Adams: We should do the thing ( Read more... )

"There's more--there has to be more--to being heroes than simply defeating villains. You have a role, a purpose far greater than yourselves. You have to set examples, lead the way. You represent what we should be, what we dream of becoming, not what we are."

(Ms. Marvel in an Avengers comic written by Chris Claremont)

It also reminds me of a bit ( Read more... )

The other day I brought up the notion of a crossover fanfic bringing together Mary Poppins, Ms. Frizzle (of the Magic School Bus books), and Carmen Sandiego (monument-stealing criminal mastermind from a series of old geography edutainment computer games), presumably as they pull off some sort of absurdly elaborate heist. A friend suggested time- ( Read more... )

"Do a search for Bach chorales."

*click click click*
"Hm. Looks like there's quite a lot of them."

"List?"

"No, Bach."

You've probably read Percy Shelley's poem "Ozymandias"... but did you know that Shelley's friend Horace Smith wrote his own poem on the same subject at the same time? Shelley's version is far more well-known, and probably has better poetry, but I really like the post-apocalyptic twist ending of Smith's version ( Read more... )

Every once in a while somebody asks why Gandalf didn't just have the Eagles carry the Ring to Mount Doom ( Read more... )

"Hummingbirds are so tiny. They make their nests out of tiny leaves and bits of lichen and moss and hold them together with strands of spiderweb."

"Are we sure they're not actually faeries? That totally sounds like something a faerie would do."

"I wonder if lemon tapioca pudding is a thing."

"There's only one way to find out!"

"You're right! I could go make some!"

"I meant looking it up on ChowHound."

*click click click*

"Oh hey look! Recipes for lemon tapioca pudding! Do you know what this means?"

"That you're not the only one who has had this crazy crazy idea?"

"See, George Washington is basically just like George Bush, because George Washington chopped down the cherry tree, which made it into a cherry bush, so George Bush!"

"Rrrrrrrriiiiiight. Welp, good luck on your AP US History test."

"So do you know what xanthophyll does?"

"I know it's... yellow."

"Yes, and?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaand it's in plants."

"Very good. And do you know why we see it in leaves in the fall?"

"Becaaaaaauuuuuuuuse... it's all that's left after the chlorophyll flies south for the winter?"

>_"Ooh, that's the 'you were so close but then you ruined it' face, isn't ( Read more... )