Negative Space Spaced Out

These are the best sites and discussions that I talk about somewhere in Negative Space. They are the easiest to read and they contain information that you want to read. Some of these links are to software; in this case, the quality of the web site doesn’t matter: it’s the functionality of the software and the ease of use/presentation.

In all cases, content takes precedence. You won’t find any nice-looking web pages that have no use here, while you might find some useful web pages that aren’t particularly designed very well.

Don B. Kates, Henry E.Schaffer, and William C. Waters IV: Public Health Pot Shots

How the CDC succumbed to the Gun ‘Epidemic’ (Reason Magazine, April 1997) Can bad science make good policy? (last checked May 16, 2007)

Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies

It’s difficult to say that an Alice Cooper album is “best” because they’re all so good, but Billion Dollar Babies probably comes closest. This album remasters it and comes with a second disc filled with live versions and outtakes. (last checked November 1, 2009)

Terry Gilliam: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Criterion Edition

This DVD not only presents a great transfer of the movie, but it contains a lot of interesting footage of both Hunter Thompson and Oscar Acosta. (last checked May 25, 2009)

Sarah Palin: Sarah Palin Announces Resignation as Governor, Part 2

"There is where truly the worthy causes are in this world and that’s where our public resources should be, our public priority. We have time and resources spent on that, not on this superficial, wasteful, political bloodsport." (last checked July 3, 2009)

Saeed Valadbaygi: Live Blogging from Tehran!

Saeed Valadbaygi reporting from Tehran on the Iranian protests happening now. (last checked July 17, 2009)

Herk Harvey: Carnival of Souls

This is an awesome DVD package. It goes in-depth not only into Herk Harvey’s influential Carnival of Souls, but also the other kinds of movies he and his colleagues did. There is a great old construction safety short on here, for example. (last checked February 17, 2009)

Clea Saal: An Incomplete Guide to Print-on-Demand Publishers

This is by far the best site on print-on-demand/publishing services companies I’ve seen. I wish I had read this before making my choice! (last checked May 16, 2007)

Kyle Baker: The Cowboy Wally Show

Cowboy Wally hires a director to film a documentary about his life. Drink beer. And watch Sands of Blood interspersed with the Cowboy Wally Show. (last checked May 11, 2009)

Randall Munroe: Tech Support Cheat Sheet

This message to “various parents, grandparents, co-workers, and other ‘not computer people’” is, I suspect destined for immortality. Yes, non-computer-experts, it really is just as simple as this. (last checked August 23, 2009)

Katie Schwarz: Vertigo FAQ

What do you want to know about the Vertigo line from DC Comics? A decent amount of news links here. Worth checking out. Getting a little old, however. November 1999? (last checked May 16, 2007)

Jeff Mason: indy magazine

Interviews with comics creators and reviews from 1994 to 2005. (last checked May 16, 2007)

Patricia Hill: Rec.Food.Recipes

Usenet newsgroup, featuring hundreds, if not thousands, of recipes every week. Go to DejaNews to search the archive of years of recipes! (last checked May 16, 2007)

John Bullough and Michael Rhode: Comics Research Bibliography

Includes bibliography of articles on both scholarship and marketing. (last checked May 16, 2007)

Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz

“Canticle” is unquestionably the best story of mankind’s demise since revelation itself. Miller traverses a thousand years beyond the apocalypse, the “Flame Deluge”, as seen through the eyes of a small order of monks in the southwest desert of the United States. (last checked May 16, 2007)

George Orwell: Animal Farm

“Animal Farm” is a critical look at anyone who wants to keep us down “for our own good”. It is brilliantly written and easy to read on many levels. (last checked July 17, 2009)

Norbert Wiener: The human use of human beings: Cybernetics and Society

There are works that come along once in an age and influence generations. Norbert Wiener’s Cybernetics is one of these works. Listen: “The dissemination of any scientific secret whatever is merely a matter of time. In this game a decade is a long time, and in the long run, there is no distinction between arming ourselves and arming our enemies.” Wiener shows a prophetic understanding of the nature of information, communication, and automated control of our environment. If you want a book that tells you about the future of the Internet, buy the one what was written in 1950. (last checked May 16, 2007)

John Landis: The Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers is a brilliant comedy slash musical with great blues music. Director John Landis set out to include musical numbers covering all the possible musical number types. The DVD includes longer footage from some of the performances, as well as previously deleted scenes. This is a collector’s edition, not a director’s cut, and at least one of the scenes that is restored is also ridiculed by the director in the making of feature. (last checked February 20, 2009)

Richard Linklater: Dazed and Confused Criterion edition

This movie is an incredible tale of sound and fury signifying high school. Linklater has crafted a beautiful story of a bunch of high schools students in Texas on the last day of school in 1976. There is no plot to get in the way of characterization. The soundtrack consists of seventies songs chosen specifically scene by scene for maximum impact. If you were ever in high school, you should see this movie for nostalgia reasons; if not, you should see it as an education. Slow ride, baby. Watch it in English or French, or with English or Spanish subtitles. Dazed and Confused is one hell of a movie; despite being set a thousand or so miles away it nearly perfectly fits my mid-seventies high school experience. (last checked May 25, 2009)

The Ruling Class

When Jack’s aunt asks him how he knows he’s God, Jack replies, “Simple. When I pray I find I’m talking to myself.” (last checked February 20, 2009)

Wendy Seltzer: Eldred v. Ashcroft

The Eldred v. Ashcroft copyright extension case is unfortunately a long-shot, but it is extremely well reasoned. (last checked May 16, 2007)

Herbert Asbury: The Great Illusion: An Informal History of Prohibition

Herbert Asbury’s book has to rank as one of the greatest arguments ever written against the drug war; this book about alcohol prohibition chronicles and forecasts all of the problems with modern prohibition as well. If you can find a copy, this is a must-read. (last checked March 30, 2009)

Edward M. Brecher: Licit & Illicit Drugs

You can also purchase a copy used; as one reviewer wrote, “I learned more in one night from this book than I did in 18 years of being a youth in the Drug War.” I can’t stress enough just how amazing this book is. (last checked May 16, 2007)

Grant Morrison: Animal Man: Origin of the Species

The first volume ends just as it starts getting weird. The second volume really brings a restrained Grant Morrison ethos out into the open. This is where I started picking up the series, on a recommendation from a friend. This was one of those series that kept me coming back into the comic book shop every month; it wasn’t just a love of the story but the stories clear love of superhero comics that sucked me in. (last checked October 19, 2007)

John H. Kim: John H. Kim’s Role-Playing Game Page

A very comprehensive listing of all role-playing games ever available, free, published, out-of-print. Also, intelligent musings on game design and role-playing theory. A very useful site. (last checked January 6, 2008)

Bryan Singer: Superman Returns Special Edition

The two-disc special edition adds some interesting deleted scenes among about three hours of documentaries and other special features. There’s an amazing scene where he reads through all of the disasters that happened while he was gone—train crashes, climate problems, epidemics, massacres, burning buildings, even locusts—but no mention of September 11. Lois’s “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman” is juxtaposed with “Train crash kills 127”. (last checked October 18, 2009)

Doctor Zero: What we can do

“There is one other thing conservatives can work on immediately, a mighty task that brave pioneers in the school choice and home-schooling movement have already begun: take back education from the Left. This requires a different strategy from bringing the media around, because the education establishment is a virtual monopoly: enforced by State power, funded by mandatory taxes, and dominated by the most doctrinaire and politically powerful union in the world. The public education system will not change itself in response to ‘competition,’ because it has the government to protect it from its failures. (Both Big Media and the State would very much like to arrange a similar system for the media.)” (last checked October 31, 2009)

Doctor Zero: Doctor Zero

Who is Doctor Zero, and why does someone who writes so well write anonymously? Whoever the doctor is, if you’re not reading their Green Room posts you’re not informed. Most of it ends up being a “must read”. (last checked November 10, 2009)

Nick Gilder: City Nights/Frequency

Some amazing new wave songs here; Nick Gilder was a unique bit of the end of the seventies and these are his two best albums as far as I’m concerned. If you were around in the seventies, you’ve heard Hot Child in the City from City Nights, but the real highlights are the retro-futuristic songs from the rest of the album, which continued into Frequency. “I’m not clinging to my yesterdays. Tomorrow waits with a hungry gaze. It goes by like a trick of the eye. Still alive to take our chances as we go on into the eighties.” (last checked December 31, 2009)

indyworld: indyworld

Originally a great print magazine, Indy has become the best site out there for getting information Independent and self-published titles. Also includes the “Industry Addresses” compilation for professional use. (last checked September 23, 2006)

Glenn Carnagey: Crazed Ferret

The Crazed Ferret quicktime/avi movies! Must sees! Getting a bit long in the tooth, and what’s with the Star Trek trailer on each one? Nice examples of early multimedia from the Carnageian era of the net. (last checked August 11, 2007)

John Gaushell: WasteLA

Waste L.A.: Descent; the photo-comic to begin photo-comics. And you can order it right here. Or read it right here. Descent is one of the best series I read in 1996, and I strongly recommend you check it out. (last checked January 22, 2007)

Mike Meyer: COMICS-PRO

Comics-pro is a mailing list directed at comics professionals, including writers, artists, colorists, letterers, editors, self-publishers, distributors, and retailers. The FAQ alone is worth reading! (last checked September 23, 2006)

Randall W. Scott: Comic Art Collection

Michigan State University library’s Special Collections division, including a list of the comics in the collection. (last checked August 19, 2009)

Gilly Rosenthol: The Shot Heard Round the World

Schoolhouse Rock. With the original lyrics from the seventies. (last checked May 16, 2007)

William J. Walton: The Escapist

Part of (or all of?) The Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games. You can’t join by paying money, only by doing something useful. Also includes one of the best collection of RPG advocacy links on the net. (last checked January 1, 2008)

Steve Jackson: Steve Jackson Games

Includes the GURPS FAQ among a multitude of other SJG gaming info pages. Look for far more than GURPS stuff on these pages. Look too deep and you might never come back. “When you gaze into the warehouse, the warehouse gazes back.” (last checked January 17, 2008)

Peter McWilliams: Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do

Peter McWilliams died in defense of freedom: this book, an incredibly well-written and well-researched book about “the absurdity of consensual crimes in a free society” was probably his death warrant. (last checked November 6, 2006)

Daniel D. Polsby: Treating the Second Amendment as Normal Constitutional Law

“The modern American legal profession has been thoroughly acculturated to Max Weber's conception of the modern state as the monopolist of all legitimate force--a principle in tension with the private keeping of arms for self-defense.” (last checked September 30, 2006)

Grant Morrison: The Invisibles

With Invisibles, Grant Morrison is going off in a similar direction to his work on Doom Patrol and Animal Man. This is a search for reality where everyone wears great clothing! Grant takes on Michael Moorcock, Eastern Philosophy, and Sixties Fashion, and weaves them into a philosophical treatise so deep you’ll need to wear rubber pants. (last checked May 16, 2007)

Andrew Weil & Winifred Rosen: From Chocolate to Morphine

The subtitle is “Everything you need to know about mind-altering drugs.” Philosophically this is true: everything you need to know is that you should understand what you are using. This book is not an in-depth discussion of drugs, however; it is a general guide to recreational drug use, effects, and warnings. The book is designed for teen-agers, and should be in the home of every parent and teacher. “Education based on truthful information is the only solution to the drug problem.” (last checked November 26, 2006)

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

The best fantasy books I have ever read. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit…” I found the animated movie to be marvelous as well. And the new movies by Peter Jackson are awesome! Great, great stuff. A story about temptation, on many levels. Both the powerful and the small, the wise and the foolish, countries, groups, and individuals, are subjected to temptation. How all of these entities deal with temptation is the real story of “The Lord of the Rings”. (last checked May 25, 2009)

Digital Equipment Corporation: Altavista Babelfish

If you want to read a web page whose language you can’t understand, try passing the URL to the Babelfish. It works amazingly well for a stupid computer. (last checked December 28, 2007)

Elliot S! Maggin

Fan info on Elliot S! Maggin, including descriptions of his contributions to the Superman mythos. Also including samples from “Last Son of Krypton” and “Miracle Monday”, two brilliant novels. This is a must stop site, folks. Find out why he uses the exclamation!!!!!! (last checked December 30, 2008)

Paula Katherine Marmor: Legends

Robin Hood, the Three Musketeers, and other heroes of legend explained. Pirates and more! Wonderful site. (last checked January 13, 2008)

Michael Curtiz: Casablanca

Ah, Play it, Sam! If this isn’t the most-quoted movie outside of Macbeth, you’re in the wrong country. This is a beautiful DVD. The movie is presented in the original full-screen format. Languages are French and English, both spoken and subtitled. It also includes a nice documentary hosted by Lauren Bacall. (last checked February 10, 2009)

Stephan Elliott: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Wild outfits, ping-pong balls, ABBA, and not a single kangaroo in sight. Priscilla involves three drag queens from Sydney driving a huge bus across some great Australian desert to a three-week gig at a tourist trap. Beautiful views of the desert. Wonderful costuming. (last checked February 20, 2009)

George Cukor: The Philadelphia Story

Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn. Suave at its best. James Stewart runs away with it. The movie was originally a play, and Katherine Hepburn got the movie rights and got George Cukor to direct. What’s to tell about the story? Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn play an upper-crust ex-couple, and James Stewart and Ruth Hussey play the working class reporters covering their story. (last checked February 20, 2009)

South Park Season 1

I was first introduced to South Park through the movie (which also kicks ass). The television shows are amazing. Variety, of all things, calls it “gloriously subversive art”. Yeah, whatever. It’s great shit that you must eat. (last checked February 10, 2009)

John H. Kim: Free RPGs on the Web

This is by far the best listing of downloadable role-playing games on the web. Judging from the descriptions of my two games, the author has actually read every game to write the description. Well organized. (last checked January 6, 2008)

Robby Reed: Ira Schnapp: The Visionary

“Ira R. Schnapp was an eyewitness to the first-ever appearance of the Man of Steel. He also saw the debuts of the Caped Crusader, the Scarlet Speedster, the Emerald Gladiator, and the Amazing Amazon... in person. He was there the day Barry Allen raced across the bridge between the earths and became the Flash of Two Worlds. He saw the mightiest heroes of comics’ Golden Age unite for the first time to form the Justice Society of America. And he witnessed the unforgettable first meeting of the JSA and Justice League of America with his own eyes.” (last checked October 8, 2006)

Prosper Montagné: The New Larousse Gastronomique

This big old tome is a fascinating browser. It covers the gamut of European foodstuffs; this out-of-print version includes some things you’ll be unlikely to make today, such as Zabaglione à la kola. This dessert includes coca extract. (last checked November 14, 2006)

Eric Partridge: Origins

Eric Partridge’s etymological tome is a tour-de-force. It is the must-have for amateur etymologists. “Simply the best.” (last checked May 16, 2007)

Django

“Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.” Oh, the sweet smell of pragmatism. (last checked September 25, 2006)

Firefox

I personally like Safari a lot, but when I can’t use Safari, Firefox is my browser of choice. It’s a great web browser. (last checked May 19, 2007)

Shamus Young: DM of the Rings

Shamus Young’s epic retelling of The Lord of the Rings movie from the perspective of the player characters is absolutely hilarious, and, fortunately for you, now available in its entirety. If you’re a gamer or a Lord of the Rings fan, this is required reading. (last checked October 8, 2007)

Ron Edwards: The Forge

“This site is dedicated to the promotion, creation, and review of independent role-playing games. What is an independent role-playing game? Our main criterion is that the game is owned by its author, or creator-owned.” Don’t miss the article links arrayed across the top of the forums. (last checked January 27, 2008)

The Gerber Curse

This is a fascinating ongoing history of Steve Gerber (up to three chapters as I write this) by an anonymous author who is not Mark Evanier but is fairly knowledgeable about Gerber’s life. (last checked January 8, 2009)

Foreigner: head games

After Double Vision, who would have thought Foreigner could keep getting better? But from the amazingly frightening and evocative album cover to the title track, to Dirty White Boy and of course, Rev on the Red Line, this is probably Foreigner’s best album. (last checked May 31, 2009)

dascottjr: Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video

You probably have to remember this song when it originally came out to truly enjoy this spoof, but I have been watching it over and over again for the last two days. It is just amazingly funny. Most of the “literal videos” I’ve seen afterwards are too literal; but Total Eclipse doesn’t just describe, it penetrates to the evil heart of the eighties. A lot of music videos used dream sequences, apparently out of the belief that things don’t have to be coherent in dream sequences. After a while videos dropped the dream sequence pretense because incoherence was the norm. At least this one didn’t have the band randomly pop up with their instruments without any relation to the storyline. (last checked June 6, 2009)

George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell’s classic novel of a cog in the wheel of the thought police getting caught up in the machine. (last checked July 18, 2009)

ClickToFlash

This is the only add-on I use for Safari: it blocks Flash applications from loading as you browse the web, but lets you choose to view the Flash app with a single click. ClickToFlash has vastly improved browsing speed and the entire browsing experience. (last checked September 5, 2009)

Sarah Palin: Good Intentions Aren’t Enough with Health Care Reform

The bill prohibits insurance companies from refusing coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and from charging sick people higher premiums. It attempts to offset the costs this will impose on insurance companies by requiring everyone to purchase coverage, which in theory would expand the pool of paying policy holders. However, the maximum fine for those who refuse to purchase health insurance is $750. The result: many people, especially the young and healthy, will simply not buy coverage, choosing to pay the fine instead. They’ll wait until they’re sick to buy health insurance, confident that insurance companies can’t deny them coverage. Such a scenario is a perfect storm for increasing the cost of health care and creating an unsustainable mandate program. Those driving this plan no doubt have good intentions, but good intentions aren’t enough. There were good intentions behind the drive to increase home ownership for lower-income Americans, but forcing financial institutions to give loans to people who couldn’t afford them had terrible unintended consequences. We all felt those consequences during the financial collapse last year. Unintended consequences always result from top-down big government plans like the current health care proposals, and we can’t afford to ignore that fact again. (last checked October 18, 2009)

Ridley Scott: Black Hawk Down

This was an amazing, tense, action-filled movie about U.S. Rangers trapped in Mogadishu in 1993. People I know in the military say that this is possibly the most realistic military combat film ever; if so, it doesn’t sacrifice story or a riveting direction. This is possibly Ridley Scott’s best movie—but it’s not one you’re going to want to watch often. (last checked October 25, 2009)

Willis Eschenbach: The Smoking Gun At Darwin Zero

“People say ‘Yes, they destroyed emails, and hid from Freedom of information Acts, and messed with proxies, and fought to keep other scientists’ papers out of the journals… but that doesn’t affect the data, the data is still good.” (last checked December 10, 2009)

Dragon Magazine 57

This was the first issue of Dragon Magazine I’d ever seen. And it’s the best cover Dragon ever had combined with one of the best adventures Dragon ever had: The Wandering Trees. And the articles are among the classics: Modern monsters, History of the Shield. This issue, for me, set the bar for every gaming magazine since. (last checked January 23, 2010)

Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

A mysterious tale, with obvious truths hiding poorly behind every page, much as Constance does; beautifully written with lovingly neurotic characters, it’s a great book. (last checked March 15, 2010)

Radley Balko: Ex-Cop Chides Calvo for Questioning the Cops Who Nearly Killed Him

“When you’re using tactics designed to confuse and disorient the people in the house you’re raiding, you can’t then turn around and blame them when, disoriented and confused, they mistake the police for invading criminals.” “The utter tone-deafness of this line from Schweinsburg is appalling. How dare this mayor question the cops who nearly killed him.” (last checked March 4, 2010)

MAME: Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator

“When used in conjunction with images of the original arcade game’s ROM and disk data, MAME attempts to reproduce that game as faithfully as possible on a more modern general-purpose computer. MAME can currently emulate several thousand different classic arcade video games from the late 1970s through the modern era.” (last checked March 18, 2010)

Dave Dries: Virtual Arcade from 1984

One of Dave Dries’ very good 3D renderings of an arcade using MAME graphics and sounds. This one reminds me most of Tin Pan Alley in Ithaca, though it’s got more open space. (last checked March 18, 2010)