Answers here, here, here, here and here.
The best answer remains Poul Anderson’s: because it’s too far to walk around.
Category: Humor and horror
Dinner time favorite
“Your red scarf …
Still life with Marx and Engels
Fred recently discovered Komar and Melamid. I first encountered them half a lifetime ago when they made an appearance at Wichita State. Their schtick then was that they bought and sold souls. They were particularly proud of purchasing Andy Warhol’s. The business wasn’t as lucrative as they had hoped, though, so by then they only accepted souls on consignment.
They came to Fred’s attention through their fusion of musicology and statistics. By polling, they attempted to define the characteristics of the “most wanted” and “least wanted” songs, and then realize the songs. I’m afraid that I’m the in the 28% that dislike the wanted song. The unwanted song, however, is an amazing hodgepodge of accordion, bagpipes, tuba, banjo, operatic soprano and obnoxious kids, and it’s worth 22 minutes of your life. Once will probably be enough.
Oh, yeah, Komar and Melamid are painters, too.
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Mr. Darwin is the son of a planetarium lecturer. He reminisces about the artificial skies here.
Dance and more
Let’s take a break from ballet and look at some other kinds of dance. Via Mark Sullivan comes this example of dance as a martial art:
Bonus points if you can identify the pianist.
Via Robert the LLama Butcher, an outstanding canine performer.
And there’s the dancing stormtrooper of Akihabara.
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One more reason why I intend to remain the last person in North America without a cell phone.
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If three women together mean “mischief,” what would, say, three geeks mean?
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An epic win for the Japanese: the Gurren-Lagaan Jack.
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Let’s get into the Olympic spirit:
December 5
Over at the LLama Butchers, Gary noted that today is Repeal Day. That does call for a celebration. Here’s Lindley Armstrong Jones with an appropriately exquisite chansonette.
Pre-holiday miscellany
Congratulations to the LLamas, who turn five today.
Congratulations also to Angus and Sarah.
Final Fantasy A+ (Via Shamus).
One way to handle a telemarketer (Via Ken the Brickmuppet).
I found a website that makes Flash jigsaw puzzles from pictures on your computer. There’s one made from one of my photos below the fold.
Update: A memory from my days in the SCA that I’d like to forget.
Continue reading “Pre-holiday miscellany”
Links for the extra hour
From the archives
Miscellany
Some odds and ends while I download Moyashimon:
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I’m not a fan of Star Wars, but this was uncalled for. (Caution: causes severe ear pain. Blame the LLamas for this one.)
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Here’s an alternate history story: if MGM had said “yes” to Bob Clampett in 1936, would the Japanese now be fansubbing American animation? (Via Aliens in This World.)
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I may be wrong, but as I understand it, the “sei” in “seifuku” is short for “sailor.” I.e., its distinguishing characteristic is the sailor collar. Consequently, I think only one of the outfits in this poll qualifies as a proper seifuku. (Update: I was wrong — see Andrew F.’s comment. Never mind.)
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I’ve added Yumedamaya Kidan to my to-investigate list.
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The next self-help bestseller: Aerophobics: The Easy Six* Step program to end your exercise addiction. It could be helpful in maintaing a proper otaku lifestyle.
*”’cause let’s face it, twelve steps is WAAAAAAY too many.” —SR
Without giraffes
Fred‘s current exercise is writing the openings to SF stories. The first one is here. They get worse, or better, depending on how you reckon such things.
On a very different note, here’a a haiku, courtesy of dylan, who recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of his weblog’s inception.
Resistance is futile
It’s like having to go through rehab without having a drinking problem.
(I’d explain why I’m quoting TSO today, but who knows who might read this.)
Tuesday morning miscellany
One of the pleasures of Dai Mahou Touge is watching Punie and Paya-tan, her mascot, instantly transform from cutesy and playful to utterly ruthless, and back again. Paya changes seiyuus when he makes the transition. I thought Dark Paya sounded familiar, and I was right; he is voiced by Jouji Nakata, who is Giroro in Keroro Gunsou.
I’m surprised at how little attention DMT has received, despite its being one of the better examples of animated black humor. Once again, if Steven hadn’t spotted it, I’d have missed it. Why has this been ignored, while Dokuro-chan, which you couldn’t pay me to watch, has been endlessly discussed and now has a sequel?
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Not anime, but geeky: U.N. Secretary General or Star Wars character?
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Also not anime but still geeky: A new idea for a first-person shooter.
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And finally, a word from Shunpei:
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Bonus link: Put down the duckie. (Via the LLamas.)
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Update: Congratulations to Avatar.
In April one seldom feels cheerful
An inevitable development
Truly viscous
The DM of the Rings reached its not-exactly-epic conclusion today. Shamus is now at work on another comic, Chainmail Bikini. Enjoy it now before the DRM kicks in.