Facebook just reminded me that it’s my birthday shortly. I was genuinely surprised.
In past years I’ve asked people to gift me with a favourite quote, or indeed with any old quote, and add it in comments.
This year I’m going to ask you to contribute a link on Friday, to the usual Friday Linky post. Together, we will cast a magic spell of procrastination that will ensorcel offices throughout the world. So keep your eyes peeled for potential linky goodness.
Here’s one you can’t use because I got it first: Prince Gomolvilas’s vid about the white boy’s Akira that I posted about last week.
Now here is a Liz Taylor movie I would sit down to watch: The Drivers Seat (1974). Knifeman, I presume you have heard of this film? Viewing party!
Recycling a bottle, flashmob style:
And a social norm breaking experiment that is also basically a flashmob (I will restrain myself from talking at length about how this is a dumb way to do a normbreaking learning exercise):
Duncan Garner on TV3’s morning news show Firstline just now: “Māori are confused. You’ve got Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples saying this is good legislation… and on the other hand you’ve got the last of the activist Māori saying we don’t want this.” (Starts at 4’41 into the clip, although he says “Māori are confused” at other times as well.)
Y’know, it’s good that Pākehā don’t get confused when John Key and Phil Goff say different things, or the country really would be in a pickle!
Don’t worry folks, even though lots of really big things in the world are going wrong, there’s still room for some very small things to go completely wrong too.
The script for the Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures live action adaptation of anime artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s 6-volume graphic novel Akira has been sent to a short list of actors… I’m told that for Tetsuo, Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy have been given the new script. For the role of Kaneda, the script has been given to Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Joaquin Phoenix. The two leads are expected to come from that group of actors.
[They’re not actually going to have Robert Pattinson playing a character called Tetsuo. The Deadline link says the action has been moved from Neo-Tokyo to New Manhattan. He’ll be Theodore. Justin Timberlake will be Kevin. I guess they won’t be teenagers any more either.]
Over a month since it went off to Computer Hospital, my laptop has come home. Yay! No more stealing strong_light’s computer when she isn’t looking! So far it seems to be working beautifully, and (touch wood) no bluescreens so far when I try the actions that used to trigger them. (Bluescreens can be software-related – who knew?)
So, heedless of the world where there are a number of awful, awful situations unfolding, here are some linky.
Via George L – Mario as indie film! (from SXSW)
It’s a good companion to the Ferris-Bueller-as-indie-film that’s been doing the rounds:
I twittered about this a few weeks back – the US military publicly advertised for a company to arrange fake online identities they could use. They’ve chosen a contractor now, and the Guardian has the details.
Have you seen that clip of the UCLA undergrad sounding off about the offensive Asians in the library who don’t understand American manners? Even if you haven’t, you want to see this wonderful, wonderful response.
Stephen Judd has commented a few times here in reference to his decision to get involved in an NZ political party. His experiences have been interesting and extremely encouraging. This may not be as much the case internationally, but in NZ at least access to political decisionmaking is there for the taking.
Now he has blogged about it, and there’s a lengthy digression involving secret lizardpeople.
Have I mentioned Battletruck enough lately? The answer to this question is always NO. Last night I found out that a friend and colleague with a long history in the NZ film industry was the chap who designed the epnoymous truck de battle, and in fact drove it in many of the film’s scenes. I was reduced to gibbering fanboy. Hell yes. So here are some links: battletruck. BattleTruck. BATTLETRUCK!
Bonus Battletruck Spoilers:
Now, on other links containing fewer trucks and less battling:
St Johns ambulance and first aid was immediately in the thick of it in Christchurch and continue to play an essential part in the slow recovery.
Here’s a neat way to help them: The Aotearoa Gambit a brand new adventure for tabletop superhero RPG ICONS, with all revenue going to St John NZ.
Once again Gareth at Adamant was at the heart of the project – this was his idea, and he’s pledged all proceeds from this product in perpetuity to St John. Local legend Dale Elvy wrote it, I did some stat work, and expat Kiwi Cam Banks edited. Non-Kiwi but fine chap ICONS line artist Dan Houser made some incredible illustrations in record time.
And it may well be the weirdest fundraiser St John ever had. Fight a Moeraki boulder! See Christchurch’s famous wizard fight crime! Interfere in the filming of a certain fantasy epic involving short hairy-footed folk!
It’s a great evening’s worth of RPG fun, and for a good cause. And it’s yours for only $1.99 US! You know what to do!
My friend KiwiInZurich, a regular commenter here, tonight sent me some text messages from Christchurch:
I have access to the cordoned area of chch and it is as bad as the media reports show if not worse. The dmg is very extensive and central chch will be closed for a long time.
Another indicator of the scale of damage: the Rebuilding Christchurch blog suggests moving the CBD.
The media doesn’t do it justice. If we could just communicate the scale of it everyone would be donating.
There’s heaps of stuff going on, but it isn’t enough – it can’t be. This is a long-term situation. I say this as a reminder to myself: keep contributing. Keep finding ways to contribute.
NZ is now in an election year, so it’s time to take a look at this one – been sitting on it for a while. It’s about providing a new frame for media coverage of an election, using the organizing principle of a citizen’s agenda. Worth talking about, maybe worth fighting for. At the very least, worth reading to remind you of the limits inherent in how we talk about elections in the media right now. (from George Darroch)
