linkmachinego.com

2 July 2006
[photos] On D’Israeli’s Flickr photostream: A Plug Cyberman.
[wikipedia] My Wikipedia Contrail: Richard Belzer — random cast look-up during Law & Order: Special Victims Unit‘Belzer and Henry Winkler (most notably the Fonz on Happy Days) are cousins.’
3 July 2006
[shop] Forbidden Planet’s Blog … the famous comic shop gets a blog.
[comics] From Zero to Hero — How does Hergé’s Tintin compare to great literature? ‘…should we now claim, posthumously, on Hergé’s behalf, that in fact he was a writer, and a great one? My short answer to this question is: no. My longer answer is that the claim we should make for him is a more interesting one. And it revolves around two paradoxes. The first is that wrapped up in a simple medium for children is a mastery of plot and symbol, theme and sub-text far superior to that displayed by most “real” novelists. If you want to be a writer, study The Castafiore Emerald. It holds all literature’s formal keys, its trade secrets – and holds them at the vanishing point of plot, where nothing whatsoever happens.’
4 July 2006
[7/7] The Mysterious Case Of The Non-Existent Train Time — a blog investigating the messy loose-ends in the story behind the London Bombings on July 7th last year … ‘I have only one reason for starting this blog. It is to ascertain the facts behind the events in London on and since the 7th July 2005. I have made many attempts to ascertain a few simple facts (and therefore truths) about the events on that morning…’
5 July 2006
[wikipedia] My Wikipedia Contrail: Kipple‘Kipple is a term coined by science fiction author Philip K. Dick in the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. It refers to unwanted or useless junk that tends to reproduce itself. Some of Dick’s descriptions of it suggest an analogy to entropy. According to two characters from the book, John Isidore stated that the first law of “kipple” is that “kipple” drives out “nonkipple”;’
[kipple] More on Kipple … J.R.Isidore explaining Kipple to Pris: ‘Kipple is useless objects, like junk mail or match folders after you use the last match or gum wrappers of yesterday’s homeopape. When nobody’s around, kipple reproduces itself. For instance, if you go to bed leaving any kipple around your apartment, when you wake up the next morning there’s twice as much of it. It always gets more and more.’
7 July 2006
[7/7] Diamond Geezer on 7/7Aldgate, Edgware Road, King’s Cross St Pancras, 30. ‘…it’s just something I have to do every day. It’s just another train. It’s just another carriage.’
8 July 2006
[7/7] Seeing isn’t Believing — The Guardian on the 7/7 Conspiracy Theories … ‘”I’m not a conspiracy theorist,” insists Dunne. “I was just trying to make a cohesive, coherent story from the facts.”‘
9 July 2006
[art] Create your own Jackson Pollock … fun, simple flash app. [via Robot Wisdom]
10 July 2006
[comics] Steve Bell’s cover to The British CB Book from 1981 …

steve bell's cover to the british cb book 1981


[comics] Cape Fear — The Guardian asks if Superman is still necessary? … ‘Superman seems to thrive – at least in the movies – in periods of political conservatism or backlash. This is true of many superheroes, but particularly of Superman, who is not usually considered a rebellious figure.’
[comics] Review of Lost Girls — Blogcritics.org reviews a preview copy of Lost Girls‘Much of Moore’s work involves a critical transformative event that breaks the border between worlds, such as the genocidal concentration camp that creates his “V” in V For Vendetta, or the murders of Jack the Ripper seen as a kind of invocation for the 20th century in From Hell. In Lost Girls, the telling of sexual histories by his girls is a chance for them to escape old hurts, embrace old pains and enjoy their sexuality unashamed. Wendy, from Peter Pan, is a tightly wound Victorian prude when we first see her, but gradually opens to embrace her lusty past with Moore’s sexaholic Pan.’
11 July 2006
[bb] Meanwhile, in the Big Brother House… ‘After winning the tennis task, the house is furnished with lots of alcohol and a small sense of drunken bonhomie fills the air. “I know!” shouts Mikey, “Let’s play Truth or Dare!” “Yes! What a great idea!” shouts everyone else. There must be a box on the Big Brother application form that says: “Despite being over the age of 12, do you still think it’s a really good idea to play any drinking game with a title like Spin the Bottle/Ten Minutes in the Closet/Bap-Grope/Touch the Snake, or any other party game that will no doubt result in someone needing 72-hour emergency contraception? Tick yes or no.”‘
[books] The Myth Maker — a profile of H. P. Lovecraft by Michel Houellebecq … ‘Few beings have ever been so impregnated, pierced to the core, by the conviction of the absolute futility of human aspiration. The universe is nothing but a furtive arrangement of elementary particles. A figure in transition toward chaos. That is what will finally prevail. The human race will disappear. Other races in turn will appear and disappear. The skies will be glacial and empty, traversed by the feeble light of half-dead stars. These too will disappear. Everything will disappear. And human actions are as free and as stripped of meaning as the unfettered movement of the elementary particles. Good, evil, morality, sentiments? Pure “Victorian fictions”. All that exists is egotism. Cold, intact and radiant.’
12 July 2006
[comics] Long Roundtable Watchmen Interview with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons soon after Watchmen was released …

Alan Moore: ‘…if we have any optimism in [Watchmen] it’ll be valid optimism because it won’t simply be based on ignoring the nasty facts of life. To me, just in that last panel, in Godfrey’s last line “I leave it entirely in your hands” – that’s talking to the reader as well… I leave it entirely in your hands, how do we sort out this Gordian Knot? If the question is who makes the world? then if there’s an answer it is that everybody does. Yeah, there’s people that seem to be in more immediate power than others but really the world is an elaborate series of accidents, coincidences and unbelievable synchronicities that people appear to be in control of but… well, think about the events in your own life, the things that have made really dramatic changes in you can be traced back to deciding to pick up a ballpoint pen or not pick it up.’

[music] Javis Cocker’s MySpace‘Welcome friends, to my humble little corner of the Internet. As you can see from the photo over there I have been computing to my heart’s content for some time & now I want to share the experience with you.’
13 July 2006
[blogs] Meg on blogging and flying ants: ‘I’ve found the real point of blogging, the only real reason for keeping and maintaining a blog regularly over all these years. And you know what it is? The point of blogging is so I can keep tabs on when the flying ants come out in London every summer.’
14 July 2006
[games] Pac-Man Guide — advice and games patterns for playing Pac-Man‘Pac-Man is the game which represents everything that’s good about gaming (any kind of gaming) and nothing that is bad. It’s easy to grasp but hard to master. Addictive and stuffed with pure unadulterated gameplay. Frustrating but always having you come back for more. Never boring and always tense, even for the best players. Always giving you the impression that you can master it but never quite letting you get there.’ [via Do You Feel Loved?]
[headlines] Murdered – For Falling In Love … (more: Evening Standard Headline Crisis 2006)

evening standard headline poster board

15 July 2006
[comics] Rogues’ Gallery Runoff — a list of villians unlikely to turn up in future Superman movies … On ‘Capitalism’ as a Superman villian: ‘…the blatantly leftist political sympathies of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster have faded as Superman has become less of a rage-filled activist and more of a benevolent caretaker.’ [thanks Stuart]
[blogs] Why doesn’t Google invest anything in Blogger? — interesting post on Google’s lack of interest in updating Blogger‘Have they essentially decided to allow Blogger to atrophy and die? Are there no, actual, people at Google who really get (or have ideas for) blogging?’
16 July 2006
[comics] Rest in Peace Tom Frame — I’m very sad to hear news about the death of Judge Dredd’s Letterer. Mike Collins On Frame: ‘Tom’s no-nonsense, finely spaced, tall text is as much a part of Mega City One’s environment as Dredd’s helmet or badge.’
[comics] Fan Response to News Of Tom Frame’s Death: Judge Dredd – Speechless.
17 July 2006
[comics] Babycakes … disturbing short comic from Neil Gaiman and Jouni Koponen. [thanks Starky]
[google] Resource-Intensive Google Queries — Google OS Blog wonders if you can find search queries that slow Google down… ‘In 1999, the average search took approximately 3 seconds. Now most of the searches take less than 0.4 seconds.’
18 July 2006
[comics] Joe Matt Returns! — the Drawn and Quarterly blog on Peep Show #14 … ‘Last week we received the cover for Peepshow #14, and he promises that the rest of the issue will be here in a couple of weeks…’ [via Pete’s Linklog]
[books] Mickey Spillane Obituary‘As an author of pulp, Spillane’s guiding principle was that “violence will outsell sex every time”, but combined they will outsell everything. As part of the promotion for his novels he adopted a Hammeresque persona which was transparently an act. He once informed a British interviewer, “I always say never hit a woman when you can kick her.” When asked “is that the treatment you give Mrs Spillane?”, Spillane primly replied, “we’re talking about fiction.” There were three Mrs Spillanes…’
19 July 2006
[zx] Your Sinclair Top 100 Spectrum Games — a list of the best ZX Spectrum Games.
20 July 2006
[london] The Winner or Sinner Man’s MySpace Profile‘Most of my days are spent on Oxford Street with my friend the Megaphone (we are inseperable!)’ [via Diamond Geezer]
21 July 2006
[funny] A New Pope — a great viral video from Adam Buxton‘Coverage Of A Sci-Fi Ceremony In A Galaxy Far, Far Away…’ [via jwz]
22 July 2006
[food] Pepto-Bismol Ice Cream — Blogjam creates a unique hangover cure … ‘I revisit the Pepto-Bismol website, where are glance at the FAQ section reveals a previously unheralded paragraph: “Some people feel refrigerating makes the dose more pleasing to take, and that’s OK. However, you shouldn’t freeze the product.” Whoa! Waddya mean no freezing? I’ve just made ice-cream!’
23 July 2006
[morrison] Video of Grant Morrison at Disinfo.Con 2000‘WOOOOOOOOOW! Here we are! Right! Fuck man, I tell you when I was a kid I read Robert Anton Wilson and all this shit and here we are, we’re standing here, talking about this shit and it’s real! OK, I’m pissed and in half an hour I’m gonna come up on drugs, so watch for it!’
24 July 2006
[apple] The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, Aged 51 1/2‘Dude, I invented the friggin iPod, okay? Have you heard of it?’ [thanks Phil]
[property] Apartment for Sale, Manchester — an attempt to sell a flat using the blog format … ‘Looking for a stylish, contemporary apartment in Manchester City Centre? Interested in cutting out the middleman and going for a quick, private sale? You’re in the right place then!’ [via Feeling Listless]
25 July 2006
[comics] Up, Up and Away, Indeed — Wired News on Academics examining Comics … ‘Conference co-founder Coogan acknowledged that academia can be a fun-buster. “You have this dog and you love it, and you want to find out why you love it. You dissect it, and you’re left with this dead bloody dog on the table,” he said.’
[comics] Hicksville — the blog of Dylan Horrocks.
26 July 2006
[london] The Hunt for the Killer Hairballs — great article about the men who flush out the sewers of London …

‘Fat is the bane of flushers’ lives. Millions of litres, from half-eaten breakfast dishes, chip-laden frying pans or fast-food joints, are tipped into sinks each day. Eventually they find their way into the sewers. They represent the effluence of affluence. They are the graffiti that the contemporary leisurepolis scrawls on subterranean environments. Thirty years ago the Thames, unloved and abandoned, created few problems for flushers; now, the river’s banks are congested with clubs, boozy eateries and art-complex gallery cafés, all of them disgorging fat.

I wade through some of it at Victoria Embankment. It is at once crunchy and spongy, like putrid bran. Brown and white and grey: a pigeon-shit potage sprinkled with an extra top layer of mop heads and tampons. Flushers tell stories of accidentally getting a gobful of the sewer flies that feed on the fat or of metal grating giving way so that they fall into eight-feet-deep fat-quicksands; the mouthfuls of the stuff they swallow leave their guts raw and hollering for months on end.

But it’s the bouquet that makes their flesh crawl: “You smell it initially. You breathe it all day long. You pass wind and what comes out is the smell of the fat. You can go home and shower as much you like – even with washing-up liquid – but at the end of the day you’re still farting the smell of rancid fat. My wife’ll say: ‘Oh, I see you’ve been sorting fat problems out?'”‘

27 July 2006
[comics] Ghosts Of Stone — comics scans of Grant Morrison and Curt Swan’s origin of the Base of the J.L.A.
30 July 2006
[tv] Useful Bookmark: What’s on Film Four Today?
31 July 2006
[comics] Evan Dorkin – Life’s Great Rewards Part One and Part Two

a comic strip about life's great rewards