Cool Shit 1/27

Movies that could have been, but aren't, for one reason or another.

Guns are so attached to our culture that this list of pop culture gun facts shouldn't be too surprising to people.

Missed the Grammys because you were watching True Detective? Here's a look at the top 15 moments so you can sound like you saw them, and here's a ranking of the live performances.

Interested in Katy Perry? Learn more about her here. And yes, there are pictures.

Rafael Nadal, one of the best, and his unorthodox style, in just about everything he does. He's a contradiction of paradoxes, all rolled into one. While not DFW on Federer, it's a good article on what makes Nadal, Nadal. But oh how I wish DFW would have written about Nadal.

Most of these you've probably heard of, but it's still interesting to see how accidents can help make a movie better. It's called innovation, and in my opinion, a director needs to have a lot of it to make everything come together on the screen.

The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) held every year in Las Vegas is a great indicator of the technologies that we'll all be talking about in the next few years. Here's a look at what was going on during the 2014 show.

Cool Shit 2/25

So, what did you think about the Oscars? I thought they were stupid and long. I thought McFarlane was in an impossible spot, attempting to reach out to such a broad audience that he missed with both his fans and the people who don't know him. I thought the "tributes" to the musicals (Chicago?) were boring and unneeded. Just cut the fluff, let people thank who they want to and get out of there in 3 hours. It's not rocket science.

Anyway, here's another take on Seth. And another.

I believe I would have enjoyed taking a class taught by David Foster Wallace.

Want to enhance your hipster credentials? Educate yourself and (pretend to) enjoy bourbon. Want to cement your hipster status? Tell everyone you know just how much you're into Pappy Van Winkle bourbon.

Was the violence in Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho necessary?

Get ready for season 3 of Game of Thrones, coming March 31:

Links of Interest 10/8

Are these magazine covers controversial to you?

So Chicago lost its bid for the 2016 Olympics. But what if they put a bid in for the 2018 Winter Olympics?

Playgrounds of the 70s, when it was more about making it fun for kids, instead of safe for parents.

Speaking with Guy Ritchie – the director of Snatch and the upcoming Sherlock Holmes.

The government is going all out on inventing things to figure out just where people are.

Are these the 50 greatest animated films? Terry Gilliam seems to think so (via popcandy).

Sex trafficking is a bigger problem than I think most people want to admit.

Naomi Klein interviews Michael Moore.

Wow. Apparently Dan Brown and Daivd Foster Wallace were in a writing workshop together.

To be good science fiction, it should challenge what we know, and move beyond that.

Links of Interest 7/7

The French may hate us, but they love McDonalds.

I guess there’s something to be gleaned from this, but I can probably already guess what it might feel like.

It was the AK-47’s birthday yesterday.

What’s Zach Galianfianakis’ next move?

The internet has unofficially adopted the cat as its mascot.

Bad economy means more women look to turn tricks.

Is how the media covers plane crashes an indictment of how we value some lives over others?

At least half of The Popcorn Trick enjoys the work of David Foster Wallace.

Not all child pornography is equal. However, the question is, does that matter?

Designers take a crack at making business cards for prostitutes.

And to continue with designers imagining what if scenarios – here’s a look at how retirement might affect superheroes.

Daily Links 12/16

Andy Kaufman was (is?) a favorite of mine. He never told a joke because of a target audience or because someone told him to. He did stuff to keep the audience off balance. It's why people still think he could still be alive. His alter ego, Tony Clifton is still alive. (Pop Matters)

A quick look at David Foster Wallace's college thesis. The man was not only an artist, he was a philosopher. I'm currently making my way through Infinite Jest; only 80 pages in so I can't give an opinion, but I can say that there is certainly a lot of philosophy in it. (New York Times)

Awesome local Christmas commercials. And when I say awesome, I certainly mean it. (Esquire)

Continuing with the ads, here's a look at the best and worst from 2008. (Adweek)

Benny Hill can make anything better.

Links of Interest 11/4

Quite possibly my favorite article from 2008 so far. It includes what I someday can only hope to be described as:

“Among those arrested today was 51-year-old man named Lin, who police described as a legend in the world of cricket fighting for his skill at provoking the insects.”

I saw this KFC commercial but never thought much about the $10 challenge they spoke of. Probably because I thought it was pretty easy to feed a family of four with $10. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thought that. And neither were they.

The full article on the last days of David Foster Wallace from Rolling Stone.

I appreciate the costume, but the guy can't be married, right?

Links of Interest 10/20

Someone's been taking photos at just the right moment! Cool freeze fame photography.

That guy that wrote the fairly famous How to Lose Friends and Alienate People? He visited the set of the movie about his book.

Pretty cool article about the lengths the British went to attempt to infiltrate the IRA. Of course, I'd hate to be the guy that actually had to clean the clothes.

Rolling Stone's take on the life (and unfortunately, the death) of David Foster Wallace.

Synecdoche, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is coming out soon. Here's a look at the person behind it.

The Death of David Foster Wallace

Apparently David Foster Wallace hanged himself this weekend. He was 46.

Many considered Mr. Wallace one of the greatest living authors mostly for his epic novel, Infinite Jest.

He's one of those writers that hipsters often namedrop to show their superiority over everyone else. I'm not going to use this space to do the same thing. I've written in other places before that I've always wanted to like him as a writer, but never could. That the idea of enjoying his work is more fashionable than actually enjoying his work.

But I will say I love his non-fiction essays. He wrote many, and his buckshot approach to topics is what I find really appealing. From politics to sports, he wrote on a number of different subjects with the same emotional yet analytical approach that I would love to mimic. If there was one topic he seemed to comeback to occasionally, it was the sport of tennis, something I am familiar with as well and therefore enjoyed intimate, detail oriented way he wrote of it. I'll miss that voice the most.

Here are a couple of his essays, just in case anyone else cares...

On lobsters (Gourmet)
On Roger Federer (The New York Times' Play Magazine)
On conservative talk radio (The Atlantic)

I've never read Infinite Jest, but maybe today I'll give it a try.

Daily Links 6/4

Take a look at this... this guy hates computer monitors – and his coworkers (by the way, I fully expect this to explode on the Internet, followed by the discovery that it’s viral marketing for some vacation resort. If it doesn’t it should be and I’ll happily write the ad).

One day I will travel to these islands.

I disagree with this assessment about how made up acronyms can never be funny. I will say, they will never be funny in the workplace, because there are lines that people just won't cross. But, if you ever do cross those lines, I guarantee at least a few people will laugh.

David Foster Wallace is strange to me; in the sense that I'm not sure how to react to him, or more specifically, his writings. I want to like him because I think that makes me look more intellectual. But, I just can't do it. I've read a few of his essays, and they simply go above my head. Even this Q&A includes things that I can't think about without making my head hurt. That being said, it certainly doesn't diminish his intellect, and it's not hard to see he is an intelligent person. So take a look, but just make sure to have a dictionary handy (rapacity? mendacity? epileptoid? I must be an idiot). It's his take on the 2000 McCain election; I believe it's coming out now to show how much McCain has changed his tune in 8 years.

Do you think Scientology has a cabal of assassins they can send out and do their bidding? I hope not, and I hope that if they do, they don't want to kill anyone simply linking to an article like this.