This has been a difficult week for me. Film buff that i am, i can't really ignore all the Watchmen hoopla, and because i love the book i don't want to, AND because i love the book, i feel i must try. Not going to see the movie, rereading the book instead. So here comes Slashfood with this cupcake photo. It would be prety fun to decorate these sweet babies. Check out the original blog, Cupcakes Take The Cake, for yet another Watchmen cake.
Okay, i am now wildly anticipating Lift's next show, because of stuff like this gorgeous piece by Doktor A:
Read about and see more pictures of Blavatski & Son's Automated Kismet Disseminator here at Vinyl Pulse.
All right, it is more exciting to be there, but it's usually at least a four hour wait in line to get into these things, after you're already at the convention. Gratitude to the Browncoats who make the trip and record and upload it every year. Stars of Firefly @ DragonCon 2008
While catching up on the speculation and angst about the theft of seven dolls from the NY Dolpa over the weekend (no links because they're all from the reg-required doll boards - if you visit Den of Angels you can't miss the news), i came across something unrelated, except in as much as it's related to everything about our species.
In a generally brilliant post on Den of Demons, LizzEGirlE, after comparing Mr. Shigeta's reality distortion field to that of Steve Jobs, said Pat Henry (editor in chief of FDQ and co-host of the Dolpa) was in her monkeysphere.
So i followed the link to this terrific piece, and thought, "oh, you mean Dunbar's number", which IS a pretty good explanation for just about any human behavior you might otherwise be unable to suss, even if the actual 'sphere' capacity humans have is still being debated . Who are we connected to, not so much in daily experience, but in our own minds? Why can't understandably saddened doll hobbyists see that there are no comparisons to be drawn between the pilferage of several thousand dollars worth of resin and the Tokyo stabbings? And why does a southern collector believe this wouldn't have happened in a 'safe' city like Atlanta? Why do so many Hillary Clinton supporters think Barack Obama is running for president solely to prevent a woman from doing so? Why does every big disaster story lead with the local angle, no matter how insignificant to the event?
What i most enjoyed about David Wong's piece was his what-do-we-do-about-it wrap-up. The skinny is, we can't fix how we're made, but we can train ourselves to be suspicious of simple answers, and compassionate toward what we perceive as hypocrisy in others. When he mocks human society for malfunctioning because its interdependence and reach exceeds the 150 (or 250) limit, i wonder, do we actually have just one circle, with Dunbar's small, medium and large spheres of relationship stability? Following Wong's hilarious examples, it reminds me that the edges of our circles of interest blend with those of many others... i suspect we humans shift between overlapping spheres of relationship, based on various equally important layers of allegiance and membership, all jostling for primacy. i'm suspicious of all theories-of-everything, but enjoy any practical tools for navigating a world with increasingly clashing worldviews.
Boing Boing reports today that the documentary about the life of the great mage and writer Alan Moore, The Mindscape Of Alan Moore, is now available online here at Altertube.
Very cool, but i'd still like to have a copy of my own.