Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Nerds Shame NYT To Print Embarrassing Correction

Via LA Observed as well as Deadspin, perhaps the best NYT correction capsule I've ever read (and further proof that fanboys will inherit the earth):

An item in the Extra Bases baseball notebook last Sunday misidentified, in some editions, the origin of the name Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, which Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey gave one of his bats. Orcrist was not, as Dickey had said, the name of the sword used by Bilbo Baggins in the Misty Mountains in “The Hobbit”; Orcrist was the sword used by the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the book. (Bilbo Baggins’s sword was called Sting.)

(Deadspin also notes: "(Though if you want to be technical about it, Orcrist, in the Elvish language of Sindarin, means "goblin cleaver," and thus the Times's "Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver" is a redundancy.)"

In honor of this NYT Corrective Moment, let me digress a bit. The Deadspin post was accompanied by an image out of this video--which I hadn't seen, but is truly a piping-hot serving of pure awesomeness:

So let me riff here...

This video reminds me of the time I went to the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention, about fifteen years ago or so, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Now, back in those days, Hollywood had not taken over these conventions en masse; on top of that, this particular convention (which used to be held monthly, I think) was really sort of grungy, filled with unhygenic overweight men standing at tables peddling dusty boxes of old comic books. There were no booth babes, or even babes at all--in fact, for the women that were there at the convention, "less clothing" was the last thing that passed through one's mind.

But this convention took it up a notch for this particular session, and had invited Billy Dee Williams of Lando Calrissian fame (apparently, he comes quite often). Long-time SoSG readers will know that Billy Dee has popped up in my life at other seminal moments. But this was before even Lucky 13; at this stage, Williams was just Lando, nothing more.

I had invited a friend of mine to join me at this event; I was a comic book fanboy, he was a big-time Star Wars fan. And we sat in the crowd on folding chairs listening to Williams talk for a little while about what it was like to act in the Star Wars movies, which was largely innocuous.

And then came Q&A.

The first guy approached the microphone and asked a question if Lando had had any sort of "special relationship" with Lobot. After the round of laughter from the crowd, he added, "You know, because there's that point in the movie where you give each other that knowing glance, that look. Was there something else there?" Now, the guy who asked the question was smiling, and Williams was smiling, and we were all cracking up in the crowd. I don't even remember what the answer was, but it was funny.

Then the next guy gets up for his question, and he's totally serious, like the guy in the above video. And his question was something like, "What was the atmosphere like on Bespin?" No smile. He wasn't kidding. And I just about lost my shit then.

Ah, good times.

20 comments:

QuadSevens said...

According to Wookieepedia:

"The planet Bespin was a gas giant that was about 118,000 kilometers in diameter. Like most gas giants, it had a solid core made of metal (in this case, rethin) followed by layers of metallic gases. Most of the layers of gas were poisonous, and the pressure and temperature were far above what a Human could tolerate. But from approximately 150 to 180 kilometers down from space, there was a habitable layer known as the Bespin life zone. This layer had an oxygen atmosphere with temperature and pressure suitable for Human life. It was in this layer that Cloud City was located."

Steve Sax said...

And how would Wookieepedia know? You can't believe everything you read in the tourist literature.

rbnlaw said...

Let me get this straight; a hobbit had a sword named Gordon Sumner?

Odd, isn't it?

Steve Sax said...

gordon Matthew sumner, I might add.

just think about what he did with trudie

Nostradamus said...

There's a joke in there about an annoying little prick, but I can't quite get at it.

Josh S. said...

"I can't quite get at it."

That's what SHE said!

(About someone else. Not me, I assure you.)

Jason said...

An annoying little prick that, rumor has it, could go all night.

MR.F said...

Is that what "Bring On The Night" is really about?!

Steve Sax said...

If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free ALL NIGHT LONG USING TANTRIC SEX METHODS

Steve Sax said...

I just watched that Red Shirt Guy video again and started giggling. That guy is fuuuuuuunny.

Jason said...

Are we sure Red Shirt Guy isn't the real-life basis for Database?

Pistol Pete Reiser said...

Dudes,

Have you seen Trudie lately?

Rode hard, put away wet...

(but a charming, likeable, down-to-Earth lady, I must say)

Pistol Pete Reiser said...

Ask me again after 15 hours of tantric.

Nostradamus said...

...and a shower, hopefully.

Erin said...

I feel like I should mention here that one week and one year ago, I was hanging out at Sting's home in Tuscany.

Which I'm only mentioning because I like to brag.

Orel said...

I overheard Sting bragging that Erin stayed at his place last year.

Paul said...

Well in a week it will be a year Since I hung out with legends Mr. C and Dusty in the beer line at the Ravine.

Kyle Baker said...

@Paul


(cries)

Kyle Baker said...

That Red Shirt Guy is giving me fits. I'm alternately amused and terrified for what this kind of person may grow into.

But like I always admonish Mrs Dusty re child porn on the internet, I'd rather freakish pervs be sitting around in their basement looking at pics/video on the internet instead of skulking around schools.

Josh S. said...

In two weeks it will be a year since the guys got their beers.

(Late joke is late.)