Mark A. Rayner's Blog: Mark A. Rayner's Goodreads Blog, page 76

Joining the SOPA bandwagon

As someone who loves the web, and needs it, even with its problems, I really hope you guys in the States can stop SOPA. Here's The Oatmeal's take on it:

Want to help in the fight against SOPA / PIPA? First, go learn about the bills. After that go contact your elected officials. Wikipedia has a handy-dandy page set up which allows you to locate your state representative.

Alltop loves kittens too!

The five second rule

It was the best game of zenball ever, and the crowd was wild with excitement: the whisper of butterfly wings was deafening.

The Rotrovra Koan Kangaroos had just scored their first all-in kensho, and the Targenville Half-Lotus Lions replied with a double-satori. The Roos launched a full-out dharma walk, but they were unable to penetrate the Lions' impressive grasp of paradox.

The Roos had to do something or the Lions would surely win. The hush of the field filled with the deadly susurration of arrows, as they invoked the five second rule.

Afterwards, only the voice of a bamboo flute.

is the sound of one hand clapping. Originally published on Name Your Tale as Buddha courtesy of Kim Denise.

Pretty much the only way a nuclear explosion is fun

Comic genius, Stephen Colbert, recreates a nuclear explosion using only his voice, hands and face.

Alltop loves a good thermonuclear device. Via Laughing Squid.

Octopuses' Garden

Peter Stumbersby was a devotee of the Browning Diving Suit, though for some time he had owned an original Flannigan Breathing Apparatus (it almost killed him.)

Neither of these submersible garments were cheap to maintain. The Browning Suit, especially, got a little funky, as he insisted on wearing it even during the summer, on High Street, while working as a salesman for the Farkmee SeaFood and Taffy Conglomerate. (Famous for its company slogans: Farkmee on the High Seas, and, Farkmee Taffy: Stiff, Sweet and Long.)

And of course, there was always the danger that some fine lady would step on his hose in her heels. Delicious.

Alltop is fond of cave diving. Photo via Twisted Vintage. Previously published in 2010.

Fotoshop by Adobé

Dead-on send up of the beauty industry and the tyranny of image.

Alltop feels like plastic too! Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Evard Munch: The Revenant of Kristiania

Most art historians will recognize this painting as "Evening on Karl Johan", painted sometime in 1892, while its creator Edvard Munch was still a young man.

Modern commentators have described this painting as an existentialist cri de coeur, a public declaration hoping to wake up the somnolent crowd and face the reality of their lives. This is a reasonable interpretation if you did not know the true story of The Revenant of Kristiania, the painting's original title.

Kristiania, now known as Oslo, was founded by Harald Sigurdsson in 1048. Harald's career is a storied one. He fought for the Byzantine Empire (distinguishing himself with his valor and luck, and reputedly making himself one of the richest men in the world by looting the Imperial treasury after the death of three emperors.) He escaped Byzantine prison, and returned to Norway to discover that his half-brother was ruling in his stead.

According to legend, he made a pact with the forces of darkness so that he could be the sole ruler, and when his brother was killed by tainted lutefisk, he made Norway a great kingdom; he then invaded England in 1066. He was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, and his soul returned to city that he founded to forever rule over it with a crushing sense of ennui and depression.

Most people like to blame this effect on long winters, shortened daylight hours, and the existence of lutefisk, but Munch had the courage to show the real story.

Check out more Famous Paintings with SF Titles here.

Alltop loves having its ennui crushed. More on the painting here — Great Works: Evening on Karl Johan (The Independent)

Politicians don't grok satire though

True dat.

Alltop groks all forms of humor!

How I Spent the Ice Age

The new arms weren't as much fun as I hoped they'd be, but they were sure useful during the crisis.

As you know I'm not really into the bodmod community, but I'd always thought it would be cool to be able to swing from tree to tree, the way we saw the Reclaimed Gibbons do in the preserve, when we were in high school. Yeah, the one down in Souwesto, near the ruins of Toronto, remember? That was a great trip.

I got the new arms a few weeks before it started. They weren't actual Gibbon arms, of course, but a beautiful bit of work by a friend of mine, who dabbles in bio-enhancement. She mostly works with nano, but I keep telling her she has a real flare for the genetic arts too, so she did a combination. The plan was to spend my vacation swinging with my simian friends in Souwesto. Tree swinging that is.

Of course I got the hair on them; I'm not totally fake!

My musculature had just finished healing — even with the latest developments, flesh bodies adapt slowly to nano — but I don't need to tell you that do I? Duh. I sometimes forget that we're all real time now, even you guys on Big Red.

Anyway, the worst happened. Multiple eruptions, right when we were at our peek seeding of the atmosphere. Temps dropped. The snow started falling. Piling up. And bam. Ice age.

In miniature, anyway. Of course, it couldn't last, but the damage. Wiped out my Gibbon buddies in Souwesto. And nearly got all of us here in Nunavut too.

But these babies were awesome. You know how much easier it is to ski and snowshoe if your arms can provide half the power? The hair was useful too — an extra layer for warmth. And I've been told they're awesome in zero-G, so I think I'll keep them until after I visit you.

Though I'm sure it still won't be as weird as your green skin, man. That I have to see with my own eyes.

Alltop swings with the yuks. Photo by Stuck in Customs.

Christmas Carnage!

Time for a little blogging break. I'll be back in the New Year, and in the meantime, I hope you all have a nice little break yourself. If you're dying for more Skwib, perhaps you can avail yourself of the archives, or even better, why don't you treat yourself to one of my novels? You can buy Marvellous Hairy anywhere fine literature is sold online, including 99-cent ebooks at Smashwords and Kindle. The Amadeus Net is available direct from the publisher, ENC Press, or as an ebook on Smashwords or Kindle (99-cents).

And you may want to have a wee nip and listen to this Christmas classic too:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The snowy gif above is based on the brilliant photo by mikonT. Alltop had nothing to do with it.

The Night Santa Went Crazy

This fan-made video is a brilliant adaptation of Weird Al's "The Night Santa Went Crazy".

Click here to view the embedded video.

You may also find some crazy at alltop.com.