- “What killed Mozart?” isn’t the interesting question. The interesting question is: why are there so many wildly different theories about what killed Mozart? [via]
- 10 cool converted bookstores [via]
- Chinese archaeologists unearth 2,400-year-old ‘soup’. Undoubtedly, it tastes like chicken. [via]
- The woman without fear [via]
- And finally, Google’s Zeitgeist 2010. I think the top rank for “chatroulette” reveals just how quickly the zeitgeist can shift. When’s the last time you heard anything about this internet phenomenon? [via]
weird
Monday various
- Caitlin R. Kiernan on coincidence:
Coincidence is a constantly occurring phenomenon with a bad rap. Lots of people treat it’s like a dirty word, or something rationalists invoke simply to dispel so-called supernatural events. And yet, an almost infinite number of events coincide during any every nanosecond of the cosmos’ existence. We only get freaked out and belligerent over the one’s we notice, the ones we need (for whatever reason) to invest with some special significance. Co-occurrence should not be taken for correlation any more than correlation should be mistaken for causation.
- Theodora Goss raises an interesting question — namely, does fantasy writing, with its made-up languages and grammars, present unique challenges for copyeditors?
- Peter David on why Aquaman is actually cool.
- David Forbes re-examines Frank Herbert’s Dune. It’s fascinating, not least of all for its glimpse at the original edition’s semi-ridiculous back cover copy:
A page of medieval history? Not quite. Duke Leto Atreides is moving from a planet, which he owns, to another planet, which he has been given in exchange. The Emperor, Shaddam IV, is Emperor of the known Universe, not a country. And Duke Leto’s son, Paul, is not a normal noble heir. In fact, he is so little normal in any way that he happens to be possible key to all human rule, power and indeed knowledge! [via]
- And finally, a fascinating look at Yogi Bear — and there’s a phrase I never thought I’d write — as District 9:
Yogi Bear is not a kids’ movie. It is a bleak futurist parable about humanity’s inability to accept a non-human sapience. It is also about a bear who wears a hat. [via]
Although you have to admit, with all the weird news of Arkansas recently, it’s tempting to look for correlations and common causes.
Monday various
- You know, I’m all for preventing the spread of AIDS and everything, but I’d pay good money to keep a lot of these people off Twitter.
- The New York Times‘ 100 Notable Books of 2010 looks like an interesting list. I’ve read — count ’em — one of the books on the list.
- I may have discovered a reason to use Facebook as something other than a Scrabble-delivery system: supposedly there’s a Monty Python game coming soon.
- Swede broadcasts music from his stomach. Apparently he was disappointed by the sound quality, however. [via]
- And finally, Scott McCloud on comics [via]:
Thursday various
- Alien’s Ellen Ripley almost played by Meryl Streep. Really.
- So apparently there wasn’t a time traveler at the premiere of one of Charlie Chaplin’s movies. This is disappointing on so many levels. [via]
- Harry Potter fans in India have been asked to stop kidnapping owls. That’s good advice, no matter who it’s directed at.
- There are two skating with celebrities shows in the works? Even one seems like overkill.
- And finally, “Hi, I’m a Tea Partier.” I feel like I should have posted this Tuesday night or before, but I only saw it afterward. Still, it should give you a sense of where political discourse is in this country these days. [via]
Tuesday various
- Paul, the World Cup predicting octopus, has gone to the great octopus’ garden in the sky.
- Sony will stop manufacturing the Walkman. In other news, Sony was still manufacturing the Walkman. [via]
- Further proof that science fiction is more about the time it was created than about the future: 5 Things ‘Back to the Future’ Tells Us About the Past. [via]
- Meanwhile, Realms of Fantasy closes shop. Again, and this time it looks like for good. I’m really disappointed by this news, not least of all because I subscribed in their recent save-the-magazine effort. It raises questions about the viability of print magazines in general, which, as somebody who puts together a twice-yearly zine, is something I’m quite interested in. Realms was a good genre magazine, and I’ll be sorry to see it go.
- And finally, kind of weirdly tying all of this together in a way: The Space Squid Cuneiform Clay Tablet.
Of course, it’s not a real squid…and a squid isn’t the same thing as an octopus anyway…but there’s something fascinating about a zine (Space Squid) “printing one of their issues on the ultimate form of Dead Media: inscribed in cuneiform on a baked clay tablet.” Maybe that’s what Realms needed to do. Maybe that’s what I should do with Kaleidotrope. It’s a funny and clever stunt if nothing else. [via]