A crocheted Dalek. Words fail me.

[Via Making Light (Particles)]

A couple of lists:

• Silly Badasses:
  

  Ash (Evil Dead Trilogy)

  Reason:
  If you've seen the Evil Dead Trilogy, then you know why he's on the list. If you haven't, then what the fuck is wrong with you? Stop surfing the internet and go buy the three greatest films ever put on celluloid.

  Ash starts out as a regular guy in the first Evil Dead flick: he's got a girlfriend, he's living a normal life, and he's content. That is, until the evil spirits that dwell in the woods begin to possess his friends and turn them against him. Eventually he has to grow some balls and chop up the people he cares about with an axe.

  By the second flick, he begins to go crazy as the evil house refuses to let him leave and brainwashes him into thinking that the house is talking to him. He goes apeshit and starts dancing and laughing before he cuts his possessed hand off and replaces it with a chainsaw.

  And by the time Army of Darkness is over, Ash has spewed out more corny one-liners than every other person on this list combined, he's defeated an entire army of skeletons, and he's gotten the shit kicked out of him at nearly every turn because he was too goddamn stupid to remember three magic words. In many ways, Ash is the ultimate silly badass: you root for him when he's at his strongest, and you laugh at him when he's at his weakest.

  Quote: "Groovy."

• 13 sidekicks who are cooler than their heroes:
  

  Hobbes, Calvin & Hobbes

  Yes, 6-year-old Calvin had the better imagination, and his best friend Hobbes, the stuffed tiger who was only alive when nobody else was looking, didn't have the drive or the creative chaos to sustain a strip by himself. But he was the one with the brains, the experience, the knowledge, the conscience, and the ability to foresee the outcome of the wacky stunts they planned. And yet he still generally went along with them anyway, trusting that the fun would outweigh the pain. How cool is that? Besides, as he would no doubt be the first to explain, tigers are just plain cooler than people.

[Silly Badasses list via #!/usr/bin/girl]

Chris Anderson, having spoken at a conference of Chief Information Officers, reflects on the dim future facing the CIOs of the world:

In fairness, the CIOs have a pretty tough job. Nobody thanks them when the network works and the data is backed up, but they get fired when things go wrong. No surprise that they're so risk-adverse and conservative. The pesky users keep trying to, you know, do new things. This causes unpredictable outcomes. Which must be avoided.

The consequence of this is that many CIOs are now just one step above Building Maintenance. They have the unpleasant job of mopping up data spills when they happen, along with enforcing draconian data retention policies sent down from the legal department. They respond to trouble tickets and disable user permissions. They practice saying "No", not "What if…" And they block the ports used by the most popular services, from Skype to Second Life, which always reminds me of the old joke about the English shopkeeper who, when asked what happened to a certain product, answered "We don't stock it anymore. It kept selling out."

The most dramatic example of this is on college campuses, where a generation raised on Google and MySpace meets its first IT department. Needless to say, the kids want nothing to do with "disk storage allocations" and "acceptable use policies". The life of a university CIO is like the life of a telco CEO, fast forwarded by about five years. The users want a dumb pipe, preferably at gigabit speed. They neither need or want the university to administer their email, wikis, blogs, video storage or discussion groups. They want it to simply get out of their way.

I don't think the university model is especially representative of the problems facing IT departments in the typical workplace. If a student wants to use an online word processing tool to store their thesis then that's their problem, just as it is if they store it on their laptop. The consequences of losing that data, or having it corrupted by a virus, primarily affect the individual, and as long as their chosen tool can output a file in whatever format the university demands they use to submit essays and the like their choice to use systems beyond the university's control is neither here nor there.

In the average work environment that isn't at all the case. I spent a couple of hours this morning preparing a spreadsheet myself and my colleagues will be using to record and summarise information about a forthcoming event we're organising, and I did it using the spreadsheet my employer's IT department supports and stored the sheet on a shared drive on our network that's automatically backed up overnight. If I'd created that sheet using an online spreadsheet tool and stored it somewhere beyond the reach of our backup routines, or if I just stored the file under a user name or password on some online system that effectively kept it out of my colleagues' sight if I wasn't around, my employer would quite rightly be very unhappy when it turned out that I was holding their data to ransom. Similarly, my email and my calendar are stored on our corporate system, where they can be shared with and accessed by my colleagues by use of a system that my employer's IT department controls and supports; in what way would my employer benefit if I used a Gmail or Hotmail account to store my work emails?

Another point is that the average CIO's worries about users are inspired not so much by the notion that the users might want to "do new things" as by the proposition that the "new things" the users want to do might result in data losses or incompatibility between one user's data and his or her colleague's data. I accept that twentysomethings grew up with the internet and are typically much less scared of IT than my contemporaries, but in my experience there's still a scary gap between those who understand the pros and cons of designing a suite of linked spreadsheets and those whose Excel expertise barely extends beyond knowing which icon to click in the Excel toolbar to sum a column of numbers, or how to format that column of numbers to display figures with two decimal places and a currency sign. Mandating the use of a corporate IT system may not make your users any more IT-literate, but it does make it easier to share and recover the company's data should disaster strike and allows for the option of organising training in the proper use of whatever tools you've standardised on.

No doubt Chris Anderson would observe that my sort of employment – being an office drone, spending virtually all my working days in the office, tethered to a desk talking on the phone and toiling away at spreadsheets, word processor documents, emails and doing a bit of database work – is doomed anyway, be it by way of automation or outsourcing, and that the next generation of knowledge workers operating as semi-independent contractors will come to take responsibility for organising their own backups and will find better ways to share their data with the people they collaborate with where necessary. Perhaps, but until that happy day arrives it seems to me that companies are probably right to rely on the services of a boring Corporate Information Officer to make sure the company's information remains accessible and properly backed up.

[I do believe I've just outed myself as a CIO-wannabe. So be it...]

A week or so before the Oscars, the nominees for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar – all of them first-time nominees, interestingly enough – gathered to talk with the LA Times about their solitary-yet-fundamentally-collaborative line of work.

As you might imagine, there was a certain feeling in the room that the screenwriter's contribution can all too easily be overshadowed by that of the director; it's one of those arguments that'll never be settled to everyone's satisfaction, but it's still fun to rehearse the arguments. Beyond that particular issue, there were some fascinating insights into the process of bringing a screenplay to life:

Did any of you either lose things from your screenplay that you really wished had stayed in the final film or keep things that you really fought for?

MORGAN: We had a moment afterward, in the cutting room, where people concerned with the marketing of the film saw the film and said, "Well, it's a hell of a movie. And right now, hers [Helen Mirren's] is a good performance, but it's not an Oscar performance. So, Pete, would you write an argument, or a scene where she's angry, in the first act?" I said to Stephen [Frears], "I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is, there isn't enough Tony Blair." Which made them slowly begin to weep, because Tony Blair — no international audience. "More Helen, more Helen, more Helen…" I explained to Stephen why, and Stephen put his foot down, and we shot four extra days of Tony Blair. The net effect was that by putting in counterpoints, his part feels no bigger, but her part feels enormous, without shooting a single extra frame of Helen Mirren.

[Via feeling listless]

The ESA's Rosetta probe took this amazing image of Mars as it passed close by the Red Planet the other day.

It reminds me of a Chris Foss cover from some 1970s paperback science fiction novel; something about the mix of astronomical objects in the background combined with big, angular bits of technology in the foreground.

[Via Planetary Society Blog]

Watch the March of the Librarians.

[Via Improbable Research]

Over at Worse Than Failure, a reminder that even the best backup strategy sometimes isn't enough. Can you figure out the weak spot before you follow the link and read the full story?

Over the years, Chris's employer has come as close to a Perfect Technology Infrastructure as anyone. They hire the best network administrators money can buy and give them whatever resources they need to ensure that the infrastructure remains solid. And that they do.

The company's backup and retention plan is nothing short of immaculate. Every system they've ever purchased — from that old payroll program on the System/360 to that bizarre parts database for OS/2 — can be brought back to life, if not physically than through virtualization. A walk through their "software archive" was a treat for many; new technicians are often astonished to learn, not only of the existence of 8-inch floppy disks, but that the company still has the 8-inch install disks for CP/M. And a drive to run them on.

SETI@Home has finally found something: a laptop.

[Via Techdirt]

Pat Kane reviews Prince: Thief in the Temple by Brian Morton:

Unsurprisingly, given its polymathic author, Thief in the Temple gives a brilliant synthesizing account of the fundamental continuities of Prince's art – whether a young doe-eyed jazz-funker in the doldrums of Minneapolis, or a world-straddling eroticised megastar, or the misunderstood genius seeking the limelight only on his terms. Morton convincingly explains the root of what always compelled me, as a musician and songwriter, to track Prince's every move – his wilful yet awesomely skilled eclecticism. How was it that the classic Prince records – Purple Rain, Parade, Sign of the Times, Diamonds and Pearls – stretched so confidently across soul-funk and early rock'n'roll, plaintive balladry and electronic experimentalism? In my own music career, I've played or recorded at least five Prince songs – and to inhabit each is to get a history lesson in popular music.

I'd dissent from that list of "classic" Prince records – subtracting Diamonds and Pearls and adding 1999 and (a controversial choice, this?) Lovesexy – but let that pass. Judging by Kane's review, I have another book to add to my to-read pile.

This was merely pretty; this is pretty awesome!

[Via atypicalreview]

This beautifully animated version of one of Samuel L Jackson's best known scenes is well worth a look.

[Via Slowly Going Bald]

This early look at the TV version of This American Life (see my previous post on the subject) sounds promising:

Although [the host of the radio version Ira Glass] resisted this move to television for a long time, it's really incredible how natural it feels. It literally is like they have taken episodes of the radio show and added pictures to them, that's how seamless they've managed to make it. They cover the exact same sorts of subjects, which range from eccentric to esoteric, and while some of the stories are straight interview pieces, they also feature submitted stories, which is a big part of what makes the radio show so accessible. I know that they worked on this show for a long period of time, and that a lot of work went into making sure it was basically an extension of the radio, and not something new entirely.

In the first episode, they are filming the bizarre story about a rancher who had his beloved bull cloned after he died, and they manage to capture a terrible moment (most of which occurs off-camera) but the immediacy of the moment comes across a bit strong on camera than it would on the radio. The third episode (and my favorite of the bunch) features a story animated entirely by Chris Ware (!) and moves into a very bizarre and moving story filmed by a young man about the struggles with his mother and stepfather. Powerful and moving stuff.

(I really shouldn't follow stories about this show, because there's every chance it'll never cross the Atlantic.)

[Via tfmm, posting at MetaFilter]

I see that John Simm, fresh from his trip to 1973 in Life on Mars, is about to do some more time travelling:

[For years Simm has...] been dying to play a proper villain or a serial killer. The problem is Simm still looks 35 going on 15, but finally he's got the chance: he's just been cast in Dr Who – as the Master, the Doctor's evil nemesis. He'll be quite brilliant, of course, but heaven knows how he'll cope with a whole new horde of obsessive Tardis fans.

I gather a rumour has been floating around for a while, but that looks like confirmation. I'd never have thought of Simm for the role – for one thing, I can't imagine him with a goatee. But then, I wouldn't have guessed that Christopher Eccleston would make such a terrific Doctor so what do I know?

If Russell T Davies makes the season 4 finale a two-part Doctor Who/Life on Mars/Torchwood/Ashes to Ashes crossover I think my head might just explode with joy. (OK, I'll admit it: I want to see Captain Jack Harkness and DCI Gene Hunt team up to take on a Dalek. Can you blame me? Better yet, at the end of the crossover let's have Jack Harkness back on the TARDIS as a companion, leaving Gene Hunt in 2007 Cardiff running Torchwood.)

[Via A Beautiful & Unique Flyboy, posting at Barbelith Underground]

Over the last few months I've become addicted to the podcast of This American Life, a documentary series broadcast on America's National Public Radio network. A typical episode will present two or three stories tied together by a loose thematic link. For example, here's the synopsis from an episode broadcast earlier this month:

Houses of Ill Repute
2/2
Episode 325

An old man in Brooklyn invites some homeless prostitutes into his house on a cold winter night. They never leave. Plus other stories about houses, such as the United States Congress, where the inhabitants don't always act as they should.

Prologue. Ira talks to Randall Bell, who specializes in assessing how tragedy affects real estate. He's found that the market is much quicker to forgive and forget a scandal than the neighbors are. (3 minutes)

Act One. It's Not a Crack House, It's a Crack Home. Joe had lived alone in his big house in Brooklyn for decades. Then one night he saw a few people – prostitutes, actually – shivering outside in the cold, and he opened up his home to them. Pretty soon his upper floors were completely trashed. His house became overrun by the neighborhood's roughest characters, and somehow, he couldn't do anything about it. Maherin Gangat reports the story. (26 minutes)

Act Two. The Crisco Kid. When David Wilcox was eighteen, he set about looking for an apartment in Houston. He had no credit and very little money, but he was determined to move away from home. He finally found a place in the only apartment complex he could afford. After a few disturbing encounters with neighbors – plus a tornado – he began to realize maybe he needed to think again. (14 minutes)

Song: "Stranglehold," Ted Nugent

Act Three. Bully's Pulpit. There's probably no house more famous for the bad behavior of its denizens than the U.S. House of Representatives. For twelve years, Democrats squirmed under the heel of the Republican majority. Since the 2006 elections though, they're giving back a bit of what they got, while the new GOP minority complains in a very familiar way. It's the age-old, unwinnable fight: "Who started it?" Producer Alex Blumberg talks to both sides. (13 minutes)

Song: "U Started It," Gwen Stefani

The show has been running for more than a decade now, and it's about to make the transition to television with a six week run on the Showtime network in the US starting next month. Judging by the trailer and this interview with the TV show's producers the TV incarnation of the show looks to be true to the humane, non-judgemental spirit of the radio show.

I hope someone picks the TV version up over here; perhaps More4 could find a nice mid-evening slot for the show, right where they currently put imports like 30 Days.

[Interview with the show's producers via Fimoculous]

The TV Tropes Wiki contains a comprehensive list of plots you'll almost certainly have seen before, from Achilles In His Tent to The Zotz, passing through the Lower Desk Episode along the way:

Lower Deck Episode

An episode focused primarily on the flat characters, using their point of view to give an outsider's perspective on the central plot or characters.

Lower Deck Episodes usually arise when the crew is behind on their film schedules and have to shoot two episodes at the same time.

Named for "Lower Decks", episode #167 of Star Trek The Next Generation.

Compare to A Day In The Limelight.

Examples:

• The fifth-season Babylon 5 episode "A View from the Gallery" took the idea to its logical extreme by focusing on janitors on the space station, characters we'd never seen before and never saw again.
• Stargate SG-1 has done this a couple of times.

  [...]

• The story/play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a variation on this, crossed with The Rashomon.
• Doctor Who, "Love and Monsters" focuses on a random Muggle who gets involved with one of the Doctor's enemies; it's also a Something Completely Different episode, filled with Montages, music, and a more black-comedy tone than most.

Fascinating.

[For the record, I hate Lower Deck Episodes! But that's a story for another post in another place.]

[Via Away With Words]

Pet Shop Boys vs. Cybermen: very nicely done.

The video could only have been improved if they'd found a way to shoehorn in the Dalek-Cybermen smack talking scene (aka my favourite two minutes of season 2.)

[Pet Shop Boys vs. Cybermen video via wonderful electric]

It turns out that a little corner of the German Democratic Republic lives on:

Most people think East Germany ceased to exist in 1990, when the (East) German Democratic Republic was absorbed by the Federal Republic of (West) Germany. So did I. Turns out I was wrong: the GDR lives on, and in a very comfortable climate to boot: a small island off Cuba is the last official territory of the good old Deutsche Demokratische Republik.

Who knew?

[Via kottke.org]

At last, a proper full-length trailer (listed as Trailer 3) for The Simpsons Movie. Looks highly promising, I'd say…

[Via Ghost in the Machine]

The shortlist for the Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year 2006 is up.

Not a single one of the pictures I highlighted when I posted about the longlist made it to the final, but don't let that deter you from casting an eye over the finalists: there's some really nice work there.

[Via Betsy Devine]

Clive James is not happy:

Not long ago, at Paddington, I ran to catch a train that was called First. The long version of the name is First Great Western, which is already bad enough because it suggests the possible existence of a Second Great Western. But the First Great Western company insists on referring to itself and its trains as just First.

My problem, as I ran with a heavy bag in each hand from the barrier end of the platform, was to find the first second class carriage in a train all of whose carriages were marked First. I cursed First in the worst language at my command, but my outburst at First was nothing beside the imprecations I rained on One.

Yes, what used to be simply called Anglia Railways is now even more briefly, but far less simply, called One. This leaves the way clear for the railway station announcer to inform potential passengers that one One train will leave from platform two and the other One train will leave from platform three.

If the first One train leaves at twenty to one it's the twenty to one One train and if the other one leaves at ten to one it's ten to one on that it's the one One train one actually wanted but one couldn't understand the announcement.

What happens when you have to change from a First train to a One train I leave to you, but you might face a situation where you should catch the first First train if you want to change to the one One train that will get you to the mental hospital before you crack up.

In places his column reads like an application for a slot on the next series of Grumpy Old Men, but don't let that stop you reading the whole thing: he's much more interested in why this sort of nonsense happens than he is in letting off steam at the very notion that things have changed.