The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre/Roundup

Did you have a good Valentine’s Day? Was it filled with the company of one who adores you, flowers, choccies, and expensive baubles in tiny velvet boxes? Yes?

Well, fuck you.

Ah, Valentine’s Day: that time of the year when smug couples magically up their smugness by a factor of twenty but somehow, appallingly, you are still not allowed to garrote them with the tawdry pink ribbons from their bouquets. The world is not yet just, as Immanuel Kant could have told us. HE wouldn’t have lorded it over singletons; HE surely wouldn’t have ragged on Jesus for being dateless every damn February 14th.

Which brings me to my point: me. Well, I certainly can’t complain about the company I had for Valentine’s Day (me) and unlike most of those couples, I was never for a moment in any uncertainty whatsoever about whether or not I was getting laid that night.

Which reminds me of the time I was at the drugstore buying, get this, Virgin Springs mineral water, and I realized it was Valentine’s Day.

But that was so long ago now…three years goes by in a heartbeat.

In any case, because Valentine’s Day posts are mega hit bringers in this day and age where you may not care enough to send the very best, but you care just enough to send an e-card, here is a roundup of the very very bestest commemorative Valentine’s Day thingies I saw on the internet yesterday.

Read ’em and weep.

 

A ten tentacle salute to love!

A ten tentacle salute to love!

Because the thing about stock Valentine’s Day cards is: not enough tentacles. Hat tip to MistressCowfish

I DID get a Valentine of sorts in the comments on Gawker:

TWO headlines and one picture (headline chopped off) is all the new format allows me to see in the sidebar. TWO headlines. How the fuck is anyone supposed to read Gawker that way??? Don’t you know how many people you lose with every forced click??? You lose eighty percent.

Jesus Christ, when even raincoaster is driven to a) comment elsewhere b) refer to herself in the third person, you know you’ve alienated people.

I still like the look of it. I just cannot use it. BRING BACK THE ENDLESS SCROLL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Wow, nice to see a familiar face (since there are fewer and fewer here). Have you realized that Denton, based on his published remarks and leaks, is actually trying to reduce comments?

Five days in, and the absence of most of the critical social intranetworking tools (hearting, messaging, and comment notification) speaks volumes.

This post (“Welcome to the New Gawker”) has been removed from the front page of this new newspaper. And I hear the death rattle of the former, enjoyable brouhaha that we knew as commenting.

I can’t comment at all now. Doubt this will go through. Every time I try to go to Gawker.com I get redirected to ca.gawker.com and FUCK THAT WITH A CHAINSAW.

I love the clean look. I just cannot use this shit. Also, I appear to be banned again, as all my comments get “Post failed” notifications. Reducing comments? If he’d banned me last year, he would have cut back on them 50%~!

You don’t appear to have be banned. In fact, your screen name in your reply to which I am replying still bears your star. I think that the coding problems are still around and might account for your difficulty with posting a comment.

I know we weren’t especially close, but it seems like only yesterday we were connecting effortlessly every month or so. I recall a story about your meeting William Gibson, I think, but it would be so difficult now to go back through the comments and find it. It’s so odd to have lost so many connections so quickly.

I still come back here from time to time, I think because Gawker played a big part in my life for a while. I haven’t read any articles because it’s such a different approach visually and maybe editorially. If I want serious content, I am going to go to a major newspaper site like economist.com or unplug and read something pressed onto paper.

PS Gawker has really gotten you worked up–I’ve never seen you scream in caps before. You’re gorgeous when you’re angry.

I’m going to count this as a Valentine whether you like it or not.

If I had known this was a date, I would have washed off the trail dust and brushed my hair with a frying pan. Maybe you’re earthy, though, and okay with it all.

Here, love, I took my Bowie knife and carved a slice of Logan bread into the shape of a heart just for you.

Awwww. Are we sure this isn’t Gawker Dating?

 

Welcome to the Satellite of Love
Welcome to the Satellite of Love

Geek Valentine’s cards! A whole gallery of Time Lordian and Han-shot-firstian goodness.

A little love song from Tom Lehrer: I Hold Your Hand in Mine, Love:

via HellSquidInternational

Valentines for those who have stopped pretending, from MyConfinedSpace:

The confined space is between my ears

The confined space is between my ears

Valentines for Hopeless Realists (I’d actually send these)

 

I am ALL OVER the baseball one

I am ALL OVER the baseball one

The social media fallout of an iconic romantic moment: This chick is SO not getting a backstage pass.

 

I never would have gone out with that mope in the first place

I never would have gone out with that mope in the first place

Sissydude Valentines! I think this brand has a lot of potential.

 

Isn't that cute, he sent his valentine to a pony. I think???

Isn't that cute, he sent his valentine to a pony. I think???

A Valentine from Godzilla:

 

Does anything say Post-Modern Japan like Haiku and Godzilla?

Does anything say Love In Post-Modern Japan like Haiku and Godzilla?

When you think of passionate romantic attachment, who do you think of? That’s right:

Noam Chomsky.

 

Alone Noam Moar!

Alone Noam Moar!

Something for cat ladies:

 

and your Morrissey albums. There's that too.

and your Morrissey albums. There's that too.

The New York City department of Health just launched an iPhone app that shows you where you can get free condoms:

 

Now THAT is servicey!

Now THAT is servicey!

This Valentine is…touching.

 

From your lips to ... never mind, don't think about that part

The Human Centipede Valentine: From your lips to ... never mind, don't think about that part

For the bookish, there are NPR Valentines:

This Valentine was brought to you by National Public Radio, and by listeners like you

This Valentine was brought to you by National Public Radio, and by listeners like you

The New Yorker brings you a selection of dirty pictures with intellectual pretensions, so it’s okay to look if it’s by Ellen Unwerth, etc. Here’s Nan Goldin’s image, perfect for the one who plays Nancy Spungen to your Sid Vicious.

 

Be My ... collateral damage

Be My ... collateral damage

A roundup of the most uncomfortable screen kisses of all time (and yeah, they even got Howard the Duck in there):

Ben Kling does nifty series of dictator valentines, including the least flexible dictator ever, HAL:

 

HALentine

HALentine

via NegevRockCity

The linear-thinking National Post presents a flow chart of how to buy flowers for Valentine’s Day:

 

If you need this, you shouldn't be having sex in the first place. You might reproduce

If you need this, you shouldn't be having sex in the first place. You might reproduce

Salon brings us Valentine Candy Hearts of the Stars.

 

Or it would have been, if he had exact change

Or it would have been, if he had exact change

Here’s to Valentine’s Day!

 

Bottom's Up!

Bottom's Up!

If all of this has you bummed out and feeling hopeless, HAVE I GOT AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU!!!

If you’ve read this far in a Valentine’s Day post posted the day AFTER Valentine’s Day, I know one thing: You, my friend, have a deep and abiding interest in romantic pursuits, or at least cheap sex. Wouldn’t you like to support a cause that combines them both, plus patriotism? Sure you would.

What’s this about? Take a heart and turn it upside down, and that’ll give you a clue:

That's right, BEAVER!!!

That's right, BEAVER!!!

SAVE THE BEAVER (lake):

I heard on Vancouver is Awesome‘s 100.5 The Peak segment this weekend that a campaign is underway to save Beaver Lake that would see an investment of $100,000 for dredging and restoration by the Vancouver Park Board. Without these efforts, the Stanley Park Ecology Society says the lake could dry up within the next decade or two.

Come on, people. We KNOW you love the beaver!

The Truly Unspeakable

I know, I know, English profs are always whining that HP Lovecraft‘s use of “the Unspeakable” and “the Unnameable” is a literary cop-out, but that, my friends, is because they are English profs, with circumscribed, English prof-y lives and limited, English prof-y experiences. If they’d venture off-campus once in awhile (let alone down eldritch and unsuspected catacombs beneath the decayed megalopolis in which they scratch and scrape an oblivious, complascent living, never venturing to the secret, subterranean city) they might have their eyes uncomfortably opened; indeed, peeled, if not actually sucked out of their sockets by …

the Unspeakable.

We have, in deference to our readers of more delicate sensibilities, hidden this abomination over the jump. Before you click on, please stow all baggage in the overhead bins or underneath the seat in front of you, ensure that your seatbelt is securely fastened, and return all trays, maiden aunts, and reanimated corpses to the upright position.

Continue reading

Julian Assange’s New Do!

Julian Assange gets an updo!

Julian Assange gets an updo!

Love the new look, baby. Don’t worry about hiding out from The Law; with a ‘do like that, ain’t nobody gonna be looking at your face anyway.

Many thanks to the lovely and apparently multi-multi-talented GDGeek, whose resume now extents past graphic design into hairdressing and even espionage (second-hand)!

And this looks like as good a time as any to get rid of another link dump. Sorry (not really) for the lack of new posts; I’ve been off speaking at WordCamp Victoria and setting up the new schedule for my social media workshops (there’s a special discount code for up to $100 off if you register by noon Monday; ie tomorrow).

Saint Bill of Murray (Lolebrity)

Michael Douglas photobomb! (raincoaster)

Julian Assange is the greatest photoshop opportunity of our time (Ayyyy)

Cheese it! That’s too expensive! (Manolofood)

Katie Holmes and the World’s Ugliest Pants (AgentBedhead)

But did he put it on her FINGER? (AmyGrindhouse)

Are We There Yet contest (BusyBeeBlogger)

Jennifer Aniston pulls a Bridget Jones (CeleBitchy)

Palin putting it around? (CelebDirtyLaundry)

I see dumb people. They don’t know they’re dumb (CelebritySmack)

Annalynne McCord gives a puppy a helping hand (CityRag)

This choice of Catwoman is nuts! (DailyStab)

You can get arrested for just acting weird? (FitFabCeleb)

Xtina is X-ed out in someone else’s bed (GirlsTalkinSmack)

P!nk is F!!!ing Perfect (HaveUHeard)

Rachel Zoe is unapologetically elasticized (INeedMyFix)

Spears for Sears? (PoorBritney)

Prince + Madonna = Tru Luv 4 eva (PopBytes)

David Spade is OLD: FACT of life (SeriouslyOMG)

 

 

Kittens and Hearts!

Kittens and hearts and pink! Oh my!

Kittens and hearts and pink! Oh my!

Oscar Wilde, who said everything of note that neither George Bernard Shaw nor Fran Lebowitz said, once said something very, very wise. Something everyone on Facebook would do well to note. He once said:

We all have terrible friends. We are all, each of us, someone’s terrible friend.

Word, Brother.

My terrible friend is, as is their way, a lovely person. A lovely person who complains she never hears from me, when she herself emails  me all the time. You get these emails too; for all I know, you’re on the CC list. I’m on the CC list with about 40 other people, of which not one of whom I’ve ever heard in my life. I’m just in the L to Z group.

The emails themselves are rich in kittens, hearts, prayers, questionnaires, the colour pink, animated gifs, and Comic Sans.

They primarily originate as virus-spreading viral media in Bulgarian Master’s programs. So, whenever I get an email from her with the heading “YOU MUST READ THIS!!!1!!” “THinKiNG of yOu” etc, I know not to even bother opening it.

The question then becomes, when I think of her, what’s an appropriate response? A bouquet of flowers to which she’s powerfully allergic, but doesn’t realize it? A box full of bedbugs? A free membership to 4Chan? Should I sign her up for every two-bit Social Media Guru newsletter out there (who has the TIME? maybe I should subcontract the job to India?) because it’s “ESSENTIAL READING”?

Internet, please hurry with your answers: her birthday’s coming up fast!

Julian Assange Coloring Book Guest Post by Swifter

Julian Assange in custody. At least Swifter let him keep his cup of cocoa.

Julian Assange in custody. At least Swifter let him keep his cup of cocoa.

Ante? UPPED!

When I asked Swifter if I could repurpose this from the crosstalk thread he replied:

Sure, as long as you tell people that I say it’s where he belongs. You may add whatever other commentary you wish from your own viewpoint, of course.

To which I replied, quite naturally, that my own thoughts on this image were far too kinky to post on a nice, family-friendly blog like mine. And now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s difficult to type with no hands free…