Just some stuff I’ve got lying around
By Fred, on August 5, 2008, 9:34 pm
- Patton Oswalt’s commencement speech at his old high school — “I’m going to get out of your way now. Get out there. Let’s see which one of you is up here in twenty years. If you’re lacking confidence, remember – I wouldn’t have picked me.” [via]
- Two cavemen walk into a bar… The world’s ten oldest jokes. And still funnier than Dane Cook. [via]
- Remember that “Obama is too thin” story that ran in The Wall Street Journal the other day? The reporter’s sources came from trolling Yahoo message boards. Ah, journalism! [via]
- Wanna see what Buffy: The Animated Series might have looked like? Well now you can, with this spec video. It’s not phenomenal, and I think this ship has sailed, but it could have been very cool. And I was impressed: Giselle Loren sounds more or less exactly like Sarah Michelle Gellar. I’m in the mood suddenly to revisit some of earlier Buffy episodes. [via]
- Nancy Kress on the point of fiction. I’m not sure I agree with her completely, but it’s an interesting take nonetheless. [via]
- George Bush: “Wall Street got drunk.” Well, I guess if anyone would know about getting drunk… [via]
- An interesting writing experiment: rewriting science fiction as fantasy and vice versa. [via]
- Is reading online really reading? There’s a part of me that wants to say, “Of course it is. Get with the times, old fogies.” But there’s also a part that wants to say, “Um, no, it’s really not.” [via]
- I’m not sure how I feel about eating food from a company whose founder thinks “frozen foods taste better than anything I could grow in my garden.” But I may not have a choice. [via]
- And, like a cancer, Wal-Mart spreads [via]
- You’ve no doubt heard (everywhere) that there really is water on Mars. And apparently a liquid lake on Saturn’s Titan. [via]
- A “Garfield Minus Garfield” book raises all sorts of interesting copyright issues, but if Ballantine is going ahead, I suspect Paws Media (if not Jim Davis himself) is on board, so maybe it’s a non-issue, really. Davis is, apparently, a fan, so that helps. [via]
- You know, I’m not really a Deerhoof fan, but this is a really interesting idea: releasing your new single as sheet music and asking other bands to record covers. [via]
- Note to Mike Myers: Please just stop.
- Remake Farscape in Battlestar Galactica‘s image? As Abigail Nussbaum notes, this is a very bad idea indeed. It completely misses the point of what made Farscape so special and misunderstands the nature of camp. (Which, for the most part, Farscape never was.)
- Vampire energy. Looking around the room, I think about as guilty of this as the next person. Although I do make sure to unplug my laptop when I leave for work in the morning. [via]
- It’s okay to plead the Fifth. Why you should never talk to the police.
- “How many of us do you think could become a Batman? If you found the percentage of billionaires and multiply that by the percentage of people who become Olympic decathletes, you could probably get a close estimate.” [via]
Not a Deerhoof fan!?!??!
It’s over.
I’m also not completely on the Vampire Weekend bandwagon. Is my twee-indie cred shot to hell?
For what’s it’s worth on the Garfield Minus Garfield book — yes, Jim Davis is apparently very much on board. It’s actually part of an official Garfield 30th anniversary release:
http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/post/44223655/ballantine-books-to-publish-book-inspired-by-the
Oh, lordy, that io9 article on Farscape is possibly the stupidest thing I’ve read all week. A large part of FS’s appeal is precisely the way in which in combined dark, complex, morally ambiguous elements with entertaining, fun, cracked-out goofiness… and made it work. I like BSG, but not every show ought to be BSG. And personally, I find Farscape satisfies me in places that BSG isn’t even trying to reach.
You should read Nussbaum’s response, if you haven’t already. She says a lot of the same things, and her argument makes a lot more sense than the io9 article.
I’ve read it now, and, yes, it’s a great response. Also, you know, now that I think about it anybody who is under the impression that Scorpius’ goal is “to take over the universe” clearly hasn’t paid enough attention to the show to qualify as having an informed opinion, anyway.
Also, I’ve just now watched that Buffy promo, and, wow, it’s way better than I would have expected. Very fun, very funny, and captures the show’s sensibility quite well. For the first time, I’m regretting that that thing didn’t get made. (And I must make sure to link to that the next time I get around to doing a random links post.)