February 24, 2011

The words are evolving as you read!

"We all can agree...that this text is red. We can also similarly agree that this text is blue." [more inside]
posted by zardoz at 11:22 PM PST - 82 comments

Oscar Nominated Screenplay PDFs

A number of the 2011 Oscar nominated screenplays are here as PDFs. The site also has a archives of Coen Brothers and Charlie Kaufman scripts.
posted by dobbs at 10:38 PM PST - 4 comments

MetaFilter: an other-dimensional world that is linked to Earth by several “Unseen Ways”

“Rac Shade was born on Meta, an other-dimensional world that is linked to Earth by several junctures known on Meta as the “Unseen Ways”. Metan priests and doctors decided that young Shade was overly emotional and had him subjected to the Metan “confirmation” process, wherein a “holy surgeon” operated on Shade’s brain with the “sacred laser”.” (I'm surprised they didn't use a Cat-Scan or a Markov Chain.) An entry from "DC Who's Who", a tumblr blog of scans from the 1990-1992 "Who's Who in the DC Universe" and NOT including any influential American bureaucrats or lobbyists (NOT THAT DC) or any Scottish Australian rockers (NOT THAT AC/DC). More on "Shade the Changing Man" and other characters from his book: Kathy George and American Scream.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:36 PM PST - 36 comments

Fatality!!!

Mortal Kombat has been banned in Australia. In the highest profile censorship incident since last year's butchering of Left 4 Dead 2, the new Mortal Kombat game has been "refused classification by the Australian Classification Board and will not release in Australia". This should galvanize efforts to implement an R18 rating for Australian games, though so far progress has been slow.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:05 PM PST - 144 comments

King's Quest 3 Redux

AGD Interactive has released its remake of King's Quest III: To Heir is Human. (previously)
posted by nasreddin at 7:29 PM PST - 25 comments

Welcome to the 21st century, Australian economy.

The Australian Government has committed to a price on carbon from 1 July 2012, prior to a likely full emissions trading scheme within three to five years. The Opposition are outraged, predicting a people's revolt. This should clearly define the next election.
posted by wilful at 6:17 PM PST - 105 comments

Grinding for Baby XP

Last March, Lisa Grunwald published a novel, which explores the fascinating and popular University classes that used practice babies borrowed from orphanages in practice houses to teach young home economics majors the science of motherhood. Doris Mitchell recalls her experience as a practice mother. [more inside]
posted by Blasdelb at 5:29 PM PST - 21 comments

Interview with Gerhard, from Cerebus

"Gerhard and I spoke to each other over the course of a few hours on Boxing Day, December 26th, 2010. On each end of our respective phone lines we both had an intimidating stack of books — the almost five thousand pages that Sim and Gerhard created together over the course of those 20 years. We flipped through the books chronologically, with the idea of discussing the evolution of Gerhard’s process and techniques, focusing on his development as an artist and a craftsman."
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:40 PM PST - 36 comments

There's a new sheriff in town. And he has an army of assassins.

Charlie Sheen shows why he's better than you. In his recent ongoing series of rants, Charlie Sheen finally lets out the big dogs. [more inside]
posted by bigskyguy at 3:29 PM PST - 413 comments

Can I Get Another Term? Yes, Sevo!

On February 18th, Ugandans held Presidential and Parliamentary elections. While the final results are still being tabulated, it appears Yoweri “Sevo” Museveni has maintained his position. Museveni, who has held power in Uganda for the past 25 years, is accused of using intimidation and corruption in the electoral campaign, and opposition leaders are already calling for protests and fresh elections. The official line, however, is that Museveni’s off-the-cuff rap won over the youth vote after it was it was remixed and started getting airplay on the radio, in clubs, and as a ringtone. [more inside]
posted by Panjandrum at 3:05 PM PST - 6 comments

Is that a Wiimote in your pocket, or are you just haptic to see me?

Share your Wiimote, share your wife. Ars Technica presents Ubisoft game "We Dare" as a "WTF". Joystiq declares it will "ruin parties for PS3/Wii owners". But North American Puritans need not fear:
As far as we can tell, We Dare is a European exclusive, so American partygoers are safe for the time being.
See the trailer to decide for yourself. Oh, and cue the jokes about vibrating controllers.
posted by anarch at 2:11 PM PST - 97 comments

T-Minus 2 minutes and counting

STS 133 Space Shuttle Discovery (Single Link Space shuttle Launch)
posted by HLD at 1:47 PM PST - 62 comments

Interactive Map of ISPs in the US

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently announced the rollout of a searchable map, which also offers a nation-wide view of internet service providers with filters for various technologies. The map is based on information collected from broadband providers or other data sources. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 1:45 PM PST - 7 comments

"I couldn't justify shooting an unarmed civilian. I said I wasn't going to do it . . ."

In December 2010 Slate posted an interview with Iraq War veteran and conscientious objector Josh Steiber [more inside]
posted by IvoShandor at 12:49 PM PST - 30 comments

Jon and Don

A 33-minute-long interview between Jon Stewart and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. (pt. 2, 3)
posted by Rory Marinich at 12:39 PM PST - 185 comments

Disaster Movies of the 1970s

Disaster movies are as old as cinema itself. But their golden age began in 1970 with Airport - which, despite being an Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, is now remembered chiefly for the parody it inspired. Earthquake - exhibited in Sensurround - set a record for the number of stunt performers used. But the Master of Disaster was Lost in Space producer Irwin Allen. His The Poseidon Adventure grossed the equivalent of $450 million in today's money. And The Towering Inferno - the filming of which destroyed all but 8 of its 57 sets - is still unsurpassed.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:50 AM PST - 66 comments

Cut, paste, cut, paste

"‘Churnalism’ is a news article that is published as journalism, but is essentially a press release without much added." Churnalism.com is a site created by the British charity Media Standards Trust, which lets you input the text of a press release to compare it with the text of news articles in the British media. [more inside]
posted by DanCall at 11:39 AM PST - 15 comments

PS3 Hypervisor Bible

At the behest of Sony, German police have raided the home of Linux developer graf_chokolo, a prominent member of the PS3 scene. In response, graf_chokolo has released what's being called the PS3 Hypervisor Bible. [more inside]
posted by jeffburdges at 11:16 AM PST - 73 comments

channel surf the music web. Or something

Shuffler.fm makes radio stations sorted by genre by playing MP3s posted on music blogs. Think stumbleupon with autoplay.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 11:12 AM PST - 28 comments

Delete / Keep / Merge

Notabilia - Visualizing Deletion Discussions on Wikipedia
posted by Artw at 10:46 AM PST - 23 comments

Stanley Kubrick Video Tribute

A Stanley Kubrick Odyssey - A Video Tribute (NSFW) (If you want to bypass the Youtube adult content screen, the embedded version here should work, as well as possibly the inline Metafilter player.) [more inside]
posted by kmz at 10:17 AM PST - 15 comments

"There is a wonder in reading Braille that the sighted will never know: to touch words and have them touch you back."

"The blind teaching the reader." An interesting interview that looks at how the blind read from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blogger SB Sarah.
posted by Fizz at 9:37 AM PST - 7 comments

Wax On

"So, handicap bathroom crying fits are just this thing I do now I guess." A woman with a graduate degree and a self-professed aversion to touching people goes to beauty school, finds she fits in, likes it.
posted by kittyprecious at 9:27 AM PST - 81 comments

If You Could See What You're Thinking

Ted Serios and Psychic Projections Thoughtographs-- "Psychic Projections/Photographic Impressions: Paranormal Photographs from the Jule Eisenbud Collection on Ted Serios" features a series of images produced by Theodore Judd Serios (1918-2006), a bellhop from Chicago who appeared to possess a genuinely uncanny ability. By holding a Polaroid camera and focusing on the lens very intently, he was able to produce dreamlike pictures of his thoughts on the film; he referred to these images as "thoughtographs," and many striking examples are on display in the exhibition. The Chronicle commenters aren't convinced of this guy's ability. Nile Root claims to have seen him in action.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:47 AM PST - 38 comments

Don't shoot until you see the whites of their union cards

Indiana Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Cox has lost his job after urging National Guardsmen to use live ammunition during their potential clash with Wisconsin union members and protesters.
posted by FatherDagon at 7:51 AM PST - 166 comments

Two hours of my life gone forever

What really happens at a London Fashion Week show. (via Vicestyle) (Sidebar contains ladies' bosoms, may be NSFW) [more inside]
posted by mippy at 7:26 AM PST - 20 comments

"What do I have to plant inside their heads?"

Army Psy Ops Units Targeted American Senators
posted by empath at 7:06 AM PST - 79 comments

Gay Black History Month

February is Gay Black History Month. [SLYT]
posted by Rykey at 7:01 AM PST - 10 comments

Hollywood puts out some of the best trash I've ever seen.

Oscar The Grouch picks the Oscars. (1m28s)
posted by hippybear at 6:48 AM PST - 5 comments

The most godawful game ever

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is generally regarded as the worst video game of all time. So bad that Atari eventually had to bury over 5 million copies in a landfill.* One of the reasons may have been that Atari rushed to have it available in time for Christmas. But how bad was it really? Let's Play E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial! [more inside]
posted by Deathalicious at 6:05 AM PST - 175 comments

You'll be sucked right in.

On July 25th 1997, Davor Jordas and a group friends turned up at Raspadalica to take part in the first ever Croation powered paragliding competition. The day was fine, with warm sunshine and scattered puffy clouds. The only sign of what was to come was a dark cloud over the beautiful mountains of Ucka. But it was twenty miles away, and downwind, so the paragliders took to the air. To put it mildly, that turned out to be a mistake. [more inside]
posted by unSane at 5:12 AM PST - 10 comments

Assange to be extradited

Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden, with fairly immediate effect. [more inside]
posted by jaduncan at 4:24 AM PST - 247 comments

Just saying no

The number of young people taking drugs has fallen by 30% in 15 years How the British fell out of love with drugs
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:07 AM PST - 44 comments

Go Beavers!

The Caltech men's basketball team beat Occidental College today 46-45, winning its first conference game in 26 years and snapping a 310-game losing streak. The court was subsequently stormed. More photos and videos from the Caltech athletics department. [more inside]
posted by Upton O'Good at 12:01 AM PST - 27 comments

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