1 September 2006
[tv] E4 Sopranos Ad on YouTube — a nicely done parody of the opening credits of the Sopranos. [via Tom]
[books] Cool Tools on the book ‘Moving Heavy Things’ … ‘Applied Sloth – As stated in the stagehand’s axiom: “Never lift what you can drag, never drag what you can roll, never roll what you can leave.” Creativity germinates in indolence, and the cleverest people are often the laziest: they are always looking for an easier way. The easiest way is often the simplest, most direct, and the best way.’ [via Limbic Nutrition]
2 September 2006
[comics] Andrew Rilestone sums up Dave Sim: ‘Cerebus the Aardvark is a comic. The writer, Dave Sim, underwent a conversion and or nervous breakdown while writing it. He now claims to be a Jew, a Christian and a Moslem simultaneously, adopting a gnostic synthesis of the three religions in which God is in conflict with a demiurgic female principle which may or may not be identical with the YHWH of the Old Testement. He also thinks that the world is run by a cabal of Marxist Feminist Moslem Homosexualists. Many people think that he is not very sensible.’
[blog] That Mitchell and Webb Log — blog covering the comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb. [via As Above]
3 September 2006
[storage] Box.net/Lite — useful website for storing files up to 10MB for downloading or displaying on your site.
4 September 2006
[comics] Random Batman Facts: ‘Q: Pirates vs. ninjas? A: Batman.’
5 September 2006
[comics] 2004 Interview with Ed Brubaker — by Tom Spurgeon … ‘I remember the first day Vertigo came out and Nirvana was huge at the time, I remember thinking, “I could do a book for Vertigo. It would be like ‘Prez: Smells Like Teen President.'” The book actually came out just like three or four months after Kurt Cobain killed himself. I remember trying to get them at the last minute to change the name. And Lou’s like “No, that’s a cool name.” And I was like, “Oh man, I am so screwed.”‘
6 September 2006
[comics] Alan Moore interviewed by Stewart Lee — the interview is on YouTube – Moore discusses his unconventional religious beliefs with one of the writers of Jerry Springer: The Opera. The video is embeded after the jump in this post… (more…)
7 September 2006
[politics] Tom Watson: Minister leaves government to spend more time with his blog … ‘It is with the greatest regret, therefore, that I must leave the Government.’
[blogs] I’ve enjoyed the first episodes of Radio 4’s Meet the Bloggers and especially the one hour interviews in Real Audio with Anna Pickard, Annie Mole, Petite Anglaise and Zoe from My Boyfriend is a Twat.
[911] Unity — Zefrank on 9/11. ‘With no particular thought in my head I started crying…’
8 September 2006
[comics] Siu Ta (so far) — new project from Dave Sim – a biographical comic about Canadian actress Siu Ta.
9 September 2006
[movies] The Queen Trailer — it’s probably a very British thing but I’m really looking forward to watching Helen Mirren’s performance in a film about the Queen’s reaction to the death of Diana.
10 September 2006
[podcast] Buffy – In Our Own Time — a podcast where Buffy is discussed in the style of Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time … ‘I began to think about those conversations you have with your friends about stuff you all know about, the stuff of pop culture, not high culture and I thought how much fun it would be to replicate those kinds of chats in an In Our Time format. So it’s not professionals talking about an area of expertise, it’s enthusiastic amateurs, talking about something they love. With the passions, conceits and errors that entails. I thought of calling it In Our Own Time to signal its amateur status.’ [via Tom]
[apple] Why the iPod is losing its cool … ‘[iPod] Sales are declining at an unprecedented rate. Industry experts talk of a ‘backlash’ and of the iPod ‘wilting away before our eyes’. Most disastrously, Apple’s signature pocket device with white earphones may simply have become too common to be cool.’
11 September 2006
[books] Ellroy’s Dark Places — interview with James Ellroy … ‘Ellroy recently moved back to Los Angeles, where he is completing the final instalment of his “Underworld USA” trilogy, which began with American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand. Keenly anticipated, the novel deals with America between 1968 and 1972, but that’s just about all he’ll reveal. “It’s going very well,” he says. Any idea when it’s going to be finished? “Not the slightest.” What is it about? “America, 1968 to 1972.” Does it have a title? “Yes, but I’m not telling anyone.” ‘
[911] The Hunt … Declan Walsh searches for Osama bin Laden … ‘To find Osama bin Laden, try Peshawar’s smugglers’ bazaar on the road to the Khyber Pass. Walk past the small mountains of almonds and lemongrass and green tea. Turn at the stacks of duty-free TVs and cheap cosmetics. Stop at the stalls with the topless women. Down a cramped alley, bearded shopkeepers squeezed behind tiny counters offer a fine selection of fanciful sex products. “Delay sprays” carry the promise of lingering pleasure. For the discerning lover there is Lovely Curves, a product that claims to be a “bust-developing cream”. If all else fails, there is plenty of knock-off Viagra at knock-down prices. Worry not about the quality: “Made is Germany” (sic) reads the label.’
[comics] Brendan McCarthy on Solo #12: ‘My initial pitch was for a humorous story featuring Dr. Manhattan’s massive blue penis and balls from The Watchmen… I liked that when he became a giant, his privates also grew enormously huge. I could imagine being inside a tall apartment block and being astonished as a giant blue monster sausage swayed by outside the window… Of course I wondered if it would now be OK to view The Martian Manhunter’s green J’onn Thomas, for example… But this was a case of only highbrow ‘arthouse’ nudity being allowed (“Glenda Jackson’s tits syndrome”) and it was rejected straight away. So I was getting an education in getting to know the boundaries of what is permissible in a DC Comic these days…’
12 September 2006
[london] Dave Gorman is stopped and searched by the Police whilst taking a night-time picture of Battersea Power Station for his photostream on Flickr … ‘”Oh flickr!” said the WPC, stopping her form-filling for a moment. “I’ve got photos on there. Photos of my wedding from 7 weeks ago.”
“Really?” I asked. “It’s good isn’t it? Oh… and congratulations on 7 weeks ago.” “Thanks,” she said with a smile. “So… have you ever been arrested?” “Err…. no”‘
[comics] Joe Matt’s MySpace … ‘And last night, I learned how to “instant message” (or IM as we kids say) someone for the very first time. I would like my medal now, please.’ [via Journalista]
13 September 2006
[myspace] Some MySpace profiles I’ve spotted recently: Mitchell and Webb (plus Super Hans, Mark and Jeremy), Ed Brubaker and Geoff Johns.
[crime] What it’s like to be a Homicide Detective in Chicago — from the Best of Craigslist … ‘Murder is a brutal, ugly thing. 80 or 90 percent of the time it involves narcotics or alcohol in one way or another. Crime scenes can be physically revolting when you first start working murders. Decomposed bodies will always be revolting. One particular murder has given me a life long aversion to eating ribs.’
14 September 2006
[comics] Bill Sienkiewicz has a blog … ‘number one: i exist. a lot of folks thought i was simply a triple word score in scrabble, m crossed with “alan smithee, the non existent director”. no siree.’ [via Warren Ellis]
[wikipedia] The Stormtrooper Effect … ‘The name originated with the armed Imperial Stormtroopers in the original Star Wars trilogy, who, despite their considerable advantages of close range, overwhelming numbers, professional military training, full armor, military-grade firepower, and noticeable combat effectiveness against non-speaking characters, were incapable of seriously harming the protagonists.’
15 September 2006
[vids] Viral Video Chart … ‘The world’s most talked about videos…currently tracking YouTube, MySpace and Google Video’ [via Waxy’s Links]
[comics] Dave Sim’s Blogandmail — Dave Sim has a blog! … ‘Hi and welcome to my Blog. I’m actually going to try to stay current with this on a daily basis, having noticed that I spent way too much time saying to myself while answering my escargot mail “I really should make a note of that and let the Yahoos know about it” and never, you know, actually doing it.’
16 September 2006
[music] The iPod’s Achilles Heel? It’s er… Reader’s Digest — Orlowski on Zune and iPods. ‘…in business terms, the iTunes Store is a deceptive chimera. Pakman has a joke he likes to illustrate it. “The iTunes Music Store buyer buys 25 songs in the first year, 15 in the second year, and in the third year, the battery has died, so you have to go out and buy a new iPod,” he says.’
17 September 2006
[funny] YouTube: The Mother of All Movie Trailers … ‘In a world where DEATH can make you DEAD…’ (more…)
18 September 2006
[comics] Superherofight.com … a site which uses the wisdom of crowds to decide if The Hulk would beat The Thing in a fight. [thanks Randy]
19 September 2006
[comics] The Alan Moore Sounds Project — an attempt to collect and reprint on the internet all Alan Moore’s long lost “The Stars My Degradation” strips which were printed in Sounds Magazine between 1979 and 1983.
20 September 2006
[email] Why email is addictive (and what to do about it) — interesting article about dealing with compulsive email checking … ‘Checking email is a behaviour that has variable interval reinforcement. Sometimes, but not everytime, the behaviour produces a reward. Everyone loves to get an email from a friend, or some good news, or even an amusing web link. Sometimes checking your email will get you one of these rewards. And because you can never tell which time you check will produce the reward, checking all the time is reinforced, even if most of the time checking your email turns out to have been pointless. You still check because you never know when the reward will come.’ [via Yoz]
21 September 2006
[comics] Indie Spinner Rack Issue #49 — great podcast interview with Dave Sim. Much discussion on recent projects like Siu ta (so far) and his blog. What shines through is his knowledge and deep love of comics – well worth a listen.
22 September 2006
[tech] Robert X. Cringely on Apple’s iTV Strategy: ‘Virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier once told me, “you can have enough money and you can have enough power, but you can never have enough EXPERIENCE.” Jobs understands this better than almost anyone else and the pieces he’s put together are all aimed at giving us an experience and allowing us to share that experience with others in a large and grand way.’
23 September 2006
[tech] The USBCell — what a neat idea – an AA battery with a built in USB port to charge. [via Technovia]
24 September 2006
Jonathan King on YouTube — King is posting a series of autobiographical videos to YouTube – perhaps inspired by Geriatric1927. [via linkbunnies.org]
25 September 2006
[comics] Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. — incredibly, this is a real shop in NYC which is a front for a Children’s Writing Center …‘We can help with your Nemesis Problem.’
26 September 2006
[headlines] Some interesting Evening Standard Headlines on Flickr: Headlines fron 1986 and Gay Bondage Classes on the NHS (from 1998) …
(My Evening Standard Headline Project continues here.)
(My Evening Standard Headline Project continues here.)
[911] Meet the No Planers — The New Statesman visits with David Shayler who has become one of the the UK’s prominent 9/11 conspiracy theorists. [thanks Phil] …
‘These 9/11 truth campaigners merely add a supposedly scientific gloss to already existing conspiracy theories, trying to make the ridiculous seem respectable. In the process, they actually do a disservice to “historical truth”. History gets reduced to a mysterious force beyond our control, and politics – real politics – is imagined to be the preserve of unknown, faceless puppet-masters whom we can never hope to influence. And the rest of us are reduced to the status of helpless spectators, searching amid the rubble of 9/11 and the aftermath of 7/7 for signs of truth and meaning.’
27 September 2006
[tv] Grace Dent’s TV OD — Dent’s blog on this year’s Big Brother was the best thing about the show – Radio Times now have her doing a column on TV every week … On You Are What You Eat: ‘Small Scottish woman chases fat people with a box of poo until they cry and eat salad.’
[politics] I’m right, you’re wrong, and the voters know it… — Simon Hoggart on Tony Blair’s last speech at the Labour Conference … ‘The organisers tried to whip up a frenzy which was almost, but not quite there. Before he arrived there was a “spontaneous” demonstration in which members of the audience held up hand-written posters: “We love you, yeah, yeah, yeah”, “Too young to retire” and simply “Thank you”. It was like waiting for a very cuddly version of Stalin. We saw a video in which ordinary folk and celebrities gave thanks for the existence of Blair. One old lady said: “I’m grateful for the £200 fuel allowance – it’s better than a woolly hat.” And they claim the British have a poverty of ambition! Then he arrived…’
28 September 2006
[911] The Hopeless Stupidity of 9/11 Conspiracies … ‘To me, the 9/11 Truth movement is, itself, a classic example of the pathology of George Bush’s America. Bush has presided over a country that has become hopelessly divided into insoluble, paranoid tribes, one of which happens to be Bush’s own government. All of these tribes have things in common; they’re insular movements that construct their own reality by cherry-picking the evidence they like from the vast information marketplace, violently disbelieve in the humanity of those outside their ranks, and lavishly praise their own movement mediocrities as great thinkers and achievers. There are as many Thomas Paines in the 9/11 Truth movement as there are Isaac Newtons among the Intelligent Design crowd.’
29 September 2006
Alan Yentob wants to know why You Tube matters to you … From YouTube Comments: ‘Ah, great to see my TV licence is paying the wages of people like this. *Borat-length pause* NOT!’ [via plasticbag.org]
[apple] YouTube: Steve Jobs likes to says “Boom!” alot. [via Blah Blah Flowers]
30 September 2006
[books] An Evening with J.G. Ballard — a transcript of an interview and questions with the author of Empire of the Sun and Crash … ‘At the end of the last century, people would ring me up and ask me my views about the future. I said I can sum up the future in one word – it’s going to be boring. Vast suburbs that extend around the planet: utter boredom, broken by acts of unpredictable violence. The man in the supermarket who opens fire with a machine gun. And the suicide bomber, a man who has nothing, setting off a bomb in a desperate way to prove himself. The idea of meaningless violence, which I looked at in my previous novel Millennium People, has a huge appeal. I can understand that. It’s in the roots of one’s childhood – all children smash their toys. The trouble, of course, is that people get killed.’ [via As Above]