August 30, 2014

Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway

Vulfpeck (previously) was "conceived...as a German version of the Funk Brothers – session musicians who performed most of the instrumentals on the 1960s Motown records [previously]. The idea was to channel that era of the live rhythm section." [more inside]
posted by stinkfoot at 11:39 PM PST - 5 comments

Federal Judge Overturns Some Provisions of Texas Abortion Law (Again)

Just 3 days before they would go into effect, Federal Judge Lee Yeakel struck down the admitting-privileges and ambulatory surgical center requirements of Texas's recently passed HB2 (remember the one with the filibuster?), finding that they placed an undue burden on women, especially those in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso. [more inside]
posted by LizBoBiz at 11:05 PM PST - 33 comments

Chibatman, more impressive than BatLyft

Batman has been spotted on Japanese highways, or rather, someone dressed in a Dark Knight Rises style Batman suit and on a custom batcycle-like trike in the Chiba Prefecture, earning him the nickname Chibatman. He has been found and interviewed (Japanese without subtitles), and he even invited the interviewer back to his bat lair humble home. The 41 year-old Chibatman works as a welder, and he wears his Batman costume when he commutes to work, "because I want to see everyone smile."
posted by filthy light thief at 11:04 PM PST - 25 comments

"Do you... do you like Tina Turner, Ted?"

The Fast Show summary from Wikipedia:
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran from 1994 to 1997, with a special in 2000 and 2014. It was one of the most popular sketch shows of the 1990s in the UK. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and Caroline Aherne. Other significant cast members included Paul Shearer, Rhys Thomas, Jeff Harding, Maria McErlane, Eryl Maynard, Colin McFarlane and Donna Ewin.

It was loosely structured and relied on character sketches, recurring running gags, and many catchphrases. Its fast-paced "blackout" style set it apart from traditional sketch series because of the number and relative brevity of its sketches; a typical half-hour TV sketch comedy of the period might have consisted of nine or ten major items, with contrived situations and extended setups, whereas the premiere episode of The Fast Show featured twenty-seven sketches in thirty minutes, with some items lasting less than ten seconds and none running longer than three minutes. Its innovative style and presentation influenced many later series such as Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show.
[more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:03 PM PST - 32 comments

AM/FM - the story of London's pirate radio stations

AM/FM - the story of London's pirate radio stations [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by aniola at 3:35 PM PST - 3 comments

πŸ”™πŸ™ŒπŸŒΌ, ☁🌏. πŸ‘‡πŸ’©. 🎦7⃣ πŸ’―πŸ’―πŸ†” πŸŒ πŸ˜ƒπŸ’¬: "😩"

Announced at the end of June, Emojli was billed as "the emoji-only network." One source called it worse than Yo. It launched yesterday with 70,000 names registered. The creators of the app 🌠 Tom Scott (previously on Metafilter) and πŸ˜ƒ Matt Gray (who shows up frequently on Tom's YouTube channel) presented a talk: "Emojli: Behind the Scenes and Why You Should Never Build An App."
posted by BungaDunga at 1:30 PM PST - 89 comments

And no birds sing

Invertebrate numbers nearly halve as human population doubles. The decline of birds might have something to do with this recent news that half the insects (and spiders, crustaceans, slugs, worms) are gone.
posted by sfenders at 12:14 PM PST - 62 comments

All that is needed is a rise and a fall

Ever wondered why your favourite movie star is now in straight-to-video hell? What the hell happened? is a series of articles about the career ups and (mostly) downs of contemporary actors, actresses and directors who were once Hollywood stars (but who stumbled at one point) or serious contenders for stardom (but who did not make it). While the articles are made of known material and rather-matter-of-fact ("...but it got terrible reviews and bombed at the box office"), they offer a singular perspective on what it takes to reach the A-list and stay on it. [more inside]
posted by elgilito at 10:25 AM PST - 176 comments

I like the toy. I like the hands on the toy.

It’s as if every child under age 5 in the United States has seen it. Four times. The New York Times Magazine explores the world of unboxing videos and boggles at the appeal of DisneyCollector, an anonymous and seemingly independent female toy 'reviewer' who may be earning over seven figures. Are the videos' popularity connected to ASMR?
posted by bq at 8:31 AM PST - 95 comments

"I CAN SWIMMMMMM!!!!!!!"

A New Yorker Faces His Phobia, One Stroke at a Time [New York Times] With Intensive Swim Lessons, a Man Attacks His Fear of Water
"Traumatized by childhood incidents, Attis Clopton was deathly afraid of water, so he attacked his phobia by enrolling in a program of swimming lessons."
posted by Fizz at 6:35 AM PST - 26 comments

John Glenn refused to fly until Katherine Johnson checked the math.

Katherine G. Johnson: NASA Mathematician (via) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 12:34 AM PST - 16 comments

Ring the bells that still can ring

How did something as loud as a bellβ€”something which is experienced so much more often, and more powerfully, by hearing than by sightβ€”become dumb?
[more inside]
posted by tykky at 12:05 AM PST - 20 comments

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