That’s it, I guess. I’ve had the impression the Huffington Post was going downhill for a good long time now, and it’s now confirmed. This, on the front page?
Is not funny or clever. It’s just downright creepy and exploitative.
arts & entertainment
music, stage, writing, comedy, cinema, telly, arts, sport, crafts, photography – all this and more!
Thursday Cheezburger
I’ve a runner-up, but it does contain spoilers for the end of Doctor Who (New) season four, so it’s just a link – be warned.
Whoydensday: Old vs New, strengths and weaknesses
As part of an excellent essay on the role of the Nostalgia Factor in the Russell T. Davies (RTD) era of Doctor Who, Iain Clark makes many excellent points about both the new and the old series of Who, why Sarah Jane Smith was really the only choice as a returning former-companion for the new generation of Who-watchers, and the differing emphasis paid to character vs story in each.
Clark is writing what purports to be merely a review of the one episode of the second RTD season, yet by the end he’s engaging in an analysis of the entire Rose Tyler era in counterpoint to what we see of the characters in School Reunion.
Women still the sex class in international elite sports
This photo is what passes for sports journalism at the Sydney Morning Herald nowadays. I did not crop this photo; the Herald did.
WWTTMD?
What would Tiananmen Tank Man Do?
I don’t think he’d watch the Olympics. Of course I can’t know this, because we don’t know who he was, whether he is still alive, or whether he would actually be an enormous fan of the Olympics right now.
Still, I am not watching these Olympics, simply because I can’t square my conscience with supporting the regime’s propaganda exercise.
From the reading pile: Barrayar (contains spoilers)
I’m enjoying “Barrayar” right now, from Lois McMaster Bujold, and I thought I’d share an excerpt. Bujold is a keen observer of human interactions, and readers with complicated medical problems might relate to some of this.
Commander Cordelia Naismith (also known as Lady Vorkosigan), a former Betan military commander, is in a doctor’s office on Barrayar. She is being checked out after a series of traumatic experiences.
SF Sunday: so what are you reading?
Very simple this week, although you can spice it up by reading the question above in a very suggestive tone of voice if you like.
I’m halfway through the fantasy Wicked! (The True Story of the Wicked Witch of the West), revisiting an anthology of Australian SF writers speculating on the future of work in light of recent industrial relations reforms, and also halfway through
Friday Hoyden*: Michelle Gomez
Gomez is an actor I’ve enjoyed watching for some time, and when I read that she had chosen to play Katharine in a new RSC staging of The Taming of the Shrew I wondered why on earth she had agreed to be in that monstrously misogynist play, whose enduring popularity relies solely on the comedy fireworks in the early scenes between Petruchio and Kate, and the ability of the Kate to gloss over the humiliations she receives. I was disappointed by the idea that Gomez’s glorious abilities in physical comedy were going to be used simply to mask the horror of Katherine’s annihilation yet again. I should have had more faith.
Otterday!
Today’s sea otter is from Jim M. Goldstein.
There’s a bukkit caption here waiting to happen, I think
Hoyden About Town 