and the films.
The Simpsons commentary tracks reminded me how much I appreciate Matt Groening’s good taste. The movie list clinches it.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Books in Hell
Here’s the Books from the Life in Hell calendars mentioned earlier:
Old Calendar Bonus Feature
Yes, I finally got rid of my old calendars. I was saving them because they were the Life in Hell and Futurama calendars that have good book and movie recommendations in them. So I finally copied them down so I could toss the calendars.
Science Fiction books recommended in Futurama 2004 and 2000:
(If you have any of the intervening years or can get me an ’05, I wouldn’t mind that at all.)
The world needs more disambiguation
There was another Jack Straw in English politics, so there are enough of them to require a disambiguation page in Wikipedia.
English public servants and their names
For years now, I’ve been alternately horrified and delighted that Britain’s Foreign (then Home—or maybe it went the other way) Secretary is called Jack Straw. Who better to make insubstantial proposals? Now I see that I missed another good one. In the recent row over Prince Harry dressing up as a Nazi, "former royal press spokesman Dicky Arbiter … said [a written apology] was not good enough." Ari Fleischer and Scott McLellan only wish they were called Dicky Arbiter. Hell, I’ve sought all my life to get to be a Dicky Arbiter.
Do you have Damp Heat in your Lower Warmer? Would you like some?
Upper Jiao Damp Heat is the early stage of a Damp Evil invasion. I have nothing to add to that.
"I could not take this gift for granite anymore."
Yet again I’m judging entries for the local PTSA’s Reflections essay competition. I’m glad that I only get a binder of entries with designated codes. If I had to meet some of the authors I would never ever stop slapping them. Only halfway through the binder and so far: 3 stories of getting lost while skiing, 4 stories of how their parent is their hero, 2 stories about how great Jesus is, and the obligatory story about how a retarded person will make you grateful for your life (while getting lost on skis). All but 3 of the total are filled with awkward writing, wooden characterization and inappropriate word choices. I know that not everyone is going to be a good writer, but every one of these students should really know how to compose an essay that doesn’t read like it was written by an ESL student with a head injury. No offense to the brain-damaged immigrant population.
Inappropriate headline theater
Instead of "US show sued for rat-eating stunt", I’d prefer to see "Moron can’t figure out how to change channel; harms self in orgy of idiocy."
A Loaf by Any Other Name
I listened to Frank Zappa’s album Broadway the Hard Way an awful lot in college, so no wonder confinement loaf popped back into my head. According to the song, it’s “bean by-products compressed into a loaf, which is administered to problem prisoners. Their diet will be a slice of ‘Confinement Loaf’ and a cup of water, and it seems to mellow them out right away. So my question is: How long before ‘Confinement Loaf’ appears in United States High Schools?”
Similar loaves seem to pop up in the news from time to time, here’s a few:
Tasty Turks, 70's Style!
Source of many excellent digital poster archives, those groovy Socialist historians in the Netherlands present us with photos of Turkish migrant workers in the Netherlands between 1965 and 1975. No one can do sideburns like Turks in the 70’s! Bonus: the unintentionally-hilarious-in-English caption “Turks brood.”