Friendzone Linky

Fantastic, infuriating piece by David Roberts at Grist – is it possible to convince the American right wing that climate change is real? (Go on, take a wild guess.)

Vox: Three reasons why NZ has the best electoral system in the world. I could niggle with the details, but I’m genuinely pretty happy with the system we have here.

Opening credits for an imaginary Buffy animated series. So good! And packed with in-jokes.

Now here’s a treat: the entire film “Hopeless” is available to watch free on the NZ On Screen site! It’s kind of an NZ slacker comedy, but with so much heart to it, and a lovely shaggy-dog rhythm. I last watched it just a few years ago, and it held up very well I thought. Bookmark this one for a quiet moment, highly recommended!

David R pointed out to me that the “Star Wars minus the music” thing I linkied last week was just one of an amazing set of vids by the Auralnauts. Here’s an 18-minute reimagining of Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones, using redubbed dialogue and clever editing to tell a rather different tale. It is marvellous!

15-minute Firefly fan film that is apparently pretty good. (I haven’t watched it.)

That speech Emma Watson gave at the UN on feminism and how men need it too – it really is very good. (I have watched this one.)

And – because the website for it was actually tricky to find, google didn’t even give it to me the other day – here is the actual campaign site for He For She, which is the UN thing she’s promoting. I’ve signed up.

Wildlife photos of the year

Tumblr of beautiful, close-reading analysis of Gaiman’s Sandman. (I can’t handle these kind of animated images, but the content seemed good while I stayed.)

Soderbergh has a re-edited Raiders of the Lost Ark to force focus on the visual storytelling, shot composition, and other elements of what he calls “staging” (John Fouhy tipped me off on this first).

One of the highlights of my week at the moment is watching (a big chunk of) weekly comedy-news show, Last Week Tonight. Fronted by the divine John Oliver, this show has transcended the format pioneered by the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, producing lengthy explainers using archive-trawling and some investigation to really educate you about something that is genuinely worth getting grumpy about. It is a very special show. It airs Sunday night in the USA, then the big story gets uploaded to YouTube the next day so everyone can watch it. (It gets regionlocked out of the Uk for another 24 hours I think so their local affiliate can broadcast? Anyway.) And the big story is BIG. It is usually fifteen solid minutes of exploration into one story. If you haven’t jumped on the LWN train yet, start right here with this piece from the latest show on the Miss America Beauty Pageant. It does what you expect, and then does a whole bunch more stuff that you won’t expect, and it absolutely nails every aspect. Also, it’s funny as hell. Watch this, people!

Oliver, of course, is well-known to podcast aficionados for his co-host role in long-running comedy news thingy The Bugle. The Bugle has just had its first new episode since Oliver got really busy doing something or other – hopefully they’ll manage to keep them coming. Give it a listen!

And finally, this music video about horror movie monsters as high-school students going to prom is very, very good. And absolutely PACKED with gags and references. I caught heaps but I know I missed lots more. (The song is… forgettable.)

Vote Like A Pirate Linky

Voting is underway now, so it’s a good time to share – what it will be like if Scotland votes for independence? (via Morag) (the Vox one made me lol)

If you haven’t seen this yet, it is marvellous marvellous marvellous.
Grandparents on Facebook keep accidentally tagging Grandmaster Flash into their messages.

Star Wars minus the Williams score: the Throne Room scene. So good.

Some things you can literally do in your sleep.

Hahaha after a Judge ruled Christian pamphlets could be handed out in Florida schools, but other religions could too… Satanic Temple Children’s Activity Book. This is culture jamming at its finest.

Dylan Horrocks did a great Pecha Kucha on his Year of Belief, in which he did some delving into religion and faith

You can listen to a sampler of the stories from Baby Teeth, the scary-children horror anthology I contributed to, in the latest Tales to Terrify podcast. Dan has the scoop.

And finally… from the depths of my unused linky folder, how about the comic prequel to the Golden Girls in which they are super-spies?

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Pour Vous Linky

The actual rules for “tu” and “vous” in French. Lovely. (via @adzebill)

The Atlantic: Why do people believe in ghosts?

Luc Besson’s “Lucy” inspired much derision due to a (very dumb) “10% of the brain” thing. Anna K recasts this as metaphor for a Lovecraft-style expanded perception, and finds much to admire. I haven’t seen the film but this is the first review of it that has remotely made it sound appealing to me.

IKEA instructions for movie monsters (via Tof)

Pearl Jam covered (a few lines of) “Let It Go”, the song from Disney juggernaut Frozen, by request of Vedder’s 5yo daughter. (via Susan H)

What it would be like dating the Disney princes:

Insightful essay on the BBC News site about how Scotland got to the point that a vote for independence is gaining popular support – this sure wasn’t always the case! (Here’s a hint as to why: Thatcher + austerity.) It’s one of those awful “long-scrolling multimedia” things that news organisations think are very clever (because Snow Fall won the pulitzer I guess) but that already look massively dated; if you can put up with that, this is a great read. (Via Andrew Watters)

Also, Monbiot’s latest column on the Scottish Independence Referendum is probably the single most optimistic thing I’ve ever seen him write: Scottish independence will spark a new progressive movement that will transform (what’s left of) the UK! I’ll believe it when I see it, but he is right that Scottish independence will be hugely influential outside of their borders.

Craig Oxbrow has made me aware that Harvey Keitel is reprising his Pulp Fiction character in a series of ads for an insurance company. The video is region-locked, so I can’t watch it, and from Craig’s description I suspect that’s probably just as well.

And finally, the Duck Tales theme song with real ducks:

Conical Linky

(Super-short linky this week. I don’t know why, just haven’t come across much linkable stuff.)

A board game invented for the TV show ‘Parks & Recreation’ was played for real, for charity, at GenCon.

The Guardian has an interesting take on the narrowing margin in the polls as the Scottish independence referendum date approaches, and particulary how the vote is being talked about down at street level, in the pubs and nightclubs. (It certainly has the Scottish contingent on my social media streams busy!)
Also: George Monbiot’s column on the subject certainly has people talking, 3500 comments and counting…

A history of classical music, in the form of cat GIFs. (via Bruce N)

Fascinating photoset of soldiers’ kit from 1066 to 2014.

And finally, this book review about a noir mystery with a cast of teddy bears is sensible enough. But the comment section… ah, the comment section. It just gets better as it goes along.