cartoons | puppet wrangling

Monday various

Here’s a question: Who inherits your iTunes library? Maybe a follow-up to that: would you want someone to inherit it?
There’s a significant difference between shelves of books or stacks of records and folders of e-books or mp3s. There’s no re-sell value to the latter, for instance, either because of the difficulties of transferring the files or because of restrictions inherent in the licensing agreements we sign. So the only reason to bequeath your digital media is if you feel the person receiving it in your will actually will want it.
Ass-whooping on NPR.
In other news, they were still printing Nintendo Power Magazine?
Writing credits in documentaries: apparently a bigger issue than you might think.
And finally, Space Stallions!

More information here.

SETI and the problems with searching for alien life [via]
Grant Morrison Comic Bingo [via]
Scooby-Doo and Secular Humanism:

To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, Scooby Doo has value not because it shows us that there are monsters, but because it shows us that those monsters are just the products of evil people who want to make us too afraid to see through their lies, and goes a step further by giving us a blueprint that shows exactly how to defeat them. [via]
The darker side of Groupon. Apparently it kind of sucks for small businesses. [via]
The Myths at the Bar, Debunked
The harrowing story of What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447. Warning: you almost certainly will not want to fly after reading this. (Also: FAA approves iPads in the cockpit.) [via]
The AV Club compiles a list of 26 destructive fictional therapists. I keep thinking there’s maybe a book in this, but that’s maybe just my day job talking.
When William Gibson wrote, “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel,” did he really mean Fox News? Does Newt Gingrich want to make Neuromancer come true? [via]
Star Trek People Drinking Coffee. Does exactly what it says on the tin.
And finally, the lovely video for “In Your Arms” by Kina Grannis. After, I recommend the making-of video. [via]

Mark Evanier on celebrity voices in cartoons…and why it’s mostly same as it ever was.
Along sort of the same lines (and also via Evanier), the Cartoon Color Wheel. Where does your favorite cartoon fall along the wheel?
Nathan Rabin revisits Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip so you don’t have to. His review is a lot more intelligent and funny than the series itself ever was.
Dream is over for Virgin Galactic space tourist:

After waiting seven years to fly aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceline, Walton gave up on the dream and asked for a $200,000 ticket refund on his 75th birthday this past spring. [via]
And finally, the TARDIS Teapot:

It’s neat, but they’re missing a golden opportunity by not having it make the TARDIS sound when you pour. [via]

â€œWhen Itâ€™s Not Your Turnâ€: The Quintessentially Victorian Vision of Ogdenâ€™s â€œThe Wireâ€ [via]
The Content Farm: “Informative articles about every topic, written by people with a passing knowledge.” [via]
War Dog:

Dogs have been fighting alongside U.S. soldiers for more than 100 years, seeing combat in the Civil War and World War I. But their service was informal; only in 1942 were canines officially inducted into the U.S. Army. Today, they’re a central part of U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan — as of early 2010 the U.S. Army had 2,800 active-duty dogs deployed (the largest canine contingent in the world). And these numbers will continue to grow as these dogs become an ever-more-vital military asset. [via]
If Housepets Were Libertarians
And finally…

X-Men: First Class Title Sequence from Joe D! on Vimeo. [via

Is a jail in South Carolina denying prisoners any books except the Bible? [via]
New York under siege by Will Smith’s ridiculously huge trailer. More, with video of the trailer in (in)action here. It’s not in my neck of the Manhattan woods, fortunately or unfortunately.
I’ve mentioned before that WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show has recently started posting short exit questionnaires with guests. This week, there’s one with actor Tom Wopat, who says the “one thing [he’s] a fan of that people might not expect” is bluegrass. Tom Wopat, star of The Dukes of Hazzard, is a fan of bluegrass. Yeah, color me shocked.
Forget what I said here, though. UK book sales have sprung back from an eight-year (Royal Wedding-caused?) low.

And finally, Ken Jennings makes the bold claim that the criminal activities depicted in Scooby-Doo don’t make real-world sense.