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"More people are incarcerated in America than are making... [an average $30K] ..."living" from art...You don’t have to be cynical and bitter, you can be optimistic and realistic. Yes, realistic optimism is an actual thing that involves recognizing harsh realities while understanding how to make the best of them. This post isn’t about giving up on your dreams, it's about embracing the journey to achieve them. It's also about accepting the reality that you may never be able to work on your number one creative passion full time. Here’s how you can live like that and be happy." (Includes helpful illustrations; note one of the cartoons has a suicide reference.) [more inside]
posted by rednikki at 10:17 PM PST - 31 comments

A Child Bride at 13, She's Turned Herself Into A Prize-Winning Wrestler
posted by alligatorpear at 5:42 PM PST - 25 comments

Here is an album featuring the background music from Steven Universe - No singing, no main themes, just cool electro funk chiptune goodness (SLYT)
posted by rebent at 4:57 PM PST - 11 comments

Uncube has ended. A Berlin-based digital architecture magazine that began in 2012 has concluded with issue #43, Athens. Known for its unconventional reportage and groundbreaking design, monthly themes ran the gamut from the desert to Iceland to outer space to, well, death. [more inside]
posted by nagemi at 4:49 PM PST - 5 comments

The avalanche of direct acting antivirals (DAAs) for hepatitis C has revolutionized therapy. Treatment regimens based on these drugs have resulted in cure rates of 95+% with minimal toxicity, particularly as compared to the interferon-based regimens. Although varying in mechanism, the drugs all share a common feature - record breaking costs that prevent most patients from being treated. [more inside]
posted by sudogeek at 4:14 PM PST - 44 comments

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. [SLYT]
posted by Pyrogenesis at 3:47 PM PST - 26 comments

Pounded in the butt by the mystery of Chuck Tingle, Amazon's weird erotica king
posted by AFABulous at 3:47 PM PST - 38 comments

Tom Brady’s Deflategate Suspension Reinstated [The New York Times] Roger Goodell, the most powerful man in football, appears to have prevailed in a 15-month battle with Tom Brady, one of the game’s most celebrated quarterbacks. In the end, their feud — known as Deflategate, and a subject of intense derision for the league — will likely end with Brady’s serving a four-game suspension. A three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday overturned a lower-court ruling, deciding that N.F.L. Commissioner Goodell had broad discretion to suspend players according to the collective-bargaining agreement with the players’ union. The panel’s decision can be appealed to the full Second Circuit, or even the Supreme Court, but a victory for Brady at this point is a long shot, legal experts said.
posted by Fizz at 3:43 PM PST - 45 comments

Aesop Rock's "The Impossible Kid" is streaming now for free, under a 50-minute recreation of The Shining with miniatures by Rob Shaw. (SLYT)
posted by Shepherd at 3:11 PM PST - 7 comments

Showtime's reboot of Twin Peaks (previously, previously, previously) has wrapped principal photography. Showtime has released the cast list of 217 actors and actresses who will appear in the show.
posted by codacorolla at 1:14 PM PST - 85 comments

Jack Davis, born in 1924 and still with us, is the last living artist who contributed to the legendary EC Comics horror titles. [much more inside] [more inside]
posted by marxchivist at 12:20 PM PST - 19 comments

More than just an iconic paper cup design (previously), teal and teal+purple were the defining sports uniform of the 90s. Much of the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of the Charlotte Hornets, who kicked of the teal and purple craze in 1988. From there, suddenly teal-clad expansion clubs were popping up everywhere. [more inside]
posted by Existential Dread at 11:25 AM PST - 38 comments

"The cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman uses evolutionary game theory to show that our perceptions of an independent reality must be illusions."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:09 AM PST - 104 comments

Portishead's first release in eight years is "SOS", an ABBA cover recorded for the film adaptation of J.G. Ballard's High-Rise.
posted by griphus at 10:36 AM PST - 53 comments

The question “why does a superhero exist?” is easy to answer nowadays: to fight super-villains, or more recently, other superheroes in brattish fits of pique. But, as mentioned, “superhero” is derived from “Superman”, ditto “super-villain”; neither concept existed when Superman first appeared. The first enemy Superman would fight with abilities more than those of ordinary men would not appear until Action Comics #13; until then, Superman fought miscreants with no more power than afforded humans in the real world. ... This hardly seems fair given his non-“super” opposition, but Shuster and Siegel provided a perspective that more than made up the difference to themselves and their readers: class & oppression.
posted by Alterity at 10:33 AM PST - 40 comments

Jennifer Tamayo describes the cost of confronting white supremacy in the U.S. poetry communities, pointing to the emotional, economic, and temporal wages it exacts: "The handling of this poison — the labour to spot and deconstruct instances of capitalist white supremacist cis-hetero-patriarchy at work — is particularly venomous because it performs both personally and systemically." [more inside]
posted by correcaminos at 10:14 AM PST - 21 comments

"Random" Jon Poole, formerly guitarist for the unsurmountable Cardiacs, is a delightful loud guy with a penchant for killer pop hooks, thundering drums, and saying "GUITAR SOLO, LISTEN" every goddamn time he solos. If you like music that's loud and fast, his project The God Damn Whores condenses "loud and fast" down to a mathematical formula (sample Poolius Caesar and Cynical Haze if you want to know what you're getting into, or Macho Sapiens if you, like me, love the notion of "heavy rock feminism". With Willie Dowling, he becomes The Dowling Poole, whose debut album Bleak Strategies is sunshine with the right amount of psychedelic darkness and political revolution lurking around the edges. (The Dowling Poole's newest album, One Hyde Park, is out this month, and highly recommended if you're into hyperarticulate bubblegum prog-funk.) Good music! Listen!
posted by rorgy at 9:55 AM PST - 8 comments

In the latest installment of the AV Club's Expert Witness feature, Wood Rocket co-founder Lee Roy Myers talks about how porn parodies get made. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 9:35 AM PST - 24 comments

Drugs in the class "Anticholinergics", which includes Benadryl, Dramamine, and an ingredient in Tylenol PM, have been associated with increased risk of dementia or other cognitive impairment. [more inside]
posted by Sleeper at 8:34 AM PST - 137 comments

Our gigantic problem with portions: why are we all eating too much? [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 8:29 AM PST - 126 comments

It's a truly amazing time to be a headless female body part in Hollywood! This Tumblr examines the time-honored tradition of movie posters displaying women’s bodies without their heads or faces. AVClub asks "How can gender equality ever be achieved in movies if women are being chopped up for spare parts in the ads?"
posted by Cookiebastard at 7:12 AM PST - 42 comments

What would happen if we just gave people money?
posted by anotherpanacea at 5:22 AM PST - 236 comments

For Hidalgo, it has already been an extraordinary time in office. “After the attacks, there was suddenly a sense of community, of closeness; a need to stand up and be together. I felt that change in people and I can still feel it. It fills me with hope.”[slGuardian]
posted by ellieBOA at 4:52 AM PST - 2 comments

AP: How early is too early for word that tornadoes may come?
posted by Jacqueline at 3:24 AM PST - 25 comments

The game developers of Kingdom of Loathing and Frog Fractions, hosts of the Video Games Hot Dog podcast, express their delight in the strange outsider art that is Fruity Pebbles: The Game. [more inside]
posted by painquale at 3:14 AM PST - 15 comments

You can see movements of the global merchant fleet over the course of 2012, overlaid on a bathymetric map. There is a worthwhile introductory narration, then you can can "pan and zoom in the usual ways, and skip back and forward in time using the timeline at the bottom of the screen. " [more inside]
posted by hawthorne at 3:12 AM PST - 7 comments

Jazz and soul singer Billy Paul, best known for the No. 1 hit ballad and Philadelphia Soul classic Me And Mrs. Jones, has died. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:04 AM PST - 15 comments

1993, Manhattan – someone films test footage for an early HD video format called D-VHS.
SLYT, make sure to switch to 1080p60 for best quality
posted by timshel at 2:24 AM PST - 35 comments