Arts-&-Literature

I was so hoping this story from the Akron Beacon-Journal was an April Fools joke, but it looks like it just happens to involve fools in April. The gist of the story is that five teenage girls went around Ravenna, Ohio, and placed gift-wrapped boxes modelled after blocks in Super Mario Bros. The boxes were wrapped in gold paper with question marks. Sadly enough, in these times, that’s apparently enough to get someone to call out the Bomb Squad. It’s also may be enough for criminal charges. (I hope they’re talking about littering.) ...

Comics Should Be Good has a list of goofy moments from the first ten issues of Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four. Personally, I like this line: “You are worthy of me, female! In every way!” :)

I knew it… Your results: You are **An Expendable Character (Redshirt)**An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 75%Deanna Troi 65%Geordi LaForge 60%Jean-Luc Picard 60%Worf 55%Chekov 55%Spock 54%Will Riker 50%Beverly Crusher 50%Data 48%Mr. Scott 45%Leonard McCoy (Bones) 45%Uhura 40%Mr. Sulu 40%James T. Kirk (Captain) 40%Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed, and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable. That doesn’t mean your job isn’t important but if you were in Star Trek you would be killed off in the first episode you appeared in.Click here to take the “Which Star Trek character am I?” quiz… ...

This is fascinating. It’s just Jon talking to a cat that never answers. They should run Garfield like this for a year and see what happens. :)

H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos never looked quite so blocky. :) Cthulego Rises is an incredibly complex Lego scene depicting a chase between villains after lost gold and an heroic adventurer flying a Zeppelin. Cool enough, but the fact those villains are fleeing in terror from the monsters they have awakened puts this diorama over the top. Link courtesy of Sci Fi Wire

Apparently. I wonder what one has to do to raise their Catwoman score? :) Your results: You are Spider-Man Spider-Man 90%Superman 80%Green Lantern 70%Robin 70%Catwoman 50%Supergirl 48%The Flash 40%Wonder Woman 38%Hulk 35%Batman 35%Iron Man 35%You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility. Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

When you can run around the world in less than a second, even the largest city would have to seem small and boring. So how does the Flash handle it? Easy, he lives in Central City, the city with no limits, 10-lane streets, and giant sidewalks. The Absorbacon has an funny pictorial review of how the artists handled drawing a city big enough for The World’s Fastest Man. Just imagine the run-off from rain over all that pavement. Of course, I doubt weather systems usually affected the entire city at once. :) ...

Update: I’m getting rid of the picture. images.quizilla.com seems to be working really slow right now. Here’s the text: You’re Querl Dox, Brainiac 5! You’re smart and you know it. Somewhat smug. You treasure work and don’t always maintain friends well. You either synch with people or you don’t. Analytical. Which Legionnaire are you? brought to you by Quizilla Unfortunately, it asks for a fair amount of knowledge concerning the Legion of Super-Heroes, which has to be hard, given the fact the title has been relaunched a few times. I think I preferred the Legion of Substitute Heroes. :) ...

Strange Horizons comments on utopian/dystopian ideas through the centuries: The Ten Stupidest Utopias! The Industrial Revolution gave the world a new idea of the ideal society. “Try sniffing the abominable stench behind the piles of books,” wrote Japanese Futurist Hirato Renkichi in 1921. “How many times superior is the fresh scent of gasoline!” The Ten Sexiest Dystopias! Roll down your window: see the metaphors go by. There’s Zhora the replicant, smashing through plate glass windows; there’s Jake lost in Chinatown, and Tod Hackett running through Hollywood, bloody faced, chased by a mob. “Los Angeles is probably the most mediated town in America,” writes Michael Sorkin, “nearly unviewable save through the fictive scrim of its mythologizers.” ...

So, I guess there’s a level closer to Kevin Bacon than one degree, and Colin Firth is heading right for it.