July 23, 2008
More reasons why The Dark Knight is awesome
No, I haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, but I plan to see it soon. I've no fear of spoilers, however, and I've already heard all about the boat scene. There's a fascinating discussion of it here, using game theory:
As always, readers are smarter and think harder than writers, so the comments are important to read, too. I don't know everything about Batman, so I couldn't be sure if this is something from the comic books, or if Chris Nolan came up with it himself, but either way, it's genius.
A 96-pus
So, if a cephalopod with eight legs is called an octopus, then what would you call one with 96?
I'm really not up on my Greek numbers, so any help here would be much appreciated.
UPDATE: I guess I found it. It's a enneacontakaihexapus. Sweet.
Want some pills?
First, there was Boing Boing
A plastic skull encrusted with pills. Not nearly as expensive as the diamond encrusted one, but possibly far more dangerous if eaten.
My New Blog...
So, I thought I'd create a new one. I'm fully aware of the fact that there aren't really any regular readers of this one, and I don't know why I bother to write it, really... but I've found that the focus is a little off, or it never had one. So I decided to make a new, more narrowly focused blog. Since I'm working on getting into comic strip syndication, and I've been quite the avid comic strip reader all of my life, I thought I'd make a blog about it. Seeing as there don't seem to be very many blogs about comic strips out there, it seemed quite easy. Let's see if it actually is... but, for now, check it out here.
July 21, 2008
Male hormones rage
Yes, they will rage no matter what the woman looks like. If it's a woman, testosterone levels will go up, and men will try to impress.
So, it means that men want to impress any woman they can. The evolutionary reason for this is that mating is important, and mating with any woman is important (ask any desperate man). Men will also go to great lengths to impress, exaggerating their accomplishments and having better posture. Apparently, though, men don't care about looking good in front of other men. Though, I wonder what the homosexual reaction would be...
Pretty neat password recovery software
It's called Passware. It's password recovery software for recovering passwords for logins and encrypted files. The basic Passware Kit includes modules for password recovery of all MS Office passwords (Word, Access, Outlook, Powerpoint, VBA and Excel Password), Windows Professional and Enterprise admin passwords, Lotus Notes keys, EFS keys, SQL keys, and many others. The software is built for PC platforms, but Mac users should probably only need to check out what's going on in their keychain to find their lost passwords. It's a bit expensive, but looks very good and very professional, and will probably be worth the money in otherwise lost time and resources. I'd suggest any Windows user to at least check it out. There are free demos. :)
July 18, 2008
The coolest thing since Defender...
This is cool. It's javascript. It's the game of Defender. It's a favicon. It's playable. It's just cool. Click it.
Pouet has a page on it, too.
Sometimes the Onion just isn't funny...
But this time it wasn't supposed to be. This time, it was supposed to be satirical, and I think there was an actual point to be made. Someone deserves a medal.
July 17, 2008
Great story for the one who hates math...
A not so interesting article on an extremely interesting topic: Are numbers necessary to language? Apparently not, as evidenced by a hunter-gatherer tribe in the rain forest of Brazil.
They have a word for quantities of one to four and another word for anything above five. They have no words for specific numbers, though. Also interesting is the fact that they haven't developed the ability to draw, especially not in straight lines. Why? Are they just underdeveloped, stupid savages? I think not. I think that in their culture, they just didn't need them, so they never developed them. Seems simple enough, right?
July 10, 2008
Holy backstory, Batman!
This guy kind of gets it, and kind of doesn't, and I can tell he's never read the comic books.
The man is praising The Dark Knight because it spares the backstory of the Joker, making him crazier, more irrational, and basically a better character for Heath Ledger to play around with. Fine, good, I agree. However, he says it fails at putting Harvey Dent/Two-Face in it and giving him a bigger backstory. Why not do the same thing with Two-Face that you did with the Joker?
Because Chris Nolan knows the comics better than you do. I'll explain, since Batman is my all-time favorite superhero*.
In the comics, the Joker had no real backstory, and what was there was very vague. Apparently he got dunked in some weird chemicals, giving him the green hair, red lips, white skin, and crazy smile. So, no, it's not actually make-up. The Killing Joke, the seminal Joker story, fleshes it out a little bit, showing that the Joker a failed comedian turned robber, and that's how he fell in the chemicals. Still, however, it's very vague, and the Joker himself states that he doesn't remember his former self that well. There is a point to this, and that's what the article writer gets, except that it isn't Chris Nolan's idea. He's just going by the comic canon. The Batman creators knew it when they created the Joker. Having a backstory gives a character a more rational reason for the crimes they commit. The Joker is supposed to be the ultimate irrational character, to be juxtaposed with the rational, logical Batman. He's the perfect villain.
Next, we have Harvey Dent. For Harvey Dent, there's no question that Chris Nolan was inspired by Year One, The Long Halloween, and, to a lesser extent, Dark Victory. Anyone who's read those knows that Harvey Dent is not Two-Face. The man that was once Harvey Dent is transformed into Two-Face by some unfortunate events. The character is much more complicated and sympathetic than the Joker. The most important part to remember, too, is that Harvey Dent as Harvey Dent, and not as Two-Face, is a very important character in the comics. He became the DA right before Bruce Wayne became Batman. He worked with Jim Gordon, the last good cop in Gotham City, a city ruled by mob bosses and corrupt police officers (which is actually shown in Batman Begins with Carmine Falcone, and not shown sufficiently in any other Batman film). He wanted the same thing Bruce Wayne wanted, and they became good friends. Then, however, Harvey became Two-Face. After that, Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon were never the same, because they were fighting their friend. Thus, this backstory must be told, or Two-Face doesn't actually make sense. The Joker doesn't need to make sense, but Two-Face does.
So, thankfully, Chris Nolan gets it. Perhaps whoever wrote this article didn't, but it's a pretty good one anyway.
*I must say that a very close second for favorite superhero is Talisman of the Justice Machine. A fairly obscure comic, but a pretty good one. His costume is great (just an expensive black suit and tie, and white gloves), and his superpower is, to my knowledge, unique (super karma power??!).
The military has an established religion?
I believe in God, but this story is still ridiculous.
Threats from superior officers just because you don't believe in God? Saying because he doesn't believe in God he isn't upholding the Constitution? Isn't freedom of religion part of the Constitution? Aren't we fighting to defend everyone's right to believe in whatever they want, be it God, no God, a little golden man on a shrine, or even a living tree? If not, I'm moving.
Missing the point, again.
So, the Olympics are coming up. They're supposed to be a symbol of the world coming together, in unity and harmony, for some friendly competition. Apparently, the presidential candidates have missed this.
So, President Bush, completely understanding the point, is going to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Obama says he wouldn't, because he doesn't like what China is doing. At the bottom of the article, McCain basically says the same thing. Good, boys. You've missed it.
Another question, too: How in the heck did John McCain get to run as a Republican?
July 03, 2008
Somebody needs a raise...
Yes, indeed. Whoever came up with the new poster for The Dark Knight definitely needs a raise. It's a brilliant idea, it looks awesome, and it gets the point across. I could also definitely see this as a comic book cover. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's been one before.
So, only a couple weeks left to wait for this. Then, we wait for Two Face in the next one. I mean, Harvey Dent's in this one, so he has to be Two Face in the next one. Or the one after that... but I doubt Chris Nolan would wait that long. At least, I hope he wouldn't...
Another random top 10 list.
I thought this one was cool. The top ten Jackie Chan stunts of all time. Jackie's not the greatest martial artist (good, but not the greatest), but he certainly is one of the greatest (and bravest) stuntmen of all time.
*bow*
He deserved that.
June 27, 2008
Prince sues tributers..,
So, Prince turned 50, and some folks who really like his music made a tribute album. Prince wasn't happy, and he wants to collect damages as well as destroy every copy of the album.
I figure he's just going through a mid-life crisis. Turning 50 does things to you.
The Supreme Court does something smart
They've finally realized that the 2nd amendment means what it says.
People actually do have the right to bear arms, and the gun ban on D.C. residents has been overturned. This is a day of rejoicing, for sure. Vive le Constitution!
June 25, 2008
From somewhere out there... comes our next president
George Noory, host of Coast to Coast AM, the radio show about all things paranormal, supernatural, and extraterrestrial, is apparently planning to run for president in 2012. Why? Well, anyone who listens to his show knows that 2012 is an important year, and George knows it, too. He knows it so well that he's willing to run as a Democrat if the incumbent is a Republican and as a Republican if the incumbent is a Democrat. He will be president in 2012, no matter what. Or so he says.
June 23, 2008
I signed up for PayPerPost...
Yes, yes indeed, I signed up for PayPerPost. I needed a little extra money, and it seemed to be the best way to make it from this particular blog. I didn't want to put a bunch of ads on the site, and they don't pay off very well anyway, and I wanted a good return. So, there will be some "sponsored" posts from now on, but not anything that I wouldn't recommend anyway. PayPerPost has a good range of topics and sponsors to choose from, so you can pretty much get paid to post about whatever you want to. Payments range from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, depending on the sponsor. It has great potential, and you can actually get $20 just for your first post. Seems fair, right?
Your blog must be approved first, which means it has to have a few posts on it already, and it has to be at least a month old. It helps to have a good page rank as well. There's also PayPerPost Direct, where sponsors can contact you directly for you to post sponsored posts. You don't even need PPP approved blog for that.
No, it's not a scam. Yes, I heard about it from reputable sources (check for posts about it on various blogs). It sounds like a great idea for any avid blogger to make a few extra bucks.
