linkmachinego.com
10 January 2002
[blogs] Digitaltrickery is back‘So, what’s pissing me off today?’
[blogs] Premium Blogger … as reported on Ukbloggers by Neil McIntosh‘Evan plans to start building up a premium service: in the next few hours, he’ll launch a $30-a-year membership scheme, which will offer faster and more reliable service. The free Blogger will remain, but other – quite compelling – premium services will be rolled out quick-fire after that.’

Blogsticker -- Veni Vedi Blog

[via kookymojo]
[comics] Marvel’s ‘Nuff Said … and the script for Grant Morrison’s New X-Men #121. ‘Frame 4. Jean has been swept into the ultimate original memory – Xavier’s DNA recall. Surprised, she’s diving down towards us through a 3-D explosion of swimming seed as it heads for destiny. The sperm in foreground have intricate delicate glass heads filled with coils of information. Jean looks like she’s diving with some exotic species of incredible luminous deep-sea jellyfish.’
9 January 2002
[interview] You Ask the Questions… With Nigel Planer. ‘Q: What was your most memorable Young Ones moment? A: The final episode, when we were on the bus just before it goes over the cliff. Rick says, “We are wide-bottomed anarchists”, and Neil is playing an electric guitar at last and wearing cool shades. It was that moment of elation, just before disaster.’
[cams] Webcam World — a Google Image Search for webcam32.jpg… [via Kottke]
[books] The Digested Read covers The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking‘Apparently, a large number of the many millions who bought A Brief History of Time got stuck on page one. Oh dear. I expected more of my readers.’
8 January 2002
[quotables] ‘We NEVER clean the toilet, Neil! That’s what being a student is all about! No way, Harpic! No way, Dot! All that Blue Loo scene is for squares. One thing’s for sure, Neil, when Cliff Richard wrote “Wired for Sound”, no way was he sitting on a clean lavatory! He was living on the limit, just like me. Where the only place to put bleach is in your hair!’ – Rik, The Young Ones.
[comics] Q & A with Grant Morrison from the Spinner Rack … ‘Q: What would you like to see happen in comics in the next 12 months? A: I’d like to see Alan Moore get his kit off for the front cover of the ‘Ain Soph’ issue of Promethea. Him and J.H. Williams could symbolise the journey of consciousness into the realm of naked apprehension and do a knowing homage to John and Yoko’s Two Virgins album cover at the same time. It would look really good. And who here hasn’t lain awake wondering what the award-winning creator of Watchmen’s tadger looks like?’
[blogs] Logo Envy…

Rachel from Friends... Feeling Listless


Check out Feeling Listless for a new logo…
7 January 2002
[books] Excellent interview / bio of Philip Pullman. During the interview Pullman is asked if we are missing out on magic in a world dominated by science … ‘Perhaps. I’m pretty skeptical, though. I think we’re far too superstitious on the whole. As for disgraceful betrayals of wisdom such as the pretense that there is something called “creation science” and we ought to give it equal time in schools with proper science — I’m ashamed to belong to a human race that is so sunk in abject ignorance and willful stupidity.’ [Related: Officicial Pullman Website]
6 January 2002
[wisdom] Fearlessness in Difficult Times‘We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder and more open to what scares us. We always have this choice.’ [via Wood s Lot]
[comics] Who Watches Dave Gibbons? — interview from Sequential Tart … On Working with Alan Moore on an ABC project:‘I can’t tell you much right now, although we have had extensive creative discussions about it. It’s not Watchmen 2, but I think we’ve identified what we do best together and I think those who enjoyed Watchmen will enjoy it.’
[film] Scott’s Corner — interview / profile of director Ridley Scott‘His mother died at the beginning of this year, aged 96, just before he started filming Black Hawk Down. He says, of course, it affected him, but not like his brother’s death, ‘Because – at 96 – you get into the preparation for the inevitability of the event – even though I was convinced she was going to last till she was 105, actually – she was really tough. I can’t even remember the last time she had a cold. And it was a very simple minor operation – and the operation was successful, but her heart gave up.’ There is just the slightest catch in his voice when he says this, which I imagine is the closest he ever comes to showing emotion. He once said, ‘As an Englishman, I’m aghast at emotional intensity’, and, despite all his years in California, he still hasn’t learnt the first elements of letting it all hang out.’ [Related: Black Hawk Down Trailer]
5 January 2002
[spam] SIMPLE PILL CAN INCREASE YOUR EJACULATION By 581%!!! … really silly spam. ‘Shoot up to 13 feet!’ [via Everlasting Blort]
[comics] The Rational Shaman — great interview with Alan Moore concentrating on magic and comics … ‘After Watchmen, I felt that I was perhaps coming to a limit as to what I could further understand about writing rationally. If I was going to go any further into writing, I had to take a step beyond the rational. Magic was the only area that offered floorboards after that step. And it also seemed to offer a new way of looking at things, a new set of tools to continue.’ [via I Love Everything]
4 January 2002
[books] Choke On This — an interview with Chuck Palahniuk … On his new book Lullaby: ‘It’s about a very burnt-out, jaded newspaper reporter who is assigned to do a five-part series about crib death, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. So, he wants to profile five different crib deaths. So, paramedics take him to, first, one crib-death scene, and he notices a library book that’s there, and it’s a cheap anthology of public domain folk stories and poems and anything that could be slapped together and published, and it’s opened to page 27. And the next crib-death sight is not exactly crib death, it’s a three-year-old, but it’s the same library book. And, it’s not open, but when he sets it on its spine, it falls open to page 27. Then the third, the fourth, the fifth crib-death sight, these people have all checked out this library book, and it looks like the night before these children died, it was read, what turns out to be an ancient African culling song, which was used to decrease population during famine or drought, and to humanely euthanize elderly or diseased or injured people in a painless, almost instant way. And he realizes that this is a spell for killing people.’ [via Feeling Listless]
3 January 2002
[distraction] I Know Where Bruce Lee Lives! … Fantastic Flash “Kung-Fu Remixer”. [via Grammarporn]
[9/11] What Did They Know and When Did They Know It? … excellent resource for conspiracy theorists… a long list of 9-11 related stories.
2 January 2002
[distraction] Fantastic 20th anniversary version of a classic arcade game — Pitfall‘Guide Pitfall Harry through a treacherous jungle maze. He must leap over obstacles and dodge deadly dangers while grabbing all the treasure he can reach!’ [via Fark]
1 January 2002
[comics] Cat Yronwode’s website continues to fascinate… The Mojo Car‘As this 2001 picture of the Ford Escort shows, we have progressed greatly in our willingness to abandon functionality for aesthetics. Godzilla is still top and center, but he no longer dismounts — and he is surrounded by other tall items — a Menorah, a Black Pocahontas-like Guardian Angel, the Virgin of Los Lagos, the Statue of Liberty, a head-nodding El Diablo, Merlin with his raven, two large Santas — and a host of smaller figures, including the Devil and his Grandmother, Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, large crowns, pyx and chalice, altar boy and altar girl, Buddy Christ, Visnu, Chango Macho, Santissima Muerte, Pikachu, and about a dozen Buddhas’ [Related: Yronwode Bio]
[9/11] Is bin Laden the Lord of the Rings?‘All that stands between us and this implacable darkness is a small band of ordinary guys doing extraordinary deeds in their unconventional hit-and-run style. Always vastly outnumbered, they never lose a battle and hardly ever a single life. Are they really that good? Or is it just because they embody the cosmic principle of goodness? Their devotion to honor, decency, and each other is exemplary. And they invite us to come back to the theater next Christmas to see them defend the oh-so-white city, where we all hope to live peacefully ever after. If you have seen the movie and followed the war news, you can no doubt extend the list of parallels.’ [via Wood s Lot]
31 December 2001
[blogs] If I remember one weblog post from 2001 it’ll be this one…

Metafilter Posting on 911


[by Matt Haughey on Metafilter]
[comics] January 2002 Previews from Comics Worth Reading … On The Copybook Tales: ‘What joy! This series, one of my all-time favorites, is coming back into print in an omnibus volume. Contrasting modern-day young men with their earlier teenage selves, this series explored growing up and the conflicts it brings, including the conflicts between dreams and realism and enthusiasm and discouragement. J. Torres (ALISON DARE) wrote; Tim Levins (GOTHAM ADVENTURES) drew. If you can only order one book this month, get this. It’s a must-read for any comics fan.’
30 December 2001
[quotables] What they said in 2001 from The Observer…

‘Osama bin Laden? Typical middle child. He’s twenty-sixth out of 51’ — Overheard in New York theatre

‘Replace capitalism with something nicer’ — Banner at May Day anti-globalisation protest
[books] Ellroy’s Kafka Routine — interview with James Ellroy … ‘The essential contention of the Underworld USA trilogy volume one, American Tabloid, volume two, The Cold Six Thousand, is that America was never innocent. Here’s the lineage: America was founded on a bedrock of racism, slaughter of the indigenous people, slavery, religious lunacy …and nations are never innocent. Let alone nations as powerful as our beloved fatherland.’
29 December 2001
[911 comment] History is back with a capital H — Naomi Klien on the End of History and ObL … ‘It’s an idea we’ve heard from many quarters since September 11, a return of the great narrative: chosen men, evil empires, master plans, and great battles. All are ferociously back in style. The Bible, the Koran, The Clash of Civilizations, Lord of the Rings – all of them suddenly playing out “in these days, in our times.” This grand redemption narrative is our most persistent myth, and it has a dangerous flip side. When a few men decide to live their myths, to be larger than life, it can’t help but have an impact on all the lives that unfold in regular sizes. People suddenly look insignificant by comparison, easy to sacrifice in the name of some greater purpose. When the Berlin Wall fell, it was supposed to have buried this epic narrative in its rubble. This was capitalism’s decisive victory. Ideology is dead, let’s go shopping.’ [via Wood s Lot]
[comics] Excellent interview with Joe Matt‘The scene in The Poor Bastard where the squirrel’s on my lap, I’m feeding a squirrel in the park and it climbs right up into my lap, and I’m yelling, `Get it off!’ It’s something that really happened, and I know it can be funny because my character’s part of me, but the only reason I would put something like that in there is, it sounds pretentious, but to me that’s symbolic of a relationship forcing itself onto me, and me not wanting it, or something.’
[panto] It’s Behind You! Oh No It Isn’t! Oh Yes It Is! [via OnLine Blog]