Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Happy Agnostica!

http://www.agnostica.com/

"Agnostica is the only truely secular winter celebration. It is a celebration for the scientist in all of us, celebrating not some contrived story written thousands of years ago and translated seventeen times over until the Hebrew word for "rope" gets turned into "camel," and then inexplicably the whole deal is replaced by consumer-frenzy dictated to us by a fat child-labor mogul in a fur-lined red suit, but rather of ourselves, the perfect self-defining nature of the universe, and of being proud of the human intellect."

"DECEMBER 14 IS QM DAY!


This site, Agnostica.com, was launched on December 14, 2000, the 100th anniversary of Quantum Physics. On December 14, 1900, Max Planck presented experimental results in front of the German Physical Society and announced that they could best be explained if energy exists in discrete packets, which he called "quanta."

Thus, the field of Quantum Physics was born. December 14 is the start of the Agnostica Holiday."


Well I'm still celebrating the commercialized christmas with my family but it's a fun idea anyway. Actually, I'm not sure that I should call what I celebrate with my family "Christmas." I think my dad is the only person who claims to believe anything about Christianity, and even he agrees that it doesn't really matter if others believe it.

Our Christmas is not about some skinny jewish rebel who got nailed to a stick of wood. It's about spending time together. The commercial aspect of gift giving has become a part of that, and I'm okay with it, I enjoy it (except for the whole figuring out how to afford gifts thing).

-Brandon

Sunday, December 12, 2004

I just came across this and thought it was interesting. It's a 1950's newspaper comic about the motivation of fear that still make a lot of sense today. I just liked that it still made prefect sense.
http://www.pogopossum.com/december.htm

-Brandon

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Websnark is great

There is an awesome new article that brings up some really valid points over at websnark.

http://www.websnark.com/archives/2004/12/sacred_hamburge.html

I still think that the comic syndicates are bad, as they favor business over art. I think that there lies the root of the problem, and not that Breathed and Watterson proved to be less profitable then brainless Garfield strips. However it does provide insight into why the syndicates are so hesitant to pick intelligent comics.

I also am a little confused with his love for "For Better or Worse," but that is just personal opinion and does nothing to damage the article.
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This is apparantly a little dated but I thought it was cool. Amon Tobin is composing the entire soundtrack for the next Splinter Cell game. This seems incredibly appropriate because his music is generally very intense. I can definatly see him scoring a spy movie, or in this case a game.

Tobin's original score will be heard throughout Tom Clancy's Splinter CellR Chaos TheoryT; he and label Ninja Tune will also be releasing a companion soundtrack CD featuring extended and re-mastered versions of the themes from the game to coincide with the release of the game this year, with a limited collectors edition mixed in 5.1 surround sound planned for release in spring 2005.

I can't wait. At least for the music. Probably won't ever play the game...
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A few webcomics I've discovered lately that I enjoy...

http://www.samandfuzzy.com/
This is the comic I discovered the bottom few through. It's a not very original idea that is done very successfully. The adventures of a naive innocent and his best friend, a psychopathic bear/creature/thing. I like the artwork in this one a lot. The black and white works really well and I can't imagine the charecters in any other way. Fuzzy sort of reminds me of "Max" from Sam and Max.

http://www.iccomics.com/
This is a comic created by an obvious movie fan. The references they make aren't over my head, But they are still amusing and inteligent. The artwork is simplistic but I like it. There are quite a few laugh out loud moments.

http://www.alessonislearned.com/
This comic is both incredibly surreal and incredibly beautiful. I'm not sure if I would like it as much if it wasn't for the awesome art, but as it is, I adore this comic.

-Brandon

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Pointless post number... *counts posts*

I have a habit of placing images that make me chuckle on my desktop. They generally tend to stay up only a day or so before it disappears. I had a strip from Wigu on it but today I found a replacement. I hadn't read Mac Hall in a while, and was browsing the archives. This charecter idea is absolutely brilliant.

I know people say it a lot, but I really like the visual style of mac hall. Although I wish he would lay off the anime and furry drawings when he's posting a filler image.

I would also like to add that "A samurai's strength comes from within... dick!"

Jeffrey Rowland's overcompensating is one of the best (and likely least accurate) journal comics in existence. Actually it's not the best, but it's definatly up there. I've heard Kochalka's "American Elf" is great, but I don't want to get a subscription to view the archives. I'll have to pick up the new collection next time I get the chance.
-Brandon