tweet of the day
Your friendly neighborhood elimae
has just posted the November issue.
Dear Clusterflock: Are You Tricking or Treating?
Danny and I had good intentions. We bought candy, have it in a big bowl. We opted to go dark. Turned off all the lights. Sitting in. Watched an episode of “Once Upon a Time.” (Quick review? Not so good. Maybe even sucked.) Then an episode of “Grimm.” (Better? Maybe. Maybe also sucks.)
I’m in a mood. Prolly better lil chiren don’t see me tonight.
We ate some candy from the bowl. Tasted like a poisoned apple…or peanut butter and chocolate.
The Wet Spots
I’ve recently rediscovered The Wet Spots. They make sex-positive musical comedy. I’ll leave the being funny to them.
Save Me, Cheesus
I can’t think of a better way to start off a tenure at Clusterflock than by sharing this wonderful Kickstarter project. Dig deep, people.
Putting the caped crusader on the couch
From a New York Times Op-Ed published several weeks ago:
Comic books have long relied on mental disorders to drive their most memorable villains. Consider the Batman line, in which the Joker, Harley Quinn and other “criminally insane” rogues are residents of Gotham City’s forensic psychiatric hospital, Arkham Asylum.
Introduced in 1974, Arkham grossly confuses the concepts of psychiatric hospital and prison. Patients are called “inmates,” decked out in shackles and orange jumpsuits, while a mental health professional doubles as the “warden.” Even the antiquated word “asylum” implies that the patients are locked away with no treatment and little hope of rejoining society. [...]
Of course, DC Comics, and comic books in general, are hardly the only source of these stereotypes or the only contributors to discrimination. At the same time, they are widely consumed, whether in the original form or as story lines for movies, TV shows and video games. Modernized mental health depictions in the Batman titles alone would reach millions of people worldwide through its billion-dollar-grossing films and blockbuster video games.
That’s why DC Comics should seize the opportunity with The New 52 to move to the forefront in transforming mental health depictions in comics. To start, writers should stop overemphasizing a link between violence and mental disorders to explain criminal behavior.
clusterflock riddle
They are easy to catch with wet hands.
quotes out of context
However, it does perform quite well on the iPhone 4 and works “just as fast as the 4S”.
When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother.
The brain is capable of amazing things when it is left with no options.
Arguably the most artistic photo of the group is a picture of the naked 21-year-old, blood-soaked from head to toe, standing over the horse’s body she had just been inside.
The Tug Toner
It’s what the Shake Weight thinks about when it’s by itself.
(thanks, Derek)
Hidden Mothers
This was a practice where the mother…often disguised or hiding often under a spread…holds her baby tightly for the photographer to insure a sharply focused image.
Hidden Mother : Tintypes and Cabinets Flickr Group
(via Roslyn Cook / Retronaut)
Y ya no piensas, porque existen cosas más fuertes que la imaginación
Best of Fall TV
What’re you guys liking this season?
1. Up All Night
All people I love, hilarious and just as they’re about to annoy me it saves itself.
(also, I worked half-day on the pilot.)
2. Boardwalk Empire
Not the best show, but pretty much appointment television for me.
3. Allen Gregory
I started watching cause Lacey’s in it, and I really like it. Animated crazy-fest with Jonah Hill and Will Forte.
4. Walking Dead
Addicting. Not great, but addicting beyond belief.
5. Boss
THIS IS THE BEST SHOW I’VE SEEN IN A LONG TIME. MAKE IT HAPPEN.
What’ve you been watching?
All Hallows (I Saw Nick Drake)
Robyn Hitchcock. “I Saw Nick Drake.”
I saw him pass right through this place.
And we’re in bloom.
protips for arguing
A must read list of intellectually honest and dishonest debate tactics. For example:
Accusation of taking a quote out of context: debater accuses opponent of taking a quote that makes the debater look bad out of context. All quotes are taken out of context—for two reasons: quoting the entire context would take too long and federal copyright law allows “fair use” quotes but not reproduction of the entire text. Taking a quote out of context is only wrong when the lack of the context misrepresents the author’s position. The classic example would be the movie review that says, “This movie is the best best example of a waste of film I have ever seen,” then gets quoted as “This movie is the best…I’ve ever seen.” Any debater who claims a quote misrepresents the author’s position must cite the one or more additional quotes from the same work that supply the missing context and thereby reveal the true meaning of the author, a meaning which is very different from the meaning conveyed by the original quote that they complained about. Furthermore, other unrelated quotes that just prove the speaker is a nice guy are irrelevant. The discussion is about the offending quotes, not whether the speaker is a good guy. The missing context must relate to, and change the meaning of, the statements objected to, not just serve as character witness material about the speaker or writer. Merely pointing out that the quote is not the entire text proves nothing. Indeed, if a search of the rest of the work reveals no additional quotes that show the original quote was misleading, the accusation itself is dishonest.
You know those people you hate getting into arguments with? It’s probably because they, willfully or not, ignore these sorts of distinctions. (via @interdome)
30 for Thirty Days, The End.
The last day of my thirty-day project. I don’t claim it as art, just something completed.
Mrs. Fisher dreamed of Heaven.
And in Mrs. Fisher’s Heaven, Mr. Peanut was God, and his Son was a Spud. And the Son of God wore a bellboy’s cap upon His head, and He so loved the little children that He wrenched their arms from out the sockets and extended his sprouts unto them, and they danced in a ring. And the Son of God was merry, and the Son of God was ashamed.
How It Came to Pass
“Why,” I asked, “is there an Essex, a Wessex, and a Sussex, but no Nessex or Nussex?”
“Well,” he replied, “there’s an interesting story behind that. Edward I was king at the time the regions were all laid out, and he gave them their names. But he suffered from a terrible neurological condition that prevented him from turning to the north. And because he was the king, nobody wanted to say, ‘King, you’re forgetting one of the cardinal directions’.”
my current desktop
from the comments
They could freeze dry sperm when Jesus was alive?
ahem
most active posts of the week
the botas vaqueras exóticas phenomenon
Keeping with a theme…
Enough with the “he just can’t seem to leave the seat down”. Why *can’t* there be a gender neutral position for that porcelain receptacle? Leaving it “lid down” means both men and women must take pains to be courteous. Discuss(t).
typical
So: for three years I live with a dude who claps, hoots, and hollers at anything resembling a sport on TV. I finally get my own place in a different city, I am excited at the relative peace and quiet, and guess what kind of person I live under.
you’re welcome
The Nokia Lumia 800
This is the first non-iPhone that has filled me with lust.
Dubbed the “first real Windows Phone,” this device is powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 CPU and is sculpted from the same 12.1mm (0.48-inch) thick piece of durable polycarbonate plastic, with tapered edges on the top and bottom to give it that industrial look and make it feel thinner than it really is.
