1. This is the web right now - The Oatmeal HTML CHEETAH BALLS! The whole cartoon Internet SOTU thing is fantastic.

    This is the web right now - The Oatmeal

    HTML CHEETAH BALLS!

    The whole cartoon Internet SOTU thing is fantastic.

  2. Phrases I could stand never to hear again, Part 1

    “In this media-saturated age…”

  3. Filmography 2010 (via genrocks)

  4. American English Dialects

    American English Dialects

  5. A chilly solstice (and lunar eclipse) - The Big Picture - Boston.com Boy oh boy do I wish MY title were “Chief Druid.”

    A chilly solstice (and lunar eclipse) - The Big Picture - Boston.com

    Boy oh boy do I wish MY title were “Chief Druid.”

  6. Admit it—you’ve done it. I sure have.

    It’s a Shakespeare Play and Someone Grabs His Crotch To Indicate A Dirty Joke.

    How to be a Bad Director [Minnnesota Playlist]

  7. What We Work For

    Hours of rehearsal can go into the most sublime, subtle, and sensitive acting moment on stage.Then, at any given performance, some guy with too much phlegm can just cough right over it…and no one will notice your work.

    via Playgoer

  8. The Crisis of the Humanities Officially Arrives

    George M. Philip, president of SUNY Albany, announced that the French, Italian, classics, Russian and theater programs were getting the axe.

    The Crisis of the Humanities Officially Arrives [Stanley Fish, Opinionator Blog, NY Times]

  9. The Social Network is Better Than Any Play I’ve Seen This Year

    Isaac Butler, on Parabasis, observing that The Social Network is better than any play he’s seen this year:

    We have to understand that this is what we’re competing with. We have to understand this both in terms of aesthetics and business practices. We have to stop assuming our audience shares our prejudices about different mediums being superior or the intrinsic value of live experience.  This is why things like the advertised ticket price matter, even if the average ticket price is lower.  If we think our audience isn’t calculating cost and quality and value to determine whether going to see shows is worth it at a particular theatre, we’re being naiive.  Yes, in some cases studies show that raises prices will trick people into thinking what they’re going to see is better, but that’s not a universal phenomenon, it’s untested with theatre specifically  and there’s no evidence that the effect doesn’t degrade over time. 

  10. Thoughts after reading some blog comment threads.

    As long as there are humans, there will be battles for status and there will be jerks.

    Conversations about whose battles for status are more legitimate is itself a battle for status. Undertaken, largely, by jerks.