Category: Friday Linky

Carol of the old ones (via Tom Crosby)

Why James Cameron’s Aliens is the best movie about technology

Lord of the Rings: Let It Go

Quartz has picked its chart of the year.

Talk about your end-of-an-eras – cartoonist Jack Davis retires at 90. Truly a legend.

Slate has selected their picks for the 25 best podcast episodes ever.

Introducing Carrot: a pitch-perfect satire of the tech industry (from the Atlantic)

Rewriting the rules of Dreidel so it’s actually fun and doesn’t take 19 hours to play. (If, like me, you didn’t know the rules of Dreidel, this works as a neat example of how simple rules that *seem* sensible have unexpected consequences, and how simple changes can deliver much much more fun. I spend a lot of time playing Snakes and Ladders right now, and it’s pretty tedious, but I keep myself entertained thinking of simple hacks like this that would make it awesome.)

The transfer of Buffy to HD/widescreen has been something of a debacle. Characters have their heads cut off, crew members appear on the screen, etc. i09 has the goss (via beloved leader David R)

And finally, Pulp Fiction’s most famous scene, a shot-for-shot remake, underwater

The Rip-Hoff pt.1 from Matthijs_Vlot on Vimeo.

Sadly Hoffspace, the David Hasselhoff social media site, is no longer functional. I had, like, five friends on Hoffspace, all of them middle-aged women from Bible belt America. It was great.

Does Sean Bean really die more than other actors?

Ian’s shoelace site. (via shoelace-technique evangelist Jack)

Generate a planet.

Move the unhappy shapes – and learn about segregation. An incredible interactive demonstration of how small effects snowball into big consequences.

Adding some Flight of the Conchords music to the new Terminator trailer is kinda nice.

The Empty Kingdom: this neat game (play right in your browser) is a short & lovely experience (via Angus Dingwall)

Catch up on Classic Doctor Who in 15 minutes by watching every episode at the same time (via David R, who says it was terrific in HD on his TV screen)

12-minute John Constantine/Hellblazer fan film. Forget about that American TV show, this is what you want.

And finally, via my Cal, the worst possible way to display extra-large trousers for women on your web storefront.

Argh. Journalist returns to Steubenville to see how things have changed since “that whole rape thing”. Spoiler: they haven’t.

Via Maire, a discussion of Racism and Middle-earth, going into detail about what Tolkien wrote (and didn’t write) about skin colour and race and ethnicity, and how that got refracted through the Jackson films, and the implications thereof. (This is a PDF compiling articles from this blog, so if you’re on mobile or otherwise PDF-averse you can presumably find plenty to read there.)

Did you hear that story about four illegal immigrants at a podunk southern school who beat MIT in a robotics competition? You will – there’s a movie coming. Wired has put the original story, from 2001, back up as a prominent feature. But the teachers involved didn’t stop there – they then turned their attention to the gender imbalance at STEM. Result: an all-women robotics team.

Every Frame a Painting – I’ve linked to a couple of his vids before – looks at Jackie Chan’s HK and US films to show some of the many ways U.S. directors don’t know how to shoot comedy. (via Hugh D)

Seth Rogen and James Franco play the Freaks & Geeks computer game. Kind of lovely if you are a F&G nerd, probably incomprehensible if not…

Digital alteration of Hollywood bodies has hit a new level in the last few years. Everyone knows about Photoshop and magazine covers – but there’s a new trick in town, and it’s top secret.

Twitter accounts @ireland and @sweden hand over the keys to a different person every week. It’s pretty cool.

25 Invisible Benefits of Gaming while Male – a lovely short video, via Feminist Frequency. Benefit #25 is brutal.

Nature makes all its articles free to view. Progress!

The amazing Jordan Peele tweets the entire story of “The Babadook” – in emoji. (I haven’t seen The Babadook yet, so I can’t vouch for the accuracy of Peele’s summary. Must get on that.)

David Simon, in typically lengthy detail, discusses converting The Wire to HD and widescreen framing, what was gained and what was lost in the transfer. I found this fascinating!

Article on the typography of ALIEN descends into some lovely film nerdery extending far beyond the initial subject, revealing several things about the film I’d never heard of before. Such a good article! (via Luke Crane)

Dangerous Minds talks about John Carpenter’s amazing film The Thing and has pics and a video showing how closely it hews to the detailed storyboards. (Which were by Mike Ploog! Who knew!)

William Gibson on how Neuromancer was a commissioned book, and how that came about. I’ve never heard this story before, thanks D3vo!

Via Jenni, eleven seconds of penguin perfection. (You need the sound.)

The John Clarke Repatriation Society of New Zealand

And finally, via Andrew S, this is… wow. Just watch the first ten seconds and I dare you not to stick around for the rest.

How Long Would It Take Darth Vader To Mop The Death Star? (via Ben Sedley)

Ferguson. No words. But read these: Ta-Nehisi Coates, of course, from the perspective of Obama’s comments; and also (via Gem) How to parent on a night like this by Carvell Wallace

Svend talked me into actually reading this link, and he was not wrong: “What the hell am I doing? I kept asking myself. Why am I forcing a fine new machine to pretend it is a half-dozen old, useless machines? Eventually I realized: This might be about my friend Tom dying.” Emulating old computers as part of a process of grief & reflection.

Lotta MIT stuff this week for some reason:
Cute profile of the MIT Science Fiction club, which has a pretty astonishing library.
History of the MIT football team (undefeated this season in Div 3) – the photo of the 1978 marching band is priceless
And a look back at MIT’s Tech Model Railway Club, home to the first computer hackers

Can you spot the snipers hidden in these photos?

Every aspect of this is fury-making. “Tech Dudes Take Credit For Female Scientist’s Work; Plan To “Hack” Vaginas So They Smell Like Peaches”

Meryn Cadell’s “The Sweater” – Steph P emailed this thru asking if I’d heard it, and it does sound kinda familiar but from looooong ago. Wikipedia says it’s from ’91, and went top 40 (!) in Canada in ’92, which was about when I started listening to radio Active sometimes, so… maybe? Anyway it’s pretty great!

Kickender collects a whole big bunch of Kickstarter projects that didn’t even manage to secure a single backer.

Person on Reddit says a friend claimed gardens were illegal in New Zealand. Kiwis rush to confirm this in glorious detail.

Kids write jokes (via Jenni) – marvellous! I love weird kid jokes, they’re such vivid windows out of my headspace and into something else!

Batman vs Darth Vader. This fan film is way way better than it has any right to be – the set dressing alone is breathtaking. (This may also be the only filmic depiction of Batman where he’s the guy who’s prepared for everything, which is a major feature of his comics identity.) Via Anthony K.

Next time you ask someone out on a date, make it sound exciting. Let this 4 year old boy be your inspiration. (via Robert W)

Interesting thought from that same Robert W – with the massive casualisation of the workforce, is organised labour a thing of the past? Is it time to organise around another shared context like your relationship with your home?

David Roberts at Grist: Yes, we can beat climate change (but it will require massive international governmental co-ordination) – I’m still not optimistic about the climate change challenge but that recent surprise China/US deal definitely says it ain’t time to throw up your hands and abandon all hope. This short article highlights a project that assigned different teams to each high-emitting country to develop plans how that country could hit its goals. It’s brutally clear-eyed stuff. Read it.

Lindsay Weir is appalled – a tumblr blog that is nothing but screenshots of Freaks & Geeks hero Lindsay with her appalled face on. Because tumblr.

The AVClub found this – a video explaining how Anna Kendrick hid the truth about 9/11 inside her hit film “Pitch Perfect”. WAKE UP, SHEEPLE.

And finally, via Mike U: cat montage, where people have drawn eyes on a thng and are holding the thing in front of a cat’s eyes oh just go look at it

It is launched! New online venue publishes poems – and the rejection letters they received. Check out Rejectamenta

The Millennium Falcon, rendered in cardboard

Bad Neil Gaiman imitations read by Neil Gaiman

How to fold the best paper airplane it won a competition ok

Fascinating article about Biblical scholarship, papyrus fragments, fakery and forgery, and those media reports about Jesus having a wife

Whole lotta Lone Wolf, free for legal download (via Dave Keyes)

Hey Kiwis! Enter your address – no other details needed – and find out what kind of New Zealander you are! We were young inner-city strivers. Thanks Roy Morgan Research!

And finally, via Andrew Wood, this Sarah Silverman clip contains extreme NSFW gross-out comedy but I think it’s also quite amazing. Watch here!

Ira Glass dressed as a dog dressed as Ira Glass.

Kurt Cobain’s wild teenage mixtape

Photo portraits of teen dancers from 1969 Upper Hutt. Mum, anyone you know?

Was a black PI named Sam Marlowe the inspiration for Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe? Follow the investigation…

Rolling Stone has a good long Stephen King interview

Also from Rolling Stone, I don’t know what to make of this but I like it: a preview of the new NBA basketball season, presented in the form of Dungeons & Dragons character descriptions (complete with artwork).

You know the Romeo & Juliet balcony scene? Um, it doesn’t actually have a balcony in it.

Jesse Singal digs into the science behind Gamergate and the gamer identity – it’s a great article although it only scratches the surface of the topic. (Academic social psychologists who are smart will be building huge datasets out of Twitter right now, they’ll be able to publish on this for years.)

And finally, Skeletor’s best insults

This has been blowing up on social media in the last few days, which tells me I should have put it in last week’s linky instead of holding it over for this Halloween special. It is one heck of a musical number: Cannibal Shia LaBeouf. (via Svend)

Good Guardian piece on the origins of Halloween.

Star Wars triple-header:
1. Site dedicated to tracking every single astromech droid (the squat rubbish-bin looking ones, like Artoo)
2. Every screen death in the original trilogy
3. Loads of close photo shots of the spaceship models from the films. Most of these pics were new to me.

A very fair evaluation of the phenomenon that was the Blair Witch Project, 15 years on.

I knew Scroobius Pip had started a podcast – but I didn’t know the guest after Zane Lowe was ALAN MOORE. (Thanks Angus D!)

Beautiful maps of space through the ages (via Maire)

And finally, in keeping with the day, an updated Monster Mash:

Sheet music for Jeff Goldblum’s laugh from Jurassic Park.

My friend Warren’s new project is getting covered at the AVClub, choice. Lego recreations of famous film moments!

And here’s number three from the AVC – The Wire event at Paleyfest, featuring loads of cast members and David Simon, talking straight about the show. I haven’t watched this yet, one day…

How the public apology became a tool of power and privilege (via @saniac, whose description I also stole because why not)

Early camera tricks: headless photo portraits from the 1800s

Star Wars characters and vehicles, relocated to the contemporary world, embedded in arty B&W photography. Actually way better than I just made it sound.

And finally, Dawson’s Creek as performed by dachsunds wearing wigs.

Old amigo Malcolm Craig, formerly of this parish but now back in that parish, has launched a new podcast (with a friend). It ties in more-or-less with the undergrad American history course they’re teaching at University of Edinburgh. First ep is about slavery, and is up now in all the usual podcasty places.

Urban design foolishness of the week: apparently the standard city street lane in the US is 12 feet. That is… very wide indeed. And it’s killing people.

Master Jedi David-R Kenobi advised me that the completely mad shot-by-shot recreation of Empire Strikes Back is now finished. He recommends the asteroid sequence, at 38 mins-ish. I just randomly clicked into several places, and of the bits I saw, the C3PO at 34:45 was my favourite. Perfection.

British military black ops teams planted fake evidence of black masses in Northern Ireland to convince people that paramilitaries were also Satanists, or something. (via Robert Whitaker)

Deadspin’s explainer for Gamergate is great. Because Gamergate is a mess. It started with dumb misogyny, grew, and currently claims to be a respectable movement for journalist ethics in computer games, but identifies the principal ethical dangers as “social justice warriors making games all feminist and stuff”. Or something. (The death threats continued of course.) But better than talking through the madness of Gamergate, this article also identifies the patterns sitting in here and how they are the future of the culture wars – when the Tea Party is made up of digital natives, these are the tactics they’ll use. A great read, if hugely frustrating.

I’ve linked before to the marvellous levitation photos of Natsumi Hayashi. I received an email: she’s got an Artsy page now, love from a person connected with Artsy. Artsy is a thing with artists where you can follow them, explore their work, buy prints etc. Check it out.

Predator: The Musical. The voices for all the supporting characters are perfect.

And finally, pretty sure this is indeed the worst cat ever. Certainly the least photogenic.