linkmachinego.com
22 January 2009
21 January 2009
[funny] Making Light: The true history of the Bush years … as told by the Onion. I’m Really Gonna Miss Systematically Destroying This Place: ‘Still, I have to admit, sometimes I think I could’ve dismantled so much more. The very fact that the environment still exists, that a mere 4,000 troops have died in Iraq, that there is still the slightest glimmer of hope for the future left in this nation—it’s easy to feel like maybe I didn’t do my job. But no, no, there’s no use having any regret. I fucked everything up the best I could and that’s good enough for me.’
20 January 2009
[rEDrUM] Finally Published: All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy by Jack Torrence … you can buy a copy at blurb.com: ‘If it’s nearly impossible to read, let us take a moment to consider how difficult it must have been to write. One is forced to consider the author, heroically pitting himself against the Sisyphusean sentence. It’s that metatextual struggle of Man vs. Typewriter that gives this book its spellbinding power’
19 January 2009
[London] Worth a look: London Shop Fronts … [via The Daily Chump]
18 January 2009
[comics] The Kirby Alphabet … from Roger Langridge‘A is for Ant-Man…’
16 January 2009
[comics] Grant Morrison, Batman and the Superhero Genre … another interview with Grant Morrison … On his recent Batman stories: ‘The big breakthrough for me was when I decided to bring Batman’s entire 70 year history into canon by declaring that ALL of these stories had happened in one man’s incredible life. He’s lost two Robins, seen Batgirl crippled by the Joker, had his back broken and his city devastated! What would the accumulated mental toll of all those years do to even the strongest man? And how would a well-organised and frighteningly-prepared villain attempt to take advantage of that?’
15 January 2009
14 January 2009
[people] Brian Eno on Twitter … and he’s tweeting Oblique Strategies‘Faced with a choice, do both.’
13 January 2009
[space] Go look: In the Shadow of Saturn‘The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet’s shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other…’
[health] The Daily Mail Oncological Ontology Project‘A blog following the Daily Mail’s ongoing mission to divide all the inanimate objects in the world into those that cause or cure cancer.’ [via Mondo a-go-go]
12 January 2009
[comics] 25 Great Things About Being A Comics Fan’16. At first you’ll like all the comics. Then you’ll get a little bit older and like only a few of them. Then you’ll get a little older than that, and you get to like all the comics again.’
11 January 2009
[books] 15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will‘Many people need desperately to receive this message: “I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.”‘
10 January 2009
[comics] Watching Dave Gibbons … one more interview with Gibbons on Watching the Watchmen. ‘… there was a misguided idea where we might do Rorschach’s Journal or The Comedian’s Vietnam War Diary, but I don’t think you need to see that. It’s much better if it’s hinted at.’
8 January 2009
[comics] Top Ten Lists I Did Not Make For The Year-End Wrap-Up That Every Comics Blogger Seems To Be Doing … from BeaucoupKevin(dot)com … Number Six: ‘Top Ten “Chris Ware, What The Hell, Man? Are You Trying To Ruin It For The Rest Of Us By Being So Fucking Good And Creepy At The Same Time?” Moments In Acme Novelty Library 19’
7 January 2009
[lego] Worth a look: Super Lego Sushi … [via GussetBLOG]
[comics] The Comics Reporter … Tom Spurgeon interviews Matt Fraction … On Grant Morrison’s recent Batman comics: ‘…using Batman as frame of reference for Batman. The gag is that everything that’s happened in the Batman comic actually happened to Batman, right? And what would that do to a human mind? From the bleak noir stuff to the bam-sock-pow stuff and everything in between. He’s using the whole history of the character to comment on the character as the character endures it. And to comment on the comics mainstream, and on heroes, and all that great stuff.’
6 January 2009
[funny] Let’s look back on the year to come … David Mitchell on the events of 2009 … ‘James Bond to commit suicide in next film: Bond purists were outraged by the news that the suave womanising superspy hero will finally lose the will to live at the end of the next movie, Die and Live Death is Golden Casino Gun Depression (working title).’
[funny] The Great British Sandwich … there are some odd layers in that there sandwich! …‘Help build the world’s tallest sandwich’ [via Mondo a-go-go]
5 January 2009
[london] Abandoned London‘Xmas morning is the only time that London is (almost) empty of humans – so a morning spent cycling around town taking photos.’
31 December 2008
[comics] The Best Damned Comics of 2008 Chosen By The Artists … Dash Shaw: ‘Acme Novelty Library #19 by Chris Ware This is a predictable pick, but Ware is the greatest living cartoonist. It says that he drew this four years ago. What the hell? The comics he drew this week are the best comics of 2012 and 2013. I’m calling it now.’ [via Forbidden Planet’s Blog]
26 December 2008
[comics] Archaeologizing Watchmen … Dave Gibbons interviewed on his new book Watching the Watchmen‘The second time around, I am amazed by how much thought we put into Watchmen, how hard we labored over every detail. But I think that is one of the reasons for its longevity. In comics, there are depths that don’t reveal themselves immediately, and the stuff that you might consider anal about Watching the Watchmen — like the notes where I plot the rotation of a perfume bottle through the air — might not be particularly obvious to anyone who reads it. But those who do will note the consistency, the reality behind it all that exists in great depth. It gives it a more magical quality, which it wouldn’t have had if we just made things up as we went along or changed it to suit the latest continuity. It does give it a feeling of authority.’
24 December 2008
[london] Evening Standard Headline Crisis 2008 … another years worth of the best of the headline boards from the Evening Standard – my favourite was: Police Arrest Batman

images of the evening standards headline boards
Click on the images for the full set

22 December 2008
[comics] Drawing Power … A “Prose Guy” takes a look at Graphic Novels and comics … ‘The most important thing [Daniel] Pink learned was that in America, we have a “restricted, constricted view” of what comics can be. “In Japan, you can get manga for how to deal with your finances, how to find a mate, cooking, history of Buddha, whatever,” he says. If you’re working in the medium, “you can do really good stuff, you can do really bad stuff. You can do sports, you can do documentaries. You can do gripping narratives, you can do cheesy narratives.” In other words, in the world of Japanese comics, you can do anything you want…’
[maps] Motorway Map of the UK done in the style of the London Underground Map … [via iamcal.com]
19 December 2008
[lists] Wikipedia’s List of Common Misconceptions‘Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet…’
[work] Revealed: Amazon staff punished for being ill‘[Amazon] Staff were warned that days off for illness, nonattendance or lateness would result in “points” against them. Any sick days, even if justified by a doctor’s note, resulted in a point against the worker.’
18 December 2008
[twitter] Jonathan Ross is on Twitter‘wondering what record I should play on first radio show . am maybe “You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone” by radio Birdman. Any thoughts?’
[funny] Periodic Table of Awesoments‘Aristole postulated that all good things were made of “win.” That was a pretty good guess, but he was drunk and probably also having an orgy. Modern day awesominers know there are actually 118 fundamental “awesoments” that compose all good things…’ [via The Daily Chump]
17 December 2008
16 December 2008
[life] Diamond Geezer on Woolworths shutting down: ‘Will nobody buy the 20 boxes of mint green Mingles stacked opposite the checkout? And don’t worry, because further inside there’s still a plastic rack of multi-coloured pic’n’mix. I suspect these scooped candies are a bit like the ravens at the Tower of London – when they’ve vanished, all is truly lost.’