Scientists now say that Vitamin C is useless against the common cold! (Well, actually they said, “The lack of effect of prophylactic vitamin C supplementation on the incidence of common cold in normal populations throws doubt on the utility of this wide practice.” But, you know… Whatever, Einstein.) Oh well, at least we’ve still got the placebo effect associated with taking Vitamin C. Except… Oh, waitaminute. Thanks a lot… Assholes! =)
Archive for June, 2005
They say virgins are the new sluts, but I don’t know if I buy it. Virgin Airlines, on the other hand, is looking more attractive all the time. Consider this snippet of travelogue from Momus’ blog:
At dangerous moments (before take off, descent) when the passengers had to be controlled, white indie rock music (New Order, Oasis etc) played over the speakers. The safety instruction video featured an indie geezer who looked like Liam from Oasis, Japanese girlfriend beside him. The V:Port in-flight entertainment system recommended I “chill out” with some music videos, or relax with on-demand comedy shows. I watched one that contained this joke: “What’s white and sticky and runs down the toilet wall? George Michael’s new release.”
Coach is still coach, but at least they’re making an effort. Compare it to his last long-haul flight, on British Airways:
It might have been nice to read the Guardian, but of course BA doesn’t give you the Guardian. It doesn’t even give you the new tabloid Times. You get a choice of Telegraph or Daily Mail. Great if you’re terribly right wing, not so great otherwise.I turned to the entertainment schedule and wondered why BA doesn’t list the country of origin of the films it shows. I suppose because they would all say USA. This editorial policy is extended to the comedy channels; there’s a ‘Comedy Channel’ without national specification, showing entirely American comedies. Then there’s a ‘UK Comedy Channel’ showing British comedies. You’d think that on a British airline (flying the flag!) British comedy would be ‘Comedy’ and American comedy would be ‘US Comedy’. But apparently it’s the local culture which is considered exotic here, and requires extra labelling.
Of course, no matter how you cross the atlantic, you still end up in the same America:
There’s a TV for people queuing for their immigration interviews, but it’s not showing Ricky Gervais making jokes about sperm. It’s got CNN on with the sound down and subtitles. They’re interviewing Franklin Graham of “the Graham ministries”, Billy Graham’s son. He’s talking about “the ministry of Jesus Christ our lord and saviour.” The interviewer says “You’re known as a bit of a hell raiser, with strong views. For instance, your views on homosexuality…” Graham replies “I have a mission to give the Bible’s view on these things, and the Bible says clearly that homosexuality is a sin.” I wonder how many gay people there are in the queue, and how reassured they must have been by the gay stewards on the plane, and (possibly) by the gay jokes about toilet sex in the British comedy shows. I wonder if their hearts are sinking at this moment. Graham continues, talking about how, in his view, Islam is an “evil religion”. More hearts in the queue sink.
I Knew There Was Something Wack About General Grevious!
Published June 17th, 2005 in Uncategorized. ClosedThere’s a post on BoingBoing today called Neal Stephenson: Why Star Wars Doesn’t Suck, about how the “geeky” plot elements of the prequels have been excised and moved into geek-friendly formats like cartoons (“Clone Wars”) and video games and so on. Interesting theory, and the New York Times article by Stephenson is indeed a quite compelling read (if not one of his most elegantly written).
But I wanted to make a post about the article here, because it seems to me that BoingBoing has missed the point of Stephenson’s argument entirely, and the dissonance between their “Doesn’t Suck” headline, and Stephenson’s actual article left me hell of confused the first time I read through it. So don’t do what I did, and go looking for an apology in Stephenson’s article. Just let the man talk for himself, and if at the end of it all, you think he’s pleased with the way things have worked out, re: leaving the geekery out of the prequels, then perhaps I’m just over-analyzing. But riddle me this, why would a man whose last book weighed in at over 2,000 pages extol the virtues of leaving *anything* out? =)
Here’s something you can do this week. Go into your local Borders or Barnes & Noble or whatever. Someplace you can take a book off the shelf and read for a little while. Grab a copy of Chuck Palahniuk’s latest book, Haunted, and find a place to sit. Ideally, you’d want to do this in the cafe area; someplace where there will be quite a few people around while you’re reading. Now, open up to the chapter called “Guts” and give it a go. It won’t take very long to read, so you can do this on your way to class or work, or even on your lunch break. Come to think of it, maybe on your lunch break is not the best idea.
It’s a fantastic story, wouldn’t you agree? I was inspired to check it out by a fascinating interview with Mr. Palahniuk that I came across on the web, in which he describes the various audience reactions that have been prompted by his reading of “Guts” on his current promotional tour. And while my experience with the story may not have been as overwhelming as some people’s, I will admit that I did need to pause at several points, while I tried to figure out if I was getting dizzy, or just on the verge of laughing hysterically. And while I finished reading, all the other customers at Borders continued with their shopping, but I wondered… What’s their story?
(Note: While the entire text of this story is available on the web, I’d be very disappointed if you don’t take my advice and read it somewhere public. I mean, come on… Don’t you want to have any fun? =)
Listening to Pulp’s We Love Life album while doing some data entry and I’m reminded that Jarvis Cocker comes up with some of the funniest put-downs I can think of. Of course there’s, “I heard an old girlfriend/has turned to the church/she’s trying to replace me/but it’ll never work” from “Bad Cover Version,” but one I never picked up on before was, “You say you want someone to screw your brains out/I’d say they’re running out of time” from “Bob Lind.” OH SHIIIIIIIIT =)
