I enjoyed Preacher a lot despite its social conservatism. I'm glad I'm not the only person who noticed that, I tend to think that almost all of Garth Ennis' work is full of conservatism and homophobia, but when I bring it up, lots of people look at me like I'm crazy.

But Preacher had a pretty good idea and story. I think maybe toning down some of the sillier, more over the top stuff (that had little purpose in the story, it was just there to show more horrible damage to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:25 PM on August 27, 2008

There's no ethical quagmire related to embryonic stem cell research. There's certainly a political and religious one, though.

But hey, if this works, I guess that's good news. Just as long as normal embryonic stem cell research and treatments aren't delayed until this works.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:21 PM on August 27, 2008

BitterOldPunk: That lion in the sidecar picture blew me away when I first saw it a while back (on riotclitshave?). It's one of those images where I can't think of a single change that would improve it.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 4:51 PM on August 26, 2008

This is very good, but Wesley Crusher should really be painted on crushed velvet.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 7:21 PM on August 12, 2008

Large Hardon Collider
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 5:13 PM on July 30, 2008

First I thought it was just weirdness in the FPP, but then I saw it in people's comments to, so I have to ask: "an NES"?
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:52 AM on July 29, 2008

I'm embarrassed to have read The Da Vinci Code, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. My reasoning went "the last time people were talking this much about a book was Harry Potter, and that turned out to be quite enjoyable and fun".

Was I ever wrong.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:58 AM on July 28, 2008

I think it would be really cool, but I can see how people who care more about sports than I do would disagree. Once you start letting cyborgs into sports, there's really no limit to how far you can go, and it would never be the same again.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 11:18 AM on July 16, 2008

So, post-post-modernism?
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 12:35 PM on July 14, 2008

How about a little wine from another place?
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:20 AM on July 3, 2008

This is El Chapulín Colorado, a Mexican superhero parody, which inspired Bumblebee Man on The Simpsons.

Sadly, El Chapulín Colorado is pretty awful "humor", and the guy portraying him is a right-wing asshole. But you can't have everything, I guess.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:15 AM on July 3, 2008

The same guy has made a lot of claymation horror stuff. This is pretty decent, although quite derivative of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, until you get to the scary vagina dentata-mouthed goat thing at the end, which is just plain freaky.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 11:09 PM on July 1, 2008

The solution to that small problem is obviously to control gravity.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 3:53 PM on July 1, 2008

That Mega Wicker Man video is the best thing I've seen all week.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 4:20 PM on June 26, 2008

The alt hierarchy was always where all the fun stuff was, so this is a shame, but it's their prerogative. I fondly remember alt.folklore.urban, though, I wonder if that group is still as awesome as it used to be.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 8:36 PM on June 12, 2008

If you want to get into that whole Latin ska thing, you need to check out La Maldita Vecindad, with their biggest hit Pachuco, as well as Inspector, with Amargo Adios, and Panteón Rococó with La Dosis Perfecta and La Carencia. Latin ska is kind of different from normal ska, but I like it a lot, it's uncompromising party music. Enjoy with cold dark(ish) Mexican beer, like Victoria or Indio.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Joakim Ziegler at 8:57 PM on June 11, 2008

Oh, and I worked on that Molotov video. I like it, but I think their first album is hard to beat. Try Gimme tha power, Chinga tu madre, or Cerdo.

But some of their newer stuff is good too. I especially like Frijolero.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Joakim Ziegler at 11:08 PM on June 11, 2008

phrontist: I'm mostly interested in the Catholic angle, but I've been meaning to read something on Protestant movements in Latin America too, I know it's huge in Brazil. Here in Mexico, there are Protestant megachurches, with Brazilian preachers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Joakim Ziegler at 3:56 PM on June 11, 2008

I would recommend Jason Colavito's Cult of Alien Gods: H.P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture, which actually comes up with a plausible argument for tracing all the ancient astronaut stuff back to Lovecraft's fiction, but it's so annoyingly written that I really can't.

The author, who's a contributor to Skeptic magazine, is some sort of cross between Comic Book Guy and a rightwing-libertarian nutcase, who blames all this New Age superstition on the decline of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:12 PM on June 10, 2008

Artw: The Morning of the Magicians is definitely mentioned in Cult of Alien Gods. The lecture looks very interesting, though, thanks.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:47 PM on June 10, 2008

I noticed the odd lighting, but I kind of figured it was an attempt at making things look like silky, shiny fifities movie star portraits, or alternately soviet propaganda posters (the main Soviet henchman guy certainly has the face for it). Not sure I loved the look, but at least it made some sense to me.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 5:45 PM on June 9, 2008

Well, the ants aren't really cannibalistic, since they don't eat other ants. They are man-eating, though.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 8:26 PM on June 9, 2008

this once proud and vigorous people

What, now they're ashamed and wanting a nap?
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 8:26 PM on June 6, 2008

My point was more that turns of phrase like "this once proud people" and similar are hackneyed clichés. I was somewhat aware of the hardships the Ainu have been through, and I don't doubt their severity, I just think they deserve better prose.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 11:09 PM on June 6, 2008

Transhumanism seemed kind of interesting when I first read of it in WiReD back in the first half of the nineties, but what's mostly turned me off the movement is that even though they seem to "dare" everyone to think beyond the current limits of the human body and mind, they're unable to even consider the idea that there might be a better system for society than the most liberal market economics possible.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 2:27 PM on June 4, 2008

It's like a screensaver, except more manual.

Actually, the first few tools seem to be quite effective for drawing things that look a lot like subway maps.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 2:19 PM on June 4, 2008

"Cooking" bread? Shouldn't that be "baking"?
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:29 AM on June 4, 2008

tristeza: Do you like "fæces" better? I do. But then again, I'm Norwegian.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 6:34 PM on June 2, 2008

What's the general argument for removing Gender Identity Disorder from the DSM? Isn't GID as a disorder the basic reason that sexual reassignment surgery is considered a medical procedure, and not just plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons? If GID isn't a disorder, what separates sexual reassignment surgery from a boob job?

This might sound trollish, but I'm really not trying to troll, I'm honestly curious. It seems like a lot of attempts to build up sympathy for and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 11:22 AM on May 17, 2008

Man, that Vilsack logo is awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 12:30 AM on May 16, 2008

I remember this from getting on the Internet back in the first half of the nineties and finding huge FTP archives of amusing texts. It's quite funny, but it's not exactly new.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 11:54 PM on May 15, 2008

In a period of little work and freelancing, I was paid to make a website for this guy's visit to Mexico, to give some rather handsomely paid seminars. I don't know much about him, apart from the fact that he looks like Gollum.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 4:53 PM on May 15, 2008

The somethingawful tapestries was the first thing I thought of when I saw this, they're really a lot better. In fact, the very first "NEVAR FORGET!" one pretty much ends the discussion.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 2:02 AM on May 15, 2008

So he took someone else's photos and essentially hid them for 60 years, so that they could have no effect on the aftermath of the second world war, the cold war, or US nuclear weapons policy? What an asshole.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 12:17 PM on May 5, 2008

I trust all involved parties will respect the Dresden Protocols' restrictions on what parts of the ocean floor may and may not be mapped.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 2:54 PM on April 30, 2008

Wow, all of you care a lot about the rules for some obscure sport.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 6:34 PM on April 29, 2008

For a moment there, I was halfway hoping you'd say "I respect the power of the atom, but I don't want to get too close to one".
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 2:44 AM on April 29, 2008

You know, some people may be seeing this as fascism. I don't think it is, but it's pretty obviously abuse of power. However, I see something much more important going on. I see the abusers fighting a losing battle.

They abuse their power, and arrest someone, and other people start filming and taking pictures, so they try to shut them down by intimidating and eventually arresting them too. And then more people come by, including some group with what looks like a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 2:40 AM on April 29, 2008

I was about to say that, Garth Ennis anything seems to be the same, but 10 times more violent and with more "OMG the gays".
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:30 AM on April 28, 2008

They probably use gold because gold is purestrain and was created in the big bang. I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Ron Paul was ultimately behind this.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 6:49 AM on April 15, 2008

What bothers me about Cosby is that he mixes sane, rational ideas (stay in school, don't do drugs, take responsability for your life) with some pretty backwards, old-fashioned conservative bigoted ideas, like criticizing people for their names (and then he throws Mohammed in there as a name black people shouldn't use because they don't know anything about Africa), or that sex outside of wedlock is bad, or that single parents are inherently failures, or any number of other things that should have... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 6:29 PM on April 12, 2008

That crane video is incredibly terrifying. I decided to watch all of it, and I did, but I had to do it in parts. I was actually squirming around on the couch while watching the pullup stuff, and my feet still feel chilly from the adrenaline.

But then again, I'm more afraid of heights than most people I know.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 4:53 AM on April 7, 2008

The definition of "sexual assault" as commonly used seems to unfortunately be so vague and broad that it's in no way a replacement for "rape". The first link when googling for the term defines it as "anything that forces a person to join in unwanted sexual contact or attention", and includes everything from rape to someone exposing themselves in public to sexual harassment.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 11:54 PM on March 31, 2008

quin: I thought of Delta Green as well, except the short stories on the Delta Green site seem much better to me, and DG is a lot bleaker and scarier.

Shadow Unit seems to have a relatively simple mythology behind it, which works for getting things running without too much explanation, but I think it might come back to bite them later, since it's hard to not get repetitive. They're doing the "individual team members backstories" phase now, which is fine,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 10:46 PM on March 31, 2008

I was just at an office last night that had number 41 as a toilet sign, and it greatly amused me.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 6:42 PM on March 28, 2008

Is this really a "disaster", though? I mean, yeah, it's burning a bit of natural gas, but it looks cool, and doesn't harm anyone, really. Well, possibly the environment, a bit.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 1:09 PM on March 26, 2008

This is pretty funny, but am I the only one who thinks his voice is really annoying?
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 6:40 PM on March 23, 2008

That Bedside Companion is a neat idea, but who the hell reads only one book at a time?
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 6:22 PM on March 23, 2008

Amazing.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 2:39 AM on March 23, 2008

Well, the fact that it's the third reich should tip people off that it wasn't, yknow, the first one.
posted to MetaFilter by Joakim Ziegler at 5:33 PM on March 20, 2008