Not my favorite Roxy Music tune. It gets a little proggy in places, as there was still some overlap between glam and prog in the early 70’s. But things start getting very interesting at around 3:30.
On The Elfth Day Of Christmas, My True Love Gave To Me…
…. something by Gee Bee Vee.
Get Me This
Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made
He read hundreds of books on the man and broke the information down into categories “on everything from his food tastes to the weather on the day of a specific battle.” He gathered together 15,000 location scouting photos and 17,000 slides of Napoleonic imagery.
He would shoot the film in France and Italy, for their grand locations, and Yugoslavia, for their cheap armies. These were pre-CG days, and he arranged to borrow 40,000 Romanian infantry and 10,000 cavalry for the battles. “I wouldn’t want to fake it with fewer troops,” he said to an interviewer at the time, “because Napoleonic battles were out in the open, a vast tableau where the formations moved in an almost choreographic fashion. I want to capture this reality on film, and to do so it’s necessary to recreate all the conditions of the battle with painstaking accuracy.”
You could make it yourself if you want, as every single bit of information pertaining to the project has recently been published in the form of a book called Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon: The Greatest Movie Never Made.
This One’s For Me
But of course, you’re more than welcome to take a look. It’s a new documentary about my all-time favorite PC game(s).
What happens when one of the most revolutionary series in video games suddenly goes dark? To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Noclip hits the road to investigate the legacy of Half-Life and the incredible community working to keep the dream alive.
Featuring Geoff Keighley (The Game Awards), Cory Barlog (God of War), Vince Zampella (Titanfall / Call of Duty), Randy Pitchford (Borderlands), Laura Michet, Scott Smith, Robert Yang and more.
Help Bring Satan To Springfield
The Chicago branch of The Satanic Temple gifted the above sculpture (Eve holding the Apple of Knowledge) to the Illinois State Capitol rotunda this year. As the state cannot censor the content of speech or displays, the sculpture takes its holiday place near Christmas and Hannukah symbols.
The principles of the Satanic Temple:
- One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
- The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
- One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
- The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.
- Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.
- People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
- Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
The rotunda boasts a fine tradition of holiday free-for-all, including a Festivus Pole a few years back.
Marvel Comics 7-Eleven Slurpee Plastic Cup Set
Originally posted to Facebook, but I’m deleting all my shit over there and wanted to hang on to these. Marvel Slurpee cups, one more pop culture item that makes me nostalgic for the Seventies.
Four sets of these plastic cups were produced — three for Marvel Comics characters and one set for DC Comics characters. This is the first of the three Marvel sets issued. Marvel’s more popular characters — Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Thing — each received three cups.
Eat Bite Drink-Up Nibble Gobble Chew
It just wouldn’t be the holidays without this timeless classic from DEVO. (Are we not men?) Featuring Mark Mothersbaugh’s postcard art.
Guitar Moves With Keith Richards
https://youtu.be/ceWWMfhAvD4
A few years ago, Matt Sweeney had a chat with Keith Richards, wherein the master dropped some wisdom, told some great stories, and demonstrated the open G tuning he used on “Honky Tonk Women,” “Brown Sugar,” “Happy,” and tons of other Stones songs. Amazing stuff.
Legend is a word that’s thrown around probably too much, but there’s no real other way to describe Keith Richards. What else can you even say about the Rolling Stones guitarist? The 71-year-old is not only responsible for creating some of the most monumental music we’ve enjoyed over the last five decades, but his influence—alongside the Stones—have shaped music and the world that surrounds it. Watch our latest episode of Guitar Moves in which host Matt Sweeney lives his dream, freaks out, and sits down with Richards himself. Ever wanted to know how Richards learned how to play the guitar? Well, it started with his grandfather…
https://youtu.be/p4BH_F4zgtA
WordPress 5.0
WordPress 5.0 was released yesterday, and with it comes the new Gutenberg editor. Fortunately, we can run the Classic Editor plugin for a little while longer, but eventually, we’ll have to use Gutenberg. Here’s a video to get you up to speed. It seems fairly intuitive once you get your head around block design, so maybe we can make the move soon.
There’s also a page on the WordPress site where we can practice with Gutenberg before flipping the switch. See what you think.
Nerdgasm!
Big pop culture news today with the new Avengers trailer.