More Bullets, Mostly Movie-ish
• Happy Birthday shout-out to enochs_fable!
• I went to see Wordplay last night, the movie about the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. It was a lovely cavalcade of nerdy puzzle fans, including some celebs such as The Indigo Girls, Jon Stewart, and Bill Clinton. My companion and I were both quite miffed that the film never mentioned our favorite editor, the late, great Eugene T. Maleska, who edited the puzzle from 1977 to 1993. I really liked the music used in the film, and I agreed to leave before reading all the credits because I am used to just downloading that info later from IMDB, but I can't find a soundtrack listing there, nor on the film's official site. Sad.
My favorite part, I think, was when puzzle creator Merl Reagle was discussing words you aren't allowed to use in the puzzles. He said they have to pass the test of things you wouldn't mind reading over your Sunday morning family breakfast. Sadly, he pointed out, this eliminates many useful words, such as the vowel-rich "enema" or the equally convenient "urine."
• In discussing the new Superman film, Henry Jenkins has posted a link to the classic Larry Niven essay, Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, about why Supes and Lois could never get it on because of the physics of being Super. Over the years, I have thought about this essay a lot more often than I should probably admit. Good to have a handy reference for it.
• In honor of the World Cup, (OK, actually because a friend just showed it to me) here's a link to a hilarious flash cartoon by Bruno Bozzetto, satirizing the differences between Italians and other Europeans. The coffee scene is hilarious.
• I went to see Wordplay last night, the movie about the New York Times Crossword Puzzle. It was a lovely cavalcade of nerdy puzzle fans, including some celebs such as The Indigo Girls, Jon Stewart, and Bill Clinton. My companion and I were both quite miffed that the film never mentioned our favorite editor, the late, great Eugene T. Maleska, who edited the puzzle from 1977 to 1993. I really liked the music used in the film, and I agreed to leave before reading all the credits because I am used to just downloading that info later from IMDB, but I can't find a soundtrack listing there, nor on the film's official site. Sad.
My favorite part, I think, was when puzzle creator Merl Reagle was discussing words you aren't allowed to use in the puzzles. He said they have to pass the test of things you wouldn't mind reading over your Sunday morning family breakfast. Sadly, he pointed out, this eliminates many useful words, such as the vowel-rich "enema" or the equally convenient "urine."
• In discussing the new Superman film, Henry Jenkins has posted a link to the classic Larry Niven essay, Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, about why Supes and Lois could never get it on because of the physics of being Super. Over the years, I have thought about this essay a lot more often than I should probably admit. Good to have a handy reference for it.
• In honor of the World Cup, (OK, actually because a friend just showed it to me) here's a link to a hilarious flash cartoon by Bruno Bozzetto, satirizing the differences between Italians and other Europeans. The coffee scene is hilarious.