vocabulation The use or choice of words. This post is a meditation on vocabulation, particularly, old words that we may want to revivify for our current age of the Internet and excess. octothorpe The # symbol. I learned this one … Continue reading →
Continue readingAuthor: mark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys
mark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Breaking bad news…
Is anyone else mildly freaked out by how many news stories they learn of first on Twitter? Or is it just us Twits? Alltop is breaking funny. Noise to Signal Cartoon
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Midwest Book Review: The Fridgularity is “highly recommended”
Woo, great review news — the Midwest Book Review, which is one of the few well-respected review outfits used by librarians and archivists that still reviews independent and small press books — has given The Fridgularity a glowing review: “The … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Time robots!
Time Robot would be a great name for a band. It would also be a horribly misleading title for a French film based on this premise. (Though it would be fun to hear Arnold Schwarzenegger try to say “ennui” and … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Before the Attack of Herr Doctor Dimensia
Many will no doubt recognize this oft-parodied painting by Edward Hopper. It’s use of perspective, lighting and color is well-known in artistic circles, and it is rightly considered an American classic. Painted in 1942, it represents a fictionalized diner in … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Picasso’s Women from Five-Dimensional Space Prepare to Absorb The Artist’s Essence
There is something undeniably creepy and alien about the women portrayed in Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. He painted this in 1907, though it wasn’t shown publicly until nearly a decade later. When it was finally revealed, it was … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Coordinates to Landing Zone XI
Famous Painting with SF Titles: Coordinates to Landing Zone XI No doubt this painting is known to you by the title given to it by humans, L’Ultima Cena (The Last Supper). Purportedly, this work depicts the final meal eaten by … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: The angels were jealous
I always suspected the angels didn’t like us very much. Alltop is an angel of humor.
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Short Fiction: Jesussic Park
Jesus was visiting a lost valley that was reputed to hold a few holy men who separated themselves from the rest of the world so they could better understand the nature of God. He was hoping to talk to them … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Ask General Kang: When is it okay to call someone to a Nazi?
I suppose it’s not a problem if the person is a Nazi, but I can’t think of a lot of other circumstances where it would be helpful. Presumably, you’re doing so to damage their reputation in some way, but consider … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: La dolce vita
It wasn’t always so easy. There used to be an anger in him. An emptiness that nothing could fill … nothing material anyway. He fell through time and space, and into a kind of dream. And it seemed as though … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: A Short History of the Death of Culture (a cartoon)
Related: Selected Media Fads Through the Ages. Alltop is doing its part too!
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Small talk for the technological singularity
Right now, the only time we talk to our machines is when they don’t work right, we yell at them, or to ask them for directions. (GPS, Siri, etc.) However, when our machines become as intelligent and then smarter than … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Get The Fridgularity free on Kindle — today and tomorrow!
Chill out. It’s only the technological singularity. Okay, this is absolutely your LAST CHANCE to get a copy of my new book for free. Get on the bandwagon early! Check out some of the great reviews this book is getting: … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Absurd Panhandler Party
Making the morning commute a little brighter. Environmental (absurd) theatre at its best. Alltop just needs a few minutes of your attention too. Via Laughing Squid.
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Mozart’s birthday today
To celebrate, let’s play his famous requiem: And then go check out The Amadeus Net, a novel in which I posit that: the big guy never died he toys with the idea of gender realignment when not contemplating the snipping … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Meta-dating
There is a default in most situations. Alltop is more of a leg robot.
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Enter the Serif!
For centuries, two font clans have been fighting it out. Who’s typographic Kung Fu is stronger? Warning: font nerd humor. If you liked this, then it’s a cinch you’ll enjoy the silly typographic references in The Fridgularity. Alltop has an … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: A Portrait of Chauncey Migswith-Piggerton
Occupation: Professor, Arse-Elbow Differentiation, UBS Marital Status: Married to the unfortunate Alison Migswith-Piggerton. Offspring: Daughter, Jenny, 24. And the loathsome Peter, son, 27. Hobbies: Angling, rat keeping, and touching “things.” Nationality: English, though he claims to have a little Irish … Continue reading →
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Piracy 101
A tall, strong and heavily muscled man enters the lecture hall; his nut-brown face is marred by a saber cut across one cheek. It has left a dirty, livid white scar that practically glows out of his dark face. He’s … Continue reading →
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