05.20.08
When comics are true
This is very true. When I started college, I was the “second row sleeper”. Since then, I’ve learned, and now and a mid-center bring it on type.
Literally. The comic is amazingly accurate.
04.25.08
A fun poem and it’s rather brilliant lolcatz translation
Just for fun.
Neil Gaiman, The Day the Saucers Came
That day, the saucers landed. Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and stared as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed to find what waited inside for us
And none of us knowing if we would be here tomorrow
But you didn’t notice it because
That day, the day the saucers came, by some coincidence,
Was the day that the graves gave up their dead
And the zombies pushed up through soft earth
or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,
Came towards us, the living, and we screamed and ran,
But you did not notice this because
On the saucer day, which was the zombie day, it was
Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us
A ship built of dead-man’s nails, a serpent, a wolf,
All bigger than the mind could hold, and the cameraman could
Not get far enough away, and then the Gods came out
But you did not see them coming because
On the saucer-zombie-battling gods day the floodgates broke
And each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites
Offering us wishes and wonders and eternities
And charm and cleverness and true brave hearts and pots of gold
While giants feefofummed across the land, and killer bees,
But you had no idea of any of this because
That day, the saucer day the zombie day
The Ragnarok and fairies day, the day the great winds came
And snows, and the cities turned to crystal, the day
All plants died, plastics dissolved, the day the
Computers turned, the screens telling us we would obey, the day
Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,
And all the bells of London were sounded, the day
Animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,
The fluttering capes and arrival of the Time Machine day,
You didn’t notice any of this because
you were sitting in your room, not doing anything
not even reading, not really, just
looking at your telephone,
wondering if I was going to call.
> I CAN HAS
u can has saucerz
fallin lik sno
bringin u futur
no1 kno what
> NTHX
> I CAN HAS
u can has zombiez
shamblin about
smellin lik deth and rotn dekay
they can has brains?
> NTHX
> I CAN HAS
u can has godz
bigger than big thingz
fitin the giantz
n serpent n wolf
> NTHX
> I CAN HAS
u can has fery talez
lvs n spiritz
u can has bootz
play ur part
> NTHX
> I CAN HAS
u can has NEthing
citiez like glass
skynet aliv
angels n devils
humanz be hearin u talk
timlords n yeti
> NTHX
> I CAN HAS PHONE CAL?
> I CAN HAS PHONE CAL?
> I CAN HAS PHONE CAL?
I’m thinking some bits of that first poem need to get into my quotewall.
12.09.07
Most horribly disappointing hollywood rip-off, ever.
That’s my take on Golden Compass. I think you should go see it anyway, just because of the theists trying to stop it, but rather, just buy several copies of the book. The movie is bad. Very, very, heartbreakingly bad.
More later, maybe, if someone bugs me for it. I shudder, though.
08.29.07
Stardust Thoughts
So, last week I watched Stardust, and I really, really enjoyed it. Sort of at a deep primal level.
The movie is your basic coming-of-age love story adventure. Not really terribly new or exciting, but very well executed. (Some of you may be aware of my belief that well-executed formulas often trump things that are new.)
This movie goes beyond good. It was satisfying. Like some kind of nourishment that I’d almost been missing.
While the movie itself didn’t really make me think, my reaction to it has been. I think that this movie is a prime example of what I understand to be Joseph Campbell’s monomyth (although, having never made it more than a chapter into The Hero With a Thousand Faces, I can’t swear to that.) Suffice to say, I found the story very compelling.
The acting was good, though not remarkable. The special effects were pretty low key. But the movie just made me feel…satisfied.
I did get a bit of intellectual satisfaction out it…Robert De Niro plays a pirate with a dual life. His public face is a blood thirsty pirate of the skies, and his private face is a soft, cuddly, cross dressing flamer. De Niro, obviously normally a tough guy, plays the part with a silly, gracefully playful overstatedness…just short of too much. It’s a great caricature of a character in a movie full of great characters.
(Incidentally, apparently Claire Danes must in some way look a lot like Gwyneth Paltrow, because both myself and someone else initially thought that Yvaine looked like her).
Anyway, I highly recommend the movie. I might even go see it again.
12.14.06
Imogen Heap Rocks
I just saw her in concert at the pageant in st louis. I don’t really do concert reviews, but it was a great time. She had two opening acts, first Levi Weaver and then Kid Beyond. They all do a shit-load of loopback to give them the ability to be one person bands. Weaver is kind of a emo/alternative/folksy guy…hard for me to really pin down, but really good. I’m gonna have to dig up his music online (I had no cash for the cd’s) because he’s got some songs with some lyrics that I just have to get. And then Kid Beyond is pure human beatbox extravaganza and what he can do when he layers his own beatbox with the loopback was fucking awesome.
When those two guys got done and we had a 20 or 30 minute break to reset the stage, I was really hoping that Imogen would find a way to work those guys into her act, and she did. About half her songs had them playing. It was great.
Sorry the picture sucks. Haven’t figured my camera phone out yet.
What can I say abuut Imogen heap? I have no way to describe her stuff. You just kinda gotta go listen. Actually, even better, watch a video, because its really amazingly cool to watch her sing chords by herself. I know its probably a simple loopbacky thing that isn’t that impressive, but it sounds sweet. And then she had this neat little thumb piano thing…not sure what it was…
Anyway, I’ll stop gushing like a teenage fan boy now.
But the show was good. If you get a chance to see her, I recommend going. Anyone. You’d enjoy it.
