25 March 2006
[advertising] Teachers bemoan curse of the ‘Lynx effect’ … ‘Dozens of teachers have complained to the Times Educational Supplement online staffroom about the menace of the “Lynx effect” – teenage armpits doused in the stuff. Messages indicate that although the Lynx habit often starts in primary school, 13-year-olds are the worst culprits. The potent aroma even drives some staff to open windows when pupils return from PE, because they find it hard to breathe.’
[politics] Nutkin and the Nobles — Simon Hoggart visits the House of Lords as they discuss Squirrels … ‘Lord Redesdale was one of the few peers to have even one kindly word for the “predatory” [grey squirrel]. They were friendly little animals, he said, and would eat crisps out of your hand. In Regent’s Park, “a grey squirrel climbed up my trouser leg to look into my pocket”. I can remember when politicians of all parties used to pay guardsmen a shiny half-crown to perform that service. Now, in these more censorious days, they’re reduced to furry rodents.’
24 March 2006
[ning] Snakes on a Plane Quote Tracker — suggest dialog for upcoming film Snakes on a
23 March 2006
[comics] Steve Bell’s Page on Comment is Free — Bell on The History of If: ‘What the strip was actually about is a mystery shrouded in the mists of time, as is the fate of most political satire. At first each day presented a different proposition, for instance: “If… God was a Social Democrat” (this being the time when the SDP broke away from the Labour Party), or “If… Stockbrokers were made of rubber”, but this device proved so laboured and expensive in terms of effort…’
22 March 2006
[firefox] Firefox ‘Causes’ Relationship Breakup … ‘She installed Firefox for herself, and happened to need to edit the list of sites to never save passwords for. She quickly realized that he had been visiting dating sites in secret, and was also able to determine that he was still an active member of some of the sites. As one might expect, this led to a breakup. Should the Firefox uninstaller offer to delete profile data…?’
21 March 2006
[soundboard] IT Crowd Soundboard: ‘Computers Broken.’
[comics] List of the Religions of Comic Book Characters … ‘J. Jonah Jameson, Religious Affiliation: Hates Spider-Man’ [via Haddock]
20 March 2006
[game] The Falling Sand Game — a massively time wasting Java game – this wikipedia article describes how you can play it.
19 March 2006
[comics] Long Alan Moore Interview by Heidi McDonald [Part 1| Part 2] … ‘I wouldn’t like to claim I was being prescient but that said, it is pretty clear that I have a direct line to God and I know every moment of the future before it happens. [laughter]’
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.’
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