[music] Go listen to The Beach Boys: A capella (just the vocals of various tracks) and recordings from a rehersal session in 1967.

[weird] Building A Homemade Nuclear Reactor In NYC … ‘By day, Mark Suppes is a web developer for fashion giant Gucci. By night, he cycles to a New York warehouse and tinkers with his own nuclear fusion reactor.’

[tech] A History Of Media Technology Scares, From The Printing Press To Facebook … ‘These concerns stretch back to the birth of literacy itself. In parallel with modern concerns about children’s overuse of technology, Socrates famously warned against writing because it would “create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories.” He also advised that children can’t distinguish fantasy from reality, so parents should only allow them to hear wholesome allegories and not “improper” tales, lest their development go astray.’

[tv] Tommy Westphall’s Mind: A Multiverse Explored … apparently a big chunk of American TV exists entirely in the head of a autistic child who appeared in the last episode of St. Elsewhere (including Law and Order: Special Victims Unit – weird kid!) … ‘Tommy’s mind is a tricky thing to decipher.’ [via Metafilter]

[moore] Not the World Cup Special 1982 … A rare Alan Moore comic on football from 1982.

[comics] MEN KILLED BAMBI’S MOTHER!! … without a doubt the greatest Hulk panel ever …

[comics] The 18 Best Batman Panels Ever … a list of some great Batman moments from Chris Sims …‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned from two and a half decades reading Batman comics, it’s that that dude straight up loves to punch people.’

[tech] Go Look: Andrew Orlowski’s Photo Diary of a visit to the Vintage Computing Fair at Bletchley Park.

[twitter] FEMINIST HULK (is on twitter) …

[fonts] In Defence of the Comic Sans Font … ‘You see it in the most inappropriate places. I once read a leaflet about irritable bowel syndrome that had been written in Comic Sans. Now that’s just wrong.’ (Holly Combs)

[kubrick] Scorsese on Kubrick … Martin Scorcese on Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut and the Shining … ‘I also love the visions—the maze, the elevator, Nicholson bouncing a rubber ball across the vast expanses of the hotel lobby to kill time, the enormous golden ballroom, the red Formica bathroom in which Nicholson “meets” the butler. And, perhaps most frightening of all, the vision of an ordinary American family, beautifully acted, who’ve wandered into deep psychic waters.’

[press] Go Look: Builders Thwarted By Fish Eating Spiders [via twitter]

[comics] Variations of R. Crumb … a collection of self-portraits from R. Crumb … ‘Nobody understands… and of course… how could they??’

[useful] The British Isles … useful chart explaining what the United Kingdom, Great Britain and the British Isles actually are.

[blogs] He pioneered upskirt shots. Can we pay a bigger tribute? … Marina Hyde on Perez Hilton … ‘Yet increasingly, that old mainstream media/blogger distinction seems outmoded. It’s surely time to bury the lie that super-bloggers such as Perez are in some way outsiders. He may care to style himself as a renegade – the John Rambo of gossip – but the fact is, Perez is now as insider as they come. All pseudo-dissidents go establishment in the end. Once-idealistic rock stars buy country piles and whinge about paying tax, the likes of Perez start taking the freebies and decline to call Paris Hilton out for homophobic remarks because she buys him off with access.’

[funny] I’m Comic Sans, Asshole … An imagined monologue with the world’s most disliked font … ‘I’m not just a font. I am a force of motherfucking nature and I will not rest until every uptight armchair typographer cock-hat like you is surrounded by my lovable, comic-book inspired, sans-serif badassery.’

[comics] Evan Dorkin Interview … funny video interview with the creator of Milk and Cheese … ‘It sold like a hot box of cancer…’

[comics] Steve Ditko’s Superman … facinating pin-up of Superman done by Spider-man’s co-creator with hints towards his Objectivist comics.

[books] Great Literature Retitled To Boost Website Traffic … ‘7 Awesome Ways Barnyard Animals Are Like Communism’

[nyc] Uncovering the Secrets Beneath the Surface of the New York Harbor … great article looking at some of the weird things lurking underwater in New York Harbor …

“In the East River, at about 16th Street, there’s one of those old dining-room tables, the kind with a Formica top and the grooved metal bands around the edge,” says Speregen. “It’s standing upright, totally free and clear. It makes me want to go down there with teacups and set it up.”

[books] The 10 Most Harmful Novels for Aspiring Writers … ‘When I stopped plagiarizing Hemingway, I plagiarized Tolkien. It wasn’t the old master’s fault, and I got over it. But thousands of others created a literary Mordor: mass-market industrial fantasy, where the orcs, elves and dwarves march past like the North Korean army.’

[tv] Tasks people continue to do while being questioned by Law and Order detectives … ‘Dust a chandelier’

[comics] Four Color Process … lovely on-going collection of abstract(ish) images from comics books …

[funny] Amy Winehouse vs. Sid James … ‘Underweight, Beehived Hag – Uses Her Nails’

[comics] “Because These Are The Things That Will Save You” – Psychiatric Tales … Richard Bruton reviews Darryl Cunningham’s Psychiatric Tales: ‘…where Psychiatric Tales excels, where it becomes so much more engaging and emotive is when Cunningham breaks away from his documentary style and uses his experiences to bring us closer to the people behind his tales. Then the tone changes and the dispassionate observer/reporter becomes a caring, emotional fellow sufferer. It’s this humanising of the subject – transforming these patients into real people that elevate the book into something truly special.’ [Elsewhere: Darryl Cunningham Investigates]

[tv] Big Brother changed my life, but the time is right for it to bow out … Anna Nolan On The End Of Big Brother … ‘As I was sitting on that couch 10 years ago, all cameras on Craig and me, waiting for the show’s presenter, Davina McCall, to call out the winner’s name, two thoughts went through my head. The first was: “I could kill for a pint of lager”; the second: “How do they choose the winner?” I had not seen how we came across, I didn’t know yet that the production of this massive show brought narratives, drama, love stories and war into what had seemed an uneventful 10 weeks. Big Brother had created personalities out of all of us, and we were the last to know.’

[funny] A list of Great Wisdom: WAYS TO BE COOL …‘Helmets’ …

[books] What books are in the “MeFi Canon”? … interesting post on what books are mentioned regularly on the Metafilter blogs … ‘Twilight gets mentioned a lot. I’ll see myself out.’

[comics] The Periodic Table Of Super-Powers … a powerful new way of listing super-hero powers, abilities and origins … ‘With this table, you can easily represent your favorite super-heroes’ power-sets in simple, not-at-all-far-too-complex-to-be-useful formulas! For instance: Superman comes out as: OAFSISpVxVhSn.’

[comics] Go Look: Jus’ Checkin’ by Luke Pearson …