Chris Higgins

Chris Higgins

@ChrisHiggins
Writes about: pop-culture , science , space , tv

­Chris Higgins is the author of The Blogger Abides, a book largely based on his experience writing a daily column for Mental Floss for the past six years.

Higgins also contributes to This American Life, The Atlantic, and The Magazine. He wrote the title essay for the upcoming collection Breakfast on Mars (MacMillan/2013). You can follow his adventures on chrishiggins.com, or follow him on Twitter for jokes about food, weather events, and the rising cost of postage. He's also grudgingly .

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Buy a Friend a Book (Week)

Did you know we're approaching the end of Buy a Friend a Book Week? Well, now you do, and I sure hope that kernel of knowledge somehow guilts you into buying a friend a book! After all, you have an explanation for your book gift during BAFAB Week -- every other week of the year you're just being nice for its own sake. So get with the program! BAFAB Week actually comes four times a year -- the first weeks of January, April, July, and October. The entire notion of the project is encapsulated in its... READ ON

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The Smells of Fall

Although the first day of fall was on September 23 this year, I didn't notice it was fall until last night. Why? Well, it didn't smell like fall. Here in Portland, there's a particular smell I associate with the onset of fall -- the smell of people's first fireplace fires of the year. And somehow, last night everybody in my neighborhood got the memo and lit up. You can tell it's the first fireplace fire in a long time, because there's a weird wet twinge to the smoky odor (presumably there's special... READ ON

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The Whole Five Feet

We've recently discussed authors whose entire catalogs you've read (and boy was it a fun discussion!)...but what about collections of literature by multiple authors? One of the ultimate literary collections is the Harvard Classics (aka Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf) -- my family owns two complete sets, but I have to admit I've only read a few volumes. Writer Christopher R. Beha is spending a year with the Harvard Classics, which amounts to roughly one volume each week. (Be sure to read Beha's reasons for... READ ON

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Blade Runner: The Final Cut

I'm a huge Blade Runner fan, and have been anticipating Blade Runner: The Final Cut for years. The original director's cut came out in 1992, was released on DVD in 1997, and due to limitations of the DVD format at that time, the picture was pretty poor (though I guess it was watchable enough for me to obsessively screen it every year or so...). When The Final Cut is released on December 18, Ridley Scott's 1982 film will finally be given the visual treatment it deserves -- and it comes after a series of... READ ON

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Calvinball

Watching Layer Tennis last Friday, commentator John Gruber compared the competition to Calvinball, which brought me back to my childhood, reading the Sunday funnies. Remember Calvinball? In my book, it's the ultimate Nomic game -- a game in which the rules change and evolve as part of gameplay. Back in April, I wrote about another Nomic game, 1000 Blank White Cards. 1KBWC (as it's, uh, less commonly known) is a card game in which players make up their own cards, which may implement new rules (like... READ ON

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Live Online Today: Layer Tennis!

Are you a live sports fan? Are you a graphic design geek? Well, for the three of you who fit both descriptions, grab a drink and get ready for a new event guaranteed* to rock you. Starting today at 3pm Eastern (that's noon Pacific or 7pm in London), you can witness the online debut of Layer Tennis. What's Layer Tennis, you ask? The official description states: We'll be playing matches using lots of different applications, from Adobe® Photoshop® to Adobe® Flash®, but the basic idea... READ ON

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The "Tact Filter"

A truly useful article came up on 43 Folders this week: Jeff Bigler's "tact filter" theory. The notion is basically that normal people (hereinafter "normals") apply tact to what they say, so as not to offend; whereas nerds apply tact to what they hear, ex post facto. In practice, this means that normals communicate well with other normals, and nerds with nerds -- but when you mix the two communication styles, nerds become frustrated and normals take offense. Here's a sample from the original article:... READ ON

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Writers' Favorite Fonts

Following up on yesterday's post about how you learned to type, I stumbled across a Slate article called My Favorite Font, which surveys various authors about what font they use to compose new works. According to this article, font preference seems very tied to how the author learned to write -- those who started on typewriters seem to prefer Courier fonts (which I abhor), and those who started on computers seem to prefer Times or various other serif fonts (now that's more like it). We've covered your... READ ON

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How Did You Learn to Type?

When I was in elementary school, I attended a twice-weekly "computer class" which primarily consisted of repeated runs through some now-forgotten typing software on Apple ][e computers. While running this program, we had to put cardboard boxes over the keyboard (with cut-outs so our little wrists could get in), and let me tell you, cheating was rampant. When a student got to the end of a level in the typing program and reached the timed test, a teacher would stand there with one hand on the box to... READ ON

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The Laugh Track

I was recently reminded how much I hate laugh tracks when I downloaded the free pilot of Big Bang Theory from iTunes, on a tip from Pop Candy. I should have listened to Whitney's advice, though -- the show is awful, and what makes it so much worse is the constant canned laughter. It's like an insult to the viewer: unfunny joke? LAUGH TRACK! Vaguely offensive sexual innuendo? OOHING and AAHING! Ugh. In the wake of my completely laugh-free viewing, I came across a lovely history of the laugh track... READ ON

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