April 17, 2012

Mara Wilson Writes Stuff

Mara Wilson, child star of Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street, and Matilda, no longer acts. She does, however, write a blog about girls and video games, Mormon missionaries, and the time she met Ira Glass.
posted by katemonster at 10:16 PM PST - 62 comments

Smelling the... Zephyrs?

This last Monday millions of Egyptians, both Copt and Muslim, celebrated Sham el-Nessim (literally, "Smelling of the Zephyrs"), a holiday which falls on the Monday after Eastern Orthodox Easter. It supposedly dates back to Pharaonic times, when fish were offered to the Egyptian gods. Today, instead of offering it to the gods, Egyptians eat it, specifically a very specially fermented and salted concoction called feseekh ( فسيخ‎). [more inside]
posted by Deathalicious at 9:34 PM PST - 30 comments

Encyclopaedia Metallum

In the seven years since its last appearance in the blue, Encyclopaedia Metallum has more than quadrupled in size - now containing 84,000+ bands and 65,000+ reviews of 30,000+ albums.
posted by Trurl at 7:36 PM PST - 35 comments

remembering trudeau pirouetting behind the queen

Canada marks the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights. The charter is credited with advancing gay rights and reproductive freedom, reducing police powers and increasing judicial activism. And of course, trudeau's famous pirouette behind the Queen's back after she signed the charter. The anniversary brings a flash mob of lawyers, a tepid celebration from the conservative government, and some reflection on rights and, of course, hockey!.
posted by chapps at 7:02 PM PST - 39 comments

Me-ow

Cats In Space [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 6:55 PM PST - 27 comments

“You will know how to deal with everything from a tension pneumothorax to torsion of the testes.”

First, Do A Little Less Harm: "As Mark Jenkins knows, wilderness first aid can hurt. (Just ask his patients.) So he finally did what everyone should do: he took a class from real experts." [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:38 PM PST - 48 comments

GUTS, GUTS-GUTS

Sombody once said,
"There is a beast with such succulent meat, it melts all over your tongue. There is a bubbling spring flowing with tastes of countless fruit juices, such as sweet musk melons and ripened mangoes."
It is the Gourmet Era. The era in which one will search for undiscovered tastes. [Hulu link for US-based viewers] [more inside]
posted by lemuring at 5:33 PM PST - 9 comments

Captain Ultraviolet tells all

Late in life, Claude Monet had surgery to remove the lens of his left eye as a remedy for cataracts, and found that as the lens was no longer blocking them, he could now see ultraviolet light.* When Alek Komarnitsky, engineer and self professed geek, had the natural lens replaced in one of his eyes due to cataracts, he found that he, too could see UV. Naturally, he decided to test the limits of his newfound ability, and to show others what it's like to have ultraviolet vision.(*via Kottke)
posted by ocherdraco at 5:05 PM PST - 39 comments

one of the greats will be leaving the stage

The Band singer and drummer Levon Helm is in the final stages of cancer, according to a note posted on his website Tuesday by his wife, Sandy, and daughter, Amy. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:55 PM PST - 138 comments

My life IS war!

The Ugly Duckling (YT) or Donald Duck ala Dogme 95. Via io9 (FYI: Gawker Media site)
posted by KingEdRa at 4:51 PM PST - 14 comments

Space Shuttle Discovery arrives at its new home

The Space Shuttle Discovery, known for launching the Hubble telescope, as well as being the workhorse of the fleet, made a final flight today. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:25 PM PST - 55 comments

I'm A Swinger Here, Myself

Standing in the wings and hoping someone on stage will get injured was never part of my big Broadway dreams. I had been working professionally long enough to know that many actors considered swings to be the second-class citizens of Broadway, the spares whose talent wasn’t distinctive enough to merit their being seen on stage every night. I knew those generalizations to be false, and though they stung, I had reasons beyond my pride for wanting my own track in Chicago. [more inside]
posted by Danf at 4:00 PM PST - 5 comments

"Kobe" beef?

Think you've enjoyed the well-marbled splendor of Kobe beef? If you don't live in Japan, think again. And Wagyu doesn't count either. But that's okay. It's what the U.S. government wants you to think. A three part Forbes piece on "Kobe" beef.
posted by disillusioned at 3:29 PM PST - 139 comments

Wake up wake up wake up

Cat Alarm Clock SLYT
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:19 PM PST - 41 comments

Skinning: Computer Interface Customization

Many people are familiar with computer case modifications, thanks to the photogenic nature of mods. On the software side, most operating systems feature some potential for customization, though this is often limited to tweaking the colors and sounds. For some, this isn't enough. Enter "skinning," the casual term for interface customization. To a degree, the history of the media player Winamp (YT, 7:03; transcript with pictures) mirrors the history of skinning. From a version 0.2, a visually dull app in June 1997, to easy user customization in version 2 in September 1998, and the complexly customizable Winamp3 in August 2002. Wired captured something of the excitement at its peak in an article from 2000, before computing began shifting to more closed devices. Now approaching a post-WIMP (windows, icons, menus and a pointer) era, where skinning is done with alternative launchers. But for those still using traditional computers of one sort or another, it's not too late to modify your interface. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 1:22 PM PST - 70 comments

THE ONE TRUE WANKER OF THE DECADE

Duncan Black, the blogger formerly known as "Atrios," coiner of the "friedman unit," popularizer of the "very serious person" as a term of derision, chronicler of wanking in the punditocracy, has been counting down: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, to the THE ONE TRUE WANKER OF THE DECADE.
posted by ennui.bz at 1:15 PM PST - 114 comments

Drew Curtis vs. A Patent Troll

TED Talk:"Drew Curtis: How I Beat A Patent Troll" "Patent trolls have done more damage to the United States economy than any domestic or foreign terrorist organization in history every year."
posted by The ____ of Justice at 1:06 PM PST - 35 comments

Bang, Bang, it's a free country

The New Yorker: Battleground America; One nation, under the gun. Most Americans do not, however, own guns, because three-quarters of people with guns own two or more. Gary Younge in the Guardian reports on the country's deadly attachment to firearms.
posted by adamvasco at 12:54 PM PST - 135 comments

Leggete Nanni Balestrini

"An imprecation to read an avant-garde novelist is not something you often see written in spray-paint". And why should we pay attention? Because it "will fill your spine with gunpowder and light a match in your brain". Verso republishes Nanni Balestrini's The Unseen (with a brand new foreword by Antonio Negri), an epic monument to the struggle of the Italian Autonomia movement of the 1970s.
posted by hydatius at 9:49 AM PST - 23 comments

Welcome to the Jungle

On Saturday, iconoic rock band Guns N' Roses was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Missing from the event? Axl Rose. Matti Fagerholm. Wait... who? [more inside]
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:48 AM PST - 39 comments

Yes, John Barleycorn is #1

And now, the 25 Douchiest Bars in Chicago. [more inside]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:46 AM PST - 114 comments

AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNEY INTO MY THOUGHTS

Shia LaBeouf has self-published a comic
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:31 AM PST - 85 comments

"Everything we do is music."

John Cage Unbound, A Living Archive is a multimedia exhibition created by the New York Public Library documenting their collection of videos, original notes and manuscripts of contemporary American composer and music theorist John Cage (1912-1992). "Cage believed that, following his detailed directions, anyone could make music from any kind of instrument" so the NYPL is asking visitors how they would bring his music to life, by submitting videos of their own interpretations of Cage’s work for possible inclusion in the archive. For more extensive collections of John Cage resources, see: WNYC: A John Cage Web Reliquary and Josh Rosen's fan page. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 7:52 AM PST - 21 comments

Messin with that next level organic cod. BOOM.

Eat it don't tweet it.
posted by obscurator at 7:01 AM PST - 32 comments

jmp TRIGSPIKES

Jordan Mechner has posted the source code for the original Apple ][ version of Prince of Persia to GitHub. (Previously.)
posted by Cash4Lead at 6:28 AM PST - 61 comments

Gunplay

Blow Out Sale - An imaginative short film featuring Danny Pudi, which looks at the dangerous and competitive world of retail furniture sales. [more inside]
posted by quin at 6:09 AM PST - 10 comments

Season 1: Episode 1

Girls is being compared to Louie.
posted by kliuless at 6:09 AM PST - 235 comments

Imagine life without Instagram...

The most Epic Photo Ever Taken? Quora users start adding their faourite pictures. History, awesome, pain, anger, death, it's al here. And at least one surfer.
posted by ewan at 1:33 AM PST - 73 comments

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