scaryfruit

"Halloween cotumes b2?"
"I'll get the knives b1..."

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

webcomics review

I periodically get bored of life and, rather than indulge in a blaze of semi-automatic gunfire at a Liberal Party* campaign meeting before turning the gun on myself, I turn to teh interblag for solace.

The effect is much the same really, although there's less blood to hose down afterwards.

I recently discovered a couple of comics that have brightened my otherwise dull, meaningless life to a warm glow. I suggest you take a few hours to trawl through the archives of both of these:

Platinum Grit - this has been around since the early 90s?! Man am I slow on the uptake...

The Perry Bible Fellowship - I dig humour of the unexpected. But you probably expected that. Certainly should have expected a bad joke if you know me at all.

Both of these (and others, whose worth I am currently assessing) come recommended by fullyramblomatic.com, authored by the improbably named Yahtzee Croshaw. A better name than his younger brother Craps Croshaw I guess...

In case you missed my plug for his Zero Punctuation game reviews there it is again. Even if you don't play computer games you'll get a giggle.

Go.

Giggle.

I'd say you'd thank me for it but you never do. Ungrateful bastards.

* In Australia Liberal means conservative rightwing dirtbag not, y'know, liberal. Yes, it's Bizarro world down here.

because size matters

And bigger is always better:

HugeURL.

Via Linkbunnies.

need for speed?

This is a fascinating article: real-life canonball run.

I'm not a driver myself and don't get into car-culture or racing etc, but that's a hell of a story.

And the film that inspired his quest here. Nuts, truly crazy-go-nuts...

ahh that's the spot...

The Chaser boys hit the mark again:

'Controversy' here, here and *sigh* here...

I saw this performed a few months ago when I went to see Dead Caesar, a lovely little satirical gem. I seem to remember the version performed then was even filthier - and had everyone in stitches.

books

All regular readers know how much I love books - being the child of librarians and spending most of my time in libraries while growing up will do that.

My love of them extends not just to the written word but to the look and feel of them and, while I'm going through a period of extreme 'meh' with the literary world at the moment, I can't not love the care & attention that is being put into the presentation of books right now.

I speak not of the dross of the usual gaudy & banal sci-fi/fantasy (Harry Potter, come on up..) or 'popular' fiction (popular with who exactly?), but books like McSweeney's hardcovers - beautiful cover, matt finish, a joy to the hand and eye. I'd buy one just to have on my shelf if I could justify it.

Also The Method Actors by Carl Shuker - a paperback but beautiful all the same (yes, I'm biased in favour of hardcovers), and The Eternal Frontier by Tim Flannery.

Another is the hardcover of On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. That book is stunningly beautiful. Unfortunately I've no desire to read it after having read Atonement and was bored, distanced, engrossed, bored, enthralled, moved, and eventually conned and let down by it. And then trying to read Saturday but not getting past the bored stage. Yes he's an awesome writer with great prose but ultimately he doesn't draw me in to his stories.

I recently bought the Absolute Watchmen. Oh. My God. That is an incredible graphic novel (best ever? possibly so..) and a stunning looking package. Rivals my Absolute Sandman Vol 1 for sheer impressive beauty. Oh, and I'm trying desperately to ignore the film version of Watchmen that's in the pipeline - Tom Cruise wants to play Ozymandias FFS...

So, given that I'm not going to just buy a book for the look of it, anyone got any suggestions for a good read?

game platform roundup

Appropriated from The Escapist.