That’s a Dirty Lie!
| You Are Not Scary |
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Sort of doubting you can get a different result. It’s the best I can come up with.
(Via Kim Colley.)
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All Hallow’s Books
BookWorld is full of spooktastic and Halloweeny reviews this week.
Michael Dirda looks at a new translation of Borges’ The Book of Imaginary Beings (from which that illo comes):
Anyone who falls under the spell of The Book of Imaginary Beings should look out for several comparable (or complementary) works. Above all, don’t miss T.H. White’s The Book of Beasts , a translation, with delightful commentary, of a 12th-century bestiary; Willy Ley’s various excursions into "romantic zoology" (starting with The Lungfish, the Dodo, and the Unicorn ); Avram Davidson’s highly idiosyncratic and hard-to-find Adventures in Unhistory ; Peter Lum’s Fabulous Beasts ; Richard Carrington’s Mermaids and Mastodons ; and, not least, the grand-daddy of them all, Pliny’s Natural History (especially books 8 through 11). Here be wonders.
These are all excellent recommendations and I particularly love the Willy Ley books; hunt them down.
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Know Your Opponents
Like a lot of monsters, zombies have their roots in folklore and — according to some researchers — in real events in Haiti. In this article, we’ll discuss Haitian zombies, explore depictions of zombies in films and video games and review the best course of action for surviving an attack.
Links to related topics here, such as vampires, mummies, bigfoot, chupacabras … cells and brains? If you say so.
(Via MorrowPlanet.)
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Five Peonies!
Le Cineclub with Emma and Lauren gives Shopgirl the ultimate rating.
I so want to see this. My affection for Steve Martin continues to wax, rather than wane.
Friday Hangovers
- My favorite Onion piece in ages, on zombie preparedness.
- Christopher got his contributor copy of Hayakawa, the most prominent magazine of science fiction in Japan, which reprints "The Voluntary State" (or so we’re told; we can’t really prove it since we don’t know Japanese!). The illustrations are fabulous and I expect that C will scan them and stick them up soon. In the meantime, admire this illustration of Ted Chiang’s "Story of Your Life," then browse the other pieces of art for stories up on their site.
- Tobias Seamon has an essay at The Morning News, "The Green Ghost of Sleepy Hollow", sayeth the description: The Kinderhook area of New York is famously haunted. Though is it only by our own thoughts, or from something altogether different? Memories of home turn up the family spirits.(Via Colleen Mondor, who says Seamon’s work is worth seeking out.)
- Alan’s writing a novel. Yay!
- Beatrice hosts an author2author featuring Maureen McHugh and Sarah Willis: Pt 1 and Pt 2.
- Happy weekend.
Hummingbirds of the Mind
The Washington Post has a pretty wonderful–if slightly depressing for the bird flu mentions–animal photo gallery up. The only photo I managed to grab features a one-month-old parrot from Bangkok ("One night in Bangkok makes a hard parrot humble… "), but number two is a beautiful shot of a hummingbird on the wing. No, really, it’s not like these; you can see it clear as if it’s stuck in time. There’s also a monkey drinking from a bottle and a cow moose.
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Archer w/ Wisteria
Because silly quizzes are where I’m at right now:
My japanese name is 遠藤 Endoh (distant wisteria) 弓美 Yumi (beautiful bow, as in bow and arrow).
Take your real japanese name generator! today!
Created with Rum and Monkey‘s Name Generator Generator.
(Via Cecil.)
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VeronicaMarsTalk, Oopsie Edition
Due to downed connections and nonfiring synapses, I forgot the Veronica Mars post yesterday. Even though the episode was kick ass! Please back date accordingly.
p.s. No new episode for two weeks?
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What Don’t I Know
Over the weekend, I was having a polite little small talky conversation-in-passing with someone post-funeral. We started talking about seven-year-olds and what they’re like. I said something about how I’d like to be seven again for a week or two. To which the other person said, "And know then what you know now, huh?"
Now, I’ve heard this before, as have you. But it occurs to me that I have no idea what it means. I’m not sure what I know now that would help me at all at being seven (though I’m not so confident about the reverse). So, what have I missed? Is this statement just a bullshit cliche? What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you were seven?
(p.s. Our web connection is spotty at the moment — web bunny plea for help commence — so if you’re not getting a response from me, that’s why. Should be back up later, fingers and toes crossed.)
Punctuate Me, Baby
| quotation marks You scored 61% Sociability and 76% Sophistication! |
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There is a lot more to you than meets the eye. You certainly get plenty of "action," but you’d be happier if those who lusted after you were more selective. You hate being used as a general intensifier; haven’t these people ever heard of underlining? Italics? And yes, you remember the cruel words Mr. Joyce directed at you. But you let none of this get you down; those who abuse you are destined for a "special" reward, sooner or later. You feel particularly warm toward periods, commas, exclamation points, and question marks, and usually wish to have them next to you. Parenthesis can sometimes trouble you. |
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My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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| Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
(Via Sonya Taaffe.)
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