- Slacktivist: the Left Behind commentaries and “St Archie of Riverdale”. Two great looks into the world of fundamentalism. The former is a series of essays looking at the spiritual emptiness and terrible writing of the Left Behind series of novels (described as a “revenge fantasy” for evangelical Christians, who get to laugh at those who didn’t heed their warnings when God snatches them off to heaven and starts some serious smiting). The latter looks at a Christian edition of Archie, where the familiar cast acts out parables telling that sometimes the best we can do is chase evil away to bother others and why we shouldn’t bus in students and teach evolution. Slacktivist is a newly-found favorite of mine, and I’ll be adding it to my sadly-outdated other sites page one of these days.
- Wired: “Simpsons Plant Seeds of Invention”. Inspired by the Simpsons episode “E-I-E-I-(annoyed grunt)”, Rob Laur has created a hybrid tomato/tobacco plant. It turns out that tomatoes and tobacco both belong to the nightshade family so one can successfully graft them together—first demonstrated in a 1959 study. The hybrid has produced fruit, but it is believed that they contain lethal levels of nicotine. (The Simpsons have also inspired experiments in the creation of skittlebrau.)
- The Onion AV Club: Interview with Ira Glass. I’ll confess that I don’t listen to This American Life or NPR in general, but this interview makes me regret that somewhat. Interesting all the way through, it compares Smallville to Domino’s Pizza, discusses why people dislike pledge drives, and contains the context for this great quote: “[A]s someone who works in public radio, I work in a medium that is less popular than jousting, a sport that has been dead for 600 years.”
- The Age: “TV or not TV: That is the question”. Can we call television shows “art”? I think so, and this author agrees, discussing The West Wing, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and others. “Our real gripe with TV is that it is popular. … To accept that TV is where some of the best stories are being told is to accept that millions of square-eyed schmos in their reclining chairs know great art when they see it and choose to watch it.” (via Whedonesque)
- Lords of the Rhymes. How can you not love a Beastie Boys–esque rap group comprising Quickbeam and Tom Bombadil and featuring a beat-boxing Gollum? And it samples Leonard Nimoy’s “Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”. (via Ben Hauger)