[comics] Steve Bell on William Hague and The Millennium Dome — ‘…a pointless tent in the middle of nowhere…’

[LMG] Slight redesign… nothing serious. Less whitespace, smaller fonts, more room. Let me know if you have any problems.

[falklands] Twenty-Two Royal Marines Vs Argentine Naval Frigate Guerrico. No Contest: ‘Marine David Combes, who was normally the ships steward on Endurance now placed his name in naval history books by firing his Carl Gustav 84 mm anti tank weapon at the Guerrico. The Royal Marines watched as the 10lb projectile staggered across the waves and then, on it’s last legs, smashed into Guerrico’s hull just above the waterline, sending up a column of white water. They then heard a loud rumble come from inside the ship. Below decks Argentine damage control parties struggled to stop the flow of water that was now coming though the hole.’ [Note: This entry was blogged by the part of Darren’s brain which is still a 12 year-old right wing war film and comic loving little boy. It’s a small part — honest. :) ]

[oasis] Guardian Unlimited covers Noel Gallagher and Meg Matthews marriage breakup. ‘Male stars are so used to having the most adolescent behaviour indulged that they need partners who are prepared to knock sense into them. What they crave, what Gallagher probably craved even as he and Mathews groped through a drug haze (“We got to know each other through drugs; when I came off them I didn’t know if I’d still like her,” he said), is a steadying influence.’

[lone nut] Following on from an earlier post… Guardian Unlimited’s Netnotes covers Mark Chapman. More from the John Lennon’s Murder Site: ‘Two days later, he is watching television, when the picture goes blank and “Thou Shalt Not Kill” appears across the screen. It is the sixth Commandment, as written in The Gospel of St. Mark – his Gospel, and Mark Chapman is shocked at the intensity of the experience, and sees it as an example of synchronicity, giving him a message to go back to reading the Bible.’

[corrections] From the Guardian’s Corrections and clarifications page: ‘Lady Birdwood whose death was reported in a brief item on page 6, June 29, appeared repeatedly before the courts for anti-semitic pamphleteering, not anti-semitic profiteering.’ Who was The Dowager Lady Birdwood? ‘In a memorably fatuous observation in 1994, Judge Henry Pownall told Birdwood he accepted that she did not intend to stir up racial hatred. “You are not a wicked old woman in that sense,” he added. Birdwood had been convicted of distributing a pamphlet, which denied the holocaust, and proclaimed a Jewish conspiracy to subvert society. She had also suggested Jews drank the blood of gentile children. Judge Pownall sentenced her to a three-month suspended sentence.’ [via Beesley]

[ukweblogs] New UK weblogs continue to be added to webloging in the UK!. Some recent additions… Bifurcated Rivets, The Great Sweet Mystery of Life, I Hate Music, chris raettig’s online journal, and digitaltwiddlers.

[i have a cunning plan…] BBC News reports on a film about a sneaky Argentine filmaker who visits the Falklands Islands whilst trying to impregnate as many locals as possible in a inspired mission to retake the islands by love not war… the film is course called Fuckland. ‘So how hard would it be for another Argentine to find a date on the island? Las chicas en la isla no abundan, he says on the Web site, meaning that there’s not exactly a cornucopia of willing girls to begin with, and that the British military base there holds about 1,000 troops. ‘It’s terrible when you consider your competition,” Stratas says. Now you’re warned.’ [Related Link: Covert Operations in the Falklands: No Guns, Just Three Digital Cameras ]

[murder] GuardianUnlimited profiles Tony Martin. ‘He described his thrombosis (responsible for the limp), his run-down farm, his closest companions (three rottweilers), his love of travel, farming at night, his love of solitude. This disconnected rambling ranging across his life often returned to the first thing he had said that day; what was happening to him was surreal, beyond his control, not his responsibility.’

[my inner voices use URL’s] Must… keep… hands… away… from… keyboard! Must. Not. Buy. BUDDY CHRIST!! [via lukelog]

[internet] How fast is your internet connection? ’56K modems also require a clean, straight through telephone connection to the telephone company’s central office switching center. Phone company line amplifiers that boost a telephone signal over a long distance, PBX switchboard systems, and other phone equipment alter the phone signal and force 56K modems to fall back to speeds of 33.6Kbps and lower.’ [via Sounding Off Column in Sunday Times]

[lennon] Guardian Unlimited reports that John Lennon’s murderer is about to apply for parole. ‘Chapman has said that he killed Lennon to be famous. “I had to usurp someone else’s importance, someone else’s success,” he said. “I was Mr Nobody until I killed the biggest somebody on earth.”‘ [Related Link: Lennon/Chapman website covering ‘the parallels, coincidences and strange synchronicities that brought together John Lennon and Mark Chapman on December 8th 1980.’]

[films] Apocalypse Now Film Transcript — it’s on TV right now. ‘Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.’ [Related Links: Apocalypse Now at IMDB, Apocalypse Now Tribute Page]

[simpsons] Adrian Hon sends me a link to a talk Matt Groening gave on Futurama. ‘Matt: “Please change line where Bender says “Bite my red hot glowing ass” to “Bite my red hot glowing butt.” [audience hysterical laughter] Dave C.: “Please lose Bender’s line suggesting that 20th century TV sets caused “Eye cancer.” [biggest laugh of the show yet, standing ovation]”‘

[weblogs] Webloging in the UK! A hourly updated list of recently changed UK based websites from yours truly. [Note: If you want to be added to the list — email me]

[movie trailers] I’ve not done any movie trailers for a while…. here’s Sylvester Stallone in Get Carter and the teaser trailer to Pearl Harbor. [Related Links: Upcomingmovies.com on Pearl Harbor and Get Carter ‘Okay, so you’re going to remake the Michael Caine crime thriller Get Carter for the 21st century, right? Who would you cast in the Caine role? Maybe Jude Law? Aidan Quinn? Ewan MacGregor? Robert Carlyle? Ah, the list goes on… but the answer is of course, Sylvester Stallone. Right. Ha. Haha. Hahahaha…’]

[grant morrison] Interesting transcript of Grant Morrison’s chat on the BBC’s Edfest website. ‘Jinx: Will Zenith be returning to 2000AD? Grant Morrison: Yes shortly and in a fairly bizarre story It starts off with Britney Spears being raped by a robot’ [Related links: plasticbag.org covers the Flex Mentallo / Charles Atlas WWF Smackdown]

[funny] Things that made me laugh recently: Unnovations Baker’s Hat, Scooter Health Warning, O’Really Userguides [all three via NTK], and A Moving Tribute to Joey Deacon [via notsosoft]

[more adrian mole] I’m repeating myself but I cannot live without a weekly dose of Adrian Mole. ‘Glenn’s romance is over before it began. Courtney has been “long promised” to her second cousin, a lad called Eli, who works on the whelks and cockle store on the quay. Things are certainly feudal down here. They are but simple folk – untouched by the sophisticated outside world. It is impossible to get a Leicester Mercury.’

[ukblogs] Blog On For an Ego Trip — The Evening Standard covers weblogs in the UK. [via plasticbag.org]

[simpsons] Eat my censors — Matt Groening discusses censorship with Jonathan Ross. ‘Can I read another censor note? “Bart does a yo-yo trick; please substitute the name of the yo-yo trick, spanking the monkey, which has a sexual meaning.” Then get this: they also didn’t like the yo-yo trick called whacking the weasel. However it says: “as discussed with Al Jean, Bart’s clearly enunciated ‘plucking the pickle’ will be an acceptable substitution.”‘ [Related Link: The Patron Saint of LinkMachineGo — Comic Book Guy]

[weblogs] Linking 1-2-3 — some ideas on how to find interesting and useful links. [Discusses tech links, but the the same principles apply — especially if you do a “link heavy” weblog like LMG]

[comics] What has Evan Dorkin been up to recently? ‘The main project I’m working on is an Eltingville Club animated pilot for the Cartoon Network. The series bible (written by myself and Sarah Dyer) and pilot script (written by myself, story-edited by Sarah) have both been approved, and right now Stephen DeStefano is working on the storyboards. I’ve designed all the characters and as a producer on the pilot I have say on all aspects of production.’

[chris morris] Second Class Male and Time To Go. Hoax columns published in The Observer about a year ago from Chris Morris. ‘Not for publication: You have made me too depressed to write. Unlike the great melancholics – Baudelaire, Beethoven – I have no genius from which to draw consolation. I am at best a Brian Wilson, but a Brian Wilson who went to bed before making Pet Sounds. Fuck you all.’

[saville] plasticbag.org covers the the whole Saville hoax transcript meme… [#1] [#2] ‘Anyway. Such a document is clearly legally dubious at best, and since there is no evidence attached to the e-mail, it would seem logical to try to assume that it is entirely spurious as well. (In which case, of course, you would be talking vast potential libel damages.) But the strange thing about this particular meme is that most people who received the letter in question (including me – and I consider to be extremely cynical about chain e-mail) thought it to be at least plausible.’ [Interesting fact: If you type “Saville Hoax” into Google the first item you get up is a directory entry on Chris Morris. Hmmm….]

[mp3 people] Inside has a facinating profile of Justin Frankel — the man behind Winamp and Gnutella. ‘Frankel hasn’t been able to resist all contact with the dozens of hackers who are working on new versions of Gnutella, according to one programmer who works on file-sharing software. But Gene Kan, who is creating a version for a startup now called GoneSilent, points out that the new software ”can’t have a single line from the original AOL-controlled code — his fingerprints can’t be on it anywhere.” ”He’s peering over the fence,” says the person who sees him frequently. ”They’re doing the revolution and he’s supposed to work on stuff like the transition from Winamp 2.64 to Winamp 2.65 or some dumb thing.”’

[mp3 tech] Frequently asked question on the Winamp forum… How do I burn an audio CD from my MP3’s?

[eastenders] An Eastenders scriptwriter discusses the problems of introducing a new family in a long running TV soap. ‘To make this predictable universe work on the screen, you need characters who are relatively stable (even if they are unstable). The writers and the viewers buy into a myth that people aren’t particularly complex, that the full range of their feelings and actions can be revealed in a few hours on the TV. And a quick, visible way of revealing characters is to mirror them in their occupation. Thus we have Pauline Fowler, long-suffering drudge and matriarch. What better job than folding pants all day in the launderette? Or Peggy Butcher – tough but fun-loving and gregarious. So she runs the pub. But what attributes spring to mind when we think of Italian restaurants? Fond of pasta, perhaps? Permanently overworked? The job never provided an easy route into understanding the di Marcos’ characters.’ [Related Link: Eastenders]

[comics] BBC News takes a look at Ralph Steadman and his most recent work for children. ‘Steadman says his latest work has the same “wayward spirit” as Fear and Loathing – despite being aimed at a very different audience. “Little.com is different because I’m not so malevolent in it,” he adds. “A children’s book is small world that is large enough for a child’s mind at bed-time.”‘ [Related Link: ralphsteadman.com]

[books] News Unlimited wonders if Nick Hornby can write a sucessful new novel from a female point-of-view. ‘At his best, Hornby mines a seam that unites far more than it divides: the scary business of growing up, of putting away childish things, and of the struggle to become a fully-formed human being who can have relationships with parents, children, lovers, friends. So why is it any surprise when he decides to explore matters from a different angle in a work of fiction?’