Lindsay Robertson

In the Time Before Uptalk

Hey, are you a linguist in need of a dissertation topic? I have one, maybe: “The September 2001 Accent: Generational/Temporal Accents in the 9/11 Tapes.”

The voices in that audio (in the FAA/Norad/AA tapes released by the NY Times in 2011 and also the 911 calls used in Zero Dark Thirty) are a mix of generational accents (from the ’50s-’80s, I think?) with a 2001 temporal spin, and, already, just eleven years later, sound absolutely nothing like the way people talk now. (Note: it’s probably not a good idea to try to listen to them casually, they’re very hard to listen to, obviously, and I’m not suggesting that they be treated lightly.)

But because these tapes are of real people speaking off the cuff (not even just off the cuff - in a highly stressful situation), on one particular day (as opposed to the showbiz/political speech audio we have so much access to), they accidentally provide a unique audio cross-section, a (somewhat) representative snapshot of the American accent as it was in 2001.

There’s probably no way to do it without suggesting (or at least entertaining) the idea that the chaos and fear of September 11th, 2001 and its aftershocks caused us all to start treating declarative and imperative sentences as if they were interrogative, though, whether that’s true or not.

Anyway, that would be interesting (to me.)

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There was this moment on Sunday’s “Girls” (not this exact moment but right before it) when Marnie and Booth are in bed and Marnie sees she has a text from Hannah and says “She probably wrote a blog…post” and it redeemed her entire generation. Because an individual post on a blog is called a “blog post.” Thank you, Marnie.

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growltiger:

Dear Lindsay,

Thank you for inspiring me to make you this very, very special valentine. I will let you do most of the shoving.

love,

bex

Bex illustrated the first idea that came to my mind when the subject of “movie quote Valentines” came up last month (actually, the second, after the movie’s most obvious line). I just love “The Grey” so much. Live and die on this day, guys.

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Movie Valentines from TribecaFilm. More here.

I just wanted to listen to Drove Me Wild at work so I Googled it and this daymaker came up. Best!

"[Film critics’ Tweets after preview screenings] are almost not critical opinions, they’re Foursquare check-ins, or humblebrags - just a conferral of social value on that person for having been present at that event. "

—

- Slate’s Dana Stevens and Deadspin’s Will Leitch have strong opinions on whether film critics should Tweet from screenings. (via futureoffilm)

Love this quote by Dana. So true.

Area Woman Achieves Rare Grammar Win

I got to organically use the phrase-parsing plural, aka the William Safire Whoppers Junior plural today in an email without even trying! This was my sentence:

“Be careful, though, because there are two Kaffes 1668 on Greenwich Street.”

(I didn’t say the sentence was interesting.)

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rickyv:

(rabbit rabbit)

I didn’t think my Allison Williams crush could get stronger, but it just did.

tribecafilm:

Key art for Supporting Characters, which opens tomorrow at Cinema Village in New York (with a Q&A by filmmakers Alex Karpovsky and Dan Schechter both Friday and Saturday nights), and on VOD and digital everywhere.

I like this pretty poster.

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This photo of Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange from the upcoming movie “The Fifth Estate” is hilarious to me, and has made me realize that I desperately want a coffee table book featuring photos of Benedict Cumberbatch as famous figures from the past and present.

It’s funny ‘cause no matter what, he just looks exactly like…Benedict Cumberbatch.

UPDATE: I just realized who should do this coffee table book: William Wegman! Right? We’re almost there!

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I assume these H&R Block spots are by Errol Morris. If not, they’re seriously ripping him off in every detail, including the music and allowing the subjects to be kind of annoying.

(Can’t seem to confirm this, but it’s probably him.)

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rickwebb:

khuyi:

urbanscenarios:

“Developed by Amsterdam-based product design agency Waarmakers, the Goedzak is a special garbage bag for items that are still usable. ‘Goedzak’ means both ‘good bag’ and ‘do-gooder’ in Dutch. According to designers Simon Akkaya and Maarten Heijltjes, their concept is a friendly way to give products a second chance and stimulate sustainable behavior.”

via Pop Up City

This is such a good idea. I would make liberal use of this. 

Brilliant! I would use this at least once a week. There should also be a symbol for “no bedbugs” on there. (Seems unnecessary, but people are paranoid.)

Invitation: (Free) Future of Film Event Explores Film Criticism in the Age of Twitter →

tribecafilm:

On January 17 at the Tribeca Film Center, Film critics Will Leitch (New York Magazine, Deadspin/Gawker’s Grierson & Leitch film column) and Dana Stevens (Slate’s movie critic and host of the Slate Spoiler Special podcast) will discuss the challenge (and fun) of writing about film in the age of social media, followed by an audience Q&A.

Very excited about this.

leitch:

Happy 10th Anniversary, The Black Table. (Sorry, Cooke, I couldn’t find any 2003 photos of you.)

Congrats, guys! I guess there should be an oral history one of these days, but I’m not sure if anyone remembers enough for one.

(Even though it’s finally happening with Arrested D)

This is not actually the lowest form of entertainment journalism, but it’s the most pervasively irritating: when a journalist asks an actor or director, usually on a red carpet/at a party/at a junket, if they would do a sequel to a movie they did, or a movie of the TV show they did, or work with someone they once worked with, or work with another person they haven’t yet worked with, and, of course, the answer is always something positive along the lines of “I wouldn’t rule it out if the script was great and everyone had the time,” etc, and then the next day the headline is “Kirstie Alley Confirms ‘Cheers’ Movie,” or whatever, and then it ends up absolutely everywhere until someone denies it or the next one happens.

Please stop doing that in 2013.