Logomacy
Between logomachy and logomancy . . .

Shaenon Garrity, author of my favorite webcomic, Narbonic, just sent this to the mailing list:

This year, for the first time, Narbonic is nominated in the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards (www.ccawards.com). It’s nominated in two categories, Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Comedic Comic. During the WCCA voting period, from now until July 3, the entire Narbonic archives on www.moderntales.com will be free to all readers. Although Narbonic always offers free samples from the archives, this is the first time the entire five-year archive has been made available to non-subscribers since Modern Tales launched.

Since I know that some of you that I’ve recommended it to have been put off by having to pay to read the archives, now’s your chance to catch up free, gratis, and for nothing.

qwantz.com - dinosaur comics - June 10th 2005

And, yes, they are that kind of Zombie. Qwantz has a surprising amount of philosophy (and linguistics) for a clipart comic strip featuring dinosaurs.

Randy Milholland, of Something Positive fame (if fame is the right word), has a new comic:Midnight Macabre - Updating Monday Through Friday. It’s set in 1981 and it’a about a young guy taking over a local TV station’s late night hosted horror movie show (think Elvira, or SCTV’s Count Floyd) when the old host dies on air. So far it’s mostly set-up, but the real reason I bring it up is today’s blog comment by Randy, apropos of publicists:

I want a publicist so I’ll have someone to make things up for me. “Mr. Milholland was, of course, only kidding when he punched the reporter’s child in the forehead and then had sexual relations with that piano. And, of course, it was completely an inside joke when my client hamstringed Noam Chomsky and pulled him into an alley way to feast upon the good professor’s leathery flesh.”

No idea what brought Chomsky to his mind in this context, but I bet that’s a rarer¹ sentence than “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

Here’s a cute little app that quizzes you on (grossly simplified, 12-pixel) versions of Superhero Chest Symbols

Bear in mind that what it’s showing you is 12 pixels representing the chest and waist of the hero/villain. Don’t try and interpret it as a shot of the logo itself, or just part, or it’ll confuse you.

For what it’s worth, I scored 20/21 (I got the first one wrong because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking at). It helps to go with your gestalt impression instead of reasoning about what each pixel is supposed to represent.