We all live...

xkcd - the submarine returns

I really must finish my monograph on the significance of the submarine in late-20th century counter-culture. Hagbard Celine, my ass 'no blame'.

Digging in the dirt

The imagery is straightforward, but the whole thing just works, and every so often you need a bit of catharsis. Years ago, in a damp, top-floor Brighton flat, several hours in to a very heavy session - nobody had said anything for hours - I'd just played it (and the b-side, Quiet Steam) for about the fifth time in a row.

Digging in the dirt / Open up / The places I got hurt

And a very good friend, she turned to me, eyes fairly brimming and said:

'God, he really knows what he's talking about, doesn't he?'

As it turned out, he really did.

Can I Get a Napkin, Please (Improv Everywhere)

Fictional devices in a real environment: fiction wins. This lot have truly awesome cojones.



(via Boing Boing)

The Ace of Spades (Lotus vs Apache)

Having far too much time on my hands, I found my favourite piece of Top Gear footage. None of that effete raf rubbish in this one, just the latest incarnations of two of my favourite pieces of kit ever.



(via YouTube)

Learning to fly

This demands respect: wingsuits in the mountains (3 min QT vid)

Steampunk

Dave Veloz's Steampunk Mac

Short ride in a fast machine

I've worked in some odd places, and met some odd people. One special school, two psychiatric hospitals, and a couple of R&D establishments - I've had my share of unusual. One of the strangest, and saddest, was a boy who desperately wanted to be Robocop. Gangling down the corridor, suspended from a very oddly-shaped skeleton, he would take on the voice and mannerisms of his dehumanized hero, heedless of the taunts from his peers.

Sadder still that he was taunted for showing a desire that is so very common - in boys, practically universal. When I was young we all dreamed of being unstoppable, impregnable, mechanical. I don't think it ever quite evaporates.

Or maybe I'm just regressing. But I've fantasized about doing this a thousand times - no exaggeration, no kidding. And I mean precisely this: