- Peter Sagal on the difference between an opinion and a bias:
A bias doesn’t mean that you think that what a certain candidate says is idiotic; a bias means that not matter what he says, you’ll attack him. Or, if it’s a bias in favor of him, no matter what he says, you’ll forgive him, or simply choose not to draw attention to what doesn’t make him look good. You know your opinion after you read the day’s paper; you know your bias before you open it.
- Maybe it’s just me, but I bathe every day. [via]
- In case you were wondering: what happened to the Doctor Who companions?
- Original estimates of the untapped oil reserves in Alaska only off by…oh…about ninety percent [via]
- Amal El-Mohtar on a steampunk without steam:
I submit that the insistence on Victoriana in steampunk is akin to insisting on castles and European dragons in fantasy: limiting, and rather missing the point. It confuses cause and consequence, since it is fantasy that shapes the dragon, not the dragon that shapes the fantasy. I want the cogs and copper to be acknowledged as products, not producers, of steampunk, and to unpack all the possibilities within it.
I think I like the idea of calling this subgenre “retrofuturism,” with steampunk just one sub-subgenre of that. While, of course, differentiating the whole thing from alternate history, since that posits a specific branching point, a moment in history — the Nazis win, the South doesn’t lose, etc. — rather than an historical era. It’s only the ubiquity of steampunk that, to my mind, is the problem — insofar as this is a problem; it’s the fact that it chokes out other retrofuturistic viewpoints, necessitates a very specific and limiting aesthetic, keeps retrofutrism tethered (much like steampunk’s zeppelins) to specific countries, eras, worldviews.
If steampunk were just one type of story, rather than the all-consuming and defining aspect of retrofuturism, I think we’d be seeing less backlash against it.
science
Wednesday various
- Yeah, I think John Scalzi pretty much sums up how I feel about last night’s election results:
But as I’ve noted before, the GOP may have put a gun to the head of the Democratic majority in the house, but it’s the Democrats who said, “dude, you’re holding it wrong,†jammed the gun into their own temple, and then pulled the trigger. The most accurate word I have for my feelings about the Democrats right now is disgust; disgust that they could get elected on a platform of substantial change, execute on many of the changes they campaigned on, and then allow the GOP and its allies to turn those actions in liabilities — well, again, disgust is not too strong a word.
Dear Democrats: You managed to lose the House in historic proportions to a party whose strategy was to harness the inchoate anger of old white people so stupid that they don’t sense the inherent contradiction of screaming about a smaller government whilst cashing their federal checks. You are morons. Please find someone who can play this game and put them in charge of your electoral strategy, because what you’re doing now isn’t working. Also, henceforth, every time you whine about Fox News and shadowy financiers of the Tea Party, we get to beat you with a hammer. This is the political landscape now. Deal with it
- Not to knock a cure for the common cold, or the research that will have gone into it, but it seems to me there are significantly larger health risks that we face than sore throats, runny noses, and sneezes. Is the common cold the holy grail just because of its ubiquity? Is the idea that if we can cure that, we can cure anything?
- I continue to find the story of Randy Quaid and his wife sad and strangely fascinating.
- But at least Quaid’s just starring in movies I don’t want to go see. Some people divorced from reality actually got elected last night. It would almost be amusing if Rand Paul didn’t think there were any poor people, if he wasn’t now an elected representative.
Frankly, it’s like Scalzi also says in that post above:
And oddly enough, most people aren’t the whole package of white, male, heterosexually-paired and well-off. I’m puzzled that enough of you keep looking out for me, even when I really don’t want or need the help. Really, folks, I and people like me are fine. Take care of yourselves, please.
- And finally, the Monolith Action Figure. Zero points of articulation! [via]
Thursday various
- There’s water on the moon. What are we waiting for? [via]
- I have to admit, when people talk about Doctor Who continuity, I just laugh and laugh and laugh. Case in point, the tempest in a teapot over how many regenerations the Doctor gets. Russell T. Davies, who recently changed it to 507, says:
There’s a fascinating academic study to be made out of how some facts stick and some don’t—how Jon Pertwee’s Doctor could say he was thousands of years old, and no-one listens to that, and yet someone once says he’s only got thirteen lives, and it becomes lore. It’s really interesting, I think. That’s why I’m quite serious that that 507 thing won’t stick, because the 13 is too deeply ingrained in the public consciousness. But how? How did that get there? It’s fascinating, it’s really weird. Anyway, that’ll be my book in my retirement!
Frankly, I sort of feel about it the same way I do when I read arguments like this, that Stephen Moffat’s characters are all Mary Sues. That’s an interesting and amusing idea, but it sort of ignores the fact that he — and in the case of the 507, Davies — is creating the show. It’s not fan fiction, it’s canon.
And it was a canon that was ridiculously, horribly, gloriously, convoluted when they were both just fanboys watching it from behind the couch.
- Kate Beaton on Dracula:
Here we have Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a book written to tell ladies that if you’re not a submissive waif, society goes to hell and ungodly monsters are going to turn you into child killing horrors and someone is going to drive a bowie knife through your heart/cut off your head/etc. As you deserve! Thanks Bram! I wrote it down so as to remember it.
There’s a little more going on it the book, but yeah, she’s not wrong.
- Money Talks Louder Than Ever in Midterms. Looking at how campaign finance works now, thanks to decisions like Citizens United. It isn’t exactly pretty. [via]
- And finally, Terry Gilliam’s next movie? No, not that Don Quixote adaptation he refuses to let go of? A filmette for NASCAR.
With this and the recent Arcade Fire concert webcast — as well the opera he’s reportedly going to stage — Gilliam does seem to be picking some very weird, much smaller projects. Maybe he’s just trying to keep busy until some new kind of funding comes along?
Tuesday various
- I feel totally vindicated now: Study: Doodling Helps You Pay Attention. [via]
- Professional wrestler Mick Foley — who I know mostly as Mankind, mostly because a friend of mine once dressed up as him for Halloween — talks about how Tori Amos changed his life. [via]
- Stan Lee won’t rest until he’s created a comic book character for every last man, woman, and child on the planet, and then some. Excelsior! [via]
- Ever wonder how ink is made?
- And finally, John Seavey on Pokemon:
It’s a show about a little boy who runs around capturing wild animals, locking them up in a tiny cage, and then pitting them against other wild animals in brutal gladiatorial contests. Really, I don’t think there’s anything you could do to make this one darker if you tried.
Thursday various
- “Due to strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this game in no way endorses a belief in the occult.” A History of Zombies in Video Games [via]
- Restaurant Workers Don’t Stay Home When Sick, Study Finds. Not too surprising, but still: yuck.
- Tens Of Thousands Of Walruses Crowd Ashore In Alaska Due To Melting Sea Ice. How far south do they have to get before we accept there’s global warming? Utah?
- You know, Katherine Heigl’s reputation as a shrill diva probably is overrated, if not unwarranted, but I suspect most of her movies have bombed at the box office simply because they’re really, really bad.
- And finally, Unicorn vs. Narwhal [via]