fire and forget

Rhett Butler may have been based on a real chap named George Alfred Trenholm, but frankly, I don’t give a monkeys.

Source: The Word From Beacon Street

In which I give the world a new word: 2.0mance.

Love in 140 characters: It’s 2.0mance

My 2.0mance is going pretty well. A lazy Sunday afternoon conversation about bands with terrible names prompted a blog post from her. When she mentioned the use of song lyrics in an article on Facebook status no-nos, what else could I do but quote the Smiths on my profile? I said “Fail” out loud once too often and next thing she’s written up the memes the Web should grow out of.

I’m still figuring out where the line is, though.

Nailing Your Wife

Via Kitty Apocalypse

Chris Morris‘ next project, Four Lions, sounds every bit as potentially controversial as past highlights like Brass Eye. It appears, from the sketchy details emerging on the intowebs, that the film will tell the story of a British jihadi terrorist cell.

Morris has apparently been researching Four Lions for three years, during which “even those who have trained and fought jihad report the frequency of farce.” The story will show that “terrorism is about ideology, but it’s also about berks”, with terrorist cells having “the same group dynamics as stag parties and five a side football teams.” The choice of title must be deliberate, echoing the none-more-English, cry-God-for-Harry-England-and-Saint-George Three Lions, to get past “seeing these young men as unfathomably alien”.

I can’t wait to see it. Reminds me of this, from the blackly brilliant Monkey Dust…

…but knowing Morris, turned up to 11.

Source: Warren Ellis

My new hero is Eilmer of Malmesbury. He was an eleventh century Benedictine monk who attempted to copy Daedalus by fashioning a set of wings and jumping off the roof of the abbey, gliding 200 metres.

Sadly, he neglected a tail for equilibrium, cocked up the landing and broke both legs, leaving him lame for life. So what does he do? Despite being crippled he starts planning another go, although sadly his abbot wouldn’t let him.

I would argue that Eilmer was in fact pretty far from lame — Eilmer was awesome.

Chris Beaumont is a member of CNET’s video team — or CBS Interactive, or whatever we’re called now — and also a very talented photographer. His blog is sweetly set up to showcase his images, although for he’s spoiled it a bit by putting me on there.