linkmachinego.com
14 December 2007
[movies] Blade Runner: Final Cut Review — nice comprehensive review of Blade Runner: Final Cut‘Back in 1982, actress Joanna Cassidy wasn’t allowed to do the stunt where Zhora crashes through the window panes. But if you watch the film closely, especially now in high-definition, it’s painfully obvious that it’s a stuntwoman in those shots. So Cassidy was brought back in, dressed in her original costume, and was shot on a greenscreen stage, going through the same movements as the stuntwoman. Her face and body angles were matched to those of the stuntwoman’s frame by frame. Cassidy’s head was then digitally inserted over the stuntwoman’s, and the resulting image was blended, color-corrected and matched seamlessly. So now, when you see Zhora crash through the glass, it’s actually Zhora all the way through. The result is amazing.’
13 December 2007
[comics] Interview with Brendan McCarthy‘I’ve got about seven new pitches out with various comics companies at the moment, but I’m not working on an actual comic at the moment… ‘
12 December 2007
[xmas] Santa putting children’s information at risk, warn experts‘Data protection laws lay down strict conditions for the use of personal data and there is no evidence that Claus has an adequate compliance programme in place. Children across Britain who write letters to Claus with a list of gift requests are not told for how long that data is kept, or if it will be used for other purposes such as marketing by third parties.’
11 December 2007
[wrestling] The Ring Cycle — Jon and Joel Ronson investigate WWE and the Chris Benoit double murder and sucide‘Bodybuilders beat each other to a pulp. Women in bikinis beat each other to a pulp, sometimes with midgets on their shoulders. From time to time the wrestlers lay out their philosophies for the camera. My favourite philosophical wrestler is John Morrison, who says, “Join me in the palace of wisdom or continue to be slaves to society. I am a portal to the infinite. You are temporary, a fleeting footnote to an average reality.” His palace of wisdom seems to involve hammering opponents’ faces into the floor.’
10 December 2007
[movies] What’s new in Blade Runner: The Final Cut? — contains some spoilers … ‘In the scene where Batty confronts Tyrell, the line, “I want more life, fucker” has been replaced with “I want more life, father”.’ [via linkbunnies.org]
8 December 2007
[comics] Another weird comic guest-star: Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen meets Don Rickles‘Kirby’s early 70s run on JIMMY OLSEN was his first work for DC after leaving Marvel, and DC let him go hog wild with the book. Kirby used it as a springboard to introduce his “Fourth World” concepts like Darkseid, the New Gods, etc. Oh, and famous insult comic Don Rickles’ twin, “Goody” Rickles.’
7 December 2007
[comics] Scans of Daredevil #133 — from 1976 – oddly guest starring Uri Geller‘Daredevil, Wait For Me — I’m a Mentalist, not an Acrobat!’
6 December 2007
[spam] Inside the “Ron Paul” Spam Botnet — facinating behind-the-scenes look at the methods and tools spammers use … ‘Reactor Mailer operates with a software-as-a-service model. Spammers are given accounts on a Reactor server, and use a web-based interface to manage their spam tasks.’
5 December 2007
[funny] Arnold Shares his Deepest Feelings — yet another of those amusingly weird YTMND pages. [via linkbunnies.org]
4 December 2007
[comics] 50 answers — fifty funny comic strip question and answers …

my butt itches

3 December 2007
[comics] Comic Letterer Todd Klein takes a look at 68 years of Batman cover logos: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5‘…essential elements that seem to work well for Batman: large, art deco letters in front of a bat shape with menacing, mysterious elements.’
2 December 2007
[comics] The Ha Ha Ha Times — nicely done viral promo site for the new Batman film. Metafilter has more links: Marketing the Bat.
1 December 2007
[comics] Watchmen Movie Blog — a blog of the film production of Moore and Gibbon’s classic comic series.
30 November 2007
[shopping] Complete Receipt Defeat‘I recently bought a four-pack of Play-Doh – big plans for the weekend – at my local Toys R Us and received, along with my purchase, over a foot and a half of receipt. That comes out to almost an inch of paper for every dime I spent. Here it is, broken down by height in inches…’
[comics] The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings — I try to keep it positive about comics but let me be clear here – Rob Liefeld is utterly shit. … ‘The most important thing you need to know before reading about all the terrible things Rob Liefeld has drawn is that he has never seen or talked to a woman in his life and has no idea what they look like or how their bodies operate. If you asked Rob Liefeld to draw a diagram of the uterus he’d put on a pair of gauntlets and punch the shit out of your chalkboard. This is how the man operates…’ [via Do You Feel Loved]
29 November 2007
[comics] Rare Viz comic auctioned for £950‘The mint-condition “number one” edition from December 1979 had a guide price of £350-£400, and is one of only about 500 printed. But it went for double its estimate under the hammer at Anderson & Garland auctioneers in Newcastle.’
27 November 2007
26 November 2007
25 November 2007
[funny] This Much I Know from Ken Campbell

I selected a random address in Barkingside as a setting for a script. It was the first script Frank Muir bought when he was setting up the comedy department for LWT. He rang up and said, ‘Bute Road, Barkingside? I once had sex there.’

24 November 2007
[radio] After Our Time — a blog about Radio 4’s In Our Time.
23 November 2007
[comics] Kevin O’Neill Interview — O’Neill discusses the LoEG: The Black Dossier … On Alan Moore’s scripts: ‘…when I tidied up my studio, it was the first time I’d put all the scripts into one place, because it’d been written over a number of years. And the finished “Dossier” was bigger than a telephone directory, it was a monster of a thing. If that had all arrived at the same time, I doubt if I could’ve started the book, it would have been so formidable.’
22 November 2007
[tv] The TV elite has lost the plot — Adam Curtis interviewed by Andrew Orlowski … ‘Mark Ravenhill who wrote a very good piece which said that if you analyse television now it’s a system of guidance – it tells you who is having the Bad Feelings and who is having the Good Feelings. And the person who is having the Bad Feelings is redeemed through a “hugs and kisses” moment at the end. It really is a system not of moral guidance, but of emotional guidance. Morality has been replaced by feeling.’
[evil] Ask Mefi: What fictional evil has great corporate branding?‘OCP, Omni Consumer Products. From Robocop.’
21 November 2007
[books] Interview with William Gibson from Rolling Stone‘The very first time I picked up a Sony Walkman, I knew it was a killer thing, that the world was changing right then and there. A year later, no one could imagine what it was like when you couldn’t move around surrounded by a cloud of stereophonic music of your own choosing.’ [via Kottke]
[funny] The Bile Card‘In the event of my death I would like my gall bladder to be hurled forcibly at the Editor of the Daily Mail.’
20 November 2007
19 November 2007
[comics] League of Extraordinary Freelancers – Activate! — Screencaps from Alan Moore’s Appearance on the Simpsons … ‘Milhouse asks [Alan Moore] to sign his DVD of “Watchmen Babies” and asks which of the babies is his favorite.’
[games] The is what the internet was invented for: Multiplayer Asteroids. Go Play.
18 November 2007