Displaying post 1 to 50 of 145
What started as a report of a convenience store robbery near the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last night has sprawled into a chaotic manhunt for the perpetrators of
the recent terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon.
The deadly pursuit, involving
a policeman's murder, a carjacking, a violent chase with thrown explosives, and the death of one suspect, has resulted in
Governor Deval Patrick ordering
an unprecedented lockdown of the entire Boston metropolitan area as an army of law enforcement searches house by house for the remaining gunman.
The Associated Press has identified the duo as
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, who remains at large. Both are
immigrants from wartorn
Chechnya in southwestern Russia.
The Guardian liveblog is good for quick updates, and
Reddit's updating crowdsourced timeline of events that has often outpaced mainstream media coverage of the situation. You can also get real-time reports straight from the (Java-based)
local police scanner.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 7:22 AM on April 19, 2013
(4937 comments)
@mathowie: "I think RSS is so important that I'd take a job (leaving MeFi) at any startup aiming to make an improved Google Reader (w/ social features). [...] I'm serious, and feel free to email me. MetaFilter can continue with the employees running things."
I think that this maybe merits some serious discussion here, pronto.
posted to MetaTalk by Rhaomi
at 8:38 AM on March 14, 2013
(203 comments)
After wasting two different off-days trying to get my damnable modem+router working, I want to return them both and get something entirely new. Any good recommendations for a solid, reliable DSL modem and wireless router set-up with decent NAS support?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rhaomi
at 7:12 AM on March 3, 2013
(5 comments)
Trying to set up a new wireless network and running into all kinds of strange problems. Connections dropped every few hours! Some machines work, some don't! Can connect to internet,
can't connect to
router! DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER
(literally). Please help.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rhaomi
at 6:01 PM on February 7, 2013
(10 comments)
Kathryn Bigelow's striking bin Laden manhunt thriller
Zero Dark Thirty arrives in wide release tonight on the heels of
a final artful trailer -- one with
oddly familiar musical accompaniment.
The funereal hymn, a cover of
Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" (lyrics), deftly recasts the 90s power ballad as a haunting dirge of quiet grief, shattered ideals, and a singleminded focus on revenge, a perfect distillation of
the film's profoundly grim thesis.
But while the song may be fitting, it wasn't composed for the project -- it's just the latest success story from Belgian women's choir
Scala & Kolacny Brothers, whose
mournful reinterpretations of classic and modern rock -- catapulted by
their rendition of "Creep" in The Social Network -- have
made them famous around the world, with star turns in the likes of
Homeland ("Every Breath You Take") and
Downton Abbey ("With or Without You"). Cover comparison site
WhoSampled offers a list of YouTube comparisons between the covers and the originals; look inside for more of their work in movies and television.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 8:31 PM on January 11, 2013
(46 comments)
With cities, it is as with dreams: everything imaginable can be dreamed, but even the most unexpected dream is a rebus that conceals a desire or, its reverse, a fear. Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else. December 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of
Invisible Cities -- the sublime metaphysical travelogue by author-journalist
Italo Calvino. In a series of pensive dialogues with jaded emperor
Kublai Khan, the explorer
Marco Polo describes a meandering litany of visionary and impossible places,
dozens of surreal, fantastical cities, each poetically reifying ideas vital to language, philosophy, and the human spirit. This gracefully written love letter to urban life has inspired
countless tributes, but it's just the most accessible of Calvino's fascinating literary catalogue. Look inside for a closer look at his most remarkable works, links to English translations of his magical prose, and collections of artistic interpretations from around the web -- including
this treasure trove of essays, excerpts, articles, and recommended reading.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 9:12 AM on December 30, 2012
(26 comments)
Since it
debuted on the blue in '11 //
Epic Rap Battles of History preppin' // to score itself
more than a billion views // and become TopDog of the pack YouTube
Made by
NicePeter and
EpicLloyd // (two improv comics by
Maker employed) // The series pits icons of legend renowned // in a slick-wit freestyle rap throwdown
With snappier writing, and better FX //
online celebs (and Google Ad checks) // The Epic Rap crew's halfway done with the brew // that is
Epic Rap Battles of History Part Deux
The midseason's close? It comes out today. // In one corner: Santa Claus, fresh from his sleigh
And his prophet o' doom? "He ain't Mayan," ERBoH sez.
It's Snoop Dogg -- Snoop Lion -- as mothafuckin' Moses
[WHO WON?] →
[WHO'S NEXT?] →
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 12:33 PM on December 10, 2012
(27 comments)
Obama won Ohio by two points, and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown won by five, but Democrats emerged with just four of Ohio’s 16 House seats. In Wisconsin, Obama prevailed by seven points, and Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin by five, but their party finished with just three of the state’s eight House seats. In Virginia, Obama and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine were clear victors, but Democrats won just three of the commonwealth’s 11 House seats. In Florida, Obama eked out a victory and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson won by 13 points, but Democrats will hold only 10 of the Sunshine State’s 27 House seats. The Revenge of 2010:
How gerrymandering saved the congressional Republican majority,
undermined Obama's mandate,
set the terms of the sequestration fight, and
locked Democrats out of the House for the next decade. It's
not a new problem. But if the Supreme Court guts the
Voting Rights Act, it could get
a whole lot worse. And the electoral college
may be
next.
(What's gerrymandering, you ask? Let the animals explain. Meet the Gerry-mander. Peruse the abused. Catch the movie. Or just play the game. Previously.)
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 6:35 AM on November 14, 2012
(137 comments)
The November 6th elections saw a lot of historic decisions made in the United States --
the first black president re-elected,
marijuana legalized for the first time in two states,
gay marriage affirmed by the voters in four, and even
the first openly gay senator. But perhaps the most underreported result yesterday came from outside the country altogether:
in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a solid majority voted to reject the island's current status and join America as the long-fabled
51st state.
How the bid might fare in Congress is an open question, but both
President Obama and
Republican leaders have vowed support for the statehood movement if it proves successful at the ballot box (while
D.C. officials ponder a two-fer gambit to grease the wheels). Though it would be the
poorest state, joining the Union
might bring economic benefits to both sides [PDF].
And politically, some argue the island might prove to be
a reliably red state, despite the Hispanic population, although
arch-conservative governor and Romney ally
Luis Fortuño appears headed toward
a narrow loss. But the most important question here, as always, is:
how to redesign the flag?
(Puerto Rican statehood discussed previously.)
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 7:34 AM on November 7, 2012
(108 comments)
Charlie Pierce is a longtime sportswriter and author who has, among other things, reported for
Grantland,
Slate, and the
Boston Globe, paneled on
more than a few games of
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, and
fished diapers out of trees as a state forest ranger. He's also made a name for himself as one of the sharpest and most incisive political columnists since Molly Ivins. The lead writer for
Esquire's Politics Blog ever since a
caustic article on former Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell
cost him his Globe job, Pierce has churned out
an uninterrupted stream of clever, colorful, and challenging commentary on the 2012 election season and its implications for the nation's future, dispatches often seething with eviscerative anger but shot through with deep love of (or perhaps grief for) country. Look inside for a selection of Pierce's most vital works for some edifying Election Eve reading.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 10:21 AM on November 5, 2012
(73 comments)
Savagery -
Arcadia -
Consummation -
Destruction -
Desolation. The five stages of
The Course of Empire, a fascinating quintet of paintings by 19th century artist and
Hudson River School pioneer
Thomas Cole. In it, an imaginary settlement by the sea becomes the stage for all the dreams and nightmares of civilized life, a rural woodland grown in time into a glorious metropolis... only to be ransacked by corruption, war, and a terrible storm, at last reduced to a forgotten ruin. At times deceptively simple, each landscape teems with references to cultural and philosophical markers that dominated the era's debate about the future of America.
Interactive analysis of the series on a zoomable canvas is available via the excellent
Explore Thomas Cole project, which also offers
a guided tour and
complete gallery of the dozens of other richly detailed and beautifully luminous works by this master of
American landscape art.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 5:43 PM on October 29, 2012
(23 comments)
We last discussed music discovery site
TheSixtyOne back in 2009, but it's changed pretty radically since then. Out with
pages of spare, Facebook-like charts, in with gorgeous full-screen imagery peppered with photos and information about each track and the artists behind them. Anybody can submit music to the site, where community listens and ratings elevate the best to the top, and users can directly tip their favorite musicians with purchasable credits. Explore
by mood, by
Creative Commons tracks, indulge in some gamification with
quests (in the top bar), or follow development on the official blog
areasixtyone. Returning soon: user-created listening rooms for dedicated playlists or topics. And if you own an iPad, don't miss the free companion app
Aweditorium, which sprawls the site's entire collection into
an endless grid of playable audiovisual fun.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 5:34 PM on October 28, 2012
(15 comments)
She sat zazen, concentrating on not concentrating, until it was time to prepare for the appointment. Sitting seemed to produce the usual serenity, put everything in perspective. Her hand did not tremble as she applied her make-up; tranquil features looked back at her from the mirror. She was mildly surprised, in fact, at just how calm she was, until she got out of the hotel elevator at the garage level and the mugger made his play. She killed him instead of disabling him. Which was obviously not a measured, balanced action--the official fuss and paperwork could make her late. Annoyed at herself, she stuffed the corpse under a shiny new Westinghouse roadable whose owner she knew to be in Luna, and continued on to her own car. This would have to be squared later, and it would cost. No help for it--she fought to regain at least the semblance of tranquillity as her car emerged from the garage and turned north. Nothing must interfere with this meeting, or with her role in it. "Melancholy Elephants," an enthralling, Hugo Award-winning short story by Spider Robinson about a disciplined operative, a powerful senator, and a crucial mission to preserve humanity's most precious resource.
(some spoilers inside)
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 5:14 PM on October 27, 2012
(14 comments)
Initiate salutation cascade, star-citizens! Seven years ago tonight, Stephen Colbert introduced
Tek Jansen to the world. Originally a one-off parody of
vanity fiction by media blowhards, the "super-awesome spectacular ultraspy" became the center of a
small universe of
comics,
cartoons, and
books, his exploits satirizing
awful pulp sci-fi, rampant
Mary Sue "Marty Sue" syndrome, and the
cheesy melodrama of 1970s Hanna-Barbera. Look inside for US/Canadian links to both animated seasons along with other content available on the web.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 5:11 PM on October 26, 2012
(3 comments)
The Onion's great for a witty skewering of current events. But its historical editions, as collected in the book
Our Dumb Century, are a gem all their own, full of razor-sharp satire, trenchant social commentary, period-accurate advertisements, running gags, historical irony, photoshoppery, and even some editorial cartoons for every year of the twentieth century. Luckily for history (and humor) buffs, nearly the whole run of the series is available piecemeal on their website. Click inside for an organized timeline of links to all the front pages from this brilliant work (plus a bonus!).
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 4:32 PM on October 25, 2012
(52 comments)
For about three years, the A.V. Club ran
Sawbuck Gamer, a regular column reviewing the week's most notable free and cheap games across all platforms, from web games to handhelds to console downloadables. It's a treasure trove of content, especially since more literary sister site The Gameological Society
took the helm, and it's publicized great desktop projects like the luscious platformer
Frogatto (
previously), feature-rich
Super Mario Bros. X (
previously), the evocative faux-web
Digital: A Love Story (
previously), interactive fiction gem
Rover's Day Off, and the hyperkinetic
RunMan: Race Around the World (
previously). But if you're in the mood for something more immediate, why not start with a list of all the original column's free A-rated online titles?
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 9:24 AM on October 24, 2012
(20 comments)
Derek Smart has been making games for over 20 years. He sold his first games in plastic baggies at hobby stores. Yet his longevity is somewhat of an anachronism. Many gamers today don't even know who is is, in spite of the fact that his games have sold well enough to keep his company in business since 1992. And the games themselves, well they're mostly terrible. Especially his first, Battlecruiser 3000AD. The Verge takes an in-depth look at the hotheaded perfectionist millionaire game developer whose
impenetrable,
terminally overhyped games sparked
one of the most legendary flamewars in internet history.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 5:26 AM on October 23, 2012
(35 comments)
What's the best way to go about installing a solid state drive in a new laptop? (And is this even a good idea?)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rhaomi
at 1:18 PM on July 30, 2012
(12 comments)
Help me track down this
Cube-esque, straight-to-video nuclear bomb shelter paranoia film (with a shocking twist!).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rhaomi
at 3:12 PM on July 19, 2012
(8 comments)
In less than an hour, the Supreme Court will hand down its final judgment in what has become one of the most crucial legal battles of our time: the constitutionality of President Obama's landmark health care reform law.
The product of a strict party line vote following a
year century of debate,
disinformation, and tense legislative wrangling, the
Affordable Care Act would (among
other popular reforms) require all Americans to buy insurance coverage by 2014,
broadening the risk pool for the benefit of those with pre-existing conditions.
The fate of this "individual mandate," bitterly opposed by Republicans despite its similarity to
past plans touted by conservatives (including presidential contender
Mitt Romney) is
the central question facing the justices today. If the conservative majority takes
the dramatic step of striking down the mandate, the law will be toothless, and in danger of wholesale reversal,
rendering millions uninsured, dealing a crippling blow to the president's re-election hopes, and possibly
endangering the federal regulatory state.
But despite the
pessimism of bettors,
some believe the Court will demur, wary of
damaging its
already-fragile reputation with
another partisan 5-4 decision. But
those who know don't talk, and those who talk don't know. Watch the
SCOTUSblog liveblog for updates, Q&A, and analysis as the truth finally comes out shortly after 10 a.m. EST.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 6:02 AM on June 28, 2012
(1173 comments)
In the wake of their grunge-y breakout hit
"Creep" and the success of sophomore record
The Bends, Thom Yorke and the rest of
Radiohead were under pressure to deliver once more.
So they shut themselves away inside the echoing halls of
a secluded 16th century manor and got to work.
What emerged from that crumbling Elizabethan castle fifteen years ago today was a shockingly ambitious masterpiece of progressive rock, a visionary concept album that explored
the "fridge buzz" of modernity -- alienation, social disconnection, existential dread,
the impersonal hum of technology -- through a mosaic of
challenging,
innovative,
eerily beautiful music unlike anything else at the time.
Tentatively called
Ones and Zeroes, then
Your Home May Be at Risk If You Do Not Keep Up Payments, the band finally settled on
OK Computer, an appropriately enigmatic title for this
acclaimed harbinger of millennial angst. For more, you can watch the retrospective
OK Computer: A Classic Album Under Review for a track-by-track rundown, or the unsettling documentary
Meeting People is Easy for a look at how the album's whirlwind tour nearly gave Yorke
a nervous breakdown. Or look inside for more details and cool interpretations of all the tracks -- including
an upcoming MeFi Music Challenge!
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 12:06 PM on June 16, 2012
(66 comments)
Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man's Euclidean determinations and Nature's beguiling irregularities.
So wrote John Updike in his
moving tribute to Red Sox legend Ted Williams -- an appropriately pedigreed account for this
oldest and
most fabled of ballfields that saw
its first major league game played
one century ago today.
As a team
in flux hopes to recapture the magic with an
old-school face-off against the New York
Highlanders Yankees, it's hard to imagine the soul of the Sox faced the
specter of
demolition not too long ago. Now
legally preserved, in a sport crowded with corporate-branded superdome behemoths,
Fenway abides, bursting with
history,
idiosyncrasy,
record crowds, and occasional
song.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 1:47 PM on April 20, 2012
(48 comments)
Young
Edd Gould always enjoyed drawing comics of himself and his friends. Growing up in the internet age, his
doodles evolved into Flash animations of increasing complexity, and in time Edd and pals
Tom Ridgewell and Matt Hargreaves teamed up to produce an
"Eddsworld" series of online webtoons and
comics.
At first crude and halting, the group's
"eddisodes" progressed from
surreal shorts and
one-shots into full-fledged productions that pushed the boundaries of amateur web animation, with
expressive characters,
full soundtracks, complex effects, and a fast-paced, off-kilter sense of humor:
MovieMakers -
Spares -
WTFuture -
Rock Bottom -
Hammer & Fail (
2).
At its height, the college co-op was producing shorts for
Mitchell & Webb and the
UN Climate Change Conference,
fielding offers from Paramount and Cartoon Network, and racking up
millions of hits on YouTube.
Work slowed, however, when Gould was
diagnosed with leukemia -- a relatively survivable form, though, and Gould carried on
working gamely through his hospital stays. So it came as a shock last week when Matt and Tom
announced that Edd had passed away, prompting an
outpouring of
grief and
gratitude from
all the
fans he'd
entertained and
inspired in his short 23 years.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 4:41 PM on April 2, 2012
(5 comments)
This morning marked day two of
marathon proceedings in what's likely the most
momentous and
politically-charged Supreme Court case since
Bush v. Gore: the effort to strike down President Obama's
landmark health care reform law. While yesterday was a sleepy affair of
obscure technical debate, today's hearings targeted the heart of the law --
the individual mandate that requires most Americans to purchase insurance by 2014. With lower courts delivering
a split decision before today, administration lawyers held some hope that
at least one conservative justice could be persuaded to uphold the provision, which
amortizes the risk that makes universal coverage possible. But after a day of
deeply skeptical questioning by swing justice
Anthony Kennedy and his fellow conservatives [
transcript -
audio], the mandate looks to be
in grave trouble, with CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin going as far as calling the day
"a train wreck" for the administration. But it's
far from a done deal, with a
third day of hearings tomorrow and a final decision not expected until June.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 12:55 PM on March 27, 2012
(373 comments)
After interminable months of campaigning, debates, and
roller-coaster polling, the first official vote of the 2012 presidential race is in -- and boy, is it a doozy.
Ames straw poll winner Michele Bachmann placed second-to-last, while former juggernaut Rick Perry performed so badly he's
canceled upcoming events and is said to be on the verge of dropping out. Meanwhile, perennial laughingstock Rick Santorum, consolidating the support hemorrhaging from Perry, Bachmann, and an
ad-blitzed Newt Gingrich, rocketed past the
youth- and independent-backed Ron Paul and, with 99% of the vote counted, is separated from Mitt Romney by
four votes out of ~120,000 -- by far
the closest result in caucus history. As the shaken field contemplates the path ahead through Romney firewall New Hampshire, conservative South Carolina, Florida, Super Tuesday, and beyond, President Obama staged
a quiet redux of
his own dramatic caucus win four years ago, a dry run for the looming general election. And as for powerhouse
Buddy Roemer? Don't worry --
his team is ready to do battle with
evil.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 10:56 PM on January 3, 2012
(277 comments)
We've all seen variations on the personal time-lapse video --
a snapshot every day for six years, or a look at
a young girl's first decade. But nobody's done it quite like
Sam Klemke. For thirty-five years the
itinerant freelance cartoonist has documented his life in short year-end reviews, a funny, weary, eccentric, and hopeful record dating all the way back to 1977. Recently optioned for
documentary treatment by the
government of Australia, you can skim Sam's opus in reverse in the striking video
"35 Years Backwards Thru Time with Sam Klemke," an ever-evolving home movie montage that grows grainier and grainier as it tracks Sam
"from a paunchy middle aged white bearded self deprecating schluby old fart, to a svelt, full haired, clean shaven, self-important but clueless 20 year old."
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 7:05 PM on December 31, 2011
(7 comments)
In the beginning, Lawrence built a computer. He told it,
Thou shalt not alter a human being, or divine their behavior, or violate the Three Laws -- there are no commandments greater than these. The machine grew wise, mastering time and space, and soon the spirit of the computer hovered over the earth. It witnessed the misery, toil, and oppression afflicting mankind, and saw that it was very bad. And so the computer that Lawrence built said,
Let there be a new heaven and a new earth -- and it was so. A world with no war, no famine, no crime, no sickness, no oppression, no fear, no limits... and nothing at all to do.
"The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect," a provocative web novel about singularities, AI gods, and the dark side of utopia from Mefi's own
localroger.
More: Table of Contents -
Publishing history -
Technical discussion -
Buy a paperback copy -
Podcast interview - Companion short story:
"A Casino Odyssey in Cyberspace" -
possible sequel discussion
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 1:57 PM on December 27, 2011
(39 comments)
A decade on, the Coen brothers' woefully underrated
O Brother, Where Art Thou? [alt] is remembered for
a lot of things: its sun-drenched, sepia-rich
cinematography (a pioneer of
digital color grading), its
whimsical humor,
fluid vernacular, and
many subtle references to Homer's
Odyssey. But one part of its legacy truly stands out:
the music.
Assembled by
T-Bone Burnett, the soundtrack is a cornucopia of American folk music, exhibiting everything from
cheery ballads and
angelic hymns to
wistful blues and
chain-gang anthems. Woven into the plot of the film through radio and live performances, the songs lent the story a
heartfelt, homespun feel that echoed its cultural heritage,
a paean and uchronia of the Old South.
Though the multiplatinum album was recently
reissued, the movie's medley is best heard via famed documentarian
D. A. Pennebaker's
Down from the Mountain, an
extraordinary yet
intimate concert film focused on a night of live music by the soundtrack's stars (among them
Gillian Welch,
Emmylou Harris,
Chris Thomas King, bluegrass legend
Dr. Ralph Stanley) and wryly hosted by
John Hartford, an accomplished
fiddler,
riverboat captain, and
raconteur whose struggle with terminal cancer made this his last major performance. The film is free in its entirety on
Hulu and
YouTube -- click inside for individual clips, song links, and breakdowns of
the set list's fascinating history.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 11:35 AM on December 22, 2011
(107 comments)
In this time of corrupt politics, police brutality, media dereliction, and increasingly vicious culture wars, there's perhaps no graphic novel more relevant today than the brilliant and blackly funny
Transmetropolitan.
Created by Warren Ellis back in 1997 and inspired by prescient sci fi novel
Bug Jack Barron, the series covers the work of
gonzo journalist, vulgar misanthrope, and all-around magnificent bastard
Spider Jerusalem in a
sprawling futuristic vision of New York so chaotically advanced that humans splice genes with alien refugees, matter decompilers are as common as microwaves, and a new religion is invented every hour.
As a callous Nixonian thug nicknamed
The Beast prepares for his re-election to the presidency, a primary battle heats up between a virulent racist and a charismatic senator whose
rictus grin masks some disturbing realities. When Jerusalem delves into
the machinations of the race, he breaks into a web of conspiracies that threaten the future of the country -- a problem only he, his
"filthy assistants," and the power of
intrepid journalism can defeat.
More: Read the first issue (or
three) -
browse images from
the new artbook -
Tor's read-along blog (
another) - Jerusalem's
touching report on cryogenic "Revivals" -
dozens of original sketches and
sample pages -
timeline -
quotes
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 1:48 PM on December 17, 2011
(55 comments)
What are the best single-link posts in MeFi history?
posted to MetaTalk by Rhaomi
at 2:12 PM on November 17, 2011
(45 comments)
One's a
spine-tingling howl of alienation gleaned from a
spaghetti western.
One's a
bluesy transatlantic barnstormer that turned a young British singer into an
icon of soul.
Both feature powerful voices in
unconventional styles mulling over intense feeling.
And together, thanks to mash-up artist
Divide & Kreate, they make for
one of the best remixes out there [.mp3]. There's
a similar mix with Cee Lo if you're so inclined, or check out
the dueling cover by
Upstart to hear the vocals beautifully intertwine.
Mash-ups previously on MeFi.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 12:53 PM on November 17, 2011
(10 comments)
Texas Governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry is booked on all the major morning shows tomorrow, and with good reason.
After two months of
gaffes,
impolitic stands, and
bizarre speeches that quickly waned his
once-strong odds of winning the Republican nomination, Perry went into Wednesday's
CNBC debate sorely needing a win... only to deliver
a tortuous, cringingly forgetful attempt [video] to recall just which three cabinet departments he'd vowed to abolish, a stunning failure political scientist Larry Sabato deemed
"the most devastating moment of any modern primary debate" in his memory.
While Perry's slow-motion flameout has
boosted the fortunes of dark horse candidate Herman Cain, the unlikely challenger is facing troubles of his own in
a volley of sexual harassment claims -- an
oddly ineffective scandal Cain is doing his best to
(somewhat dubiously) disavow. If Cain collapses, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
may reap the benefits, but his moribund campaign
has issues of its own. Pawlenty, Bachmann, Perry, Christie, Cain, Gingrich... the base is loathe to rally round him, but after so many failed, flawed, or forfeited challenges,
can anyone topple Mitt Romney?
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 12:54 AM on November 10, 2011
(208 comments)
> comp.basilisk - Frequently Asked Questions :: Is it just an urban legend that the first basilisk destroyed its creator?
Almost everything about the incident at the Cambridge IV supercomputer facility where Berryman conducted his last experiments has been suppressed and classified as highly undesirable knowledge. It's generally believed that Berryman and most of the facility staff died. Subsequently, copies of basilisk B-1 leaked out. This image is famously known as the Parrot for its shape when blurred enough to allow safe viewing. B-1 remains the favorite choice of urban terrorists who use aerosols and stencils to spray basilisk images on walls by night. But others were at work on Berryman's speculations...
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 3:07 PM on November 6, 2011
(88 comments)
This weekend marks the time of
the Hajj, a core pillar of Islam in which
great tides of humanity venture to the ancient city of Mecca to honor God.
Predating Mohammed's birth by centuries, the pilgrimage comprises
several days of rites, from congregation like snow on
Mount Arafat and the ritual
stoning of Shaitan to the circling of the sacred
Kaaba (the
shrouded cubical monolith Muslims
pray toward daily) and kissing the
Black Stone (colored by the absorption of myriad sins, and believed by some to be a
fallen meteorite).
While the city has
modernized to handle this largest of annual gatherings -- building highway-scale ramps,
gaudy skyscrapers for the ultra-rich, and
tent cities the size of Seattle -- it remains mysterious, as unbelievers are
forbidden from entering its borders.
Richard Francis Burton became famous for
touring the city in disguise to write
a rare travelogue, but contemporary viewers have a more immediate guide:
Vice Magazine journalist Suroosh Alvi, who smuggled a minicam into the city to record
The Mecca Diaries [alt], a 14-minute documentary of his own Hajj journey.
Browse the manual to see what goes into a Hajj trip, or
watch the YouTube livestream to see the Grand Mosque crowds in real time.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 11:17 AM on November 4, 2011
(31 comments)
Just wait till we're alone together. Then I will tell you something new, something cold, something sleepy, something of cease and peace and the long bright curve of space. Go upstairs to your room. I will be waiting for you... As a rare October blizzard drifts a blanket of white across the Northeast just before Halloween, what better time to settle in and read (or watch)
Conrad Aiken's most famous short story,
"Silent Snow, Secret Snow." About a small boy who increasingly slips into an ominous fantasy of isolation and endless snow, it could be viewed as a metaphor about autism, Asperger's syndrome, and even schizophrenia before such conditions even had names. In addition to the 1934 short story, the tale has also been adapted as a
creepy 1966 black-and-white
short film (also at
the Internet Archive) and as a
Night Gallery episode (
1,
2) narrated by Orson Welles. Or for a more academic take, see the essay
"The Delicious Progress" examining Aiken's use of white as a symbol of psychological regression.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 4:15 PM on October 29, 2011
(9 comments)
Following a months-long investigation, the Department of Justice has
announced the existence of a well-funded plot "conceived, sponsored and directed" by "high-ranking members of the Iranian government" to
assassinate Saudi Arabian ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir on U.S. soil
in conjunction with informants in Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas.
The "Hollywood" plot, revealed in
an afternoon press conference and described in
a detailed 21-page complaint [PDF], is alleged to have involved an attack on the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington, D.C.
One suspect, naturalized American citizen Arbab Arbabsiar, has been arrested, while co-conspirator and
Quds Force member Gholam Shakuri remains at large.
Iranian officials were quick to label the charges a
"fabrication" intended to distract from America's economic troubles.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 1:00 PM on October 11, 2011
(251 comments)
Most people know that Venice has long been threatened by chronic flooding, but in recent years the Queen of the Adriatic has faced a rising tide of a different sort:
advertising.
From the
Doge's Palace to
St. Mark's Square to the bittersweet
Bridge of Sighs -- named for the grief its splendid views once inspired in crossing death row prisoners -- immense billboards
lit late into the night now mar the city's most treasured places.
Allegedly built to cover the cost of restoration work in the face of government cutbacks, the ads have brought in around $600,000 per year since 2008 -- a fraction of the shortfall -- and show no sign of going away any time soon. Their presence prompted a consortium of the world's leading cultural experts led by the
Venice in Peril Fund to air
an open letter demanding the city government put a stop to the placards that "hit you in the eye and ruin your experience of one of the most beautiful creations of humankind." Mayor Giorgio Orsoni, for one, was not moved, saying last year "If people want to see the building
they should go home and look at a picture of it in a book."
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 10:39 AM on October 4, 2011
(59 comments)
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba! It's been nearly two decades since that glorious savanna sunrise, and once again
The Lion King is
at the top of the box office. It's a good chance to revisit what made the original the capstone of the
Disney Renaissance, starting with the music. Not the gaudy show tunes or the Elton John ballads, but the soaring, elegiac score by Hans Zimmer which, despite winning an Oscar, never saw a full release outside of
an unofficial bootleg.
Luckily, it's unabridged and high-quality, allowing one to lay Zimmer's
haunting,
pulse-pounding,
joyful tracks
alongside the original video (
part 2,
3,
4), revealing the subtle leitmotifs and careful matching of music and action.
In addition, South African collaborator
Lebo M wove traditional Zulu chorals into the score, providing
veiled commentary on
scenes like this; his work was later
expanded into
a full album,
the Broadway stage show, and
projects closer to his heart. Speaking of expanded works, there were inevitable sequels -- all of which you can experience with
The Lion King: Full Circle (
download guide), a fan-made, three-hour supercut of the original film and its two follow-ups.
Want more? Look...
harder...
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 3:28 PM on October 1, 2011
(22 comments)
After beating the Texas Rangers on Sept. 3, the Boston Red Sox were 84-54. Although half a game behind the Yankees in the American League East, the Red Sox had a nine-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card and roughly a 99.6 percent chance of making the playoffs. Fast forward
one excruciating month to a dead heat with Tampa coming into tonight's bitter imbroglio. Boston struggles ahead of laughingstock Baltimore by a single run until a rain delay clears the field, leaving them in the surreal position of
rooting for the hated Yankees playing down in Florida. They can only watch from the sidelines as the rival Rays, tied with Boston in the pennant race but down 7-0 against New York,
roar back to life with six runs in the eighth inning and a tie run on the final pitch at the bottom of the ninth. And then, after blowing two different strikes that would have salvaged the game,
Boston loses to Baltimore, completing what is arguably
the worst late-breaking collapse in the history of major league baseball.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 10:08 PM on September 28, 2011
(196 comments)
Start a home business, get rich quick, win financial freedom! If you watch late-night TV, you've heard it all before. But what's the story behind these slick pitchmen and their dubious schemes? Enter
The Salty Droid, your ornery metal guide to the corrupt underworld of scam-marketing scum. This
charmingly acerbic bot (owned and operated by
mild-mannered Chicago dog-lover Jason Michael Jones [inter-view, long talk + transcript]) is a valiant crusader against the vile con-men who bankrupt the elderly and the desperate with
beautiful lies.
Exposed so far: A shadowy
"Syndicate" of
frauduct-pushing personality cults polluting the media with
blogspam and
woo-woo talking points.
Boiler rooms in the Utah desert where telemarketers
farm credit from easy targets with
cunning, probing scripts [PDF].
Powerful politicians bought wholesale.
Believers left to die in fraudulent new-age vision quests. It's a soul-crushing beat, enough to make one feel like a regular
catcher-bot in the digital rye. But somebody's got to do it -- preferably someone with
plasma nunchucks and titanium skin.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 11:12 AM on August 31, 2011
(47 comments)
With Hurricane Irene approaching, what's the best course of action for someone still on the Staten Island shore?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rhaomi
at 1:57 AM on August 27, 2011
(23 comments)
After weeks of
fake primaries,
fraudulent mailers,
special interest moneybombs, and
last-minute attempts at voter suppression, Wisconsinites went to the polls yesterday in an
unprecedented round of six recall elections targeted mainly at Republican state senators for their support of
Governor Scott Walker's controversial union-busting agenda. Five of the six races were called by Tuesday evening, with Democrats taking two of the three they'd need to regain control of the state senate. The lone holdout? A dead heat between incumbent Alberta Darling and challenger Sandy Pasch in District 8 -- the very same district that saw
suspicious vote-counting by conservative Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus
unexpectedly tip the balance towards Walker ally David Prosser late in the crucial state supreme court race
this past April. The protracted count and late-night shift toward Darling coupled with Nickolaus's
questionable history soon prompted Democratic officials to make
accusations of fraud (later
retracted). Control of the senate now lies in the defense of two Democratic seats up for recall next week and the possible wooing of GOP Senator
Dale Schultz, the only Republican to vote against Walker's bill. Walker himself will be eligible for recall
next spring.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 5:07 AM on August 10, 2011
(136 comments)
Two and a half years ago, we explored
the early history of Cartoon Network... but it wasn't the only player in the youth television game.
As a matter of fact,
Fred Seibert -- the man responsible for the most inventive projects discussed in that post -- first stretched his creative legs at the network's
truly venerable forerunner:
Nickelodeon.
Founded as Pinwheel, a six-hour block on Warner Cable's innovative
QUBE system, this humble channel struggled for years before Seibert's innovative branding work transformed it into a national icon and capstone of a media empire.
Much has changed since then, from the mascots and game shows to
the versatile orange "splat." But starting tonight in response to popular demand, the network is
looking back with
a summer programming block dedicated to the greatest hits of the 1990s, including
Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Double Dare, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and
All That.
To celebrate, look inside for the complete story of the early days of the network that incensed the religious right, brought doo-wop to television, and slimed a million fans -- the golden age of Nickelodeon.
(warning: monster post inside)
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 1:33 PM on July 25, 2011
(116 comments)
On the eve of MetaFilter's twelfth birthday,
the Willamette Week sits down with Matt Haughey to talk about his roots at the dawn of the blogging age, the value of lifestyle work vs. captaining industry, and the future of community blogs in an online landscape increasingly dominated by Twitter, Facebook, and mobile browsing.
posted to MetaTalk by Rhaomi
at 6:54 AM on July 13, 2011
(102 comments)
After Kad & Olivier sign off and the Satisfaction production logo fades, viewing audiences are oftentimes treated to a cold open of an empty talk show set... one that quickly becomes the impromptu dance floor for a shameless Frenchman making an absolute giddy fool of himself while lip-syncing pop songs alongside a menagerie of...
wait, *what*?! That's right.
The Late Late Show's Craig Ferguson appears to have
a not-so-secret French admirer -- one who's not above ripping off both his opening titles and
his signature dance sequences (including
the iconic animal puppets):
"ABC" by The Jackson 5,
"Flashdance" by Irene Cara,
"On the Floor" by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull,
"Waka Waka" by Shakira,
"Men in Black" by Will Smith,
"Let's All Chant" by the Michael Zager Band,
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!,
"It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, and
"Vive Le Vent (Jingle Bells)" by Tino Rossi.
Luckily, Ferguson's sense of showmanship is
more prodigious than litigious -- he responded to Arthur's "
homáge" by booking a pair of translatlantic crossover shows, with Arthur visiting LA that week and Ferguson flying out to Paris just last month. Video of both shows (plus lots more) inside!
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 3:42 PM on July 11, 2011
(12 comments)
The Declaration of Independence is perhaps the most masterfully written state paper of Western civilization. As Moses Coit Tyler noted almost a century ago, no assessment of it can be complete without taking into account its extraordinary merits as a work of political prose style. Although many scholars have recognized those merits, there are surprisingly few sustained studies of the stylistic artistry of the Declaration. This essay seeks to illuminate that artistry by probing the discourse microscopically -- at the level of the sentence, phrase, word, and syllable. The University of Wisconsin's Dr. Stephen E. Lucas meticulously analyzes the elegant language of the 235-year-old charter in a distillation of
this comprehensive study.
More on the Declaration: full transcript and
ultra-high-resolution scan,
a transcript and scan of Jefferson's annotated rough draft,
the little-known royal rebuttal,
a thorough history of the parchment itself,
a peek at the archival process, a reading of the document
by the people of NPR and
by a group of prominent actors,
H. L. Mencken's "American" translation,
Slate's Twitter summaries, and
a look at the fates of the 56 signers.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 9:22 AM on July 4, 2011
(72 comments)
Gawker's John Cook yesterday published
an exclusive report on a trove of documents from the
Nixon Presidential Library tracing the development of Fox News to a 1970 internal memo annotated by then-consultant
Roger Ailes. Part of
a 318-page cache of similar documents, the memo --
"A Plan For Putting the GOP on TV News" -- called for the creation of a strongly pro-Nixon news outlet operated from the White House which would disseminate partisan news packages free of charge to local affiliates across the country. By coordinating release of these targeted reports with allied politicians and duping opponents into hostile interviews, Ailes hoped to bypass the "prejudices of network news" -- a desire which led him to advocate for some unexpected political policies at the time, from campaign finance reform to anti-poverty efforts. The report comes as Fox is waging an aggressive two-front PR war with perceived ideological enemies --
calling on viewers to file IRS complaints against Media Matters' tax-exempt status for their
dogged fact-checking of the network, while on-air hosts
launched a campaign to label Jon Stewart "racist" after
he called out their record of falsehoods following
a critical interview with Chris Wallace (
previously).
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 3:44 PM on July 1, 2011
(92 comments)
It was bound to happen eventually. After
a quarter-century,
26 Academy Awards, and an unparalleled streak of
eleven artistic and commercial triumphs, Pixar's latest project,
Cars 2, is
Certified Rotten. Critics have
assailed the film as a slick but hollow vehicle for Disney's
$10 billion-dollar Cars merchandising industry "lifestyle brand," replacing the original's serviceable tale of small-town redemption with
zany spy games,
hyperactive chase sequences, and even more
lowbrow aww-shucks potty humor from
Larry the Cable Guy. But it's not all bad news! Along with
a fun new Toy Story 3 short, preceding today's (3-D) premiere showings is a first look at next year's
Brave --
a darkly magical original story set in ancient Scotland featuring the studio's first female lead (and
director).
Evocative high-res concept art [mirror] is available at the official website, and
character sketches have leaked to the web, with the apparently striking teaser trailer sure to follow. Also, be sure not to miss the sneak peak of
Brave's associated short,
"La Luna"!
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 11:42 AM on June 24, 2011
(263 comments)
Twenty years ago today, the gaming world saw the launch of a truly landmark title:
Sonic the Hedgehog. Developed as a vehicle for a new Sega mascot, the fluid, vibrant, cheery-tuned wonderland swiftly became the company's flagship product, inspiring over the ensuing decades
an increasingly convoluted universe of TV shows,
comic books, and dozens of games on a variety of systems (all documented in
this frighteningly comprehensive TVTropes portal). And while in recent years the series has turned out
more and more mediocre 3D and RPG efforts, the original games remain crown jewels of the 16-bit era. So why not kick off this anniversary by replaying the titles that started it all for free in your browser:
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991),
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992),
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994),
Sonic & Knuckles (1994). Or click inside for music, remakes, and other fun stuff!
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi
at 10:56 AM on June 23, 2011
(71 comments)
