Tag Archives: comics

Geek Cred, Stupid Kids, Good Crazy/Bad Crazy, Muppet Christ Superstar, Old Mall Nostalgia, Thor in Drag, and a Whole Lotta T-Rex

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This entry is part 7 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

One thing technology has really let us do is get a different view into the lives of celebrities. Now, on their terms, we can see them as real people–not just icons on a stage or screen. That down-to-earth-ness also means the lines of communication between fans and celebrities are more open now than they’ve ever been before.

One of my favorite things about Twitter, especially when I was watching TV shows in real-time, was being able to give a shout-out to the various cast and crew members letting them know when they particularly impressed me or jumping in to some other conversation that was going on. Getting an actual, real time response was always nice.

Well, now I can say “Achievement Unlocked: Celebrity Feedback!” for YouTube, too. For certain values of “celebrity,” at least. Posted a jokey comment on the latest Nerdist News vid, making what I thought was a tired, overused pun… but apparently host Jessica Chobot hadn’t heard it before and said she wished she’d thought of it to end the show with.

Some days, it’s the little things that help.

Not that a wee bit of YouTube celebrity digital love could balance out all the other news I was reading through and pondering online during the day. (Though all the T-rex stuff did help a lot with that.) We live in a problematic world and, sadly, the bad stuff doesn’t really surprise me any more.

Old Shows Kind of Back Again, NSA Doing Questionable Things, Ghosts (Maybe), Batman, and Jesus’ Wife (Also Maybe)

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This entry is part 5 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

One of my absolute favorite iterations of Batman was the 90s cartoon version produced by Bruce Timm and voiced by Kevin Conroy. It managed to capture both the dark and light sides of Batman in stories that were well written, entertaining, and drawn with such an amazing, unique style that nothing has really ever come close since. Batman turns 75 this year and Timm and company put out one short (hopefully one of many) to celebrate. The fact that it’s done in the style of an old movie serial episode is just brilliant.

Speaking of blasts from the past, the other really neat news bit today was about a tiny bit of papyrus with some Coptic writing on it. It refers, in the fragment that’s readable, to the wide of Jesus Christ and has, apparently, been certified to at least be really old. What kind of weight the announcement carries kind of depends on how you feel about such things. A lot of scholars out there have no problem with the idea of Jesus having a wife. Some other people, though, get a bit… bent out of shape… at the suggestion. Personally, I just find it interesting.

Finally, there was mention in one story in my feed of one of my absolute favorite classic parapsychological experiments: The Phillip Experiment. Wherein a group of experimenters wondered if they could conjure a completely made up spirit. In short, they kind of did. What did it prove? Well, that’s a bit up for grabs. They weren’t even sure exactly how it worked… just that it did. It’s that bit of ambiguity that really makes me want to try to repeat their experiment. Someday…

Time Travel Edition: Fashion of the Future! Classic Rock Recreated! Colbert Changes Time Slots! Super Hero Workout Secrets!

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This entry is part 4 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Okay, so none of it is real time travel… but a lot of it is kind of a blast from the past. Also of note is that Jem and the Holograms article which really nails why that show (and a lot of 80s cartoons) kind of rock and that brilliant cupcake recipe that came up near the end of the day.

The big thing, though, is the news about that Heartbleed situation that’s likely to have some every growing impacts across the online world. Basically, there was a flaw in the security layer that is supposed to protect a lot of stuff online. It’s been open for a while and a lot of big deal places are just patching it now. This is one of those times when everyone needs to change all of their passwords (because we all know most of us don’t do that regularly like we’re supposed to).