One of my favorite cartoonists (whom Kelly and I had the privilege of meeting a few years ago) has won a MacArthur “Genius Grant“. ThinkProgress also has this interview with her.
I am so excited for her. I literally cheered when I read the news.
Tag: video
So… Scotland… I hear you might be single soon…
Wow. Just, wow.
I am amazed, truly amazed, that this movement for Scotland to gain independence may actually succeed after all. The referendum is set to take place this Thursday.
And it is an extremely complicated issue, one that I would imagine the overwhelming majority of Americans (including myself) understand very little, outside of having seen the superb (but historically inaccurate) movie Braveheart.
Continue reading “So… Scotland… I hear you might be single soon…”
So… about that whole Syrio Forel thing
OK I have been avoiding talking about Syrio Forel, because it is one of those ASOIAF/GoT topics that just brings out the crazy in so many people. There are a lot of fan theories about things that may or may not be going on in the books and show. And there are all sorts of theories about Syrio, mostly about him still being alive, and many of those being about he and Jaqen H’Ghar being the same person.
GRRM, Neil Gaiman, Paul & Storm… so much geek awesomeness concentrated in one spot…
I think there may have actually been danger of having some sort of geek singularity of awesomeness form on stage.
But before I tell you what I am talking about, some context.
Live, Work, or Play in Somerville? Wanna be on TV?
Somerville, formerly known as “Slummerville” has the most artists per-capita of any city in the US second only to NYC. That’s not bad considering Somerville is a suburb of Boston (though functionally it is as much a part of Boston as Cambridge.)
If you’re a resident of Somerville, if you work in the ‘ville, or if you make art, play in a band there, or spend a lot of time doing Somerville related things, this post is for you. (If not, you should read it anyway, it’s about communities and people working together.)
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Yes, you can be a man and a feminist
Feminism does not exist because women want special treatment or special rights. It exists because even after nearly a century of suffrage and other societal reforms, women still do not have a truly equal position in our society. Not an opinion, fact. There are still a lot of people out there convinced that women should not have any roles in society outside the kitchen or the bedroom: they shouldn’t vote or run for office; that they shouldn’t be in the military or serve in combat; that they shouldn’t get an education; that they shouldn’t be single mothers; they they shouldn’t be able to practice birth control; that they shouldn’t be in the workplace, much less executives or political leaders; and that they should always be subservient to men.
Go ahead, Google any of these ideas and concepts I just listed and see what you find. See the kinds of people defending these ideas. Be prepared to turn over a few rocks and see what’s underneath.
I don’t recommend doing it on a full stomach.
So… here’s what happened to the Greatjon Umber
As I had mentioned before, one of my favorite minor characters from A Song of Ice and Fire is Lord Jon “the Greatjon” Umber, who was played oh so awesomely by Clive Mantle in Season One of HBO’s Game of Thrones. I have often wondered why the character had suddenly disappeared after appearing so memorably in Season One. Well, after doing some research I found out.
Continue reading “So… here’s what happened to the Greatjon Umber”
So maybe there are potatoes in Westeros after all
Remember that post I did a while back when I talked all about Old World/New World foods? I mentioned that I added potatoes to some of my favorite Westerosi dishes, like Roast Aurochs with Leeks, because in GRRM’s writings there are already a lot of other New World foods in Westeros. After all, beans, squash, pumpkins, pecans, and corn are all post-Columbus (and thus unknown in Medieval Europe) but make an appearance in Westeros.
Well, it turns out that at least on HBO’s Game of Thrones, potatoes do in fact exist in Westeros.
Continue reading “So maybe there are potatoes in Westeros after all”
Surviving the Apocalypse
As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am somewhat obsessed with emergency preparedness and safety in general. Mind you, not to the point of having a bunker and hoarding gold coins and such, but I do take that sort of thing seriously when it comes to normal Red Cross-type preparation.
Well, this past week I got to hear Annalee Newitz, one of the founders of io9, give a reading from her new book: Scatter, Adapt, and Remember:
How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. And it was quite illuminating, and a lot of fun to boot. Count on the Harvard Bookstore to always bring in cool authors.
I know this is old, but…
I had not seen it before yesterday. And it’s quite well done.
Besides, after Sunday I just have Game of Thrones on the brain. SO excited that Season 4 has finally started.
-Geoff
The Books are Taking Over... 