mondojohnson

Three clever lads produced this slick little film that follows the scrolling text from Star Wars after it disappears from view. Enjoy!

The sun rose brightly today in the Doctor Whoniverse, as Lalla Ward appeared on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 program Midweek with Libby Purves.

The honorable Lady Ward appears to discuss her current exhibit of wildlife thread paintings in London, but she also gives us nerds some deliciously dorky anecdotes. To wit: Patrick Stewart’s admonition not to waste her time doing television (least of all science fiction!), how Douglas Adams introduced her to current hubby Richard Dawkins, and how she still enjoys “seeing old friends” when she does Doctor Who audio dramas.

You can listen to the show by following this link to the Midweek show and podcast. Get there quickly, as the Beeb has a tendency to restrict access to their shows after a short shelf life.

Sile Lane and Simon Singh are once again urging to you join the Libel Reform Coalition by signing their petition at www.libelreform.org

As I’ve reported before, Singh and his supporters — Sense About Science, Index on Censorship and English PEN — are seeking signatures for a newly revised “Keep Libel Laws Out of Science” petition. Please go to www.libelreform.org and sign! Those of us on this side of the pond are urged to sign as well.

I’ll let the gents speak for themselves:

You know we joined up with free speech organisations to form the Libel Reform Coalition* in December and that we have been working hard with many of you to highlight the impact of England’s libel laws from my own and Peter Wilmshurst’s cases to the chilling effect on medical journals and science blogs and other writing. This has begun to focus political and legal minds on the problem but we now have very little time to go before election manifestos are published. We need a commitment in those manifestos. Many of the politicians we’ve met don’t dispute that the libel laws are unfair and against the public interest, but they won’t commit to changing them….

There were a few teething problems at the launch of this site but progress has been made in fixing these. If you haven’t already signed this petition please do it now, and please do sign even if you don’t live in the UK. Get your organisation, friends, colleagues and clubs to sign up and email their members; if you haven’t written, blogged and Tweeted, could you?

We need your help to get 100,000 signatures before manifestos are published. It will help us to get a strong show of support before members of the coalition meet Jack Straw on Thursday 28th January.

Related articles by Zemanta

• “Keep Libel Laws Out Of Science” (languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu)
• Libel reform campaigners seek £10k damages cap (theregister.co.uk)

I have learned via gawker.com and TMZ that Axl Rose remains a touchy überpriss all these years after Appetite for Destruction rocked our worlds.

At a recent Guns ‘n Roses show in Canada, Axl (or his people) instructed security personnel to forbid audience members from wearing Slash-related gear. Fans were told to remove offending baseball caps, and to turn their Slash t-shirts inside out. TMZ reported that a few conscientious metalheads called “bullshit” and went home.

The witty folks at gawker.com managed to sum up my feelings exactly:

I don’t know, but Slash was an essential component of Axl Rose, and until they reunite, nobody’s going to give a shit about Guns N’ Roses, and Slash is already doing quite fine on his own, so Axl Rose: suck an egg. TEAM SLASH. Related: Paradise City is still the best song EVAH. Eveh? EVAH!

Related to Gawker’s “Related” item: In my salad days, on the brink of rock stardom, I was privileged to hang out backstage at the Giants Stadium concert at which much of the Paradise City video was filmed. GNR were just exploding — they were the opener at an amazing triple bill with Deep Purple and Aerosmith. I witnessed one of Axl’s legendary hissy fits first-hand; the newbie rockstar had to be whisked away like a Chinese emperor.

Me in my salad days.

Slash, on the other hand, hung around like a regular earthling. He chilled out next to me on a side-stage scaffolding to watch Deep Purple, still dripping with sweat from the GNR set. He was focused intently on the music, and he never once pulled any rockstar attitude. He was more interested in rocking out to a great band than in basking in the considerable ass-kissery that was swirling around. He treated me like just another musician.

TEAM SLASH, indeed. I’ve made it my slogan for the website this week.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Slash turned down millions to reunite with Guns N’ Roses (guardian.co.uk)
• Let’s Make Fun of Axl Rose Some More (metalsucks.net)

Squidbilly Early Cuyler invades the “Carl’s Stone Cold Lock of the Century of the Week” show at adultswim.com. The “Carl’s Lock” shows may seem like a wacky parody to those of you NOT from New Jersey, but to those of us born there, this is reality television.