Apparently my wife is well aware of exactly what my emotional Achilles’ Heel is, since she sent me this story: 3-year-old found alive after plane crash kills two For five hours in the freezing mountains, a little girl hung from a car seat in the twisted wreckage of a crashed Cessna. When rescue workers finally reached her, her first request… Read more →
Author: Mr. McLaren
The foetid taint of Hollywood
Why does Hollywood have to taint everything good? I mean, if they’re going to screw up Radio Free Albemuth, and apparently VALIS as well, (both of which I am fairly sure are unfilmable without dramatically transforming the work, and not for the better), what is safe? (Maybe I’m being cynical, although Dick’s history in Hollywood supports me. And “very close… Read more →
Sex Ed (For Alex Wilson)
WARNING: Do not read if squeamish. Really this is only for Alex. The new Jhonen Vasquez book is out. Yes, this is the same fellow who was the driving force behind Invader Zim. The same guy behind Johnny The Homicidal Maniac and (my favourite of his works) I Feel Sick, plus a bunch of other stuff. The new book, which… Read more →
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…
…the computer industry is a scam. Now, normally when I say this, I mean something about the broad “knowledge industry”, and how commercial software developers are amongst the most highly-paid people who only theoretically…and I would say NOT practically contribute to society. However, it is also true on a much more retail level: Read more →
How to really feel like a 1337 4aXXor
Most of the time, when watching “hackers” on television, and in movies, I am usually quite harsh in mocking the appearance of their tools, and the Hollywood OS. The fact of the matter is that real programmers, and even more so real hackers, primarily work with the keyboardThey usually get this right, oddly. and character mode information…but not this!–this, however,… Read more →
Yes, I Am A Manly Man
Today I picked up a poppy at the grocery store, and probably severely over-donated as part of that interaction. I can’t help myself–one of the things that completely crack through my stern and manlyYes, I am totally serious. I am a manly man. If something can even manage to cut my steel-hard skin, I bleed 100% pure testosterone. exterior is… Read more →
Quote of the Day: Peter Watts
And the audience was pretty damn appreciative, even if some of them had already heard my comparison of God to an invisible purple hamster who lives up my butt and tells me what to do. (source) Read more →
Books, Cheese, and Beer
As you can probably tell, my access to the Internet has been spotty this week (and will continue so for a few more days). However, I’ve stolen a minute now to mention that yesterday was the day of Books, Cheese, and Beer. Details to follow when things return to normal, probably along with some commentary on a couple of tourist… Read more →
Last bit of Cintra
If the earlier quotes on L.A. didn’t sell you the book, I’m going to take one more shot at convincing you, and then I’m going to shut up about it. Promise. France’s Surya Bonaly, the beautiful black ice skater, has gotten screwed by the judges every time I’ve ever seen her compete. Surya Bonaly is a blazing star, she is… Read more →
Still in transit
I wonder, he said, after spending a day in his hometown, where hasn’t lived for over 15 years now, what is more depressing: returning to your a place you once knew well after 15 years and seeing all the ways it has changed, or how little it actually has? This place hasn’t been home for well over a decade, but… Read more →
Fall notes
I have travelled over 2000km so far this week. The vast majority of this has been on more or less empty highways, driving through absolutely resplendent fall colours, mostly on routes that parallel rivers. To put this in the simplest possible terms, this has been one hell of a powerful nature toke. I know I resisted Apple for the longest… Read more →
City Of Words
I guess it’s fair to say I was a bit of weird teenager. There probably weren’t many other people my age who would rush home most nights in order to catch Ideas on the radio. But I did. I loved that show (I still enjoy it more often than not when I catch it now, and I have a ton… Read more →
Cintra on L.A. (Three)
Picking up from here: What men routinely get away with in L.A. would get the tips of their noses sliced off in most of the social channels in New York. Women are different in New York; their methods of womanly operation are different from those in Southern California: more brains, more independent wealth, less sexual Uncle Tomming. New York women… Read more →
Holy Crap
My daughter read me a book today. She’s been “reading” me stories for months now, but until today that meant her telling me stories of her own invention about the characters in the book. These stories usually lacked a narrative throughline and some thematic consistency, but they made up for that with mad innovation and exciting events. Tonight though, the… Read more →
Steve Dooks Brings It
Even if very few of them know his name, almost everyone in the greater Halifax area knows Steve Dooks. For most people, Steve is “that guy who plays the piano at Pete’s“–one of Pete‘s better ideas, by the way. In Bedford they think of him like this: and people downtown think of him like this: While I’m sure that guy… Read more →
