LinkMachineGo

[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books, pseudobiblia, artifictions, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, and all manner of books unwritten, unread, unpublished, and unfound.’

[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.’

[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.”‘

[linky] Link Dump: Exciting Links for Boring Days in no Particular Order.

[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.”‘

[ipod] UK iPod Repairs — might be useful one day…

[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.’

[office] Corporate Fun! … ‘Spread Anguish! Create Unease! Get Your Arse Out Of That Chair!’

[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.’

[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.’

[underground] London Underground accelerated time disruption map — movie map of London Underground showing disruptions over a two week period.

[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.’

[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]

[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.’

[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

[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.’

[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.’

[comics] War Of The Worlds Webcomic — nice looking adaptation by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli.

[mp3] Foobar2000 — I use this simple MP3 audio player for Windows every day. Recommended.

[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!’

[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.’

[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]

[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]

[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]

[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.”‘

[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.

[comics] The Mindscape of Alan Moore Trailer … ‘I believe that our culture is turning to steam.’ [via Alan Moore Fan Site]

[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!’

[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?]

[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.’

[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]

[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]

[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…’

[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.’

[puzzle] Sudoku Spreadsheet — Frustrated by Sudoku? Got Excel?

[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.’

[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.’

[comics] Around the (Comics) Blogosphere — linklist and roundup of comic blogs.

[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.’

[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…’

[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.’

[comics] Cerebus Notebook #1 — some scans from Dave Sim’s notebooks which he used whilst creating Cerebus …

[games] Friday Afternoon Game: Snake Jump

[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.’

[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.’

[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)’

[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.’

[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.’

[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]

[ebay] Adult Baby Batman Plastic Pants for sale on eBay … [via Progressive Ruin]

[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?”‘

[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]

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