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1 September 2005
[comics] Cerebus Art — Dave Sim and Gerhard’s official site for selling original Cerebus Art. [via Meowwcat’s Cerebus Links]
[politics] Steve Bell: Are you Smoking What We’re Smoking?
2 September 2005
[blogs] Paul Daniels’ Weblog‘So, what have I been up to? Ah, the wonderment of life in Show Business – I have been fixing toilet seats.’ [via Feeling Listless | Related: Mefi – Now that’s magic…]
4 September 2005
[comics] All-Star Superman Scans — looks amazing and scores bonus-points for Grant Morrison guest-starring as Lex Luthor. [via Sore Eyes]
5 September 2005
[drink] The 86 Rules of Boozing‘Unacceptable things to say after doing a shot: Great, now I’m going to get drunk. I hate shots. It’s coming back up.’
[mac] Blank Apple Keyboard! — yet another oddity on eBay … ‘This is an authentic screw-up by Apple – even their mistakes are aesthetically pleasing…’ [thanks Phil]
[comics] Grant Morrison on All-Star Superman‘To me, he’s a big folk hero. He’s been around forever. He’s like Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed and here I’m allowed to tell new stories of these amazing folk heroes. You’ve got to make Superman about a few things. It’s got to be about big emotions and big human feelings like death and loss and bereavement and grief and joy. Then you weave those weird sci-fi stories around those themes. I think those are the best Superman stories — the ones about human feelings but on a huge, cosmic, ridiculous, superhero canvas.’ [via plasticbag.org]
6 September 2005
[web] Dropload — useful website I use regularly to drop large files for collection by others avoiding delivery by email.
[comics] A Chat About Craft With Grant Morrison — yet another interview with GM … ‘If I’m feeling miserable, burned out and hermit-like, for instance, the bad feeling can turn up, as it did in JLA: WORLD WAR III, as something like the monstrous ‘Primordial Annihilator’, Mageddon. At which point I give myself a slap, send the Justice League in to solve the problem, and before you know it, they’ve won and I’m able to leave the house again with a smile on my face!’
7 September 2005
[music] A Lost Pop Symphony — long overview of the history of Brian Wilson’s Smile Album … ‘A contract signed with Warner Brothers in 1970 following the group’s departure from Capitol even included a clause that promised a finished Smile by 1973. When it failed to appear, the group was fined $50,000. Wilson had by then renounced the work as “inappropriate music” and derailed any attempt to revive it.’ [via Robot Wisdom]
8 September 2005
[comics] Uniquely Original — another Grant Morrison interview … On All-Star Superman: ‘I’m trying to think of it as the re-emergence of the original, pre-Crisis Superman but with 20 years of history we haven’t seen.’
[comics] We3 — a collection of Morrison and Quitely’s latest comic is now available at Amazon.co.uk.

» We3 Preview‘They’re the ultimate cyborg assassins; armed with missiles, poison gas, state-of-the-art computer technology and unbreakable exo-skeletons. The government has spent millions to fuse the firepower of a battalion with the nervous systems of a dog named Bandit, a cat named Tinker, and a rabbit named Pirate. As part of a program to replace human soldiers with expendable animals, the U.S. government has transformed three ordinary pets into the ultimate killing machines. But now, those three animals have seized the chance to make a last, desperate run for ‘Home’. A run that will turn into a breathless hunt to the death against the might of the entire military/industrial complex.’

9 September 2005
[film] Let’s Go To Birmingham — wonderful 1962 short film to download from the BFI … ‘Driver’s-eye view of the rail track on the London to Birmingham (via Leamington Spa) run of the Blue Pullman, to the accompaniment of Johann Strauss’s Perpetuum Mobile’ [via Peter Cooper]
11 September 2005
[film] Interview with Dave McKean — Guardian Online interviews the comic creator and director of MirrorMask‘Q: Can you instantly tell if you’re watching computer generated images in a movie? A: Yes, although the integration is sometimes so clever it is hard to be sure. I think some images that are unashamed to look fabricated can be fascinating in their own right, especially as many make use of what computers can do very well, creating complexity, adding complex systems to manmade simple basic building blocks.’ [Related: MirrorMask Trailer]
12 September 2005
[ukblogs] Belle de Jour’s 100 Days Without Sex — can the soon-to-be published in paperback sex-blogger survive? … ‘I send him a photo of me that he took on our holiday. My top was a little tighter than I remember and I look very busty indeed. “WHORE!” “Excuse me?”, I type. “I spelled that wrong, didn’t I?” he writes. “The noise you do when someone looks great.” “Did you mean PHWOAR?,” I type.’
[tv] The Church of Klugman — this blog wholeheartedly endorses worship of the star of Quincy, M.E.‘This is a brand new religion – a religion worshiping a man who is a legend, a myth, who brings a new social conscience to our troubled times.’ [via Progressive Ruin]
13 September 2005
[comics] Excerpts from Alan Moore’s script for Big Numbers #3‘PAGE 5, PANEL 1. Okay, now there are twelve panels on this page, with this first tier being a continuous background shot. I should point out before we get too far in that this page requires some technical information and possibly some visual reference that will have to wait until I can contact the guy I know who works in a Computer Shop.’
[tv] Warren Ellis on CSI: ‘[CSI] …has gotten genuinely odd in its old age. I saw a re-run from last season recently, and there’s a two-minute sequence of William Petersen sluicing blood off a body on a metal tray put to “Sfevn-G-Englar” by Sigur Ros. That’s all it is. Slowed down visuals of water washing blood off brushed steel. Twenty years ago, that would’ve been an art film. Now it’s a musical interlude in a major US network show.’
14 September 2005
[cola] Label Watch: Diet Cola — analysis of the ingredients of the popular soft-drink.
15 September 2005
[forensics] Television Shows Scramble Forensic Evidence — article on how forensically-aware criminals are trying to game scientists collecting evidence … ‘There is an increasing trend for criminals to use plastic gloves during break-ins and condoms during rapes to avoid leaving their DNA at the scene. Dostie describes a murder case in which the assailant tried to wash away his DNA using shampoo. Police in Manchester in the UK say that car thieves there have started to dump cigarette butts from bins in stolen cars before they abandon them. “Suddenly the police have 20 potential people in the car,” says Rutty.’ [via As Above]
[apple] Stevie’s Little Wonder — Time Profiles Apple’s iPod Nano. ‘…it’s clear Jobs is just happy to be here. To paraphrase Lou Reed, his company was saved by rock ‘n’ roll. “What’s really been great for us is the iPod has been a chance to apply Apple’s incredibly innovative engineering in an area where we don’t have a 5%-operating-system-market-share glass ceiling,” Jobs says. “And look at what’s happened. That same innovation, that same engineering, that same talent applied where we don’t run up against the fact that Microsoft got this monopoly, and boom! We have 75% market share.”‘ [via Technovia]
16 September 2005
[comics] Liberal Imagination — The Guardian on Liberality for All‘I ask [the writer of Liberality for All] whether he’s concerned about being interviewed by a liberal website like Guardian Unlimited? “You’re liberal? That’s not what I’d heard,” he says. “A friend of mine said you were like Fox News on the web. Maybe it was Sky News.” I suddenly imagine the sound of my editor-in-chief choking on her lunch.’ [via Venusberg]
18 September 2005
[comics] Warren Ellis Is Going To Have Me Killed. Slowly. — scans and commentary on a small press comic from Ellis done in 1984 … ‘For the uniformed, I am Warren Ellis, a rather noisy 16-year-old fan…’ [via Progressive Ruin]
[funny] British Comedians have their own version of the Aristocrats Joke — from b3ta.com‘A man walks into a talent agent’s office…’ [via Yoz]
19 September 2005
[comics] On eBay: Watchmen Original Art – Page 24, Issue 6 … bidding is currently at £1,850. [thanks Stuart]
[comics] BY WIKIPEDIA BETRAYED! John Byrne vs. Wikipedia — Byrne deletes most of the content from his entry in Wikipedia. Hi-jinks ensue‘Byrne discovered [his Wikipedia Entry] the other week and immediately set about to “correct” things. Here’s the problem. Byrne didn’t just want to go through to clarify points or streamline the entry – he wanted to dismantle the entire page. He deleted everything except for the opening biographical paragraph and the bibliography. He deleted every bit of information regarding his career stages, his interactions with fans, pros, etc., claiming that the entire entry was fraught with inaccuracies and lies. Thing is, they weren’t.’ [via Metafilter]
20 September 2005
[comics] Welcome back, BD — the Guardian profiles Doonesbury and has rare interview with Garry Trudeau‘Would he go on drawing it to his dying day, or might there be a final strip, a final frame, The End? “As to when it all ends,” [Trudeau] said, “there are so many unforeseeable factors; health, energy, interest – it’s impossible to know.” But when the last Doonesbury cartoon appears, it will be the one of the great social and political records of the 20th and 21st centuries.’
[comics] BeaucoupKevin: I’m the Goddamn Batman.
21 September 2005
[film] Actress Mirren’s Queen unveiled — BBC News on Helen Mirren playing the Queen … ‘Mirren, 60, is pictured reading news of the death of Diana in the movie, which is called The Queen. Directed by Stephen Frears, it is set in the week following the crash which killed Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed in August 1997.’
23 September 2005
[photo] Digital Camera Turns 30? Sort Of — MSNBC on the development of the Digital Camera … ‘[Steven] Sasson, now 55, never imagined as a relatively new Kodak hire in 1975 all the dazzling ingredients that have, in just a few years, put digital cameras in 50 percent of American households: fiber optics, the Internet, personal computers, home printers. His invention began with a 30-second conversation…’ [via Waxy’s Links]
24 September 2005
[tv] The TV Hit That No One Watches — the Guardian on Monk‘Working from a memorably high-concept tagline – “Obsessive. Compulsive. Detective” – the scriptwriters contrive all manner of amusing plot twists. Faced with a chaotic crime scene, Monk’s immediate instinct is to tidy it up. His fear of heights – his irrational terrors also include milk, crowds, needles, lifts and mushrooms – is no get-out when he has to investigate a murder on a ferris wheel. Or when he has to join the customary chase up a fire escape (after much torment, he pulls down his sleeves to protect his hands from the grimy rails). Part of the charm is how the series mines his condition for incidental humour rather than mocking it outright. Part of it is watching [Tony] Shalhoub, a consummate character actor, working with his co-stars…’
25 September 2005
[tech] What to do when a PC goes Wrong — nice consumer guide from Technovia‘If the goods are over £100, always, always buy on credit card (NOT a debit card). This gives you additional rights, as the credit card company becomes equally responsible for faulty goods.’
[comics] Dave’s Long Box: ‘I’m the Goddamn Batman.’
26 September 2005
[comics] Daniel Clowes Interview — the interview is posted at Suicide Girls so NSFW … On David Boring: ‘I was kind of making fun of the fact that I was taking so long in between episodes. I had these absurd cliffhangers in between each episode. Like the first chapter ends with a bullet heading towards the reader. Then the next issue came out like eleven months later or something. It’s the world’s slowest bullet.’
[tech] Skyfex Remote Assistant — useful remote desktop viewer for supporting Windows desktops over Broadband connections and behind firewalls. [via Yoz]
27 September 2005
[tech] Mini-Microsoft — anonymous Microsoft insiders blog … ‘Let’s slim down Microsoft into a lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine!’
[ipod] The Guardian asks: Is it OK to have more than one iPod?‘Apple has to avoid giving the impression that its products are built to obsolesce, that anything you buy now, however pretty and functional it seems, will be superseded. (Consider Apple’s “clamshell” laptops, praised when released, but comical now. Even 2003’s iPod Mini seems like yesterday’s toy.) This is why reports that the Nano scratches easily are a potential PR disaster – especially for Apple, whose designs target an especially anally retentive, perfectionistic personality strain, exemplified by founder Steve Jobs.’
28 September 2005
[blogs] Blogging vs. Dogging‘More people know what dogging is than blogging, according to a survey which suggests that Brits are not as tech-savvy as might be expected. Most metrosexuals will know that blogging about their podcasting is perhaps a bit passé, while flashmobbing is decidedly retro.’
[lists] McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. [via Kottke’s Remaindered Links]
29 September 2005
[comics] Tintin ventures into India’s rural markets — BBC News looks at the success of Tintin in India … ‘For the curious, Captain Haddock’s “blistering barnacles” translates unexpectedly as “bhadakte hue baingan” (literally, “angry aubergines”). “Thundering typhoons” comes out as “toofani lehren”.’
[food] What’s the best way to cook a giant squid? — with apologies to Squid Lovers.

“Famed Fish Chef” Aldo Zilli: ‘You would boil it. You need the largest pot in the world. Boil it for 10 hours with lots of wine corks to tenderise the squid – and I don’t mean plastic corks, I mean cork corks – then leave it in the same water for five hours to cool down. Take it out, cut it up in small pieces – you’ll need a very, very, very sharp knife. Soak the tentacles separately in cold, salted water for a couple of hours, because that’s where the sand is. Boil those as well; red wine is a good source of tenderising, so use a couple of bottles of chianti and leave to rest in the juice. Take it out, cut it up, then sauté in garlic and chilli and serve with coriander and a nice sauvignon blanc.’

30 September 2005
[film] Shining Trailer — a new family film from Stanley Kubrick … ‘Sometimes… what we need the most is just around the corner.’