Every Wednesday, I’m going to take you on a whirlwind adventure of 13 links chronicling the news throughout the geek world I inhabit. Whether it’s movies, music, art, politics, gadgets, science, sports, grammar, or superheroes… nothing’s out of bounds and everything’s interesting.
Let it begin…
- What do you do when even stem cell procedures can’t help restore your sight? Look into your mouth. (If you were wondering how long I spent trying to decide if I could squeeze “by the skin of her teeth” into this link’s write-up… the over/under is 38 minutes.)
- An actual documentary about two guys’ trip from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. would probably be beyond dull. But if they took a picture every ten seconds and arranged all of those into a 4.5-minute photomontage? Riveting.
- I thought “Gaydar” was a myth (or, at the very least, only available at Sharper Image) but, as it turns out, it’s on its way to being published in a scientific journal. Weird, wild stuff.
- It’s not clear whether this recently-leaked photo of the failed “Tim Burton directs Nic Cage as Superman” project is legitimate and… look, I mean, I always knew we dodged a bullet when that flick fell apart but now we have (reportedly authentic) visual proof of just how big that bullet was. Phew!
- The economy sucks. Solution? Become an entrepreneur. (It might be more difficult than those three words suggest but… it sounds good so, I’m going to leave it short and succinct.)
- The Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh understands who their patients are and designed their facility accordingly. Although, it might also be a ploy to draw attention away from the fact that Pirates have been terrible since President Clinton’s first term.
- If I were a female celebrity who wanted to stop seeing awkward candid pictures of myself in a bikini online, I would be asking this Russian billionaire what weekends his yacht was available for rental this instant.
- I only need about 199,980 more hotel key cards and then I can match Bryan Berg’s functional art accomplishment. He may have struck first but my plastic room will be more diverse and colorful.
- Alibis & Paybacks is a service designed solely to exact flyer-based revenge or to concoct an alibi for a must-lie situation is either the greatest idea in cultural history or the worst.
- Great news! In 2009, global carbon dioxide emissions were down 2% (most climatologists say we need to cut emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2020) — the most significant drop in four decades. Kind of bad news: it was probably due more to the worldwide recession than any concerted environmental policies. Oh well; a win’s a win.
- Last week’s New York Times featured a terrific quasi-roundtable discussion on the current (and future) state of independent film in America. Fellow movie geeks should give it the ol’ lookie-loo.
- Earlier this year, I linked to a column explaining the problem with 3D movies, as it relates to the biology of human eyes. Now, Cory Doctorow suggests that this most recent three-dimensional resurgence may also be ultimately undone by economics.
- The MacArthur Foundation handed out its 24 “Genius Grants” this week. I didn’t make the cut (y’know, I’m starting to think that six straight years of snubs are less of a freaky coincidence and more of a personal vendetta) but after reading the entire list of winners and their varied, interesting biographies… I really can’t complain.
