18 March 2006
[comics] The Vendetta Behind ‘V for Vendetta’ — another article on Vendetta and Alan Moore from the NYT … ‘[Moore] resides in the sort of home that every gothic adolescent dreams of, one furnished with a library of rare books, antique gold-adorned wands and a painting of the mystical Enochian tables used by Dr. John Dee, the court astrologer of Queen Elizabeth I. He shuns comic-book conventions, never travels outside England and is a firm believer in magic as a “science of consciousness.” “I am what Harry Potter grew up into,” he said, “and it’s not a pretty sight.” Actually, he more closely resembles the boy-wizard’s half-giant friend Hagrid…’ [via BeaucoupKevin]
[comics] D for Vendetta — Wired News Review … ‘From the start, Larry and Andy Wachowski, the Matrix brothers, pack Vendetta with literary, religious, political and pop culture references: the Sex Pistols and The Girl From Ipanema, The Count of Monte Cristo and Beethoven, Twelfth Night and Benny Hill.’
17 March 2006
[funny] Must Love Jaws — what if Sheriff Brody learned to love Jaws?… ‘Love comes to the surface.’ [via BeaucoupKevin]
[comics] Jonathan Ross reviews V for Vendetta: ‘Despite postponing the release date from last November to allow more time for post-production work, the film looks cheap and lacks any sense of time or place. Throw in Matrix veteran James McTeigue’s flat direction and you have a woeful, depressing failure. If it had been called V for Vasectomy I could scarcely have found it a less enjoyable experience…’ [via Haddock]
[history] Boy’s Pancake Breakfast Delayed the End of WWII — Proving that the path of human history does not run smoothly when teenagers are involved in the process… ‘On Aug. 14, 1945, [Thomas] Jones, a 16-year-old messenger in Washington, D.C., was entrusted to deliver to the White House the cable announcing Japan’s surrender to the United States to end World War II. Unaware of his cargo’s import, the boy, in cavalier teenage fashion, put work on hold to eat pancakes at a diner, hang out with his friends and flirt with waitresses. Later, he left his pancakes to complete the job only to be pulled over en route to the White House by a police officer, who berated the boy for making an illegal U-turn…’
16 March 2006
[comics] From Brian Woods’ Photostream on Flickr: Script Notes for DMZ #4.
15 March 2006
[web] Google in 20 Years Time … ‘On top of the fridge, right where you left them…’ [via Sore Eyes]
14 March 2006
[blogs] Comment is Free — major new blog launch from the Guardian – it has the day’s If cartoon from Steve Bell at the bottom of the page! (Any chance of an official Steve Bell RSS Feed?) … ‘Welcome to Comment is free, the first collective comment blog by a British newspaper website. It will incorporate all the regular Guardian and Observer main commentators, many blogging for the first time, who will be joined by a host of outside contributors – politicians, academics, writers, scientists, activists and of course existing bloggers to debate, argue and occasionally agree on the issues of the day.’
13 March 2006
[blogs] 18 Ways for Blogger to Beef Up … ‘The dearth of tagging and categories has become to Google’s Blogger what the lack of commenting was to Pyra’s Blogger — a monument to antiquity!’ [via Robot Wisdom]
12 March 2006
[books] The Man Who Hated Pooh … ‘The biggest regret in EH Shepard’s life was agreeing to illustrate Winnie the Pooh for AA Milne, as it resulted in the bulk of his work, even during his lifetime, being completely overshadowed. In his later years, Shepard was heard to describe Pooh as “that silly old bear” and resented his close identification with Milne’s books…’
11 March 2006
[comics] Nostalgic Superman Montage Trailer — looks like part of the build up for Superman Returns. [via Metafilter]
10 March 2006
[cats] From Dave’s Long Box: The Most Bad-Ass Cat Ever.
9 March 2006
[comics] Alan Moore interview available on BBC2 Website — basically a “beginners interview” with Alan Moore but worth watching.
[tv] Deal or No Deal Fanatics — weblog covering Noel Edmunds popular new gameshow on Channel 4 … ‘Over weeks of watching DOND it has become clear to me that those who attach emotions and dreams to the success of their play, seem to fair less well compared to those who can remain detached and unemotional. This reminded me of a couple of texts I read many years ago, one by Sun Wu, the other by Shinmen Musashi…’ [via Feeling Listless]
[comics] Reminder: Alan Moore Interview on BBC2 Tonight at 7.00pm — According to the Alan Moore Fan Site Jonathan Ross and Iain Sinclair are to make contributions…
8 March 2006
[blogs] Blogging book competition hots up — shortlist for Blogger Book Prize includes Belle de Jour and eggbaconchipsandbeans … Russell Davies: ‘”I was looking for something to blog about that was not a picture of a cat,” Mr Davies told the BBC News website, explaining his choice of subject matter. “I’m drawn to a full English,” he said, referring to the colloquial term for a fried breakfast.’
7 March 2006
[web] Top 11 Worst Firefox Extensions … ‘6. SoundOfCher – Embeds an annoying Cher midi file on every page you visit. Up to 60 different tunes!’
[comics] BeaucoupKevin looks at the origin of the Silver Age Lex Luthor … ‘Pay attention to Luthor’s dialogue immediately after the accident. He’s furious at Superboy for fucking up the experiment. His going bald is completely secondary to the fact that he was trying to do a brother a solid and got bitten in the ass for his troubles.’
[science] Operation Manky Garden — I’m not going to explain this link. Just go read… ‘This is a genuine scientific experiment in botany, biology and, of course, scatology; and the more participants the better. Just don’t let your significant other catch you crapping in the garden without a reasonable excuse. “Some chap on the internet told me to” is not a reasonable excuse. I know.’
6 March 2006
[comics] The Random Chick Tract Generator — Is it just me or do Random Jack Chick Comics make more sense than real ones? [via Progressive Ruin]
3 March 2006
[comics] Alan Moore to be interviewed on the BBC2’s Culture Show next Week — Thursday 9th March at 7:00pm … ‘A rare TV interview with Alan Moore, the unsung genius of British writers, and acclaimed author of the graphic novels V for Vendetta and Watchmen’ [thanks Graybo]
[comics] ‘$1m a minute to film? No problem’ — Neil Gaiman discusses the relationship between comics and movies … ‘Last week an interviewer asked me whether I thought that the recent success of superhero movies meant that we might see a world in which comics that don’t include the capes-and-tights brigade might also have a chance at making it onto the silver screen. “You mean comics like Road to Perdition, Ghost World, Men in Black, A History of Violence, Sin City, From Hell, American Splendor…?”‘
[ukblogs] On The Power Of Blankets — Tom Reynolds on why a blanket is like a E.M.T’s towel … ‘Doing CPR on the floor for an extended period of time can be wearing on your knees – a folded blanket makes a nice cushion to rest on while pounding away on some dead person’s chest.’
1 March 2006
[web] Google Users: I Can Quit Anytime — could you go cold turkey on Google? … ‘Six days a week, Shari Thurow spends copious amounts of time conducting searches on Google. But each Saturday, she makes a point of observing a “Google-free day.” The rules are simple: Use any search engine except for Google. In practice, however, the policy is surprisingly difficult to implement…’
28 February 2006
[ww2] Distributed computing cracks Enigma code — wartime German code cracked after 60 years … ‘Forced to submerge during attack. Depth charges. […] I am following the enemy.’ [via Metafilter]
[comics] Comic Events and Exhibitions Calendar — for the UK, Europe and the US – compiled by Paul Gravett. [via Pete’s Linklog]
27 February 2006
[music] MC Hammer Blog — and it looks authentic! … ‘My professional Hip Hop journey began in 1986….’ [thanks Greg]
24 February 2006
[film] Peter Bradshaw reviews Capote … ‘[In Cold Blood] virtually invented the modern genre of reportage. The true-life nature of his subject – the brutal slaying of a farmer’s family in Kansas – had a horrible, unacknowledged sexiness that polite literary fiction could not match; reality gave it ballast and sinew, and Capote awarded himself the novelist’s licence to intuit feelings, ideas, moods. Readers then as now struggled to see how the metropolitan gadfly who wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s could have moved on to this. It was as if Audrey Hepburn has stopped singing Moon River and taken a chainsaw to George Peppard. How the heck had this aesthete-weakling armwrestled American reality into submission?’
[blogs] Malcolm Gladwell’s Blog … ‘In the past year I have often been asked why I don’t have a blog. My answer was always that I write so much, already, that I don’t have time to write anything else. But, as should be obvious, I’ve now changed my mind.’ [via Metafilter]
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