Pepsi has confirmed that it has files lawsuits against four farmers in India who grew a variety of potato that was registered as being for the exclusive production of the company's Lay's potato chips. (more…)
Tom Scocca discovered that a blog post he'd written had been turned into a weird video in which the text of the post was superimposed "meme style" on a set of five rotating static graphics, set to music ("wordless vocals and a sort of jazzy guitar and beat"). (more…)
The CTIA is America's top telcoms lobbying organization, and they're trying to kill AB1699, a proposed California law that would ban carriers from throttling firefighters' internet access, as Verizon did in 2018, then lied about, then launched a charm offensive to defend. (more…)
Director Harmony Korine’s newest feature, The Beach Bum, seems the likely follow-up to his 2013 candy-coated crime caper Spring Breakers. Substitute your Vanessa Hudgens for Zac Efron and your James Franco for Matthew McConaughey and the casting decisions to break away from type seem borderline formulaic. Tonally, the films are similar, with wandering, boozy shots and dialogue seemingly lifted right from your acid casualty neighbor and color cues taken from him as well.
Where Beach Bum diverges, however, is in substance. While leisure and pleasure seem the ultimate goal of both McConaughey’s Moondog and the girls of Breakers, the method of getting there differs wildly. Crime sprees and social climbing are the girls' preferred method. Laying back and taking the world in one toke at a time is Moondog’s. While heavy smoking and sleeping around might seem like a philosophically void path to enlightenment, it’s really the only way there in an America who’s ethos is to constantly tell you to want more, buy more, be more.
Every Hollywood movie builds up this idea, from foundational kids' animation to aspirational teen drama to middle-aged career comedy and beyond. And what better way to respond to that constant pressure than to do and be nothing at all? Sure, Moondog has written fairly successful poetry and given the odd public speech, but the practice he preaches is the one he lives, a sort of contagious cosmic hedonism. Partying with him will leave you a happier, more content person, even if you happen to lose a foot, a husband or a few million dollars in the process. Even the worst possible outcome has some sort of humor to it, and it’s really only a crisis if you give it credit, or at least so says Matthew McConaughey, on his character’s philosophy.
In keeping with Korine’s original approach to filmmaking, each scene is distinct. His older films, Gummo and Julien Donkey Boy, cut from shock to shock and feature no obvious plotline, character development, or enlightening lesson. Beach Bum is the 21st-century update, still without a Hollywood screenwriter’s favorite “character arc” or sunset ending. Now, Korine relocates his infamous shock treatment to the pleasure center— boobs and butts galore! — and happy endings are instead distributed throughout, right from the very first scene. Moondog wanders from situation to situation, cameo to cameo, and no matter how dire each set up appears, none of them impact him for much longer than his last toke did.
It’s easy to read Korine’s recent works as plain ol’ silly, and maybe it’s over-analysis to argue that his shift in tone from 90s pessimism to this decade’s indulgence is perfectly in tune with the changing times. But! Maybe it’s not, and Korine’s Beach Bum is at once both critical of the devil-may-care lifestyle and lauding it as an exemplar of the best way to live life. The world feels so serious these days and everything seems like it’s falling apart, getting exponentially worse or going to end entirely.
Of course, the world is serious and you should care, but rather than submit to the ultimate bummer, try your hand at pursuing nothing at all, and doing it happily, Moondog style. Preferably in a captain’s hat, joint in hand and setting off a money-laden explosion for the tourists in the Florida Keys.
Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg continue to dissect the turbulent comic book speculator boom on the 1990s while looking through antique copies of Wizard Magazine.
Some of this issues contents:
• Jae Lee takes center stage and talks Youngblood: Strikefile, WildCATs Trilogy, Namor, John Byrne, and more!
• Liefeld interview 2: Youngblood, Bloodstrike, Brigade, Prophet, Image, editors, publishers, and late books
• Star Trek comics
• Ray Bradbury comics at Topps and the all-star lineup of artists drawing them: Richard Corben, Al Williamson, Mike Mignola!
• Topps' Kirbyverse comics: Steve Ditko draws the Secret City!
• The Comics Code, Mike Allred in Palmer's Picks, and Wizard's editor vows to never read manga - a proclamation that upsets Jim and Ed so much that they make a new t-shirt in response:
• PLUS - the winners of the Cable cover contest in Brutes & Babes!
Subscribe to the Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel for more vids celebrating the medium of comics.
Join the forces of what we presume is good as they face off against a guy with a glove. Fortnite Battle Royale has a new Avengers Limited Time Mode.
**Update**
I played a few rounds of Avengers mode and while it is a wonderful example of integrated VR advertising's future, it is not much fun. Players can pick up one of several Avenger's weapons and get Avenger's like attack abilities. Iron Man's gloves, Captain America's shield, Hawkeye's bow and Thor's hammer.
Unlucky players spawn on Thanos team and get to play the bad guys. If you spawn as Thanos you can really whomp folks.
From your apartment door to your bike lock, it's not uncommon to carry a number of different keys on your keyring, but that doesn't make it any more bearable when you're fussing to find the right one or deal with the infamous pocket bulge. The KeySmart Pro's smart design cuts down on key clutter and comes loaded with Tile™ Smart Location, so you'll always have your keys handy.
Fashioned from stainless steel, the KeySmart can easily store up to 10 keys in its space-saving sleeve. In addition to locating your keys on a map, the KeySmart's Tile™ functionality also allows it to ring, so you can hear your sleeve even if it's buried between the couch cushions. What's more, the KeySmart even works in reverse, allowing you to ring your phone if you can't find it—even if it's on silent.
The KeySmart Pro with Tile™ Smart Location is available in the Boing Boing Store for $39.99 today.
I use my Instant Pot nearly every day -- making chili, curry chicken, borscht, taco beef. Last night I made zucchini soup. We always have a lot left over, and the best way to store the leftovers is in a 64-ounce wide-mouth Ball jar with a plastic lid. Be sure to get the wide mouth jar, it's much more convenient.
Attentive reader will note that rogue archivist Carl Malamud (previously) published the laws of Georgia -- including the paywalled annotations to the state laws -- in 2015, prompting the state to sue him and literally call him a terrorist; Malamud countersued in 2015 and won a huge victory in 2018, when the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that the law could not be copyrighted. (more…)
John Lambert, a 23-year-old Tennessee man, has been charged by prosecutors with pretending to be a Manhattan attorney and grifting thousands of dollars from his would-be clients.
Oh, and by the way: he was also the co-founder of Students for Trump. (more…)
The apparent leader of a gang of white supremacists who terrorized immigrants along the US-Mexico border, holding hundreds of them at gunpoint, has been attacked in jail and reportedly received non-life-threatening injuries, say authorities. (more…)
Lazer Walker compiled a list of about 100 iOS game recommendations. They seem to like a lot of the same kinds of games I like (rougelikes, tower defense, civilization sims). I just bought 868-Hack on their recommendation.
Why haven't Jack Dorsey and other executives running Twitter figured out how to "ban the Nazis"? (more…)
Baltimore mayor and noted children's book author-grifter Catherine Pugh is reportedly on the lam.
(more…)
The US Navy is developing a new formal process for its personnel to report "unexplained aerial phenomena" (UAPs) as they are called in the US military. (more…)
A 58 year old woman who worked as a sex worker and has been identified as someone who performed services for Robert Kraft has been arrested, and is currently in jail.
(more…)
"I had no money for the toilet when (Lola) ran underneath and we realised it opened on her way back out," said the woman who originally posted the video from Ayr, Scotland.
There was no nuclear war and 7-11 had its mass expansion stopped by Starbucks, Gleaming the Cube's Brian Kelly must be pretty happy with today.
It's too late for this to be an April Fools joke, so I'm assuming this $5000 Caviar Vladimir Tsarphone, which runs a Nokia OS from 2008, is real. (more…)
Odd how the British tabloids are constantly saying that Meghan Markle is ruining the royal family, by doing awful inappropriate things such as closing her own car door, yet are so very quiet concerning Prince William's supposed affair with his wife's bestie.
We’ll quickly introduce the Marchioness of Cholmondeley (pronounced Chumley).
She is the woman at the center of a very royal scandal that has it all: a future monarch with a wandering eye; an elite social circle in the idyllic English countryside; and a strange silence from the British tabloids, who usually leap on every royal misstep (as evidenced by their cruel treatment of Duchess Meghan every other day for the last year.)
Her name is Rose Hanbury, a former model married to the Marquess of Cholmondeley, who is 23 years older than her. Rose already has her own well-established royal connections: her grandmother was bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth II‘s wedding in 1947.
Props must go to The Sun for hinting at it; but it's American media that make the hay today.
