October 13, 2011

The Muppets

The Muppets. Previous trailer. Teaser 1. Teaser 2. Teaser 3. [more inside]
posted by kmz at 9:59 PM PST - 52 comments

Oh, so THAT'S what Girl Gamers Want!

"Are you a lady? Then finally there’s a game for you! While too many games are pretending that ladies enjoy the same things as men, like shooting, building cities or exploring alien worlds, Lady Popular properly recognizes what it is that makes a true, strong, independent lady: shopping, hairstyles, and having a boyfriend."

John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun gives a no-holds-barred review (NSFW) of the game Lady Popular.
posted by happyroach at 9:58 PM PST - 93 comments

The Paint Factory of Blombos

For the last few decades, discoveries at Blombos Cave near Capetown have been pushing back our timeframe for the earliest known periods of complex human thought. Henshilwood et al have now discovered a 100,000 year old ocher paint factory at the same site.
posted by jjray at 9:28 PM PST - 17 comments

Corporate fraud / Benford's law

One way to measure corporate fraud is look at reported numbers and see if they follow Benford's law - number sets that are manipulated usually deviate from Benford's law. A recent analysis of all public companies over the past 50 years has shown a steady upward deviation, strongly suggesting there is more corporate fraud now than ever before (peaked in 2008). [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 9:07 PM PST - 41 comments

The Lean Publishing Manifesto

Lean Publishing is the act of self-publishing a book while you are writing it, evolving the book with feedback from your readers and finishing a first draft before using the traditional publishing workflow, with or without a publisher.
posted by Trurl at 7:49 PM PST - 20 comments

It's Like Fighting Both Sides Of A Mirror

Long before the disastrous musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, Marvel released the concept album Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero. The album featured everything from 70's rock to a doo-wop tribute to Gwen Stacey, a theatrical track about Doctor Octopus and the rousing title track and Count On Me . Rock Reflections of a Superhero has been recapped by comic bloggers like Chris Sims, Gone & Forgotten and Tales To Mildly Astonish.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:17 PM PST - 13 comments

"Big Bang" in Belarus

Watched every episode of the "Big Bang Theory" and still want more? There's always Belarus's unauthorized copy of the show, titled "The Theorists".
posted by reenum at 4:55 PM PST - 96 comments

Fake English

Skwerl is a short film in which the dialogue sounds like what a person who speaks very little English might hear. Be sure to turn on the closed captioning and choose "Transcribe Audio". (Previously)
posted by gman at 4:40 PM PST - 46 comments

The Nauscopy Wizard of Mauritius

In 1782, a French colony in the Indian Ocean prepared for a rumored assault by British ships. Before the governor's reconnaissance ship could report back on the flotilla, however, a member of the local engineering corps reported that the group of ships had changed course. Etienne Bottineau claimed to be the inventor of a whole new “science” that he called nauscopy: “The art of discovering ships and land at a great distance.” [more inside]
posted by mudpuppie at 4:25 PM PST - 16 comments

"Someone, somewhere in the world is now holding the last film camera ever to roll off the line.”

Cinema is dead.
posted by Fizz at 4:17 PM PST - 103 comments

Blog 'em, Dano!

Director, writer, and raconteur, Peter Bogdanovich has a blog where he talks movies -- and you better believe it's called BLOGDANOVICH. [more inside]
posted by villanelles at dawn at 1:41 PM PST - 26 comments

Is this a god dam?

Rising 726.4 feet from its foundation, Hoover Dam was constructed in five years, beginning in 1931 and completed in 1936. Take a look back at its construction and history. Via The Browser.
posted by nosila at 1:10 PM PST - 43 comments

Occupy Everything

After deftly calming negative press coverage of his administration's handling of the Wall Street occupation by announcing that protestors may remain at the privately held public park in lower Manhattan which they have held for 26 days, Mayor Bloomberg has told the activists that they must vacate the premises by tomorrow (Friday) morning at 6AM for "cleaning." [more inside]
posted by fartron at 12:55 PM PST - 447 comments

Emma Frost can be a problem

The results of the Women Working in Comics survey are in. Meanwhile Comics Alliance has asked creators how comics can do better at female characters. (previously, previously)
posted by Artw at 11:20 AM PST - 73 comments

"Then who opens the pickle jar?"

All The Single Ladies - "In the cover story for the November issue of The Atlantic, which just came online, 39-year-old writer Kate Bolick explains why she hasn't gotten married and why many of her friends haven't either." (via The Hairpin: an email interview and a link to a video interview with the author)
posted by flex at 10:36 AM PST - 219 comments

The 60 Coolest Television Title Sequences

The 60 Coolest Television Title Sequences in three pages of links.
posted by gauche at 10:35 AM PST - 140 comments

Stubborn as a Muledog

Gus, the bulldog, decides he wants his pool inside the house.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 10:26 AM PST - 46 comments

Lingua Canis Domestica

NOVA hosts a test to see how well you speak dog. Originally in association with Dogs Decoded, which is available to watch for the next week via NOVA's website.
posted by cmoj at 10:25 AM PST - 45 comments

Metal Machine Models

Young C. Park builds aluminum models of aircraft. [more inside]
posted by exogenous at 10:13 AM PST - 12 comments

"We'll be fine."

GQ: The Man Who Sailed His House. On the third day after the Japanese tsunami, after the waves had left their destruction, as rescue workers searched the ruins, news came of an almost surreal survival: Nine miles out at sea, a man had been found alone, riding on nothing but the roof of his house. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 10:06 AM PST - 19 comments

CINEMETRICS

cinemetrics is about measuring and visualizing movie data, in order to reveal the characteristics of films and to create a visual “fingerprint” for them.
posted by mikoroshi at 9:39 AM PST - 12 comments

Reality Sucks

A "remarkably ill-conceived car ad campaign", General Motors tells students to "stop pedaling. . . start driving". GM backpedaled and pulled the ad, according to ABC news (and others).
posted by Man with Lantern at 9:38 AM PST - 105 comments

Pay Poor Tax: $12

If you're occupying a financial center, you might want to pass the time with a game of Monopoly. Though Hasbro gives ahighly contested "official history" asserting that the game was invented by an unemployed Philadelphia man, it actually originated 30 years earlier as The Landlord's Game, an anti-capitalist protest against the movement of wealth from poor to rich via real estate profiteering. Designed and patented by a Georgist Quaker woman, Elizabeth Maggie, in 1904, it was published by her Economic Game Company, but also spread far and wide - including in circles of socialist-leaning academic economists like Scott Nearing - as a hand-drawn and independently printed folk game. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 8:46 AM PST - 24 comments

Can't you hear that boom?

After starring in a giant hit youtube video singing Nicki Minaj's Super Bass, 8 year old Sophia Grace Brownlee (and her somewhat less talented sidekick) came on Ellen Degeneres's show yesterday to perform, and meet/upstage their idol. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:32 AM PST - 66 comments

All work and no play makes Jack a neurotic boy.

The decline of play. As a society, we have come to the conclusion that to protect children from danger and to educate them, we must deprive them of the very activity that makes them happiest...
posted by bitmage at 7:32 AM PST - 115 comments

This really is our only option out there.

Harrisburg City Council votes 4-3 in favor of Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy protection. Pennsylvania's capital city filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors Wednesday, becoming the third city to file this year. In August, Central Falls, R.I. filed for bankruptcy protection after retired city workers refused to accept an offer to cut their pensions. In March Boise County Idaho became the first municipality for seek Chapter 9 protection. [more inside]
posted by three blind mice at 6:01 AM PST - 38 comments

Dr Pepper Blew?

Is Dr Pepper Ten's "NOT FOR WOMEN" marketing Sexist, Satirical or just Stupid? Well, the first commercial for the new low calorie soda is very tongue-in-cheek (yes, he yelled out "Catchphrase!"). But the brand's Facebook page actually excludes women (did you know Facebook can do that?), yet a marketing executive has bragged that 40 percent of the people trying it ARE women (who apparently can't read the signs saying NO WOMEN). The soft drink biz is watching to see if it works. Of course, if the Dr wants to raise the stakes, Slacktory.com has some ideas for ads (including "Grow A Penis", "Make Me A Sammich" and "We put Netflix in charge of our marketing decisions...")
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:30 AM PST - 175 comments

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