October 2010
46 posts
September 2010
56 posts
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Amputations, acid gargles and ammonia rubs: Royal... →
Guardian article about the latest from the UK National Archives: journals of the Royal Navy’s surgeons. Will no doubt be of interest to fans of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series.
You can view the National Archives site too, with PDFs of the journals
“Drunkenness nowadays in the Navy kills more men than the sword – I am sure of it.” —Surgeon William Warner - 17...
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Weirdest generation-gap moment ever?
I made a David Cronenberg joke on Twitter today. One of my followers, who is significantly younger than me, responded with a reference to Eastern Promises, whereas I had been thinking more Dead Ringers.
It’s very weird to me that there’s now a generation of moviegoers coming up for whom Cronenberg is not necessarily immediately associated with the “body-horror” films that...
“He has underlings, too, including some blond chick who used to date the Dude and...”
– Liz Tells Frank What Happened In…: Liz Tells Frank What Happened In TRON
Loved this, but feel compelled to note that some of us are sufficiently old and had sufficiently peculiar movie- and teevee-watching habits to forever think of Bruce Boxleitner as Scarecrow in Scarecrow and Mrs King.
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rocketsandrayguns:
hangingfire:
Mad Men animated gif of the week.
If you watch this continuously for a few minutes, it drifts into horror film territory.
Kind of describes a number of episodes in this season of Mad Men, no?
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The Gibsonian Institute →
New blog project: a daily content aggregator of all things William Gibson-esque. I’m starting off with some obvious stuff—things cited in the Bigend trilogy, for instance, but the mandate for this project encompasses all things that could be part of a Gibsonian world, or have echoes of any of his books. (This requires a re-read of the Sprawl trilogy, and also another stab at the Bridge...
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Jankel Armoured Toyota Hilux →
Standard specs for the Jankel armored Toyota Hilux, from the brochure on the Jankel site:
NATO Level B6 ballistic protection.
STANAG 2920 fragmentation protection.
Uprated suspension, door hinges and door check straps.
Fuel tank protection.
Substantial bull-bar.
Manual dead-bolt system to each door (4).
50km runflat system.
Automatic and manual underbonnet fire extinguisher system.
...
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“Les Mis succeeds because it is spectacular Victorian melodrama. Nothing wrong...”
– Guardian critic Michael Billington, on twenty-five (!) years of Les Misérables.
And in case you’re wondering, I do bawl shamelessly at “Fantine’s Death” and over the finale.
rocketsandrayguns:
hangingfire:
rocketsandrayguns:
NOT MAPLE SYRUP
Or Mrs Butterworth’s either, for that matter.
Oops, Mrs. Butterworth’s is not actually maple syrup. I assumed it was. You got me.
Fun fact: there is a sugar-free Mrs Butterworth’s on the market nowadays. Chew on that thought for a little while.
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Emanata: I've Got a Little List →
In which Douglas Wolk lists varieties of comics that can go away anytime they damn well please. Such as:
Comics about ’80s media properties. Look, I know it’s only a matter of time until somebody commissions an ongoing Teddy Ruxpin series, but just stop.
And:
Any comics involving familiar fictional characters weeping over a real-world catastrophe. No, I still haven’t...
Outside Context Problems
From the Guardian’s liveblog of the Pope’s visit to the UK:
BREAKING NEWS: The pope’s astronomer would be willing to baptise an alien, he confirmed today.
Brother Guy Consolmagno, who is speaking at the British science festival at Aston university, Birmingham, tomorrow, said any intelligent creature living anywhere in space should be recognised as one of God’s...
“When you get to the real future it doesn’t have a capital F; it’s...”
– William Gibson, 9/15/2010
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International Klein Blue →
Well, it made me laugh. But computer monitors can’t accurately reproduce the true borderline-painful, eye-burning experience that is International Klein Blue in person.
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A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder →
A look at the field rations currently being eaten by soldiers of various nationalities serving in Afghanistan. The South Koreans have kimchi and ham fried rice. The British get lamb curry, and the French cassoulet. Americans have pork ribs. It all looks kind of terrifying, but Sweden and Norway’s salt cod stew is probably the most unsettling-looking item in the batch.
