[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] | 14 April 2005
[web] Domesday 1986 — the BBC’s project to mark the 900th aniversary of the original Domesday Book now online. ‘…the BBC published its Domesday Project on a pair of twelve inch laser discs with a laserdisc player and microcomputer.’ [via Yoz]
15 April 2005
[bdj] Intimate advice from a London Call Girl — Belle de Jour is an Agony Aunt! … ‘When I was approached to be The London Line’s new agony aunt, I thought, why not? I know about agony. Reading reviews of my book was agony in itself. And my career so far has been nothing if not surrounded by questions.’
16 April 2005
[movies] The Man Who Shot Sin City — Wired Magazine on how Robert Rodriguez brought Sin City to the screen. ‘…small details like Sin City’s signature “white blood” proved to be an effects challenge. Regular movie blood didn’t cut it. Instead, the crew used fluorescent red liquid and hit it with a black light. This allowed Rodriguez to turn the blood “white” in postproduction. Likewise, the novel’s few splashes of color proved troublesome. Yellow and green react with green screens, causing color to spill into the background and making them impossible to separate. So during shooting Rodriguez painted the villain, Yellow Bastard, blue – and then colored him yellow in post.’
17 April 2005
18 April 2005
[tv] Twelve Reasons Why Columbo Is The Best Police TV Show … ‘Just One More Thing…’
19 April 2005
[politics] Are we going forward, back – or sideways? — David Aaronovitch on The General Election: ‘…I was on the tube train from north London to Watford. The train travels overground through the suburbs of north-west London, Middlesex and Hertfordshire: Pinner, Harrow, Northwood Hills, Croxley, and more. Strung out along the tracks are thousands of unremarkable houses, their monotony punctuated by stations, 30s shopping streets and the odd school or church. In each house lives one, two, three voters – each with their own understanding of the world, their own personal ideologies, their impressions, their experience of the world. And there are millions and millions of them. And, as ever, the thought scares me slightly. What do they want? We insiders talk about voter volatility when what we mean is we have lost the plot.’
20 April 2005
[space] What a Little Moon Dust Can Do — if I went to the Moon I’d still need Loratadine … ‘”Dust is the No. 1 environmental problem on the moon,” said Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, who reported having a severe allergic reaction to moon dust during his mission in 1972. “We need to understand what the (biological) effects are, because there’s always the possibility that engineering might fail.” Moon dust is much more jagged than dust on Earth because there’s no water or wind on the moon to toss it around and grind down its edges. It’s created when meteorites, cosmic rays and solar winds slam into the moon, turning its rocks into powdery topsoil.’
21 April 2005
[books] The Article that Changed the World — The Guardian on book subtitles … ‘What all these “changed the world” titles have in common is a lack of self-confidence. Unsure that readers will want to buy a book about sugar or sewing machines or radio in Canada, publishers over-gild their lilies. In a sense, yes, all these things have changed the world, but only in a general sense that everything that exists changes the world.’ [via Robot Wisdom]
22 April 2005
[comics] The Comics Bubble and the Burst — Metafilter discuss the comic book speculation bubble of the 1990’s. ‘…I sold hundreds of copies of Harbinger #1 (Valiant Comics) for more than a hundred bucks a pop — and you can pick them up for near cover price these days. I was a bastard. I knew and understood the fanboy mentality perfectly, and to this day I feel no guilt about it.’
23 April 2005
[comics] Warren Ellis: ‘I fully expect the film version of WATCHMEN to be a fucking musical.’
24 April 2005
[advert] Singing in the Rain Remix — MP3 remix using the music from the VW advert.
[movies] Sin City Expands Digital Frontier — Wired Reviews Sin City … ‘While [Sin City] could induce nightmares, it is also, in its own way, sweetly nostalgic. This is a film that loves artifice the same way that Singin’ in the Rain did. Singin’ in the Rain, along with many films noir and various other stage-bound Hollywood movies, used two-by-fours and gallons of paint to build its glorious unrealities. Sin City instead uses pixels…’
[ebay] eBay Feedback Generator … ‘Skillful quality! Packaging was desirable. Optimum delivery.’
[comics] Planetary Preview — PDF of the preview comic that Warren Ellis and John Cassady produced for Planetary.
25 April 2005
[comics] Classic Comic Ads … ‘These ads are as much a part of the history and lore of comic books as the stories themselves. What kid did not order or dream of ordering such classics as Sea Monkeys, Polaris Subs or X-Ray glasses that we saw in the comic books.’
26 April 2005
[comics] Graphic Novels for Snobs — Ask Mefi discuss Graphic Novels … ‘People keep telling me that certain graphic novels are masterpieces, but when I read them, I don’t like them. I keep wondering what their criteria are for judging a book a work of genius. Do they mean “it’s a masterpiece compared with other comic books” or “it’s a masterpiece compared with any work or literature”? Because I don’t care how something ranks within the comic-book world. I just want to read good stories. I’m convinced there MUST be good stories in graphic novel form.’
[ads] London Review of Books Personal Ads … ‘The LRB’s own Son of Jor-El, stuck in the Phantom Zone of the personal ads for three years now. Reckon I could still lick anyone of you wusses. Man, 36. Alone. Tonight, and very possibly forever. Box no. 07/12’ [via Yoz]
27 April 2005
[funny] Wanted: A tall well-built woman … ‘But please only read lines 1, 3 and 5’
28 April 2005
[numbers] The Conet Project — Mp3 recordings of Numbers Stations. ‘…a 1998 article in The Daily Telegraph quoted a spokesperson for the Department of Trade and Industry (the government agency that regulates radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom) as saying, “These [numbers stations] are what you suppose they are. People shouldn’t be mystified by them. They are not for, shall we say, public consumption.”‘
29 April 2005
[web] The Archivist — update on the Internet Archive and Brewster Kahle … ‘[Kahle] wanted to back up the Internet. There were only 50 million or so URLs back then, so the idea only seemed half-crazy. As the Web ballooned to more than 10 billion pages, the archive’s main server farm — hidden across town in a data center beneath the city’s other big bridge — grew to hold a half-million gigabytes of compressed and indexed pages. Kahle is less the Internet’s crazy aunt — the tycoon who can’t stand to throw anything away — than its evangelical librarian.’
[election] In the Eye of the Storm, it’s Blinking Tricky — Simon Hoggart watching Tony Blair and Gordon Brown: ‘[Nick Robinson of ITN] asked “Are you saying that you would have behaved in an identical way to Tony Blair if faced with the same circumstances?” There was a pause which might have lasted two seconds, but seemed to go on forever. [Tony Blair’s] right eye turned to stare malevolently at Mr Brown, like some Oriental jewel that has the power to turn men’s minds. The eyebrow above it arched in a V-shape. Finally the chancellor spoke, or rather barked: “Yes!” The right eye suddenly relaxed and even seemed, just for a moment, to gaze fondly on Mr Brown. Applause broke out from the businesspersons. “Well done!” said Patricia Hewitt, sounding, as always, like a doctor congratulating a small child on surviving a jab without crying.’
1 May 2005
[weird] Can This Black Box See Into the Future? — can a network of random event generators predict the future? ‘… then on September 6, 1997, something quite extraordinary happened: the graph shot upwards, recording a sudden and massive shift in the number sequence as his machines around the world started reporting huge deviations from the norm. The day was of historic importance for another reason, too. For it was the same day that an estimated one billion people around the world watched the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey. Dr Nelson was convinced that the two events must be related in some way.’
2 May 2005
[tv] Cannes to screen BBC’s Nightmares — the BBC documentary Power of Nightmares is to be remade as a film … ‘The BBC Two series questioned whether the threat of terrorism to the West was a politically-driven fantasy, winning a Bafta TV award among other prizes. Its three one-hour episodes are being edited into a single two-and-a-half hour movie by producer Adam Curtis after the festival asked to screen it.’ [via Haddock]
3 May 2005
[tea] Software for Tea-Making Duties — Wired News on Teabuddy … ‘Teabuddy lets co-workers create office groups online to record rounds and requests, complete with personalization options like milk and sugar preferences for individual colleagues. Before leaving for the kitchen, responsible brewers log onto Teabuddy and check a box next to the name of those for whom they are making a cuppa. Teabuddy tallies the total cups made and consumed by each employee, keeping a history that lists the date each user last poured forth — it’s “objective, factual proof of who’s done what and when,” according to a message on the site.’
4 May 2005
[wikipedia] Random Entry at Wikipedia — link to a Random Entry on Wikipedia.
[comics] Preview of Desolation Jones #1 — from Warren Ellis and J.H. Williams III.
5 May 2005
[voip] Guardian Online on Skype — nice overview on using SkypeIn … ‘That SkypeIn should be so attractive shows that there is life in the public numbering system yet. For about £20 a year, a SkypeIn number connects me to the largest network in the world: the public-switched telephony network. (Before the launch of SkypeIn, Skype users could only receive calls from people who also used Skype.) SkypeIn also takes advantage of a geeky part of telecoms: regulation. Fixed line numbers are very cheap to call in the UK (and in many countries) because of the efforts of regulators in keeping costs down. So calling my SkypeIn number always costs the same as dialling London, regardless of where I am.’
6 May 2005
[books] Dracula Blogged — Bram Stoker’s Dracula published as a blog using the calendar in the book … Jonathan Harker: ‘I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt. I fear. I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me!’
[ukelection] Robert Kilroy-Silk. Not a happy man, really — A picture of Robert Kilroy-Silk losing the Erewash Election. He got 2,957 votes.
8 May 2005
9 May 2005
[apple] Apple’s HD Video Plot Thickens — Robert Cringley on Apple’s plans for iTunes: ‘[Tiger] gives us a peek at another evolution of iTunes, which is the inevitable expansion of the system to carry additional audio file formats. Looking at the unused iTunes icons that shipped with your new version of 10.4, you’ll notice icons for currently-not-supported ogg vorbis and Windows Media Audio (wma), as well as several others including a variety of video formats, too. With this new information we can make a pretty good guess about the evolution of both iTunes and iPod. When Apple feels that the success of iTunes is absolutely assured, which will be shortly, they’ll address the user complaint that iPod only supports AAC and MP3 audio by adding these additional formats, leading to increased iPod sales.’
[life] That’s Enough Entertainment, Thanks — Armando Iannucci on “Choice Fatigue” … ‘I’ve suddenly sensed how much pressure we are under to view and hear everything. The constant thrum from the arts pages and review sections of the weekend papers, the non-stop shrill from monthly magazines and cultural round-ups on television and radio, insist that we simply have to see that film and order those CDs and set the video for the next 19 episodes of this unmissable drama. And yet, as those unread supplements pile up, as the VHS tapes filled with recordings of old but as-yet unwatched episodes of The Nazis: A Warning From History and Spaced form a mountain on the floor, what we are left with is an ever-expanding sense of failure to catch up with all the sensory experiences that have been made available to us.’
10 May 2005
[comics] Ask Mefi: Who are the worlds greatest comic book artists? … ‘The fact that nobody has mentioned Kirby yet is inexcusable.’
[ukblog] Walking the Streets — a weblog by a Traffic Warden … ‘There’s no rotation scheme, and how the streets are managed is very much down to the feet on the street. A place might not get any visits for two weeks for one reason or another, but as soon as the problems start to build up, we’re there. It is random, it is erratic; and the methodology varies from Enforcement Officer to Enforcement Officer, which serves to keep the wrongdoers on their toes.’
[comics] Stories, Drinking And The World — Warren Ellis on Stories, the World and Comics … ‘For me, writing happens on my own. It’s exactly the same as a ritual, or sitting down at a campfire, or initiating a vision state in silent darkness. It has to come from me and the spaces in my brain. And that’s one reason why I stay in comics. Any other visual narrative medium is hopelessly compromised by committees and executives and notes and queries. In comics, it’s just the writer and the illustrator and the editor. You only have to get two other people, at most, on the same wavelength as you. And you get to speak in a mass-communication medium — where the sales are still better than genre novels or indie music, in many many cases — without filters. You get to say what you meant to say.’
11 May 2005
[ipods] Evening Standard: iPod Health Alert
12 May 2005
[ipod] iPods Killed the Radio Star … ‘Arrow 93 — a classic rock station for as long as I can remember (my memory stretches back a decade or so, incidentally) — was now calling itself Jack FM. The change was more than nominal. “They’ve expanded their playlist, explained my wife, who knows all about these sorts of things. “So instead of just playing classic rock, they’ve got some pop music, some alternative, stuff from the ’90s. And they jump from one genre to another at random.” “It sounds like an iPod on shuffle mode,” I said. And apparently, it’s supposed to…’
[comics] My Mom was a Schizophrenic — Chester Brown’s comic-strip on the history and medical classification of Schizophrenia …
 14 May 2005
[comics] Proud Member of Warren Ellis’ Holy Slut Army … Ellis: ‘It was one of the more genuinely disturbing moments of my life, seeing people walking around wearing them at Dragon*Con last year?’
[puzzle] Diamond Geezer on Sudoku: ‘…like all the best puzzles it’s fiendishly simple.’
16 May 2005
[comics] Comics Recommended by Alan Moore … On Marshal Law: ‘If Watchmen did in any way kill off the superhero – which is a dubious proposition – then Marshal Law has taken it further with this wonderful act of necrophilia, where it has degraded the corpse in a really amusing way.’
[comics] Londonist interviews Nathaniel – a Comic Shop Employee … ‘Q: Who’d win in a fight: Fathers 4 Justice or Justice League of America? Why? A: The Justice League of America would win. They’ve got superpowers whereas the Fathers 4 Justice are just normal men in costumes. It’s obvious when you think about it.’
[blog] Google ponders Blogger, Gmail integration — update on the future directions of Blogger … ‘Google is also evaluating an enhancement that lets users natively upload images to their blogs from within the Blogger interface, Stone said. Currently, images can be posted to Blogger via e-mail or using other indirect methods, such as Google’s Hello image-transmission service. “There is a button there now [in the Blogger interface for image uploading] so we’re working on making that a useful button,” Stone said.’
17 May 2005
[tech] You can’t escape those AOL CDs … ‘One of the questions AOL tech support asks when people call in complaining that they can’t get their AOL CD to work is, “Do you have a computer?” because so many people who don’t have computers stick the CD into their stereo or DVD player and can’t get it to work.’
18 May 2005
[web] How to keep an Idiot Busy … web remake of an old Windows program. [via linkbunnies.org]
[documentary] The film US TV networks Dare Not Show — the Guardian on Power of Nightmares being shown at Cannes … ‘The film is […] incendiary for its analysis of what Curtis controversially insists is the largely illusory fear of terrorism in the west since 9/11. Curtis argues that politicians such as Bush and Blair have stumbled on a new force that can restore their power and authority – the fear of a hidden and organised web of evil from which they can protect their people. In a still-traumatised US, those with the darkest nightmares have become the most powerful and Curtis’s film castigates the media, security forces and the Bush administration for extending their power in this way.’
[blog] What are the Top Blogs when you Google on via?
19 May 2005
[puzzle] How To Solve Sudoku … ‘A colleague at work sent me the puzzle and I sat down and worked out this way of solving it. Being slightly computer literate I decided to make a spreadsheet do all the hard work. I circulated the solution and someone suggested I publish the algorithm – I hope it helps.’ [via The Guardian’s Newsblog]
[directions] The Way To Amarillo … ‘Catch flight from London Heathrow to Dallas Fort Worth Airport. Hire car at Dallas Fort Worth Airport.’
20 May 2005
[tech] Warren Ellis: Are the Technocrats Geniuses or Frauds? … ‘They have been hailed as both…’
21 May 2005
[film] Watchmen – Will we be watching it after all in 2006? — Filmrot on the problem of bringing Moore and Gibbon’s Watchmen to the screen … ‘Unlike Alan Moore’s other notable ‘superhero’ comic The Extraordinary League of Gentlemen, Watchmen is not a romp. It is rich in the superhero tradition and has a sense of humour that happily makes fun of the genre but just as the iconic cover image is a smiley face, it is a smiley face with the blood of a hero smeared across it.’ [thanks Stuart]
[tv] Gandolfini’s temper is nothing like Tony Soprano’s — update on Series Six of the Sopranos … ‘One major character that could bite the bullet is Tony Soprano’s wife, Carmela, played by Edie Falco. Though the two feuded considerably in the last season, Falco doesn’t see it happening. “That would be unlikely,” she says. “Who would cook?”‘
22 May 2005
23 May 2005
[movies] 2001 at 25 — a lookback (from 1993) at Kubrick’s 2001 from Omni Magazine … ‘Clarke had provided a framework of childlike wonder, of travel to the far planets and meetings with benevolent creatures from another world. He had redefined the possibilities of mystical experience for a jaded era. But Kubrick flavored this hopeful scenario with a discomforting reminder that such adventures could cost us more than we bargained for. The triumph of our intellect, he seemed to say, might actually cost us our humanity itself. Kubrick’s cynicism about modern condition–his ghastly spacemen with their chilling lack of communication–stood in contrast to the chatty, fussy genius of HAL 9000, a computer considerably more human than his zombified masters.’ [via Mefi]
24 May 2005
[tv] Holy villainous villains, Batman — Guardian’s Newsblog on the death of Frank Gorshin (the Riddler from the Batman TV Series) … ‘Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is about a pair of Jewish cartoonists in 1940s New York, and identifies a crucial truth about comic-book superheroes. These great Wasp icons were actually born out of a working-class, immigrant mindset. They were the dreams of influence and invincibility that came out of the heads of working-class scribblers still trying to get a toe on the ladder. Whether wittingly or not, Gorshin’s Riddler acknowledged these roots. His intelligence was the intelligence of the kid hustling for nickels. His villainy was that of the streetwise con-artist with a deck of playing cards in one pocket and a pair of knuckle-dusters in the other.’
[comics] Jamie Hewlett’s Common People Comic — Pulp’s song converted into a comic … ‘I think all pop hits should have comic adaptations; in an ideal world I would have a copy of Rob Liefeld’s Shake Ya Tailfeather: The Graphic Novel in a frame on my wall.’
25 May 2005
[brains] How to Pack a Brain for Shipping … ‘Recommended items to pack a fresh brain: Two clean, dry ziploc plastic bags (about 22.0 x 30.0 cm), Plastic bucket with tightly fitting lid (about 4.0 liters), Large plastic bag (about 40.0 x 50.0 cm), Envelope for documents, Thermosafe polyfoam container (38.0 x 33.0 x 31.0 cm), Two refrigerant packs (17.0 x 10.0 cm), Wet ice (about 1.0 kg)’
26 May 2005
[puzzle] Can you Digit? — more about Sudoku from the Guardian … ‘I now have the profound dissatisfaction of being obsessed with something I’m not very good at.’
27 May 2005
[film] Black and white and Bloody — interview with Frank Miller on Sin City … ‘Sin City has little in common with the garish, effects-driven superheroics now associated with the genre. It plays more like the film noir equivalent of Pulp Fiction; a trio of macabre, interlinked tales set in a stylised world where men are honourable brutes, women are deadly lingerie models, and the only proper way to deal with a paedophile is to shoot his nuts off. It’s not what you’d call politically nuanced, but Miller is unashamed and unapologetic. “Cartoonists’ dirty secret is that we tend to come up with stories that involve things that are really fun to draw,” says Miller.’
[games] Friday Afternoon Game: Snake Jump
31 May 2005
[comics] Cerebus Notebook #1 — some scans from Dave Sim’s notebooks which he used whilst creating Cerebus …
[puzzles] Sudoku Solver … ‘I have written this solver to show the extent of the possible logical solutions that derive from the numbers on the board.’
1 June 2005
[politics] Deep Throat Revealed — Metafilter discuss Woodward and Bernstein’s whistle-blower outing himself. Orthogonality: ‘You have to be of an age to remember the times. And the hideous sideburns and the too-wide, too-ugly, too-polyester neckties. The Christmas bombings and the secret bombings (said by Nixon himself to have been inspired by seeing the musical 1776) and his “secret plan to end the war” and then “Vietnamization”. The enemies’ lists and the paranoia about “the Jews”. And “pray with me Henry” and C.R.E.E.P and Dean and Erlichman and Haldeman (each with his sideburns and the god-awful neckties, too). And the jowls. The hatred, rooted in envy, for the Kennedys and for the whole East Coast Establishment. And the V-for-victory salute. And the sweaty face. All the way back, to HUAC and “a little dog named Checkers” and the “good Republican cloth coat” and “you won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore” and Eisenhower’s reluctance to endorse his own Vice President’s succession. And finally the “This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office….” The whole long national nightmare…’
[watergate] After 33 years, Deep Throat, the man who brought down Nixon, Confesses All … ‘As it turns out, the greatest secret in American political history was blown a long time ago by an eight-year old boy at summer camp on Long Island. Deep Throat, the boy boasted to his friend, was Mark Felt, the number two at the FBI at the time of the Watergate scandal. That boy had some reason to know. He was Jacob Bernstein, the son of Carl Bernstein, who with Bob Woodward broke the Watergate story for the Washington Post.’
2 June 2005
[comics] Around the (Comics) Blogosphere — linklist and roundup of comic blogs.
3 June 2005
[watergate] How Mark Felt Became ‘Deep Throat’ — Bob Woodward describes his friendship with Deep Throat … ‘I took a job at the Montgomery Sentinel, where Rosenfeld said I could learn how to be a reporter. I told my father that law school was off and that I was taking a job, at about $115 a week, as a reporter at a weekly newspaper in Maryland. “You’re crazy,” my father said, in one of the rare judgmental statements he had ever made to me. I also called Mark Felt, who, in a gentler way, indicated that he, too, thought this was crazy. He said he thought newspapers were too shallow and too quick on the draw. Newspapers didn’t do in-depth work and rarely got to the bottom of events. Well, I said, I was elated. Maybe he could help me with stories. He didn’t answer, I recall.’
6 June 2005
[blogs] The Bloggers have all the Best News — the Guardian looks at the state of political blogging in the UK and US… ‘In the UK, there was a feeling that the general election would provide domestic blogs with a similar spark to Rathergate. There was no shortage of primary material, such as the attorney-general’s advice on the war in Iraq, but there was little sense that the internet impinged on the mainstream media. While Belle de Jour got the mainstream media speculating on her (or his) identity, and the likes of Scary Duck greatly amuse, there is a sense that the Americans take their blogging more seriously than we do. With the odd exception (Guido Fawkes’ Order-Order.com and Mick Fealty’s Slugger O’Toole blog on Northern Ireland for example), there is little heavyweight comment and it is rare to see a blog break a story or substantially move it on.’
[puzzle] Sudoku Spreadsheet — Frustrated by Sudoku? Got Excel?
8 June 2005
[blog] In Passing — snippets of overheard conversations blogged … ‘Let me put it to you this way, bottom line: if any half of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie makes you cry, you are living a terrible life.’
[blogs] Big Blogger 2005 — blog version of Big Brother. Has some notable UK Bloggers including Troubled Diva, Girl With A One Track Mind, JonnyB’s private secret diary, My Boyfriend is a Twat, Naked Blog and Gordon McLean … ‘Welcome to the home of Big Blogger 2005. For the next seven weeks we will be watching the housemates as they fulfil their tasks, eake out a meagre existence, and do everything in their power to convince you, the blogging public, that they should be the ones to win the title of Big Blogger 2005. Who will win? You decide…’
9 June 2005
[wikipedia] Wikipedia’s Lamest Edit Wars Ever … What would Jesus do?: ‘Should the article link to Brian Boitano or What Would Brian Boitano Do? Should a movie title be italicized? Did something happen in the middle of the 1990’s or the mid-to late-1990’s? These and other probing questions were at the heart of five-day long edit war between Anthony and Wik, during which the page had to be protected twice. The campaign spread to other pages…’ [via Yoz]
10 June 2005
[pub] A Guide For The Un-Initated To Buying Guinness In An Irish Pub … ‘As you near the end of your pint, it is the custom to order another one. It is a well known fact that a bird does not fly on one wing.’ [via Kottke’s Links]
[watergate] Watergate Days — Seymour Hersh reminisces about Watergate … ‘Many people in government were outraged by the sheer bulk and gravity of the corrupt activities they witnessed in the White House. Reporters were their allies and confidants. Those men, who dealt with the most sensitive national-security issues, had their worst fears confirmed by the revelation, in July, 1973, of the White House’s taping system, which recorded their meetings and conversations with the President. They wondered what else they didn’t know. Some feared that the government might fall, and some talked to reporters about their concern that the President, facing impeachment, might try to hold on to his office by defying the Constitution.’
12 June 2005
[bdj] The Iain Sinclair Inteview — from Londonist with a mention of Alan Moore and discussion on the identity of Belle de Jour. Londonist: ‘…it seems too restrained to be Stewart Home.’ Sinclair: I’m sure it isn’t. Once the thing was up and running I could see him stepping in and doing something, but I think you’d be able to tell from the language if it was Stewart Home.’ [More: Yet Another Belle de Jour Suspect… | Will the real Belle de Jour please stand up?]
13 June 2005
[comics] Dave’s Long Box — well done comic review blog … ‘I’m going to review my comic book collection and you’re going to like it!’
[comics] The Mindscape of Alan Moore Trailer … ‘I believe that our culture is turning to steam.’ [via Alan Moore Fan Site]
14 June 2005
[web] Is It Normal? — confirms by peer-review if your odd little habits are normal or not … Q: I shower at the night is that normal? A: Showering in the evening is a crime against God, and you shall surely burn in the fiery pits of Hell, heathen.
15 June 2005
[film] ‘He’s not a god – he’s human’ — Christopher Nolan discusses Batman Begins … ‘So what is his take on the material? With the polished ease of a man who has been through a thousand pitch meetings, Nolan explains his idea. “The origin story was the bit that had never been told. I wanted to try to do it in a more realistic fashion than anyone had ever tried to a superhero film before. I talked a lot about films I liked, particularly the 1978 Superman, which is the closest thing to what I proposed. Obviously, some of it is dated, but it’s an epic film, with a certain realistic texture. I wanted to make the Batman epic you expected to have been made in 1979.”‘
16 June 2005
[comics] Marvel Value Stamps — an unofficial look at a (in)famous promotional stamps campaign for Marvel Comics from the seventies … ‘The program destroyed the value of countless Marvel comics of this era, and missing value stamps are the bane of serious Bronze Age collectors. But if you were of a certain age when the program began, you may have feelings of nostalgia for these little stamps, despite the horror they wreaked on your collection.’ [via Metafilter]
17 June 2005
[morrison] The Annotated Flex Mentallo — notes analysing Grant Morrison’s comics about the Man of Muscle Mystery … ‘Only a bitter little adolescent boy could confuse realism with pessimism.’ [via Neilalien]
[papers] Guardian Resizes Ahead of Schedule — the trend for smaller formats in newspapers continues … ‘The “Berliner” format is already used by a number of European newspapers, including Le Monde, and is slightly larger than a tabloid but smaller than a broadsheet. The move to a smaller format is part of a wider newspaper industry trend and follows the change by the Independent and Times to tabloid.’ [via Feeling Listless]
20 June 2005
[tv] When Old People Attack — Mark Lawson on the Channel 4 documentary “Antisocial Old Buggers” … ‘Surrealism is a devalued currency in modern TV: every sitcom has its dream sequences, every sketch show its non-sequiturs. But Jan’s claim to have made the strangest speech ever heard on television rests on the fact that he seems to believe throughout that his comments are no-nonsense conversation. Discoursing on the state of the modern world, he suddenly says: “The worst thing of all is that pop song: If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? Well, for Christ’s sake, hold it against her! You see what I mean? There’s a sort of wetness that I do find tiresome.” The sound you hear is comic playwrights weeping.’
21 June 2005
[comics] Flog Blog — Fantagraphics gets it’s own blog. Gary Groth, Kim Thompson and Eric Reynolds are posting and they’ve got photos from the set of Art School Confidential including snaps of John Malkovich, Dan Clowes and Terry Zwigoff. Groth: ‘This is exciting. My first blog. I’m not a fan of convention diaries, which seem like some lazy fanboy genre written by useless old hacks like Peter David to fill space, serve up one’s ego and act like reg’lar folk all at the same time – but it doesn’t have to be!’
22 June 2005
[mp3] Foobar2000 — I use this simple MP3 audio player for Windows every day. Recommended.
23 June 2005
[comics] War Of The Worlds Webcomic — nice looking adaptation by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli.
[comics] Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein — web page with comparisons between Lictenstein’s work and the original comic images. Dave Gibbons on Roy Lichtenstein: ‘…Lichtenstein’s copies of the work of Irv Novick and Russ Heath are flat, uncomprehending tracings of quite sophisticated images … the original artists have translated reality into clear, effective compositions using economical and spirited linework.’
24 June 2005
[music] When Noel Gallagher met David Walliams … On Liam and Peter Kay: ‘Liam hasn’t got a sense of humour, fucking full stop. Like with Peter Kay. If you’re a northern guy about our age, all the reference points are spot on – you can’t not like him. We were on the tour bus one night and somebody put a Peter Kay DVD on and I thought: “This is going to be a fucking disaster.” There’s a few Mancs in our crew and everyone was laughing their heads off. And Liam’s just sat there going: “He’s a fucking fat cunt, fucking shit, fucking fat idiot.” So he gets up to go to the bog and someone goes: “Why doesn’t he like Peter Kay?” Because he’d been to the NME Awards when Liam won a trophy for being hero of the year – and Liam wouldn’t go up and fucking collect it. He had on this big white fur coat. So Peter Kay brought his trophy over to him and went “Ere you are lad”. And as he walks off, he goes: “Me mam’s been looking for that coat.” Fucking uproar! I was laughing like fuck.’
[blogger] Does anybody know what changed with the Blogger templating code? I’m getting some extra CSS appended to my posts… [Later] A possible answer: Blogger “Clear:Both” Glitch workaround
[comics] Warren Ellis Interview — comics-related interview from Londonist … ‘I jumped into the net feet-first in the 90s, and the handheld is very much my outboard brain now. I’m answering these questions on it, in the pub.’
25 June 2005
[comics] Edison Hate Future — archive of odd little webcomics published by Warren Ellis on his blog … ‘edison look detached and amused, like he cope fine with constant horror and heartbreak of world…’ [via Robot Wisdom]
27 June 2005
[comics] Fleep — great online comic – worth checking out … ‘[Fleep’s] about a boy who wakes up in a telephone booth which has been mysteriously sealed in an envelope of concrete. Using only the contents of his pockets (two pens, a paperback novel, three coins and 20 ft of unwaxed dental floss) our hero must fashion and execute an escape plan before he runs out of oxygen.’
[underground] London Underground accelerated time disruption map — movie map of London Underground showing disruptions over a two week period.
28 June 2005
[grauniad] Guardian Readers Rob The Poor … ‘Our stereotype of Guardian readers is of well-educated, caring, middle-class people working in education or a caring profession or possibly the arts. They are likely to have a strong morality and unlikely to commit a crime or do anything actively nasty. They would like to think of themselves as the moral elite. In fact, most of us can get that slight swell of self-righteous pride by just spreading a copy of the Guardian over a big table with a large cup of Arabica coffee and some French croissants.’
[web] Kill the Drudge Popups in Firefox — how to kill the annoying adverts on the Drudge Report … ‘To block pop-ups from plugins, open your Firefox 1.0 or 1.0.1 browser, type about:config in the address field. Right-click in the resulting config page somewhere and select New -> Interger. Type privacy.popups.disable_from_plugins in the resulting dialog, hit OK, type 2 in the next dialog and you’re all set.’
29 June 2005
30 June 2005
[tv] In Cold Blood — JG Ballard on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation … ‘The series unfolds within an almost totally interiorised world, a clue to its real significance. The crimes – they are all homicides – take place in anonymous hotel rooms and in the tract housing of the Vegas and Miami suburbs, almost never in a casino or druglord’s gaudy palace. A brutal realism prevails, the grimmest in any crime series. Suburban lounges and that modern station of the cross, the hotel bathroom, are the settings of horrific murders, which thankfully are over by the time each episode begins. Gloves donned, the cast dismantle u-bends and plunge up to their elbows in toilet bowls, retrieving condoms, diaphragms and bullet casings, syringes, phials and other signs of the contemporary zodiac.’
4 July 2005
[ipod] UK iPod Repairs — might be useful one day…
[live8] The Music’s Over, the Message Lingers On — nice summary of the Live 8 concert in London … ‘At midday the approach to the park was a familiar pre-rock concert landscape of men weeing under trees, jocular police and a revivalist with a megaphone: “I used to be a sinner like you, now I’m a winner.”‘
5 July 2005
[linky] Link Dump: Exciting Links for Boring Days in no Particular Order.
[tips] Londonist asks: Do We Need To Dry Clean? … ‘To maximise the length of time between launderings, air your clothes as much as possible, especially after being in a smoky pub. The posh cleaners Jeeves of Belgravia recommend hanging your clothes in the bathroom after you’ve taken a shower “to absorb the freshness.”‘
6 July 2005
[london] Photos inside Battersea Power Station … ‘Built in 1933, the Grade II listed structure now faces a new future at the centre of a large shopping, leisure, conference and accommodation complex, due to open in 2009.’
[books] The Invisible Library … ‘The Invisible Library is a collection of books that only appear in other books. Within the library’s catalog you will find imaginary books, pseudobiblia, artifictions, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, and all manner of books unwritten, unread, unpublished, and unfound.’
7 July 2005
[numbers] 100,000 Digits of Pi — if you stare at that page of numbers long enough you see the Secret of the Universe … ‘3.141592’
[london] Flickr: London Bomb Blasts Pool.
[london] mobloguk: Tube Image, Trapped
[london] Metafilter: “Major Incident” on London Underground reported
[london] Surviving a Terrorist Attack — a personal account of one of the terror attacks on the London Underground … ‘Fate is a strange thing. On this particular day a series of events transpired such that I ended up on a Tube train that was destroyed by terrorists. Fortunately it was only the carriage in front of me, but tragically it resulted in a serious amount of injuries. This is my story.’
8 July 2005
[london] Guardian: Steve Bell on the Attack on London
11 July 2005
[comics] Desolation Jones #1: Author’s Commentary — Warren Ellis on the first issue of Desolation Jones
[moore] Old Gangsters Never Die — another song from Alan Moore produced around the same time as the The March of the Sinister Ducks.
12 July 2005
[food] How to Poach an Egg — Rob Manuel demos a method for perfect poached egg using clingfilm.
[politics] Simon Hoggart: ‘Parliament was united against a common enemy yesterday, an enemy that will stop at nothing, that has only contempt for our way of life, and is utterly indifferent to our loathing. But as well as attacking George Galloway, MPs also had harsh words for the London bombers.’
13 July 2005
[comics] Acme Novelty Archive … ‘This site is an unofficial database of the works of Mr. F.C. Ware, proprieter of the Acme Novelty Library.’
[comics] Ask Mefi: What’s a good place to start for indie comics? … ‘I’d recommend ordering the free Fantagraphics catalogue.’
14 July 2005
[books] How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later — essay by Philip K. Dick … ‘It was always my hope, in writing novels and stories which asked the question “What is reality?”, to someday get an answer. This was the hope of most of my readers, too. Years passed. I wrote over thirty novels and over a hundred stories, and still I could not figure out what was real. One day a girl college student in Canada asked me to define reality for her, for a paper she was writing for her philosophy class. She wanted a one-sentence answer. I thought about it and finally said, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” That’s all I could come up with. That was back in 1972. Since then I haven’t been able to define reality any more lucidly.’
[comics] The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick — comic strip by Robert Crumb from Weirdo #17 … ‘It is an interesting graphic interpretation of a series of events which happened to Dick in March of 1974. He spent the remaining years of his life trying to figure out what happened in those fateful months. You will find all 8 pages of this story here.’
[comics] Tony and George G8 Comic – Page 1 – Page 2 — from Sean Phillips and Mark Millar … [via Do You Feel Loved]
15 July 2005
[maps] Google spots Jesus in Peruvian Sand Dune … ‘A quick phone call to Erich von Däniken confirmed our initial suspicions that the image was hewn from the sand by an ancient civilisation using hot air balloons and alien laser technology borrowed from the scientists of Atlantis. Either that or someone is projecting a picture of Charles Manson onto the desert from a low Earth orbit…’
16 July 2005
[books] The alternative Harry Potter (link contains Spoilers) — In the Style of James Ellroy: ‘Dig that Hogwarts vibe. Potter foresaw it was going down. The howler came that morning. It howled that his presence was required in the Room of Requirement. Potter knew things were gonna go baaaad. He knew this was a mess even the Sorting Hat couldn’t sort out.’
18 July 2005
[lmg] On Holiday. In the meantime you can check out the archives, the Evening Standard Headline Crisis or other British Blogs…
|
