to never forget your own insignificance.

To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.
— Arundhati Roy

twilight r-r-r-r-r-REMIX.

Buffy kicks Edward Cullen's ass.
Turns out that Staking > Stalking.

Brilliant mashup by Jonathan McIntosh, of Rebellious Pixels.

gr7 lexicon additions.

Ad agency Cramer-Kesselt believes that language has always been the social medium most strongly impacted by changes in society. People constantly come up with new terms to describe the cultural phenomena that surround them. The world can change in a year, a month, or even a week, and words we use in conversation often act as a cultural barometer for our common emotions. This agency believes that "so-called keepers of our lexicon" (coughdictionariescough) can't keep up with these changes so they came up with a cultural dictionary, full of relevant words and slang from the past year.

Being a language and culture junkie, this was right up my alley. Some favorites, with definitions.

Caribou Barbie (n) A nickname for former vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska

Obamanation (n) One of several terms referencing the excitement and dominance of Barack Obama's presidential election. Other terms: Bamelot, Baracklamation, Barackupied, Obamalicious, Obamarama

Frugalista (n) A person who is frugal but fashionable

Moneymoon (n) The time after your purchase of a good or service and before buyer's remorse happens

Carborexic (n) A person who is obsessed with minimizing his or her use of carbon.

Ecosexuals (n) Individuals who select their partners based on their shared environmental concerns

Gashole (n) A person who uses unnecessarily large amounts of gasoline to move from Point A to Point B, typically found driving large SUVs

Blackburied (adj) Feeling inundated and exhausted from trying to be on top of all your emails and contacts 24/7 via your handheld mobile device

Slip of the thumb (v) When sending a text message and the recipient of the message was not the intended recipient. Message is often private and/or personal in nature

Yellular (n) The loudness one adopts in response to bad cell phone connections, in the misguided hope that talking louder will improve the connection

Gr7 (adj) A little less than gr8 (great) but still good

OLO (n) Only laughed once.

Textually frustrated (adj) When texting with someone over IM or SMS takes too long , leaving you frustrated while waiting for a reply

Twitterrhea (n) Waaaaayyy too much Twitter

Gequals (n) Two people who are equal in their depth of arcane knowledge

Retox (v) To go back on your New Year's resolutions and do the opposite of the goals you set for yourself

Neologasm (n) The pleasurable feeling from having coined a new word. Combination of "neologism" and "orgasm"

Leanover (n) A small-sized hangover, usually comes with merely a mild headache, a vague fatigue and little or no sense of regret and/or shame

the year the media died.

how to be creative.

Hugh MacLeod, blogger, cartoonist and ex-copywriter on how to be creative:

1. Ignore everybody.
2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours.
3. Put the hours in.
4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don't try to stand out form the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.
14. Dying young is overrated.
15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
16. The world is changing.
17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.
18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
19. Sing in your own voice.
20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.
24. Don't worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
25. You have to find your own schtick.
26. Write from the heart.
27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.
28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.
30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
31. Remain frugal.
32. Allow your work to age with you.
33. Being Poor Sucks.
34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.
35. Savor obscurity while it lasts.
36. Start blogging.
37. Meaning Scales, People Don't.
37. When your dreams become reality, they are no longer your dreams.

xkcd <3

This web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language is extremely lovable. Even though I'm one of the detested liberal arts majors mentioned in the website disclaimer below, I get a lot of pleasure out of these comics. Potential future mathlete?

Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

human typography.

I'd take this over Comic Sans any day.