More that was bright and shiny in my eye last week….
◊ SOMEONE’S IN THE KITCHEN.
I loved The Mary Sue’s title for its post about these cookies so much, I have to share it: Do These Official Game of Throne Cookies Taste Like Murder, Incest, and Shattered Dreams? Really cracked me up! The cookies themselves look great, but, dang, they’re $11 a piece.
Tumblr is a marvel beyond marvels, and Phones Replaced with Sandwiches is sublimely tumblrific. Here’s a sample below, but check out the tumblr for more. Via That’s Nerdalicious!
This Pisa and Quiet tea set from ModCloth just makes me smile. Via Food Riot.
Here are 5 fruits you should add to grilled cheese. Apples are, of course, on the list, as you’d expect; the other four were a bit surprising but intriguing!
Whovians who love popcorn will want to take note of these Doctor Who-inspired popcorn boxes (no reason you couldn’t eat other foods out of them, though). Check the link to see a Dalek box.
The Ron Swanson Turkey Burger is definitely not for vegetarians—or most food-eating people. Okay, any food-eating people. But the video has some funny bits. Why doesn’t Nick Offerman do more food videos?
◊ THE HORNS OF ELFLAND.
Jon Marco‘s video for his song “Rhianna” is a clever romp through a number of ’80s films, like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Back to the Future, Die Hard, The Breakfast Club, and many others. The premise might be a bit off putting for some, granted (Marco’s character is, essentially, stalking her), but the video has lots to like outside of that problematic part. The outtakes are pretty funny, if you like outtakes. Via.
Something to get you moving your body: the Oxford Hustlers Radio Remix of Christina Aguilera‘s “Your Body.”
◊ VIEWERS’ PARADISE.
The new trailer for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters has a ton of action—plus (and perhaps more importantly?) Nathan Fillion as Hermes!
Interesting post at Flavorwire about the problem with celebrating straight actors in gay roles.
I’m intrigued by this trailer for The Wall….
Hm. I thought I’d written about the CW’s reboot of The Tomorrow People, to debut next season, but I can’t seem to find the post. Anyway, here’s a preview for the new series, which I’m actually pretty excited about because I loved loved loved the original series so so much. I can’t tell you how much. Will the new Tomorrow People live up to the original? I’ll find out. Via.
◊ VULPINE.
Here’s a fox in the wood, photographed by Klaus and Christiane Echle, via The Hanging Garden.
By Klaus and Christiane Echle
◊ PARKOUR POUR VOUS!
This is pretty interesting: Headscarves and long tunics don’t stop Iranian women from practicing parkour. Excellent! You’ll find some other videos at the link, too, and some more information. Via.
◊ THE WRITING DESK.
If you’re writing in the Edwardian period and need photo references for women’s hairstyles, do regard this post from The Vintage Thimble, which has many, many images to peruse, like the one below. Via.
I appreciated Doing What We Can, Kiini Ibura Salaam‘s acceptance speech for winning the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for Ancient, Ancient, a short-story collection. Certainly she captures a lot of how I’ve felt at times, and it’s encouraging to hear from someone who’s been where you’ve been. Here’s the first paragraph to whet your appetite:
Writers are amazing people. They have written books in prison, while parenting two children alone, and without use of hands and speech due to full-body paralysis. And if you’re anything like me, these awesome examples of human resilience don’t inspire you, they piss you off. They leave you acutely aware of how little you’ve been able to achieve and of how others are doing more with less.
Now this is a classy book promotion strategy (and something very much like what I would do): illustrator Sophie Blackall’s packaging for advance copies of the picture book The Mighty Lalouche (written by Matthew Olshan) sent to book professionals:
The entire parcel was designed to look like something Lalouche himself might have delivered, wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string—there was no tape in 19th-century Paris—fastened with sealing wax and decorated with images of finches and French stamps. It was sent to select booksellers, educators, and media contacts.
“I just adore getting things in the mail and sending things in the mail, and it is crazy but we just don’t do that that much anymore,” Blackall told PW from her Brooklyn studio. “I just thought, here is a nice opportunity to make something fun and celebrate the art of sent postage.”
Also, check out the link to learn more about Blackall’s process for creating the illustrations—really fascinating!
Interesting post about 7 bad storytelling habits that we all learned from superhero comics. Of course, the difference in mediums explains a lot (I was once told in workshop that an action scene in my story was too cinematic, and I didn’t realize it until it was pointed out. And, yeah, that scene really didn’t work on the page.), but good stuff to think about.
◊ THE FUNDAMENTAL RULES FOR LIFE.
I, like Wil Wheaton, consider these fundamental rules for life. The GIF was made by Grace Dobush, who does indeed make rad GIFs. Via.
◊ SHE BLINDED ME…WITH SCIENCE!
Arachnology: Male black widows practice cannibalism, too.
Cryptozoology: The biggest reasons why fairies are evil is a nice overview of fairy antics in folklore, but it bears pointing out that descriptors like “good” and “evil” for non-human entities are only anthropomorphic projections (even if those non-humans are very human-like indeed) and thus not very useful, ultimately.
Evolution: Geneticist Aarathi Prasad predicts that women will “evolve out” of menopause; Will dancing get you laid? It’s science, people!
Neuroscience: Schizophrenic brains not fooled by the “hollow mask” optical illusion (thanks to Jennifer for posting the link on Facebook!). Based on the comments, the “hollow mask” isn’t a foolproof measure of schizophrenia, but the optical illusion is still very cool, as you’ll see:
Ornithology: Why do some birds sing, while others caw?; The experiment that required scientists to eat butterflies.
Physics: Eat your physics, kids—it’s good for you!
Psychology: Did everyone 3,000 years ago have a voice in their head?; Guys who are full of themselves get the girl; I came across two sites—Boing Boing and io9—that cited an article in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, which suggests that people engaged in kinky sex are actually more mentally healthy. The studies are interesting but not surprising (to me, at least), but what intrigued me more were the different images the two sites used to accompany their articles. Which image came from which site?
Taphonomy: A study in decomposition, c. 1870—Body of a Courtesan in Nine Stages by Kobayashi Eitaku (for those of you who haven’t a taste for studying decomposition, I won’t share any images, but the rest of you click through the link. Pretty wonderful stuff!).
Virology: Does being cold make you more susceptible to catching cold?; How a supercomputer may have finally unlocked a way to beat HIV.
◊ LIFE’S A STRUGGLE IF YOU CAN’T JUGGLE.
Michael Moschen performs “The Triangle.” Fun! More info and another video at mental_floss. Also, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Moschen’s work on Labyrinth.
