Link Dump

It’s been a goofy week for the blog. One of the great things about paying for your own webhost is that you have control over everything. One of the bad things is that… you have control over everything. So when stuff goes wrong, you have to spend some time fixing it. Fortunately, that’s relatively rare these days, but I had some trouble this week with an “upgrade” to mysql and perl which left various pieces of blog functionality (like commenting) inoperable (it also caused me to miss a post, sorry!) This should be all taken care of now, so look for the return of regularly scheduled programming. Anywho, time is short and I’m seeing Thor tonight, so here’s a few links from the depths of the internets. Enjoy:

  • Imagining the ‘Seinfeld’ Movie Posters (and Part 2) – Some genius has gone and photoshopped all of the fake movies that were referenced on Seinfeld, casting the movies in the process, and most of these are just perfect.
  • The Creator of Arnold Schwarzenegger – The professionalism of this video almost had me fooled at first. It’s a bananas theory, and it’s also perfect.
  • Mumblegore – An excellent little profile on the current crop of up-and-coming horror movie directors, actors, and writers, including the likes of Adam Wingard, AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Ti West, and Roxanne Benjamin (amongst many others). Interesting stuff, and I hope to see more from these folks!
  • The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge – We all know what I think of “declining serendipity” arguments, but one of the dangers of “on demand” culture is the notion of only exploring “the best” and focusing on pragmatism rather than letting curiosity run its course. Of course, as the linked article suggests, this isn’t really a new thing, but it has been an idea that’s interested me of late.
  • Grand Theft Auto V is a Return to the Comedy of Violence – Heh: “As video game players have gotten older, as antiheroes have become routine across the culture, as sex and violence have permeated prestige television, the controversies that once surrounded the Grand Theft Auto games have begun to seem like sepia-toned oddities from another age.” I was pretty down on GTA IV and actually, I haven’t been playing much in the way of video games at all of late, but this article made me want to pick up a copy of GTA V and fire up the ol PS3 for some mayhem.

That’s all for now!