“Wired editor Chris Andersen was the talk of the book biz yesterday, due to the too-ironic-to-believe revelation that his forthcoming book Free: The Future of a Radical Price (one of those only-in-big-publishing projects: a $26.99 hardcover that talks about things such as information wanting to be free) was riddled with text Andersen apparently lifted from other texts … for free.
“It started with a heads up in the Virginia Quarterly Review by Waldo Jaquith, who said he’d been sent a review copy of the book, which pubs on July 7, and ‘discovered almost a dozen passages that are reproduced nearly verbatim from uncredited sources…. Most of the passages, but not all, come from Wikipedia.’ It’s a thorough job, even including thumbnails comparing texts side-by-side.” Chris Anderson whacked by long tail, by Dennis Johnson, Moby Lives, June 24, 2009
I have been blessed to have not seen a Disney feature animation since Jungle Book, and as far as I knew I wasn’t missing anything.
I was missing this:
I can’t believe Disney made this. It has Elvis songs in it. It’s brilliant. I can’t believe Disney made it. Why don’t they make more like it? They could change the world for the better with stuff like this.
Oh well. I’ll always have Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, and the king of the swingers, Louie Prima. And now I have Lilo and Stitch: Elvis, surfing and “Pudge controls the weather.” Oh Margaret! Disney, ya bastards, I can’t even hate you properly anymore.
“It’s Japan Day here on Bitterwallet, which means we’ve got this story and possibly another one later on that heralds from the alien world of Pachinko, the original Hole In The Wall (minus Dale Winton) and vending machines filled with schoolgirl knickers.
“Here are a couple of ads for Space Shower TV, Japan’s largest cable/satellite music channel. The first one is utterly, utterly, UTTERLY off the map and as we can’t describe it, we’re not even going to bother trying. Just watch it.
“Meanwhile, the second ad is just your typical tale of war and peace among inanimate objects in an everyday kitchen. Watch it also. Then watch the first one again. But not in the three hours that immediately precede your bedtime. That might not be so good for you.” Commercial Break: Maybe the most deranged ad we’ve ever seen, by Andy Dawson, Bitter Wallet, June 18, 2009
Bitter Wallet is fast becoming my favorite “fun” blog.
“It’s Man Monday here at Deals Of The Day and we’ve got a whole host of bargains that will help you feel like a rugged, rough, tough, todger-waving bloke. Just like that Jason Statham, that David Walliams or er, that Alan Carr.
“The bargains are all direct from the forums at HotUKDeals, although we overheard some bloke going on about them while we were snorting up some A-grade Columbian off a model’s back in Tizer’s nightclub in Nuneaton at 1.45am this morning. Raaarrrrgggh!” HotUKDeals Of The Day – Monday 15th June, by Andy Dawson, Bitterwallet, June 15, 2009
Check the sidebar or the J LHLS Twitter page for updates from Linda Yau, Jilly Gee, and Rachel Livingston at Book Expo in New York. We’re Twitterfied, all right. Please pass this along to any Book Expo watchers. There will be a full-on convention report in the future, but this Twitter thing is cool for this kind of event.
For those of you wondering what the hell is going on in California:
“Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, Chair of the Budget Committee, spells out slowly for everyone the structural problems and false assertions about the California budget process.”
There were many things I liked about the new ST:TOS movie, mainly the score, but I also like this explanation a lot:
“I’ve been hearing for years that Star Trek, unlike a lot of other space epics, used futuristic situations at metaphors for contemporary issues. And so it is with this movie, which I interpret as a roman a clef exploration of the twinks vs. bears conflict within the gay community.
“No, seriously. It’s so obvious.
“In case you’re not familiar with the differing camps, twinks are the sort of gay person familiar to television audiences: young, fair, slender, with a fondness for form-fitting clothing and hair products. Twinks have taken over all the best-friend roles that used to go to actresses like Eve Arden.
“Bears, on the other hand, are seldom represented in gay media and certainly never show up in mainstream media. Bears tend to be older, rougher, hairier, and heavier, with a fondness for tattoos, stout boots, and other trappings of untamed masculinity. Bears don’t appear in straight television or film because straight male executives can’t handle the idea of gay men who could kick the crap out of them.
“In Star Trek, the twinks are all aboard the Enterprise, along with their signature companion: a sexy, sassy female best friend. They’re all wearing the same labels. The ship is new and exclusive, with custom retro furniture and perfect lighting–the de rigueur elements of a twink nightclub.
“They are fighting the bears–thinly disguised as the Romulans–led by a pugnacious leather daddy named Nero, who struts around brandishing his gigantic staff. Aside from a nasty case of cauliflower ear, Nero is a prime candidate to get his own calendar from Colt Studios.
“Nero’s ship, the Narada, is black and spiky on the outside. Inside, it’s all shadowy corners and well-worn industrial fittings, with no women in sight–the spitting image of your typical corner leather bar.” Do Gay Martians Have the Right to Marry?, by Franklin, The Panopticon, May 13, 2009
Thank you, Franklin, thank you. I feel like I’ve been waiting all my life for that explanation and I’m so glad I lived long enough to get it.
“4. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum
“Country: Dubai
“As the current crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh is the first in line to be the city’s next Emir. The prince moved up two spots this year and is the only young royal to surpass a British royal according to our measure of influence. He’s known as a leader, as the chairman of the Dubai Executive Council and the president of the city’s Council and Autism Centre, and as a poet.”
And, of course, he’s Number 4. Yes, yes, the poetry thing is nice, too.
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Moving with unusual speed, the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation to recoup most of the $165 million in retention bonuses paid to American International Group Inc employees.
“Responding quickly to public outrage over the bonuses after the giant insurer received government bailouts of up to $180 billion, the House voted 328-93 to approve a 90 percent tax on bonuses for some executives at companies getting federal aid.
“The tax would apply to executives with incomes over $250,000 who worked for companies that got at least $5 billion in government aid. That could ensnare others getting federal help, such as mortgage financing company Fannie Mae.” House votes to recoup bonuses from bailed-out firms, by Jeremy Pelofsky and Susan Cornwell, Reuters, March 19, 2009
“The test is: Give one of the expensive and much praised pencils to a schoolboy for a week or two and see what’s left of it afterwards. I didn’t expect any of them to survive for long. In my head was the picture of the Charge of the Light Brigade….
Actually, I’m going to be very bad and link to blogs that were published in the Journal of Bloglandia. There were some repeat authors in v1, issue 2, so this list is a little smaller, but the issue was just as big.
1. A deleted blog: proof positive that J Bloglandia is needed because without it you’d be missing this lovely essay*. Unless Anne set up shop somewhere else and I haven’t heard about it. Oh well, blogs come and blogs go, and I’m on a mission to get as many readable, entertaining, educational, and enjoyable blog essays as I can in the Journal of Bloglandia.
Only the parts on the boat and Skull Island are good, occasionally great.
The parts in New York mostly suck. Except when Kong sees the man he hates most in the world and tears up the theater. I liked that part.
Adrian Brody and Jack Black were annoyingly miscast. Especially when Jack was supposed to be saying something serious and I kept waiting for a punchline (that never came).
Where is Naomi Watts’ Oscar? She was great. Especially when you consider how much time she had to spend acting to a blue (green?) screen. There should be a special award for that – just double the usual awards and then have ones for above and beyond the call of duty. AND she can juggle.
The straps on her slip, the one she wears during the whole Kong-on-the-island section, must be made of some kind of titanium/aluminum mesh because I’ve had those kind of straps snap with considerably less mauling.
Also, based on the way she was tied up, her shoulders should have been at least dislocated, if her arms weren’t completely torn out of their sockets, when Kong grabs her from the altar.
Yes, this King Kong creature is great, no one would argue with that. Sappy, sometimes goofy, yes, but otherwise no one would care when he falls off the Empire State Building and dies. Oh no, I told you the ending, sorry.
After he grabs the blond, the first time he stops, and right before she stabs him with her necklace, what is Kong doing swinging her around like that? I’ve watched it several times and I’m still stumped.
The giant bug attack holds up over repeated viewings. The penis denta (denti?) slugs/leeches/bugs/whatever they were especially. When I saw it in the theater, the person I was with had to leave the room until it was over. It’s becoming one of my favorite scenes, really.
The dinosaur stampede in the canyon was pretty good, too.
Thomas Kretschmann, Andy Serkis, and Evan Parke were great.
There’s really no one in this story to hate whole heartedly. The vain leading man was a candidate, but even he had a heroic and redeeming moment.
I would have liked to have known more about the Skull Islanders than was in this picture. If this story must be remade, let’s make it about the Skull Islanders next time. There are ruins on the other side of the big wall, how advanced were the inhabitants and was Kong the only reason the structures outside the big wall were abandoned? Also, why have a giant wall with a giant door if giants weren’t coming and going through that door? How is the loss of Kong going to impact their lives? Why can’t we have this story told where the movie crew’s ship visit and Kong snatching are incidental to the story? Possibly I think about these things too much, but that’s a film I’d happy pay LA prices to see.
The Skull Islander pole vaulting or poling or whatever it’s called his way across the rocks to the ship was awesome. I’m telling you, there’s much more than we get to know about the inhabitants of Skull Island. (There’s also got to be a fantasy novel in this, somebody please write it. We’ve had “The Wind Done Gone,” where is “Kong with the Wind”? Thank you in advance.)
In Kong’s cave, there seems to be three (four?) skeletons of a previous Kongs. This makes me wonder: where do little Kongs come from? Are there female Kongs somewhere?
Thomas Kretschmann, as the ship’s captain, would have been a better romantic lead than Adrian Brody. Nothing against A Brody, but, in my opinion, he was just one actor and character too many.
What terrible full-body whiplash Ann Darrow must have had when it was all over.
Did we really need another telling of this story?
I dunno, maybe we did need another one after the 1976 one, which was, as I now recall, bizarre and cheesy on far too many levels. At least Dwan in the 1976 one got to be all doped up before she got tied up.
And thank God we’re still around to have a blogiversery with a new, sane, and MUCH BETTER president! President Obama is the best blogiversery present ever! Thank you, America!
How long in human years is six blog years? Feels like forever. Here’s our first official post on Hackenbush 1.0 (Graymatter code; ah nostalgia):
J Bloglandia, vol 1, issue 2, ISSN 1940-7645
J Bloglandia, vol 1, issue 1, ISSN 1940-7645
