September 26, 2007
California Inspects Spector and cannot decide. There is more to this than meets the eye.
California Where the Rich do Fine While the Poor are Doing Time "Hell, you got to live with it, there's nothing else to live with except mendacity, is there?" Big Daddy, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
I want to sit in a hole and drink chardonnay while reading a book - thanks very much.
Sydney-Filter. Why does Sydney suck so much (particularly when compared to Melbourne)? The Australian Hotels Association labelled Melbourne "a land of skivvy-wearing, chardonnay-drinking book readers" and said Sydneysiders are fit outdoorsy types that don't like to sit in a hole in the wall. Clover thinks otherwise, and now you can join her. [more inside]
Live Loud Acts: The Pat Duncan Show on WFMU
Live Loud Acts: archives and playlists for The Pat Duncan Show on WFMU. Hour upon hour of expertly curated punk rock radio. Pat's Myspace page has more info. [more inside]
Professors Gone Wild!
Blasphemy is Teh Funneh
Radioactive Baby Jebus is Radioactive and other food for thought, as you ponder whether or not the whole LOLcat thing is played out completely.
O.R. They?
"Hotel Chevalier," the twelve-minute prequel short to Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, is available for download from iTunes.
#7: Ten percent of all city space shall be open land where you can "touch the dirt"
"First we kill the architects..." Photographer Danny Lyon [1, 2, 3, 4] offers ten suggestions for New York City. Suggestion #6: "Leave the World Trade Center excavation exactly as it is and use the space as a freshwater pond planted with pink, white, and yellow lilies..." His essay is only one of many from names you'll recognize in a book called Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York. An associated exhibition opened yesterday [museum, NYT review]. Is New York City moving in the right direction? Is your city?
[via] [more inside]
Theoretical Geography
The Map of Humanity [large .jpg] created by illustrator James Turner is an effort to describe the human condition in an incredibly detailed map containing thousands of names from history and fiction arranged in a theoretical geography that encompasses islands of Abandonment and Wisdom and regions of Abomination and Courage.
Dream job of The Daily Show . . . or not
It's a slightly less glamorous beginning than I had imagined, but that doesn't matter because getting the job on The Daily Show is the most incredible thing that has ever happened to me. Writer/actor/comedienne Lauren Weedman recounts her six-month quest to get Jon Stewart to like her. (She failed). [more inside]
Team Mitt to America: Create Our “New Official” Campaign Ad!
Taking a cue from Doritos (Frito Lay) which sponsored a contest for a user-submitted video ad to be aired during Super Bowl XKL, Mitt Romney’s campaign decided to follow suit, challenging “…you to make his campaign’s new official TV advertisement...using images and materials supplied on the campaign website.” “An online vote will help determine the winner.” Folks create ads. Folks vote for their favorite ad. “Way! He'll Set America Straight” [video] (produced by Bruce Reed) garners more votes than the other top nine finalists combined. “[T]he campaign promised 10 finalists, but today it posted only nine...” Guess which one is missing? [more inside]
A tail around two cities..
After several disagreements between the Texas cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, the Greater Fort Worth International Airport at Amon Carter Field opened on April 25th, 1953. [more inside]
Life Lessons
New York Stories with Martin Scorsese, Nick Nolte, ROSANNA Arquette, Richard Price, Steve Buscemi, Larry David, Coppolas, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Soho - 1989.
And this beautiful aurora video.
Lets Talk About (lack of) Sex
Americans Not Making Time for Making Love according to Durex® [note: PR and attendant conflicts]. "Americans are having a lot less sex than just about everyone else in the world, and when they do, less than half are fully satisfied." Also from the 2007/2008 Durex® Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey: Where is sex safer?
Robot Sex
Make them fight to the death! Wheeee!
Illustrator Rob Nance presents: The Do-It-Yourself Posable Paper David Hasselhoff and Pope Benedict.
Illustrated classics by scratchboard artist Scott McKowen
Scratchboard artist Scott McKowen was a successful designer of theater posters when Marvel Comics hired him to create the covers for Neil Gaiman's 1602. He recently completed new covers and illustrations for old classics like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Surprisingly, he has no entry at Wikipedia.
Defending the Constitution
Never in History Have Generals Revolted Against a War Like They are About IRAQ. "I (insert name), having been appointed a (insert rank) in the U.S. Army under the conditions indicated in this document, do accept such appointment and do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God."
Unlike the enlisted folks, officers only swear an allegiance to the Constitution.
Never Pay A Bill Again
Braving Alaska is a fantastic 1992 National Geographic special that may make you want to move to Alaska. Focusing on a handful of U.S. families who have moved from the cities in the lower 48 to handmade homes above the arctic circle and now receive their mail by bush pilot maybe 3 times a year, living hundreds of miles from their nearest neighbor, and exist entirely of their own capability, the documentary is a fascinating view of life WAY off the grid. Presented here in a YT playlist of six segments, there are more great moments (from sawing through the frozen fish to the enumeration of meals made from Moose) than I can list.
Sustainable lifestyle?
How many planets do you need? NPR has a game to assess your impact on the Earth.
Dipnote
SuperNews is Better Than Christmas - Santa
And Lauren, what's the deal? Are you a lesbian? Because you are way too clingy with your friends. SuperNews! pokes a little fun at politics, pop culture, and baby Jesus snowglobes.
Shifting Demographics of Electorate
With President Bush hoping to make Hillary the democratic nominee so the Republicans will be ensured a victory, recent Republican decisions in the face of a huge demographic shift may be suggesting an electorate which leans further left in some traditional Republican strongholds. Are Bush's actions a last ditch attempt in the face of long term shift in the Democrats' favor?
This Thread Has Been Pre-Godwin'd For Your Convenience.
An Unfortunate View From the Sky. The U.S. Navy has decided to spend as much as $600,000 for landscaping and architectural modifications to obscure the fact that one its building complexes looks like a swastika from the air.
Nightmare at 20,000 feet
Whether it's the Shatner or Lithgow version of the story, it's not something you would want to try and re-enact in real life. [more inside]
Can grass roots outgrow astroturf?
Avaaz.org was founded by moveon.org and getup.org.au alumni and brings a similar approach to global politics.
Julia Pott's First Crush
Animation: Julia Pott just graduated from Kingston University on animation and illustration. She has made some short movies and two books. Charles Bukowski's "The Man With The Beautiful Eyes" is an inspiration among others.
tales of music and the brain
Musicophilia. Metafilter's own digaman interviews Oliver Sacks on his forthcoming book and a lifetime's worth of loving music and studying its effects on the human mind. [more inside]
So white
Record your bad (or good) raps, share them with the world and add to other people's raps at RapHappy. Via Projects.
It is no small labor to rescue all mankind, every mother's son
The MacArthur Foundation awarded its "genius" grants yesterday. Among the winners was Jonathan Shay, a a VA psychiatrist whose midlife discovery of the Homeric epics inspired him to use their depictions of soldier bonding and cohesion, leadership, trust and betrayal, and terror and rage to treat the psychological disorders and transition difficulties of combat veterans. NPR interview.
Swingin' Singapore, back in the day.
Okay, first, take a look at this collection of 60's and 70's Asian Pop Record Covers. Cause they're just a helluvalotta of fun to look at. Now, if you find your musical appetite whetted, the same fellow who brought you those wonderful jackets has a Singapore and Asian 60's Pop Music MySpace page, where you can listen to his fabulous audio playlist, see video clips and more record jackets, and get more info on this very fertile period in Asian pop music history. [more inside]
Blame it on Bklyn.
'These are a few of my least favorite things.' Melvin Jules Bukiet shares his thoughts on some contemporary writers, some of whom call the borough of Brooklyn home. Writers with names like Foer, Sebold and Eggers, among others. His thoughts are mostly negative. [via]
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