[LMG]LMG RSS Feed 
[Search][Projects]A Moment Of MooreMe and Belle de Jour TimeMachineGo Evening Standard Headline Pictures [UK Bloggers]
London Bloggers [Comic Blogs][Other Blogs] | 25 July 2002
[politics] You Ask The Questions — Ann Widdecombe … ‘Q:Were you pleased with When Louis Met Ann Widdecombe? Why wouldn’t you let Louis into your bedroom? A:I was not unhappy with the final programme. I invited Louis into only those areas of the house where I would invite anyone else. I am entitled to some privacy and I cannot believe the nation is remotely interested in my bedroom or bathroom.’
24 July 2002
[comics] Interesting selection of MP3’s from musical collaborations between Alan Moore and Tim Perkins … [via Bugpowder]
[bb3] It’s Imperative that I spot any Nudity — behind the scenes at the Press Agency covering Big Brother 3 … ‘Rob Kelly, 21, works for a press agency, Kent News and Pictures. For the last eight weeks, he’s watched Big Brother for 12 hours a day. His eyes must not leave the screen. If he needs the loo, someone stands in. Every three to four minutes, he fills in a log of the housemates’ activity. When his shift finishes at 9am, another “monitor” immediately takes over for the next 12 hours until Kelly resumes his watch at 9pm.’
23 July 2002
[comics] Yahoo’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Movie preview page — ‘…I guess what we have to do is cross our fingers, hold our breaths, and hope that the film itself somehow captures some wink of the magic of Moore’s writing. Maybe. Can Stephen Norrington do it? His first film went direct-to-video, his third has yet to be picked up for distribution, which leaves us with Blade. Blade is a bloody, violent romp of a vampire movie, and while I did enjoy it for exactly what it was, I don’t get anything from it that yells to me “this guy would rock as the director of LoEG”.’ [via Cheesedip]
[bb3] Baying For Blood — Why the press hates Jade and has the tide turned? ‘Jade Goody is poor. She is badly educated and not terribly bright, and so she says remarkably silly things such as “East Angular? That’s abroad. Is there not a place called East Angular abroad?” Her father is in prison, her mother is disabled, and she has admitted to shoplifting when she was younger. She is also of mixed race, which accounts for the distinctive, full features which have seen her lambasted for not being sufficiently “English rose” for the nation’s sensibilities. But – perhaps most importantly – most of the criticism that has been targeted at Jade, explicitly or not, is because she is a woman.’
22 July 2002 ![Hate #14 -- Buddy Bradley Shaving [click to buy at Amazon]](https://i0.wp.com/www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/images2/buddy.jpg?resize=162%2C260) [comment] For the Hell of It — Julie Burchill on the Daily Mail. The Mail compared to comics: ‘The secret with the Daily Mail, as with the Sun, is to read it not as a newspaper but as a comic in which someone has forgotten to do the drawings. But whereas the Sun would be Viz, the Daily Mail is a dark, nihilistic number, like Hate or Hell-Blazer.’ More: ‘What is the Daily Hell scared of? How long have you got? On one day last week, you could have chosen from the abortion pill, gay rights police, dogs, white people having black babies, taxes, single mothers, career women, exams, teachers, doctors, taxi drivers, unions, drugs, compensation, Big Brother, HRT, sugar, vitamin pills, foreign beer and girls who go on holiday to Greece and drink too much (though in Daily Hellville half a shandy is probably “too much” for a woman).’
[bb3] In It to Win It — Brian Sewell discusses Tim … ‘Tim, 100 per cent, is a humourless wimp with no sense of fun, no ability to let slip the middle class inhibitions that so undermine his frail sense of security. Not for Tim a knockabout race with supermarket trolleys (his hair might be disarrayed), not for Tim a venture into uncomely drunkenness, not for Tim a romp of any kind, for this is a boy still dominated by the suburban manners of his mother, a boy who in his own esteem has stumbled onto the stage of a farcical pantomine.’
21 July 2002
[wifi] Sunday Doonesbury — Garry Trudeau on wireless networking … ‘Man… Great Hotspot. Why would anyone pay for this stuff?’
[blogs] One last quote about Great British Blogs, from Life as it Happens: ‘What does Anita Roddick know about blogging? And Alan Rusbridger? Granted, something of this response is the idea of the Outside World peering into the blog golfish bowl (“But you don’t understand!” “You’re not one of us!” “You don’t get it!”) Assuming they are reading as everyday readers, why should they not? On the other hand, those who do not blog on a regular basis may well miss the fine points of the game.’
20 July 2002
[blogs] Couple more quotes about the Great British Blogs Competition…
19 July 2002
[science] Strange Blood — Wired Magazine takes a look at artificial Blood. ‘…we’re in South Africa, where the human immunodeficiency virus has slipped into the veins of at least 4.5 million people. That’s 10 percent of the population. Some estimates put it much higher, at 25, 30, or even 40 percent, and all studies agree that the numbers are climbing, making this country among the hardest hit anywhere. The result, in addition to the obvious misery and death, is a blood shortage of huge proportions. Necessity breeds invention, however, and it can also cut through snares of bureaucracy. As Cappy’s pale, anemic body is wheeled into intensive care, Levien tells the nurses there to “hang a bag of aitchbock.” That’s H-B-O-C, for hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier – the generic term for Hemopure, a therapeutic substance made by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical firm Biopure and approved for use nowhere in the world except South Africa. This is artificial blood, and it’s clean and pure and fresh from the tap – never touched by human hands or human pathogens. To collect Hemopure for an injured South African, you don’t need donor drives or questionnaires or tourniquets or risk. All you need is a head of cattle.’
18 July 2002
[blogs] As always the conversation around the Guardian’s Great British Blog Competition makes it much more interesting…
 Meta-Blogging: plasticbag.org #1, #2, Blogjam, Inkiboo, Metafilter, Grayblog, not.so.soft, iamcal.com, Wherever You Are, Venusberg, Blogadoon Troubled Diva #1, #2, #3 … plasticbag.org: ‘if you look at the opinions that matter to people, it’s mostly not celebrities or media figures. In many ways, for a large number of people, they’re almost the enemy! They’re relics from the past where for the most part we are kind of the future – the future where everybody is a superhero! Where we all get a slice of the cake, a bite of the cherry. And more importantly, there’s a real feeling that these people most often don’t understand what we’re doing anyway! We’ve seen people like this for years – it’s all PR blurb and airbrushed skin. I don’t think that’s what the weblogging publishing revolution is about! Make them start their own weblogs!’
[comics] Manwithoutfear.com has some great interviews with the creators who have worked on Daredevil notably Bill Sienkiewicz, Ann Nocenti, D.G. Chichester, Scott McDaniel and Kevin Smith … Sienkiewicz on Frank Miller and Elektra: ‘It was like jazz. Frank and I riffed off each other. For example, the character of Garrett in Elektra: Assassin was supposed to be killed at the end of the second issue. When Frank saw what I came up with, he decided Garrett was too good visually to die just yet. Thing is, Frank’s writing really inspired me to play and to take chances, so if he felt he got anything decent from me, it was as a result of getting gold from him. Frank’s keen on letting creative collaborations breathe. That’s part of his brilliance.’
17 July 2002
[tv] A couple of reports on the current position of the BBC …
[film] Chronicle of a Death Foretold — Greil Marcus on the Manchurian Candidate, John Frankenheimer and the Kennedy Assasinations … Frankenheimer: ‘I can see Bobby’s face on a big television monitor in the ballroom and I can see his back for real. As I stood there a figure went by me and it was as if there was electricity coming out of his body. I’ve never felt anything like it before or since. Of course it was Sirhan Sirhan.’
16 July 2002
[film] Last Typhoon Cimino Is Back — off-beat profile / interview of movie director Michael Cimino. ‘…the trauma of Heaven’s Gate and its aftermath may not have left Mr. Cimino entirely unchanged. Or so Gore Vidal wondered a while back when he called his former collaborator, for whom he did an uncredited polish on the script for The Sicilian.”Michael,” Mr. Vidal said, “I just read in the newspaper that you had a sex change.” At 62, Mr. Cimino looks like a cross between a cowboy hipster and your great-aunt Bessie.’
[comics] Dr. Strange — interview with Grant Morrison. Morrison on The Filth: ‘Yeah, well, The Invisibles was filled with sexy, beautiful people, and The Filth is filled with ugly, hopeless people who can’t get sex and all the sex is bad sex. The fashions are ugly, and everything is wrong, but there is a kind of real heart to it, which The Invisibles doesn’t have. The Invisibles is more like Vogue, and I just wanted The Filth filled with flapping comb-overs and hopelessly degraded paunches. I think it’s funny, because it is basically about super spies–but the super spies are garbage men. Everything about it is kind of taking the worst aspects of existence and kind of turning it into super-computer-generated DVD glamour.’ [via Neilalien]
15 July 2002
[funny] The Big Book of Sign Language [via Haddock]
 ‘Deaf people having sex? Of course not. But they like to talk about it just like anyone else, and the modern lexicon of sign language terminology is exhaustive and more than up to the challenge. Our sign language dictionary concludes with succinct, suitable ways to communicate one’s sexual wishes to a deaf partner.’
[film] Why Does Everyone Want To Get Into Bed With Him? — profile of Mike Myers … ‘The Austin Powers films do contain some fine things. The opening sequence of the first film, in which Myers, resplendent in frilly collar, jives through a blatantly fake swingin’ London, pursued by crowds of adoring females, is pure delight; and if nothing else, he deserves credit for pulling off the unlikely feat of turning Liz Hurley into a plausible representative of sexual puritanism and female equality. But there is little quality control; Powers picking up a stool sample in mistake for a coffee pot and saying ‘This coffee smells like shit’? gives a new significance to the fact that he listed Some Mothers Do’ Ave’ Em and On the Buses as great British comedies.’
12 July 2002
[comics] Doran Talks Orbiter — Colleen Doran discusses her new graphic novel collaboration with Warren Ellis … ‘To me, being a cartoonist means world-building. We are creating a reality from nothing, and everything matters. People’s costumes matter, their body language matters. The sets matter a great deal – that creates the world, they create the reality for the reader, and it should be complete. I know a lot of artists don’t believe that – they like the art to be very, very simple, and leave the detail up to the mind of the reader, but what about leaving it in the mind of the writer and artist, and allow us to bring you into our world and let the reader visit what we’ve envisioned, a complete vision – something that is three dimensional and totally realized and will take you completely out of yourself.’ [Related: A Distant Soil Website]
11 July 2002
[questions] You Ask The Questions… Richard Branson … ‘Q: Are you a member of the mile-high club? A: The funniest letter of complaint I ever had was from a Virgin Atlantic passenger who complained that the sinks in the toilets of the new Airbus A340 were too small to fit his wife’s bottom into when they were having sex on board. It included a drawing of a more comfortable sink for future use. As to whether I have ever joined the club. Well… certainly not since Virgin Atlantic started flying 18 years ago, but, having said that, we are not the sort of airline that bangs on the door if a couple have been in there for a few minutes.’
[advert] Wheels Within Wheels — brief commentary on the Mercedes car advert …
 ‘…the Mercedes branding of Lucky Star is subtle, verging on imperceptible. Those who watch the trailer and are eager to find out more will unearth not a high-octane thriller, but an invitation to their nearest Mercedes showroom. Whether Mann’s glacé camerawork will then be enough to sustain that interest once they notice the car’s £92,000 price tag is moot. For Mercedes, it is evidently a risk worth taking. The prize, after all, is precious indeed: the neutering of our scepticism when confronted with advertising.’ 10 July 2002
[comics] Everything I Need To Know I Learned From The X-Men — the wisdom of X-Fans … ‘When your Dad asks why you need to borrow money telling him its for comics is not a good idea. Not when you’re 24 years old.’
[tv] Big Brother, Where Art Thou? — comment on the success of Big Brother 3. More people are watching it but the media frenzy around it has died down … Peter Bazalgette: ‘Big Brother has moved out into populist television. You can’t read the runes after one set of viewing figures but if – and I stress if – we have reached the so-called ‘tipping point’ of the show [Malcolm Gladwell’s description for ‘that moment in an epidemic when a virus reaches critical mass’], we will now start to hear negative remarks from the people who originally lauded it for being a cult revelation.’
9 July 2002
[comments] I’ve been playing around with the commenting system on LinkMachineGo so let me know if you have any problems… Also, go checkout the Deconstructing Buffy Comments — very insightful. ‘Faith’s just dirty whore sex. Oz is zen personified. But I can’t stop worshipping Cordelia.’
[politics] A Political Torpedo — a mad profile of Boris Johnson which suggests he could be a future Tory Leader …
‘In many respects he embodies all that is supposed to be politically unacceptable in a modern prime minister. He’s an outrageous toff and an image consultant’s disaster area. What’s more, he has no man-of-the-people credentials at all. Yet, assuming another election defeat, after the disappointment of a decade of William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith, the Tories may well be in the mood for a wild card. The electorate will eventually tire of the joyless puritanism of the Blair-Brown regime. If the Tories want to play the joker, Boris could be their man.’
[euro] They Said What? — Eddie Izzard on the Euro: ‘I’m travelling in Spain where everyone’s using the euro. They haven’t all drowned, everyone’s speaking Spanish, they haven’t become English. they haven’t become Welsh, they haven’t become Afghans.’
8 July 2002
[euro] A Goosestep too Far? — commentary on Rik Mayall’s pro-Euro Hitler and a brief look at Nazi / Hitler satire …
 ‘There is a long heritage of Nazi satire, some funny, some trenchant, some negligible, some stupid (we salute you, Freddie Starr, particularly for that hilarious touch of putting the Führer in shorts). When John Cleese put an index finger to his upper lip and did his gangly approximation of a goosestep through the lobby of Torquay’s most benighted hotel, it was funny and important, particularly as it came in a context of lampooning one Briton’s cartoonish views of Germans.’
[blogs] Gerard and Dan find each other. From this …
‘I’m saying, you simpleton, that to claim that the RSPCA is wasting its time complaining about the welfare of animals while people are dying all over the world, when your own life is so utterly and comically meaningless, is hypocrisy. Or, more precisely, stupidity.’ To this (in about 17 moves) … ‘Mr Dan, where do you live? If it’s London, I’d love to meet up for a (non-alcoholic) drink. You seem like an interesting fellow.’ 7 July 2002
[sex] Whorechalking — Tom and Cal reinvent the London Prostitute Carding Industry … ‘…thanks to the magic of chalk and walls you can now be quickly and easily connected to the seediest side of the sex industry wherever you go! Introducing WHORECHALKING. Prove your manhood today. Go fuck something!’ [Related (kinda): Prostitute Trading Trumps]
|