July 31, 2006
Lyra and her dæmon moved through the darkening hall...
The His Dark Materials movie is taking shape. The award-winning children's series, considered the "anti-Narnia", is due on the screen in 2007, starring a actress found in open casting, along with Nicole Kidman (as Mrs. Coulter, for those who know the books). Unfortunately, the screenplay by Tom Stoppard has been dumped, though the new one appears to be to the author's liking. There is no official trailer yet, but there are several more or less painful fan-made ones. The series has also been made into a successful play, and a radio program. For those who haven't read it, an excerpt is here; and for those that have, try the interactive alethiometer or find out your daemon's name. Previous discussion on the debate with the Archbishop of Canterbury was here.
I was much happier before I knew these existed
EEEK! (YouTube) [more]
A new, friendly face on Fascism
``Friendly fascism portrays two conflicting trends in the United States and other countries of the so-called "free world." The first is a slow and powerful drift toward greater concentration of power and wealth in a repressive Big Business-Big Government partnership... The other is a slower and less powerful tendency for individuals and groups to seek greater participation in decisions affecting themselves and others... These contradictory trends are woven fine into the fabric of highly industrialized capitalism.'
Fidel Castro temporarily relinquishes power
Fidel Castro temporarily relinquishes power before under going surgery. His brother, Raul is acting as president and first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Is this the beginning of the end?
Only one link here!
116 or 118?
The Periodic Table should be familiar to anyone that's taken a Chemistry course. Like E=MC^2 it's something people tend to remember even years after they've forgotten everything else they learned in science class. Maybe that's why it's inspired so many renditions: From the edible to the wearable to the literary. Heck, for some it causes them to break out into song.
That's why I said "wasn't it"
Flight of the Conchords (video, "Jenny") the fourth most popular folk rock in New Zealand! More Videos (Business Time, Gangsta folk battle, Issues (parody of "Where Is the Love?"), She's so hot...Boom!, Albi the Racist Dragon). Audio-only versions of most of their stuff. Official site.
Triage in the Death Zone
"The situation didn't have any intrinsic calm to it," he says, "There was some excited radio communication and the roar of the wind and storm was also very cautionary. I knew it was in the process of killing people out there..."
Dr. Stuart Hutchison, a Canadian cardiologist, was a member of one of three expeditions climbing the southern route on Mount Everest in early May of 1996. Just after midnight on the morning of May 10, he and 34 other climbers crawled out of their tents on the South Col and started their final summit push. After weeks of climbing up and down between camps on the mountain; scaling the treacherous Khumbu Ice Fall and waliking the Western Cwm to acclimatize their bodies to the to the rarefied air at and above 14,000 feet above sea level, everything came down to the next 24 hours.
The day would end with 11 climbers dead on the mountain. Until now Dr. Hutchison has maintained his silence about his role in, and experience of, that tragic day on Everest. [more inside]
Dr. Stuart Hutchison, a Canadian cardiologist, was a member of one of three expeditions climbing the southern route on Mount Everest in early May of 1996. Just after midnight on the morning of May 10, he and 34 other climbers crawled out of their tents on the South Col and started their final summit push. After weeks of climbing up and down between camps on the mountain; scaling the treacherous Khumbu Ice Fall and waliking the Western Cwm to acclimatize their bodies to the to the rarefied air at and above 14,000 feet above sea level, everything came down to the next 24 hours.
The day would end with 11 climbers dead on the mountain. Until now Dr. Hutchison has maintained his silence about his role in, and experience of, that tragic day on Everest. [more inside]
Hollywood Squashes CleanFlicks
CleanFlicks closes up shop and liquidates as Hollywood wins content-rights battle. Should a rental store have the right to remove offensive material before renting the DVD out to its customers?
No, really?
Down wid da DRM! PSA via Eris!
Platform Security It’s time for a helpful primer on platform security. Also, our good friends at MoFi want to remind you: don’t buy anyone’s C.R.A.P.
Always sound advice, except for you coprophiliacs
out there. You guys are on your own.
Monty Panesar!
Why we love Monty. Just a few months ago, Monty Panesar was the struggling underdog of the England cricket team to some ("from what I've read of his fielding and batting, I think there's potential for him to outdo Phil Tufnell for sheer comedic value"), and downright butt-of-the-joke to others (Ponty turns around and appeals madly. The umpire isn't amused. "What the f*** are you appealing for?" he asks. "The ball," says Ponty, imploringly. "Can I have the ball please?"). After continued improval culminating in a ten-wicket haul (including the key batsmen) against Pakistan last weekend, now the bookies have the turbanator at 10-1 to be BBC Sports Personality of the year. ("Monty is a left-arm finger spinner for crying out loud. What is he doing spinning it a foot? Not even Danish Kaneria, the second best leg spinner in world cricket, could turn it that much"). Quite the turn-around!
Murray Bookchin dead at 85
Social theorist Murray Bookchin died July 30th in his home in Burlington, Vermont. During a prolific activist career spanning half a century, Bookchin forged a new anti-authoritarian outlook called social ecology, which sought to reclaim local political power, by means of direct popular democracy, against the consolidation and increasing centralization of the nation state.
Bookchin was a relentless critic of ideologically similar movements that he found disturbing, including the New Left's drift toward Marxism-Leninism in the late 1960s, tendencies toward mysticism and misanthropy in the radical environmental movement, and the growing focus on individualism and personal lifestyles among anarchists.
He was kicked out of the Young Communist League at age 18 for openly criticizing Stalin. In 1974, he co-founded the Institute for Social Ecology. He published more than 20 books and hundreds of articles during his lifetime.
A public memorial service will be held for him in Burlington, Vermont, on Sunday, August 13th. (Summarized from an email sent by Brian Tokar.)
Baby, You Can Drive My Car Bomb
The Poor Man's Air Force: A History of the Car Bomb Part 1 & Part 2. Written by Mike Davis, the two-part essay argues that the first car bomb was actually a horse-drawn carriage filled with dynamite that Italian anarchists used to blow up Wall Street in 1920. (more inside)
vote early & often
How To Put Your Thumb on the Scales of World Opinion. In the past week nearly 5,000 members of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) have downloaded special “megaphone” software that alerts them to anti-Israeli chatrooms or internet polls to enable them to post contrary viewpoints. A student team in Jerusalem combs the web in a host of different languages to flag the sites so that those who have signed up can influence an opinion survey or the course of a debate.
Say hello, too, my little friend.
Scarface. No, not that one. Or even that one. Fish [previously] and his roommates remake a classic film. Only problem is, they've never seen it. Well, two of them haven't. Revisionist filmmaking never knew what hit it.
Reefer Madness Undone?
"The system for classifying illegal drugs in Britain, which determines how users are punished, is unscientific and illogical and should be completely overhauled", according to a new report. See updated chart on the harm potential of various drugs.
Cool Film Blog: Your Humble Viewer
Perfection and Eraserhead. Discussing Singing in the Rain and Goodfellas with prisoners. The link between Pasolini, Blind Willie Johnson and Carl Sagan. If you like hanging out at the corner of Film and Word, you might enjoy spending time in the archives at Your Humble Viewer, a wide-ranging, well-written, funny and literate film blog.
Los Angeles in the 1900s
Los Angeles in the 1900s is a collection of newspaper articles & photographs documenting life in L.A. from 1900 to 1909. Some of the articles are funny, some tragic, all informative about what life in the very young city was like prior to the explosive growth caused by Mullholland, the Film Industry, & the freeways.
The Yuyu
The Yuyu (flash, 8.4Mb). The latest instalment in the Brackenwood series of impressive flash animations by former Disney cartoonist Adam Phillips (previously). Features music by Spider Stacy, of Pogues fame.
Chicago Tribune special report on peak oil
The Chicago Tribune special report on peak oil. Includes a documentary and reporting by Pulitzer-Prize winner Paul Salopek.
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