I have been lax in my Friday Nerd Blogging duties lately. Partly because I have been so obsessed with NATO and its summit. Now that the communiques are launched, it is time to relax and embrace that fave NATO song:
I was trying to find a good Star Wars-Valentine's Day mash up and failed. And then I thought, what would Brian Boitano do? [NFSW-words] Old oldie but a goodie. Enjoy the games and enjoy the excuse...
Because we are late with Friday Nerd Blogging, we have a two-fer--one that is mocks a TV program to come and one that mocks an old show but lovingly so: And for the kids out there, Bosum Buddies is...
What is better than one Nazi Zombie movie? Two of them! Yes, we have a sequel:
Ok, this is late for Friday but we didn't have an entry, so here we go:
We have fallen short of our Friday responsibilities, but given the theme of the week, this video seems most appropriate. Of course, this raises all kinds of possibilities and re-definitions of "bad" PR. My guess is that the best episode of this series of six web-isodes will be the next one. The third will be ok, and then then next three will be profoundly disappointing.
via Richard Moyes of Article36.org: "We are calling on all autonomous robots to establish a new subroutine that would prohibit the sustenance and accommodation of killer humans", said campaign spokes-robot C3 PO. "These biological entities lack the necessary behavioural and social constraints. They are actively destroying the environment and they have armed themselves with nuclear weapons capable of catastrophic consequences for the only known life in the universe. Action is needed now before they destroy us all." The movement is growing: The Campaign to Ban Killer Humans was launched inside...
They are here... Westeros re-election campaign posters for your procrastinating pleasure. For some excellent commentary from the campaign trail, I am linking back to Robert Farley and Matthew Duss' analysis of recent events.Also, weigh in on Scott Eric Kaufman's GoT syllabuilding effort here, in which he unconscionably proposes to force hapless undergraduates to read only the Westerosi chapters of the novel, skipping all the Dothraki-based chapters, inaccurately described as the Danaerys chapters. (What?) Also, via LGM, this extremely entertaining post on visual rhetoric in Act One Scene...
Check out this wonderfully exhaustive application of bureaucratic politics to Star Wars. The basic argument is that it was not the rebellion that really doomed the Empire but inter-service rivalry. The best line involves the Army's limited motivation to help the Navy (who lost the plans to the Death Star). I will not give it away here. Enjoy!
You never know what you'll learn when conducting field research. Refer playfully to a powerful and influential person in the humanitarian disarmament network as the "Jedi Master of arms advocacy" over dinner and drinks? Discover unexpectedly that this individual (who shall remain unnamed) has never seen Star Wars. The easy part: I know what to send him / her as a thank-you present for insights shared. The hard part: how to explain the importance of Machete Viewing order to someone who's never seen the series.Â
Nope, nothing here. Why? Google and its doodle. We need to say no more but to make sure you press on the various characters and realize that you need to go out and read Redshirts by John Scalzi.
Charli was moving, and I was occupied with #APSA2012Hunger Games, so no Friday Nerd Blogging yesterday. Well, to make up for it, how about some Saturday Poli Sci Silliness:Ok, that is too easy.How about this instead:Ok, way too easy.How about this story about the Quebec Maple Heist? I have already raised the Breaking Bad possibilities, but is this really about the stickiest case of collusion? After all, is there a great need for keeping a "Strategic Maple Reserve"? Why is this necessary? In case aliens come with a giant pancake weapon that can only be defeated through mass eating?Mais...