Batman is Piscean

Flavorwire has this wonderful infographic: a calendar of fictional characters' birthdays.

We learn that Bruce Wayne was born on the 19th of February, which means that Batman is a Pisces, an astrological sign whose life pursuit is "to avoid feeling alone and instead feel connected to others and the world at large." Pisceans are also "mysterious and alluring individuals," and "are frequently torn between two pathways in life, or actually do live two very different existences at the same time." I'd say that fits Batman, er, Bruce Wayne to a tee.

Other interesting discoveries:

>Lisbeth Salander (30 april 1978) and Ted Mosby (25 April 1978) were born within days of each other
>Ted is two years older than Robin Scherbatsky (23 july 1980)
>I'm almost the same age as most of the characters in Harry Potter--most of whom were born in 1980, except Hermione Granger (19 September 1979.) Why, hello, Hermione.
>Buffy Summers is 31 (19 January 1981)
>Carrie Bradshaw (15 june 1966) is 46!

And Liz Lemon (14 oct 1970) is a Libra.

How To Wrestle An Alligator

"Wrestling an Alligator" is up there on the list of skills a man must have. Somehow, this makes me think of The Picnic By the Lake and how Elias overpowered that alligator and Crisostomo Ibarra slit its throat (or was it the stomach?) with a dagger.

If I were in high school and reading it now, I would be rescue myself from the tedium of writing chapter summaries. There would be so much fun to be had by appending my own chapter aside from "Kabanata X: Elias at Salome." It would still be a "Tell it again!" but this time it would be "Kabanata XXX: Elias and Ibarra," an AU fanfiction yaoi-style.

Also, I didn't know there was a TV tropes page for NMT.

5 Centimeters Per Second

The final song from Makoto Shinkai's 5 Centimeters Per Second left me a bit baffled about the ending. But from what I could gather, what tears us apart is distance—physical (Cherry Blossoms), emotional (Cosmonaut), and temporal (5cm/sec).

When Tataki sees a girl who looks like Akari at the railroad crossing, then he stops and looks back only to have the trains block his view and then find that no one is waiting for him at the other side, and then he smiles—that moment seems ripped right out of “Dead Stars.”

But what a poignant and moody film. Leaves you with so many questions which are preferably not (un)resolved by means of a music video. But oh well.

How To Wear a Bathing Suit and Graduate

The right way to wear a bathing suit in public, according to the missing page of the STC Cebu Student Handbook.

Rules of Etiquette, c. 1866

Martine’s Hand-Book of Etiquette, and Guide to True Politeness gives us rules on how to be a true gentleman, or at least how to behave as a tolerable human being:

If you cannot sing, or do not choose to, say so with seriousness and gravity, and put an end to the expectation promptly.

Obviously, the people from 1866 have never known karaoke or magic sing.

via Get Kempt

I Like Words

After Robert Pirosh quit his job as a copywriter, he went to Europe and spent the year "in study, contemplation and horsing around." Then he decided he wanted to try his luck as a screenwriter in Hollywood and sent out this letter to all the studio executives and producers he could think of.

I haven't gone to Europe (yet, I hope) and I've been gone for much longer. But like Pirosh, "I have just returned and I still like words."

May I have a few with you?