Music: Crass - Big A, little a

I'm going to start this post by making a broad assumption: a lot of songs today don't make a whole lot of sense. Yes they (usually) speak proper English but even then they either Kurt Cobain it and you can't understand what they're saying or it's so autotuned out that they could be coughing and it'd sound like God Himself was crying tears of music.

With this you too can sound like a robot.

This post isn't about one of those synthesized animal screams; this song is about, in my opinion, one of the most meaningful songs ever written by one of the best bands ever to compose. If you're not familiar with the song already, it's "Big A, little a" by the amazing anarcho-punk band, Crass. To abridge a lengthy subrant, anarcho-punk is punk rock that usually sounds like UK 82 or Oi!, but can really sound like anything since no laws govern what anarcho-punk sounds like (get it? It's "anarchy"!).

Crass is also the band that created this. 

Elaborating on the song, "Big A, little a" is about just being yourself and not listening to what government, religion, or anyone else tells you what to be or do. I implore you not only enjoy some good anarcho-punk, but also to read the lyrics while you listen, especially if you're not good at picking out words in songs (personally, I'm not) because the message is really worth paying attention to.






Cheers,
Touch
(edited by Feel)

Stumble Findings: Ice Meteorite Found with Extraterrestrial Life

First off, I have to say that this discovery is HUGE. It doesn't matter if you don't like science and don't keep up with the going-ons of discovery, you should take a little time out of your day to ponder the gravity of this milestone in human history.

One of my favorite paintings.

From the time our ancestors first stopped crapping in their hands and began philosophizing over our place in the cosmos, we have only been able to speculate at the possibility that we are not alone. Until now, "proof" of other life has existed only within the confines of dark, lonely, basements full of empty pizza boxes, energy drink cans, and grotesque excuses for human beings---but without any actual scientific backing.

All you naysayers that insist we are the only life in the universe: fuck you.

Stumble Updates: Minecraft Creepers...

DEAR GOD WHY--!!


(Quick update; may expand later. Also, If you cannot relate to this...you must check out Minecraft!)

Music: I'm Blue

A few nights ago I started a new obsession as I often do on days when divine inspiration hits me. On this occasion, my inspiration was a faith-crushing lab report that left me longing for the sweet respite of death. Knowing this was not an option, I was forced to delve deep into my psyche to find the right song to listen to in order to keep me from losing it.

And by the graceful hand of two 5hr Energy drinks it hit me: Blue by Eiffel 65.

But wait, it had to be harder, faster, with a better beat--I realized that what I need was a remix.

Disappointingly, there was no standard remix that everyone loves and hates that I could take a listen to much to my amazement. Here was one of the most awesome songs of the past 20 years and nobody had had the heart to butcher it beyond recognition for better or for worse.

I was undeterred, however, and soon I found a remix that almost hit the spot even though I still felt it was lacking. It was the difference between heroin and methadone though and this jumpstyle tune was decent.



Now, if you hate jumpstyle that's perfectly alright because I personally prefer hardstyle as well, but that's no reason not to take a listen to this remix of the hit Eiffel 65 song "Blue". The remix is done by Dj Bryan and is so far the best remix of "Blue" I've been able to find (in my opinion).

Enjoy,
Touch

Loney Infermo

  For those of you that haven't had the blessing of finding this gem of a comic, here's the Loney Infermo. This is one of those comics that not only makes me laugh it makes me laugh out loud and not just type "lol" like an illiterate wrist-cutter. 

  Now, I can't take the credit for finding this little fella' since it was Feel that found it by means of witchcraft and wizardry--prostitution--and I give him full credit where credit is due. To whet your senses to this comic, here's a cock tease:

MOTHERFUCKING LOFL
LAUGH. OUT. FUCKING. LOUD. 

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Touch

(p.s. Ahh-haha! Here's the LINK. You thought I forgot didn't you?)

RAGE RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

So I've been super busy these days with schoolwork and crying myself to sleep as I wallowed in self-pity. It was during one of these intimate moments of vulnerability that it hit me: For the Motherland.

I am not a citizen; I am not a man; I am not an individual. I am your comrade.

With this newfound might I have vowed to wage a one-man war on the demons of procrastination and sloth that have almost damned this blog to the ephemeral. I will fight by laptop, Droid, and by desktop. I shall never surrender.

I will fight on comrades.

Salutes,
Touch

Music: Giulia

Keeping this blog up and running in the midst of an engineering major is turning out to be quite the untamable bitch. Try as I might, I just can't seem to break this horse. Alas, I do have something to share with all of you, and because I have spent the past few days listening to songs I like on iTunes this is not surprisingly a song.

To share a bit about my ignorance, I didn't know this song until relatively recently even though it may be a throwback for some of you out there (especially the Europeans). The song is "Giulia" by DJ Lhasa and it was a very popular song back in the early 00's. I personally find it to be one of the catchier dance songs I've found to date and am surprised it didn't cross my path sooner. In my defense though, I don't think it ever got big here in the States because we are all culturally illiterate--am I right Europe?

Anyways before I finish teasing all of you, I want to apologize to all our followers for my general absence and lack of reciprocity in comments and to Feel for making him do all the work of a supposed team blog. I have forgotten the face of my father.

(Bonus if you catch the reference!)

Stumble Findings: Random, Funny, Inspirational Quotes!

Sorry guys, this breakup has been tougher than I anticipated. But I will not be abandoning this blog or you followers any time soon! Here's a quick update:

Link: http://www.fromupnorth.com/2010/08/inspiration-gallery-103-various-quotes/

Cheers!

-Feel

P.S. I will respond to all comments eventually! I like doing it, it keeps this blog personal. :) 

Stumble Findings: Save Ink! Use Garamond font!

Hello, followers!

Sorry for the delay, I've been busy with midterms and breaking up with my girlfriend (baw I know but it's cool). Anyway, this update is coming to you late because my friend from California came to visit and BROUGHT ME IN-N-OUT ALL THE WAY FROM L.A!!!!!

BEHOLD.

Despite the fact that it had not been refrigerated in over 12 hours, I scarfed that mofo double-double like a boss and my stomach was so satisfied to have such a glorious burger inside of it that it refused to puke it out. DELICIOUS.

Anyway! On to the actual post..

Ever wonder which font used the most/least ink, and wanted to test it out by drawing the fonts on your wall using pens? Well, too bad, because someone already did it!

Someone ALWAYS steals your bright ideas!

This awesome experiment was done by designers Matt Robinson and Tom Wigglesworth using ballpoint pens. These were the results, with Garamond the clear winner and Cooper Black living up to its name.

(That comment up there was in no way racist.)

So there you have it! Next time you're raging about how expensive printer ink is, well...at least you can change your font!

Source: http://flowingdata.com/2010/01/29/save-pens-use-garamond-font/

Hope you guys enjoyed!

Cheers!

-Feel

Stumble Findings: Awesome Short

While there are a lot of short films out there (many of them crappy) there is occasionally a gem in the heap of dung and this short is one of them. This film is titled Your Lucky Day and while I don't know by whom it is by--mostly because I was too lazy to look at the credits closely--it is powerful in its delivery and surprisingly well made in my opinion.

Short and brief is how blogs are best so I'll let the explanations and all on the blog the url above links to do the rest of the work for me.

Cheers,
Touch

Legitimate Thoughts: Atheism--Is it in you?

               In light of the religious Holidays that just took place (yes, "Halloween"--actually All Saints' Day on the Catholic calendar--is a holy-day.) here's my thoughts on the fad of atheism among young people and hipsters. Let me start by saying that I am neither a bible-beater nor do I hold innate contempt towards atheists. To give a bit of context, I was born and raised Catholic and attended Catholic school most of my life; despite this I haven’t been a practicing Catholic for over 4 years and I haven’t gone to confession in almost 7. Sound familiar? Chances are you or someone you know has followed a fairly similar pattern of being raised in a religious family only to become non-practicing later on, usually during the enlightening—sarcasm—teen years. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to choose whether or not to be religious, there is something wrong with assuming that an immature teenage brain is somehow capable of grasping the complex concept of God and simultaneously casting it aside as archaic and unfounded.

                You see, there’s a distinct difference between real atheists like Richard Dawkins and Bertrand Russell, the former who has famously written some of the most thought out and insightful arguments for atheism (a brilliant example I’d recommend to anyone being ‘Teapot Atheist’), and your average 13-20-something-year-old bandwagon atheist. For one, atheists like Dawkins and Russel have researched both sides of the argument and have references upon references to back up their stance. On the contrary, most bandwagon atheist are like their namesake and only go with what’s popular and not necessarily with what they know—simply stating “everyone that believes in God doesn’t know anything about science” is as good an argument as the “all atheists are going to hell because the bible said so” defense of Go-God-Go fanatics.

Bringing things back to the aforementioned science over God quote, this is one of the things that most gets to me about bandwagon atheists and my response to them is this: if you’re going to make the claim that religion and science cannot coexist you should probably take a look at your 6^th grade science book and reread about Gregor Mendel (oh snap! An Augustinian priest!?) for starters. Or if you’re a little more versed and make more clever arguments like “God didn’t make the universe, the Big Bang did,” you might be surprised to know that the theory was first proposed by Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître, a—I'm seeing a trend here...—priest.

Case in point, some of the most brilliant men in all fields of knowledge have been religious and I’m pretty sure the likes of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein knew more about what makes the universe tick than a high school or college student. In fact, Sir Isaac Newton even warned against seeing the universe as a mere machine and had this to say about his theory of gravity: "Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done."

To bandwagon atheists out there: you’re going to tell me that this guy is dumb for believing in God, right?

            The moment something goes wrong I’m positive 90% of bandwagon atheists start praying to SOMEONE (be it God, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Tom Cruise and his witchcraft). As the saying goes “there are no atheists in foxholes” (referring to how in extreme situations, such as warfare, everyone hopes for a higher power). To rebalance my stance, I’ll reiterate that I am not religious, at all. I don’t go to Church and I don’t pray the rosary every night or watch that annoying Catholic channel on cable, but try as I might I can’t fully convince myself that there is no higher power. Maybe it’s the Catholic brainwashing I received throughout my youth.


Cheers,
Touch

Events this weekend! Creatures of the Night 3 and Rally to Restore Sanity

We've both been very busy, so this will be a quick update.

For all of our Bos-Wash followers, this weekend has a few awesome events for this Saturday!

If you are near Washington, D.C., you CANNOT miss Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear"!

This event is for all of us who are tired of the venomous partisanship in the U.S., where the loudest and most extreme voices are the ones that are given all the attention.

Here are the respective facebook pages for the joint event:
Colbert- http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154317524597618
Stewart- http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118856078167623

 Also, if you are unable to make these events, there are dozens of satellite rallies being held across the country in cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago. Maybe there's one near you!

And, after getting your political muscles all fired up, or if a party is more your thing, you can go to New York's Halloween Massive rave, Creatures of the Night!

(Open in new tab to view in full.)

(Open in new tab to view in full.)

The rave is just outside of New York City, in Elmsford, so if you have a car, you should definitely drive. Tickets are still on sale for $35 (plus a $3.26 service fee from Fla.vor.us) but this rave is gonna have a LOT of things--Haunted house,bumper cars, billiards, and a live performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Michael Jackson's Thriller! And lots more.

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153076704708033

And, of course, it's Halloween!! I would really love to talk a bit more in detail, but as I said, I'm short on time. Hope you guys enjoy!

-Feel.

(P.S. If you're in New York City and don't feel like paying for the rave, then go to the Village Halloween Parade! It's free, and it's a lot of fun.

Cheers!)

Letters to an Absent Father

If you're older than 14 or have some grasp of popular culture over the past decade, then you've heard of Pokemon. You know, that show featuring 150 different pocket monsters (get it? That's why they're called "Poke-Mon") and revolving around the lovable trio of Misty, the fanboy fantasy; Brock, the only minority in all of Kanto; and Ash Ketchum, the loyal if incessantly clumsy protagonist.

I refuse to acknowledge anything beyond 250 Pokemon.

Growing up this was one of my favorite shows and probably the first anime I watched, except for maybe Dragon Ball Z. I was so dedicated to watching a bunch of glorified prepubescent slave owners force their Pokemon to fight to the brink of death that I would get up at 6:50 just to watch the show at 7:00. Kudos to YOU fellow reader if you not only remember those bygone days, but did the same.

But I digress.

Going back to my list of characters, one might even add Ash's mom to the mix since she's practically a recurring character throughout the series. We learn that she's an amazing cook, that she loves Ash, and that she has no problem sending her 10-year-old son to wander the world on his own without even Chris Hansen's protection. And she does all this as a single mother!

None of this to protect Ash's virgin ass.

 But wait..So where's Ash's dad?

Truth be told it is never revealed in the series; but as any child without a father can tell you, the question is constantly whittling away at you, even if they were too young to remember that father. As a boy, the absence of a father figure must have been doubly pressing to a young Ash growing up and the argument can even be made that his quest to become the best stems from his feelings of rejection from an ever absent father.

(click on the image if it gets cut off)

This is the premise behind Maré Odomo's project "Letters to an Absent Father," wherein a fatherless Ash writes letters to his absent father (which he may or may not send). My brother found these comics (there are 16 total) scattered here and there on the Internet before finally finding the original page, which is the link I have shared above with you. Hope you enjoy this read as well.

Cheers,
Touch

Stumble Findings: Dex-Starr Origin story.

I didn't actually find this one on stumble, but I'm sure it's out there somewhere (you guys could also put it on stumble by liking this blog post with stumbleupon *wink wink*).

Anyway, this is the origin story of Dex-Starr, one of the DC Universe's most brutal Red Lanterns. He was originally created as a joke by comic book artist Shane Davis, but he was fleshed out into a full-fledged character due to positive feedback from writer Geoff Johns and the Green Lantern fan community.

Here is the origin story of how Dexter the stray kitten became Dex-Starr, the feared Red Lantern. I will admit, I am a total cat person, but if this story does not melt your heart and bring a tear to your eye..well, nothing against you, but you have no soul.

Story (1-6):

1.

2.

3. (this one cuts off towards the right; open in new tab!)

4.

5.

6 (Fin).

Note: For you non-comic fans out there (myself included--I learned this after researching the different Lanterns due to my curiosity about Dex-Starr) Red Lanterns are powered by rage. In Dex-Starr's case, the red power ring was attracted to him by the rage he felt towards the thugs that tried to throw him over the bridge and the robber who killed his owner. As a Red Lantern, he makes it his mission to hunt down and kill this man. Dex-Starr is also able to form rudimentary sentences in the last panel because the Red ring bestows him with a limited sentience and projects his thoughts.

Further, according the wikipedia, Dex-Starr "is currently traveling with Atrocitus on earth, in search of the Red Entity known only as 'The Butcher.' " Not sure what this means, but there you have it!

Enjoy!

-Feel

Stumble Findings: BMW Used Car Ad

Now, I know how some people feel about used cars: it's never as good as new. And, of course there's the horror stories of getting a lemon or finding a dead body in the trunk (or was that just me?).

Though these things may be true, they do not mean a used model can't still awesome as hell. In fact, if it's a good enough car--like, say, a BMW--then the fact that it's used may not matter much.Why, you might ask? Well, here's a nice visual analogy:

No, I do not care one bit.

Sexism aside, this ad has definitely convinced me to give used cars a second look. Especially if they're as hot as this nice piece of...automobile.

Of course, the lemon equivalent for this would be her having an STD--or AIDS.

...Hm.

Cheers!

-Feel


source: http://www.eligr.com/2010/04/great-bmw-used-car-ad/

Stumble Findings: Proper Graffiti

I don't actually remember where i found this one (it has been on my photobucket account for a while) but I still laugh every time i read it. The irony of an educated, well-spoken man tagging a city wall like a gangsta is just..too rich.

Veritably so, fool. 

If anyone knows the origin of this funny little work of art, don't hesitate to let me know! (Yes, I'm aware that there's a mark on the left margin, but it's completely illegible in the saved copy I have, so it basically does me no good).

Enjoy!

-Feel

Edit: According to follower DDX, the copyright reads:  "the rut. 2008"  "http://bigeyedeer dot wordpress dot com." Well, it's better than nothing!

Music: Classic '77 punk rock--"Kiss my Deadly," by Generation X

 Billy Idol with his mates, playing music because music is awesome

Most of you certainly know the 80's hit, "Dancing with Myself," by Billy Idol. What many of you probably DON'T know is that before he became an embarrassing 80's pop star caricature, he was a member of an AMAZING '77 punk band called Generation X. This band was so amazing, in fact, that Billy Idol flat out stole their songs and re-released them as his own. "Dancing with Myself," in fact, was one of Generation X's most awesome hits before Billy Idol sold out and took all of the credit for it. (The song is also an allusion to masturbation, by the way).

 Billy Idol once he sold out and came out of the closet.

I would highly recommend to anyone that they listen to Generation X's greatest hits, like "One Hundred Punks," "Ready, Steady, Go," "Untouchables," and basically anything else on their band anthology.

"Kiss Me Deadly," however, is is far and above my favorite Generation X song. Why? Because unlike most punk songs, and most of Generation X's own songs, this song connects with you on a deeper, more personal level. You won't exactly get a philosophy lesson out of listening to it (and, truth be told, it would suck if you did), but I have yet to find another song which I feel captures so perfectly the essence of being young and reckless, and not giving a damn about anything else but being alive.

And, without further ado..



Enjoy!

-Feel

Stumble Findings: How to Make Skittles Vodka

What's more awesome than skittles and vodka? Skittles IN vodka, of course!

Here is the helpful guide to this Elixir of Awesomeness in its entirety (the file was broken up into three parts for this blog post because it was too damn huge to fit properly):

 source: http://www.funlol.com/15882/Skittles_vodka.html

Cheers!

-Feel

Stumble Findings: Permanent Mission to Mars

How would you like to go to Mars? Explore a new frontier, brave the unknown, discover a new world, never see your old home or acquaintances again...

Wait, what?

You heard me correctly. NASA and DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a branch of the Defense Department)  have joined forces to create a plan which will take humans to Mars--and leave them there for good.

Here's an excerpt of the article linked above in case you want to glance through before committing a whole new tab to this topic:

"NASA and DARPA have joined forces to build something called a Hundred-Year Starship, according to the director of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Simon “Pete” Worden said NASA contributed $100,000 to the project and DARPA kicked in $1 million.

“The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds,” Worden said, according to a Singularity University blog that covered the event. “Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars and get fired.” (Worden added that he was fired by President George W. Bush.)

Beyond that, there are no details. But the prospect of a DARPA-NASA spaceship collaboration for Star Trek-esque exploration sounds thrilling — even if by definition, a 100-year ship means leaving Earth and never coming back" - Popular Science

Interesting stuff. I recommend you read the article (and click the links there, as well) if this topic tickles your fancy. Hopefully someday soon we'll live the future the past thought we'd be living by now.

Make it so!

Someday..

Enjoy!

-Feel

Stumble Findings: Parenting Tips

For all you future parents out there, here's a helpful list of parenting Do's and Don'ts to keep you in the know on how to raise a healthy, happy mini-you!

All in all, it seems like very sound advice! (The only one I don't agree with is the exercise one. I don't want no little b*tch for a child..).

Enjoy!

-Feel

Stumble Findings: POKEMON EXTRAVEGANZA!

Well, followers, as my brother has informed you, I have been analized by midterms...AND SURVIVED! At least until next week when I have two more, that is.

But Anyways!

As I'm sure anyone who isn't a loser will know, Pokemon was THE SHIT back in the day. They were all awesome as hell, and everyone thought being a pokemon master was the next best thing to being God himself.

 Being the Glorious Leader of Best Korea comes pretty close, too.

Sadly, they had to screw it all up by creating an orgy of hideous, half-assed monstrosities that don't even come close to the first 150 (who else could name them all at one point in their lives? If you couldn't...you had no childhood). Even the show sucks now (is it even still on?). C'mon, how often can Ash win THE ENTIRE LEAGUE, then go somewhere and be completely unknown? Seriously.

 

Pokemon then.

Pokemon now.

Being the lazy bum that I am, however, I never took the time to collect my thoughts and write down which of these pokemon I particularly loathed--but luckily for me, Steve Bogda at damnlag.com did! And I have to say, I have to agree with him for the most part on his top 10 choices. Except with Jynx. Jynx was hilarious.


Bogda further wrote a FANTASTIC article on the nerdgasm that would be a hypothetical Pokemon MMORPG. How awesome would that be exactly?

 This could be you.

And these could be your pokemon.

Wow. That's pretty goddamn awesome.

Cheers!

Feel.

OH SHIT (Also, funny video)

Hey guys, so sorry we haven't updated in so long. I personally got analized by exams and my brother is currently getting analized in turn. It's hard out her for a pimp, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do when a bitch gets out of line.

Anyways, to keep you coming back for more and cleverly disguised as a peace offering, here's a video that some of you may or may not have seen:

The Jersey Shore RPG - CollegeHumor video

Here's the link:http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1942081

Cheers!

Touch

Edit: Added embeded video!

Stumble Findings: Simpsons intro by Banksy taken off Youtube by Fox, allowed back up.

For those of you who don't have a TV or don't watch TV, then this is a must see intro to the Simpsons made by British graffiti artist Banksy. Think what you want about the Simpsons or of Banksy, but you have to admit that this is one thought-provoking intro--and frankly, I'm surprised the let it go on air in the first place.



To add another twist to this story, Fox apparently had the videos of the intro taken down on youtube, only to post them back up later.



What?



It seems Mr. Murdoch  hasn't heard about the Streisand Effect...


Anyway, here's the video, along with a link to TechCrunch's article about the whole fiasco:




http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/12/after-shooting-itself-in-the-foot-fox-allows-banksy-simpsons-intro-back-on-youtube/

Stumble Findings: Remember my Gingerness?

You know what they say about gingers...(I'm surprised I never thought of this.)

Cheers!

Stumble Findings: Triforce Latte

IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE!

DRINK THIS!

Just a quick update this time..
-Cheers!

P.S. You are the most badass person I know if you can do this.

Music: Kalashnikov

Because not everything on this blog can be about stumble finds, here's some more music for y'all. So just sit back, relax, and have yourself a cancer stick or two if that's your thing.

Not? That's okay too because at the end of the day it's all a matter of whether or not you read all of the nonsense I'm writing here to take up space anyways.

Smoking kills.

Backtracking to the whole point of this post, Kalashnikov was an old school punk band from Denmark and the song I'm sharing with you is called "Schluter's Kabinet" (about the then Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlüter). In my opinion, this song is one of the best examples of the "UK '82" movement going on at the time; UK '82 personally being one of my more favored styles of punk rock.


For those of you that aren't familiar with UK '82, it is often confused with "hardcore" since both are loud, fast, and usually brief, leading to UK '82 sometimes being (in my opinion) mislabeled as UK hardcore. To be fair, instrumentally there isn't much difference between hardcore and UK '82 but unlike hardcore, for which vocals are characterized by scream-singing, vocals in UK '82 are not yells but (very) loud singing. 


There's a difference. The difference being a melody you can follow.


Now, while I could go into soporific explanation for what melody is, a better rule of thumb to keep in mind is the humming rule. Basically, if you can hum the song, it has melody; if you can't, it doesn't. So applying this to our situation, a "hardcore" song you can hum is actually UK '82.


Anyways, I found this gem on the 1984 punk rock compilation P.E.A.C.E./War, which featured punk bands of all styles from all around the world. If you like punk rock or are just curious,  I can't stress enough how highly I recommend you buy/torrent/steal this compilation, it is golden.

Cheers,
Touch

Stumble Findings: Wild Pacman

For anyone who ever had a childhood, Pacman was the shit. I could waste quarter after quarter at the arcade on this game (or on Street Fighter). However, I would sometimes find myself wondering what pacman would look like in real life; after all, he's just a ball of pixels in the game itself. I know, I know, there was a large illustration of him at the side of the machine, but that thing was shit (he had LEGS in that--seriously?). 

Anyways, I shall wonder no more...

I do not know what to think of this (creepy? disturbing?).

Nonetheless, thought I'd share it with you guys.

Cheers!

Stumble Findings and return!

Hello everyone! Sorry for not updating over the weekend, my other half has been busy with his mathematical 

mumbo jumbo, and I came down with a fever. But fear not! We are both alive and well, albeit swamped with homework, and come bringing something yours truly came across on Sunday! I don't have time to explain more, but this image pretty much speaks for itself (and leaves me at a loss for words, anyway).

And, without further ado...

The connection shall forever be seared into my mind.

Cheers!

Stumble Findings: 19 of the Greatest Science Fiction Book Series

Along with Fantasy, Science Fiction is one of my all-time favorite genres. Maybe it's the badass future technology, or the wide-arching storylines that can span millenia. Or maybe its the fact that the future, by its nature, cannot be known, so the creators of sci-fi works essentially have a no-rules sandbox in which to do their world-building. 


It is difficult to describe why Science Fiction gives me such a sense of exhilaration and awe, but Tim at PopCrunch's description does a noble job of doing just that:


"Science Fiction writers—much like their cousins over in Fantasy—are renowned for being able write volume upon volume of prose, great tracts of novels, seemingly without end. Often these tomes are filled with nothing so much as overly lengthy location descriptions and predictable plots. However, some of the true greats of Science Fiction have surpassed the limits of the form, and created vast inter-twined plots set across multiple novels, and multiple time periods."


Admittedly, I have not read a few of the series on this list (to my shame, Asimov's Foundation Series is amongst them) but I will definitely sink my teeth into all of them, and many more, before I kick the bucket. 


And, without further ado, here is Tim's list of the 19 Greatest Science Fiction Book Series.




Enjoy!

Stumble Findings: Comrade Spider and the People's Mario

(In keeping with the Soviet allusions of our blog..)

Comrades! It is my honor to present to you today two glorious pieces of artwork for your viewing enjoyment. Alas, I do not remember where I found this first piece, but I give full credit to the brave Patriot who produced it in order to fight the deceptive propaganda of the evil Capitalist Imperialists! 

The second is a short film expositing the harsh realities behind Comrade Mario's noble struggle against the Bourgeoisie. Sadly, most of you know of him only through the warped caricatures produced about him by the Western-loving Nintendo.

But finally, comrades, the truth behind The People's Mario.

For the Motherland!

Legitimate Thoughts: Space Opera, Afterall

Howdy buckaroos (and buckarettes)! For those of you wishing for a life of swash-buckling adventure on the high seas of space, you're in luck! After years of being told by skeptics that our planet is the habitable exception to a cold and barren rule, scientists from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) and the Carnegie Institute of Washington have discovered the first potentially inhabitable world outside our solar system. 

Granted, this isn't the first extra-solar planet found, but it is the first to be right smack in the middle of its sun's Goldilocks zone--the crucial orbit no too far or close to the sun where water can exist in its liquid form. And if there’s something you must know about water, it’s that it is necessary for just about everything needed to support life.

You see, we here on earth take water for granted. It's everywhere. It's in our air, our oceans, and on the floors of subway stops and public restrooms everywhere (urine is 80%+ water). So it's understandable that we don't grasp just how stacked the odds were against us having liquid water. Indeed, just a bit closer or farther in our orbit and the Big Blue would either be a frozen wasteland like Siberia or a barren desert like Death Valley, respectively. 

Of course, don't go wanking off to Avatar (again) just yet. Just because it's in the Goldilocks zone doesn't mean it has life, it just means it has the potential for it. All of you budding space cowboys and cowgirls out there can still dream, but it is also highly unlikely that the technology to reach this glorious Earth 2.0 will exist in our lifetime (it is a wopping 20 light-years away).

So much for your career as a bounty hunter..

This will never be you. 

Still, if this planet is in fact habitable then even if we ourselves are unable to warp drive our way over, we can at least settle one debate that has been raging in the media ever since hippies first started digging holes in the ground and going to town: There is a Plan B.

So yes! we can in fact pillage and rape our planet for years to come, because once it’s spent, we’ll have a perfectly good new one to pillage and rape all over again.

Cheers,

Touch