It's God vs. Satan. But What About the Nudity?

The filmmakers hope that “Paradise Lost” will prove enticing to Christian audiences. Mr. Hazeldine said he read “several theological tomes” because “I’m adapting Milton, and then Milton’s kind of adapting Genesis, and I wanted to make sure that for the faith audience, I guess, that they will see it more as ‘The Passion of the…

What's So Friggin' Funny?

Sometimes called the reptilian brain because its basic structure dates back to our reptile ancestors, the brain stem is largely devoted to our most primal instincts, far removed from the complex, higher-brain skills that allow us to understand humor. And yet somehow, in this primitive region, we find the urge to laugh. —Steven Johnson —What’s…

Queen guitarist to complete doctorate

Brian May is completing his doctorate in astrophysics, more than 30 years after he abandoned his studies to form the rock group Queen. —Queen guitarist to complete doctorate (AP | Yahoo! (will expire)) This brightened my day. Similar:Why I Was Wrong About Liberal-Arts MajorsIt’s a little bit shallow and solipsisti…AcademiaMultitasking while studying: Divided attention and technological…

Breaking News: Something Happening in Haiti

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti —Breaking News: Something Happening in Haiti (The Onion (Satire)) Great commentary on the accelerated news cycle. Similar:Knee-jerk sharing of memes denigrates the truth.Trump never told People magazine that Re…CultureNew York fails Common Core testsJust 23 percent of charter students scor…BusinessEnjoying some sibling nerdtime with Lego The Hobbit.Games"We Need to Be…

Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter

“At first I didn’t believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He’s very good at it.” —Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter (BBC) Very strange. My brother-in-law Robert sent it to me. Similar:The dress we ordered for the “girl next door” role in The Fantasticks……

Statetris

—Statetris (mapmsg.com) Like Tetris, but with American states. Similar:The Horror… The Horror! How Music in Horror Games Effects Player ExperienceFrom one of my students, a blog-based pr…AcademiaInternet Archive puts classic 70s and 80s games onlineClassic video games from the 1970s and 1…CultureNew Video Game's Second-Person Shooter Mode Features Someone Just Describing Game To YouI’m introducing text…

Beginning Reporting

As I see it, a good reporter is like a pinball in play, always gathering, writing, revising, gathering, writing, revising–until time runs out. The job is as simple, and as hard, as that. The advice here is based on the teachings of reporters I admire. It is also based on conclusions I have drawn during…

Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks

There once was a horse-riding chap Who took a trip in a cold snap He stopped in the snow But he soon had to go: He was miles away from a nap. —Lore Sjöberg —Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks (Bad Gods) Similar:Astronauts cloaked Klingon space patch: Star Trek-inspired emblem revealed The current commander of the Internati…AestheticsGoogle…

Echochrome – the Escher Game

—Echochrome – the Escher Game (YouTube, Via Game Girl Advance) What a hypnotically simple interface! This is a PSP game. Since I’m not a platform gamer, I’ll have to admire this one from afar. Similar:He couldn’t get over his fiancee’s death. So he brought her back as an A.I. chatbotThe death of the woman he loved…

AFP

A string of publishers failed to spot blatant plagiarism of one of English literature’s most famous authors, in a cheeky test to see if she would have secured a book deal today, a report said Thursday. David Lassman, head of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, sent manuscripts to 18 editors seeking a publishing contract,…