- So now it’s not “what the founding fathers meant” but “what the mid-nineteeth-century fathers meant”? Look, Iowa GOP, it seems to me that, if the best you can come up with is a version of a constitutional amendment that was never actually ratified, you’re grasping at straws. [via]
- Bloomsbury will e-publish a one-million-page Churchill archive. I’m imagining some lonely archivist shouting, “But it’s one million and one pages!” and being told to quietly get rid of the offending page. But that’s probably just me.
- “Carpe diem” doesn’t mean “seize the day“? Man, Robin Williams was a terrible teacher! [via]
- Man, more rejection letters should be like this. (Conversely, less of them should be like this.)
- And finally, first this, now this. I have got to start riding the subway more often!
advertising
Monday various
- Maybe you’ve seen these clever Old Spice commercials, or these responses to Twitter fans? But have you seen this terrific parody? Well, now you have. [via]
- I’m not always in love with Improv Everywhere’s “missions,” but this was pretty cute. How is it that I never seem to run into these things in Manhattan?
- John Sclazi discusses Canadians in Science Fiction Because, you know, there are.
- Also coming soon to Canada: Netflix streaming. This was part of the exchange deal for Tim Horton’s, right?
- And finally, last week I mentioned how this “I Write Like” meme that’s been going around was kind of dumb and inaccurate. Turns out, it’s probably also kind of a scam.
Tuesday various
- I don’t imagine this is going to end well — FlashForward fans plan to fall over and act unconscious:
According to Variety, fans of the show will assemble in front of ABC network and affilate offices in New York, L.A., Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta on June 10 and for 2 minutes and 17 seconds are going to pretend to be passed out—just like the 2-minute-17-second blackouts on FlashForward.
- Am I the only one who thinks “celebrate originality” is maybe a weird tagline to an ad that basically just repurposes the Star Wars cantina scene?
- I’m not sure I agree with everything Christopher Miller suggests on how to write a rejection slip, but I am amused by his contention that “rejection slips are the most widely and attentively read short literary genre.” [via]
- Warren Ellis suggests asking these important questions when writing:
1) What does that character WANT?
2) What does that character need to do to GET what they want?
3) What are they prepared to DO to get what they want?
- And finally, a fascinating profile of Haim Saban, still perhaps best known as the man who (curse him) brought us Mighty Morphin Power Rangers [via]:
At twenty, while he was serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, Saban made his entry into show business. He told the owner of a swimming pool where a band played that he was a member of a far better band. Saban didn’t really play an instrument, and he didn’t know a band. But he found one, and took the businessman to a club to hear it, claiming that he wasn’t playing because he had hurt his arm. He named a price that was double what he had learned the band was making, and then approached the band members with his offer and his condition: let him join. “They said, ‘For double the money, we’ll figure the whole thing out.’ †He eventually learned to play the bass guitar a little, but occasionally during the first few months he performed with both his speaker and his microphone turned off.
Tuesday various
- So Yoko Ono only okayed the Citroën car commercial to keep Lennon in the public conciousness? That’s good, because before this, I’m sure many people were thinking, “John Lennon? Who’s that?”
- Another from the fine line between irony and hypocrisy department: Sarah Palin Crossed Border for Canadian Health Care. Why does she hate America? [via]
- Having just recently rented or purchased some DVDs and Blu-Ray discs where this is a particular problem, I can totally get behind John Scalzi on this:
…if someone were to introduce legislation requiring home entertainment companies to have a “just play the damn movie†button at the start of every DVD, Blu-Ray or any other future movie-playing technology, I would call my Senators and representative every fifteen minutes until they voted “yes†on that bill.
- Charlie Stross on how books are made. [via]
- And finally, A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever [via]
Tuesday various
- This may come as no surprise to most of you, but Sarah Palin has no idea what she’s talking about.
- Benny Hill postage stamps too risque? Blimey! [via]
- Nearly 44 percent of Congress are millionaires. Sort of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it? [via]
- Smart spectacles aid translation. How soon after their introduction to the public, do you think, before somebody thinks to display ads in the lenses? [via]
- And finally, I have to say, McSweeney’s planned one-shot newspaper looks really cool. [via]