Miscellany and Then Some

Y’know, I really like to blog. I really do, though my numerous excuses as to why I don’t blog often enough take up almost as much space as my blog posts. I like to have opinions about things. I have them, oftentimes, whether I want to or not. But there’s this thing going around — I think it’s called the “holiday season.” You know what it does? It eats time. I swear there are currently only 22 hours and shrinking in each day. So all I have are links. They are good links! No, seriously! Come back!

• The U.K. Telegraph has a list of the top 100 living geniuses. Criteria? “Each genius was then awarded scores out of ten against criteria which included: paradigm shifting; popular acclaim; intellectual power; achievement and cultural importance.” It’s fascinating, screwy and, to no one’s surprise, rather man-heavy. Matt Groening above Nelson Mandela? Discuss.

• For Buffy fans, an interview with former writer Jane Espenson, who also has an awesome blog that is full of writing tips that I really ought to make more use of, even though I do not write for TV. They still work. At least some of them. Jane talks a lot about the writers’ strike; for more brilliant thoughts on that, there’s always Joss Whedon, whose comments I may have linked to before BUT THAT’S BECAUSE HE’S BRILLIANT.

Ahem. Moving on…

• You know who else is brilliant? Carrie Brownstein, who reviews Rock Band for Slate. I have not read this entire review yet, because I wanted to post to the blog. But I plan to. I also plan to make Brownstein’s NPR blog, Monitor Mix, regular daily reading. An excerpt of her brilliance:

Since I've gotten older, and probably for the last five years, my relationship trajectory with live shows goes something like this:

1. See listing in local paper or hear about a show from a friend.
2. Think about going to the show, maybe even put it on my calendar.
3. Start listening to the band’s music in anticipation of the show.
4. When people ask me what I am doing that night, say that I am going to the show. I am not lying–in my mind, I am really going to the show.
5. Feel tired the day of show and check out what movies are playing.
6. The night of the show, look at the clock and think about what is happening at the show at that very moment.
7. Rent a movie.
8. Sometime in the next week, hear about the show from someone who went.
9. Tell myself I will see the band next time.
10. Find a new show to plan on seeing.

(Dear Carrie, please don’t beat me up for quoting all that. It’s just that, well, you just wrote MY show-going-or-lack-thereof story, except you left out 6b. Find a strange burst of energy and go out after all. Find that either 6c. The band was totally overrated and I never want to leave the house again, or 6d. The band was fantastic and I can’t believe I’ve ever been so lazy as to stay home on the couch when I could have gone. These are all still followed by 8-10, but the movie will have to find another night to get itself seen. So sayeth the girl who cannot seem to make the most of Netflix.)

Ahem. Er, moving on…

• How to make Terminator movies suck less (seriously, did you see Rise of the Machines)?: Put Christian Bale in them!

• Then, hey, why not give him some of the 50 greatest fictional weapons of all time? Though I’ve got to point out some serious flaws in this list. The Master Sword (Zelda) is cooler than many, many of the weapons ranked more highly. Buffy’s scythe, at #30, is just about right. The teleporting sniper rifle from Deep Space 9 is just stupid and should never have been invented, even fictionally. Sheesh!

The inclusion of the Sword of Omens (“Give me sight beyond sight!”) from Thundercats, on the other hand, is effing hysterical. For more Thundercats awesomeness, check out the swear-tastic outtakes, which were honestly among the things that, in the mid-’90s, made me truly understand the magical wonders the internet had to offer.

• More things I haven’t read yet, Wonders of the ’90s version: An interview with Wilson Cruz about his groundbreaking role on My So-Called Life and an interview with indie film queen Lili Taylor, who simply rules.

• Is The National’s The Boxer better than The Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible? Did anyone really, truly like that White Stripes album? Why haven’t I heard the new PJ Harvey? It’s almost December, kids: Time to start forming your opinions about what didn’t suck this year!

(I kid, I kid.)

(Mostly.)

Until next time, your procastinating blogger signs off. Stay tuned for half-formed musings about Why This Year’s Oscar-Bait Movies All Are Full of Dicks!

P.S. Credit where it’s due: I stumbled upon many, though not all, of these links while reading Whitney Matheson’s super-cool Pop Candy Blog. Someday, maybe I’ll be cool enough that people will send ME links, and I won’t get all my blog content from Whitney and Boing Boing … oh, and Whedonesque. But I DID already know about Monitor Mix and Jane Espenson’s blog. I swear! And the weapons link is a saved one from last week. Srsly.