Liberated Negative Space o’ the Day: Talk Nerdy to Me and Science Friday — New set of prime operatives

Two-step plan for becoming the only species in the multiverse.

Art installation by Lori Hershberger.

We’ve already got cracking on this, really. Well done … Earth. Let’s see what we can do with the rest of the Milky Way, and maybe Intergalactic Viceroy Hawking* will okay a mission to the Large Magellanic Cloud.

You know. Just to see what’s what over there with those guys. Kick the tires, shoot the breeze, strip mine a couple of planets and turn them in to dumps.

*You didn’t actually think he was human, did you? Tell me you didn’t buy that hype.

Daily Batman: Talk nerdy to me, Darth Vader edition

via.

“I am your father.”

“My parents are deaaaaaad!”

Origin of the “My parents are deeaaaaaaad!” joke.

Referenced previously on this journal here, here, here, and here.

Did You Know? Darth Vader, the only man I’ve ever loved, was rated by the A.F.I. as the #3 Greatest Villain of All Time. That is very significant to me because of the high regard in which I hold the A.F.I.’s vital, meticulously reasoned “top” lists. I give them nearly the weight of the breathtakingly judicious Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Where is my mind.

In case your sarcasm early-warning systems are offline for routine maintenance today, I’m being a brat because I think #3 is weaksauce. When was the last time you saw a little kid dressing up as Hannibal Lecter for Halloween? Or Norman Bates? When was the last time everyone, everywhere, age 4 to 70, understood exactly who you meant when you made a breathing sound into your hands for Hannibal and Norman the way they do for Vader? Never is the answer. Never.

All my love to the #1 and #2 villains, but … I just don’t know. Maybe I should do a villain series … something like “Baby, You’re No Good” — oh, this idea has legs. Catch you on the flip, I got thoughts to jot!

Talk nerdy to me: Sith lord’s best friend

via.

The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.

(Mark Twain.)

Funny, I would have pegged Vader as a cat person.

Science Friday: Groupies edition

Noble sweater girls of yore using their chests … for science.

via.

Boy’s Life, February 1965. Girls Like A Boy Who Reads — physics books.

I would totally have been right there.

Talk nerdy to me — Science Friday: Inaugural edition

Science Friday doesn’t need an explanation, does it?

via my panda.

Besides being the first essentially man-made element, Technetium, lucky number 43 on that there ol’ periodic table, is radioactive in every form. Hot, hot, hot! Now I just want to spend the rest of the day drawing the elements as stripper robots on a stage in some kind of a ho-bag element competition, with big blonde teased wigs and Halloween red rubber lips: Technetium sashays up front and melts the pole to wild applause …

Why are the elements robots? Why not? Next you’re going to ask me why they’re strippers. This is the way Mendeleev dreamed it would be. Why don’t you stomp on a dead man’s dreams?

Talk nerdy to me: You and me and everyone we’ve ever fucked is a Tusken Raider

via.

Stumbled over this picture and it really tickled me. “I don’t care what you say, Daddy! I love my Tusken Raider!” [Cue: “He’s A Rebel (And he’ll never, ever be any good)”.] It inspired me to share a little sad personal Funny Business.

I have a lengthy sketch I’ve written about a woman who’s dating a Tusken Raider. She’s not dating him because she’s a sand-person-perv or because she’s particularly desperate, per se. She just is. Everyone with whom she interacts stands in as the audience’s interlocutor, recognizing the bizarre fruitlessness of what she’s doing in various situations involving her dating a Tusken Raider, but to her this is all perfectly normal.

In developing this idea, I had to ask myself some questions along the way, which is the way I prefer to work — I think of something I think is funny and then ask myself questions that will help me expand on the kernel of (usually weird) humor. In this case the one question that truly lit the lamp which shed light over the whole bit was, “Can they talk to each other?” It shed light because of this:

First, I tried to picture them sitting in the Olive Garden and her saying, “This is nice. I’m glad we came, I haven’t been here for awhile.” And him hooting and waving his walking/beatdown staff around (yes, he always has the gaderffii, including at his job as an accounts payable clerk for a cafeteria supplies vendor), his bellows unintelligible.

Would she then nod and say, “Of course, they’ve changed the decor. New sconces! You’re right”? Mm. No. Not funny enough. Not right.

How about he hoots and waves the gaderffii and she pretends to understand him? “Wawawarr! Baahh! Garghh!” “My day? How sweet of you to ask. Pretty good. How about yours?” Deluded and a little funnier, but no. Still not right.

“I can’t believe you let me get two desserts! I have to go to the gym.”

Finally, I made a writing choice: No, they absolutely cannot talk to each other. At all. Their words are totally meaningless to one another’s ears. Everything they do together is a case of tandem solitude, parallel behavior uncouched in any deeper meaning, more like comfortable coincidence than love.

“This is nice. I’m glad we came, I haven’t been to the Olive Garden for awhile.” “Bluloodoomarr! Grah! Waahh!” “Do you want to split an appetizer?” “Barrgh. [stamps gaderffii] Aroo!”

You know why that was just right on my funny meter? Because it demonstrates the frustrating absurdity of attempts at human connection. In the same place at the same time and full of totally different thoughts, dreams, and ideas of what it means? Just noising at each other in context but taking no notice of the content? That’s dating.*

You and me and everyone we’ve ever fucked is a Tusken Raider.

Unpleasant truths: now that’s Funny Business. Barrgh. Aroo.

*Unless you find that special someone, blah blah blah. Not knocking those who’ve made, or think they’ve made, it work. Just observing.

Talk nerdy to me: That droid’s got game

via.

Favorite part is WD-40 in the champagne bucket. Baby, you look tense. Let me grease up your ball bearings. Ow!

Pussy Magnet: Leonard Nimoy edition

Join them later for The Search for Spock’s Keys.

Daily Batman: Talk nerdy to me — Nostalgia for that which never was

Caroline Munro, the fantasy Catwoman cast in this poster, cross-reference for the young’uns:

Catch Ms. Munro in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Starcrash, and the Hammer horror films. You can also see her go head-to-head on the small screen with Joanna Lumley — Pats from AbFab and a Bond girl herself — in “The Angels of Death,” which is Season 2, Episode 2 of The New Avengers (original airdate September 29, 1978). Catfiiiiight!

Ms. Munro was also attached through most of the 1980’s to a developing big-screen Dr. Who project which sadly never materialized.

But for me, Caroline Munro is now and ever shall be smokin’ hot helicopter pilot Naomi in The Spy Who Loved Me, the tenth James Bond flick. Having worked her way up to righthand-man status in an industry traditionally dominated by males, and with her whole life ahead of her, the lovely but deadly young henchwoman is grievously murdered by 007 when he shoots a missile at her from under the ocean. Dick move.

Oh, my lord, why have I not done a Bond Girls series?! I’m a horrible, selfish, remiss person! I’ll get on that, stat. Promise. Let’s make it a February theme! If you have a favorite, shoot me pictures and I will try to include them.

Dr. King’s Day: Talk nerdy to me, “Trek” connection

“Uhura” comes from the Swahili word “uhuru,” which means freedom.

via Gorgeous Black Women right here on the wordpress.

[Nichelle] Nichols planned on leaving the role after her first season but was persuaded by Martin Luther King Jr. to stay. Dr. King felt like her character was a great role model for the African-American community.

(source)

Take-two Tuesday — Talk nerdy to me: LeVar Burton “The science of peace” edition

This post originally appeared on April 25, 2010, at 2:18 pm.

I have mentioned before that I follow me the shit out of some LeVar Burton on the twitter, which keeps me abreast of his doings. I have these pictures up mainly to get your attention.

From LeVar Burton’s twitpic account. With the Shat-man. Look at those OG’s! Super-cute!

It is obvious, accepted, manifest fact that LeVar Burton is one of the coolest and best human beings to walk the earth. Duh. Would you like to be as basically all-around amazing and centered and loving and a vessel of karmic groove in this universe Just Like Him? Then let’s talk about LeVar’s involvement with the extremely cool documentary The Science of Peace, dudes!

What if …

…science discovered a unified field of consciousness which affected the way people think and behave?

…we could find a way to consciously impact this field with our thoughts and feelings?

…a global media event would succesfully enroll millions of people to participate in an unprecedented world peace experiment?

(official site)

with the amazing STEVIE WONDER!!

Great minds from Tesla to Kant to Rosseau to Jung have believed in this tantalizing possibility of reaching a positive meta-energy which just might happen to be God’s will for mankind, so don’t dismiss it straight out of hand as tree-hugging hippie crap! There is some real Science to this, guys.

Hosted by LeVar Burton, The Science of Peace features pioneering physicists, biologists, and philosophers who are established in the emerging new field of Peace Science.

The film effectively illustrates how each person, when bringing peace in to his or her own life, becomes an instrument for global peace.

He is also the executive producer. Putting this post together lead meto some really neato-terrific and amazing sources.

Yes.

I hope to share more about Peace Studies soon but here is the essential lowdown on relative newcomer Peace Science, which is the subject of the documentary: it is a hard-science effort to unify the threads of ideas that run through the incredibly important social sciences movement of Peace Studies. The Peace Science Society has an explanation of the various philosophies and social sciences that comprise the touchstones of the “argument” for peace studies at Penn State, and it is always well-spent time to give the latest articles in The Acorn a spin. (The Acorn is the official journal of the Gandhi-King society. If you don’t feel like subscribing, it’s on ProjectMUSE and the JSTOR.)

Great picture with Nichelle Nichols. Remember on Dr. King’s Day when she came up? In case you forgot, the factoid that was related then was how she was thinking of leaving the TOS cast and Dr. King told her to stay because Lt. Uhura was a wonderful role model for people of color, especially women. Soooo great.

Anyway, check the documentary’s official site out and show some love by visiting the “How You Can Help” section — it’s too late to participate in the documented experiment, but you can still donate and help subside costs for production, travel, distribution, etc. Cool beans!

Holly Jolly Christmas Day: Talk nerdy to me — “That’s no ornament” edition

Ceci n’est pas un ornament.

Art of the cover: Talk nerdy to me — Hot date for the holiday

Not those Go-Gos.

I’m gonna spend my Christmas with a Dalek,
And hug him under the mistletoe
And if he’s very nice, I’ll feed him sugar spice
And hang a Christmas stocking on his big left toe
And when we both get up on Christmas morning
I’ll kiss him on his chrome implanted head
And take him in to say hi to Mum,
and frighten Daddy out of his bed!

The Go Gos. “I’m Spending Christmas With A Dalek.” Les Vandyke and Johnny Worth*. Oriole CB Records. 1964. Limited edition picture sleeve shown here.

*The same person. Mr. Vandyke created the production credit to make the outfit seem bigger.

Liberated Negative Space o’ the Day: Talk nerdy to me, Nabokov’s color theory and the uncertainty principle

You are like, “E, that is not graffiti or even textual healing, it is merely a modern painting.” And I am all like, “Not quite.”

Artist Spencer Finch applied author Vladimir Nabokov’s synaesthetic colored theory of the alphabet to “transliterate” 9,251 characters from the pages of Werner Heisenberg’s thesis outlining the Uncertainty Principle.

via.

Art or crap? I say art on this one but I’m open to opinions that it is crap. Nabokov himself was happy to debate whether a thing was weighty and symbolic or cheap and trite — I am still reeling from the reading of a transcript of one of his lectures in which he rips on Kafka, one of my favorite authors. So I think Vlad N. would be happy to know that academic questioning of the merits and boundaries of “art” are still kicked around. I don’t think he’d like it if anything with his name on it got some automatic “awesome and meaningful!” stamp put upon it without examination.

Talk nerdy to me: Han’s facebook edition

Talk nerdy to me: Art of the Nerd

‘Nam-native Beetle-Bailey ear-necklace update: I still suck.

But seeing me hunched over and going through a ream of paper trying to do studies inspired kidlet to grab one of her own most recent “commissioned pieces,” the last assigned coloring project she had before school ended. Speaking of Jurassic Park and bloodthirsty drawings:

When she first brought it home, knowing what a girly-girl she can often be, I asked naively, “Is your T. Rex a girl dinosaur? With lipstick and fingernails?” She gave me a long-suffering, how-sad-that-my-mother-is-Grimace-from-Ronald-McDonaldland expression and said, “Mommy. Tyrannosaurus Rex was a killer. That is blood.”

Check. It was already all cut out so we put it on a couple popsicle sticks so she could use him as part of her various paper puppet shows.

Think about it: wouldn’t every single puppet show you’ve ever seen have been improved by the introduction of a tyrannosaur? It’s like a recipe for Imaginary Awesome and you just kicked it up a notch. T. Rexes are truly the paprika in the potato salad of the toybox.

So I was trying my hand yet again at drawing Beetle. The problem is I want his shirt open to display the necklace to best advantage as well as convey how unhinged he’s become, but both the open shirt and his chest itself are giving me trouble as far as drawing them as simply but representatively as possible, and I can only imagine my plan for his right hand to be flashing a peace sign will also end in tears. Meanwhile, kidlet, like I said, went and fetched her T. Rex puppet.

She made “Blarrrghhh, Gahrrrrr, Rawrrrrr” kind of noises at me from the other side of the table, kneeling so only the puppet showed and, when that did not sufficiently distract me, she snuck up beside me and pounced, pretending the dinosaur was biting my hand (very convincing flesh-tearing noises accompanied this move), and I said, “You’re very scary, but I’m kind of in the middle of this. Why don’t you go eat a Barbie? We can play later. Promise.”

First the T. Rex turned his cap backward, then they started the arm-wrestling. If you do not understand this humorous reference and you want to get in on the cheesey action flick joke, rent Over the Top (Menahem Golan, 1987). Don’t necessarily buy it though, heh.

Kidlet danced the dinosaur away, making stomping noises with her feet to simulate his weight stalking out of the room, then stuck the puppet back around the corner and said loudly in a deep, ominous voice, “You haven’t seen the last of Tyrannosaurus Rex!!”

I said, “I’m pretty sure I have, actually.” Extinction is a bitch. But the whole exchange cracked me up and lightened my mood. She’s so wonderful. I don’t know where she came from but I’m damned lucky she’s here.

Lastly, the best thing I have ever seen, a comic panel that never fails to cheer me up:

via

Everything is right in that picture. Especially how psyched the tyrannosaur pilot looks. I told you: they are the paprika in the recipe of AWESOME!

Daily Batman: Talk nerdy to me, “What is the opposite of haute couture?” edition

l to r, top: Batman and Robin; Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Supergirl; Logo and utility belt; “Femme Fatale” 70’s Catwoman tee; Batman. l to r, bottom: Logo on black, Robin (the back says “Boy Wonder”); Logo on heather grey.

Really busy day today, but I was doing the laundry and set out some of my Bat Couture. There was more in the dryer, so I’m at over a week’s worth of wear. (Still not enough.) Also, earlier in the day I took kidlet to pick up a bathing suit for the summer and snagged myself some sweet and cheap new Star Wars shirts from the little boys’ department at Target. What is the opposite of haute couture? Because I’m pretty sure whatever it’s called, I am its poster girl.

Yoda rocking Wayfarers.

It was cool because I don’t think I’ve picked up any new stuff for myself like that since my Star Wars sweatshirt haul from a November trip to the mall with Miss D. She knows how to get me to spend money on much-neeed clothes and is happy to share her strategy: I have many times heard her tell our friendohs, “With E—, you just take her somewhere with beer first. Relax her.” Works for me.

“That R2-D2 is in prime condition: a real bargain.” Wow, I quoted C3PO — I think I need to go rinse my mouth with whiskey now to get my cool back.

It’s just very hard for me to buy clothing for myself, even basic stuff. I start feeling wormy and uneasy about it and hang stuff back up before I even get to the register. (You can forget the fitting room, those things are for chumps. I want in and out of the store with maximum efficacy. Only ballast, no drag.)

Doing laundry and cutting tags off of new garments, I feel practically like a self-respecting adult!

Well, except that I bought all children’s clothes …

Talk nerdy to me: Star Wars propaganda edition

“Truth is always the first casualty of war.” — Aeschylus.

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

— Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928).

“It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.” –Joseph Goebbels.

“[In] Democratic societies … the state can’t control behavior by force. It can to some extent, but it’s much more limited in its capacity to control by force. Therefore, it has to control what you think.” — Noam Chomsky, Chronicles of Dissent, 1992.

“Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.” — Adolf Hitler.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. ” — Joseph Goebbels.

“Propaganda must confine itself to very few points, and repeat them endlessly.” — Adolf Hitler.

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” — George W. Bush.

“The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to propaganda.” — H.L. Mencken.

“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.” — Chomsky.

“Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character … Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the state can play.” — Goebbels.

“[The propaganda system] recognizes that the public will not support the actual policies. Therefore it is important to prevent any knowledge or understanding of them.” — Chomsky.

“The truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” — Goebbels.

“Propaganda must never serve the truth, especially not insofar as it might bring out something favorable for the opponent.” — Hitler.

“One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.” — Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

“We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.” — John F. Kennedy.

Is that so? I think I disagree, but I’ve debated this before, during Sam Haskins month, when I went off on Leni Riefenstahl. It is a damned tangled web, and the propaganda flows from all sides.

Some of those posters are by Cliff Chiang and some by Joe Carroney, and some by unknown others; see, the sources from which I gathered all these images were kind of slipshod in their own sourcing so if you know specifics please do shoot them my way because I am dissatisfied with the low-class credit attribution job I’m turning in on this one so far.

Talk nerdy to me: Mean Girls Monday — Harry Potter edition

Don’t say I never gave you anything, nerds. It’s an all Harry Potter edition of Mean Girls Monday, by way of introducing my confession about the final films.

The below series of subtitled screencaps is based on the scene in Mean Girls wherein Regina George is described by various frenemies, classmates, and instructors.

So. Last night, while watching the Lost drive-you-crazy-with-anticipation-before-the-finale special that aired before the Lost legitimate finale with Gorgeous George and the Great Dane, the subject of the upcoming two-part Harry Potter final films arose. The Great Dane theorized that the bulk of the script was just going to be the characters running and hiding in the forest — much like Lost with the jungle, as Geo pointed out which may have started the conversation, or the reverse … I had a lot on my mindgrapes so it’s tough to call.

I folded my arms and, bloated on pizza and keyed up with anxiety for Lost, said flatly: “Look. I don’t care what else happens. All I want to see is Mrs. Weasley open a can of whupass on that fucking bitch Bellatrix Lestrange.”

Geo and the Great Dane laughed at my announcement and I said seriously, “No. I’ve been waiting. I don’t need to see all the little cheesey denouement stuff. Like, seriously? Just Mrs. Weasley spanking that Goth bitch. All I need. I could pretty much just leave after that.”

I then mimicked throwing up a peace sign to a packed theater and added, “Allow me to save you the time, y’all — Harry lives. I’m out!”

See, I know I called you hardcore HP guys “nerds” back there, but I must admit: no one kills a Weasley twin and gets away with it. Not on my watch. Those dudes are crazy-hot. Um, redheaded twins? with magic powers? and, P.S., they basically run the fantasy equivalent of a comic shop? Winner, winner, chicken dinner! So I’m looking forward to seeing some hardcore death-avengeance: Mom-style. Mmm, cursey!

SeaQuest out!

Mean Girls Monday: Talk nerdy to me, another Star Trek edition, by way of introducing Kevmo’s awesome new “Project: NerdTrek” blog

My grandmother is having a Bad Day so while she’s taking a nap I’m going to throw some stuff up really quick and then when she’s awake again, I’m afraid I will be definitely tied up.

A dear old friendoh who is a funny, clever, and all-around smashing good family man has started an intriguing and fun new blog called Project: NerdTrek over on the blogger. Kevin’s plan is to watch all the various Star Trek franchise viewing material in stardate order, hopefully squeezing in an episode a day. I look forward to keeping up with him and encourage my fellow nerds to follow, too! (I have also linked to him in the new and improved categorized blogroll on the right of the page.)

Oh, but he would, Mr. Spock.

Check Kevmo’s stuff out, and, in the meantime, please send vibes that my grandmother’s mind will — since I think it cannot at this point fully rethread itself — at least be set at ease by some well-earned rest.