This may be the coolest flash game ever. Although it's graphics are nothing to write home about, the game play (which I will wisely follow kotaku's example in not spoiling for you) is quite simply incredible. It's a unique and quick little work break for you via kotaku.
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 3:21 PM on January 3, 2008 (92 comments)

Resolve.org is a site devoted to providing support, both emotional and practical, to people struggling with infertility issues. The immediately apparent benefits to visiting would be their informational documents and errata, but of at least equal value are the bulletin boards where you can talk with other people dealing with infertility, whether it's for the sake of venting, chatting or just to have someplace you can go where you don't have to hear the words "well, adoption isn't so bad..."
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 11:40 PM on September 17, 2007 (66 comments)

Looking for an ego boost? The fine people over at The Screenplay Agency are the place for you! No logline too stupid, no script too poorly written! Are you tired of agency after agency telling you that they don't want your 20 year old screenplay about how much you love peanut butter just because "It doesn't make any sense, and is written with crayon on a pile of dirty gym socks?" I know I was! Until I found out about The Screenplay Agency, who promptly accepted every criminally copyright infringing idea I threw at them until I just KNEW I was every bit as good I writer as I've always told myself I am. And all they asked of me was approximately $250 in fees paid to coverage agencies no one has ever heard of and which seem to be owned by the same company that owns The Screenplay Agency! Sure, you've heard of publishing scams like Publish America (part 2) thanks to the diligence of sites like Making Light and our own thread on the matter, but The Screenplay Agency is totally different! For one thing, they only rip you off boost your ego through screenplays. Now, some legitimate screenplay writers high and mighty hollywood types have gone and pranked this excellent automated delusion reinforcer. But don't let those spoilsports spoil your sport! (God, I am such a great writer. No wonder they loved my screenplay!) Go ahead and generate your own rave reviews!
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 1:59 PM on February 25, 2006 (14 comments)

The PacMan Frog! What is it about this most saffronly rotund of amphibians that has inspired so many hideous web sites? (Don't even bother clicking on this one. It goes right to a geocities site.) Perhaps it's their tendency to try to eat anything they could get their oversized mouths on. They are, in fact, so ready and willing to consume anything within biting distance that it is recommended that owners feed these frogs with spoons. Pac man frogs will tend to bite anything that moves. Never use you [sic] bare hands when feeding to avoid bites. Many frogs are killed when a hand is quickly drawn away from a bite and the horned frog is flung against a wall. This one, apparently, just put a bounty out on Han Solo.

Whether you love them or hate them, all pacman frog owners agree: there's no tidy way to wrap up a post about pacman frogs. (Warning: almost inhumanly annoying website behind link. embedded qt midi music (really, though. what if God WERE one of us?) and horrific purple color scheme.)
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 8:45 PM on January 25, 2006 (16 comments)

Overheard in New York: A site so complex, so subtle and deceptive, that its site address couldn't possibly tell you all you need to know about the site's content.
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 3:33 PM on November 13, 2005 (60 comments)

Publishers must die, claims Greg Costikyan, industry insider. But can he win out in the end, or is his princess in another castle? It seems that Mr. Costikyan is putting his money where his mouth is. I'm pulling the trigger. At this point, I have no funding, other than a little money myself; nothing ready to launch, either. But I do have a partner, the offered support of some other companies, a clear sense of what I need to accomplish in the next few months, and a draft (not a final one) of a business plan and financials. This is, of course, terrifying. Mr. Costikyan mentioned previously here and here. [via] [personal opinion inside]
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 11:36 PM on September 28, 2005 (26 comments)

Oh... My... God. I can't tell if this is a hoax, but it would seem genuine enough if it weren't so surreal. I mean... advertising. On homeless sign boards. I'm going to go hold my head under the bathwater until I stop struggling, now.
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 10:12 AM on September 20, 2005 (72 comments)

Bill Cosby has no sense of humor... In a move that shocked the internet to the very soles of its shoes, Bill Cosby sent had his lawyer send a Cease and Desist letter to the creator of channel101.com's wildly popular House of Cosbys series, asking... nay, demanding the cessation of all Cosby related creative material generation. That's it. That's all there is to the story.

Wait! There's more! Channel101.com's Dan Harmon wrote an open letter to Cosby's legal team informing them of his intention to continue hosting the original 4 episodes, even if no further episodes would be made.

Hell, even the adorable Andrew Baio loves it. But then again, Andy Baio also likes peach colored page designs...
Channel101.com also mentioned here and here.
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 9:14 PM on September 11, 2005 (26 comments)

Creative COW (Communities Of the World) seems to be a one-stop... stop... for help with After Effects, Combustion, and other industry software of just about any type. While some (nevertheless incredible) tutorials are a bit difficult to decipher, they could also be much worse. The focus looks mostly to be on After Effects and other Motion Graphics software, but the forums are invaluable for just about anything you might need. Of particular note would be the Demo Reels forum, where anyone from Editors to Directors of Photography, and even Game Developers (former or otherwise) can post reels for criticism and even be approached for work. Some of them are incredible, even if you're not involved in the industry.
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 2:44 PM on September 8, 2005 (8 comments)

Independent coders remake Origin's Privateer. Once upon a time, Wing Commander and Free Enterprise had a beautiful baby. Then the dastardly Electronic Arts killed Origin Systems, the maker of the Wing Commander and Privateer series. The townspeople trembled in fear. From where would come their salvation? Sure, they had Freelancer, but you couldn't even use a joystick with that game! For a long time, it looked like the decent HOTAS and Sci Fi loving populace would be doomed to wander stickless through the desert of action oriented Space Simulation games, when Lo! from the far away land of Independent Game Makers came the 1.0 release of the Privateer remake for Linux, Windows and OS X simultaneously. And the people played it, and it was good. [via /.] [more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 4:28 PM on March 7, 2005 (29 comments)

Ryan , the Oscar winner for Best Short Film, is a canadian 3d and 2d animated masterpiece. I wish I could provide more than the material already provided by Andy Baio, but I just felt like you all should see this. It's the true story of Ryan Landis, a brilliant artist devastated by the real world. It's also the story of his impact on the director. That really doesn't do it justice. Please just click. apology inside
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 12:06 AM on March 1, 2005 (21 comments)

The Night Land, William H Hodgson's surreal fantasy, inspired largely by H G Wells' The Time Machine, (do you really need an amazon link?) but not resembling it all that much, is called by Gardner Dozois (editor of Asimov's Science Fiction since 1985) "one of the flat out strangest novels ever written" in the 21st annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology. The novel, written at the turn of the century, was also described by H P Lovecraft in the following way: "Allowing for all its faults, it is yet one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written." How many novels have you read that have an entire web site dedicated to simultaneously exalting it and apologizing for it? Andy Robertson's web site is a companion to the book he edited collecting stories from modern sci-fi writers attempting to pay homage to the under-appreciated novel. (note: The above-mentioned anthology contains a story, also published on Robertson's web site by John C Wright, entitled "Awake In The Night," which is fantastic in its own right, as well.) (Did I mention that Hodgson "brutally treated" Harry Houdini? Scroll To Middle Of Page.)
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 6:41 PM on February 18, 2005 (9 comments)