kate

Did Tom Hanks’ performance as Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks wet your whistle for another depiction of Mr. Disney on the big screen? Then 2014 just might be your year, because two independent biopics are scheduled to be released later this year.

Efforts that started back in 2010 to put Snoopy on license plates in California have hit a milestone — the special plates, featuring artwork by Charles Schulz, are now available for order. And once 7,500 have been ordered, the Department of Motor Vehicles will begin production. The proceeds from the official Snoopy license plate will [...]

“I can’t find my website in Google - I think the recent earthquake has affected Google’s search results.”

I received a domain password from a client via email, but I was having trouble logging in with it.

Me: Hello. It appears the password you sent is not working.

Client: I’ll send it again.

He sends me the same email again.

Me: Sorry, I still can’t get it to work. Can you read it to me?

Client: It’s “X-Y-Z-k-j-i-o-w-T-dot”

Me: Wait, by “dot,” do you mean period? The period is part of the password and not a period ending a sentence?

Client: Yes. Why would a period end a sentence?

Me: This brief is awesome, but there are a couple typos that I think may be misconstrued. Do I have permission to make a couple tweaks to it?

Client: No. Think of my brief as a strip club. Look but don’t touch. Thanks! 

^{All-New X-Factor #3 cover | kris anka + jared k. fletcher}

this may go down as the best thing I’ve ever drawn for Marvel

orbitaldropkick:

KILL SIX BILLION DEMONS, CHAPTER 3.

RETURNING TO SCOUR YOUR EYEBALLS ON TUESDAY

holy shit why did I not know about this comic until an hour ago

I’d like to think that I read a lot this year but I’m not exactly sure if I did. In the last year I’ve been gorging on texts that I think I had around forty books, mostly academic, in my bibliography. Was there time for manga? I always wish there was more time for manga.

I did try to read some manga this year and this is the list of my favourites that I have read. I honestly wish I read more. Again, this list is not based on whether it was released this year but are based on titles that I managed to read this year. And I read a couple of awesome ones this year. Here’s 13 awesome titles from 2013.

Tropic of the Sea by Satoshi Kon

I love Satoshi Kon more than and sooner than I’d ever proclaim love for Hayao Miyazaki. His movies have always been very personal for me and knowing that he’s no longer around, it’s all about making the most of what he’s left behind. One of which was this manga, Tropic of the Sea, a manga I didn’t know existed and was pleased that it was made available in English. The story follows a a family at some coastal town and the myth that surrounds them. It is visually stunning and for a while reminded me of Jiro Taniguchi, particularly with how clean and smooth Satoshi Kon’s lines were. I didn’t see his Paprika-esque visuals here but it remains a good read and quite a solid manga that anyone can enjoy. If people are expecting Satoshi Kon’s mindfuck in this one they might be disappointed. It basks in the small town feel which I love dearly so it has a soft spot for my favourite reads this year.

Oboreru Knife by George Asakura

Another one of my hick town manga. There’s something amazing and beautiful about small town stories and surprisingly, this was one I truly enjoyed. In this comic, the heroine moves to a small town and was far removed from the glitz and glamour of the city. Despite this, the city’s glamour continues to lure her and this leads to a very unfortunate event which leaves her disconnected from her town and the boy who showed her its beauty. I find this story compelling as it’s one of those shojo titles that is unafraid to tackle some uncomfortable topics relating to children in Japan: gravure idol culture gone wrong, bullying, rape, sex, etc. While it isn’t the first to do this, I have to commend it for not taking these matters lightly. Asakura and her heroine faces these problems head on and she does this with such grace and beauty. Quite mature for a shojo manga but one that I think some girls would like to have read in this day and age.

Takemitsu Zamurai by Taiyo Matsumoto

This manga was such an unusual art and style from Taiyo Matsumoto that I sincerely enjoyed every bit of it. It’s a refreshing read on old samurai tales and one that I immensely enjoyed with every page. Apart from Vagabond, this is perhaps my second favourite samurai manga. Sorry, Rurouni Kenshin.

Smells Like Green Spirit by Saburo Nagai

This title is probably my most favourite BL to date. Surprisingly, from an author I have not read! I’ve spoken about this at length in my review and if I can sum up my thoughts on this title, well, it’s probably one of the best crafted BL stories that captures the youth of a transforming sexuality. It has humour, vibrant characters, and a beautiful setting that is alive and well.

Gundam the Origin by Tomino Yoshiyuki and Yasuhiko Yoshikazu

I’ve always been a Gundam 0079 fan but I actually never got to own these books. My friend Yue was really hooked on this and I mulled over to give the Japanese edition to try. However, since Vertical announced that they’re translating this title and is giving it the full service, I just thought of waiting for the English editions. Unsurprisingly, it was worth the wait. The glossy pages, the hardbound, and the fantastic beginning of humanity’s survival is well captured in the book. The team behind Gundam Origin really pushed the story of 0079 further, highlighting the complexities of human relations as it gets divided in space. I am honestly overwhelmed by the beauty of Yasuhiko’s illustrations having come from the rudimentary 0079 animation. It’s a beautiful start and honestly one that I look forward to until all the volumes come out in English.

Sono Otoko Amatou Nitsuki by Est Em

Somehow, every year, there’s got to be an Est Em favourite right? One of the things that excited me last year was the release of this old series in Ohta Shuppan’s Poco Poco site. It’s a delightful story about a man and his love for chocolate which extends to the people dear to him. While not exactly a food manga, Est Em manages to entice our tastebuds with her delectable imagery which brings to life the sheen over a well-tempered truffle. This is a book that you can’t read without having a truffle to your side. It’s a lovely read and one I’d read over and over again.

Nounai Poisonberry by Mizushiro Setona

While this has been around for a while, I really only got to reading this title last year. This title takes a look at the voices inside a woman’s head. Literally. It’s a humorous story of how this woman tries to silence these opposing opinions, maintain her sanity, and decide which voice truly represents what she wants. It’s such a hilarious tale although a friend of mine has already noted her annoyance with the story. However, I can’t possibly consider it a Mizushiro Setona story if you can’t get annoyed! I stand by this interesting tale which I find quite relatable given the madness that I myself hear from the voices in my head.

Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu by Fujimura Mari

I would put Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu (I’ll take a work holiday) as part of my “obachan OL needs some love” category. I suppose Nounai Poisonberry falls in this too but it’s more apparent in Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu. While we don’t see struggling voices in her head, the heroine does have her apprehensions in dating a younger man more so when she has absolutely no experience in love. When she does score with a boy in her office, she takes a break from work and starts to reassess her life and her sudden love. It’s a title that tickles my obachan heart, one that makes me think that even if we’re a little older than most heroines, we’ve still got our tokidoki moments.

Seven Deadly Sins by Suzuki Nakaba | Ace of Diamond by Terajima Yuki

This is a tie on the shonen battle since I really can’t choose one to let go. For one, I read Ace of Diamond first, curious on finding a baseball manga that fills the gap of Adachi’s Mix. As it turns out, this baseball story exceeds my expectations, giving me enough technical appreciation for the sport and endearing characters that I literally cried for. I… won’t forget you Tanba-senpai. ; ^; This is perhaps this generation’s new koshien champions.

While I was set on Ace of Diamond, I read Seven Deadly Sins to pass time and I was honestly surprised by this story. It’s a shonen story that centers on a political struggle and I was quite surprised at how youthful and refreshing a deeply complex story on war can get. Set at a magical universe of Brittania, a princess sets on a journey to look for the 7 Deadly Sins, a group of people who have committed the highest treason in the land. The journey leads her in a tavern where a young man reveals he holds much greater strength than what he looks. This probably deserves a proper review someday, but from what I read, it’s a refreshing tale on war dynamics. Shonen stories often gloss over the burden heroes bear for every battle they fight, but this story has this raised awareness of the heroes’ crimes. It’s also not one of those black and white tales which I appreciate when I cross it in shonen manga.

Ballroom E Yokoso by Takeuchi Tomo

When I first saw this in manga taishou last year, I thought, a manga on ballroom? Why not, right? I was expecting this title to be closer to Swan where it focuses on the relationships formed behind dancing. Something like a younger version of Shall We Dance. Instead, it’s a legit sports manga with drawings that matches the energy and vibe of sports dancing. It’s beautifully drawn and I think it serves as a better use of your time compared to watching Dancing with the Stars.

Umibe no Onna no Ko by Inio Asano

This manga was actually one of my earliest reads last year. I got it mostly because it was Inio Asano and I’ve been a bit of a fan of his since Solanin. If you guys haven’t read Solanin, you should. Umibe no Onna no Ko was also published in Manga Erotics F and that’s always a plus for me. Some of my favourite titles have come from that magazine after all. This title is a rather cute and discomforting story of young love. It’s an unusual romance about two sexually curious kids and how that curiosity caught the best and worst of them. I remember having a very cathartic reaction with this manga after reading the first two volumes. Until now, I can’t place words on how or why I liked this other than “Well shit, that blows. But fuck, that’s good.” I think it’s going to be available in English too.

Udagawacho de Mattete by Hideyoshico

Prior to my read of Smells Like Green Spirit, this was in the running of my favourite BL from last year because of its approach towards transgender relationships. Hideyoshico writes a rather believable set of characters who bear the weight of their newfound sexuality with such responsibility and bravery. It’s a cute and heartwarming tale. Like if Wandering Son goes to high school.

Kirara no Hoshi by Morinaga Ai

I just can’t quit Morinaga Ai. Her sort of new-ish story may not be as insane as Heavenly Hockey Club but it still contains her comedic energy which I just cannot forget. This time, she looks into the world of celebrities and her lead actress finds beauty in the most invisible boy in their school. To save her father’s crippling talent company, she hires the boy to be her next star.

So here’s my 13, actually 14, for 2013. I had a lovely time reading these manga. I… actually… read another manga which I can’t remember the title but I remember the plot. I suppose I’d be reading that and sharing that someday, but if I found 13 new titles to be enjoyable in the last year, I’m quite sure I’ll find a whole new slew of titles this year.

sunbakerey:

this is all i can do rn

this is better than bad, it’s good

Looks like NBC decided to give it the *slides on sunglasses* boot. YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.

Somewhere Angela Lansbury‘s* putting on a cardigan, buying some booze, and prepping for a wild party, because NBC decided not to go ahead with their planned Octavia Spencer-starring Murder, She Wrote reboot. Now you have learned, Octavia. Angela is the Murder, She Wrote star. There can be only one.

You  might recall that shortly after NBC decided to go ahead with their new Murder, She Wrote pilot—a decision that was met with a lot of ?!?!?!? and some !!!!!!!! on the Internet, the latter in part because of NBC’s casting of Spencer, a woman of color, in the lead role—Angela Lansbury laid quite the polite smackdown on it. She (rightly) pointed out that, since the show would have different characters and settings, it wouldn’t exactly be Murder, She Wrote, would it? So they shouldn’t use the name, hmmmmm? (She opined, sipping chamomile and frolicking through the beautiful briny sea.)

Who knows whether it was Lansbury’s divine influence or something else, but NBC is backing out of the show, which would have been a “light, contemporary procedural” starring Spencer as a hospital administrator/amateur sleuth/newbie mystery novelist. It might only be in a coma, though: Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva writes that “the network brass felt they could try approaching it in a different way, possibly with a new concept” at some point down the line.

I must admit that I never really cared about the reboot for itself—”light, contemporary procedural” is so not my thing that it makes me rear back from my computer a little bit—but it was going to be nice to see the roster of TV’s leading ladies get a little less homogenous. There’s still Revenge (my bad, typed Revenge when I meant Scandal), Sleepy Hollow, The Mindy Project, Elementary, and the upcoming Extant and Rosemary’s Baby remake (what else am I missing?), but that’s not a heck of a lot. NBC, if you end up re-rebooting Murder, She Wrote with televison’s twelve billionth white lead, I will side-eye you so hard.

* I kid, I kid. Lansbury has too much class for that. Also, she cares naught for the trials of mere mortals.

(via: Deadline)

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As a whole, Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD is not a very good game. The PC port of this former PS Vita exclusive looks gorgeous, but that doesn’t hide the problems underneath. The maps are huge, without providing any real reason to explore (beyond a few bland side quests and collectible items). The pacing is choppy, indicative of its easy-to-set-aside handheld origins. Bugs are everywhere, ranging from unprompted costume changes to finicky usable objects to falling rocks hanging in mid-air. Stabbing, climbing, and being stealthy are normally my jam, but within a couple hours, the missions felt routine. There were a few bright points, but overall, I was underwhelmed.

And yet, I can forgive Liberation its flaws. This game fell short of the adventure I was hoping for, but it’s worth playing for one glorious, shining reason. Her name is Aveline de Grandpré.

The setting is New Orleans, 1765. Our protagonist is a child of plaçage, a form of temporary marriage common in French slave colonies. Her father is a successful French merchant; her mother, a freed African slave. Aveline has been granted the privileges of upper class life — education, wealth, the possibility of respectable marriage. Though she will be unable to inherit her father’s shipping business, he highly values her assistance with his work, and gives her plenty of free reign in managing his assets. She buys out rival businesses and gives their slaves paid employment, setting them, as she puts it, “on the path to freedom.”

All of this is done in her spare time, of course, because her main gig is murder and mayhem. Aveline is secretly a member of the Assassin Brotherhood, sworn to destroy the insidious Templar Order (this game will make little sense if you don’t go in with at least a basic grasp of the franchise’s lore and sci-fi overtones). She’s a walking weapon, capable of executing her targets without ever being seen. She wears retractable blades in her tailored sleeves. She can take out a group of guards with her bare hands. She can scale buildings, leap between trees, swim without breaking the water. She kills with efficiency and grace. She is a spectacularly dangerous woman.

Though I was unimpressed with the gameplay, there is one mechanic I have to mention: the Persona system. As you guide Aveline through her bloody business, you risk gaining notoriety, a tiered ranking which determines the likelihood that guards will aggro. Low notoriety means a guard might glance your way, but will shrug it off if you move on quickly. High notoriety means being attacked on sight. The Persona system allows the player to mitigate notoriety, and more importantly, to access different social abilities.

Aveline has three distinct ways she can present herself. Her Assassin garb carries notoriety no matter what, but gives her full access to her combat skills. The Lady Persona means no climbing or jumping (because, let’s be real, corsets are not conducive to parkour), but she can bribe guards to look the other way, coax them to follow her into the last secluded corner they’ll ever see, or silently dispose of them with her parasol gun. Her parasol gun. This Persona gains notoriety very slowly — she’s a lady, after all. She can get away with a lot. Quite different from the Slave Persona, which accrues notoriety for acts as minor as knocking into someone on the street. Guards need little excuse to rough up a slave. The trade-off is that in this guise, Aveline can blend into the background. Just pick up a crate, stand close to other workers, and disappear into the crowd. A fine way to escape from the scene of a crime.

Story-wise, the Persona system translates like this: Aveline is a master social engineer, able to manipulate class, race, and gender expectations to her advantage. She knows that the same townspeople who wave and call “Bonjour!” when she wears snappy green silk won’t look twice at her if she’s wearing rough cotton and carrying a broom. She knows when to flaunt her beauty and charm, and when to look down and play stupid. She wears a different face with everyone. With her family, she is spirited and affectionate. With her mentor, assertive and attentive. With her targets, menacing. Or coquettish. Or invisible.

Aveline’s malleability is further underlined by her cultural identity — or, rather, identities. She speaks with high-society polish and quips about the inferiority of Spanish wine, yet feels right at home among swamp-dwelling smugglers and runaways. She respects her African elders. She respects her French peers. She despises slave owners, but genuinely loves her father, who once owned her mother. The way she approaches her duality is complex, but this isn’t the story of an outcast. This is the story of a calculating woman who found herself with one foot on either side of a divide, and built a bridge to walk between.

The parental figures in Aveline’s life provide her with additional nuance. Her doting father, Philippe, encourages her independence, while her Assassin mentor, Agaté, disparages her impulsiveness. Her French stepmother, Madeleine, is abolitionist-minded, and treats Aveline as her own. Interesting as these characters were, none were more compelling than Aveline’s mother, Jeanne, who mysteriously vanishes in the opening moments of the game. Jeanne’s story is unraveled through her collectable diary pages, the one side quest I could not leave unfinished. Her diary begins with her struggle to become literate, and continues through her sale to Aveline’s father. I won’t give away the details, but suffice it to say, Jeanne’s feelings toward Philippe are poignantly layered. There’s fondness, yes, but I think it falls short of forgiveness.

I’ve played games that deal with themes of race and class, but I’ve never played a game that addresses them with such clarity. I’ve never seen a character like Aveline. I have no one to compare her to. She is totally unique.

Aveline’s strong characterization is bolstered by her excellent visual design. Five minutes into the game, I was struck by how badass she looked in her Assassin gear. For several hours, I was too busy muttering “wow, she looks cool” to fully realize why. There’s a key detail, one typically rare for female player characters in combat settings. Here, look at her outfit on the left:

Do you see it? It’s not the weapons, or the gauntlets, or even the flat-soled boots.

She’s not wearing boob armor.

The take-away here is not that boob armor is inherently bad. There’s a time and a place for boob armor. There’s even sensible, tough-looking boob armor (Exhibit A: Commander Shepard). But Aveline is wearing a neck-high leather doublet, without a plunging neckline or sculpted cups (in game, at least — the promo art is more busty). It’s the most obvious, practical choice for someone who needs both protection and mobility. As someone who has worn a snug leather doublet before, trust me, they don’t meld to your curves like shrink wrap. Everything gets compressed, much like you see here (an ideal thing if you’re doing a lot of running and jumping — this is why sports bras exist). Aveline’s clothing makes perfect sense in her line of work. It doesn’t make her look like less feminine, it makes her look competent. This is a woman out do to some serious damage. When I look at a female character portrayed in such a way, when I see no dissonance between her appearance and her skill set, when I think, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I would want to wear if I was in her shoes” — combine that with a well-developed personality, and you’ve got a power fantasy I can unequivocally engage with. It feels like Christmas.

Aveline never stopped feeling dominant, even when she changed into brocade and lace. When Aveline puts on a fabulous dress and a coy smile, she’s not doing it for the player. Oh, no. When Aveline flirts, it means someone is about to get played. And/or stabbed. Aveline is always in control, no matter what her appearance or her behavior. Assuming a traditionally masculine role does not compromise her femininity. Assuming a traditionally feminine role does not compromise her power.

God, I love this character.

I’ve seen little written about Aveline, which is unsurprising, given Liberation’s initially limited release and lackluster reviews. But she should be written about. This is a character bursting with fuel for critique, from as many angles as possible. My own impressions are limited to my racial perspective (that of being white) and my shamefully meager knowledge of American colonial history. I am itching to hear more varied thoughts on her, and for that, I’m glad that this game — buggy and blasé as it can be — is now available to a wider audience (Xbox 360 and PS3 owners, you’re good to go, too). Aveline deserves to be out there. And yeah, she deserves a better game. You should play this one anyway.

Becky Chambers writes essays, science fiction, and stuff about video games. Like most internet people, she has a website. She can also be found on Twitter.

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1. 1.Esmerelda
2. 2.Snow White
3. 3.Cinderella
4. 4.Ariel
5. 5.Pocahontas
6. 6.Megara
7. 7.Frozen

This post, a collection of Disney princess screencaps seamlessly edited to look like teenage men rather than teenage women has become quite popular on Tumblr this week, probably because of the site’s fascination with gender politics. Okay, it’s also a good deal because of Male!Esmerelda, I’m guessing. I mean look at that guy. Judging by some similar hairstyles, I’d guess that Miyuli was inspired by that post to create some full character sketches of folks like Ariel, Megara, and all four leads of Frozen as genderbent versions of themselves.

We’ve only got a few of Miyuli’s drawings here. You can find the rest in color, including Merida and Jasmine, at their Tumblr.

[View All on One Page]

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You know what’s great? Chocolate. Do you know what else is great? Animal Crossing. That’s why getting both chocolate and Animal Crossing together is an amazing thing. From Furuta, there will be a Choco Egg series featuring trading figures of the characters from Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

You’ll be able to find 11 figures altogether: Reese, K.K. Slider, Isabelle, Dr. Shrunk, Resetti, Cyrus, Tom Nook, Kapp’n, Rover, Leif, Kicks, and a secret figure. A secret figure? It would be cool if that figure was your character. We are the mayor after all!

Available in February, you can order a box set of 10 for US$25. That’s pretty good for a box of chocolate and 10 figures. 

[ Pre-order at AmiAmi | Play Asia ]

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ascrod:

So I was looking at custom gunpla builds of my favorite gundam (the F97/XM Crossbone) and I ran across this.

Annie’s Mailbox, 16 January 2014:

Dear Annie: I read “A Faithful Reader’s” response to “Mom,” who waits up for her 18-year-old daughter to come home. She said to set an alarm near Mom’s bed.

My sister-in-law is one of three sisters and two brothers. Their mother set up a similar alarm. The girls had to be home at a certain hour, but the boys did not. Well, the girls would come home, turn it off, say goodnight and then sneak back out. One ended up pregnant at 18. The brothers? They became priests. — Alarm Not the Answer

Dear Alarm Not The Answer,

And there you have it! Irrefutable proof that girls are the worst and need constant monitoring in order to turn into decent human beings, which obviously they can never be if they become pregnant at age 18. If only they’d had the good sense of their brothers and became priests instead.

Mars and Venus by John Gray, 16 January 2014:

Dear John: I have a close male friend and believe we could take our relationship to a different level, but he says he is not in love with me and never will be. He says he knows the minute he meets someone if he can have an intimate relationship with her. We are best friends and are very compatible in a lot of ways. Should I just bide my time and hope for a change? — Can’t Give Up, in Mendocino, Calif.

Dear Can’t Give Up,

I don’t know why you’d “bide” your time in this situation; that implies that this guy is not absolutely and definitely going to wake up one day in a fit of Hollywood rom-com revelation and realize that he has romantic feelings for you. The reason why these films are so popular is because they so closely mirror real life. Think of all the irrational, career-driven women you’ve known who learned to love again after meeting a guy with the emotional wherewithal of a ficus. Think of the marriages that have been saved by wacky hijinx related to a workplace bet. Think of all your best zany pixie-gals who’ve rescued inveterate dudeboys from a lifetime of Shins fandom.

You could be next! All you have to do is refuse to take this man at his word, and bam! His pantsparts will kick straight into gear when you least expect it—most likely you’ll both be traipsing through Times Square and he’ll announce his intimatest intentions on a glittering big-screen, so do keep an eye out for that. You owe it to yourself to pine away for a man who says he has no feelings for you, because what if he does someday, and you’re unavailable because you developed a fulfilling relationship with a human being with whom you had mutual chemistry?

Women can always fix men by loving at them.

1.21 Gigawatts! by dutyfreak is available at Redbubble

spoopycoffee:

the thrilling saga

Steve McQueen & John Ridley’s 12 Years A Slave got nominated for an Oscar this year. That got me thinking, so I dug up a list of winners and nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

You should click through, so that you can accurately answer this brief survey:

-How many black movies, with “black movies” defined as “primarily concerned with or created by black people” for the purposes of the question, have been nominated for Best Picture by the Academy?

-How many of those movies are about how sad it is to be black, or racial strife, or just the black condition in general?

-What does it mean when the organization of record for the movie industry only pays attention to black people, and undoubtedly people of several other stripes and types, when they’re in pain, but eats up movies about white people doing fantastic things?

---

Eddie Murphy, presenting an award at the 60th Academy Awards:

(and, just to stay on brand, here’s Jadakiss in 2004: “Why Halle have to let a white man pop her to get a Oscar?/Why Denzel have to be crooked before he took it?”

This year’s the 86th Academy Awards, but it’s biz as usual, isn’t it? According to a Feb. 2012 study, “the Academy is 94% white, 77% male, 14% under the age of 50, and has a median age of 62.”

You can tell.Similar Posts:

• Glyph Comics Awards Winners
• Personal Request of the Day
• Got minicomics? Isotope wants them.
• Glyph Comics Awards: 2010
• More Tiny Titans sketches

We've seen a lot of "chibi" Optimus Prime figures in our time, but it looks like Hong Kong toymaker Kids Logic is going to take the cake for coolest lil' Transformers Autobot leader of 2014. Due out this month, the 6" figure features a signature "super deformed" sculpt without sacrificing the kind of articulation and detail fans are used to seeing from Hasbro and Takara's much taller offerings.

Continue reading…

Client: Can you give me the phone number of someone on your team who will actually answer my calls? You never seem to.

Me: That’s because you  call between 12am and 7am. I’m sorry, but that’s usually when I’m sleeping.

Client: That makes no sense.

Rock, Man! by BiggStankDogg is $11 today only (1/16) at The Yetee

All-new story is based on Shotaro Ishinomori's 1970s special effects series

On Tuesday, Bruce Springsteen stopped by NBC's Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, where he helped deliver a scathing comic critique of New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Springsteen and host Jimmy Fallon sang and played and duet of "Gov. Christie Traffic Jam," an original parody of Springsteen's classic "Born to Run." (Watch above.)

The lyrics take aim at the Christie administration Bridgegate scandal, and include lines about the lane closure being a "bitch slap" to state Democrats, and how Gov. Christie's press conference last week was longer than a Springsteen concert.

"You're killing the working man who's stuck in the Gov. Chris Christie Fort Lee, New Jersey, traffic jam!" Springsteen and Fallon belt out.

The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment on Springsteen and Fallon's joint indictment of his administration—but it's not hard to imagine that Christie would feel a little stung by it. Christie is a huge fan of Springsteen and has clearly yearned for The Boss to be his friend. The Jersey-born rock star is a staunch liberal and only recently embraced (literally) the Republican governor in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

Fallon and Christie also have a history. The governor appeared on Fallon's show last year to "slow jam" the news (in a bit that included a reference to "Born to Run"), and to participate in a gag about his weight.

Folks may remember way back in the summer of last year when Kaitlin Reid launched a Kickstarter for a plush version of her Little Moon God character. The campaign was so successful that not only did the Little Moon God make it to production but so did his mate, the Little Sun Goddess, which was listed as a stretch goal. A hop and a skip and a few months later, the plush pair are ready to hit the market.

Both the Little Moon God and Little Sun Goddess are now listed on Kaitlin's Etsy store, priced at US$35 each. The Little Moon God plush measures 8 inches tall and 9 and a half inches long, with the Little Sun Godddess slightly smaller at 7 inches tall and 9 inches long. Both look absolutely darling! There is no word on whether or not these are limited edition or how many are in stock. I'd pounce on them if you take a liking to these fluffy deities.

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“I think culture is everything, here,” Neil deGrasse Tyson said at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena on January 13. “I would not have necessarily said that a couple of years ago.”

Tyson was appearing at the tour to promote Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a documentary series that follows on Carl Sagan’s 1980 program Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, and that is executive produced by Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow, and Seth MacFarlane, who helped place the show on Fox, rather than on a science- or nature-focused channel like National Geographic. And the panel became an occasion to discuss the role that culture plays in changing the conversation about science, and elevating science in the ranking of public priorities.

MacFarlane explained that he’d first met Tyson through the Science & Entertainment Exchange, the National Academy of Sciences program that puts people who work in the entertainment industry in touch with science professionals who can help make their depictions of science and engineering more accurate and engaging.

“I said while National Geographic, Discovery Channel were some of the places that it was being considered to be pitched to and are great networks, in a way, you’re sort of preaching to the converted, and wouldn’t it be nice to broaden it a little bit even more?” MacFarlane, who has a long-running relationship with Fox, which airs both his animated programming and his much-derided live-action show Dads said. “And I thought that there was a strong possibility that this particular regime at FOX, as creative and open minded as they are, would be receptive to the idea of doing the show on a network, and sure enough, they were.”

Druyan said that broadcasting the second edition of Cosmos on Fox was in keeping with the mission of the original series, which first aired on PBS.

“When Carl Sagan was alive, you know, we wrote for Parade magazine,” she explained, arguing that the point of Cosmos was to awaken interest in science in new audiences. “We weren’t trying to preach to the converted. We wanted to evoke in people, who might have even had hostility to science, a sense of wonder, the questioning, or to excite people who thought that science was just too challenging to dream about the universe of space and time.”

And Tyson argued that his experience with Twitter had taught him that it was more important to try to change the electorate’s thinking about science than to try to skip over them to lobby individual lawmakers.

“Every morning I wake up and I would look at the numbers, and I would say this is a hungry grass roots public out there that is ready and hungry and desires more,” he said of the Twitter following that had emerged to watch him “tweet the universe.” “When you influence the electorate, that, then, influences governance, because in a democracy, you elect who helps to set the vision statement for your country or for the world. Like I said, a few years ago I would have said what politician can we speak to or what and I said, that’s the wrong level. The real level is at the base.”

Tyson also offered a vigorous defense of critiquing films like Gravity, a movie he criticized for certain elements of its handling of physics, on accuracy grounds. He compared movies that want to be taken seriously as meditations on science but get their facts wrong to sober period movies that mishandle their characters’ costuming, suggesting that such errors are an obvious sign of carelessness and lack of engagement.

“I just thought that they had earned the right to be criticized at this level,” Tyson said of Gravity. “I don’t run around criticizing the bad physics in Star Wars. Right? There are certain films that make no premise of being accurate so that I don’t even go there. So I was just surprised and enchanted by how much people felt strongly about it, bar fights in the blogosphere. People talked about the movie for weeks. And I said, ‘Hey, actually, that’s a good thing that people are arguing about the science of a movie that takes place in space, at the end of the day.’…Science, if you want to go there, you ought to be held to the same standards that any other storytelling elements are held to when someone finally analyzes how good was that movie.”

The post Neil deGrasse Tyson On Why Popular Culture Is Key To The Future Of Science appeared first on ThinkProgress.

In her time as first lady, Michelle Obama has directed a serious effort to end childhood obesity, worked to help troops find employment after their time of service, and called on the nation to do more public and community service. But instead of focusing on those accomplishments in a reflective interview set to roll out on the first lady’s 50th birthday, People magazine seems set on presenting Mrs. Obama with the same sexist line of questioning that so many women in power receive.

While the interview between People and Mrs. Obama is not out in full, AP on Wednesday published a preview of what will be in it. AP’s story, entitled “First lady Michelle Obama won’t rule out plastic surgery, Botox,” focuses almost entirely on the first lady’s body, dieting habits, and self-image.

Despite the provocative headline, Mrs. Obama’s answer to a question about whether she would use Botox as she becomes older actually said more about her stance on female bodily autonomy than it did about plastic surgery. “Women should have the freedom to do whatever they need to do to feel good about themselves,” she says. “Right now, I don’t imagine that I would go that route, but I’ve also learned to never say never.”

People magazine also apparently asked Mrs. Obama whether she feels that she has “peaked at 50,” to which Mrs. Obama responded by ticking off the major life events she has to look forward to — continuing her public service after President Obama’s tenure, watching her children go to college. She concludes, “At that point in life, whoa, the sky is the limit.”

It’s hard to imagine Obama, who is 52, being asked the same question. But women in power have long suffered through questions a man would never be asked. And this unfair media coverage actually has consequences; a study conducted last year by the Women’s Media Center found that a female candidate is less likely to win if the media spends more time covering her physical appearance — no matter whether the coverage is favorable or not.

The post People Magazine Wonders Whether Michelle Obama Has ‘Peaked’ And If She Needs Botox appeared first on ThinkProgress.

Artist Jeffrey Veregge has used his Native American heritage as inspiration for superhero and movie based artwork, and the results are nothing short of stunning. These unique interpretations have such bold plays on color and geometry that they totally blew us away. Check out more of them below and head over to his website!

[Come stare with us....]

 

Supes, you are looking fab:

 

Batman being boss, as per usual:

 

Ugh, this Iron Man. We will gaze into Tony Stark's eye forever:

 

And our Friendly Neighborhood Web Guy just hanging around!:

 

There's more! You should really head over to Jeffrey Veregge's website and take a peek at Hellboy saving a kitten, if nothing else.

Sports? Music? Marriage? These are things that you give up on when they become difficult. But video games... No, that's something you just have to push through when things get difficult.

Okay... I really wish that previous paragraph was true (at least the part about video games). In yesteryear, people didn't have a huge libraries of video games at their disposal, services like Steam that can offer you a lot of games at a reasonable price, or online games like Candy Crush Saga that you can play without playing a dime. When people got a new game, odds are that was the only new game you were getting for a while. If you didn't like it, guess what? You learned to like it.

The Angry Video Game Nerd did an entire episode about how bad Back to the Future was for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a bad game... A bad game that I personally owned. And guess what? I learned to like it and can complete that game without losing a single life. Nowadays, if people don't like something they can trade it in, just ignore it, or delete it from their hard drive without any long term ramifications.

In conclusion, I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you...



See more: Never Give Up

Miss Manners, 14 January 2014:

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is the purpose of a cup or mug with a lid?

Gentle Reader,

Who fucking knows