To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

I don't usually post links to news articles, but: Russia bans swearing in books/films/TV, imposes fines for swearing in public.

Isn't Russian famous for having an entire specific mechanism in the language for cursing? Like, there are prefixes or suffixes or cases that can turn any word dirty, or something like that, so in effect every word in Russian can be made into a swear? And people use it the way English-speakers use "um" and "huh"?

I see this ending well.

Internets! It feels like I've been gone from you for ages, but I suppose I haven't. I've been spending my time reading Paul Murray's Skippy Dies, which was quite good. Admittedly, the first 300 pages (of 650) were a barely-interesting-enough-to-continue slog, but after I got through them, it got excellent. It's also pretty funny in places. ( A few spoilers. )

In short, gamesiplay and rowdycamels, I think both of you would like this book, though perhaps for different reasons.

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I recently read the following description for a sitcom that will be airing on ABC next season. I thought there was no way it could be real. Surely someone slipped it into the list of new shows as a little joke. Here, do you believe this is actually going to air on TV?

How well do you know your neighbors?

Meet the Weavers, Debbie (Jami Gertz) and Marty (Lenny Venito). Marty, in hopes of providing a better life for his wife and three kids, recently bought a home in Hidden Hills, a gated New Jersey townhome community with its own golf course. Hidden Hills is so exclusive that a house hasn’t come on the market in 10 years. But one finally did and the Weavers got it!

It’s clear from day one that the residents of Hidden Hills are a little different. For starters, their new neighbors all have pro-athlete names like Reggie Jackson (Tim Jo), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Toks Olagundoye), Dick Butkis (Ian Patrick) and Larry Bird (Simon Templeman). Over dinner, Marty and his family discover that their neighbors receive nourishment through their eyes by reading books, rather than eating. The Weavers soon learn that the entire community is comprised of aliens from Zabvron, where the men bear children and everyone cries green goo from their ears.

The Zabvronians have been stationed on Earth for the past 10 years, disguised as humans, awaiting instructions from home, and the Weavers are the first humans they’ve had the opportunity to know. As it turns out, the pressures of marriage and parenthood are not exclusive to planet Earth. Two worlds will collide with hilarious consequences as everyone discovers they can “totally relate” and learn a lot from each other.

It's real. I weep for humanity.

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Anyway, enough of that. Burn Notice premieres on June 14th! Hooray! Especially since Castle started trying to turn itself into BN, I've been wanting summer to come. I have to admit, I'm not anticipating ( incredibly, incredibly mild spoiler ) but knowing this show, at least Fiona will get to help break her own self out of jail, which is always good.

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Plans for the rest of today: REVISION. I'm going to have the second draft of my space pilots story done by June 1 or else.

According to the cast list at IMDB, there's going to be a Fringe/SpongeBob SquarePants crossover episode. Josh Jackson plays Peter, Leonard Nimoy voices William Bell, and oddly, John Noble is playing someone called "Boris," as well as Boris's alternate. Because obviously this would involve an alternate universe! Anna Torv and Lance Reddick were voices (character names suggest they're unrelated to their Fringe characters) in another yet-to-air episode.

...

Horrifying news: "Isabella" is the top baby name for the US, likely due in part to the influence of Twilight. "Cullen" is apparently climbing fast as well. Oy.

(It disturbs me a bit to see that CNN deemed it necessary to have a bullet-point summary of an article this short. I think I begin to see why my students have such trouble writing papers of acceptable lengths.)

For those of you who don't watch castle_tv: Stana Katic's...interesting...choice of formalwear.

I...uh...yeah. See icon.

So according to this blog entry (the blog itself is excellent as well), there is a "World Rock Paper Scissors Society" which has a headquarters in Toronto, and holds annual world championships. For Paper Scissors Rock.¹

*boggles*

Not only that, but this society came out of one begun in London 1842, when PSR was, by law, allowed to be used as means to come to a decision between two men, the results of which constituted a binding contract. So people who wanted to play it recreationally formed a secret club in which to do so.

I can't make this stuff up, people.

*shakes head*

ETA: Apparently other people can make stuff up, though. See comments at the link above for more info.


¹ That is the right way to say it. You will not convince me otherwise.

mrv3000? Don't read this.

( If you've managed to avoid the MASSIVE CASTING SPOILER that showed up yesterday, congratulations. If you want to keep it that way, TURN OFF THE INTERNET NOW. Or at least don't click here. )