Words for the wise from the mouth of a fool.
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Friday, July 18, 2003
A quick spin through the usual sources to give you some links before I light out for my family reunion in the territories:
- Write Hard, Die Free; I want one of these pins. (via Making Light)
- Judging a book by its cover (via Metafilter)
- I thought the Star Wars Alphabet Project--an attempt to design a Star Wars Universe fighter for every other letter (i.e., beyond A-Wing, X-Wing, etc.) sounded stupid...until I clicked the link. Some brilliant design work and incredible LEGO construction (also via Metafilter.)
- Good for Fox Searchlight for starting their own blog, especially if they keep up the pace. But it seems a bit cheap to be hosting it on BlogSpot. Hopefully it's just a test project and once they get a good response they'll put it on their own webspace and throw some design money at it (via Boingboing)
- The Hipster Bingo Random Card Generator. Quick, I demand a Geekster Bingo version that I can play at GenCon. (via many sites)
- An amusing game(?) that I hadn't previously heard of: "Find a Human at Customer Support" (via Electrolite)
- The trouble with Google (on Slate)
- A profile of comics annotator Jess Nevins (via Bookslut)
- Expect this one to be added to the Sources category at the left: the National Geographic Photo of the Day (via Incoming Signals, which also provides a link to another fantastic photo archive at the Library of Congress: Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991)
- Re: The Escapist comic mentioned a couple weeks ago on OD--it's becoming increasingly unclear exactly what Michael Chabon will be contributing to the project beyond his name on the cover.
- Kurt Busiek spills the beans on the next big Astro City storyarc--a twelve parter that, given the current frequency of release, will last sometime into 2005.
- "It doesn't want to make you successful, it wants to make you happy.: Slate takes a look at Friendster, and so does Wired News.
- It's about time: the White House email system gets less user friendly (via multiple sources)
- Somehow I missed this parody of the Honda "Cog" spot until now (via Adrants, who wants to see more of this sort of thing)
Grand Theft AutoVice City for the Xbox. Of course, next up is 3. (via Gamers with Jobs)
Okay. Time to head to the airport. See you Monday.
Thursday, July 17, 2003
A possible truism that's been building in my head:
opinions isn't neccesarily a fact.
Discuss.
For those of you who force every letter of my
A Bad Boys of Punctuation T-Shirt has been procured for me from the Penny Arcade guys at their San Diego Comic Con booth.
My agents are everywhere.
The Emmy nominations have been announced. You can read the list for yourself, but here are my reactions (few of which will surprise OD readers, I surmise):
- Jeff Beal got nominated for his Monk theme! (Now they just need to bring it back to the show.)
- Michael Giacchino didn't get nominated for his Alias music.
- Lucky got nominated for Outstanding Comedy Writing!
- Aaron Sorkin got nominated for Outstanding Drama Writing for "25"; though I might have picked "Commencement", I'm still pleased.
- The Daily Show picked up three well-deserved nominations, though I wish there was a category where the show's correspondents might have been nominated.
When the new Frontalot track came out Saturday morning, I decided it was time to burn a new CD to listen to in the car. The Front track would be on it, of course, but what else? I was too busy to spend much time on the project, so I just loaded up all my MP3s into Winamp, and fast-shuffled through them. Whenever I heard the opening bars of a song that struck my fancy, I added it to the burnlist. Within a few minutes, I had a full 21 tracks.
Now I've been listening to that CD for a few days and I'm a bit creeped out. As I listen to the songs and the lyrics, I'm a bit frightened by how much they reflect things currently ricocheting around in my head. The only explanation I have is that my subconscious decided it was time to externalize a bit and picked those songs as the vehicle.
It'll be interesting to try the process again in six months or so and see if it has similar results. Who knows--it could be a crazy new form of self-therapy.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Anyone else* out there playing on the Hollywood Stock Exchange? Liana's been catching up to me like she's riding a moped full of jet fuel, and it would be nice to add a few more players to my league as checksums so that I can tell whether the growth of my portfolio has become aberrantly slow or not.
For anyone playing who wants to add me to their league, my HSX username is sjinkslinger.
* Scott, I know you were playing for a while, but I don't know your HSX username. Let me know--if you're still playing--and I'll add you.
"Raul strode through the dark night, his way lit by twinkling stars as if the gods at some celestial concert were all flicking their lighters at the same time in appreciation of the drum solo-like beat of his boot heels against the pavement, occasionally accompanied by the steel-brush-on-a-cymbal sound of a splash as he kicked through a puddle, the plip-plop of water dripping from leaves like someone playing staccato on a two-note piano gone flat, and the wind blowing a bluesy tissue-paper-on-comb harmonica through the trees."
The winners of this year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest have been announced. Read and cringe. (via Metafilter)
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
D&D3E co-designer Monte Cook's take on D&D v3.5. I look forward to checking it out myself next week at GenCon.
A Do-It-At-Home Play in One Act and Four Parts
1) Get headphones, put on, turn volume waaaay up.
2) Listen to James Brown at half-speed (via Incoming Signals).
3) Your line:
Is this what it's like to be completely
whacked out of my gourd?
4) Curtain. Go back to work, with no ill aftereffects!
I've talked to a number of people this week who saw The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and weren't aware that Mark Twain wrote anything about Tom Sawyer other than the eponymous book. Courtesy of Project Gutenberg, here's an online version of Tom Sawyer, Detective. Not that it will explain how Tom remained so young at the end of the nineteenth century, but I suppose I'm just being persnickety.
Of course, Project Gutenberg is a great source for delving into the background of each member of the League--and maybe discovering a few characters you wish had been in the group. For those who haven't read the League comic series or who weren't aware how truly steeped in literary references the series is, I refer you, as always, to Jess Nevins' annotations, recently published in trade paperback format.
(I now end this post, before we go perambulating off down familiar byways where I prattle on about metafiction and Wold Newton again.)
UPDATE: Whew. Finally somebody else joins my chorus ranting about Quatermain/Quartermain errors. I still feel persnickety, but at least I'm not alone.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Note to self: look at this later rather than get distracted from work now: Victorian Roleplaying Themes.
Also, from Liana, The Random Name Generator. I note, however, that the very first name it generated for me was "Yanni"--which doesn't really seem very random or obscure.
Break out the punch and pie, it's time for the induction of a new member into OD's League of Lame Heroes!
Roll call, Lamers!
Mystery Worshipper!
Keyboard Woman!
Bulletman!
and proudly introducing the newest member of the League:
Johnny Jetpack!
Get out there and fight some crime, League! Preferably without getting hurt or requiring bail this time.
Minneapolis is the most literate city in the nation? According to a new study from UW-Whitewater, it's true. Can't say I expected that.
(No offense to my teachers, friends and family in the Twin Cities, of course. I just thought you were the exception, not the rule.)
Sunday, July 13, 2003
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