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London Bloggers [Comic Blogs][Other Blogs] | 9 September 2011
[google] How Google Dominates Us … a profile of Google from James Gleick… ‘…your search history reveals plenty-as Levy says, “your health problems, your commercial interests, your hobbies, and your dreams.” Your response to advertising reveals even more, and with its advertising programs Google began tracking the behavior of individual users from one Internet site to the next. They observe our every click (where they can) and they measure in milliseconds how long it takes us to decide. If they didn’t, their results wouldn’t be so uncannily effective. They have no rival in the depth and breadth of their data mining. They make statistical models for everything they know, connecting the small scales with the large, from queries and clicks to trends in fashion and season, climate and disease. It’s for your own good-that is Google’s cherished belief.’
8 September 2011
[comics] Bargain Bin #6: Alex & Droogs … What If Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange was a comic book?
7 September 2011
[comics] Go Look: First Page From Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta Script ‘Vengeance’
6 September 2011
[life] Hugging: fear the feel and do it anyway … a Guardian writer visits a Cuddle Workshop … I’ve never been a hugger. As far as I’m concerned, the words “hello” and “goodbye” are perfectly valid ways to tell people that you’ve a) arrived and b) decided to leave. Smooshing your bodies together on top of that seems like overkill. The process is fraught with unanswered questions. What if I go in for a hug but the recipient expects only a peck on the cheek? What if I miscalculate my approach and end up burying my face in their neck? What if it’s a warm day? Should I draw attention to my sweaty back?
5 September 2011
[books] The Book Collection That Devoured My Life … ‘I do have a few hundred books that I reread or consult fairly regularly, and I have a lot of books pertaining to whatever current or future projects I have on the fire, and I have many, many books speculatively pointing toward some project that is still barely a gleam in my eye. I have a lot of books that I need for reference, especially now that I live 40 minutes away from the nearest really solid library. I have some books that exist in the same capacity as the more recondite tools in the chest of a good carpenter — you may not need it more than once in 20 years, but it’s awfully nice to have it there when you do. Primarily, though, books function as a kind of external hard drive for my mind — my brain isn’t big enough to do all the things it wants or needs to do without help.’
31 August 2011
[comics] Masked Anonymous Protesters Aid Time Warner’s Profits … ‘The mask resonates with the hackers because it was worn by a rogue anarchist challenging an authoritarian government in “V for Vendetta,” the movie produced in 2006 by Warner Brothers. What few people seem to know, though, is that Time Warner, one of the largest media companies in the world and parent of Warner Brothers, owns the rights to the image and is paid a licensing fee with the sale of each mask.’
30 August 2011
[wordpress] Take 5 Minutes to Make WordPress 10 Times More Secure … If you’re running WordPress you probably should take the time to read this.
29 August 2011
[comics] Grant Morrison on the Death of Comics … a non-standard interview with Morrison – well worth reading if you follow his work …
With comics, the quality now is better than it’s ever been, there are more people now who are really good at what they do, doing what they do. Everything’s available for free, I think that’s the real problem, nobody wants to buy it anymore. One comes out, you see it immediately online and you can read it. That’s the way people want to consume their information, the colors look nicer. I think that’s more the problem, but that’s a problem for everybody, it’s not just for comics, everyone’s going to start feeling that one.’ — Morrison discussing the death-spiral of superhero comic books 25 August 2011
[comics] A post on Scans Daily revisiting the first issue of ROM Spaceknight from 1979 … ‘ROM SPACEKNIGHT issue 1 gives us all of the pieces of the story that will span nearly 80 issues. It starts out like a 50s sci-fi monster movie, only the strange being from outer space is actually here to help humanity, but because of his foreboding appearance and the ambiguity of his actions (and the general suspiciousness of folk in the Marvel universe), he’s believed to be a rampaging monster. Meanwhile, the enemy he has hunted for two centuries appears to be regular people, due to their shapeshifting abilities. An everyman human meets the “alien monster” and the beginning of a friendship is formed, and we learn the broad strokes of ROM’s origin: a highly advanced culture, with little to no martial presence took a great chance on an untested and dangerous technology, leaving its defenders with diminished “humanity” that they will always pine for.’
24 August 2011
[funny] Go Look: Herbert West, Data Entry Specialist … ‘REAL MEN DON’T USE MENUS.’
23 August 2011
22 August 2011
[tech] Gizmodo: Unedited Thoughts About Technology Better Left Unposted … On Nerds:
You know more about technology than anybody else, and anybody who knows less than you is a total dipshit. I love you for that. But normal people deserve wonderful technology too. And half the shit you call computing-running custom ROMs, reinstalling OSes, fucking with network settings-is like a chef sharpening his knives over and over and calling that cooking. Real computing is the actual stuff you do-cutting videos, editing photos, writing. Or at least it should be. Not the shit people do to make all of that work. 20 August 2011
[web] TinEye Reverse Image Search … this is a useful way of searching for images – especially if you want to credit the creator of an image you’ve found on the web … ‘TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions.’
19 August 2011
[web] Google’s Official List of Bad Words … ‘boob, boobs, booobs, boooobs, booooobs, booooooobs, breasts’
18 August 2011
[life] Tetrapharmakos … Epicurus’ four-part cure for leading a happy life …
“The fundamental obstacle to happiness, says Epicurus, is anxiety,” writes D. S. Hutchinson. 17 August 2011
[useful] Super Remove Dead Tracks … ‘Surveys iTunes for tracks whose files are no longer available (so-called “dead” tracks, as indicated by a “!” next to their names) and removes them.’
16 August 2011
[life] The Digital Storage of Analog Memories … how to let go of keepsakes and tchotchkes … ‘Do you have a bunch of physical items stuck in storage? Objects you’ve kept over time that you can’t get rid of because you have a set of memories attached to them? Objects are keystones of memory, but pictures of those objects are still adequate keystones…’
15 August 2011
[funny] Ineffective Pick-Up Lines for the Modern Internet Persona … ‘My Klout score is an 83, which makes me a Thought Leader. There’s a lot of pressure to stay relevant and forward thinking, when you’re that influential. A few sub-par tweets and I could be downgraded to Specialist. I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with being a Specialist… you’re not a Specialist, are you?’
12 August 2011
[books] Forgotten Bookmarks … a lovely blog from a bookseller posting the bookmarks and the odd thing found in second-hand books. On his most common and unique finds: ‘Pressed leaves are by far the most common. I’ve actually stopped saving them, they are too fragile to keep and I don’t think there’s much interest in 100-year-old maple leaves. Sometimes I find money, like an old crown, but that’s rare. The most unique was a suicide note from the 1930’s, but I decided not to post that one.’
11 August 2011
[movies] Go Look: ‘This shot is the most expensive shot in silent film history.’ … ‘It was filmed in a single take, that had to be perfect, with a real train and a ‘dummy’ engineer (notice the white arm hanging out the conductors window).’
10 August 2011
[books] Library Sign: I Like Big Books…
[hackgate] How Bad Is News Corp? … more From Michael Wolff On Hackgate … ‘In London, there have now been 10 arrests. While British law does not provide for the kind of U.S.-style plea bargaining that can easily flip a co-conspirator, there is, ever-more apparently, no where else to turn. There will be no News International safe haven in terms of cash or comfort. While the company continues to pay legal fees, and, in the case of Rebekah Brooks, apparently continues to keep her on the payroll (despite representations otherwise), this is a last gasp of the company’s ability to buy dedication. There are too many questions now. In other words, the value of loyalty is fast running out. In the end, it will be a human drama, as all scandals are, about lives and careers upended and the necessity to save yourself.’
9 August 2011
[web] DO NOT POWER DOWN!! … close up of a label on the first ever web server. [via Unreliably Witnessed]
8 August 2011
5 August 2011
[books] Graph A Story With Mr. Vonnegut … a way of visualising stories from Kurt Vonnegut … ‘An American Indian creation myth, in which a god of some sort gives the people the sun and then the moon and then the bow and arrow and then the corn and so on, is essentially a staircase, a tale of accumulation…’
4 August 2011
[hackgate] Tom Watson: ‘Phone hacking is only the start. There’s a lot more to come out’ … Profile Of Tom Watson …
At one point, he says, a senior editor at the Sun made a point of sending him a message via another Labour MP: “Tell that fat bastard Watson we know about his little planning matter.” This, he says, was a reference to his application to put a conservatory on his family home in the Midlands: a typical “non-newsy, low-level thing” that played its part in making him “start to think like a conspiracy theorist”.
[funny] Go Look: ‘We Start With The Number Of Children Born To Billionaire Parents Each Year… ‘ [via Sore Eyes]
3 August 2011
[music] Joyless Divisions: The End Of New Order … ‘New Order, of course, are frequently cited as a band who really weren’t terribly wise with money, and who were not well advised about what to do with it. Everyone knows the myth of how their Blue Monday single lost money despite being the best selling 12in of all-time, because of the cost of its sleeve. They once decamped to an expensive studio in Ibiza only to find their work being constantly interrupted by coachloads of holidaymakers who had bought tickets for BBQs with the band. “One of them vomited on the table-tennis table,” recalls Gillian Gilbert.’
2 August 2011
[comics] Go Look: Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!
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