First, things happen when Zoe Archer shops Etsy. I don’t know if these are GOOD things but things definitely happen. Like Purssy clutches. Archer thinks this is a great place to store tampons. (SNRK.)
From Billie, this absolutely hilarious report on Microsoft’s latest patent application for a virtual page turn gesture.
I honestly don’t get page turn animations, and think they are a waste of time, but patenting the gesture?
BIllie points out that the bootnote is the very best part (a close second is my opportunity to use the word ‘bootnote’):
Bootnote
We would be remiss if we didn’t credit Microsoft with one intriguing detail in the 11-page patent application. In discussing input methods, the filing notes that “sources other than fingers may be used to execute a page-turning gesture.” We’ll simply leave the implications of that capability to your imagination.
This is, for the record, the second most bizarre gesture I’ve seen. The most bizarre? The Pepsi Summer Chillout Gesture.
Diana sent me this strangely compelling and yet depressing link: Handsome Men Who Are Now Dead. Langston Hughes? Oh, rwor.
And finally, an article that is worth pondering from Salon: an interview with Clay Shirky, whose book was part of the foundation for my keynote speech on the reader’s place in the publishing process today.
Shirky’s new book, Cognitive Surplus, is a truly fascinating (no really, my brain was fizzing for hours) examination of how the way we consume entertainment has changed, and why we want to collaborate and create online – and how to harness that passionate creative energy. The interview examines the roles we are so familiar with in publishing and discusses how they’ll change, and how literacy and publishing are changing. Well worth reading – and I hope you’ll tell me what you think.
I absolutely adore Gregory Peck – thank you for the Handsome Dead Men link. I really don’t spend enough time on-line staring at pictures of my idols – that’s something I’m really going to have to rectify.
One of my most favouritest films in the whole wide world is “Roman Holiday”. In my opinion, it is Utter Perfection – quite possibly because there is no HEA. The final scene is pure genius. I don’t want to give anything away in case by some bizarre oversight some one hasn’t yet seen it. If you haven’t, I urge you to do so, with an urgent urgency. Fabuloso.
P.S I absolutely agree with Pickled Tink on the Handsome Dead Men website, that Gregory Peck had The Most Gorgeous Mouth.
RE: Purssy…
How the hell is it “perfect for the bride-to-be”?????? What bride wants a purse that has a vagina in it? Am I missing something here?
fire62-I would burn purssy in 62 fires but I would never carry it with me.
My partner has just re-told me the story of his Mother-Now Dead, who in the late 1940s was a teenager in a Catholic boarding school. She sent off for a signed photo of Gregory Peck which she duly received, only to have it Stolen By The Nuns – they said they were confiscating it as it was Inappropriate. Yeah! of course they did!
Thank you for that link. 🙂 Spending a few moments drooling over Clark Gable made my day much more enjoyable!
i couldn’t believe that Gene Kelly was not on the handsome men that are now dead page! he was probably one of my first celeb crushes, despite the fact that he was dead by the time i first saw Singin’ in the Rain.
@KimberlyD, i don’t think you’re the one that’s missing something. That would be the designer of the purssy…and that thing would be a few marbles.
Ooh, love the Handsome Dead Men link! Especially as the first guy I saw when I scrolled down was Toshiro Mifune (LOVE)! One of the sexiest men ever. Also, agree on Gregory Peck too!
Also, that purse is hilarious!
Heh heh, also just noticed security word is “coming73”. *immature snicker a la Beavis or Butthead* Ahem.
The Purssy would be perfect for the bride-to-be, I gather, as a bachelorette gift, though generally bachelorettes stick to penises. Then again, more and more brides-to-be aren’t interested in penises, so I guess it depends on which state the bachelorette party’s in.
I thought it was kinda fun.
I have a set of physical therapy stretches I have to do three times a day for the rest of my life, and I read a book while I’m doing them. I have one hand free to hold the book; the other is stretching. So I’ve masterd the art of turning the page with the hand that’s holding the book (sometimes assisting with my nose or chin).
That page turner ranks right up there with MS’s other great invention—the Office Assistant, aka the animated paperclip. God, I hate that thing. All that programming time wasted on that when they could have been making Excel do things it still doesn’t do that Lotus did 10 years ago.
OTOH, the dead guys site has Paul Newman (big sigh) and Cary Grant (even bigger sigh). Thanks so much for that link.
don’t knock the paperclip. my dad was able to turn his into a monkey that sang “Dizzy” and “Lazy Hazy Crazy Days”.
I used to work for Apple as a concierge. We had a girl come in one time and loudly complained that she could never use her iPod Touch easily in the cold months because of her gloves. Trying to calm her down, I jokingly told her she could use her nose. Her face lit up.
She tried it. And it totally works.
See the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad aren’t based on pressure. They all use the electrical current in your fingers, nay in your skin to operate. You can use anything to operate it.
A while back, I was at party with copious amounts of alcohol. I retold this story and ideas started flowing. See the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad aren’t based on pressure. They all use the electrical current in your fingers, nay in your skin to operate. You can use anything to operate it. And yes. You can use anything with skin to operate. Just please keep in mind, ability and suitability do not always go hand in hand.
Thanks so much for the Handsome Men Who Are Now Dead link. I dreamed and drooled until I got to Captain Ballou’s love letter. Then I cried. I had never read it before. How beautiful. I know now why I am such a fan of romances. What emotion!
Have to mention my dead boyfriend, the Duke of Wellington. I’m working on a long (looooong) blog post about how he’s almost the quintessential Regency romance hero (well, cept for the whole adultery/ignoring the wife for 30 years thing), and this is one of my favorite pictures of him:
http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_201826/Sir-Thomas-Lawrence/page-1
They called him The Beau because he was so fastidiously spiffy. And he was a badass to boot.
Well, the spam filter is convinced that I’m spam—probably because I’m including links. I don’t blame the spam filter. I blame the spamming jerkwads that have necessitated these measures.
So, I’ll just say what I was going to say without the links:
That Pepsi Chill-Out gesture looks to my, admittedly biased, eyes as an homage (as opposed to “rip off”) of the John Wall Dance (
) with a dash of The Bangles’ “Walk Like An Egyptian” thrown in. (
)
I loved the Handsome Dead Men link! This will come in handy for when my girlfriends and I are talking about hot famous guys… one of us always manages to bring up someone absolutely gorgeous and quite dead.
As for the, erm, Purssy, I find it amusing that it’s described as anatomically correct. I mean, it’s not horribly off, but still…
Purssy = Awesome. Now I finally have some for the days when I’m not using my snatchel. http://www.theanticraft.com/archive/imbolc07/snatchel.htm
In all seriousness, I actaully do think it’s pretty cool. I don’t think one has to be a bride to be/person in general who’s into people with errm, purssies to appreciate it.
I think the Purssy is awesome. Even better than the Vulva Couch.
On the subject of vulva imagery, I am eternally frustrated that I was in New York City for two weeks and didn’t make it to the Brooklyn Museum to see Judy Chicago’s the Dinner Party. So cool.
Anyone else think this would be an excellent book title? Potentially a Harlequin Presents Set in an Alternate Universe?
When I emailed the purssy link to my sister, she e-mailed back “Ever seen Regretsy?” So I googled it. This is my favorite page so far:
http://www.regretsy.com/category/annoying-descriptions/
This is my favorite page so far:
I wonder what a self-adoration ritual actually involves…
I like the strange little acorns and the Cthulhu key chain, but the action figure isn’t as good as some of the customised my little ponies I’ve seen around.
The Handsome Men Who Are Now Dead just ate about an hour of my evening. Thank you. I had always hoped that I wasn’t the only one who had a thing for the guys in my history books, and now I know that, not only am I not alone, I can get updated. On more Handsome Dead Men!
Also, Salon has so many great links. (And to think, I wouldn’t have discovered it without you linking it to begin with. Thank god for that, I adore Salon.)
@Liz: Gene Kelly was on the website,
http://handsomemenwhoarenowdead.blogspot.com/2010/07/hot-dance-action.html
I hope this links it, I have no idea what I’m doing. 🙂
I’ve always had a soft spot for dead historical handsome men’s portraits. When I was younger, I thought Franklin Pierce was the handsomest of the Presidents based on his presidential portrait. The same with George IV,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/George_IV_bust1.jpg, although that might be because after a century of powdered wigs and canes, I thought the picture was very striking and different.@Stephanie, he was added after I commented. I actually contacted the person, and she e-mailed me to say that she had put him on there just before getting my e-mail.
I met Gregory Peck when he was 80, in 1996. He was still amazing. They broke the mold.
Christopher Reeve in Somewhere in Time. *sigh*
Thanks so much for the Handsome Men Who are Now Dead. Two words…..Toshiro Mifune. Be still my heart.