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London Bloggers [Comic Blogs][Other Blogs] | 14 October 2004
[comics] The Sim/Gaiman Project — a collection of letters that Dave Sim has been sending to readers of Neil Gaiman’s Blog.‘…for those who haven’t actually responded to the offer, it should be known that the sometimes irrascible tyrant and fire-breathing dragon Dave Sim has been enjoying tremendously the response he received from the Gaiman blog readers and those whom they’ve infected with the knowledge. These form letters are delightful and charming and so enjoyable that now everyone who has seen one wants to know what others have received.’
13 October 2004
[science] People Are Human-Bacteria Hybrid … ‘Most of the cells in your body are not your own, nor are they even human. They are bacterial. From the invisible strands of fungi waiting to sprout between our toes, to the kilogram of bacterial matter in our guts, we are best viewed as walking “superorganisms,” highly complex conglomerations of human, fungal, bacterial and viral cells.’
12 October 2004
[comics] Cerebus No. 84, Page 2 — Dave Sim on Marvel Comics, Jim Shooter, Secret Wars and a page from Cerebus … ‘Another of Big Jim’s hard and fast rules of storytelling was that “conflict creates character” which is why Dirty Fleagle and Dirty Drew spend most of their time as the Secret Sacred Wars Roach’s henchmen beating crap out of each other.’
11 October 2004
[comics] Christopher Reeve Obituary: ‘Of playing Clark Kent, Reeve reckoned that “there must be some difference stylistically between Clark and Superman. Otherwise you just have a pair of glasses standing in for a character.” Reeve, though he played the two roles straight without any sign of camp, revealed a deft Cary Grant-inspired comic timing. Unfortunately, the three sequels were a matter of diminishing returns and, after Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987), Reeve, determined to ‘escape the cape’, explained: “Look, I’ve flown, I’ve become evil, loved, stopped and turned the world backward, I’ve faced my peers, I’ve befriended children and small animals and I’ve rescued cats from trees. What else is there left for Superman to do that hasn’t been done?”‘
[comics] “Face Front! Clap Your Hands, You’re on the Winning Team!” — Rolling Stone article on Marvel Comics from 1971 … Marie Sevrin on Comic Fans: ‘”Gee,” she said, “they’re so uninteresting, that why they’re fans. If they were interesting they wouldn’t be fans. I mean, is a hospital ward interesting? The fans buy the books, but they don’t support comics. Comics are supported by many other normal little children, but the fans are the ones who are hung up on it. I think fans are very lonely.” She says the fans are arrogant now. They don’t gasp and ooh and ahh anymore. The new breed of fans just want to lean over your shoulder and tell you what you’re doing wrong.’
9 October 2004
[coffee] Starbucks vs. Its Addicts — Slate on Starbucks raising the price of it’s coffee … ‘A recent survey of scientific literature by psychiatrists Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins and Laura Juliano of American University found that people who have a one-cup-a-day habit can become addicted. It’s not so much the buzz — pleasant as it is — that keeps people coming back for more: It’s the symptoms of withdrawal. In other words, Starbucks may not have to fret about the impact of raising prices because a goodly portion of its customer base may begin to feel sick without its products. Talk about a great business plan!’
8 October 2004
[ukblogs] Webloggers’ End Of Year Party 2004 … ‘I’m very suspicious of fishtanks. At last year’s venue you could see right through one of them into the Ladies… (Jack) Damn how come I never saw that! (Adrian)’
7 October 2004
[internet] ROTFL-3000 — The new keyboard for Chatrooms, AOL and Blogs … ‘HOME, DEL, etc have been replaced by face-parts so you can make your own emoticons if you so wish.’
[blogs] Spilling the Beans — The Guardian covers job bloggers like Call Centre Confidential and The Policeman’s Blog … ‘You could argue that job blogs are a way of kicking back against our overwork culture. As people work longer hours, blogging is a way of wasting a little time and claiming back some mental space. It’s a way of dealing with office stress by taking control and making work “your story” – a comedy in which the blogger has the starring role and all the best lines.’
6 October 2004
[politics] My Trip to Ukipland — Guardian journalist observes at the UKIP Conference … ‘Inside, my bag is searched by smiling women “for flour and eggs, my dear”. Might I bake a Ukip cake to hurl at Kilroy’s perfect nose? I see facial hair, 1930s hats, Arran sweaters, angry vicars, fishermen and Jonathan Aitken. If Agatha Christie had written a political thriller, or if Engelbert Humperdink’s fan-club entered parliament, this is what it would look like. It is, for a grimy urbanite, very strange indeed.’ [via Sashinka]
5 October 2004
[tech] GDI Scan Tutorial and how to fix the GDI+ JPEG Vulnerability — nice how-to article on fixing the most recent Windows exploit … ‘At the time of this writing more reports are coming out about tools and sample code to take advantage of this vulnerability. The sooner you run this tool and fix any of the exploitable copies of this DLL on your system, the safer you will be.’
[religion] Klingons for Christ: ‘…we all know that there is really no such Alien Race as the Klingons, they were created by the late Gene Roddenberry for his much loved Science Fiction series STAR TREK. His vision has enriched our lives by giving us this wonderful mythology to speculate about. But there are REAL KLINGONS. The real Klingons are the many dedicated Fen who take the time to dress, look, act, and even speak the language of the mythical aliens. And it is to these real people , and all other Fen that this message is aimed at. Jesus Christ, the Great God of the Universe is real.’ [via Metafilter]
4 October 2004
[politics] Robert Kilroy-Silk’s Views About Foreigners … ‘French. Not Kilroy’s favourite race – “devious” (2 Feb 2003), “treacherous… not to be trusted” (16 Feb 2003) and “self-regarding” (9 Mar 2003). In short, they are utterly unlike the British and Americans, who “can be relied upon to keep their word and to act with altruism to a degree that would seem foolish to the French” (13 Apr 2003).’ [via The Daily Chump]
2 October 2004
[tv] alt.nerd.obsessive — a tribute to the Comic Book Guy … ‘Inspired by the most logical race in the galaxy, the Vulcans, breeding will be permitted once every seven years. For many of you this will mean much less breeding, for me, much much more.’
1 October 2004
[tube] What The Numbers On Your Tube Ticket Mean — from This isn’t London … ‘H: Number of loud, badly behaved teenage German exchange students in your carriage.’ [via Kevan’s del.icio.us]
30 September 2004
[blogs] Random Acts of Reality: ‘The Potters Bar train crash was phoned into the Ambulance Service as a “Chest Pain”… ‘
[comics] Comics 101 — nicely done column profiling the history of various comic books including Daredevil, Doom Patrol and V for Vendetta … On Marvel’s Secret Wars II: ‘In this 9-issue train wreck, the Beyonder, his interest in humanity piqued by his observations last time around, shows up on Earth and decides to try humanity on for size. The Beyonder creates a body for himself (a perfect duplicate of Captain America, as a matter of fact) gives himself a Jheri-curl hairstyle and heads off to discover life as a human, starting off with a trip to Spider-Man’s apartment, where he gets a lesson in how to take a crap. (“The experience is consummated!” says the Beyonder as he exits the bathroom.) I only wish I was kidding.’
29 September 2004
[politics] Brimming Certainty gives way to Painful Humility — Jonathan Freedland sketch of Tony Blair’s Labour Party Conference Speech. ‘…he uttered two sentences that must have caused physical pain to his throat: “The evidence about Saddam having actual biological and chemical weapons, as opposed to the capability to develop them, has turned out to be wrong. I acknowledge that and accept it.” That brought some unscripted applause, a sense of relief that at last he had said what so many had longed to hear. He didn’t give the full “sorry,” but like the liberal parent who does not demand complete humiliation from a remorseful child, the Labour tribe took what they could get. The language was lawyerly – “I can apologise for the information that turned out to be wrong,” he said, rather than I do apologise – but he seemed to get away with it.’
28 September 2004
[ebay] eBay Boomers — Observer profile of eBay in the UK… ‘The five items I sold last week did quite well. Nigel Slater generously agreed to bake a large fruitcake for The Observer ‘s Christmas appeal, which sold for £51. A signed selection of Eddie Izzard DVDs and promotional lipsticks went for £63.03. A pair of Jimmy Choo size 40 diamante and satin high heels, rescued from The Observer fashion desk, also for the benefit of the Christmas appeal, sold to a instant-paying woman called Louise in west Yorkshire. I then sold an old Batman car and Batboat, valuable in its original box, for £395.01. A packet of fruit-flavour Pez, which was an ironic sale designed to take the eBay story back to where it began nine years and 100 million transactions ago, sold to a buyer in Germany for 10 pence, plus much postage.’
26 September 2004
[geek] The Geek Hierarchy — where X considers themselves less geeky than Y.
25 September 2004
[god] Official God FAQ vs. Official God FAQ — click on the left link or the right link… you decide! [via Mefi]
24 September 2004
[music] Review of Smile — Brian Wilson’s long-lost Beach Boys Album finally released … ‘The news that Wilson and his backing band (based around American 1960s revivalists the Wondermints) were going to completely re-record and release Smile, after touring a completed version of it, was enough to cause an outbreak of mild hysteria. One Sunday supplement urgently sought the government’s opinion. Even they may have been surprised to get an answer not from the arts minister, but from defence secretary Geoff Hoon. Luckily, the past 18 months have been exceptionally quiet for the British armed forces, giving Hoon plenty of time to ponder the influence of the Beach Boys’ mid-1960s work on current alt-rock. He certainly seems well informed – “It’s such a good time for its re-release,” he told the Observer; “the indie bands my son listens to are building on Wilson’s ideas” – which will doubtless come as some comfort to the 8,900 British troops stationed in Iraq.’
23 September 2004
[distraction] 56K Modem Emulator — the sound of the internet on dialup (I don’t miss it!).
21 September 2004
[God] The Official God FAQ … ‘Question: Is there a God?’
20 September 2004
[politics] Boris Johnson’s Blog … ‘Tim tells me that the idea is that I fall out of bed every morning, blazing with inspiration, and thunder out 3000 words on the issue of the hour, so generating a pandemic internet controversy. I am not sure, frankly, that I will manage that.’
[books] Dark Rider — interview and update on Stephen King … ‘King still plays guitar and sings. For the past decade he has played in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a writers’ band featuring Miami Herald humourist Dave Barry, novelists Barbara Kingsolver, Scott Turow and Amy Tan, and Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Once they went on tour with Warren Zevon, who insisted King sing his tune, “Werewolves of London”. “I was shy to do it because he wrote the song. He took me aside and said: ‘It would be the apex of my career’, and he was not kidding. So I did it.” It’s a song for a horror writer to sing, with a memorable howling chorus, “Aah-woo, werewolves of London”, and such couplets as, “He’s the hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent”.’
[bdj] Web’s most Famous Hooker Kills Blog — the Register on Belle de Jour’s retirement … ‘Belle did what most of the waste can never accomplish simply because she actually had something to write about or at least something to pretend about. The real-world musings of a call-girl, participating with the hopefully washed masses, are fair more gripping than an Emergent Insomniac intoxicated by sloth, riddled with Diet Coke driven anxiety and climaxing over his latest “scoop” on the intricacies of Microsoft Word.’
19 September 2004
[bibble] What is “bibble”? — I really don’t post enough random google crap to LMG anymore … ‘This handy chart is good for thinking about what bibble means, but you probably won’t get it. Think of this as an incantation that invokes the four fundamental elements of thought and language: bibble, fire, love, and death…’
[film] Michael Mann’s Dark World — Brief BBC News profile of the director of Collateral … ‘Collateral displays all the classic Mann themes – the exploration of the male psyche, the blurred lines between good and evil and the disaffection that comes from living in the big city.’
17 September 2004
[bdj] BBC News: London ‘Call Girl’ Gives Up Blog … ‘Belle de Jour captured the wave of blogging and earned notoriety for the sometimes explicit online accounts.’
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