March 31, 2022
I'd like to painstakingly research and digitally model a vowel, please
David Friedman at Ironic Sans rounds up the digital game show set recreations of Steven Rosenow, with mockups of Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Price is Right, and so on. More images and other photography on Rosenow's flickr account.
What Happened To Ford Timelord?
Cats A Rising Star, Pet Improv
Bob's Burgers (typical intro) has run for twelve seasons (so far). Every neighboring store pun. Every pest removal service pun. Every burger of the day. [more inside]
Project Neon
One of the largest neon fixtures in New York, the Pepsi-Cola sign on the East River, stands thanks to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. "Once regarded as an eyesore, the sign is generally embraced today as a symbol of Long Island City’s industrial past, as a colossal work of Pop Art and as a way for those who live in the six buildings of TF Cornerstone’s Long Island City development to orient friends and families. (The back is not illuminated, so tenants are spared the film noir effect.)" But was the giant Pepsi-Cola sign originally Joan Crawford's revenge for getting rejected by Coca-Cola chaired Robert Winship Woodruff and president of the Riverhouse co-op board?
How to make writing easier to read for everyone
Plain Language - an animated guide. "...the way we write often creates barriers to who can read it. Plain language—a style of writing that uses simplified sentences, everyday vocabulary, and clear structure—aims to remove those barriers."
"Sold by Nobody, and Printed by Herself, &c. &c."
NYT, 03/30/2022: "A Tiny Brontë Book, Lost for a Century, Resurfaces" [archive.ph]. At the British Library, another 1829 text by Charlotte Brontë "Printed by Herself and Sold by Nobody"--"The Search after Happiness": "NOT many years ago there lived in a certain city a person of the name of Henry ODonell ..." Gutenberg text + edited version. Additional juvenilia [PDF] from 1829 discussed by Nicola Friar in "The Twelve Adventurers," "An Adventure in Ireland," and "Autobiography, Wish-fulfilment, and Juvenilia: The 'Fractured Self' in Charlotte Brontë's Paracosmic Counterworld" [PDF]. More context with an image from Isabel Greenberg's Glass Town graphic novel. See also a review of Catherynne Valente's The Glass Town Game or Friar's upcoming A Tale of Two Glass Towns and anthology.
Complaint as a queer method
"To be heard as complaining is not to be heard" is the first sentence of Sara Ahmed's book Complaint! about how power is used against those who complain about abuses of power (pdf of intro). Paris Review interview: "When you make a complaint about harassment that’s endemic to a university, you’re pitting yourself against people who don’t want that problem to be recognized." Listen to Ahmed's lecture from March 16, 2022.
Just in time for syrup season
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that one of the men involved in the well-publicized 2011-2012 maple syrup heist in Quebec (or "l’affaire du vol historique de sirop d’érable," if you prefer) must pay a $9.1 million fine. The fine had been reduced to $1 million by the Quebec Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court decision explained in brief, the decision in full, and the heist itself, previously, in cartoon form. More, previously: Sticky Fingers, A Sappy Ending?, Inside Quebec’s Great, Multi-Million-Dollar Maple-Syrup Heist, and a thread with some comments on the ins and outs of maple syrup production.
Reclamation, remembrance and self-determination
They communicate that we know ourselves, that we know the country, that we have long memories and that we will not shut up. What’s in a Black name? 400 years of context.
Trans visibility day
President Biden marked Trans visibility day by announcing that nonbinary people will be able to get X gender markers on their passports starting on April 11th. The TSA will have gender-neutral scanners. There are also federal changes for all trans people, like fewer barriers to access Social Security and FAFSA. [more inside]
In the Shadow of the Star Wars Kid
In 2002, a 15-year-old Quebec boy named Ghyslain Raza filmed himself swinging a golf ball retriever in imitation of Darth Maul's double-bladed light saber from The Phantom Menace. The private video leaked onto the internet and became perhaps the biggest viral video of the pre-Youtube era under the name "The Star Wars Kid." Traumatized by the ensuing ridicule and bullying, Raza has spoken about the video only once before, and the man who initially helped popularize it, Andy Baio (MetaFilter's own), has declined to be interviewed about it. They talk together for the first time about this formative moment in unwelcome internet fame in a new documentary Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows/Dans l’ombre du Star Wars Kid streaming free from the National Film Board of Canada.
Nabi and Doki: Cat and Bunny, a Love Story
There She Is! Complete He's a cat. She's a rabbit. Together, they fight crime become close, with all the pits and snares that relationships imply. [more inside]
Bruce Willis Retires, Probably Years Too Late
The news broke first from the Willis family: “To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,” read the statement. “As a result of this and with much consideration, Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.” [more inside]
"reform all the tawdry inefficiencies"
"Running Walden Three is not a feel-good exercise. It is a job, and it is a difficult one. We can make an executive love Walden Three, but we can’t make a fool into an executive." "Tomorrow’s Dictator" is a short, dark scifi story by Rahul Kanakia, published in 2012, in which it's hard to hire good brainwashers, er, community managers.
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