General

It was snowing this morning. Not sticking, except on the top of my car, but distinct white flakes coming down. As I’d half expected, my brain didn’t quite register the white stuff at first. It looked like rain but it was acting funny. It’s been a good ten years since I’ve seen snow, you see; a legitimate ten years. It doesn’t snow in San Francisco, it didn’t happen to snow in England when I was there in January a couple of years back, and I just didn’t happen to travel anywhere else at an appropriate time to see the stuff. ...

Every little boy in the world wants to be a rock star, a knight (or samurai, or anyhow somebody with a sword), and a pilot. Bruce Dickinson, former lead singer for Iron Maiden, managed the trifecta. Not just casually, either; he’s got a real job as a jet pilot, and was at one point ranked seventh in the UK in foil (original). I expect in a couple of years we’ll be reading about Bruce Dickinson, fireman. Astronaut can’t be far behind.

Aimee Mann will be appearing on Buffy later this fall. For the obsessive Mann fans like myself, this will mark the second time Aimee Mann’s music has been featured alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar. “You Could Make a Killing” showed up in Cruel Intentions, a sadly underrated… well, OK, not so underrated. I kind of enjoyed it, in a sleazy Wild Things kind of a way. And the director says charming things about Aimee Mann on the DVD commentary track.

Happily, an Alabama federal judge has struck down Alabama’s ban on vibrators. I haven’t yet read the decision, but apparently Judge C. Lynwood Smith, Jr., quotes Foucault therein. More judicial decisions need post-modern French semoticist quotes, in my opinion.

After three and a half weeks, my cable installation finally happened. Not currently recommending AT&T Broadband; they are very lucky that a) my landlord won’t let me get DishTV and b) RCN doesn’t go to my street yet. But hey, it’s there now and I’m happy about that. I also got to activate my TiVo. People say this a lot, but it’s an incredibly great invention, implemented quite well. I had my little TiVo epiphany while I was setting up some season passes (which allow you to specify a given show to record for the whole year). By the time I was halfway done, it was five minutes past the hour and I was missing Smackdown. But wait — I had Smackdown on a season pass, and it was recording, so I could just go watch it from the beginning. Superb.

David Chess is utterly brilliant. FROM:PRNCSS. L ORGANA DEAR friend. I AM PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA ONLY SURVIVOR OF THE ROYALFAMILY OF ALDERAN (ALDRN). I AM MOVED TO WRITE YOU THIS LETTER, THIS WAS IN CONFIDENCE CONSIDERING MY PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCE AND SITUATION. “Huh?” you say? See also this.

The National Geographic Photo of the Day (original) is absolutely great — your own little dose of National Geographic photography on a stick. I guess this is sort of the natural complement to the Astronomy Picture of the Day.

I honest to god am not sure why Below hasn’t gotten more attention. OK, sure, it’s a submarine movie, and we’ve seen one of those this summer. It’s a B movie, clearly. But surely Miramax remembers that David Twohy has directed two B movies so far, and while The Arrival kind of tanked there’s a rumor that Pitch Black did fairly well and launched some bald guy’s career. Or perhaps they don’t. In any case, a week or so before it opens, they released a trailer. No spoilers in the trailer, although it gives the setup for the movie and makes it clear that it’s a horror flick. I am so much going to see this.

You know how you can be muddling along in your life, never realizing there’s something missing, and then all of a sudden boom there it is? That one object that will fill the elusive hole in your existence? The object that calls to you, not like siren luring you to disaster, but like an old friend you’re meeting for the first time? That’s how I feel about this (original). Now with Mac OS X support.

Gaiman wins! Neil Gaiman’s essentially been suing Todd McFarlane to clarify who owns the rights to Miracleman (who is not from the Spawn universe), along with Angela, Cagliostro, and Medieval Spawn (who are) (original). The jury found for Gaiman and the trial now enters the damage phase, in which the jury decides who gets what as a result of McFarlane’s misconduct. This is excellent news in that it probably means we’ll see Miracleman reprints. Plus, hey, you gotta cheer for Neil.