February 25, 2010

Not pictured: line of five other kids

Pictures of toy store video game console kiosks! via
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:52 PM PST - 11 comments

Sell a cellar, door a cellar, sell a cellar cellar-door, door adore, adore a door, selling cellar, door a cellar, cellar cellar-door.

'Cellar Door' is a beautiful phrase, and not only to Donnie's teacher. J.R.R Tolkien, Dorothy Parker, C.S. Lewis, among other authors were and are fans of this esoteric little gem of linguistic history.
posted by Taft at 10:48 PM PST - 59 comments

Georgia O'Keefe goes mixed-medium

As if being rich and trashy weren't already enough work, now there's vajazzling, too. (NSFW)
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:54 PM PST - 141 comments

"Ballard is probably the most original English writer of the last century"

"He surely had an indispensable role in the morphing of suburbia into disturbia in the cultural imagination, the real conception underlying the pretend-naïveté about the Sheppertons of the city and the mind--not only in the simple and tediously scandalous fact of his living there but in the power of his depicted suburbs too." China Mieville reviews J. G. Ballard's posthumous collection of short fiction.
posted by bardic at 8:49 PM PST - 23 comments

4chan memes? On my money?

Defaced Presidents [more inside]
posted by ardgedee at 7:05 PM PST - 25 comments

Bring bear spray

Recumbent cyclist David Cambon shares with us a breathtaking, scary and wry photo diary of his 3224 km (~2000 mile) bike trip from Vancouver, BC to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, with portions along the famous Dempster Highway. [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:54 PM PST - 29 comments

Google vs. China

The charges and retaliations seem reminiscent of so much cold war bluster, and indeed this encounter could be the first great clash of the 21st century’s two emergent superpowers—Google and China.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:19 PM PST - 30 comments

Start hard.

Poet Laureate of the United States Kay Ryan (previously on MeFi) appeared for a public reading of her work, February 22, in San Francisco. (via Frank Paynter's Buzz and with appreciation of Drunken Boat's archive of Jane Collin's interview and feature with Kay Ryan).
posted by paulsc at 5:39 PM PST - 4 comments

Best Journalism of 2009

Looking for something to read? Check out the best journalism Conor Friedersdorf encountered in 2009. And in 2008. He also updates a twitter feed with pieces he comes across that he either missed or that might make onto a 2010 list.
posted by AceRock at 3:31 PM PST - 16 comments

Olympic Pictograms Through the Ages

Olympic Pictograms Through the Ages In this four minute video, designer Steven Heller traces the evolution of the tiny symbols for each Olympic sport since their appearance in 1936. [more inside]
posted by ocherdraco at 2:42 PM PST - 25 comments

The Champawat Tiger and Other Man Eaters Of Kumaon

Jim Corbett's Man Eaters Of Kumaon (1944) is a collection of true stories about the hunt for man-eating tigers and leopards in India. One of Corbett's most notable kills, the Champawat Tiger, was alleged to have killed some 436 people in Nepal and India. Similarly, the Leopard of Panar possibly killed some 400 people in northern India before she was hunted down herself. [more inside]
posted by SpringAquifer at 2:00 PM PST - 26 comments

Something Still Stinks in New Orleans

New Orleans detective pleads guilty to major coverup of police shootings in aftermath of Katrina. Among other things, Lohman has admitted involvement in planting a handgun at the scene, drafting fake police reports, and lying to federal agents as part of a conspiracy to cover up the truth about a shooting incident in which six unarmed civilians were shot by New Orleans' police. With news of Lohman's guilty plea announcement coming amid a renewed DOJ push to investigate allegations of police abuse in New Orleans, some are wondering who'll be next in front of a jury. (Via TPM.)
posted by saulgoodman at 2:00 PM PST - 114 comments

Burning Man on ice

The 31st Annual Eelpout Festival wrapped up in Walker, Minnesota, last weekend. The eelpout is an large, ugly, slimy freshwater cod. [more inside]
posted by mudpuppie at 12:59 PM PST - 16 comments

The chickens are coming!

Chickam 2010. Chickens are hatching right now! Related SomethingAwful thread with chick names listed.
posted by chiababe at 12:36 PM PST - 37 comments

Life in Quarantine

Due to a serious form of tuberculosis which he contracted on a trip to South America Christiaan Van Vuuren (aka Fully Sick Rapper) has been quarantined in a Australian hospital room since January 18th. "This is starting to take it's toll on my mental stability, and this song is about the impact (or lack thereof) it has had so far." [more inside]
posted by ericb at 12:33 PM PST - 16 comments

Not Funny At All

Why I'm Funny. By Joel Johnson. [Warning: About molestation.]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:28 AM PST - 95 comments

RIAA and MPAA say: Open Source = Piracy

The International Intellectual Property Alliance, an umbrella group for organisations including the MPAA and RIAA, has requested with the US Trade Representative to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India for its “Special 301 watchlist” because they use open source software. (also here) [more inside]
posted by knz at 11:25 AM PST - 61 comments

One Tweet, 180,000 followers.

Conan O'Brien joins Twitter. His first tweet gave him six times Jay Leno's entire Twitter following.
posted by misha at 10:31 AM PST - 108 comments

John Mayer gets some really bitchin’ typography

John Mayer gets some really bitchin’ typography. House Industries (last MeFi mention: 1999!) designs a limited-edition tour poster for the crooner who constantly steals the show on TMZ. “[U]ntil they come up with a JPEG format that makes metallics shimmer like a Solid Gold dancer’s outfit, there just isn’t a substitute for physically walking around a serigraph and watching the light bouncing off metallic and fluorescent inks.” [more inside]
posted by joeclark at 10:11 AM PST - 35 comments

Kelly Kulick is the Best Bowler in the World

Kelly Kulick just won the PBA Tournament (warning automatic video starts with this link). She is one of the first female professional athletes to ever win a prominent national sporting event against the best males in the sport. Interesting article questioning why she isn't being given more national recognition.
posted by bove at 9:51 AM PST - 71 comments

Don't throw away that spork.

Sayaka Ganz creates amazing sculptures from reclaimed objects and scrap metal.
posted by HumanComplex at 9:49 AM PST - 3 comments

Heimo's Arctic Refuge

"In 1980, when Jimmy Carter created the 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, only six families of white settlers were allowed to keep cabins there. Heimo Korth and his wife, Edna, are the only ones left." [more inside]
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 9:31 AM PST - 22 comments

Love and Baseball

Baseball might not allow you to love it by playing it for all your time on Earth, but it can guide you to a love that can last that long. (NYTimes). As Spring Training begins, Doug Glanville, former MLB outfielder and UPenn graduate, offers an interesting and insightful look at how baseball can affect relationships and love. [more inside]
posted by arm426 at 9:00 AM PST - 28 comments

Variations on Normal

Variations on Normal - the unusual inventions of Dominic Wilcox. [more inside]
posted by MuffinMan at 8:43 AM PST - 9 comments

More earthquakes expected in major cities around the globe.

Deep from within the bellows, the great Earth monster awakens... to destroy your shoddily constructed city.
posted by Tlery at 8:06 AM PST - 21 comments

Orphans and Street no more

Changes to Orphan Works copyright legislation in the US began to crumble in 2008 when the NPPA and a grassroots initiative finally gained momentum. Still, the ASMP has a FAQ outlining their position on the 2008 Orphan Works bill stating that it is inevitable legislation and they should take advantage of a favourable congress to retain as positive a position for photographers as possible.

It seems that new laws are close to coming into effect in the UK government seemingly nationalising orphan works and in a separate action (same article) banning non-consentual photography making street photography essentially impossible. [via]

Previously
posted by michswiss at 7:18 AM PST - 18 comments

The museum bits you don't get to see so often

The Vault - Fascinating photography from the storerooms at various NZ museums, archives and libraries, by Neil Pardington. Including mammals, birds and card catalogues. [more inside]
posted by patricio at 6:28 AM PST - 8 comments

Look up, laugh loud, talk big, keep the color in your cheek and the fire in your eye, adorn your person, maintain your health, your beauty and your animal spirits.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) wrote beautiful things.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:10 AM PST - 11 comments

That concrete slab-sided monstrosity may someday be called a masterpiece

In praise of ugly buildings. [more inside]
posted by Afroblanco at 12:25 AM PST - 191 comments

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