Cooking in the Forest: Best Carbonara Ever

Have you ever seen one of these Almazan Kitchen videos? I'm no foodie or chef or anything but these things are kind of amazing. In this one the guy makes Carbonara from skratch, including the noodles, while out camping at some lake. Last time I went camping we stayed in a cabin at a campground on the coast. We ate fried chicken and frozen pizza. Clearly I'm doing something wrong.

Closer Links

No Man's Sky: The Kotaku Review. It's really hard to find a review for No Man's Sky that is able to separate the crashing of the hype train from the actual experience of the game. This Kotaku one does a pretty good job. Some might argue the review is a bit to generous. You could probably claim they're in the pocket of BIG VIDEO GAME but they're owned by Gawker so I'm pretty sure Hulk Hogan runs everything now.

A Closer Look At The Overwhelmingly Sexist Coverage Of Female Olympians. NBC's coverage in particular has been garbage. Yes, most of the sexist stuff has come from print and digital media but just the overall experience of watching the Olympics has been super sub par. Just a couple days ago there was one of the best Pole Vault duels in Olympic history, it ended with the hometown kid setting an Olympic record and the crowd booing the snot out of the French champion until he broke down and cried. NBC spent all of 3 minutes on it. Worse those 3 minutes were spaced throughout 4 hours of coverage. They didn't need to dedicate hours to it but 10 or 15 minutes dedicated to just that event would have done wonders. Of course the final was between a Brazilian and a Frenchman so I guess I can see why NBC wasn't interested.

One day NBC will learn that people from other countries can have interesting stories. In an international competition it's not a bad idea to actually address the rest of the world. If for no other reason than to put a face on the opposition. They're so focused on telling a "good story" they forget most stories have a good protagonist and antagonist.

I know the fact that they tape delay everything is a big hot topic but I don't care about that. I'd rather they show everything in primetime. If you want to watch events live you can find them on the internet or one of the other dozen channels they have. For me it's the almost zero effort, paint by numbers approach they've taken to the games. They could have just replayed their coverage from 2012 and I'll be no one would have noticed.

The Door to Hell, Turkmenistan. Cool little imgur gallery to someone's trip to the Door to Hell in Turkmenistan. If you've never seen or heard of this it's basically a mining accident turned eternal fire pit. It's pretty cool.

Comics Creators of 1995 Predict the Future! Wow, don't ever say that creative types aren't smart. A couple of these answers on what comic books will look like in 20 years are shockingly accurate. Doug Moench in particular with his prediction of an digital distribution model is eerily accurate.

Sink these Links

Ben Affleck is Batman. I'm not sure why I led with this. I have very little opinion on the matter. Sure I think it's amusing that the guy that played O'bannion in Dazed and Confused is Batman but that's about it.

I do think it's hilarious that the best DC/Warner Bros can do to fight Marvel and their complete box office domination is to put the only two successful film characters they've ever had into one movie. Meanwhile Marvel is about to spend 100+ million dollars on a movie that stars a tree and a talking raccooon. And it will probably be a HUGE hit.

Bradley Cooper might be Rocket Raccoon. Speaking of which, oscar nominee Bradley Cooper might be playing said talking raccoon. Makes sense to me.

MASSIVE Louisiana Sinkhole Devours Whole Trees in Seconds Flat. Damn nature you scary! Oh this wasn't nature? It was drilling gone wrong? Let me know when Kaiju start pouring through, please. I'll start working on a Jaeger out of these spare Ikea parts I have laying around.

Star Wars Episode VII will be shot on film. I'd like to think that when George Lucas read this his jowels got real wobbly and he shouted "but I delcared film dead 14 years ago!" Then he tried to take his toys back and some nameless suit at Disney kicked him in the nuts.

Earth's Weirdest Links

The World's most Bizarre Aircraft Graveyards. Maybe it's because I watched Can't Buy Me Love too much as a kid but I LOVE aircraft graveyards. At least I love the idea of them. I've never actually been to one or anything. I don't know why, I've spent tons of time in Arizona. Grandma and Grandpa couldn't have skipped one antique store?

The Last Sports Stars of Video Games' Cartridge Era. Boy this hits way too close to home. I never had a NES growing up so when I did finally save up cash for a SNES I played it nonstop for like 3 years. I put so much time into NBA Live 95 and NHL 95 if I close my eyes I can hear the soundtracks and see the rosters. The idea that most of those guys are retired makes me a tad wistful.

5 Scary Myths You Probably Believe about the Economy. Maybe you believe these myths about the economy, but I didn't. I spent like 3 years in community college so I'm what you would call an educated voter. Seriously though, this is pretty good article for a comedy website. They gloss over a few facts and details but the overall theme of the article is there. Don't even get me started with gas prices.

Earth's Weirdest Landscapes. I've said it before but damn nature, you scary. That pink lake in Australia is horrifying.

Alligator Gar Links

The Creators and Cosplay of Emerald City Comiccon. This gallery is a bit disappointing. I think it focuses less on the cosplayers and more on artists with beards. Oh well, it's not like I put my own together.

Whatever happened to the American arcade? Another great article by Ars Tecnica (Seriously Gizmodo pull your heads out of your asses you're falling behind). It compares and contrasts the Japanese arcade scene to the practically non-existent American scene.

21 of the freakiest fish caught on River Monsters. OMG I love this show! There was this episode where he was in some giant river in Africa looking for some monster fish that was 400+ pounds and he was standing in a hollowed out canoe that couldn't have been more than 18 inches wide. He makes Bear Grylls look like a chump.

25 Unbelievable Pictures of the Tornado damage in Texas. Holy ass, those are semi-truck trailers just flying around all willy nilly. Just one more reason not to live in Texas.

A Mind Forever Linking

Teddy Roosevelt: American Badass. Teddy was my kind of hippie. He wanted to protect nature so he could hunt and kill it. USA USA USA!

San Diego Comic Con 1988. A fascinating look at a program from Comic Con 1988, you know back when it was an actual comic book convention.

The 2011 Womens World Cup in Pictures. I'm bummed it's going to be 4 more years till I get to ogle Alex Morgan again. WPS? never heard of it.

NASA searches for Moon Trees. 20 years ago NASA sent some trees into space, when they came back they forgot about them. Sounds like the plot of the next M. Night Shamylamy movie.