Scooby snacks

Categories: Culture

Joshua Ellis writes on Taste Tribes to good effect. It’s also another demonstration of the slight gap between the political blogs and the social blogs; both create tribal effects but the binding is of a different type. Not a different nature, though. As always with tribes, it’s all about commonality. (Via Mr. Ellis.)

May 27, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Jung love in spring

Categories: Culture

My pal Rob recently uncovered something fairly bizarre. It’s a 1971 novel called The Invisibles, about — quoting Rob — …a two-fisted psycho-pharmacologist, a kind of Indiana Jones meets Timothy Leary type, who acquires psychic powers from experiments with psychotropic drugs, and then uses those powers to fight a globe-spanning conspiracy of evil, and also to have a lot of uninhibited 1971-style sex. The author’s other books include Society And The Assassin….A Background Book on Political Murder. King Mob was here. ...

May 17, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

June ends early

Categories: Culture

Mike has a lovely rememberance of June Carter Cash.

May 17, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

The original and still champ

Categories: Culture

Oh, sure, you can talk about your Asian dictator Live Journals and so on. But I don’t think that sort of thing even comes close to Julius Caesar’s weblog. Hee hee hee. (Via Brad De Long.)

May 14, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Well, that's no good

Categories: Culture

Mr. Sterling, titan of the Friday night prime time landscape, will not be returning next fall (original). Total cliffhanger: now I’ll never know if he was gonna get reelected! I imagine I will assuage my grief with badly written fanfic… No, no, I won’t do that. It is more or less being replaced by this (original): Kate Fox (Silverstone) works as an associate in her father’s Los Angeles law office. In addition to being a sharp divorce attorney, Kate has a knack for matchmaking. She considers her gift a hobby until a socialite bride credits Kate and word of her talent spreads. Soon Kate is juggling the conflicting worlds of divorce and true love. Her father Jerry would rather she focused on work — and her reluctant law partner Nick couldn’t agree more. However, Kate is determined to “spread the love.” Plus, a chance meeting with a handsome stranger (David Conrad, Relativity) may help her find true love in the process. ...

May 13, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Revving up the Engine

Categories: Culture

Hey, it’s nearly time for a new Neal Stephenson book! (It was nearly time for a Neal Stephenson book a couple of years ago, but since he’s been working on going to space I think the wait is pretty forgivable.) Quicksilver is a historical novel, and is volume one of a … of a cycle. 944 pages. Booyah! The publishing monolith has provided us with an excerpt.

May 11, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Surreal and wrong

Categories: Culture

Yep, Richard Thompson really does cover “Kiss” on the bonus CD included in his latest album. It’s actually not that mindbending; it makes me want to hear him play guitar on Prince albums (Prince being a not that bad guitarist himself) but I don’t think he improved on the fundamental riff in any way. Which, come to think of it, speaks to Prince’s guitar skills. Psychedelic Republicans scores far higher on the wrongness meter. I kind of want these, but only kind of. My covetous instincts are sufficiently slaked by looking at the pictures on the Internet. I would, however, pay real cash money for a neocon Tarot deck.

May 10, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

That'll be the day

Categories: Culture

Hey, Richard Thompson made the front page of CNN.com. Trival little interview, but cool anyhow. “I prefer to work autobiographical elements into the fiction so that you can’t see the join, like a well-made toupee.”

May 9, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Lucha monsters from the deep

Categories: Culture

Do not fear the giant robots, for El Santo is here! Santo Street is in the business of selling Mexican movie posters. To me, that can mean only one thing: masked wrestlers (original)! These are just so very cool.

May 7, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Behind blue eyes

Categories: Culture

The Great Sasuke continues to get all the good press (original), although CNN failed to post a picture of the new mask. No worries; as the premier provider of masked politician news on the Internet, I tracked one down. Very sleek, and I think the coat of arms on the side is an especially nice touch.

May 6, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant