- Firefly Meets the Muppets. Yeah, like any of you aren’t going to click that link.
- Amber Benson’s remix of “Under Your Spell” is all kinds of weird.
- Doctor Who recipes. [via]
- Kids: don’t sell your kidneys for an iPad. Got that? Good. [via]
- And finally, Alan Rickman’s classy goodbye letter to Harry Potter. [via]
whedon
Wednesday various
- The Monsters of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, As Drawn By Children [via]
- I would so read an entire comic about The Motleys:
Lurk was the muscle. He didn’t talk much, except about Joss Whedon.
The Mime wasn’t on the team, he just followed them around, as if it was really windy.
- An incredible story about twins joined at the brain. [via]
- Ursula K. Le Guin’s touching tribute to her friend and collaborator: Someone Named Delores [via]
- And finally, Science Saved My Soul [via]:
Tuesday various
- Thinking of the Past or Future Causes Us to Sway Backward or Forward [via]:
University of Aberdeen psychological scientists Lynden Miles, Louise Nind and Neil Macrae conducted a study to measure this in the lab. They fitted participants with a motion sensor while they imagined either future or past events. The researchers found that thinking about past or future events can literally move us: Engaging in mental time travel (a.k.a. chronesthesia) resulted in physical movements corresponding to the metaphorical direction of time. Those who thought of the past swayed backward while those who thought of the future moved forward.
- Gene Roddenberry’s original pitch for Star Trek (PDF). [via] I keep meaning to finally watch the original series, now that it’s on Blu-Ray, since I’ve never seen more than bits and pieces. (That way, I’d also get to read Zack Handlen’s reviews. He’s had some interesting things to say so far about The Next Generation.)
- Erotica for the blind? [via]
- You’ve got to give Sita Sings the Blues director Nina Paley credit for sticking to her anti-DRM guns.
- And finally, Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Game [via]
And then there was Saturday
Where did the day go? For a day I spent doing almost nothing, beyond going to the bank and the post office and then later for a long walk, the hours just seemed to fly past.
I watched this week’s episode of Dollhouse, which, despite a few good moments, ultimately just disappointed me. The whole season has kind of been like that. I think the show contains a lot of Joss Whedon’s best and most mature ideas, some truly scary and thoughtful examinations of identity and power, and yet it’s ultimately his worst show. I think there are a lot of reasons for that, not least of all network interference, but it’s difficult to look at it as anything except a noble failure. I’ll wait to see how the series finale in two weeks wraps everything up (or doesn’t), but it just didn’t work for me as a cohesive whole.
Enver Gjokaj definitely needs to get a lot more work, though.
I also watched District 9 this evening. I was worried that, after all the hype and endless discussion about the film, that I might not enjoy it. But I thought it was terrific, visually unique and truly intelligent, exciting science fiction. I’m sure it would have been somewhere on my “best of 2009” list if I’d managed to see it last year.
And that’s about it. I leave you with this important question I discovered on my afternoon walk:
That’s one way of putting it
Joss Whedon on the state of television today:
No, I think it’s absolutely… I think amazing work is being done right now. While I talk about Rome burning, I like Rome. It looks really pretty right now.