belgand's New Writeups

November 14, 2007 (idea)

2007-11-15T08:50:46Z

I've been around since well before the bar-raising days and honestly, when I first signed-up for an account seven years ago it wasn't quite so unfriendly to new noders. You could put up a node with some pretty decent information culled from personal experience, maybe an anecdote, or just some random thefez-style nonsense and it would probably go pretty far. At least, it likely wouldn't be downvoted into oblivion too quickly as long as someone found it funny.

Truth be told I miss many of those write-ups even though I was one to (still) rage against the infamous McFlurry. The problem is that humor is pretty damn subjective and one person's idea of a great time is someone else's massive waste of space polluting the precious database. Then again we raised the bar so high that putting in a new write-up requires either an amazingly specific area of knowledge that hasn't been covered and can be done in sufficient depth, or a good week…

Skateboarding is not a crime (idea)

2007-04-03T09:48:41Z

From 1978 until 1989 skateboarding, owning a skateboard, or selling a skateboard was illegal in Norway. The opinion at the time was that they were inherently dangerous and that this was for the public good. Skaters, disagreeing with this, instead moved out into the forests to build ramps and skate in secret. Skating and moonshine: the unknown connection revealed.

Citations:
http://oslopuls.no/film/article1536291.ece

March 17, 2007 (person)

2007-03-21T15:07:27Z

As much as I try to avoid short, pithy statements and mindless hero worship the fact that we seem to have lost our way often means that we need to find an example of what we should be doing. While pondering this and the many problems of the current E2 I thought of just what would best represent this. What can we point to to describe best what E2 should be and how noders should treat it when it occurred to me:

What would sensei do?

Will there ever be someone who best represents the potential of this site than he? Even though he had earned it, did he ever succumb to the idea that we should tolerate his bullshit? For that matter, did he ever bullshit?

sensei represented what was best about the "good old days" of E2. He wrote some excellent factuals, but also supplied us with recipes, observations, poetry, and, dare I say it, soul. How would a two line write-up on the right to sunshine fare today? Would it be immediately…

pulse (thing)

2006-08-04T00:40:45Z

"Would you like to meet a ghost?"

Known alternately as Kairo, Pulse is one of the films that is often cited as being a pinnacle of the modern East Asian horror trend. Already well known for Cure (aka Kyua) Kourei (aka SÃ©ance), and Charisma (aka Karisuma) this is probably director Kiyoshi Kurosawa's most acclaimed film and the one that has brought him the most attention in the West.

Pulse follows two parallel stories: the first follows Michi Kudo (Kumiko Aso) and her co-workers at a small plant sales company as they deal with a series of strange disappearances while the other deals with Ryosuke Kawashima (Haruhiko KatÃ´) a student of economics who is experiencing strange phenomena related to a mysterious web site. Both paths will eventually lead them to the same place, but with a different subtext that becomes more apparent when the philosophical themes are further explored.

Part of what makes this film work so well is what makes most…

That'd be the butt, Bob (idea)

2006-08-03T18:52:27Z

What was the strangest place you've ever made whoopee?

Allegedly an infamous moment on The Newlywed Game the reported quote never actually occured. Interestingly though, as is often the case with many urban legends, the incident referenced was real and has merely been changed over the years in the telling.

For years host Bob Eubanks claims that the answer was never one given on the show and that it was merely a fabrication. Quite validly he taped a large number of shows and a minor incident was probably forgetten. Afterall, the legendary phrasing of In the butt, Bob was never actually uttered.

In the inaccurate, legendary version of the proceedings the character stating the phrase is almost always the wife of the couple. Tellings differ, however, as to whether it is her guess as to what her husband had said or whether her husband was the one who had guessed incorrectly what her previously supplied answer was. As well…

B'Omarr Monks (thing)

2006-07-12T08:12:25Z

The B'Omarr Monks are an ascetic religious order in the Star Wars universe combining elements of transhumanism and Gnosticism. Their first appearance was during a minor glimpse in Return of the Jedi when C-3PO enters Jabba's Palace. Despite this the expanded universe has gone on to establish a rich background for them. Not bad for a second of screen-time at the edge of the frame.

Background

The B'Omarr monks originally moved to Tatooine at some time in the distant past, centuries before the timeline of the films. There they built a monastery on the edge of the dune sea that would eventually become Jabba's Palace.

They practiced a form of strict asceticism and spent nearly all of their time in meditation on the mysteries of the universe and what they referred to as the "ultimate truth". Eventually a monk will be determined by his fellows to have become "enlightened" and at that point the lesser monks will aid him in having…