September 15, 2013
The making of Grand Theft Auto
"Like nailing jelly to kittens." - Unloved, hugely delayed and plagued by bugs, GTA almost didn't see the light of day. This is the story of how a small team of developers at DMA Design saw their vision through and kickstarted a gaming revolution.
Desire paths
A desire path … can be a path created as a consequence of foot or bicycle traffic. The path usually represents the shortest or most easily navigated route between an origin and destination. The width of the path and its erosion are indicators of the amount of use the path receives. Desire paths emerge as shortcuts where constructed ways take a circuitous route, or have gaps, or are lacking entirely. [more inside]
The staircase you climb every day; the exact spot where you got engaged
Photographer and historian of the New York Press Photographers Association Marc Hermann searched the New York Daily News archive to find historic NYC crime scenes, and superimposed them on photographs of the same locations today. [more inside]
Choi Xoo Ang, M.F.A, sculptor of unsettling artwork.
Choi Xoo Ang, M.F.A.,sculptor. His (potentially shocking) 2010 gallery exhibition. [NSFW]
If visualizing an angel wing comprised of human hands doesn't turn you off (here), then larger and potentially disturbing gallery photos are here andhere. Many more (some repeats, some slow to display) are here and here. The latter includes some critical commentary. Christies has sold his work. [more inside]
If visualizing an angel wing comprised of human hands doesn't turn you off (here), then larger and potentially disturbing gallery photos are here andhere. Many more (some repeats, some slow to display) are here and here. The latter includes some critical commentary. Christies has sold his work. [more inside]
...and despair.
In an unusually enlightening ninety-minute panel, the cast of Breaking Bad – including show creator Vince Gilligan – discuss the process of making the show, of bringing it to an end, and of coping with its aftermath. Towards the end, Gilligan spoke fondly of show director Rian Johnson, known for his work on films like Brick and Looper. Johnson had previously directed Breaking Bad's most controversial episode, Fly, which critic Alan Sepinwall called the best bottle episode in TV history. Gilligan took his praise a step further: "[Rian directed] what may be the best episode we've ever done." [approx 1:27:30] He was referring, not to Fly, but to Ozymandias, the show's third-to-last episode, and the inspiration for this previous post. Ozymandias, which aired tonight, was accompanied by [SPOILER LINKS FROM THIS POINT FURTHER] livetweets from Aaron Paul, who plays Jesse Pinkman, and provoked immediate visceral reactions from critics and fans alike.
The murder of Matthew Shepard - revisited
Matthew Shepard's murder in 1998 became a symbol of hate crime that helped to drive anti-hate crime legislation. But "what if nearly everything you thought you knew about Matthew Shepard’s murder was wrong?" [more inside]
Rejoice, resound with joy!
The Three Versions of Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate. "Obviously, the 16-year old Mozart was not conversant with all of the theological ramifications of the Milano text when he created the music for Exsultate. Nonetheless, he wrote music which illuminated and even enhanced the spirituality of the text. How a sixteen-year old could create music of the beauty and elegance of this piece is difficult enough to comprehend. That he could match the music so perfectly to the text, playfully enhancing and amplifying its meaning, is mind-boggling, and a clear augury of the genius to be presented to the world in later years in such works as Le Nozze di Figaro, where the perfect matching of music with text is acknowledged by many musicologists today as virtual perfection." [more inside]
How Detroit Went Broke
The Free Press investigates the causes of the Detroit bankruptcy. From 13th checks to Kwame's gamble, the story of Detroit's bankruptcy is surprising and often counter-intuitive.
The sins of this universe would trouble anyone.
Land of milk and honey
Beer googles: the studies
‘Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder’: People who think they are drunk also think they are attractive (full-text PDF) is a study that just won the IgNobel Prize for Psychology. Previously, bar-hopping researchers had demonstrated (paywalls, abstracts only) that the "beer goggles" effect affected men and women equally, could last as long as 24 h (for men rating women) and was not selective for opposite-sex faces, that the reduced ability of inebriated people to perceive asymmetry was a potential culprit, that beer goggles were no excuse for having sex with minors because even heavy alcohol consumption does not interfere with age-perception, and even that the effect did not exist at all.
"It is a sad story, but there is a joy that came out of it."
Fifty years ago this morning, Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14) lost their lives when a bomb set by the KKK went off in the basement of their church in Montgomery, Alabama. [more inside]
He has a very distinct presence
W. Kamau Bell Is Trying To Become A Thing
A few years ago, sick of performing for San Francisco audiences who didn’t want to hear about race or politics, he was ready to quit comedy completely. Now he’s the host of TV’s most diverse, boundary-pushing nightly talk show, which just happens to be the flagship of a new network. No pressure or anything.
Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on fxx.com and Video on Demand
Previously on MetaFilter: Sarah Silverman talks about the roasting she got at the James Franco roast
A few years ago, sick of performing for San Francisco audiences who didn’t want to hear about race or politics, he was ready to quit comedy completely. Now he’s the host of TV’s most diverse, boundary-pushing nightly talk show, which just happens to be the flagship of a new network. No pressure or anything.
Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell on fxx.com and Video on Demand
Previously on MetaFilter: Sarah Silverman talks about the roasting she got at the James Franco roast
Google in the Galapagos Islands, and beyond
To mark the 178th anniversary of Darwin’s first exploration of the Galapagos Islands, Google Maps has captured dozens of locations featuring the local biodiversity. It's the newest of Google's ongoing efforts to bring diverse locations to you via your computer.
Getting Closer with Tegan and Sara
"...back in the day I feel like we could have been doing polka and we still would've gotten compared to Ani DiFranco"Tegan and Sara Quinn sit down with The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick and Jonah Ray to discuss consciously trying to expand their fanbase, the challenge of being seen as something other than a "gimmicky" (girl/gay/twin) group, the futility of trying to gauge "authenticity" in music and, of course, Miley Cyrus' VMA performance
On the Red River
A new critically acclaimed film (96%) is coming out soon 12 Years a Slave (trailer), the true story of Solomon Northup. His memoir is a riveting read (or listen to Louis Gossett, Jr. reading it), but this post is about where Northup was enslaved, a cotton plantation near the Red River, Louisiana. [more inside]
58% of domestic workers spend more than half their income on rent
Home Truths: Domestic Workers in California (PDF). 2012's groundbreaking National Domestic Worker Survey was conducted in 14 cities; the sample analyzed in this report includes 631 domestic workers (nannies, caregivers, housecleaners) in four metropolitan areas in California: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. [more inside]
There's More to the Picture than Meets the Eye.
WWE- Conversations during matches
The sad story of Ricky Bell.
We all just scratched our heads and wondered, ‘Where's the Ricky Bell we all know?'" Ricky Bell, former USC Trojan and member of the College Football Hall of Fame, was the number one pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1977 NFL draft, ahead of Tony Dorsett. But his injury-plagued career resulted in only one brilliant season , until he was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1982.
Less than three years later, he was dead.
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