Alexx's Journal

This came up in conversation recently, and some of my readers may not have had the joy of seeing it yet:

I’m a beaver,
You’re a beaver,
We are beavers all!
And when we get together,
We do the beaver call!

E to the u du dx,
E to the x dx!
Cosine secant tangent sine,
3.14159,
Integral, radical, mu, dv!
Slipstick, slide rule, M-I-T!

Go tech!

Attention gyzki, juldea, and all other fans of Norse mythology:

An unbiased review of the Marvel “Thor” Movie

An Unbiased Review of the Marvel “Avengers” Movie

(h/t james_nicoll)

This morning's conversation:
kestrell (excitedly): Do you know what today is?
Me: Fredric's birthday! [1]
Kes: Do you know what *else* today is?
Me: ...No.
Kes: It's Sadie Hawkins Day!
Me: Oh!
Kes: Will you marry me?
Alexx: Yes!
Kes: I've got a hunch it will work out well.

[1] Today is Fredric the (sometime) pirate's 39th birthday. For a few months back in 2004, I had the same number as him.

We all know some SF fans who demonstrate the roots of the word in "fanatic" with their overwhelming enthusiasm. Here's a music video by one. Lyrics not safe for most workplaces.

Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury

http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2010/02/22/what-if-bertie-wooster-rather-than-being-a-mere-layabout-was-also-batman/

(h/t to james_nicoll)

I recently received my copy of the first collection of the XKCD webcomic. Inevitably, it is numbered 'Volume 0'.

The book is printed in black and white and red. It's not an archival style reprint, but a selection of his favorites in what appear to be a random order... though on second thought, it probably isn't. Strangely, the titles to the strips are not included, which in a few cases weakens the humor. The alt-text *is* included, at least in most cases, in a teeny-tiny font tucked in a gutter between panels.

What's the added value, that might make you want to buy reprints of what is freely available online? Quite a bit, actually. An introduction by the author. Much silliness even in the fine print of the copyright page. Many of the strips have commentary, which is amusing, insightful, or quite literally puzzling. About half of the comments are written in obscure languages or actually *encrypted*, and no two of them seem to use the same method.

There's even a puzzle of sorts in the page numbering. At first I thought, "Oh cute, he's numbering in binary." Then I noticed some 2s, and thought, "Ah, binary was insufficiently geeky, so he's using trinary." But then I noticed that there weren't *enough* 2s for it to be trinary. He's chosen (or perhaps invented) a numbering system obscure enough that I've never heard of it!

This is easily the geekiest book I own. The only one I can think of which comes close is _House of Leaves_ (which, appropriately, is lovingly parodied in one of the strips reprinted here). Highly recommended.

As many of you know, one of my biggest peeves with the new Battlestar Galactica show was one line in the opening credits, claiming that the Cylons had "a plan". Whereas to anyone paying the slightest attention, it was eminently clear that they had no such plan, nor, in fact, did the writers of the show.

But my friend hungrytiger has a potential solution to this problem:

Wait, maybe the note about the Cylons having a Plan was just a typo and part of it got cut off. Maybe they have a plane? a planet? a planetarium? a plantain?

So, informal poll time: What is it that you think the Cylons actually had all along?

Just got an email from Michael Anderson:

Hi all--

On short notice, I got a call asking me to do a story (A Bloody Deed, from Free-Style Shakespeare) tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) as the warm-up to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

OUTDOORS AT CHRISTIAN HERTER PARK (Home of The Publick Theatre) 1175A Soldiers Field Road, Brighton, MA, Saturday 1 PM. $15

The Complete Works show is hilarious. http://www.orfeogroup.org/productions/completeworks.html

http://www.postmodernbarney.com/2009/04/uncomfortable-plot-summaries/

Some of my favorites:
FREAKS: Acrobat learns value of community.
METROPOLIS: Efficient society undone by unions.
STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE: Religious extremist terrorists destroy government installation, killing thousands.
V FOR VENDETTA: Dystopian government overthrown by faceless conformity.