July 27, 2004
In case you haven't been watching
So, we caught up with the Jeopardy episodes on the TiVo. Ken Jennings won for the 38th time— $75,000 (a record-breaking one-day total). He's up to $1,321,660 so far. And now Jeopardy is on hiatus for 6 weeks, so we have to wait until September to see how long he'll be able to keep this up. Go, Ken, go— you da man!
July 21, 2004
Summer reading
Yay, Minuteman Library Network! I just finished Box Office Poison, and I really enjoyed it. The characters are interesting (and somehow familiar), the story is well-written, and the artwork fits the story. It's got something for everyone, and I hope that it sells lots of copies and makes Alex Robinson a bundle of money. I read it once through, then immediately started to re-read it, just to make sure that I didn't miss anything the first time through. It's that good.
Folks have oohed and ahhed over Daniel Clowes's Ghost World, but I have to admit it left me cold. Not my cup o' tea.
Three superhero comics that I gotta recommend whole-heartedly:
- Powers, by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Oeming
- Top Ten, by Alan Moore
- Astro City, by Kurt Busiek and a lot of talented people
Between these and City of Heroes, I've been getting my fix.
What is a juggernaut?
Ken Jennings continues to amaze me. He won again yesterday, and he's now beaten the all-time record for money won by a Jeopardy contestant. And he's just so gee-whiz about it all. (What else to expect from a self-professed nerd who collects comic books?) Keep going, dude-- we're rooting for you 'til the end!
The Houston Chronicle offers this Jeopardy-style trivia on the man and his hobbies.
Also, don't miss kottke.org's hysterical entry on the cult of Ken Jennings.
Hangovers and mothering
Once again, Mimi Smartypants makes me spray iced coffee onto the keyboard. (And she even quotes my favorite passage from Lucky Jim!)
July 20, 2004
I don't live there anymore.
As Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up: Two Charged In Burger King Bathroom Battle in Stratford, CT (my former hometown).
How does one brandish a Burger King straw dispenser?
July 15, 2004
July 14, 2004
More quickies!
- Another bizarre and interesting Flash diversion: The Phone
- Laurie Anderson is NASA's artist in residence— who knew?
July 13, 2004
Yes. Yes!
We were in the car and happened to catch The Next Big Thing on WAMC. The entire show was fun, but the bit with Orson Welles is brilliant. Even better, U B U W E B's 365 Days Project has it in MP3 format. Your Rio (or iPod) will never be the same: Orson Welles recording an advert for frozen peas. (Even funnier, after hearing this, is Maurice Lamarche's parody from The Critic.)
Quickies!
- Hmm, maybe we won't be riding Top Thrill Dragster next year.
- Alien in 30 seconds (and reenacted by bunnies)
- More Jeopardy news: Ken Jennings is The Man! $920,960 so far, and still going… (As a former contestant, I just want to state for the record how happy I am that I didn't have to go up against Ken. I can't imagine what the Tournament of Champions is going to be like. On the plus side, if Alex ever decides to retire, I think Sony's got a replacement who's a natural.)
- Alert Reader Rock put us on to the upcoming Monty Python musical, Spamalot. David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry, and Hank Azaria— I'm so there. Alas, not in New York City until February 2005. Ni!
- Clafouti, clafouti, clafouti. I just like saying clafouti. I don't know what recipe Chris uses, but this one sounds pretty good.
- The New York Times Magazine has a fantastic piece on graphic novels/ comix/ sequential art. Or, as Alan Moore puts it, "big expensive comic book[s]". (Registration required: use rv333/ rv333 for member ID/ password.)