- Diamond World Discovered by Astronomers [via]
- Scrabble makes you smarter, say Calgary researchers [via]
- McMaster research finds link between gut bacteria and behaviour [via]
- 6 Technologies Conspicuously Absent from Sci-Fi Movies [via]
- And finally, Frank Bruni Takes Aim at Anthony Bourdain, Misses the Point:
[Paula] Deen, for all of her folksy, I’m-just-cooking-for-all-of-y’all-who-can’t-afford-microgreens charm, has made many millions thanks to her partnership with Smithfield Foods, the pork producer and processor that’s made headlines for abusing unions, animals, small farmers, and the environment. (It’s also given plenty of campaign contributions to the GOP, that bastion of fairness to the working class.) Deen is no less a member of the culinary aristocracy than Bourdain — they just belong to country clubs with different rules. [via]
tv
That’s one way of putting it (round-up edition)
[Ivan] Reitman without Bill Murray is like Superman at a Kryptonite convention: His powers are useless and the results (My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Evolution, Legal Eagles) often dire.
The AV Club on the Netflix price hikes:
It’s sort of like the movie Sophie’s Choice, which you won’t be able to watch if you pick the streaming-only plan.
To be any flimsier, Larry Crowne would have to be projected on Kleenex.
John Scalzi on the continually changing (or not) face of the Internet:
Knowing that Angelfire and Lycos still exist in some form is like hearing that somewhere out there Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow are still putting on new “episodes†of Friends for anniversary parties and bar mitzvahs.
Roger Ebert on Transformers: Dark of the Moon:
I have a quaint notion that one of the purposes of editing is to make it clear why one shot follows another, or why several shots occur in the order that they do.
Jessa Crispin on X-Men: First Class:
Me: “Why are there only white people in this movie?”
Friend: “The white people are metaphors for black people.”
Spiderday
Let’s see what I did today…
I started but didn’t finish the Sunday crossword. There wasn’t much of a theme to this week’s puzzle, and overall it was disappointing. Not what I’d call difficult — and plenty of others have, perhaps rightly, been quick to call it easy — but nothing to really engage my brain.
I watched this week’s episode of Torchwood, which was surprisingly good after an increasingly disappointing — and last week fairly disastrous — run. The episode was not without its flaws, particularly in its ending, but I think they were flaws typical of Torchwood, actually. (Even the stellar Children of Earth miniseries is not without its missteps.) I think I’d hang this episode alongside any of the other fairly strong second season episodes. It underlines some of the real problems with the new miniseries, of course — namely, that it’s five episodes too long and the move to America has gained them practically nothing — but it was nevertheless quite good on its own. When Rex says, “I’m sick of Torchwood acting like amateur clowns,” it was like he was speaking for the audience.
I watched an episode of The West Wing. I’m slowly working my way through the first season again. I think I gave up on the show some time in the fourth or fifth season. (That sounds early, but I have distinct memories of being distinctly disappointed in “The Long Goodbye,” which is apparently a fourth-season episode.) I feel like I’d like to make it through the show in its entirety this time.
And I wrote this in my weekly writing group:
“So if I understand you correctly,” said Pierce, eying the large shape on the medical gurney, “you sewed a robot’s brain into a zombie.”
Dr. Wills sighed. “That’s a fairly crude way of describing our work here, Robert.”
Pierce nodded. “But not wholly inaccurate,” he said. “You’ll have to grant me that. I’m just wondering about the horror show that happens when you switch it back on.”
“We’ve seen an 80 to 90 percent decrease in cognitive impairment when the subjects are connected to the AI network,” Wills said. “And moreover, we’ve documented increased susceptibility to traditional conditioning measures. The fact remains, Robert: we’ve tamed them, made them serviceable.”
“They’re still carriers, though. They’re still infected.”
“Well obviously. We weren’t tasked with finding a cure.”
“And their…aggressive tendencies…?”
“Within acceptable levels. We’ve sustained very few losses since the start of the program. A few careless techs, the occasional bite. And, not to be crass, but those losses were actual increases to our subject pool.”
“So they’re ready to be deployed, then.”
“Absolutely. Besides — ” Wills waved his hand absently at the gurney ” — here, we have a dozen soldiers ready to go.”
“And they can pass for civilians?” Pierce asked.
“They won’t fool a blood test,” Wills said, “but there’s nothing about any of them to arouse immediate suspicion. Visible wounds obviously won’t heal subsequent to infection, but those we’ve connected to the network look perfectly human. They’ll slip past the enemy border without incident.”
“And then?”
“Well then, Robert, we just turn them off.”
“And let zombies be zombies.”
“That was the plan, wasn’t it? Infiltrate, decimate. You and your taskmasters — why, Robert, you sound disgusted, surprised even.”
“No. I just…” He stared again at the infected body struggling against the gurney’s restraints. “Your daughter was very beautiful.”
Oh, and then this evening I got really creeped out by what I think was a wolf spider crawling on the curtains by my bed…which appeared just long enough to do the aforementioned creeping-out, and then promptly vanished. It’s not exactly newsworthy or anything, but if I awake with radioactive web-slinging superpowers, I just want you all to know why.
Saturday night’s all right for posting
Not the most eventful of Saturdays, but a pleasant one nevertheless. I did a little reading, finished watching the second season of the terrific Breaking Bad, and this evening watched the surprisingly entertaining I Love You, Phillip Morris. (The official title doesn’t include that comma, but the editor in me will not let that pass.)
Tuesday various
- Silicon Valley billionaire reveals plan to launch floating ‘start up country’ off San Francisco. Yeah, that’s gonna end well. [via]
When I first saw that, I asked, “Are there any words scarier than ‘inspired by Atlas Shrugged‘?” To which DoctorHu rightly responded, “Are there any funnier or more appropriate than ‘We want looser building codes in our floating city?'”
- But what do they care? Apparently, the very rich have less empathy. [via]
- Speaking of the divide between rich and poor, if you’re like me and were wondering how Blackberry’s became the organizing tool of rioters and looters recently in England, here’s an interesting article on their shift from executives to the urban poor. [via]
- Marvel Bribes Retailers to Destroy DC Comics.
- And finally, Bert and Ernie are not gay. So sayeth Sesame Workshop, and you know, I’m with Mark Evanier on this. It was just ridiculous from the get-go:
One could also argue, as I would if I could stand to devote five more minutes to this whole ridiculous matter, that there’s a nice lesson in Bert and Ernie not being retrofitted as gay lovers. It is possible for two men or two women to be close friends and live together and sleep in adjoining beds without their sexuality being an issue or someone saying, “They must be gay!” I don’t think same-sex wedlock threatens so-called “traditional” marriages in any way. I don’t think the idea that two males might just be really close friends (and nothing more) threatens gay marriages.