“Make Steam Not War”
England’s own clockwork soldier has the temerity to protest conscription, reported in The London Bell, May 12, 1887.
The Mysterious Specimen Cases of Alex CF
A severed dragon head, a monkey’s paw, a vampire pharaoh and an interdimensional cat are all specimens collected and mounted by artist Alex CF. Cryptids, oddities and mythical monsters presented with retro-Victorian naturalism. (thanks, Ariel!)
Wrangling Watchmen
Read everything you wanted to about the Watchmen movie? Let us wrangle you a little more. Marc Hirsch argues for the comic as its own form and Andrew O’Hehir is shocked to be writing that it “way out-darks The Dark Knight and immediately leaps near the top of […]
Lunaros
Legal tender drawn from the Central Bank of Moon Republic. (via Warren Ellis)
The Wolverines, 24 Years Later
John Plotz re-watches Red Dawn and sees a different movie: “Red Dawn did not conjure up the chest-swelling patriotism I felt as a 14-year-old. Instead, it turned out to be disturbing in an entirely unexpected way.”
Presidential Futurism
Slate surveys African-American presidents in tv and film–with clips! Salon looks at “Black Presidents We Have Known,” looking at DW Griffith, the year 2228, Sammy Davis, Jr. and 24 along the way. Meanwhile, Io9 urges you to choose Nixon as your dystopian president. (updated!)
The Cultural Gutter 