Thursday morning notes

[yendi]

1. One of the new KOL items contains a Lost reference! Yay!

2. Speaking of KOL, I've hit level 9! Woohoo! HC without the O is so much easier.

3. Comic "fans" like the one described here are assholes who fuck it up for everyone. It goes without saying that the same applies to baseball "fans" who pull the same crap.

3.5 But hey - - who knew that Stan Sakai had an LJ?

4. Dammit, why didn't I know that Neil Gaiman had a new book and a new story collection coming out this summer? Intarwebs, you has failed me. Although the collection looks to be stories repackaged from other collections (but with a more YA focus).

5. So, anyone wanna guess exactly how far in front of the NL East the Phillies will be a month from now? Based on the way things are going, it's not like the Mets or Braves are offering much in the way of a challenge right now.

6. I found a tower defense game that's almost as addictive as Desktop Tower Defense: Vector Tower Defense. It doesn't offer as much in the way of allowing you to change the path of the enemies, but the towers themselves (which gain color bonuses and penalties depending on the enemy) are fascinating. Yes, the game's at Candystand.com, but it's still a damned fine game.

7. As noted by coffeeinhell, the Apple Movie Trailers webpage has been resdesigned, and is now a heaping ball of suck.

8. Scans of old comic-book mail order ads! I remember so many of these from when I was growing up.

9. For those of us (like me) who didn't make it to Wiscon: The panels, with notes, write-ups, and other info on many of them.

10. The best books that have not been translated into English. Some of these might get translated and seem to suck; one of the problems with other-language literature (regardless of origin and destination language) is that it relies on both the book being translatable (either being plot- and character-driven enough to make the quality of the writing itself secondary, or having the sort of linguistic flourishes that can actually be translated well) and on having good translators (there was a time when I wondered if Dostoevsky was a good writer, until I realized that he was the victim of Constance Garnett's plodding translation, and that McDuff and Pevear/Volokhonsky were much more suited to the job). Still, these are some works to keep an eye out for if they do get translated (or if, unlike me, you have fluent reading skills in one of these languages.

Comments

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

officialgaiman will keep you up to date.

[aiela.livejournal.com]

The Candystand game is very awesome, although a lot harder now that they changed it that you cant click on mobs to target them.

But I still play it at least once a week.

[aiela.livejournal.com]

OH wait, that's totally different. I'd been playing Flash Circle TD at Candystand. I'll have to try out this other one.

[ersatzinsomnia.livejournal.com]

Beat me to it...

[greatcalvero.livejournal.com]

Not only does Neil have a new collection coming out but Subterranean Press is doing a limited editon with Gahan Wilson cartoon illustrations! Squee!

Neil Gaiman hates my wallet. But he hates my wallet in such a friendly, charming, multitalented way that I can't say no.

[digriz.livejournal.com]

The Phillies lost 2 of 3 to the *ROYALS*, fer crying out loud. And by not-slim-margins, either. They brought back *JOSE MESA*. I'm wondering if it's possible to just award the NL East playoff spot to a more deserving team from another division, when it comes time to do so. (Then again, looking at the state of the NL in general, maybe we should just pick the World Series rep by popular vote, and cancel the rest of the games for the year.)

Quite frankly, the Phillies have done so much teasing in the past 5 years, and outright sucking for practically every other year (except 93, of course) since the mid-80s, that I absolutely cannot get my hopes up again. They're actually going to have to prove it this time. (Then again, I say that every summer. I'm sure that, come Sept, I'll have given in, only to start getting mad and yelling at their stupidity during the final week of the season....)

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

it looks like the NYTimes list of books that should be translated is recent titles, yes?

(a lot of frank wedekind's work has not been translated into english. if i were driven enough i'd try and learn the languages in which he wrote, but that would take me years...)

[thegreatjohnzo.livejournal.com]

oh good, i thought i was the only person who hated the redesigned trailers page. good to know other people hate it too.

re phillies and baseball - it's sad now, but i'm rooting less and less for teams (other than the cubs), and mostly just rooting against boston. because their fans are too dang smug. but the phillies? meh. they have howard, utley, and rollins. yeah they have good pitching, but so do a lot of teams in the East. also - jose mesa. thats like enough said forever. if the mets face competition from anyone as the season goes on, its from atlanta.

also, my mets fan roomie says that all mets fans view atlanta as essentially satan incarnate. is this true, or does he just really hate atlanta?

[yendi]

It is recent, although I'm not sure if it's deliberate, or just how the editors and other folks responded.

Also, that's actually New York Magazine.

[yendi]

It's mostly true, although the Braves didn't even exist on the radar until the late '90s. Until then, it was the Cardinals (former NL East rivals) and the Reds (huge brawls over the years). But for recent Mets fans, the Braves are definitely the team to hate (especially after John Rocker).