November 2007
66 posts
“There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;...”
– Robert Service - “The Cremation of Sam McGee” Soooo they are saying it is going to be the coldest winter in 15 years. The first thing that popped into my head when I head this was “Sam McGee”. Pretty appropriate I’d say. “Talk of your cold! through the parka’s...
Lou Dobbs is winning. He’s not winning personally. He’s not going to start winning presidential awards or elite respect. But his message is winning. Month by month the ideas that once prevailed on the angry fringe enter the mainstream and turn into conventional wisdom. Once there was a majority in favor of liberal immigration policies, but apparently that’s not true anymore, at least if you judge...
“I made this half-pony half-monkey monster to please you
But I get the feeling...”
– Jonathan Coulton “Skullcrusher Mountain”
“Dan, having sent me a video I’ve already seen, as usual: “Not all of...”
– Twitter / Veronica
no
Using Stalin To Boost Russia Abroad Russia just keeps getting scarier. There is such a weird thing where the memory of Stalin is treated so differently then the memory of Hitler. As the Der Spiegel article says: It’s about as subtle a message as a scenario in which German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle were to advertise with Hitler and the question: “Did you know that...
Apple - Trailers - There Will Be Blood - HD →
This movie looks incredible.
TV Themes →
The funniest thing I have seen in a very long time. This wins the internet, at least this month. Lonely Sandwich: a series of well-known opening credit sequences to TV shows from the past, reproduced (remixed, if you will) with a slick-as-pigshit production value and the sharpest, most bizarre sense of humor i’ve seen since Wonder Showzen. rickyv
“She discovered with great delight that one does not love one’s children...”
– Grabriel Garcia Marquez “Love in the Time of Cholera”. I finally managed to read one of the books that has been siting on my shelf forever. I waited so long it’s now an Oprah pick. It was a much easier read than “100 Years of Solitude” but not nearly as awing (kinda a...
Can we please replace Richard Roper with AO Scott?...
From Andy Warhol to Lonelygirl15, modern media culture thrives on the traffic in counterfeit selves. In this world the greatest artist will also be, almost axiomatically, the biggest fraud. And looking back over the past 50 years or so, it is hard to find anyone with a greater ability to synthesize authenticity — to give his serial hoaxes and impersonations the ring of revealed and esoteric truth...
Ask MetaFilter | When was 'the end' of your youth? →
Portfolio | "They’re giving porn away. You can’t... →
Amateur video porn sites are crushing the billion dollar mainstream adult video industry.
“I don’t make racial assumptions. Remember when I asked that black guy if...”
– Liz Lemon, 30 Rock
Never March on Moscow
Probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn, this map… portrays the losses suffered by Napoleon’s army in the Russian campaign of 1812. Beginning at the Polish-Russian border, the thick band shows the size of the army at each position. The path of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in the bitterly cold winter is depicted by the dark lower band, which is tied to temperature and...
“As if the current state of presidential politics could afford, at this point,...”
– The DCeiver “The Audacity of Dopes”
The Ten Video Games That Should Be Movies (and the... →
10. Duck Hunt Director: Wes Anderson The pitch: An aging paterfamilias (Bill Murray, probably) seeks to reconnect with his adult sons (Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, definitely) on a duck-hunting expedition through Europe in this meticulously constructed dramedy. The family bickers while pursuing increasingly speedy waterfowl and are occasionally mocked by an unnaturally critical cocker...
“I needed really badly at this point in my life to see a mixed-race, same-sex...”
– Steve Earle on The Hour, talking about moving to New York from Nashville.
“Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is...”
– Andrew Sullivan “Goodbye to All That”
Globe and Mail | Tasered Man's Last Moments →
WTF Canada!!!??? The CBC just did an time-line/interview story on this… incredibly disturbing. From the cops to the airport staff, no one tried to help this guy or his mother for 10 HOURS. Shit will hit the fan for the RMCP officers at the very least as their actions were all captured on video. Four of the them surrounded and twice tasered a unarmed and non-resisting man, this all taking...
slacktivist: Best practices - How do you respond... →
Great discussion in the comments. “Here’s one thing about being a white guy: You hear a lot of “private” talk from other white guys who assume you’re on the same side of the fence as they are and feel free to start spewing”
Orcinus | Remembrance Day →
Interesting look at Remembrance Day and Veterans Day. I’m not sure about the comparisons, but I do think that the Canadian date is well done, with uncommon tact.
“But basically out of all the ridiculous religion stories that are greatly,...”
– Trey Parker on a Nightline interview with Jake Tapper. (via BoringLoser)
box of Jack » Oh Japan, I have a crush on you →
Bilingual puns
Q: Did Herr Beethoven write ten symphonies? A: Nein. Q: According to Sigmund Freud, what comes between fear and sex? A: Fünf. Wikipedia | Bilingual Puns (via stumblng and AATW)
Hey! You! Stop kicking my leg
Nina I can be your boyfriend so you can stay with your girlfriend Your father is a sweet old man but it is hard for him to understand that you wanna love a woman Nina I can be your boyfriend if it puts an end to all this nonsense First time I see you in Berlin and you don’t tell me anything until outside your dad’s apartment Oh God, Jesus Christ I try to focus on your eyes...
“Most of you knew me long before anyone called me Darth Vader, I’ve been...”
– Dick Cheney
“This is similar to my works in that anyone who reads it is sure to be an asshole...”
– Ayn Rand, in her fake blurb on the back of America the Book.
Ask MetaFilter | What book is the opposite of... →
Great question. Works by Dostoyevsky seem like the best answer(s) but I also enjoyed this from the comments: People, the opposite of Atlas Shrugged is not a good book. It’s another bad book but from the opposite political spectrum.
Canadiana (via ffffound.com)
Bluejake - photos from a abandoned NY Central Rail... →
“One of the things our grandchildren will find quaintest about us is that we...”
– Wiliam Gibson (who coined the word “cyberspace”) (via AZspot) Wow I need to read more Gibson. Love this.
No Country for Old Men has a 94 on metacritic. →
“Sunday Morning Fantasy #27 looks like this: Park Slope, Brooklyn. I am reading...”
– Mindy Kaling (writer/actor on The Office) in her awesome blog. She says that every woman has “a couple dozen sunday morning fantasies”. 