- Designing websites with the colorblind in mind. My father is slightly colorblind, but I’ll admit this never actually occurred to me. [via]
- Man spends 2 years building Dalek out of 480,000 matches. So he did.
- Now, you do see why referring to female students as a male professor’s “perks” might have made people upset, don’t you? You stay classy, Buckingham University.
- The Hobbit as 419 scam. [via]
- And finally, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall sing “You’re So Vain”. This may very well be the oddest thing I’ve heard all day. You probably think this link is about you, don’t you?
pop culture
My Friday night
Last night, I attended a live taping of a public radio show about things that are awesome, The Sound of Young America. Guests on the talk show included rock star Andrew WK, Scott Adsit from 30 Rock, singer Nellie McKay, comedian Kumail Nanjani and director Rik Cordero. McKay and WK were a little weird, but overall it was a great show.
It was downtown at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC. I had some time to kill between work and the show, so I went and visited the High Line, a new city park that opened back in June. While I was there, I took some pictures.
Friday various
- Tonight, I’ll be attending a live taping of The Sound of Young America. It’s streaming live at 8 PM Eastern, if you’d like to watch too. I expect part, or all, of the show will eventually find its way into the radio show and/or podcast.
- So how is the World, Dubai’s string of man-made paradise islands for the über-wealthy and famous, doing? Not too surprisingly, not too well. [via]
- Are Twitter users “well on their way to becoming violent, idiotic vagabonds hell-bent on destroying the world”? We can only hope! Every time I read a story like this, or one bemoaning the rise of social networking sites in general, I really don’t know how to respond, since their fears almost never match up with how I (or, I think, most people) use these things. [via] As Noel Murray writes:
This is a common critique of Twitter: “I don’t need to know what a bunch of strangers had for lunch.†And yet that’s so far removed from the way I use the service that I’m unsure where to begin refuting it. Personally, I only follow a small group of people on Twitter, and I have a limited circle of friends of Facebook. Most of these are people I know—or at least know of. We’re talking to each other about things we’re presumably all interested in; we’re sharing quick thoughts on movies, TV, kids, and the petty annoyances and subtle joys of a passing day. The other day one of my Twitter-followers—someone I don’t follow, I hasten to note—complained that he didn’t like me having a six-or-seven-Tweet exchange with a friend and thereby “cluttering up his feed.†And all I could think was, “Dude, following me is not compulsory.†I think that’s what critics of Twitter often fail to understand. Though some may use Twitter and Facebook as one big “look at me,†the majority are just trying to stay connected with friends, old and new.
- A live-action Scooby-Doo prequel? And here I was, thinking nothing could make me nostalgic for the Matthew Lillard/Freddie Prinze, Jr. versions… I don’t have a problem with the movie in theory — it would be ridiculous to think Scooby-Doo has any kind of canon that needs protecting, and I remember genuinely liking A Pup Named Scooby-Doo — but in practice, this looks pretty dire.
- And finally, there’s got to be an easier way to avoid ads in Gmail… [via]
Thursday various
- The next Twilight movie, which doesn’t open in theaters until November 20, is already selling out. On the plus side, this means it’s less likely that anyone can force me into seeing it.
- Meanwhile, Television Without Pity wonders what if every vampire kept a diary? [via]
- Just last week, Gail Simmons was reminding Top Chef viewers that “The language and structure of the kitchen in America is still very much dominated by French terminology…”
Now I learn that Julia Child, author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, has never been translated into French. Apparently, the French see her cookbook as dated and a caricature. C’est la vie.
- In praise of the sci-fi corridor [via]
- And finally, Russell T. Davies and David Tennant’s exit interview for Doctor Who. They’ll be missed! [via]
Sunday various
- True Tales of Conversational Vengeance. I think the closest my own job has brought me to anyone famous is talking on the phone with someone who worked with Fred Rogers, and e-mailing Desmond Tutu’s assistant, trying unsuccessfully to get a book endorsement. [via]
- I can’t say I’ve never used any of these “lies from a publisher’s argot,” but we try to keep the out-of-control superlatives to a minimum. [via]
- Domestic violence as a “pre-existing condition”. Seriously, how can anyone not think health care is fundamentally broken in this country? This is just nauseating.
- Meanwhile, on a lighter note, Chuck Klosterman’s tongue-firmly-in-cheek look at the Beatles:
Pop archivists might be intrigued by this strange parallel between the Beatles and the Stones catalogue—it often seems as if every interesting thing The Rolling Stones ever did was directly preceded by something the Beatles had already accomplished, and it almost feels like the Stones completely stopped evolving once the Beatles broke up in 1970. But this, of course, is simply a coincidence. I mean, what kind of bozo would compare the Beatles to The Rolling Stones?
- And finally, a game: Canabalt. It’s like a pixelated parkour. [via]