More than any other year in recent memory (recent memory being about five years, give or take), I’ve managed to see an outstanding line-up of movies. (Don’t get me wrong–there were massive duds, too; like The Punisher, and Primer, and Dogville.) Some of them were actually released this year, but most of them have been […]
Movies, Best Of, 2006
Posted by Ben on December 31, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/movies-best-of-2006/
Books smarten up a room, annotated edition
Books are so popular in home decor that even people who don’t read acquire them. They buy volumes by the yard at Half Price Books. They send orders off to a California book-decor specialist who ships Danish language books by the foot. No comment. Danish? Well, they aren’t meant to be read. Unless you happen […]
Posted by Ben on December 27, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/books-smarten-up-a-room-annotated-edition/
In the news: opposites attack
Pretty faces negatively influence ad campaigns, anti-smoking ads encourage smoking.
Posted by Ben on November 26, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/in-the-news-opposites-attack/
Semi-handy PDFs
Because, I don’t know, you needed a refresher on lock-picking, or you’ve been looking for the Cheshire Catalyst (“What?” “Exactly.”), or it’s too much effort to find your cell-phone manual on the manufacturer’s web-site? Maybe pdf.textfiles.com has what you’re looking for, and maybe it doesn’t. Deal.
Posted by Ben on November 26, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/semi-handy-pdfs/
Something I can finally agree on with Lewis Black
Q: “What’s your biggest fear?” A: “I fear idiots. Any kind on any level.” (via an interview in, of all places, Adweek Magazine)
Posted by Ben on November 2, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/something-i-can-finally-agree-on-with-lewis-black/
Language maps
Create all sorts of fun maps thanks to the folks at the MLA: map language-speakers by county, by zip code, and all sorts of other good stuff. Pull-down menus and such let you re-draw the map according to your curiosity. (The above map, FYI, is of Hungarian speakers by county. I think. Of course, handily, […]
Posted by Ben on October 31, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/language-maps/
Let this be a lesson to you
Three-year-old Robert Moore went fishing for a stuffed replica of Sponge Bob and ended up trapped in a vending machine. … A stuffed Sponge Bob in a vending machine’s bin caught Robert’s eye. He tried without success to fish it out with a plastic crane. “I told him I could get it for him,” his […]
Posted by Ben on October 29, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/let-this-be-a-lesson-to-you/
Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures
Who says you can’t craft a totally compelling story around a horned dog named after an imaginary card game? Walter Moers’ 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear was most excellent, and this book surpasses even that. It’s cartwheeling, free-associating, spectacle-topping, coincidence-breaking fun, pure and simple. Though of course it isn’t simple. Nothing in Zamonia is, […]
Posted by Ben on October 27, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/rumo-his-miraculous-adventures/
Fish strike back
It’s not so strange that some men experienced hallucinations after eating some popular fish–though it is apparently (and thankfully) rare. The strange part is that it’s reported in Practical Fishkeeping magazine. Though I guess eating fish you keep in your aquarium is all kinds of practical… Probably not the kind of practicality the magazine’s advocating, […]
Posted by Ben on October 27, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/fish-strike-back/
Everyone in this room is now dumber
A Billy Madison reference, from a judge. (And no, the previous sentence isn’t really intended as any kind of statement. It simply follows the rule of: the unexpected is funny. Ha ha.) (via The Smoking Gun)
Posted by Ben on October 26, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/everyone-in-this-room-is-now-dumber/