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London Bloggers [Comic Blogs][Other Blogs] | 27 January 2004
[politics] What if? — worst-case-scenario for Tony Blair as he enters his toughest week in government … ‘Mr Blair is more likely to fall in the style of Margaret Thatcher, with his cabinet colleagues insisting he go after deciding he has lost his electoral value and is now a liability. That’s what happened to Mrs Thatcher – the last prime minister to be viewed as invincible – after she failed to beat Michael Heseltine by a big enough margin to avoid another leadership ballot.’ [via The Daily Chump]
26 January 2004
[tv] Garth Marenghi.com … ‘As many of my readership can attest, I invented the internet back in 1976 with my short story ‘Mindgrid’. Many of my predictions, alas, have since borne sorry fruit, and I, too, have spent many troubled hours distracted by erotica.’
[blogs] Hansard Society Public Meeting about the Political Potential of MPs and Weblogs — looks interesting, find out what Tony Benn thinks about the potential of Blogs for MPs. Tomorrow, at 5.30pm, Westminster Hall, Grand Committee Room … ‘The main focus of the inquiry will be on new media but the debate will also cover MPs’ experiences of keeping a traditional diary and how this affects issues of accountability and connection with citizens. The speakers will bring contrasting views as to the best ways of informing and involving people in the democratic process.’
25 January 2004
[archive] Sidebar Blog Archive #4:
23 January 2004
[mp3] The World’s Most Dangerous Geek — profile of the Justin Frankel the creator of Winamp … ‘By 1999, Winamp and Shoutcast put digital music — and its young creator — on the map. And America Online wanted in, to the tune of $100 million. Frankel responded with two words: “Holy crap!” In addition to acquiring Nullsoft in the summer of 1999, the company paid $300 million for Spinner, the leading online-radio service at the time. These were the boom years, and the message was loud and clear: The future of music was on the “information superhighway,” and Justin Frankel, hired to further develop Winamp as the standard MP3 player, was going to drive it. And AOL was going to own it. In a statement, AOL’s chief operating officer, Bob Pittman, the guy who had previously created MTV, trumpeted, “Combining these leading Internet music brands with the audience reach of our brands will lift music online to the next level of popularity.” He had no idea. ‘
[blogs] A couple of Simon Hoggart’s Sketches caught my eye …
22 January 2004
[comics] Cerebus #300 — various comics creators and insiders on the last issue of Cerebus (due in March). Gerhard comments: ‘When somebody asked me what it was like working with Dave, I would half-jokingly respond, “What do you think it’s like working with a manic-depressive, paranoid schizophrenic, hypochondriac, misogynist with delusions of grandeur and a messiah complex?” He seemed to hate himself and yet he thought that he was above all others. On the other hand, Dave can be the most caring, compassionate, unselfish, equitable, honour and duty-bound, thoughtful, reasoned, humorous and generous person you could hope to meet…’ [via the Cerebus Yahoo Group]
[web] Attention, Please — article about how technology is constantly distracting us … ‘”Surfer’s Voice [is the] habit of half-heartedly talking to someone on the telephone while simultaneously surfing the Web, reading e-mails or trading instant messages. On one end of the phone is an annoyed colleague or family member discussing an important topic. On the other end, a party puts on a meager soundtrack of knowing participation: “OK… uh-hum… right… OK.” It is punctuated with surreptitious tapping of a keyboard. The brainy people who study these things call this phenomenon “absent presence.”‘
21 January 2004
[comics] Sinister Ducks – March of the Sinister Ducks (MP3 File Download) — a song by Alan Moore and his band The Sinister Ducks from 1983 … ‘What are they doing at night in the park? Ducks, Ducks! Quack, Quack! Quack, Quack! Think of them waddling about in the dark. Ducks, Ducks! Quack, Quack! Quack, Quack! Sneering and whispering and stealing your cars, Reading pornography, smoking cigars. Ducks, Ducks! Quack, Quack! Quack, Quack!’ [via Scaryduck and Neil Gaiman]
20 January 2004
[blogs] The Devil’s Dictionary — amusing dictionary of terms sometimes used on weblogs … ‘blogosphere, noun … An poisonous environment of methane, self-satisfaction and other hot gasses … “The only creatures that can survive in the blogosphere are low-order molds, able to feed off the waste of others.”
[comics] Cerebus #300, okay Dave, now what? — another article about Dave Sim and the conclusion of Cerebus … ‘Sim finished working on the final story pages of #300 the week before Christmas and, in keeping with his avowed commitment to rationality über alles, betrayed no hint of nostalgia — or even anticipation — as the finish line drew near. Asked whether his last few pages had presented any special challenges, he said, “The process remains the same. My approach to page 17 of issue 300 isn’t any different than my approach would have been to, say, page 14 of issue 220.” Shortly after completing the last page, he was hardly reveling in the accomplishment, admitting that his state of mind was “more relief and gratitude that God allowed me to finish than satisfaction, per se.”‘ [posted on the Cerebus Yahoo Group]
19 January 2004
[quotes] The Random Albert Einstein Quotes Page — along with Groucho Marx, Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain … ‘The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.’ [via Mad Musings of Me]
[comics] ScaryDuck remembers the early years of 2000AD … ‘The first issue grabbed you by the balls and wouldn’t let go. The Russians (“Volgans”) invaded Britan, time-travelling cowboys harvesting flesh-eating dinosaurs, a rollerball clone, a six-million dollar man clone and …err… Dan Dare, an ill-advised revival of the Eagle character. But the real meat didn’t turn up until the following week – another 8p gave you another free gift and the first appearance of Judge Dredd. Make no bones about it, Dredd was a fascist…’
18 January 2004
[mp3] UK song-swappers ‘could be sued’ … ‘Speaking at a London conference about music and technology, Mr Yeates said any legal crackdown would be “proportional”. Talks were taking place with internet service providers across Europe to streamline a process for identifying those who distribute the most songs, he said. The move comes despite healthy album sales for the UK industry. Album sales in the UK rose by 7.6% in 2003 to a record high, fuelled by falling CD prices.’
[comics] Chronicling The Revolutionary — interview with Chester Brown about Louis Riel – includes update about Joe Matt …
‘NRAMA: Did Joe Matt move back to Canada? 16 January 2004
[blogs] Kiss & Tell — London Call-Girl Belle De Jour makes the New York Post … ‘The author is a fascinating character. Now, if we only knew her real name. Her pseudonym is derived from the 1967 French film in which Catherine Deneuve plays a housewife who turns to prostitution. But this Belle is no housewife. She won’t post a picture, but she will reveal this much: She’s a Londoner “in [her] 20s.” with a steady boyfriend referred to only as The Boy. There are those, however, who claim she’s a fraud.’
[blogs] My So Called Blog — intriguing article about how teenagers use blogs … ‘On a sunny fall day, M. and his friends were hanging out in front of a local toy store, shooting photos of one another with digital cameras, when a group of three girls sashayed by. They sported tank tops, identical hairbands and identical shiny hair. I walked over to them and asked if they have LiveJournals. “No,” one said. “We have Xangas.”‘ [thanks Kabir]
15 January 2004
[comics] Jim Lee interviews Howard Chaykin … ‘Writing episodic TV is a constant series of negotiations between the writing staff and the line producer’s crew. When I’m doing comics, the old cliché is true – I’m the whole show-writing, acting, directing-and it’s a perfect place for a control freak like me.’
14 January 2004
[tv] Angry Middle-Aged Man — a Larry David / Curb your Enthusiasm Profile … [via Reenhead]
‘[In an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm], the chat between Larry and Krazee Eyez Killa (a rap star, played by Chris Williams) becomes a freewheeling improvised exchange in which Krazee Eyez Killa reads one of his raps and asks Larry for a critique. Larry nods judiciously. “I like it — I got one tiny little comment,” he says. “I would lose the motherfucker at the end — ’cause you already said fuck once … I would change the motherfucker to bitch.” 13 January 2004
[nature] Penguins’ Pooing Powers Revealed — penguins prove the old saying that “nobody ever takes a shit on their own doorstep” … ‘[Scientists] found they shoot their poo 38 centimetres from their nests. The scientists worked out the penguins’ poo comes out at more than four times the force a human can manage. It might seem pretty gross, but the penguins are doing it to be clean.’ [via BlahBlah Flowers]
12 January 2004
[web] How to Become an Obnoxious Internet Cam Whore in Five Easy Steps … ‘Here’s a simple formula to keep in mind: YOU + WEBCAM – CLOTHES – DIGNITY = $$$. Don’t let your dignity get in the way of your online prostitution.’ [via Pete’s Organic Link Farm]
10 January 2004
[comics] Morphing into New Forms. Devouring Young Adults! — article about Graphic Novels in book stores. Mark Farce (comic shop owner): ‘I believe I will outlive the comic book medium. My die-hard customers will just keep getting older and older. I don’t see young kids coming into stores to buy comics. I think the trades have re-tapped into the 25 to 30 year olds who were into comics, got married, sold their comics and are now wandering back in. But when we get young customers in with say a gift certificate they won at a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament, the last thing they’re interested in is comic books.’ [via ¡Journalista!]
[religion] Things Creationists Hate — for example, The Power and Majesty of God Almighty: ‘..and His subtlety. They will only allow God the minuscule, infant universe described by the writers of Genesis (or Moses, if you prefer). They can’t stand it that God has been working on this version of the universe for something like 14 billion years, and His workshop is so inconceivably huge that it seems ridiculously presumptuous to imagine the Earth and its dominant species to be the center of God’s attention. They won’t allow Him to work His miracles of life patiently, subtly, using the gradual, majestic power of evolution.’ [via Oblomovka]
9 January 2004
[comics] Waiting for Tommy Interview with Warren Ellis … ‘Right now, it feels like 2004 will be my last very active year in American comics. This isn’t a big splashy f*ckyouall I’m-retiring I-won’t-play-Bond-again you-won’t-have-Dick-Nixon-to-kick-around-any-more kind of thing. I’m not flopping on the ground in weeping martyrdom or anything. I just think maybe I’ve taken this gig as far as I can go.’
8 January 2004
[royals] How Did Di And Dodi Die? — Simon Hoggart at the Princess Diana Inquest … ‘Media from around the world had crowded into and around the Queen Elizabeth centre in London; no real courtroom could hold us all, and the coroner had to set up in a conference room. So the event had the air of a plenary session before the Institute of Chartered Surveyors annual dinner. Even the royal coat of arms was back-projected on to the wall, so you expected the coroner to say, at intervals, “next slide, please”. It was a classic instance of the way the British adapt, if unwillingly, to new circumstances, while insisting that nothing at all has changed. There was even a court official to remind us to switch off our mobile phones, a post going back to Tudor times; the holder was rewarded with an annual hogshead of Bailey’s Irish Cream.’
7 January 2004
[web] So What Were You Reading? — Most read and emailed News Stories of 2003 from BBC News.
6 January 2004
[media] UK Newspaper “The Daily Star” Swipes Content From retroCRUSH … ‘ On 1/05/04 I spoke with a the News Editor of “The Daily Star” named Kieran Saunders and what he told me takes the cake. He said, “Well, if it’s on the internet it’s up for grabs. You can’t copyright anything on the internet.” I told him that was untrue and he then refused to speak with me further, and said all future communication needed to be sent to their legal contact, Steven Bacon in London.’ [Related: retroCRUSH’s Worst Sex Scenes Ever | via Boing Boing]
[comics] Alan Moore vs. Grant T. Morrison … ‘An Epic Bare-Knuckle Brawl Between Two Mega-Legends’ [via plasticbag.org]
5 January 2004
[comics] Cerebus #297: ‘Why Does Cerebus Feel Like Saying “Rosebud” All Of A Sudden?’
[spam] Colon Cleansing Spam on the Rise … ‘The average person contains five to 25 pounds of “waste” build-up in their colon, we keep reading in dozens of spam messages. This can lead to colon cancer, deadly toxins and even ‘parasite build up’. The growing amount of colon-cleansing spam has already led to obsessive debates in some news groups. “Dishwasher detergent works best for me. Any brand,” a helpful reader comments. “If you leave too much detergent on the dishes, it will REALLY clean out your entire alimentary canal”. Another contributor suggest you should swallow a tooth brush tied to a lead sinker.’
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