Monthly Archives: November 2005

Nov162005

Ooh, I Want One!

If you’ll recall, I wrote a week or so back that I’d like to add several Star Wars prop replicas to my collections. Just for kicks, I’ve put together a wish list of these items, complete with linked photos so you can see what I’m talking about as well as some commentary for those new to this corner of SW fandom. These replicas are all fairly expensive, limited-edition items, most of which long ago sold out from their respective manufacturers, so it’s doubtful that I’ll ever get around to buying them for myself. But who knows? One of my Three Loyal Readers may get an inheritance and kindly decide to reward me for all the entertainment this blog has provided them.

(To be honest, I probably could buy at least some of these for myself, but it’s hard to justify the expense for something that doesn’t do anything except sit on a shelf and warm the hearts of any fanboy friends who may drop by the house. Still, it’s fun to dream…)

Continue Reading…

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Nov152005

Bob McCabe’s Canon of Comedy Films

You may recall a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about John Scalzi’s canon of the 50 most significant science-fiction films, which he compiled for his new book, The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies. It turns out that three other Rough Guide movie books have just been released along with Scalzi’s, covering the comedy, horror, and gangster genres, and each of them has its own canon section. Scalzi suggests turning them into the same kind of meme that his list of sci-fi movies became, starting with The Comedy Canon from Bob McCabe’s Rough Guide to Comedy Movies. The drill is similar to last time: you’re supposed to bold the titles you’ve seen and put an asterisk next to the ones you own on DVD or VHS. So, without further ado, here’s my list:

Continue Reading…

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Nov142005

More on the Forts

I’ve found a little more information about those old British sea-forts I referenced the other day. There are actually quite a few Web sites that mention the “Maunsell forts” — so-called because they were designed by an engineer named Guy Maunsell — although, curiously, most of these sites seem to be more focused on the “unofficial” radio stations the forts hosted in the ’60s. I guess the pirate stations were quite popular in their day, either that or else anyone who had anything to do with them now has a Web site.

In any event, I have learned that efforts are underway to save one of these old structures after all. Project Redsand is an organization working to restore Redsand Towers, one of the two remaining Maunsell forts in the Thames Estuary. (There were also offshore forts built in other locations around Britain.) Redsand is considered the best candidate for preservation, since all seven of its towers are still standing and a 2004 survey revealed them to be in surprisingly good condition.
The project’s Web site contains quite a bit of information if you’re interested in this sort of thing, including a detailed history page. Among the factoids that caught my eye:

…three forts… were built in the Thames estuary, between May and December, 1943. They were known as the Nore, Redsand and Shivering Sands Army Forts. Each fort accommodated up to 265 men.

 

…the Thames forts shot down 22 planes, 30 flying bombs, and were instrumental in the loss of one U-boat, which was scuttled after coming under fire…

I find these forts fascinating, and I’m not quite sure why. Something about the way they look, maybe, crouched over the water on giant legs anchored to the sea-bed. I’m intrigued by oil-rigs, too, not because I have any particular interest in the oil industry, but just because they look cool to me; the Maunsell forts have the added attraction of an interesting history and the romantically run-down appearance that some old industrial sites acquire after going without maintenance for a while. To see what I mean by “romance,” check out the photos of Redsand at sunset on this site.

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Nov142005

Franklin? Who the Heck Is Franklin?

I loved the Peanuts comic strip when I was a kid. I had — still have, somewhere in the depths of the Bennion Archives — a dozen or so paperback compilations that I carried around in my back pocket all through my elementary-school years. I practically had those books memorized, I flipped through them so frequently. I identified with Charlie Brown’s insecurity and I thought the World War I flying ace was the coolest. But as I moved into middle school, I came to realize that I didn’t think the strip was very funny. It was gentle and wise, as its fans so often claim. It was also stodgy and old-fashioned, sometimes preachy, occasionally heartwarming or cute, but it was never funny. I can’t recall ever laughing out loud at a Peanuts strip the way I did over Bloom County or Calvin and Hobbes or even the early, pre-sell-out Garfield, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I actually read a Peanuts strip.

Still, I do have a soft spot for the characters of Charles Schulz — they were very important to me when I was very young and memories of them linger in my heart, like kindergarten friends you haven’t seen in decades — so I couldn’t resist taking the latest personality quiz that’s circulating through the blogosphere, the Which Peanuts Character Are You? test. Here is my result:

Franklin
You are Franklin!

Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I guess this is an accurate enough description of me. Funny thing, though: I don’t remember this character. Not even a little. I find that odd and more than a little disturbing, considering how obsessive I used to be about this strip. Who is this guy? And what does it say about me that my Schulzian personality match is so forgettable?

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Nov132005

Disclaimer About What I’m Doing Here

A few days ago, when I wrote about that pirate attack on a cruise ship, I pooh-poohed the idea that the liner had used a futuristic weapon to drive off the bad guys. At the time I wrote my blog entry, I’d seen only one mention of this weapon among several news articles and, because of the early lack of coverage on this aspect of the story, I felt justified in my skepticism. You have to admit, it does sound pretty far-fetched; even the name used to describe it in that one article, “sonic blaster,” sounds like something out of the old Buck Rogers TV series. And even though blogs like Boing Boing and DefenseTech have documented the development of such weapons over the last couple of years, I guess I remained unconvinced because I was seeing it on the Internet instead of a more traditional news source, like Time magazine or something.

It turns out that such weapons apparently do exist and were used in that incident with the pirates, as a reader named Eric was all too eager to inform me. My exchange with him got pretty snippy, and it’s just as well that it was among the comments that did not survive the server upgrade. However, our argument has left me thinking about my responsibilities as a blogger, and what my readers — whether I know you personally or not — need to understand about what I’m writing in this space.

I am not a journalist. I don’t even play one on TV. I’m just a guy who has a small-time online presence and who chooses to share the things that catch my fancy. I do this for my own amusement and that of my friends and whatever strangers may enjoy my particular way of assembling words. I have neither the time nor the obligation to check every fact or chase down links within links. This means that Simple Tricks and Nonsense is best described as an opinion column — it’s what I think, nothing more, nothing less. I’m not trying to excuse my failure to determine the true facts in the pirate story; I am telling you that you shouldn’t necesarily expect the facts to be correct in everything I write here. I try to get it right, but sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I just skim-read the articles I link to, and I miss vital details. And sometimes I just plain screw up. It happens.

If you catch me on something, feel free to let me know I’m incorrect. But be polite about it. And keep in mind what it is I’m doing here.

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Nov122005

Photo Gallery Still Intact

Earlier today (today meaning Friday, November 11 — I’m up way past my bedtime), Cranky Robert expressed a concern that the Simple Tricks photo gallery had vanished in the server upgrade. The gallery is actually still available at the same old URL, http://jasonbennion.com/photos/, or you can just click on this link, if you prefer to do things the modern, convenient way. Among the other changes going on around here, I am in the process of adding new pictures — indeed, whole new albums — to the gallery. I’ll let you know when they’re up and ready for the public.

I’ll be back in the morning with more blatheration…

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Nov112005

Dealing with Comments and Spam

I’ve been exploring my new version of the blogging software this afternoon, specifically the functions related to comments and spam-filtering. I have many more options in this regard than I did before, including an authentication feature that would make my loyal readers prove that they were real human beings and not spam-dealing Cylons every time they tried to leave a comment. That seems a little draconian for my tastes, and frankly I’m not enough of a control freak to go for the “moderate comments” option that would require me to approve or disapprove every single comment before it gets published. (Some of you experienced that feature earlier today.) It’s not that I get that many comments; I just find it more spontaneous and enjoyable to have the comments publish immediately, for everyone to see. I figure there’s no reason to deprive my readers of comments they may find interesting just because I haven’t seen them yet, and it’s also easier for me to just look at the public site to see if anyone’s been around, rather than logging into my author’s interface and checking the list whenever I want to see if I’ve had visitors. So for now, I’m going to trust the spam filter to keep the junk out. If that doesn’t work, I’ll reconsider the authentication option. Just thought you might want to know…

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Nov112005

New Digs

So, kids, you’ve probably noticed a few changes here at Simple Tricks and Nonsense. To explain, my Webmaster Jack has finally made good on that long-promised server upgrade, and this site is now living on a shiny new machine located on the 86th floor of a towering Manhattan skyscraper, surrounded by the very latest products of modern “super-science” and dedicated to the fight against evil in all its worldly forms…

Okay, so I’m embellishing a bit, but the site actually has been transferred to a new physical home, which should make things a bit more efficient on the back end. I don’t know if there will be a noticeable differences for my three loyal readers, either good or bad; if you have any problems, please leave a comment in this post or shoot me an e-mail at jason @ jasonbennion.com (remember to remove the spaces before and after the “@” symbol).

As for the change in the blog’s color scheme and layout, that’s because Jack also updated the Movable Type software that enables you fine folks to read all my blather, and it turns out that the new version doesn’t support my old stylesheet. I’m still trying to decide what to do about that; this new look is kind of nice, but I’ve always thought the old one provided a nice signature effect for the site. (I’ve seen very few other blogs that used my old color scheme, whereas this lighter, brighter one seems to be pretty common.) You’ll also notice that the customary list of links is missing. It should be back before too long in a new and improved form, as well as a couple of other ideas I’ve got brewing.

On the positive side, the new version of MT is supposed to be much better at handling comment spam, so we’ll have fewer embarassing incidents involving “male enhancement” products. And you can now search through past entries according to category, a luxury we didn’t have before. Guess I need to be more careful about how I file things from now on.

One final note: comments made in the last few days did not survive the transfer to the new server, so if you’re wondering what happened to your little piece of intellectual property, rest assured that I did not delete anybody’s thoughts on purpose. Just one of those things, and I apologize.

More a little later.

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Nov072005

War Relics

From the Department of Random Coolness comes a nifty photo gallery of abandoned World War II-vintage sea-forts constructed in the Thames Estuary to defend Britain from Nazi attacks. There were three such forts in the Estuary, all consisting of off-shore platforms similar to modern-day oil rigs, bristling with guns and arrayed around a central control tower. One of these forts has collapsed in the 60 years since the end of the war, but the others are still standing out there in the water, slowly decaying memorials to a time most of us Internet users can’t even imagine. I especially like this photo, in which the towers look like Martian war machines straight out of H.G. Wells.

And there’s more, too: At one point in the ’60s, one of these abandoned forts was home to a pirate radio station. Photos from that time period are here, along with the sad news that the British government wants to demolish these fascinating old relics…

If you’ve got nothing else going on right now, check ’em out!

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