the internet is truly a magnificent and wondrous place.

[schmerica]

This is one of those entries that just consist of me throwing out random links I find intriguing. Um. Enjoy!

***

Hey, look, yet another mainstream newspaper article about slash!

Quote from article: Slash-fiction none the less inspires some serious reflections about the human propensity for story telling. For literary historians (as with biologists and the fruit fly) it is fascinating to observe, in clinical conditions, a literary form coming rapidly into mature existence. Literary sociologists will find confirmation, as with the samizdat novel in the Soviet Union, that the human species has an ineradicable need for narrative which rebelliously refuses to conform to the arbitrary norms and regulations of its host society. Slash-fiction is unprintable in a culture controlled, as ours is, by libel law. It flourishes on the web because that medium is, at the moment, beyond the reach of the libel lawyer. For literary psychoanalysts, slash-fiction is revealing about the mysteriously powerful, irrational and erotic emotions that feed fandom. In short, it's very interesting. A pity it's not more readable.

***

A design critique of the English alphabet.

Quote: I honestly think that a different designer saw the i, and improved on it with the lowercase j. Where the i is boring and slightly weird, the addition of a swooping, curved descender turns it into a thing of beauty.

***

PartiallyClips, another webcomic. I already spammed fox1013 with eight million links to individual ones, but at the moment I think this might be my favorite. It's especially fun if you replace "Rodney McKay" at select intervals.

***

An article from December about a kid being suspended from school for speaking Spanish.

Quote: Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."

***

I'm kind of really craving this shirt from Torrid. That's every day at my house!

***

Here's a video of flatworms penis fencing. Don't bother to thank me; I do it out of love!

***

A History of Gyllenhaal.

Quote: Jake becomes the second Gyllenhaal to be nominated for the big prize. Somewhere Kiki is seething with jealousy, probably wishing she hadn't known how to quit him.

***

Izzie Stevens as Cute!Dean-from-Gilmore-Girls and Eric Brady's stepmom: discuss.

Alternatively, Ephram's baby momma in the same role.

***

Not a link, but back to unexpected fandom content here: if last weekend speshope showed me the Supernatural with CKR, the one with the airplanes, the one with the shapeshifter, the one with the preacher's daughter, and the one with their old house, what episodes should I bother downloading next? Keep in mind I do not like things that are boring.

Comments

[speshope.livejournal.com]

Anything from 10 on should be fairly good as far as Supernatural. I haven't seen the latest episodes, but apparently they're of the good.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

I take note!

[bluebrocade.livejournal.com]

A pity it's not more readable.

*eye roll*

That's too bad. S/he obviously didn't read the right stuff or approach it with the right attitude.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno. Unless you're actually already getting the deep, gut-level reaction that makes us do this, there's really no point, is there? I mean, it's a amateur, self-published genre that exists on the internet -- the vast, vast majority is total crap. We all know the good stuff, but we're getting something out of it that makes all that effort worthwhile.

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

Slash-fiction is unprintable in a culture controlled, as ours is, by libel law. It flourishes on the web because that medium is, at the moment, beyond the reach of the libel lawyer.

Wow, wrong, and wrong again!

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

What, are you saying we actually have to know what we're talking about when we insert random legal terminology into conversation now? Come on, Sarah!

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

I'm gathering from the context that she's English, and the English do have more restrictive libel laws than we do, but I'm still pretty sure that you generally can't libel a fictional character--and I'm *positive* you can sue people for libel committed over the Internet.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Again with the facts from you!

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

I know. I'm just incorrigible!

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Dear God, the History of Gyllenhaal link was hilarious.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Gyllenhaals! Yay!

[nightlarke.livejournal.com]

A pity it's not more readable.

Dude/lady, you've been reading in all the wrong places.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*grins* To you I say the same thing I did above: the vast, vast majority of all slash IS unreadable. Of course there's good stuff, but unless you're already a fan and getting the deep gut-level response out of it, the goldpanning to find that tiny tiny fraction out of the entire internet isn't especially worthwhile, I don't think.