The A-Train

If you look close you can see a band aid tan

I remember talking about the proposed mandatory HPV vaccinations in British schools a few years ago over dinner with flat mates. Like 90% of our discussions, it ended with me yelling about nihilistic relativism, and one of them shouting that my unconditional faith in science was self-defeating, and then we ate spag bol, watched Hollyoaks and fell asleep on a mattress.

But as always, Amanda Hess (my DC gender-politics blogger crush) has looked at recent media coverage of Gardisil (the branded Human Pappilomavirus vaccine which prevents at least four "types" of the virus, two of which are the cause of 70% of cervical cancer -- sorry if this is sex-ed-ish, but HPV is more of a US thing, isn't it?  It is.) and how McCarthyist (HAR HAR) pseudo-sciencey vitriol is dumb, damaging, et cetera et cetera.

HPV Vaccine Gardisil Officially Scariest Thing Ever, Media Reports

Obama and the issue of race -- Devin Reiche

Devin Reiche wrote an article which I am re-posting because if I tell him to get a blog he'll  call me a dumpsterslut or something.

I feel that any one of the one-in-three or so Brits I've heard recently who have adopted a "Wow Americans are so much dumber than I had believed for the past eight years, never mind that the reactionary masses with media attention are now necessarily in opposition to my and most of Britain's pro-Obama stance" mentality needs to read this immediately. 

Obama And The Issue Of Race

First off, I predict that it will be necessary to establish from the outset that I am not claiming that anyone who doesn't support Barack Obama is a racist. The people I'm discussing right now are not those who take perfectly legitimate issue with Obama's stance on any of the policy decisions that comprise today's political landscape. What I'm talking about is the faction of the population who believe that the President is not an American citizen, or that his presidency represents a threat to uniquely American values.

Wildwood, NJ

Every possible commentary on this four and a half minute piece of footage of the, until now, little-seen 1994 documentary Wildwood, N.J. is floating around on the blogSHOOTMEosphere, so I will just say this: every single outfit worn by these girls on the Jersey Shore could be whacked onto a Mile End hipster and none would be the wiser.

That is, however, obviously not what makes Wildwood compelling. And like I say, I won't venture into the nuts and bolts of why I can't stop watching this. I just hope that the bafflingly abrupt popularity of this one obscure project is symptomatic of contemporary evolving styles in film-making, and not something meme-ish or fashioney. SEE GUYS I CAME FULL CIRCLE.

Well played, Borowitz

Poll: Majority of Americans Just Pretending to Know Why Mad Men Is So Awesome

...mais il ne serait pas comme amusement sans Canadiens

So.

Stay a month longer at work and make these:

Or leave at the end of the month, jet off to mon ville and kick it here:

This is the dilemma.

Epic Mickey for Wii?

Anyone who knows me well knows that my two loves in life are dystopian disaster sites and Disneyland. This, above, is therefore the COOLEST SHIT I HAVE EVER SEEN. An acquaintance at Gamasutra spent the better part of 10 whole minutes trying to explain the quasi-development of (codename) "Epic Mickey" before I started making horse noises and demanded to be linked to Livejournal.

While the politics of it strike me as complex and annoying as ever for the gaming industry, I personally think those are some of the most compelling pieces of concept art (not by Iain McCaig) I've ever seen. Again, this could be rooted in a deep-seeded childhood fascination with the psychological architecture of Disneyland, and a desire to see Epcot destoyed by a narwhal. And knowing Disney I would also be sort of surprised if it came out exactly as pictured. But then again Kingdom Hearts was pretty fucking weird.