+ From A to Zyxt [NYT]. A book review of a man who read the OED from, as the title says, A to Zyxt. If I had more determination and self-control, I would want to be Ammon Shea when I grow up.
“Some days I feel as if I do not actually speak the English language,” he writes, his verbal cortex overflowing. “It is,” he observes, “like trying to remember all the trees one sees through the window of a train.” Once he stares for a while, amazed, at the word glove. “I find myself wondering why I’ve never seen this odd term that describes such a common article of clothing.”It's like my life, except with a slightly more expansive vocabulary. But only slightly more. Also, I really want to read this book.
+ Malwebolence - The World of Web Trolling [NYT]. Absolutely fascinating article of an outsider looking into the world of trolling.
As we walked through Fullerton’s downtown, Weev told me about his day — he’d lost $10,000 on the commodities market, he claimed — and summarized his philosophy of “global ruin.” “We are headed for a Malthusian crisis,” he said, with professorial confidence. “Plankton levels are dropping. Bees are dying. There are tortilla riots in Mexico, the highest wheat prices in 30-odd years.” He paused. “The question we have to answer is: How do we kill four of the world’s six billion people in the most just way possible?” He seemed excited to have said this aloud.
There's a really compelling thread of tension and mistrust on both sides of the interviewer and the interviewees, and Mattathias Schwartz really gets at the core issue behind why trolling is worth learning about. He doesn't just ogle at the weirdos who seem to hate life and each other, so much as try to understand why they do it and the motivation/philosophy behind it. His outsider perspective does him credit; just as he is keenly aware of the ramifications of online cruelty in the real world, he is also aware of how people project themselves on the internet do not necessarily reflect how they are in real life. Even for someone like Weev, who has come as close to becoming the online identity in person, there are hints where that tendency to bluster and bluff come into play.
RANDOM LINKS:
+ Comic-Con: Mad Magazine [livejournal, comics, watchmen] Part of the Swag Bag this year was a special issue of MAD Magazine with a parody of Watchmen ("Botchmen") and Sergio Aragones's parody of the con itself...an all too true parody.
+ And while it's in my head, I called a Jon Osterman the other day. Unfortunately, while this was a Jon Osterman, it wasn't the Jon Osterman (that I was supposed to call). Obviously. I don't know what I was thinking. Ours has left our galaxy for one less complex.
+ Genderfuckery Is the Name of the Game [music]. Music by bands altered so that the gender of the lead singer is switched. Kind of cool, kind of weird. It reminds me of this one website I came across years ago that posted music by cover bands where they did or did not switch the gender of the person in the lyrics.
+ NPH Sweeps The Clouds Away As The Shoe Fairy on 'Sesame Street.' [media, Neil Patrick Harris] As much gold as this is, it's even better after you watch the his interview with Conan O'Brien. Fairy jokes aside, he's just so enthusiastic about it!
+ Interview with Dali, cut up and animated by Alexander Butera [youtube]. Surreal humor that totally cracked me up. Other people were less entertained.
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