funny

Randomness for 2/7

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1) Anthony Bourdain schooled by 10-year-old.

2) MANBABIES!! I had nightmares because of that site, so you should, too.

3) Available at Booksellers Everywhere Except Amazon. Macmillan takes out a full page ad in the NY Times.

4) A defense of Elizabeth Gilbert. I loved reading this. I’m not someone looking to read Gilbert’s books, but I’m also not all that keen to hear her being held to a different standard than male authors, or to be cut down because she decided she was going to live a different sort of life.

5) The differences between indie authors and indie musicians. Related: The difference between the music industry and trade publishing.

6) Stop motion with shadow art. I’m torn between my admiration for the artistry and the cheesy anime subject matter. Also, did they have to countdown the filenames?

7) Jerry Pournelle remembers those who lost their lives in the Challenger disaster. I almost wish I read his books, so I could swear never again. Almost.

Settle an argument

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There’s a certain movie that I think is Awesome Concentrate but that a certain co-worker claims is a piece of crap. I make no claims that it’s Oscar-worthy–it’s essentially a low-budget B-movie and the first ten minutes are excruciatingly awful–but it’s exactly the sort of thing I love.

For those among you who recognize the quote: “Don’t worry Dave, all we want to do is kill you,” [1] am I right, or am I right?

[1] No Googling! I’ll know.

Randomness for 1/28

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1) I’m not sure what to call this video clip: GUN FU HUSTLE (Bollywood version)? Whatever you call it, it’s delightfully absurd and inventive.

2) Cherie Priest: high priestess of steampunk.

3) Dear News Media: When reporting on polls, please keep in mind…

4) Louis CK — Being White. God, how I laughed.

5) UK government bans export of fake bomb detectors.

6) Ted Haggard’s wife Gayle stands by her husband/writes book. Ms. Haggard says that her husband confessed to a sexual encounter with another man early in their marriage. He asked for and received her forgiveness, sought counseling, and they moved on. Or that’s what she thought–later she discovered (along with everyone else) that he had been seeing men in secret. However, now he’s asked for and received her forgiveness, sought counseling and they’ve moved on. So that’s totally different from the previous time. (Actually, there is a difference: Ms. Haggard has a book with an Amazon.com sales ranking in three digits. I hope she’s squirreling that money away.)

7) Try to conceal your unbearable surprise, but the CIA agent who claimed in December of 2007 that waterboarding got worthwhile intelligence out of hard-core terrorists, disrupting dozens of attacks? Well, it turns out that he was lying. So much for the “It works. Period.” crowd.

There’s what you plan, and what you do

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I’d meant to post a quick update on the guy who body-slammed a moving bus Wednesday night (lacerations, broken wrist) but instead I’ve been distracted by http://www.peopleofwalmart.com and it’s endless parade of furry boots with hot pants, hateful T-shirt slogans, epic plumbers’ cracks, pimp outfits, too-short skirts with no underwear, cellulite, high heels with hot pants (on dudes), animal prints, hair cuts that make a mullet look like a ‘do from a 5th Ave Salon, costumes, bellies protruding from tiny shirts, schizophrenics who dress themselves, kids on leashes, clothes made from trash bags, people with monkeys (seriously, why so many monkeys?), cars with random shit glued to them, hair styles meant to look like a toupee, hair styles meant to look like animal parts, hair styles meant to look like obscene gestures, yellow go-go boots with hot pants (on dudes), and complete grownups walking around with fake animal tails.

I… I just don’t understand it. Is this my country? Are these my people?

Remember AFTER LAST SEASON?

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Remember when I posted the trailer for AFTER LAST SEASON, which is probably the worst movie to get a theatrical release in 2009?

Well, here’s a review from a guy who tracked down a copy. It sounds even worse than the trailer made it seem, if that’s possible.

Enjoy!

For D&D players out there

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The Skill Amongst Skills
see more deMotivational Posters

Just in case it wasn’t clear

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“I do shoot [guns], and I shoot them at things that can’t shoot back. And will continue to do that. And by that, I want to be clear, I don’t mean children.”

— Harold Ford

Domo-Kun Arrives in a New Neighborhood

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New Domo! Page_1

New Domo! Page_2

Context.

Randomness for 1/12

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1) Two Gentlemen of Lebowski (I realize this has been going around, but I collect these links over time, so just assume I found it first, even if I posted it last, okay?)

2) Readers send emails to writers. Heh. My recommendation: never email a grammar question to me. I’ll just copy and paste into Word and look for a green underline. Then I’ll replay with just a blank message, so you’ll think there’s something wrong with my email client.

For the record, I’ve gotten more than a few emails from readers, and they’ve been wonderful. Thank you. Someday I’ll get a snarky or nasty one, and I promise to post it on the blog, just as I include the slam reviews in my review round-up.

3) All of Great Britain cries out: “Atlantic Gulf Stream, come home! We miss you!”

4) Biosphere 2, falling into ruin. Amazing images. via James Nicoll

5) Early notes on the origin of Superman. If you’re like me, you find Jerry Siegel’s early ideas for the character fascinating. It’s so different from what it eventually became, even if he kept the “Man of Tomorrow” moniker.

6) How long will it last? Forget about Peak Oil. We appear to have reached Peak Indium already. Like the guy I snagged this from, I curious how accurate it is. It’s a bit scary, though. via mightygodking

7) How to be a class act.

Randomness for 1/6

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1) A cult I might join, and a manifesto that would do me good.

2) This is an article I’ve been waiting a few days for: What if the Christmas bomb had exploded? Did the Nigerian terrorist have enough explosive to bring down the plane? The answer seems to be “Maybe, but probably not.”

3) Lunch Lady Paper Dolls! Not your average lunch lady, either–it’s the crime fighting lunch lady from the popular comics.

4) Pride and Prejudice, told through emoticons. This is awesome.

5) The Venn Diagram of Cookie Status.

6) The difficult, difficult work of plotting AVATAR.

7) Screenwriters are trained to fail the Bechdel Test. “Ego and laziness – the intrepid supervillain team!” via Jim Hines.