One of the people I work with showed me this video on YouTube the other day that I felt compelled to share with the universe. It's what I assume is a documentary from Norway, with great importance for people like me.
Really chokes me up inside, knowing that tech support hasn't changed that much since the Middle Ages.
There was an article in Wizard Magazine back in 2005 regarding a series writer Grant Morrison was going to start on called Seven Soldiers, where Morrison would tell a huge story with characters that had been re-imagined by him. The article mentioned that Morrison came up with these revamps of the characters as a creative exercise, and had dozens of notebooks filled with similar concepts.
This struck me as something that would be a lot of fun; however, every time I considered doing it, I talked myself out of it, figuring that it was nothing more than fan fiction, and it was better to leave that sort of thing alone. And, you know, how many people actually find fan fiction all that engaging? I rationalized that it'd be a waste of my time, and that was that.
Until recently, anyway.
See, ever since I decided to start writing whatever the hell I'd like instead of trying to write to please the masses, I've been writing a whole bunch of stuff that I convinced myself would be a "waste of time," and, frankly, it's been some of the best writing I've done in years. So, why not go back to this concept of re-imagining characters that I have a snowball's chance in hell of ever writing professionally? If it sounds like fun, I'm gonna do it, and nay-sayers and decriers of "fan fiction" can take a flying leap.
Of course, with any endeavor like this, there must be rules. And my rules are fairly simple:
So, for the first in my series of "How I'd Have Done It," I present my ideas revolving around Jack Kirby's epic New Gods, who have recently been finding themselves being hunted by a mysterious killer in DC Comics' Death Of The New Gods.
Naturally, all characters are trademark and copyright DC Comics, blah-blah-blah, don't sue me, thanks so much. For character information, click on their name and get taken to their Wikipedia page.
It's the oldest story around: Woman buy lettuce. Woman decides to make family salad. Woman opens fresh lettuce.
I hope this story gets some little kid out of eating their broccoli tonight or something... 'cause that'd be sweet.
Heath Ledger, who (as you should know by now) is set to play The Joker in The Dark Knight, died yesterday. He's also well known for his Oscar-nominated part in Brokeback Mountain, the "gay cowboy movie."
Taking advantage of that fact? The Westboro Baptist Church, a group that is well known for their hatred of gays, Jews, Roman Catholics, Muslims, Canadians, Americans, the Irish, the British, the Swedish, black people, white people, hispanic people, asian people, puppies, babies, kittens, rainbows, and The Muppets.
According to this flyer that was posted on the Dark Knight boards on SuperheroHype.com, the group plans on picketing the actor's funeral because he played a gay cowboy. They've picketed the funerals of other homosexual people, as well, but this could be their big thing: the funeral of a famous actor with a huge summer blockbuster coming up is surefire press! Especially an actor who was in the "sordid, tacky bucket of slime seasoned with vomit" that is Brokeback Mountain! (One wonders why they didn't use that pull quote in ads for the movie, I might add.)
Well, here's hoping these tools come off looking as dumb as they actually are; if not, let's hope the funeral is in The Village, since the day a group of flaming New York homosexuals can't outchant out of a bunch of old whiney intolerant white people from Kansas is the day I start eating Canadian bacon with every meal. And, for the record, the only thing I hate more than the Westboro Baptist Church is Canadian bacon, so that's saying something.
Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment this afternoon.
Is it a bad thing that my first thought was for what they'll do if they need a Joker for the third Batman movie?
Slashdot reported yesterday that NBC and Apple have been having a cute back-and-forth regarding the mutual respect both companies have for each other, seemingly forgetting the barbs they threw at each other not a few months ago when NBC pulled out of the iTunes store to attempt to achieve higher profits through their own new media venture, Hulu.com.
Many are speculating that this could be hinting at a new deal to bring NBC back to iTunes; this idea would be supported by Universal Studios (the other half of NBC/Universal) joining the iTunes movie rental service, and GE (the parent company of both studios) and Apple sharing a member of the board of directors in Andrea Jung, which could help bridge the gap in the way the two companies think of each other.
Then again, there's a quick conspiracy theory that one can come up with if you put the puzzle together in a certain way. Grab your tinfoil hats and get ready to have your mind blown, people!
Read On!
Well, that was underwhelming, huh?
Perhaps you didn't see it. If you'd like, check out the entire 90-minute ordeal here. Or you could just take my word for the fact that it was underwhelming and not have to suffer through it.
I'm gonna give a full write-up tomorrow on the happenings of Steve "eD! Called Him Mac Daddy Before CNBC Did, So They Suck" Jobs' keynote today, but let me say this about my overall reaction to the thing:
Meh.
Over at Infinite Loop @ Ars Technica, there is a post giving a roundup of the rumors going 'round before Macworld. At the top of the page, there's an image mockup of what the ads for the MacBook Air might look like, which is causing quite the stir with people actually questioning whether or not the image is real.
Well, I'm here to tell you that it clearly is not real. You know how I know? 'Cause I totally scored me a leaked image of the upcoming ultraportable, which you can see right here.
If this site gets shut down by Apple's legal goons, you'll know why. I'm a total rebel.
This Tuesday, at 9:00PST, Steve "Mac Daddy" Jobs will grace the stage at the Moscone West in San Francisco to deliver his keynote address, which will either delight us with new products or disappoint us with the same new products, depending on which list of rumored product you believe.
What? You don't have time to go through the bajillion Apple rumor sites to sort this crap out? You have a "life"?! Well, let me help out there, my friend, as I present...
eD! Thomas' Definitive List Of Crap I Won't Be Able To Afford But Damn If I Don't Want 'Em: Macworld 2008 Edition
RUMOR 1: MacBook Air!
So far, the only banner that we've gotten a glimpse at has been a big one with "There's Something In The Air" written on it. And, the big hullabaloo for the past few months is the rumored coming of an Apple Tablet, or ultraportable 12" MacBook, or something of that ilk. So, if we get a super-thin MacBook, you can count this rumor as a go.
Either that, or the sign is referencing Mac Daddy's intense case of gas. Whatever.
RUMOR 2: iPhone Updates!
New software? More storage? Now with 80% more pretentiousness? Who knows!
RUMOR 3: Airport Express Updates!
No, I don't mean their wireless router... I mean the little iTunes box that would allow for wireless music streaming that no one gives a crap about. That'd be exciting, huh?
RUMOR 4: AppleTV Updates!
More storage, ability to buy content from iTunes right through the box? Or maybe Jobs will wheel out the old one and start begging people to buy it, 'cause it's "purty."
RUMOR 5: Hover Boards
You know, like the ones from Back To The Future 2? I heard it from someone on a message board, so it must be true!
RUMOR 6: Macs That Burn Blu-Ray!
Because they weren't expensive enough!
RUMOR 7: Movie Rentals!
Ah, the iTunes Movie Store: Much like Jersey, you only go there if you absolutely have to.
RUMOR 8: New Apple Displays!
Did you know the current displays have something like a 10 millisecond response time? Most new displays are at 2 milliseconds! So, yeah, a refresh of that nonsense would be in order.
I don't have an ending to this, as I'm sure it'll be updated as the keynote draws closer, so I'm just gonna hit 'publish' and move on with my day.
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