This video has made my week. (Title: “My Dogs greeting me after returning from 14 months in Iraq.”)
(Via.)
Archive for the 'Extemporanea' Category
Often I ask myself: what’s the “tipping point,” new-content-wise, that distinguishes a comment on another blog from a post on this one?
Today I figured out the answer.
Comment: wondering what Alicia Keys is doing in the new James Bond theme.
Post: realizing that — of course! — she’s there because she’s supposed to be Amy Winehouse.
The video makes so much more sense now. The lingering shots of eyelids and wrists. The excessive mic-seducing pouts. The retro-raunchy that keeps its edges so jagged that it turns out retro-pushy — but in a loose, tame way, like a girl lip-synching in front of her mirror.
Seriously, did the James Bond Theme Song Brain Trust rethink anything after jettisoning her? Or did they just try to find two musicians who, if morphed together, might approximate Amy Winehouse — and then, upon deciding that Jack White and Alicia Keys fit the bill reasonably, skip the crucial step of morphing them? (And don’t tell me that’s scientifically impossible. This is the Bond franchise, people.)
I mean, I like the song (almost despite myself), and I guess I appreciate their attempts to think ahead to the (likely near) day when we won’t have her around anymore. But if imitation can’t compare to the real thing, sometimes innovation can’t either.
UPDATE: Okay, so it problematizes my distinction just a little bit to point out that Poulos didn’t see this as worth posting on when he wrote his comment — before I wrote mine — on the original post…
…and to tide you over until Iqra’i gets a collective handle on schoolwork, social lives, senior essays, jobs, and the increasing amounts of blood in our caffeine system, HuffPo has just posted speeches from September’s YPU debate.
Sadly, no one asked for mine. On the other hand, I have a blog, too, and what could be more democratic than blogging about a debate where I gave a speech about how blogging isn’t democratic?
Are you looking for something to add to your Google Reader that isn’t quite as taxing as “Diaries of the Greats: Commemorative Blog Edition” (Pepys; Orwell) but has a bit more intellectual meat to it than, say, that cluster of Mad-Men-character Tumblrs that was hot for about a minute and a half this summer?
I give you “Being and Nothingness: le weblog personnel de Jean-Paul Sartre.”
Mocking the misanthropy of genius hasn’t been this much fun since Strindberg and Helium.
The Pepys/Orwell phenomenon highlights something else, actually: even as the infinite capacity of the Internet has broken all rules regarding a certain kind of time-boundedness — eliminating the tendency of old information to get “buried” under new information, for example (much to the chagrin of Google News and United Airlines) — the rise of blogs has encouraged packaging information in a serialized manner for consumption. Pepys and Orwell aren’t just being reintroduced for the 21st century, but de-archived (in a manner of speaking). Sidestepping the question of whether or not we’d be able to handle reading their diaries at one go these days, it seems like a really solid marketing strategy for targeting people who are mature/stagnant enough in their Web use that they tend toward “checking” rather than “exploring”.
Andrew Sullivan nukes the fridge:
Here [Palin] is last year:
“I’m not a doom and gloom environmentalist like Al Gore blaming the changes in our climate on human activity.”
Here she is this morning:
“I believe that man’s activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change.”
Was she lying then or lying now?
Option #3: She changed her mind. It happens sometimes. Thank God.
The LHC has been switched on, and the universe does not appear to have been destroyed. (Check here for periodic updates.) Our subjective experience of existence continues. However, this doesn’t prove anything: we have no way of knowing that this universe is the same one we started in. The LHC may have weakened the barriers between parallel universes, transporting us from one to the next without warning.
So how can you tell? We at Iqra’i, with our extensive scientific experience, are here to help, with 10 Ways To Tell If You’ve Been Transported To An Alternate Universe.
- Do previously clean-shaven acquaintances suddenly sport goatees? (Caution: some may have grown goatees since the last time you saw them. Consult a calendar.)
- Has the international situation changed significantly? This may be as obvious as a newspaper article about the USSR, but watch for subtler clues: a reference to Austria-Hungary, Mercia, or the Republic of Vermont may also indicate a shift in universe. (A reference to the Republic of Alaska may not.)
- Are you surrounded by the ravaged hulks of once-proud buildings? You may have been transported to a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by cyberpunk bandits.
- Are you greeted by a significant other you never knew you had? (Caution: consider how much you drank last night.)
- Have you sprouted a three-foot-long beard? Be aware that this may be related to Rip Van Winkle Syndrome. Check for signs of morning breath, American independence, and ninepins-related sports injuries before proceeding. If female, get your hormone levels checked.
- Do strangers defer to you in unexpected ways? If so, you may have been sent to the parallel reality where you are king. Make yourself at home.
- Has technology changed significantly? For instance, do you see flying cars or horse-drawn carriages? (Note to John McCain: Google doesn’t count.)
- Do nationally prominent figures suddenly occupy radically different roles? Is Maureen Dowd co-hosting a talk-show with Oprah?
- Have your country’s politics shifted? For instance, is there an oppressive government no one seems to mind? Alternately, is there an oppressive government people do seem to mind?
- Is there a Large Hadron Collider?
If you experience some or all of these symptoms, consult your nearest quantum mechanic.
- The Yale Political Union makes news beyond the Yale Mafia. (Best line from Phil Weiss: “So…do any lefties smoke?”)
- Roommate/co-blogger Dara reveals the reason for her absence: a piece on Gawker over at Culture11.
As for me, I have a few posts kicking around in my head: last night’s debate, Social Security, the drinking age. Any preferences on order, O Two Regular Readers?
EDIT: Oh, or DRM. I’m mad about DRM.
While I run around getting ready for other things, check these out:
- Why libertarians should vote for Obama. (Marginal Revolution)
- Foreign policy factions vie for McCain’s heart. (International Herald Tribune)
- Brave New World of Digital Intimacy. (New York Times Magazine)
- Gandhi Pills? Psychiatrist Argues for Moral Performance Enhancers. (Wired Science)
Creeping Christianism, Batman! Joe Biden claims to believe that life begins at conception (NYT).
What utter nonsense. Everyone knows that life begins in the Precambrian.
I check out the blog stats every once in a while, and sometimes people find us via Google searches I can only describe as…strange.
The Peculiar:
different ways to care for chickens
unfortunate sex images
want to make molds for banisters
what is the spiritual significance of the navel
The “Good Question”:
does sarah palin smoke cigarette
why do pornstars keep their shoes on?
what do social theorist do for us
The Sublime:
men in suits throwing pies
everything is performative
uses of cigarettes and alcohols equals modernity
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