, fresh fruit, lean meat and reduced-fat dairy, will be available in McDonald's 700-plus restaurants later this year, making Australia the first country in the world to introduce a healthier Happy Meal.

They have spent two years developing a menu that satisfies both the nutritionists and parents but is also one that will appeal to children. The new range is not a direct replacment for Happy Meals but will be added to the standard Chicken McNuggets and fries. The new children's menu is the latest manifestation of McDonald's strategy of offering a wider choice of dishes to consumers.

It is expected that the marketing gimmick of including a collectable toy - an important part of the Happy Meals package - will continue. The combination of toy and food in a box has been one of the most successful marketing initiatives in the world.

We're not talking about real rules like "No double dipping." No, I'm talking about everything else, like what dipping sauces go with what kinds of finger foods, if it's okay to "embellish" a dipping sauce with salt, pepper, or Tabasco, or whether you can dip in one sauce and re-dip in another to make a "combo" dip. Obviously, if you're eating your own plate of chicken fingers, you can do whatever the hell you want. If you're sharing an appetizer platter, what do you do?

I do everything. First of all, when the restaurant offers honey mustard with the chicken tenders because that's normal and accepted, I still like to ask for Ranch dressing and BBQ sauce. If I recall from my old Chicken Nuggets days, breaded, deep-fried chicken goes with: BBQ sauce, Sweet & Sour, and Honey Mustard. So the Ranch dressing is a little off.

Watching UCLA stomp all over LSU tonight, I noticed that there were quite a few commercials for McDonald's. Now I'm quite certain that these commercials run fairly often, but my eyes and brain have somehow become numb to them. However, tonight, I actually took notice because I tried to think about the last time I went to McDonald's. Furthermore, I started to think about some other interesting questions regarding America's McClownBurger: what is the average length of time since someone has eaten at McDonald's? Would it be safe to say that, across the population, on average, it's been 24 hours?

I thought about it because I proudly thought to myself, "It has been a LONG time since I've eaten at McDonald's." In fact, I don't even remember the last time I let a Chicken McNugget pass my lips. Then I realized I was totally wrong. Just a few months ago, I was forced to stop at a McDonald's in the wee hours of the morning for coffee, long before any of the other places likes Peet's or Coffee Bean in my area were open.

Scary. I've been to McDonald's as recently as four months ago. (My pit stop at the mega McDonald's in Chicago doesn't really count.)