August 2017

Why Hollywood Is Trying to Turn Everything Into Movies — Even Mindless Games Like ‘Fruit Ninja’

Vinson then realized that he was faced with a formidable predicament. There are no protagonists or antagonists in Fruit Ninja.

Goldner says the key to making movies from board games and toys is to “focus on understanding the universal truth about the brand.”

The film’s director and co-­writer, Tony Leondis, told me that “The Emoji Movie” actually began with… See more →

We’ve given the @propublica site a facelift. Revised logo, responsive design, new CMS. More improvements to come! propublica.org/nerds/welcome-…

“So the next time you wake up in the middle of the night, think of your pre-industrial ancestors and relax.” bbc.com/news/magazine-…

“[W]hatever mere starvation failed to accomplish at HUD, indifference and mismanagement would finish.” propublica.org/article/is-any…

The seminal Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of only a handful of horror films that have truly and reliably terrified me. RIP Tobe Hooper.

Airistotle (@aYo_MattBurns) is your 2017 @AGWC champion! First 4× US champ, first 2× US/world champ. He lost his first competition to me. 😁

The 2017 Air Guitar World Championships (@AGWC) are beginning now! Stream the show live: livestream.com/accounts/13119…

When one of your favorite bands puts out a new song for the first time in 22 years, and before you’ve even heard it, you wish they hadn’t.

The sun and I don’t get along, so seeing it publicly humiliated today is pretty gratifying.

Needs about 100% more Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock, but naturally the finale is worth the price of admission.

Obviously the music is great, and I like that Richard Lester was able to make something so formally daring out of what would otherwise have been rote idolatry. Its kinetic energy simultaneously encapsulates early Beatlemania’s rapture (for the kids) and chaos (for everyone else). That said, the movie, which is essentially plotless, lives and dies by the band’s offstage antics. Their irreverence may have been revolutionary at the time, but its presumed charm was almost… See more →

I typeset many @abookapart books. I’m not so starved for validation to think an author taking credit for her work somehow diminishes mine. twitter.com/espiekermann/s…

4 “Epic” Faith No More
3 “Enjoy the Silence” Depeche Mode
2 “The Humpty Dance” Digital Underground
1 “Nothing Compares 2 U” Sinéad O’Connor

Reluctantly returning to 2017. Top four 1990 songs I did NOT skip:

“Forever” by Kiss

“This One’s for the Children” by New Kids on the Block
“I’ll Be Your Everything” by Tommy Page

“Here and Now” by Luther Vandross

“Close to You” by Maxi Priest
“What It Takes” by Aerosmith

“Make You Sweat” by Keith Sweat
“I’ll Be Your Shelter” by Taylor Dayne

“What Kind of Many Would I Be?” by Chicago

“No More Lies” by Michel’le

“Release Me” by Wilson Phillips

“Ready or Not” by After 7

“When I’m Back on My Feet” by Michael Bolton

“Whip Appeal” by Babyface
“Downtown Train” by Rod Stewart
“Love Song” by Tesla

“The Way That You Love Me” by Paula Abdul
“Oh Girl” by Paul Young
“Blaze of Glory” by Bon Jovi
“Do You Remember” by Phil Collins

ok yeah this was probably a bad idea

“We Can’t Go Wrong” by The Cover Girls
“Swing the Mood” by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers
“Price of Love” by Bad English

“How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” by Michael Bolton

“Sending All My Love” by Linear

I shall now begin updating you in real time which songs I skip as I shuffle this Billboard Top 100 of 1990 playlist. open.spotify.com/user/israel.ke…

I condemn with the strongest wedgies possible this egregious display of dorkiness by D&D nerds rolling dice with many sides, with many sides

“Your memo was a triumph of motivated reasoning: heads men win; tails women lose.” economist.com/news/21726276-…

I keep wondering if/how a different response to the Google memo might have altered James Damore’s destiny of becoming another Pax Dickinson.

Correlation ≠ causation, but it’s hard to deny the link between my happiness level and how much glow-in-the-dark stuff I own.

Starting the day with a good cry after finishing The Keepers. youtube.com/watch?v=Khr7db…

“[A]nimals we most abhor are often the ones most capable of thriving within a human-made environment.” thisiscolossal.com/2017/08/biodiv…

“There’s a place for variety and richness in typography, for colorful […] creatures that live at abyssal depths.” typography.com/blog/the-lovel…

On the rare occasion a sly ad placement catches my notice and actually makes me smile, I have to give it its due.

While denouncing these tiki torch clowns, remember: white supremacy’s most effective tools are criminal justice policies already in place.

Livin’ right with two days in a row of my man Sol Lewitt, at @DiaArtFndn and @MASS_MoCA.

This is probably the most entertaining thing I’ve read this year. grubstreet.com/2017/08/alissa…

“I refuse to debate this. Does that make me inflexible? Yep, sure does. But […] not everything is worthy of debate.” adactio.com/journal/12658

“As digital culture becomes” dependent on centralized platforms “there is always a risk of it disappearing forever.” nytimes.com/2017/08/01/mag…

“[…] like a frat bro dripping his ultimate-frisbee ball sweat into your futon.” avclub.com/article/did-19…

Sometimes I try to prune the list of people I follow on Twitter by unfollowing infrequent tweeters. But then I realize it’s a waste of time. twitter.com/nytimes/status…

The nuclear war gallows humor that permeated the Cold War culture of my youth is a thing I did not miss.

“The sooner we stop letting tech get away with being insular […] the sooner we’ll start building technology that works for all of us.” twitter.com/sara_ann_marie…

Makin’ websites.

So is the fire department just waiting with the hose next to Reddit’s servers? twitter.com/karaswisher/st…

And then you sense a change
Nothing feels the same
All your dreams are strange

Big congrats to @momjeansjeanie, your 2017 @usairguitar champion! I’m so excited for her success to inspire more women to get in the game.

Wishing all my @usairguitar buddies good luck at the National Finals in DC tonight. Streaming live now! pscp.tv/w/bFUQhTE0NzE3…

I just tried looking at my timeline on twitter.com and it’s hard to imagine someone wanting that to be their Twitter experience.

The headline may be eye-rollingly alarmist, but this isn’t just some kids-these-days screed. The research presents real cause for concern. twitter.com/TheAtlantic/st…

“Let people work hard and aspire to someday be able to play golf. To afford to play it.” golf.com/tour-news/2017…

Crystal Skull is better than Temple of Doom. twitter.com/stephaniebolan…

Name your punk band The Local Milk People. washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/…

I’m always a little puzzled by the demand for redundant far-right power fantasies to accompany the far-right power reality.

The NRA didn’t have to spend a dime and Hollywood didn’t have to come up with a new idea. Win/win! twitter.com/EW/status/8931…

With the copyright on Mickey Mouse set to expire in 2023, expect Disney to work toward changing the law again soon. thenib.com/who-owns-the-w…

Screenwriters “spent hours discussing the essence of Fruit Ninja. ‘For me, it is the messiness, the immediate release of destroying fruit.’” twitter.com/nytimes/status…