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May 01, 2004
Much linky goodness
Catching up with Gary Farber's Amygdala this afternoon, I came across a number of very worthwhile links. Part of me feels that it's unfair to borrow multiple links from one source, but these are all good so I'm going to ignore that little nagging voice:
- Giant African Land Snails are showing up in Wisconsin. They're huge, they eat up to 500 varieties of plant, and their mucus can pass on meningitis. (Are we entirely sure these beasties aren't the advance guard of an alien invasion force?) [Amygdala link]
- Ted Widmer's New York Times review of Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack contains an aside which puts the Bush-Cheney relationship nicely in perspective: "Can anyone imagine Bush's father insisting that he would submit to questioning only in the presence of Dan Quayle?" [Amygdala link]
- Lucius Cook has written a fine overview of Futurama's run, emphasising that the show's writers have created a proper science fiction show, rather than a sitcom which happens to feature the odd ray gun:
Where Futurama succeeds as SF is the way the writers develop and explore their story ideas in a self-consistent and intelligent manner. In "A Fishful of Dollars," Fry uses his new-found billions (accrued from interest earned on the ninety-three cents in his bank account during his millennium-long slumber) to purchase an ultra-rare can of sardines, but must contend with the evil industrialist Mom, who seeks to splice the now-extinct fish's oil-producing gene into millions of Third World orphans, enabling her to corner the market in cheaply produced robot lubricant. (There's also a subplot about broadcasting commercials into dreams, a practice legally sanctioned by the FCC.) Mom reappears later in "Mother's Day," in which she triggers a global robot uprising, leading to the near-collapse of civilization as common household appliances and random tchotchkes revolt against their carbon-based masters. In addition to a Sheckleyan killer toaster and a sinister talking sink disposal ("Hey, someone dropped a shiny diamond ring down here!"), the episode also features a rogue greeting card spouting Marxist-Leninist slogans ("The bourgeois human is a virus on the hard drive of the working robot!").
(I should note that that last line particularly appealed to me when I read the story, since about an hour beforehand I'd been reading a story in Essential X-Men Volume 2 in which Colossus, the Soviet superhero who had joined the X-Men, was brainwashed by Arcade and became "The Proletarian, Worker's Hero of the Soviet Union". It's a pity that Colossus was turned into an American for his brief appearance in X-Men 2. It'd be good to see the writers put that right if the character shows up in a bigger role in X-Men 3.) [Amygdala link]
The only trouble with reading Amygdala is that it makes me feel like such a slacker. That Man Farber's a linking, posting, commenting machine, I tell you!
Posted by John at May 1, 2004 06:38 PM
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Comments
"Part of me feels that it's unfair to borrow multiple links from one source...."
Not when it's mine! Borrow away!
"That Man Farber's a linking, posting, commenting machine, I tell you!
The key is: have no life.
(Also have a very high reading and typing speed.)
Posted by: Gary Farber at May 2, 2004 04:24 AM
Incidentally, our Editorial Board just had our staff add your comment to our template. Press releases will be issued shortly.
Posted by: Gary Farber at May 2, 2004 04:29 AM