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Dr. Carl Hart, psychopharmacologist at Columbia, bust pernicious drug myths and talks provocatively about race and the "War on Drugs."
posted by klangklangston at 11:00 PM PST - 114 comments

The Bon Iver Mashup Album is now available for download, and it's excellent. Check out the trailer for a preview.
posted by spiderskull at 9:06 PM PST - 21 comments

Let's think back to the 1960s, when more people were writing surreal, paranoid themes. Now place Jim Henson in that context, and you get Time Piece (YouTube, excerpt; behind the scenes clip, YT). Add in collaboration with writer (and puppeteer) Jerry Juhl and you have The Cube (YT, full film), as well as the setting for the hypnagogic story of a man pursued in the desert, called Tale of Sand. This was first written up as a screenplay and pitched as a movie in the late 1960s, then revised and re-pitched in 1974. But no one bit, so the screenplay was shelved, and then Jim gained fame for Sesame Street and The Muppets. Elements of Tale of Sand appeared in The Muppet Movie (YT, full movie) and other places since then, but the work was largely unseen and forgotten. Jump ahead three decades, and the Henson Company teams up with Archaia, first releasing Fraggle Rock and Dark Crystal comics, then digging in the Henson Company vault to bring Tale of Sand to light with cartoonist Ramón Pérez. You can see a preview of the graphic novel on Graphicly (including a nice dynamic display) and Amazon (static images, but more pages in the preview). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:02 PM PST - 8 comments

Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed just before noon today while attempting to land at SFO. [more inside]
posted by Red Desk at 5:39 PM PST - 301 comments

The schooner Nina was last heard from on June 4th, as it fought high winds and seas off the coast of New Zealand. It carried a crew of seven, including Evi Nemeth - well known to sysadmins for co-authoring The Unix System Administration Handbook. As of today, the search has been suspended, and all are presumed lost at sea.
posted by bitmage at 5:25 PM PST - 42 comments

Serious Australian actor and illusionist Claudia O'Doherty has come to the UK to make some viral videos for her family's travel agency.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 2:53 PM PST - 21 comments

Christy Chan was 7 when she moved with her parents to a town in Virginia. As people of Chinese descent, they found themselves at first unwelcome. Christy, translating the mail for her parents, started getting "very formal letters, with crosses on them" signed by a mysterious Wizard. Audio story. Film trailer.
posted by bunderful at 2:15 PM PST - 43 comments

Daniel Goodbaum is dadaDan and makes "street style" videos of interestingly-dressed men and women on the streets of Toronto. The videos make great use of music and often have intro and outro 'cutscenes' that showcase Toronto's graffiti. Earlier this year he made a special "50th Street Style" video that is totally gorgeous. There are now 66 of them and counting. They are addictive. [more inside]
posted by skwt at 1:49 PM PST - 9 comments

Your count may vary, but here are 15 ways to open a beer bottle. Previously, previously.
posted by frimble at 1:15 PM PST - 26 comments

Recently, at the BBC Proms, the National Youth Orchestra performed a piece by the composer and electronic musician Anna Meredith. The name of the piece is HandsFree. It's not your typical Proms fare. The musicians put down their instruments and commence twelve-odd minutes of clapping, stomping, shuffling, shouts and even singing. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
posted by jason's_planet at 11:50 AM PST - 23 comments

Sam Javanrouh's Toronto-centric photoblog Daily Dose of Imagery (previously 1, 2) called it a day on Friday after a highly-acclaimed 10 year run. [more inside]
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:49 AM PST - 4 comments

Splitsider presents - The Top Eleven Sketch Comedy Groups On The Internet, featuring many Metafilter favorites. [more inside]
posted by The Whelk at 9:48 AM PST - 14 comments

Arthur Saxon, born April 28 1878, was a famous strongman and renowned member of the Saxon Trio. He famously beat Eugene Sandow in the bent press. The Development of Physical Power is his most famous book, some of which has been excerpted here: [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:17 AM PST - 6 comments

"In the interests of art, they seek to substitute the luxury of taste for the luxury of costliness; to teach that beauty does not imply elaboration or ornament; to employ only those forms and materials which make for simplicity, individuality and dignity of effect." Every issue of Gustav Stickley's influential journal of the American Craftsman movement,The Craftsman.
posted by Think_Long at 7:48 AM PST - 10 comments

Photoshopping monsters into your wedding photos is now a thing. It started not that long ago, when a wedding photo featuring a T. rex chasing the wedding party went very, very viral. Now it seems every couple getting married wants a shot of the wedding party fleeing a threat to be pasted in later. From the Maclean's article: "'We're still trying to figure out what goes in the background,' [photographer] Tony [Lombardo] says. 'The couple hasn’t figured out yet what they want to be chased by.'" AT-ATs and Sharktopus have already been done. It's already getting old. Has it already gone too far [via]?
posted by mcwetboy at 6:54 AM PST - 97 comments

Icelandic Lava Tubes [via]. A video of a tour.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:16 AM PST - 12 comments

"Between the mountains of safety and danger there is a valley of creepiness, where the limits of our knowledge and trust and security aren't very clear." (SLYT).

A closer look at the science behind the third element in Stephen King's taxonomy of scary stuff: terror. Which is coming home to find that everything that you own has been replaced with an exact copy.
posted by moody cow at 3:36 AM PST - 33 comments

Peter Cushing, wargamer.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:20 AM PST - 18 comments