July 4, 2013
It's Friday somewhere, right?
Friday Flash Fun: Ending, a hybrid of roguelike and puzzle game, or chess, or something. Maybe "it's like turn-based Gauntlet" would be a good description? There's an on-your-phone version if you're willing to spend a buck, too. DANGER: Very addictive to certain types. You've been warned.
And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it.
For Anal Retentive Comic Fans (As If There Were Any Other Kind)
The Complete Marvel Reading Order is a website representing one man's attempt to figure out what order a picky reader should follow if attempting to reading the entirety of Marvel Comics' in-continuity canon. You can check the entire list, commencing with "Fantastic Four #1" from 1961, or filter on particular titles, characters, or story arcs. The site is highly customizable and also includes an active blog and links to two different site podcasts.
"Stalemate."
Greg Shahade, an International Master of chess, plays an impromptu blitz game with Samuel Sevian (age 10).
Citizen McDuck
The Road From Karakol
In 2011, American alpinist (twice the winner of the prestigious Piolets d'Or award) and coffee shop owner Kyle Dempster, went on a two-month solo biking and climbing odyssey in Kyrgyzstan. He took a video camera with him and the video he shot from his two months was edited to form The Road to Karakol.
Cor, a slap up feed of comics links!
In the wake of the rumoured demise of The Dandy, artist Jamie Smart writes about the necessity of All-ages comics and how to make them work. Bonus links: The origins of new British weekly kids comic, The Phoenix. Al Ewing on that most British weekly comicsy of institutions: The readers voice. Tips for aspiring comics creators.
Bicycle Tours around the World in the 1890s
In 1891, William L. Sachtleben and Thomas G. Allen Jr. graduated from Washington University and set off to travel around the world. But their adventure was unusual for that time, in that they would travel on bicycle, following in the tire tracks of the Englishman Thomas Stevens. The two young lads returned safely to the US after three years, after traveling some 15,044 miles on wheel. Sachtleben was then asked to find another young traveling bicyclist (and photographer), Frank G. Lenz, whose goal was to surpass Stevens' journey "in both distance and daring." Lenz had disappeared in Turkey, where Sachtleben learned of Frank Lenz's untimely demise. [more inside]
Try some of this at home
The King of Random shows us how to make sparklers, shaken butter (that you can turn into a candle), instant ice (tutorial), and melting metal with microwave parts. [more inside]
Enlightenment
Zen photon garden is a 2D ray tracer in your browser. A blog post gives examples of what's possible and explains some of the unique details of its implementation.
"This is America Charlie Brown."
A sweet little tribute to American composers.
Put a little kid in your lap tonight, and let them watch this after the fireworks.
Rupert Everett, Really Into Dead Victorian Dreamboats
In 2008 the actor Rupert Everett hosted (seemingly from his apartment) a rather strange documentary: The Victorian Sex Explorer ( 2 3 4 5 ), an attempt to follow in the footsteps of famed Explorer, translator, and author Sir Richard Burton and convince us of Sir Burton's passion for sexual experimentation while laying in lots of bathhouses and visiting brothels. [more inside]
Navajo Star Wars
Running with the jackalopes
Abubakar Suleiman, a 15 year-old Boston student whose hobbies apparently include taking condescending local reporters for a ride. When one of the more august organs of the American press, the Boston Globe (founded 1872), came calling this week at his school in Boston’s suburbs in order to tell his story, he was only too happy to provide them with some quite remarkable copy.via
derspiegel article Kirschbaum book Springsteen 1988 Berlin concert
A new book about Bruce Springsteen's 1988 Berlin concert and the fall of the Wall. In July, 1988 Springsteen performed at the bicycle racetrack in Berlin and reportedly 300 000 people showed up. Everybody in the country who was not at the concert watched it on television. [more inside]
by the dawn's early light
It's a damn tough song to sing, that one we often hear on July 4th, but that didn't stop 'em from designating Francis Scott Key's clunky and tortuous little tune as the US national anthem. People have struggled with it ever since. There was one guy, though, who, back in 1969, performed a soaring, acid-drenched, whammy-barred and noise-punctuated version of it that still stands as one of the most daringly adventurous and poignant moments in American musical history: Mr Jimi Hendrix and his amazing rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.
Looking At Something
Possibly the worst film ever
The Lone Ranger is now in movie theaters. Currently rated an amazingly low 23% at Rotten Tomatoes, this film is a train wreck. Even the horse is lousy. It could be worse.
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