August 25, 2015

Red Duke (1928-2015)

James Henry "Red" Duke passed away today at the age of 86. With his Texas accent and folksy expressions, Dr. Duke was most famous for his 15 year running TV series Health Reports which covered topics like hyperthyroidism, kidney stones, and even stress management. [more inside]
posted by fremen at 11:08 PM PST - 17 comments

zither and yon

Many of you have undoubtedly seen at some time or another the legendary film noir masterpiece The Third Man. The theme song from the film is every bit as famous as the film itself, perhaps even more so. Here's Anton Karas, the original composer of the charming and memorable little tune, playing the Theme from the Third Man, on zither.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:00 PM PST - 23 comments

Damian Lazarus, The Ancient Moons and Crosstown Rebels

Damian Lazarus is an interesting chap. On one hand, you have the self-proclaimed ancient wizard who channels mysticism into his live rave mixes around the world, while on the other hand there is his well-regarded house music label, Crosstown Rebels, which recently celebrated its tenth birthday with a 3 CD/40 track compilation. You can find a ton from both sides of Damian online. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:49 PM PST - 5 comments

The Exorcist was recorded in front of a live studio audience.

YouTube user Muted Vocal changes 5 iconic creepy themes into major key: The X Files, Halloween, Saw, The Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street. He does five more with Jaws, The Fog, Psycho, Phantasm and The Omen. He expands the chipper X-Files theme out into a full track as well.
posted by codacorolla at 7:23 PM PST - 46 comments

De Profundis Clamavi, o mandarin

In a week when China's troubled economy and plunging stock market have made headlines worldwide, the Globe and Mail probes one of hidden causes of the difficulty the country faces in transitioning to a modern consumer economy: The Ant Tribe, the middle class Chinese who are literally being driven underground. [more inside]
posted by Diablevert at 6:59 PM PST - 20 comments

There's no such thing as a pitching prospect

In 2010, a Metafilter post featured a 13 year-old girl who lit up Little League baseball with a killer knuckleball. In 2015, Chelsea Baker is still ringing up batters, and is catching the eye of major league scouts.
posted by chrchr at 5:24 PM PST - 59 comments

Ein Jahr, eine BahnCard 100, keine eigene Wohnung, und ich

After a dispute with her landlord, 23-year-old student Leonie Müller abandoned her apartment in Tübingen and started living on trains. On the first of May, Müller bought a BahnCard 100, a ticket which costs 4090€ and entitles her to unlimited travel on Germany's railway network for a year, and has been calling the trains home since then, living out of a backpack, washing her hair in the train bathroom, writing her papers whilst watching the scenery go past at 320kph, and periodically staying with friends and relatives across Germany. She has a blog (auf deutsch) and plans to write her undergraduate thesis on her experiences as a train nomad.
posted by acb at 5:00 PM PST - 34 comments

Mad Max is in a movie about Furiosa

Honest Trailer turns its eye, and snark, on Mad Max: Fury Road.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:53 PM PST - 55 comments

“Capitalists… unironically love Burning Man”

Burning Man is earning a reputation as a “networking event” among Silicon Valley techies, and tech magazines now send reporters to cover it. CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Page of Alphabet are foaming fans, along with conservative anti-tax icon Grover Norquist and many writers of the libertarian (and Koch-funded) Reason magazine. Tesla CEO Elon Musk even went so far as to claim that Burning Man “is Silicon Valley.”
Former Burner Keith A. Spencer writes for Jacobin: “Why the Rich Love Burning Man”
posted by Going To Maine at 4:24 PM PST - 127 comments

Beyond Dark Castle

"During one of the worst years of my life, I drew solace, as much as from any book, from regularly visiting the swamp level of Beyond Dark Castle, a video game for the Mac. You had a little helicopter-backpack, and you just motored over this desolate bayou throwing rocks at bats in the darkness and silence. There was a sense of stillness and peace there that I still refer back to in my head." [more inside]
posted by Existential Dread at 4:19 PM PST - 22 comments

Geological Time Scale Metaphors

Imagine that the entire history of the earth is (number) (unit) long. . .
posted by curious nu at 3:46 PM PST - 8 comments

The first case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard

The IgNobel paper that inspired an Opera [more inside]
posted by indianbadger1 at 3:30 PM PST - 6 comments

Resource limitation, economic inequality, and diversity

Why Poor Places Are More Diverse : a lesson from ecosystem ecology.
posted by dialetheia at 3:02 PM PST - 15 comments

#4 ... One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter.

And the winner of the Best Joke at the 2015 Endinburgh Fringe Festival is... (with runners-up #2 - #10, featuring Kim&Kanye, a desert island, dreams, Jesus, tapas and a clown divorce)
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:47 PM PST - 65 comments

Covertly-Sponsored Instruments of State Power, at Least in Part

Literary Magazines for Socialists Funded by the CIA, Ranked [from The Awl] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:36 PM PST - 14 comments

‘‘I play for me,’’

The Meaning of Serena Williams by Claudia Rankine [New York Times] On tennis and black excellence.
There is a belief among some African-Americans that to defeat racism, they have to work harder, be smarter, be better. Only after they give 150 percent will white Americans recognize black excellence for what it is. But of course, once recognized, black excellence is then supposed to perform with good manners and forgiveness in the face of any racist slights or attacks. Black excellence is not supposed to be emotional as it pulls itself together to win after questionable calls. And in winning, it’s not supposed to swagger, to leap and pump its fist, to state boldly, in the words of Kanye West, ‘‘That’s what it is, black excellence, baby.’’
posted by Fizz at 12:40 PM PST - 40 comments

Hick Hop

Kenny Rogers is rumored to have said that, "Country music is whatever country people listen to." Eventually, it seems, all musical styles are absorbed into country music. Jazz, folk, pop, and Nickelback have all made their way into country music, sooner or later. Hip-hop has made an unfortunately appearance or two, but in tentative crossover format. Big Smo is here to change that; he is, he says with hip-hop swagger, Boss of the Stix. He likes mud.
posted by clawsoon at 10:33 AM PST - 78 comments

“I know you’re going to solve it. You always do.”

Relentless: Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills chases a killer
In Putnam County, everybody knows Howard Sills, and Howard Sills knows everybody—except who brutally murdered an elderly couple on Lake Oconee last May. After four decades of always getting his man, has the sheriff met his match?
posted by andoatnp at 10:33 AM PST - 24 comments

Look at the extension on those jazz hands!

Broadway Draft 2015 (SLYT)
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:25 AM PST - 4 comments

Notes toward a definition of hoof-based cuisine

A Social History of Jell-O Salad: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon
posted by Chrysostom at 10:17 AM PST - 58 comments

The Most Timeless Songs Of All Time

Using Spotify plays to quantify how old music has stood the test-of-time.
posted by nadawi at 9:50 AM PST - 121 comments

correctness rests upon usage; all usage is relative

"What of those grammar rules that were entirely dreamt up in an age of moral prescriptivism, reflecting nothing of historical or literary usage, to encourage the poor English language to be more like an entirely different (and entirely dead) language, namely Latin? Wait, which rules are those? It seems pretty crazy but the popular grammar rules familiar to most of us may in fact be completely fake and have no basis in linguistic reality. The English language didn't change to make those rules obsolete, they were simply fictional from the start." || Dear Pedants: Your Fave Grammar Rule is Probably Fake, by Chi Luu.
posted by divined by radio at 8:12 AM PST - 170 comments

Vixen joins the Arrowverse; the WWE and Constantine tag along

Releasing its first episode today, Vixen is a CW animated web series starring DC Comics' shapeshifting African-American superheroine Mari McCabe. Vixen is set within the CW's steadily-growing Arrowverse, the DC TV universe shared by live-action series Arrow, The Flash, and forthcoming team series Legends of Tomorrow. But that's not all: it's been an eventful summer for the Arrowverse! [more inside]
posted by nicebookrack at 7:57 AM PST - 44 comments

They're very expensive-sounding sounds

Skrillex, Diplo, and Justin Bieber collaborate on a song and talk about the process in this NYT mini-doc.
posted by swift at 6:52 AM PST - 83 comments

I, too, have birthdays.

Its. Not. About. You. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:35 AM PST - 21 comments

When Microsoft's "Family Safety" is unsafe

Microsoft accounts have a feature called family accounts. And with Windows 10, Microsoft automatically emails parents a weekly activity report that includes all websites visited by the child, time spent in apps, etc. if they have a family account set up. [more inside]
posted by floatboth at 6:12 AM PST - 120 comments

... well, I'd like to start with caviar...

Dying To Eat, food photographer Henry Hargreaves and creative director Charlotte Omnès recreate the meals from the James Bond novels
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 5:19 AM PST - 29 comments

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