A Bibliophile Seaching the World from his Library

Following anything on books and writers, while sharing his thoughts on things that he finds interesting. Read the Printed Word!

2012 Reading Challenge

2012 Reading Challenge
Matthew has read 16 books toward his goal of 52 books.
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neil-gaiman:

Insert one of those wistful “how I would love to write this scene” icons here. 

wilwheaton:

bbcamerica:

Karen Gillan wants to be on Inspector Spacetime

We dropped by the Doctor Who studio in Cardiff just before The Ponds wrapped on their final episodes to talk with Karen Gillan about Community’s (NBC) Doctor Who-spoof “Inspector Spacetime”. It turns out she’s a huge fan of both the sitcom and the show within the sitcom. #AmyMeetsAbed

In an entirely unrelated story, I am legally changing my name to Inspector Spacetime.

…your move, Karen Gillan.

(Source: youtube.com)

Dudes. Imagine life here in the US — or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world — is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let’s call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game. Got it?
Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is.
This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.
Now, once you’ve selected the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, you still have to create a character, and how many points you get to start — and how they are apportioned — will make a difference. Initially the computer will tell you how many points you get and how they are divided up. If you start with 25 points, and your dump stat is wealth, well, then you may be kind of screwed. If you start with 250 points and your dump stat is charisma, well, then you’re probably fine. Be aware the computer makes it difficult to start with more than 30 points; people on higher difficulty settings generally start with even fewer than that.
As the game progresses, your goal is to gain points, apportion them wisely, and level up. If you start with fewer points and fewer of them in critical stat categories, or choose poorly regarding the skills you decide to level up on, then the game will still be difficult for you. But because you’re playing on the “Straight White Male” setting, gaining points and leveling up will still by default be easier, all other things being equal, than for another player using a higher difficulty setting.
Likewise, it’s certainly possible someone playing at a higher difficulty setting is progressing more quickly than you are, because they had more points initially given to them by the computer and/or their highest stats are wealth, intelligence and constitution and/or simply because they play the game better than you do. It doesn’t change the fact you are still playing on the lowest difficulty setting.
You can lose playing on the lowest difficulty setting. The lowest difficulty setting is still the easiest setting to win on. The player who plays on the “Gay Minority Female” setting? Hardcore.

John Scalzi tells it like it is. (Go and read the whole essay, then read the comments.)

(via neil-gaiman)

fuckyeahtattoos:

This is my last tattoo, it is made by Francesca De Angelis from Tikitattoo Studio (Pescara, Italy) at the XIII International Tattoo Expo in Rome. 

fuckyeahtattoos:

This is my last tattoo, it is made by Francesca De Angelis from Tikitattoo Studio (Pescara, Italy) at the XIII International Tattoo Expo in Rome. 

rosalarian:

piisexactly3:

rosalarian:

New Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space shirt!
It’s been over 2 years since I last designed a shirt, how weird is that? But now, there is this fancy-ass shirt. See all those gray parts in the design? Yeah, that’ll be shiny silver ink because this is science fiction, lesbian pirate style. And if you preorder it, you’ll save $2, so think on that! True lesbian pirates love saving money, because that is almost like you’re stealing $2 from my very own pocket. I don’t mind, because I love you.

I think I can buy and wear this without feeling like a lesbian.

Yes! You totally can! I tried to design a shirt for EVERYBODY!

rosalarian:

piisexactly3:

rosalarian:

New Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space shirt!

It’s been over 2 years since I last designed a shirt, how weird is that? But now, there is this fancy-ass shirt. See all those gray parts in the design? Yeah, that’ll be shiny silver ink because this is science fiction, lesbian pirate style. And if you preorder it, you’ll save $2, so think on that! True lesbian pirates love saving money, because that is almost like you’re stealing $2 from my very own pocket. I don’t mind, because I love you.

I think I can buy and wear this without feeling like a lesbian.

Yes! You totally can! I tried to design a shirt for EVERYBODY!

fishingboatproceeds:

A new video in which I discuss traditional marriage, religion, intersexuality, the idea of marriage as a covenant, and the legal rights of gay people to marry.

(via bassoonerthebetter)

wilwheaton:

theawl:

skidder:

AdWeek requires you to share certain stories in order to finish reading them. Why would I want to share something I can’t read? And is there anything more desperate a publisher can do? Gross.

I want to talk to the evil stupid-genius that invented this.

Fuck everything about this.

wilwheaton:

theawl:

skidder:

AdWeek requires you to share certain stories in order to finish reading them. Why would I want to share something I can’t read? And is there anything more desperate a publisher can do? Gross.

I want to talk to the evil stupid-genius that invented this.

Fuck everything about this.

I felt like crying but nothing came out. It was just a sort of sad sickness, sick sad, when you can’t feel any worse. I think you know it. I think everybody knows it now and then. but I think I have known it pretty often, too often.

 Charles Bukowski (Tales of Ordinary Madness)

(Source: booksandnerds, via teachingliteracy)