The Nerve Insider
A daily pick of what's new and hot at Nerve.
Scanner
Your daily cup of WTF?
Nerve@SXSW 2006.
Blogging the Roman Orgy of Indie-music Festivals.
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
Coming Soon!
The Daily Siege
An intimate and provocative look at Siege's life, work and loves.
Kate & Camilla
two best friends pursue business and pleasure in NYC.
Naughty James
The lustful, frantic diary of a young London photographer.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: kid_play
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Super_C
The Nerve Blog-a-log: ILoveYourMom
A bundle of sass who's trying to stop the same mistakes.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: The_Sentimental
Our newest Blog-a-logger.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Marking_Up
Gay man in the Big Apple, full of apt metaphors and dry wit.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: SJ1000
Naughty and philosophical dispatches from the life of a writer-comedian who loves bathtubs and hates wearing underpants.
The Nerve Video Blog
Deep, deep inside the world of online video.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: charlotte_web
A Demi in search of her Ashton.
The Prowl, with Ryan Pfluger
Nerve @ Cannes Film Festival
May 16 - May 25
ScreenGrab
The Nerve Film Blog
Autumn
A fashionable L.A. photo editor exploring all manner of hyper-sexual girls down south.
The Modern Materialist
Almost everything you want.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: that_darn_cat
A sassy Canadian who will school you at Tetris.
Rose & Olive
Houston neighbors pull back the curtains and expose each other's lives.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: funkybrownchick
The name says it all.
merkley???
A former Mormon goes wild, and shoots nudes, in San Francisco.
chase
The creator of Supercult.com poses his pretty posse.
The Remote Island
Nerve's TV blog.
Brandonland
A California boy capturing beach parties, sunsets and plenty of skin.
61 Frames Per Second
Smarter gaming.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Charlotte_Web
A Demi in search of her Ashton.
The Nerve Blog-a-log: Zeitgeisty
A Manhattan pip in search of his pipette.
Date Machine
Putting your baggage to good use.

Scanner

Quit Yer Grinnin' and Drop Your Linen, 'Cause the Aliens Are Probably Here

Posted by Bryan Christian

We're not big fans of fearful rumormongering around here, and Lord knows you've all got a lot of stuff on your minds, what with the economy and the election and babies having babies. But seriously: What. The. FUCK. Is going on in the skies?

First, we hear that the Brits are going public with their UFO documents. Sounds great, guys, can't wait to hear fevered summaries of them on Coast to Coast. But then, zap! All of a sudden, we're awash with UFO sightings in San Diego (see above), Texas, Wrexham, and Cornwall. And then, right after this true believer starts creeping us out, we hear this:

Across the globe, researchers searching for signs of life in space were abuzz this week with word that a mystery signal has been picked up by a giant radio-telescope in Puerto Rico.

Now the dilemma is -- how do you answer it?

I don't know. Can they hear us shitting our pants?

OK, let's ignore, for just a moment, the fact that the most terrifying prospect about the aliens actually arriving on our meek little planet isn't that they're gonna come down plasma guns a-blazin', but rather that Junior here will either assume that they are or that the Rapture's just a little weirder than he was expecting and in either event wind up getting us trapped in real-life hentai or something.

Forgetting all that -- and the riots and the starvation and the subjugation by 8-foot tall rastas that are so clearly on the way... Just know that when the ships come down, we are SO throwing the naked freakout to end all naked freakouts. And you've got a Plus One.


Posted Jan 16 2008, 04:00 PM
Filed under: ,

Comments

Emily Farris said:

SIGNS! Awesome. I like how the newscaster tries to keep everyone calm by practically dismissing the possibility that they were E.T. Me? I'm hoping they were. As long as they're not here to destroy us or anything.

January 16, 2008 4:25 PM

jwebster8 said:

Fucking Scientologists were right....dammit

January 16, 2008 6:04 PM

spoco2 said:

See, now, the fact that they were seen half an hour after midnight... NEW YEARS EVE might, you know, just maybe, suggest they're MAN MADE and something to do with New years.

Dear god people love to jump to conclusions of other-worldliness when they can't immediately come up with an explanation.

How about:

"Several viewers suggested the lights were Chinese flying lanterns. Basically, minature hot-air balloons fueled by a candle or other flame.

They are customarily released at the New Year for good luck."

So... given half an hour to get some good height on them, yeah, that seems ENTIRELY plausible instead of claiming UFOs.

Bah and Friggen Humbug.

January 17, 2008 12:28 AM

Betty said:

I remember when I spent New Year's on a beach in Thailand a few years and we set off Chinese flying lanterns.  They did look a lot like UFOs, and I can understand how someone not expecting to see them would get concerned.  Here's a good link for what they look like when they get a good way up: img170.exs.cx/.../081zo.jpg

January 17, 2008 10:30 AM

Nerve Insider said:

In this wild and wooly world, the Scanner crew keeps your comfort and well-being always in mind. What

January 17, 2008 5:07 PM

Nerve Insider said:

In this wild and wooly world, the Scanner crew keeps your comfort and well-being always in mind. What

January 17, 2008 5:41 PM

About Bryan Christian

Bryan Christian has worked as a writer for Epicurious, GenArt and ID magazine; a web producer for WWD and Condé Nast; and a cameraman for his friends. He's married with roommate and lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

in

Archives

  • July 2008 (310)
  • June 2008 (347)
  • May 2008 (366)
  • April 2008 (381)
  • March 2008 (410)
  • about the blogger

    Emily Farris writes about culture and food for numerous publications and websites you've probably never heard of, including her own blog eefers. Her first cookbook will be published in fall 2008. Emily lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with her cat, but just one . . . so far.

    Brian Fairbanks is a filmmaker living in the wilds of Brooklyn. He previously wrote for the Hartford Courant and Gawker. He won the Williamsburg Spelling Bee once. He loves cats, women with guns, and burning books.

    Nicole Pasulka is a Brooklyn writer and editor who's always on the lookout for the dirty. Her other virtual home is at The Morning News, where things are squeaky clean most of the time.

    Send us links! scanner@nerve.com


    IN THE MODERN MATERIALIST



    IN SCREENGRAB



    IN THE REMOTE ISLAND



    IN 61FPS