Daily View, 6/15

Am exhausted. Have a mess o' links backlogged to post... arg, not enough hours in the day...

• Wired sex columnist Regina Lynn takes a frank look at Rogue's dilemma and recommends some ways the X-Men can broaden their sexual horizons. Actually, I don't think this is that off. I mean, come on, did Rogue reeeeeeally have to give up her powers but maybe not because hey, then there'd be no sequel (even though they said this was the last one) and Magneto maybe got some back in the end do what she did when all she and Bobby needed was a remote control? (Though, to be honest, the thought of Anna Paquin poorly acting her way through a sex scene makes me shudder—and not in the good way.)


• Backpack is finally getting a calendar!! Am pretty excited about this nerd development. Woo!


• I go through phases. Sometimes I think, "Hey, if you have to have a toaster, why not have a fun toaster..." And then sometimes the sight of stuff like this fills me with revulsion as I morph into an extreme minimalist. I guess I just need two houses: one bursting with color, the other stark and spare... maybe with a Scandinavian thrown in for fun.


• Again, I'm torn. Part of me thinks mathematically relevant wedding vows are completely awesome. Another part of me just vomited a little bit. Sigh.


• Ratatouille appears on the radar. This will mark the first official Disney-absorbed-Pixar venture, and, frankly, I'm a little worried (even if it is Brad Bird). I also find it mildly depressing that they have to explain how to pronounce the title, but then... we do live in a country where the average adult reads on a third grade level (yeah, you read that right). Third grade=age 8. Rat-a-too-ee. Sigh.


• WTF. Thank goodness I can hear the tone, otherwise I might be officially old: the mosquito cellphone ring (or teen repellant, which I actually think is kinda brilliant... so maybe I am a bit codgerly after all)


• Free stuff for the NYC summer. I mean well, and so post this so I can find it again... but secretly I doubt I'll make it to anything because I'm just a loser who likes to stay in and watch bad movies. Sigh.


• Gates is leaving MicroSoft... maybe MS will go out of business without him and Apple will finally rule the world.


• Hmm, I think I may just have to read this: Douglas Coupland's JPod


• This digital photo frame is a great idea... if you happen to have an old laptop lying around ready to be taken apart... ????


• Ether. Cool idea—I'll start charging my friends for advice. LOL.


• Ok, that reunion scene in LOTR is weird, I admit (I've always been creeped out by Elijah Wood in slow-motion, and when Merry and Pippin start flailing like dolphins on the bed I felt—and still feel—a twinge of embarrassment), but was the moaning voiceover treatment really necessary?


• The award for best award acceptance line ever goes to his purple fabulousness, Prince. I told a friend about this and his response was, "I didn't know you followed Prince." As one might follow cricket, perhaps? Or the stock market? I'd just like to say that I do not actively "follow" Prince, but I'm always happy to see him (though it was a little weird when he was smiling mysteriously from cover of the Vegetarian Times a few years ago.


• Sure, I'd kick Bush's head.


• Damn. Awesome. Nunchuck pillows. (And yes, I'm coming to terms with the fact that real grown-up men of the non-Chuck-Norris variety will probably never take me seriously. Blech.)


• Richard Griffiths has a Tony. Somehow, that makes the world a better place.


• Sigh, another explanation of pwnd for the grannies. Meanwhile, this copy editor says go ahead and kill the comma.


• This kind of hate crime bullshit is what happens in this current conservative climate.


• Yeah, yeah, yeah, World Cup. If you are like me and don't really give a flying football about this event, yet feel the need to be somewhat steeped in what seems to be general knowledge, trusty Wikipedia has a nice overview.


• Oh, come the fuck on, Japan...


• This cat rocks my world. If he's anything like my cat (and physically they do seem to be quite similar), he's got that bear in check via simple force of grouchiness.


• Cool. Creepy. Optical. The Spanish Castle.


• So right from an environmental standpoint. So wrong in every other way: the shower monitor


• I had a bad moment on the subway yesterday—Patagonia came up in discussion and I suddenly blanched, realizing that I wasn't 100% positive about whether or not Patagonia is a country, a region, or some sort of romanticized colonial fiction. As in, does it exist beyond overpriced clothing and the "he's now living like a king in Patagonia" line from the Princess Bride? Always preferring to get the facts straight (and a little paranoid about spouting off on the subway ever since I was heard wrongly swearing, somewhat emphatically and audibly, that Timbuktu is in the Himalayas), I'm now happy to report that Patagonia is the southern region of the South American continent and includes sections of Chile and Argentina. Whew.


• If you haven't accepted the fact that we could all be obliterated at any time by a meteor, this charming simulation might persuade you. Thankfully, no Affleck to be seen (and bonus—he'll be charred to bits like the rest of us).