Man, I love the internet.
Elsewhere on the Net
Podcast Roundup
Things may have been pretty quiet round here recently, but we’re still going great guns over at the Midnight Movie Podcast if you’ve been pining for your regular dose of Dan.
Currently we’re slap bang in the middle of our Indiana Jones festival. So far we’ve geeked out about Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and our Last Crusade episdode is already in the can and will be out next Wednesday
Of course we now have to go and watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in order to round off the theme , but all great artists myst suffer for their art.
In addition I’ve also just made my second guest appearance on the LAMBcast where I’m talking about the five most marvelous movie mustaches. You can listen to that here.
Superhero A-Z
Quite a while ago I wrote a post about wanting to create a superhero phonetic alphabet. It was back in the days that this blog was actually worth reading so you should go check it out.
Anyway, thanks to Tara over on twitter I stumbled across this morsel of awesomeness this afternoon and thought I should share it with you:
I should point out I shamelessly stole this from this guy, who sells them as art prints, t-shirts and the like. Go buy one if you wish.
Blue Beetle Outrage!
Over the past two years or so my taste in online reading materials has shifted fairly significantly. I’ve pretty much abandoned the parent blogging sphere completely, retaining only a scant few mum or dad bloggers with who I still feel a personal connection with. The endless self promotion, pointless feuds, and monotonous all pervasive memes have driven me away.
These days I’m all about the pop culture blogs. Which is probably why this site has been steadily morphing into one recently (although that is by no means an actual policy – the topics at All That Comes With It will always ebb and flow with the tides of my Mr Toad-like whims).
I read a fair few personal pop culture blogs written by people I consider friends – Jeff, MC, Arjan, Phil, Chris & Chris, and of course my antipodean pop culture guru Mr. Lee Sargent. However I also like to subscribe to a few pop culture news sites too so I can keep abreast at what’s going on (and what sort of stuff I’ll be consuming in three years when I finally catch up with 2011).
Choosing a pop culture news site is a difficult task. There are a hell of a lot of them out there, and none of them are completely perfect. However after looking around a bit I eventually compromised on a site called Topless Robot – mainly because I quite enjoy their brand of humor and they do some pretty cool lists.
HOWEVER, imagine my distress this evening when I casually flicked through their latest post and read this:
Jaime Reyes is back as the Blue Beetle! That’s cool with me. Much like Kyle Rayner, I always found Reyes to be an infinitely more interesting character than his Silver Age counterpart. I know there are a few vocal Ted Kord fans, but to me, that’s like being a vocal fan of white bread. Just… why?
WHAT!? WHAT!?!! WHAT!!!!!?????!!!!!
That site is dead to me now. Dead.
No one wants to play with….
I’m not sure how many of you follow my friend Lee’s blog. But if you don’t you should. Because not only is he half of a fantastic podcast podcast (The Midnight Movie Club – I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it here before) but he is also a talented and creative artist.
Recently he’s been posting a series of doodles he’s been doing around the theme of “No one wants to play…. with …….” and they are bloody fantastic.
He’s kindly let me post a few of them up here to show you – if you want to see more then make sure you nip over to his blog. And if you do make sure you give the posts a good old fashioned tweeting so as to let others know about them too. Because even Australians need validation sometimes.
No one wants to play Operation with Dr Octopus
No one wants to play Cluedo with Batman
No one wants to play Twister with Mr. Fantastic
Because the world needs more of me talking crap in it
It’s a busy week for me in podcasting land.
First of all we have the regular weekly episode of the Midnight Movie Club, where this week Lee and I stick in our vampire teeth and get impressive neck tattoos in order to talk about the classic 1996 movie From Dusk Till Dawn.
But wait, that’s not all! Because Lee and are also guest hosting on the fantastic movie news and reviews podcast Casta La Vista where we talk about Battle: LA, Company Men, and Submarine as well as take part in a quiz all about Anchorman.
And finally, if you haven’t had enough of us yet (and lets face it, you can never have too much Lee and Dan) we also get interviewed on the wonderful podcast review show Podcast Squared. He’s called the episode Nerd Alert. I’m not sure why.
Anyhow, go take a listen, it’s all good stuff.
Huston we have Duck Eggs
I found these in the duck shed yesterday morning, and another one there today.
Bloody marvelous!
In other news, the latest episode of Lee and Dan’s Midnight Movie Club Podcast is now out. This week we’re talking about the 1982 comedy Night Shift staring Batman, the Fonz and that woman from Cheers. I personally think it’s our best ever episode, although Lee is rather partial to our Rumble in the Bronx episode.
You can head over to the Midnight Movie Club to listen to it, subscribe in iTunes, or just click below:
[display_podcast]
Pomposity and Twitter
Charlie Brooker once said that the logo of twitter shouldn’t be a little blue bird, it should be a torch and a pitchfork. There is no greater example of cyber mob mentality than the self riotousness of twitter when it really gets going on something.
Now, as a card carrying bleeding heart liberal I’m very frequently in favour of many of the crusades embarked on the generally left wing denizens of twitter. However sometimes things really do get stupid.
This afternoon the usually very grounded Heather* re-tweeted the following tweet from a chap called @HarisAlisic
I keep loosing followers due to RT:ing of revolution in #egypt It’s a small pice to pay for the freedom of 80+ millions #jan25
Oh fuck off.
No seriously, fuck off.
Personally I don’t particularly mind the steady trickle of #egypt tweets that have been appearing on my stream. I’m as concerned as to what’s going on as the next man and obviously I like to keep informed.
And I certainly don’t object to people tweeting about current affairs and big news stories. Often it’s the first way I hear about issues, and it’s a great (if unreliable) way to stay informed.
But to suggest that by tweeting about it you are somehow contributing to the freedom of 80+ million people. That President Mubarak is going to spot that #egypt is trending on twitter and decide that that’s the final straw and he better step down. That you are somehow making a sacrifice for the cause. Well, you can just fuck off you pompous and arrogant pillock.
Plus, do you really know the full implications of what’s going on? Are you confident that the regime that takes over from Mubarak is going to be less corrupt and dictatorial than the one that’s currently in govenment? Are you fully up to date about what the global implications of a shift in power will be and the ramifications to the situation in the middle east and global security threats? And what about the USA and the UK’s role in propping up the Mubarak regime – is there going to be a significant backlash?
No, you don’t.
You might have a vague gleaning, gathered from consuming various articles and news reports (all of which spun with their own particular brand of bias of course). But you don’t know what’s really going on, and you certainly don’t know what the implications are going to be – because at this point nobody does.
But most of all – and this is the vital point – by insinuating that you are somehow a matyre to this cause you are insulting every single person caugth up on both sides of this horrific conflict. @HarisAlisic, you are an utter prick.
Yes, one person can make a difference. But it takes a hell of a lot more effort than sitting on your couch and pressing a retweet button.
*I’m identifying Heather here because I know she doesn’t like all the “somebody out there in blogland but I don’t want to say who” bullshit that permeates the internet.
The White Stuff
I was fully expecting Amy’s school to call a snow day today, and was all prepared to go off on a rabid rant about teachers being the only profession that can get away with doing that sort of stuff without it having an effect on their annual leave entitlement.
Yesterday the school was closed – but my job wasn’t. It took me two and a half hours to get into work. Two and a half hours!. And for two of them I was bursting to go to the toilet. Damn my diet coke weakened bladder.
However Amy’s school IS open today. And so Evan and I had to walk her there. Oh arse.
Evan has a stinking cold and an attitude to match, so the journey wasn’t much fun. Plus I was paranoid about being hit by some of the lunatics speeding up and down the icy road.
Still, we’re back home now – curled up with hot chocolate and watching the Disney Robin Hood movie.
The chickens aren’t quite as comfy though. Last year they refused to venture out in the snow at all and spent around a month sulking in their run, and it looks like they plan on doing the same this winter too.
All being well I’m driving down to Wales to pick up the ducks from John next Tuesday. It’s all very exciting. I still have a few nails to hammer into their shed, but I’ll get that done over the weekend.
Quack quack.
——–
Over on the Midnight Movie Club Podcast Lee and I are joined by Ian from SingleParentDad to watch the pinnacle of 80′s Australian cinema – BMX Bandits. You should go give it a listen.
A New Toy
Anyone who’s listened to the last few Midnight Movie Club Podcasts (where we have covered such classics as Stargate, Batman, and err Battlefield Earth and Frankenhooker) may have noticed that the sound quality wasn’t up to it’s usual mediocre standards.
Over the past month or so my mic headset has slowly been giving up the ghost and it’s become more and more apparent that it needed replacing.
Ever since hearing them discussed on the excellent Podcaster’s Emporium podcast I’ve been hankering after one of these:
No, it’s not a vibrator – It’s a top of the line super doper Rode Podcaster condenser microphone. Ooo shiny.
Of course I could never justify buying one. Because lets face it, going to all that expense just to talk to an idiot in Australia is a little bit excessive.
However it seems the very nice people over at Appliances Online (who sell various household white goods type stuff like ovens) are slightly more extravagant with their cash as they have very kindly agreed to sponsor the podcast and provide me with the means to broadcast my babblings in crystal clear clarity.
Thanks guys, you’re a bunch of good eggs.
We haven’t yet recorded an episode with the new mic, but I’m very much looking forward to giving it a spin on our upcoming Pee Wee’s Big Adventure podcast which will be out next Wednesday.
Incidentally if you haven’t given the Midnight Movie Club podcast a spin yet, you really should. Lee and I have been pumping out one a week for just under a year now and, while we won’t be winning any Sony awards anytime soon, I like to think that they’re an entertaining listen. They’re certainly a hell of a lot of fun to record anyway.