- Following up on yesterday’s revelation that Michael Palin didn’t like A Fish Called Wanda when he first read the script, here’s a letter sent by a “comedy script editor” to the BBC, calling Fawlty Towers — incidentally named the all-time top British television program by the BFI in 2000 — “[a] collection of cliches and stock characters which I can’t see being anything but a disaster.”
- Following up on the Wonder Woman post on Monday, here’s two more dissenting views.
- This I Write Like meme is getting torn apart all over the place, notably here [via] and here [via]
I’d post my own results, but they change with every different piece of text I have “analyzed,” and none seem remotely accurate — a weird mix of ego-stroking and insult.
- And that’s one way to ensure fewer comments… [via]
- And finally, Zombies: The Kid Vector:
Here’s somethin they don’t tell you, but you better listen good if you want to survive out there: It’s the kids you gotta watch out for. They stay in the shadows, in the dark. When you see ’em, they don’t run right at you like the big ones, they stay back, let you come in closer. You think you’re rescuin a kid, you get in close and BAM! The dead brat goes for your throat or face, workin for a quick kill.
various
Wednesday various
- Six degrees of literary separation? [via]
- If nothing else, I think this elaborte fake ATM is proof that you don’t need a carefully designed forgery to fool a lot of people. [via]
- The Cracked Guide to Fonts [via]
- You know, I’m sure Tin House‘s heart was in the right place with this prove you bought a book somewhere before you submit anything policy, but it’s not hard to see why it’s upset some people.
- And finally, an interview with Michael Palin:
I’m very proud of the fish-slapping dance we did in Python. We rehearsed this silly dance where John Cleese hits me with a fish and I fall into Teddington Lock. We were so intent on getting the dance right that I didn’t notice the lock had cleared and instead of it being a 2ft drop into the water it was a 15ft drop. I’m very proud of doing that.
The rest of the interview is pretty interesting too — he didn’t think A Fish Called Wanda was a good script when he first read it — although residents of his “worst place ever,” Prince George, British Columbia, might not love it.
Tuesday various
- Apparently, Megan Fox’s latest tattoo is a quote from a writer who doesn’t exist. And I am suddenly imagining tattoo parlors who inscribe quotes from books like those in the library in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, the books of dreams, whose common thread is that none of them were ever actually written.
Of course, I’m also reminded of Shelley Jackson’s Skin project, which maybe beat my brain to it.
- If this isn’t a real literary mashup novel, somebody at Quirk Books needs to get on it.
- Though they better watch out: apparently, novelty books are getting more expensive to produce. (Though, admittedly, those are more pop-up books and such than anything.)
- Meanwhile a “youth edition” of Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father is being developed. What exactly is a “youth edition” and what makes the current edition inappropriate? [via]
- And finally: British scientist uncovers ‘secret messages’ hidden in Plato’s ancient text. Of course he did. [via]
Monday various
- RIP, Harvey Pekar.
- So you’ve heard about this new Wonder Woman costume, right?
It’s as if the people designing her new look didn’t want to make a decision about who she is as a hero. And this is the basic problem – a superhero costume projects an idea, and no one knows what the idea of Wonder Woman is. She was conceived to be the original, iconic female superhero, but seventy years into her history, no one quite knows what a genuinely powerful superheroine should look like or what her story is. It’s sad, but because there have been a hell of a lot of interesting women, and women characters, to think about since 1941.
I’m not too impressed by it either. [via]
- Worst comic book origin story ever?
- Noel Murray revisits Warren Ellis’ Planetary and Kurt Busiek’s Astro City:
I like Planetary a lot. I think it’s some of Warren Ellis’ and John Cassaday’s best work, and when I read it, I definitely feel their affection for the characters and concepts they’re subjecting to deeper scrutiny. But Planetary feels more like a memorial—a eulogy. Planetary exhumes old bones, while Astro City leads its readers through a living, thriving community, populated by improved versions of what came before. Planetary makes me sad for what might’ve been; Astro City makes me appreciate what is.
- And fianally, Darth Vader may have had psychological issues. Noooo! [via]
Thursday various
- I got a kick out of this: Four labels from the Bruce Campbell’s Soup Company. [via]
- Paranormal Activity was scarier and more effective than it had any right to be. The teaser trailer for the sequel makes it look like more of the same, only less so.
- I do, however, like Shane Carruth’s description of his planned follow-up to Primer: “an abstract arthouse take on Pokémon.” [via]
- How can you not want to see a movie about a tire that kills humans using telepathic powers? [via]
- And finally, if movies have followed their original casting. [via]