Chris Braak's Blog, page 37
May 2, 2011
Living in the Future, part 2
The other day, I realized that I'd gone the entire morning and afternoon without once touching a keyboard. My phone uses a touch screen; my new MP3 player as well; and wherever I'd go shopping, I could use a self-checkout machine. Do I want to see a movie? Well here's a touch-screen on the Redbox. [...]
Living in the Future, part 1
My first thought upon hearing Osama Bin Laden had been killed was, "Wow, that's a pretty big deal." My second, far more exhausting thought, was, "Oh god, now I'm going to have to hear what EVERYBODY ELSE thought about this." Turn on the news, pop open Facebook, start up Twitter. Trending, comments, links, suggestions from [...]
April 29, 2011
What Superman's Citizenship Means
I know that I don't seem like the most patriotic cat in town, always. And it's definitely true that I've found arguments over patriotism and American exceptionalism a little bemusing, to say the least. It's likewise true that I've argued that nationalism is a little on the parochial side, and that the skin of "patriot" [...]
April 28, 2011
SuperFact No. 2: Lois Must Be Awesome
I've been on a bit of a Superman walkabout. Mostly, I've been trying to find the essential components – precisely what makes a Superman story feel "right." That Clark gets to enjoy being "Metropolis-Clark" so much is part of the second most Important Thing of a a Good Superman Story: He falls in love with [...]
April 26, 2011
Superman Fact No. 1: He's Gotta Smile
Somewhere between my transformative experience watching Superman II, and my utter bafflement reading J. Michael Straczinski's Superman: Earth One, I've been on a bit of a Superman walkabout. Mostly, I've been trying to find the essential components – precisely what makes a Superman story feel "right." It's easy to point to All-Star Superman as the [...]
April 25, 2011
On Shakespeare, and As You Like It
I saw As You Like It at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre over the weekend, and it was fine. A nice little show, most everybody did a good job, and what do you expect from As You Like It? Frankly, I'm beginning to suspect that Shakespeare just wasn't really a top-notch comedian. But anyway, there's a [...]
April 24, 2011
Happy Day of the Living Dead!
As all of you know, today is Easter, a day in which Christians celebrate the terrible majesty of their Undead God. In thirty-three AD, a criminal madman was sentenced to death by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate. Three days after the execution, the man returned from Hell leading an army of the damned, and changing [...]
April 22, 2011
What Should You Do Today?
Go read this Hark! A Vagrant comic, because it is hilarious and about Lois Lane. Filed under: Threat Quality
April 21, 2011
On casual technology
After 4.5 years, my MP3 player finally died on me. It wasn't a huge shock – it had a tendency to freeze up on me if I clicked "next" too often in shuffle mode – but apparently that was not enough warning for me to back up the last year's worth of playlists. Playlists: Those [...]
April 20, 2011
Trojan, I Have Some Questions, RE: Your Advertisement
God bless the apparently cheaper and less FCC-restrictive advertising requirements that allow Trojan to promote their new vibrators on Comedy Central after 11pm. It's become basically my favorite commercial. I should explain further. The story: a woman at a bachelorette party receives…look, they call it a vibrating massage device, but it looks a whole lot [...]
