Western love - Mirah's "Cold Cold Water."
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 2:14 AM on June 27, 2008

I remember several of these from Sierra games:

Shivers 2 is based on a fictional rock band called "Trip Cyclone" that disappears in a Southwestern town and leaves behind clues in their songs. The game came with a 5-track bonus CD with the full songs on it. (The fake band even has a last.fm page!)

Gabriel Knight 2 has a plotline revolving around a "lost" Richard Wagner opera, pieces of which are performed toward the end of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 2:11 PM on June 24, 2008

In the same vein as Sherlock Holmes up there, it seems like Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe is forever rejecting cases or refusing to accept payment for cases that don't meet his ethical standards. I went on a Chandler binge last year, and I couldn't figure out how he always had money for bribes and booze when he never seemed to take anyone's money.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 4:43 PM on May 16, 2008

When I was researching external hard drives in February, it seemed like problems and praise were spread pretty evenly across all available brands. I ended up buying a Seagate FreeAgent Pro after seeing some previous AskMe praise for the company, but it was a lemon right out of the box. After I saw some Amazon reviews that indicated other people were having the same/similar problems with FreeAgent Pros, I returned it for a Western Digital MyBook, which has been working fine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 1:42 AM on April 21, 2008

Abandoned Pools was Tommy Walter's solo project (formerly of Eels).

I've also heard people refer to Self as being only Matt Mahaffey's project at first, although I know it grew into a band later.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 1:23 AM on April 21, 2008

The nu-Doctor Who episode "The Doctor Dances" has something like this, although unfortunately there's a line of dialogue separating the parts:

ROSE: Doctor...
CHILD: I'm here. Can't you see me?
ROSE: What's that noise?

It happens just before the 9 minute mark in the episode.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 5:35 PM on April 11, 2008

Seconding Burn Notice (on the USA network), which in addition to being crafty also features the awesome Bruce Campbell.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 6:02 PM on March 21, 2008

It's by Clive Barker - The Thief of Always.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 9:27 PM on March 15, 2008 marked best answer

I just read Schuyler's Monster too, so that was the first thing that came to mind. In fact, the scene where the couple tells each other about their infidelity was excerpted in this Wondertime article last month.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 10:45 PM on March 12, 2008

Yep, seconding The Rise of Silas Lapham (Project Gutenberg link). I don't remember outright hating it, but all the uncomfortable fish-out-of-water stuff made me squirm the same way I do when I watch The Office.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 7:39 PM on February 21, 2008

Watch Her Disappear, on Alice
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 2:16 PM on January 12, 2008

NeoPets has an online version of this game called Destruct-O-Match II.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 8:25 AM on December 17, 2007

The bullshit powerplay here isn't "I need to listen to my music when driving". That's fine. The bullshit only occurs in combination the corollary: "...and I almost always get to drive".

I may have read it wrong, but didn't the original poster indicate that the boyfriend does most of the driving because she has car/driving issues?

Personally, I'm sympathetic to the "driver chooses the music"... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 2:02 AM on March 20, 2007

The classic 1986 movie Flight of the Navigator.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 1:59 PM on February 4, 2007

There's been a lot of great advice in this thread, and I'm saying that as someone who spent my first year out of college feeling just like you did - hopeless, jobless, stuck at home, and depressed. I can now fondly refer to it as "the worst year of my life." It sucked and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. But it ended, and you have to remember that while your situation may seem overwhelming and hopeless now, it won't be that way forever.

The thing that helped me... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 12:58 PM on January 28, 2007

You're talking about the "It's A Small World" Holiday overlay, right? The room with the huge black curtains is usually a jungle scene - it has faux-rain falling and a crocodile waving an umbrella and exotic birds and other such creatures. They've always covered that room up rather than try and Christmafy it, because what delightful winter holiday do the animals celebrate, really?

I remember reading when they first did the overlay that the black curtains were... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 7:54 AM on November 28, 2006 marked best answer

Heh, in this new age of Internet Music Criticism, some circles afford Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson more critical cachet than the likes of Maroon 5 and Jack Johnson. Your niece is cutting edge! But yeah, it's always good to put new things out there for her to discover. My 11-year old sister (who also loves Kelly and Britney) enjoys: Annie (pop from Norway), OK Go (power pop), Queen (especially over-the-top stuff like "Bicycle Race" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"), and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 8:22 AM on August 18, 2006

"Paint the Silence" by South
"Silent Ways" by Michelle Shocked
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 6:14 PM on August 16, 2006

Black-Dove (January) by Tori Amos
February 14 by Huggy Bear
April 29 by The Rembrandts
Wordless May by Venus Hum
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 4:26 AM on August 3, 2006

Back in the mid-90s I had a game called Eagle Eye Mysteries in London, wherein you played a kiddie detective solving London-centric mysteries. As an American preteen I found it very educational (and fun, in a Carmen Sandiego-type way).
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 9:07 PM on July 8, 2006

I imagine the charges will be stated explicitly at some point before the season is over. Or maybe featherboa's right and no one cares.

The only thing that occurs to me as crossing the line between unethical and illegal is Matt's beatdown. Sandy knew Griffin was behind it, and instead of reporting Griffin, he more-or-less accepted an enormous bribe (the multi-million dollar development surrounding the hospital) and paid Matt off to keep it quiet. The only problem with... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 5:08 PM on May 3, 2006

On the "backing up in a straight line" front: spot mirrors saved my bacon. You know those little round mirrors that truckers attach to the bottom corner of their side mirrors? It shows you what's in your blind spot, and (more importantly) allows you to see your car's position in relation to the curb. I would pull up to the curb, keeping my wheels straight, and when I backed up I could observe if I was moving straight back or curving too much. Spot mirrors also gave me more confidence... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 3:25 AM on April 21, 2006

"Go then, there are other worlds than these."

Despite the bleak context in the books (it's the last thing Jake says before he dies the first time) I've always found those words a little inspiring.

Yeah, this is one of the quintessential lines of the book - and since he's moving away, it has a nice bittersweet resonance in reality, too.

Other potential objects: purple grass (from the trippy... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 8:20 PM on March 25, 2006

Hooray! I had a similar lost files accident several months back and I know how horrible it can feel. Definitely go crazy with the redundant backups - burn your files to CD or DVD, copy them to an external drive, store them on your iPod, zip them up and upload them to your webspace. I felt a little anal while I was doing it, but I felt so much more secure after my scare knowing that I had multiple backups, just in case.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 4:55 PM on February 19, 2006

No luck, Rash - unless I'm mixing up my crazies, there's a pretty regular group of LaRouche acolytes who hang around the UCLA campus and try to pass out written materials. Unfortunately I've never witnessed any passerby reaction more interesting than silence and some eye-rolling.

I like that line about Dick Cheney, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 3:32 AM on November 26, 2005

Right now, it's OK Go - Oh No. It's boppy and catchy and bright, and so far it's been the only thing to draw me out of a surly, humorless October funk.

But if you had asked me this question a month ago, I too would've answered The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree. Just an amazing album on all fronts.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 1:54 AM on October 20, 2005

Were you by any chance watching "The Amazing Race" last night? I think it was Brock (Rogers family) who was wearing that shirt. It's a reach, but you might try asking this same question on The Rogers Family thread at Television Without Pity. Occasionally racers will post on their own or other threads, and Brock might be around to answer you himself; otherwise it's another group of people who know the shirt you mean and might be able to point you in the right direction.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 12:42 AM on October 6, 2005

This topic has been on my mind for a while now. My sisters and I are regular visitors to Disneyland as we live in the area. We were on the California Screamin' rollercoaster about ten minutes before it had its little accident last week. While by all accounts the accident was minor, it's yet another in a series of accidents that seems to represent Disney's shift in focus from safety to cost-effectiveness.

While the number of actual deaths and injuries has been small - one... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 6:14 AM on August 6, 2005

Veruca Salt - Don't Make Me Prove It
Boards of Canada - A is to B as B is to C (I like Aquarius better, but the counting in this one creeps me out in a delightful way)
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 2:29 AM on August 1, 2005

Aww - I made a mix similar to this a year ago, with "Tallahassee" as its centerpiece. A few others that seemed to fit with it:

"Cold Cold Water" - Mirah
"Modern Romance" - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Watch Her Disappear" - Tom Waits
"100,000 Fireflies" - Magnetic Fields
and seconding "Both Hands" by Ani DiFranco
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 4:54 AM on July 19, 2005

Steve Burns: >1 (lyrics) - kind of a platonic love song, nice refrain (one day you and I will live on the moon)

Cat Power: He Turns Down (lyrics) - maybe too despairing, but about longing ( holding on for someone / feels like holding on too long / have you ever held on?)

I also agree that a Mountain Goats song sounds like it would fit, but the ones that embody that "lonely" sound to me tend to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 5:36 AM on July 10, 2005

ELO - Rock and Roll Is King
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 9:05 AM on July 8, 2005

There's Citadel Outlets in Commerce, off of the I5 South. Look for the aggressively vibrant video billboards.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 5:28 PM on May 30, 2005

I've found eMusic to be a great resource for getting all those albums I vaguely intended to buy but never bothered. The last two Mirah CDs, for example. I also discovered that Webb Wilder just put out a new album for the first time in, like, six years. When I was younger, my father and I would listen to his music in the car as a compromise between our different musical tastes, so we were both hugely tickled to randomly find his new CD for download.

!!! And upon looking... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 12:01 AM on April 13, 2005

I know this is a bit late, but I've taken a few online courses through my local community college and one through UCLA, and I would agree that the quality of the class mostly depends on the instructor. A disorganized or technologically inept professor can make the experience horrible, just as an adept one can make it worthwhile.

The class I took via UCLA was on Screenwriting Fundamentals. My TA was in Chicago while my classmates were all over the globe, which was... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 2:13 AM on December 17, 2004

I believe the rainbow place is Barbelith. I've never attempted to join up, but I scan their threads occasionally, as the signal-to-noise ratio tends to be good.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 2:48 AM on September 5, 2004

punilux, bless your heart, I was able to clear up all the spyware issues on my family's computer except for those Windows Messenger pop-ups. At last the foe is defeated! Thanks very much for that link.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 8:43 PM on March 13, 2004

There are many appropriate choices off the Tallahassee album, but:

The Mountain Goats - No Children
posted to Ask Metafilter by brookedel at 7:03 PM on January 19, 2004