[LMG]LMG RSS Feed 
[Search][Projects]A Moment Of MooreMe and Belle de Jour TimeMachineGo Evening Standard Headline Pictures [UK Bloggers]
London Bloggers [Comic Blogs][Other Blogs] | 1 August 2001
[comics] Borderline the new PDF format magazine about comics launches… Two versions are available: High Resolution / Low Resolution … It contains news, reviews, articles and an interview with Bryan Talbot… ‘Borderline is the result of a renaissance in British fan circles during the last two years but with the use of the internet for delivery we hope to offer something with points of interest to readers of comics anywhere in the world.’
[pop] Make your mind up, M’lud — Amusing article about the the court battle between Bobby G from Bucks Fizz and David Van Day from Dollar over who has rights to the name Bucks Fizz. ‘If all this sounds like a particularly bitter lover’s tiff, it is because the two men are former friends and colleagues. Van Day was one of the best-known bubblegum pop stars of the early 80s in his own right as one half of Dollar, an equally peroxide-heavy act which had 14 hits including Oh L’Amour and Mirror Mirror between 1978 and 1983. “We were fifth in a recent TV programme on the world’s top 10 duos,” he says. “Underneath us were people like Ike and Tina Turner.” ‘
[medicine] ickle tackles painkillers … and allows me to dispose of this link I’ve had sitting in my “Must Blog” Folder for ages… the history of aspirin — Rise of the 1p wonder. ‘The trouble for the drug firms is that so many of them make aspirin, and it is so cheap to produce, they make no profit from it. Instead, they are intensively trying to develop so-called ‘super-aspirins’ which are more powerful and can be patented to ensure that they make money. ‘If something is found as a successor to aspirin, it is likely to be expensive. The market is huge – a goldmine,’ said Elwood. But the reason the drug companies don’t like the common aspirin is why patients and doctors do. It’s almost as cheap as chalk – about 1p a pill – and tackles all the big killers: heart disease, stroke and cancer.’
2 August 2001
 [movies] Interesting review of Apocalypse Now Redux … ‘Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall), the surfing-obsessed, napalm-crazy Air Cav honcho, the additional minutes are more than a madness bonus. They excavate contradictions in his character that were glimpsed only briefly in the ’79 cut, and make him seem both more monstrous and more human–more monstrous because he is more human. His interest in acid-tripping California surf god Lance Johnson (Sam Bottoms) now seems less like a middle-aged man’s power-juiced nostalgia trip than a prepubescent’s obsessive male crush. Kilgore dotes on this fair-haired visitor, monitoring his needs the way an old-school movie producer might pamper a star, and Lance–like Kilgore, a fancy cipher in ’79–responds with a stoner’s sense of privilege. (Refusing to surf in artillery-pounded waters, he says: "I’m an artist.")’ [via Robot Wisdom]
[comics] Long, fascinating interview with Grant Morrison over at Disinformation … ‘What I want to see is people doing their own experience and their own life without trying to be clever or trying to be hip or fashionable. If you do what’s in your own head it’ll always be cool because no one else will have thought of it.’ [via Plasticbag]
3 August 2001
[tv] The inside story on Elizabeth from Big Brother … ‘On Friday morning, after Elizabeth’s eviction , Druitt’s mobile phone is almost constantly engaged. The horror on her face at her exit interview, when nude pictures from the Star flashed on the screen, was, says Druitt, a big sham. “She loved those pictures.”‘ [via Popbitch]
[mp3] Top 10 Bootleg Napster MP3’s. Eminenya is well worth downloading … ‘The lush celtic strings of Sail Away clash with the vocal from the Real Slim Shady, speeded up by a factor of about three. A nightmare within a dream.’ [via Popbitch]
[comics] Scott Shaw’s Oddball Comics … A collection of pointers to world’s weirdest comics. Some classic comics including Jack Kirby at his nuttiest… 2001: A Space Odyssey ‘”White Zero” is the fictional identity given to mild Harvey Norton in simulated superhero “sequences” artificially created in the high-tech chambers of “Comicsville, Inc.” But during one of his synthetic “adventures”, Norton unexpectedly encounters a floating monolith similar to “the one they found on the MOON in 2001 A,D.” When his manufactured exploit goes awry, Norton’s enthusiasm for superheroics dwindles: Another Comicsville Inc. patron observes: “Man, if you can’t make it in COMICSVILLE, you may as well try KNITTING sweaters!”‘ [Related: Oddball Comics Archive, Gone and Forgotten]
4 August 2001
[intersection] Adrian Mole and Big Brother 2 … ‘I lay awake pondering yet again on the true nature of my sexuality. Did I vote for Brian out of gay solidarity or because he is a semi-erudite Irish eccentric? I garnered the evidence: a) I like Kylie Minogue; b) I sleep with a lavender pillow; c) I am no good at sex with women; d) I am very fussy about my sheets, pillowcases and towels.’
[lists] Five good films I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never watched:
[movies] The From Hell Movie Trailer is available at Apple’s Trailer Site. ‘I made it all up, and it all came true anyway. That’s the funny part.’ [requires Quicktime 5, link via WEF]
5 August 2001
[lists] Five awful films I’m embarrassed to say I’ve watched:
[movies] The Walken Shtick, Creepy . . . and Cool … great interview / profile of Christopher Walken. ‘Walken looks like if he sat next to you on the subway, you’d probably move to another seat. His longish brown hair is slicked back, and he wears a scraggly beard. His pale blue irises have an eerie intensity, and he seems to have trouble maintaining eye contact. There’s a halting rhythm to his speech that has inspired countless impersonators, including, famously, Kevin Spacey and comedian Jay Mohr. Walken paces his words like this: It’s as, if, he’s . . . following. The punctuation rules, of another . . . galaxy.’ [via Fark]
6 August 2001
[movies] retroCRUSH Christopher Walken Audio Library … ‘The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He’d be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy’s birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.’ [via Metafilter]
[comics] Anticipating a ‘Ghost World’ — Time on Clowes and Zwigoff’s Ghost World … ‘…most importantly the Clowes sensibility has successfully made it into movie theaters. It’s too bad that it takes a movie to expose vast numbers of people to Clowes’ pessimistic universe of the lummoxes, schlubs, and dorks who made the Wendy’s foodchain possible and who write “comix” review columns on “the web.”‘ [via Comic Geek]
[profile] Johnny Vegas Laid Bare — another profile from the Independent … ‘Johnny isn’t Michael’s invention in the way that, say, Alan Partridge is Steve Coogan’s invention. Johnny is Michael, magnified. Or Johnny is comprised of the bits of Michael — the pain, the rejections — that Michael has hived off, to save himself from the Priory and, possibly, out-and-out alcoholism. Johnny, the stand-up, is Michael at his most brilliantly hurt and resentful.’ [Related: Johnny Vegas Website, link via I Love Everything]
7 August 2001
[stuff] Metafilter is on holiday so I’ve decided to mine the archives …
[quote] ‘You’ve become a significant threat to the national security structure. They would have killed you already but you got a lot of light on you. Instead they’re trying to destroy your credibility. They already have in many circles in this town. Be honest, your only chance is to come up with a case. Something, anything. Make arrests, stir the shit storm, hope to reach a point of critical mass that’ll start a chain reaction of people coming forward, then the government will crack. Remember, fundamentally people are suckers for the truth — and the truth is on your side, Bubba.’
[weblog] Pop Quiz, Hot Shot — Marcia wants to know about blogging styles … LMG is unashamedly: ‘hunt around other weblogs for a few interesting links so you at least have something to post?’.
8 August 2001
[70’s pulp fiction] Sextacular! — the Guardian profiles the life and books of Jacqueline Susann. ‘…The result was Valley of the Dolls, “the sensational truth about the glamour set on a pill kick”, a careening, gossipy, salacious ride of a read about three women trying to make it, hampered by cads and drugs. She satirised [Ethel] Merman as a blowsy has-been, and based an actress-singer battling with weight and drugs on Judy Garland. Thanks to years of listening at dressing-room doors, her dialogue was irresistible. Caked in kohl, tripping on hairspray (as well as sleeping pills, diet pills and amphetamines), in her Pucci print frocks and lacquered wigs, she rose at dawn to serve truck drivers breakfast – to make sure they’d get her books out in time – then schmoozed booksellers all day, and stayed up late partying with the glitterati.’
[comics] Roger Ebert on Ghost World … ‘Seymour and Enid are too similar to fall in love; they both specialize in complex personal lifestyles that send messages no one is receiving. Enid even offers to try to fix up Seymour, but he sees himself as a bad candidate for a woman: “I don’t want to meet someone who shares my interests. I hate my interests.”‘ [via Link Worthy]
9 August 2001
[wtf?] Okay, Swingin’ Chicks of the ’60’s — spot the odd one out: Angie Dickinson, Marianne Faithfull, Sharon Tate and…. Truman Capote?! ‘…in that same book Truman also declares what should be inscribed on his tombstone, “an excuse, a phrase I use about almost any commitment: I TRIED TO GET OUT OF IT, BUT I COULDN’T.”‘
[comics] Quick profile of Dan Clowes … ‘Time spent with his book “Ghost World” — now a film that opened here Friday — leaves you with the sense that the gentleman responsible for it must be some frustratingly inaccessible, enervated, neurotic ogre. But Clowes looks like David Hyde Pierce with a more keyed-down demeanor. If Clowes is a dork, it’s from the inside out, his geek sensibility being something he shares with those who read him. Otherwise, he appears to be surrounded by outer peace.’ [via Comic Geek]
10 August 2001
[weblogs] Tom has some interesting comments from Keith Waterhouse about how to do a good column in a newspaper. Much of it applies equally well to weblogs … ’13) I is 106 years since Jerome K Jerome related his difficulties in trying to open a tin of pineapple in Three Men In A Boat. Unless you can improve this classic account, keep your problems with packaging to yourself.’
[quote] Tinned Pineapple. ‘…I took the tin off myself, and hammered at it with the mast till I was worn out and sick at heart, whereupon Harris took it in hand. We beat it out flat; we beat it back square; we battered it into every form known to geometry – but we could not make a hole in it. Then George went at it, and knocked it into a shape, so strange, so weird, so unearthly in its wild hideousness, that he got frightened and threw away the mast.’ [Related: Project Gutenberg Etext of Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome]
[books] First chapter of Sonic Boom — a book about Napster, MP3’s and the future of music … ‘From that moment forward, Fanning would appear frequently dressed in a Metallica T-shirt, most famously as a presenter at the MTV Music Awards, where Ulrich sat in the audience looking sick. It was difficult to say whether the Beavis and Butthead like fashion statement was meant to be mocking or merely the honest expression of a fan laced with a little irony. Whatever the case, Ulrich made clear that, as far as he was concerned, being a Napster user and a Metallica fan were incompatible: on television and the Internet, he directly told fans who used Napster that the band didn’t want their types.’
[comics] Grendels and Mages — an interview with Matt Wagner from Sequential Tart … ‘Seriously, I view Hunter [Rose] as one of those flash inspirations – one that almost creates itself. Greg Rucka claims that Hunter is my Athena, that he sprang fully formed and armed from the labyrinthine recesses of my brain. He also claims that no one other than me should ever write a Hunter story and, I must admit, I think he’s right.’
11 August 2001
[comics] No Laughing Matter — Salon covers Gary Groth’s views on Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics … ‘Faced with a dwindling comic book readership, distribution centered on hobby shops and the depressing news that market leader Marvel is still struggling to emerge from bankruptcy, comic artists and publishers are in a vulnerable state. The Net, like a tornado heading for a trailer, is bound to have some effect, good or bad. “It’s like opera,” says Steve Conley, creator of Astounding Space Thrills, a daily adventure webcomic. “The fighting is so fierce because the stakes are so small. No other industry could have this kind of debate because no other industry is so small and close-knit.”‘ [Related: McCloud Cuckoo-Land (Part 1) (Part 2) — Groth rebuffs McCloud’s Reinventing Comics. McCloud responds… McCloud in Stable Condition Following Review, Groth Still at Large]
12 August 2001
[teeth] Something Rotten — William Leith on his teeth… an extract from his book British Teeth. ‘He put his drill down, picked up another tool, a hooked needle, and loomed over me again. He poked the new tool deep into the open roots of my tooth. He was looking at something. The wadding! He had found the wadding. Godzinski dipped the needle into the hole in my jaw. Then he removed the needle from my mouth and sniffed at it. Some of the purulent wadding was on the end of the needle. Godzinski offered the needle to his nurse, as if it were a special treat. “Smell that abscess,” he said.’
[web] Something I’ve just noticed — Google’s cache is really up to date at the moment … LMG, or if you prefer … Haddock or NotsoSoft or Plasticbag.
13 August 2001
![[random image] Back of a beermat -- because sometimes LMG needs a picture and to remind me of a weird Saturday...](https://i0.wp.com/www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/images/beermat.jpg?resize=188%2C188) [theroux] ‘The girl is hallucinating or it is a fabrication’ … Christine Hamilton: No, I only know what a swingers’ party is because I recently met Mr Louis Theroux who made a programme about them and I understand from him that a swingers’ party is a wife or husband-swapping party.
[music] Northern Rock — Miranda Sawyer profiles and interviews New Order. ‘…everything collapsed. New Order came out owing £600,000. Then, in the midst of the carnage, someone found a piece of paper signed by the Factory directors that read: “The musicians own the music and we own nothing.” Which meant that the bands could sign huge publishing deals for all the tunes they’d already written, as well as recording contracts for future music. London records stepped in to claim New Order, “like the cavalry”, says Sumner. Chaos all round. The piece of paper effectively whisked Factory’s only assets away from the hands of the debtees. Sumner remembers going up in front of the liquidators. “They just couldn’t believe this piece of paper existed. But it did. No contract, just this bit of paper. They tried to make out that we’d written it a couple of days earlier, but honest to God we didn’t. But,” he grins, “if it hadn’t existed, we would have written it…”‘
[comics] Fisher Price Theatre Presents… Catcher in the Rye [Part 1 | Part 2] by Evan Dorkin. ”If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and that David Coperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.’ [via Venusberg]
14 August 2001
[media] The Man Who Killed the Media … Media Guardian profile/interview with Michael Wolff. ‘…Wolff’s view is that the world’s media barons are less powerful than they were in the days of Henry Luce or when Americans could watch only three television channels. He calls the combination of America Online and Time Warner “a bit of ridiculousness”, indicative of the media industry’s desperation to find new ways of making money. He is dismissive of the industry’s current vogue to own distribution networks such as cable and television channels, for example. “They’re trying to turn themselves into utilities. They go from one grail or shibboleth to another. They are hustlers and charlatans all,” he says with some relish.’
[stuff] Linkage:
[random] Pass Notes covers The Girl from Ipanema … ‘It seems the widow of Antonio Carlos Jobim is still disgruntled about her husband leching after the foxy Brazilian lovely. The heirs to the songwriters’ fortunes say the gently swaying, golden Heloisa has no right to call her shop The Girl from Ipanema.’
15 August 2001
[weblogs] Wacky Brit has done an updated list of the Most Popular Links on UK Weblogs. [Related: Blogdex continues to improve — it’s well worth a look.]
[distraction] Prison Inmate Population Information Search — find out if you have a namesake locked up in New York State… ‘NO INMATE ON FILE BEARING THE NAME SHRUBXXXX’ [thanks, Andy]
16 August 2001
[lorem ipsum] What does the filler text “lorem ipsum” mean? ‘Lorem ipsum was part of a passage from Cicero, specifically De finibus bonorum et malorum, a treatise on the theory of ethics written in 45 BC. The original reads, Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit . . . (“There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain . . .”). McClintock recalled having seen lorem ipsum in a book of early metal type samples, which commonly used extracts from the classics. “What I find remarkable,” he told B&A, “is that this text has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since some printer in the 1500s took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book; it has survived not only four centuries of letter-by-letter resetting but even the leap into electronic typesetting, essentially unchanged.” So much for the transitory nature of content in the information age.’ [Related: loremipsum.org, thanks to Marcia]
[books] You ask the questions: Peter Ackroyd. On genuinely disturbing parts of London: ‘There are a couple of spots of London that have always interested me. One of them is a small area known as Angel Street by the old wall of Newgate Prison, which has been a haunted spot for many centuries. It was here that the black dog of Newgate used to be seen in spectral form — certainly not a place for the faint hearted. Stew Lane is another spot. It’s a little-known alley that leads from the river upwards to Upper Thames Street. It’s dark and narrow — I’ve never known why it’s called Stew Lane or what happened there, but it is a curiously uncomfortable place.’
17 August 2001
[movies] Various celeb quotes and stories on Christopher Walken … ‘I was riding in a car with Christopher and some other people, going to our location. [while filming Communion] It was a fairly long drive, through beautiful countryside, and it started to get too quiet, so Christopher started singing “Mac The Knife” in Yiddish!’ [via Fark]
![[not so random image] Christopher Walken -- 'You get me in a vendetta kind of mood, you tell the angels in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you. My name is Vincent Coccotti.'](https://i0.wp.com/www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/images2/walken.jpg?resize=171%2C208) [politics] Me? A member of the liberal elite? — The Guardian tries to find some members of the Liberal Elite … ‘”A Home Office minister said to me,” says John Wadham, the Liberty chairman, sitting by a fan in his windowless office, “that the more we complain about civil liberties disappearing, the more the government like it, because it plays well with the Daily Mail.” He does not even bother to look disappointed. In his scuffed Doctor Martens shoes and small rimless glasses, he could pass for a defeated radical activist from the early 80s. It is probably just as well that his office does not have a view. Within sight of the Liberty headquarters, there are at least two CCTV cameras.’
[politics] Are you a Woolly Liberal? ‘Walking home late at night, a man accosts you and snatches your wallet. Later, you fantasise about: Ann Widdecombe in Downing Street working to put more bobbies on the beat.’ [via Meg]
18 August 2001
[web] Top Quotes on DoomWorld IRC — wit and wisdom on a VAST scale … ‘my spanking will revolutionize the way all u people function as individuals’ [via NTK]
19 August 2001
[movies] That Loving Felon [Part 1 | Part 2] — interview with Ray Liotta … ‘It strikes me that Ray Liotta is probably capable of unconditional love himself. I found an extraordinary sweetness in him, sometimes accompanied by his too-much-information type of honesty. What makes him seem maniacal are his eyes, but they are also what make him seem angelic. There’s an amazing play of hard and soft, and people like that. Women like that homicidal lunatic that is dangerous but also tame and sweet. He shrugs: ‘I guess. When you play a bad guy, there’s never just one note. Even killers want to be loved.”
[profile] Salon profiles Robert Ballard (the discoverer of Titanic) … ‘In “Eternal Darkness,” Ballard describes what he saw: “Warm water shimmered up from cracks in the lava flows. It was turning a cloudy blue as manganese and other minerals, carried from deep within the seafloor, precipitated out of solution to form a solid coating on the cooler surrounding rocks. But that was not all. The seafloor was teeming with life.” For several days, Ballard explored the hydrothermal vents, taking specimens and preserving them in Russian vodka purchased at port in Panama. In other words: Been there, done it, mapped it, sampled it and pickled it in vodka.’
[wtf?] A Child Molester’s Choice — Creative Loafing looks at Chemical Castration … ‘Roys is not an advocate of the treatment. She prefers intensive, confrontational counseling and medications such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. Roys also says that even when taken properly, the female hormones can have little effect. “We had one offender that we had on Depo[-Provera] for a very long time,” Roys says. “His [male] hormone levels were way down. And he still was having intercourse with his dog.”‘
20 August 2001
[distraction] Conclusive proof that NASA faked the Moon Landings … ‘It is almost insulting to think that NASA could get away with this obvious howler!’ [via Brainsluice]
[books] Philip Pullman: A winner – if he gets his evil way — interesting profile of the childrens author … ‘His novel, The Amber Spyglass, is unusual. It’s a magnificent piece of storytelling that, unlike self-consciously difficult literary novels, is sinfully sweet to devour. Despite its bulk, it isn’t a stand-alone book, but the culmination of a trilogy. Most pertinently, it’s a novel for children, albeit one that can be enjoyed with equal intensity by adults, who are more likely to pick up on its allusions.’
[comics] You cannot resist him! Evan Dorkin’s Devil Puppet in all his mesmeric glory… [from The House Of Fun]
21 August 2001
[film] In the Driving Seat — interview with Sigourney Weaver by William Leith … ‘THE first, overwhelming impression you get of Sigourney Weaver is that, unlike most film stars, she is even taller than you imagined – 6ft 2in, or possibly even 6ft 3in in her high heels. She once said that her career had been defined by the fact that most producers were short, and that she was not their ideal sexual fantasy. She is the sort of woman who, I imagine, would terrify a short man.’
[comics] Warren Ellis Recommends… books, comics and music. ‘I’d just like to take the opportunity to say that Lee Van Cleef always had the best hat.’
[film] ‘Silent’ Partnership — NY Post acticle on Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back … ‘Having briefly met [Jason] Mewes on the set of “Jay and Silent Bob” earlier this year, I can attest that this outrageous motormouth is the most incongruous of potential movie stars. Having a coherent conversation with the man is impossible. “He doesn’t know how to talk about movies or himself, because he doesn’t think it’s a big deal,” Smith said. “He makes movies because he likes getting free breakfast burritos for 60 days, $200 a day in cash for spending money and free T-shirts.”‘
22 August 2001
[books] Kids’ stuff — Guardian interview with Philip Pullman … Pullman: ‘Traditionally, children are seen as beautiful, innocent beings; then comes adulthood and they become corrupt. That’s the CS Lewis view. My view is that the coming of experience and sexuality and self-consciousness is a thing to be welcomed, because it’s the beginning of true understanding, of wisdom. My book tells children that you’re going to grow up and it’s going to be painful but it’s going to be good too.’
[comics] Sophie Crumb, sketching her own artistic ‘World’ — USA Today on Robert Crumb’s daughter Sophie … ”’Last night, this guy, a fire juggler I met on the street, was looking at something I did and he said, ‘This looks like R. Crumb.’ I said, ‘That’s my dad!’ Crumb, who doesn’t see the resemblance to her father’s work, hopes to avoid cashing in on his fame and plans to pursue a career illustrating children’s books. ”I wish my last name would have nothing to do with it,” she says. ”I thought that Crumb was a common name in Kansas.” She pauses. ”I have to get married to a French guy soon.”’ [via Comic Geek]
[distraction] Lastest version of Windows. [via Wanderers Weblog]
23 August 2001
[politics] Anne Widdecombe? The voice of reason?! ‘Lady Thatcher became prime minister 21 years ago. It is time to move on.’
24 August 2001
[comics] Cartoon strip seeks to be first of the first books — Jimmy Corrigan in shortlist for this year’s Guardian First Book Award. ‘Ware has won rave reviews for his subtle, innovative book with its dark portrayal of alienated wage slaves and dysfunctional family relationships. The title character is an introverted office dogsbody whose awkward reunion with his long-lost father brings him further confusion and pain. The author is already being championed by last year’s First Book Award winner. “He should win immediately – I don’t even care what else is on it,” declared novelist Zadie Smith. “It’s a work of genius.” The author Nick Hornby is another fan, who said Jimmy Corrigan was “too beautiful to take anywhere”.’ [Related: Buy Jimmy Corrigan at Amazon, Chris Ware at Fantagraphics]
[distraction] Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s public book reviews on Amazon. ‘Rogul’s book is a fascinating guide to the phenomenon of alien abduction, and as an abductee myself I was staggered by how similar my experiences were to the examples he cites in his book. I too was whisked up to the mothership where a group of 7 or 8 humanoids with enlarged craniums and black oval eyes subjected me to intense examination, lavishing particular scrutiny on my […], which they probed with a glass-like instrument which emitted a blue glow. ‘ [via Barbelith Underground]
25 August 2001
[comics] Mad Magazine Vs. J. Edgar Hoover — the FBI investigated Mad Magazine after J. Edgar Hoover was mentioned in the magazine … ‘Several complaints have been made to the Bureau concerning the Mad comic book, which at one time presented the horror of war to readers. Various comic books of this nature were brought to the attention of the Justice Department, which rendered the decision that such books did not constitute a violation of the Sedition Statutes.’ [via Comic Geek]
[profile] Vaughan Again — Johnny Vaughan interview / profile in the Telegraph … ‘Mnemonists are, Vaughan explains, “Guys who you might think are highly intelligent but actually just have a good selection of freakish memories. I read that,” Vaughan remembers, “and I thought ‘Oh dear. . .’ and the worst thing is, I remembered it.” He shrugs ruefully, “And if I remembered it, I definitely am it.”‘
[wtf?] Marvel’s Next Hollywood Connection? Celebrity comic writers — the next big thing in mainstream comics… ‘…Freddie Prinze Jr. – maybe the busiest young actor working today – wants to try his hand at writing comic books in the coming months, while he takes a break from acting.’
What next… Perhaps Robert Downey Jr. will write Wonder Woman? ‘Police also found a Wonder Woman costume in Downey’s hotel closet, which authorities believe may have been worn by a woman who had been in his room before police arrived.’ 26 August 2001
[distractions] Ask Professor Yaffle … ‘Nyek, nyek, nyek. Good day to you, young seekers of enlightenment. I, Professor Yaffle, have been specially invited here as an acknowledged expert on many topics, in the hope that I may serve as a source of wisdom to those less informed than myself; to whit, the viewing public. I believe that several people have already written in with questions of great import, upon which they wish to seek my humble opinion. ‘ [Related: Profiles of Professor Yaffle and Bagpuss. Link via Found]
[bb2] Behind Big Brother — Elizabeth on the BB2 experience … ‘For the moment, us housemates have been set apart. We have become a kind of product, a brand. It is ironic, as people think they know me, that I sometimes feel I have become de-personalised by the experience. I am no longer just Elizabeth, but Elizabeth from Big Brother. I am now part of the exclusive brand.’
27 August 2001
[distraction] Tony Soprano Soundboard — flash soundboard with soundclips … ‘Two years ago I thought RICO was a relative of his.’ — Dr. Melfi.
[tv] Feltz accuses Big Brother — Vanessa Feltz claims she did not have a mini-breakdown on Celebrity Big Brother … ‘It was a blinding moment when I suddenly realised that there was no Big Brother. It was just a researcher. I suddenly thought I’m not going to give back the chalk we had for the shopping list. I thought I had suffered enough. I have lost my husband and there was sod all to do anyway except watch Anthea wash up and clean. So I started writing words on the table like “defenestred” and “innured” and then I had a look and I said I thought ‘it looks awfully Conran’ but you didn’t see that in the edit. Instead you saw me looking like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.’
28 August 2001
[comics] The Great Comic Book Ads — looks at the weird things you can buy from the back of old comics. I always wanted to be a GRIT Salesman… ‘I’ve easily read 100 comic books for every book I’ve read, but that’s mostly just because I’m not very smart.’
[books] Author angers the Bible Belt — article on the reaction to Philip Pullman’s books in America … ‘At their core, Pullman’s books are profoundly humanistic. Joan Slatterly calls them stories ‘about love, seizing the day and being alive’. ‘For all the qualities they have,’ says Pullman, ‘mine are ordinary children who come to realise that the world is a wonderful place whose destiny is not their birthright. There are no hereditary traditions or magic wands like in Harry Potter. There is the occult but not in the sense I see in other books. I don’t give people magical powers.”
29 August 2001
[tv] Theroux tipped off by Hamiltons — brief inside story on Louis Theroux and the Hamiltons … Theroux: ‘Journalists can dish it out, but we’re not very good at taking it. Maybe it’s because we know what it’s like being in the media spotlight. We’re the last to sign the release form.’
 [comics] Joe Matt’s Girl from Ipanema Talks Back… one of the characters from The Poor Bastard book gives her side of the story … ‘Joe’s rapport, or demeanor if you will, with me was always ranging from hostile to aloof & indifferent. He was very antisocial. At the time I figured he was just a bit off because he was insecure. Hostile, but not in an overtly aggressive way. Not outgoingly hostile, he was just never really there. And never really nice, just nonresponsive & I thought just a bit superior & condescending. But I definitely didn’t see the human equivalence of infatuation. He probably came across as nervous sometimes too but it was all linked to his personality because he seemed pretty introverted & not very friendly.’
 [oj] When O. J. Simpson met the UKBlog Kids… it was Murder!
Think you can do better? Here’s the original… go crazy… and email me the results. Links: OJ and the Dingo Kids met… Metafilter, NTK. 30 August 2001
[web] At home with TVGoHome — BBC News interviews Charlie Brooker … Brooker: ‘I’m still totally interested in doing internet-based things. The nice thing about the internet is that it’s a great leveller. TVGoHome was done on a budget of nil. The one thing that matters is coming up with a simple idea. I don’t know why more people don’t try it and do it – come up with something simple and try to build an audience. Everyone seems to want to create Onion rip-offs, but there’s plenty of room for good online comedy content.’ [Related: Zeppotron, TV Go Home]
[oj] And another one… The Job is Done [by Chris at Do You Feel Loved]
[movies] Speaking Of War — Francis Ford Coppola and David Halberstam discuss Apocalypse Now Redux … ‘…my only point is, to what end? In other words, you fight a war, you make a great sacrifice, but to what end? What are we moving toward? That’s what I’m interested in. Because I think that’s when empires fail – when no one understands what the vision is.’ [via Seething Hatred]
[more oj] The UKBlog Kids do more O. J. —
31 August 2001
[books] Extract from The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman … ‘Lee Scoresby looked not asleep, nor at peace; he looked as if he had died in battle; but he looked as if he knew that his fight had been successful. And because the Texan aeronaut was one of the very few humans Iorek had ever esteemed, he accepted the man’s last gift to him. With deft movements of his claws, he ripped aside the dead man’s clothes, opened the body with one slash, and began to feast on the flesh and blood of his old friend. It was his first meal for days, and he was hungry.’
[comics] The Sandman Ate My Balls … ‘It’s Destiny’s luck to run out of balls.’
|
