Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys has died of cancer at the deeply untimely age of 47. Dwight pretty much expressed my thoughts, except I didn’t care for “Rock Hard” either. But I did love “Sabotage,” as well as one other song where the Beasties make a guest appearance:
Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys RIP (Plus Robot Hell)
May 4th, 2012That’s One Hell of a Kick
May 2nd, 2012Back when I moved into my house in 2004, Steve Jackson was one of the people helping tote those hundreds of boxes of books. I used to contribute pieces to The Space Gamer, and helped playtest Shockwave, and we bumped into each other at various SF events around Austin. He also generously agreed to proof read Nova Express back when it was a going concern, and did an excellent job.
Steve decided to go the Kickstarter route to fund the “Designer Edition” of Ogre. His initial funding goal was $20,000. Actual amount pulled in? As of this writing, $422,719 (and no doubt it will have gone up by the time you click that link).
Congrats Steve!
The May 2012 Ansible is Up
May 1st, 2012You had me at “Scarlett Johansson Tied Up Half Naked”
April 30th, 2012I would say that Marvel has a good idea exactly what audience it’s trying to draw to The Avengers:
(Actually, I always thought her Ghost World co-star Thora Birch was hotter.)
Since Howard and I will be reviewing The Avengers this weekend, I will forbear pointing out how underpowered Black Widow and Arrow Guy are compared to the rest of the team…
Who better to throw out the first pitch than a horrifying, vengeful ghost?
April 29th, 2012Oh Japan, don’t ever change.
But there’s no reason this idea can’t succeed in the U.S. Why not have Freddy Kruger, Leatherface, Jason or Pinhead throw out the first pitch? Granted, this still wouldn’t be enough to get me to watch baseball…
In related news: Hello Kitty Ringu products.
Shoegazer Sunday: Curve’s “Frozen”
April 29th, 20121990s British duo Curve walk the line (if there is one) between Shoegazer and Dreampop on their song “Frozen”:
FLCL on Blu-Ray for $18.99
April 28th, 2012We now interrupt this blog for some shameless huxtering: Amazon has the complete 6-episode run of the wonderful and completely insane anime series FLCL on Blu-Ray for $18.99.
This is probably my favorite anime series of all time. It’s weird, funny, and endlessly inventive. You spend 5 episodes thinking “This is great, but it makes absolutely no sense!” And then you watch the sixth episode and go “Wait, it does make sense!” It really rewards re-watching.
It’s about a boy a who has a mysterious woman bump into and then start hitting on him. That is to say, bumps into him with her Vespa at full tilt and starts hitting on his head with her bass guitar. After that, giant robots come out of the resulting bump.
Then it gets weird.
It’s awesome. Trust me.
And if a paying media outlet wants an already completed review of FLCL that Locus Online passed on, please let me know…
Random Fark Images That Amuse Me
April 27th, 2012A continuing series:
Happy Birthday Carol Burnett!
April 26th, 2012She turns 79 today. How nice of Betty White to buy her a gorilla!
In celebration, here’s both parts of the classic “Went With the Wind!” skit.
Sure, Burnett has been immortalized on stage, screen, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But has she been given her own Barbie doll?
The answer is: Yes. yes she has, with the official Went with the Wind! Barbie Doll:
The Rockets Are Out of the Playoffs, And It’s All My Fault
April 23rd, 2012I would like to apologize to Houston Rockets fans everywhere. Two weeks ago, I said that coach Kevin McHale was doing a good job and how the Rockets were going to make the playoffs.
Naturally the Rockets immediately go on a six game losing streak, and yesterday they were eliminated from the playoffs. This will teach me to open my big, er, blog. If I had just kept it zipped, they might have managed to sneak in…