October 19, 2011
Mathamatical!
He even got "Bismillah" wrong.
The first official video has been released from William Shatner's new album. It's not "F**k You" or "Iron Man." No, it's an... indescribable "cover" of Bohemian Rhapsody.
Amor Vincit Omnia
A couple married for 72 years dies holding hands, one hour apart. The inseparable couple was engaged and married within 12 hours in 1939, on the day Norma Yeager graduated from high school, May 26, 1939.
Dear Me
Dear Me -- celebrity letters to their younger selves. Stephen King, Gene Hackman, Gillian Anderson, James Belushi, Alice Cooper, John Waters, Sandra Bernhard, Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, and Kathleen Turner.
Here at the Green Dragon...
Wheels within wheels
The best known packings of equal circles within a circle. Best packings with 1-12 circles. Best packings with 49-60 circles. Best packings with 1093-1104 circles. Also, circles whose areas form a harmonic series. Circles in an isosceles right triangle. Or generate your own circle packings. (Background for beginners: circle packing. Background for experts: circle packing.)
The word cocksucker does get thrown around a lot
Wes Anderson: I knew Bill Murray had my back from the first time I saw him standing on top of that rock, wearing a cowboy hat.
The director and part of the cast of the Royal Tenenbaums talked about the movie at the New York Film Festival, where there was a special 10th anniversary screening. They had a lot to say about Gene Hackman, mostly of the 'well, at least he didn't kill any of us' variety.
Liliana Cavani's "The Night Porter"
The familiar '70s query, "Is it art or porn?," took on a whole new dimension with The Night Porter (NSFW), a stylish and astoundingly seamy fusion of erotica and stark concentration camp trauma. While many subsequent films, mostly Italian, took the Nazi sexploitation route to unbelievably tastless levels, Liliana Cavani's treatment remains more problematic. More concerned with mood and characterization than cheap thrills, the film is nevertheless extremely kinky and shocking enough to prove that its R rating is the product of a ratings system far different than the one we have now. [more inside]
Recommended by Nine Out of Ten Hippies
Many of us weren't born yet, but those who were, see 1968 was a pivotal year in US history. The 1968 Exhibit. Everything you wanted to know about 1968 but were afraid to ask.
Whole lotta Winslow
Have a Coke and a Smile (assuming you have any teeth left).
You know those Coke Freestyle machines? Where you can make your own combos? Like, 127 of them? [more inside]
Exotic animal debacle in Zanesville
Wild Animal Escape From Ohio Farm Like 'Noah's Ark Wrecking' "Jack Hanna says the scene of wild and dangerous animals running from an eastern Ohio farm after their owner freed them and killed himself was 'like Noah’s Ark wrecking.' [more inside]
The jumpers are all one size and pattern, but the penguins will have a choice of colors.
Skeinz is a yarn store. Their current newsletter is sending out a request for penguin sweaters due to the oil spill off New Zealand. Surprisingly, knitted wear for penguins is not a new thing.
Filler text that really ties the room together
Lebowski Ipsum The Big Lebowski-flavored lorem ipsum text generator. Somethin' every bit as stupefyin' as you'd see in any a those other places, and in English too.
The Avengers...Sweded!
You’ve probably read all the stories you ever want to about killer sows from outer space, but mine is a little different …
The Sobering Saga of Myrtle the Manuscript. A cautionary tale.
This Year’s Hot TV Trend Is Anatomically Correct
There has been a noticeable uptick in the use of the word "vagina" in network TV shows, reports the NY Times.
Such a heavenly way to die
The book covers at Paris's famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore come to life in this stop-motion collaboration between director Spike Jonze and designer Olympia Le-Tan, Mourir Auprès De Toi (To Die By Your Side). [more inside]
The Curious Incident of the Dalek in the Night-time
The Dalek of the Rings. The Dalek of the Flies. Pride and Prejudice and Daleks. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Dalek. The Dalek of the Baskervilles. The Dalek at Pooh Corner. And many more illustrations by Kathleen Jennings.
Stinson Reliant and the Mail Pick-Up Service
From May 12, 1939 to June 30, 1949, a fleet of Stinson Reliants were used for a unique form of mail pick-up and delivery: skyhooking. Similar in notion to the mail-on-the-fly and mail cranes used along rail lines, the Reliants would fly low, deposit one load of mail and pick up the next, without stopping, providing mail service to rural communities. The Smithsonian National Postal Museum has a 39 minute documentary presentation on YouTube, but it's a guy talking over powerpoint slides, which is pretty dry. Instead, here is a modern news report with interviews of a skyhook pilot and old newsreel footage.
"Buddy Holly taken to outer R&B space by Timbaland"
Phone home
Publisher embraces community
Penguin announces a cover contest for John Green's An Abundance of Katherines. John Green, one half of the VlogBrothers (previously on metafilter), is also a Young Adult novelist. His upcoming book, The Fault in Our Stars, has topped pre-order lists since its title was announced in June of 2011, thanks in no small part to Green's promise to sign all pre-ordered copies of the book (150,000 total, as determined by his publisher).
Since the upcoming novel's title release, fan-made covers have made the rounds on Tumblr, some for which Green has expressed admiration himself. As it turns out, Penguin went with a professionally-designed cover for TFiOS, but has also announced a contest to determine which fan-made cover it'll use for the next printing of Green's second novel, An Abundance of Katherines.
Blind girl runs with help from guide dog
Inspiring story of the day: Legally blind high school girl runs on the cross country team with help of her guide dog. via
"It may be possible to keep your entire cake while explaining to any nearby hungry people just how reasonable you are."
Thirteen Observations made by Lemony Snicket while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance (scroll down)
Fantastical Radiography
"Radiography is more than a technique. It is rather a teknè; that is the only possible "means" to read reality, through matter rather than light." Benedetta Bonichi makes art using X-rays. [more inside]
One guy, three cups.
Cups and Balls. Andrew Musgrave at Ye Olde Magick Blogge gathers videos of, and comments on, 28 versions of the oldest trick in the book. [more inside]
Blue scarves extra
Shame on you! Wear the green scarf! Do not put the green scarf in your schoolbag. Don't back down! Proudly wear the red scarf!
“It's easy, after all, not to be a writer. Most people aren't writers, and very little harm comes to them.”
Julian Barnes Wins the 2011 Man Booker Prize. [Guardian] Fourth time lucky for Julian Barnes, who wins the Man Booker prize 2011 for his novel The Sense of an Ending after missing out on three previous occasions.
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