MetaFilter

Clearly justice isn't in "reform" "movements." It's in good governance. That's happened sometimes in history, but it's rare. And this kind of hand-wringing, which assumes foolishly that things should be much better than they've been for most of human history, will not help one bit.

Being a dissident doesn't save the world. It doesn't make you some latter-day saint. The past two centuries are littered with testaments to dissidents... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by koeselitz at 11:08 PM on November 27, 2010

Whenever I read a really long essay that starts off assuming the worst and then from there delves to even darker depths, I imagine that the writer has taken one huge breath and is reading it aloud to me all in that same breath.

It is the only way that I can laugh after a writer, for instance, compares our plight after "Obama has sold out to corporations" to that of slaves.
posted to MetaFilter by Threeway Handshake at 9:27 PM on November 27, 2010

I know why I love librarians. And that's because of my childhood spent in the Kensington branch of the NY Public Library system.

As a child, I was first brought to the Ditmas Ave. library with a kindergarten class. I can still remember the person that showed us around made a big deal about how we were going into the children's section. It was (and still is ) upstairs.

I remember thinking how cool it would be to be able to go into the Adult... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Splunge at 8:24 PM on November 24, 2010

Other fun originals/covers he compared in this vein:

Little Junior & the Blue Flames' "Mystery Train" vs. Presley's - The former is a sad shuffle about the train that took a guy's girl away, the latter is a jittery tune about going to get that girl back.

Billy "The Kid" Emerson's "Red Hot" vs. the version by Billy Lee Riley and His Little Green Men - The former song features Emerson saying his girl is red hot,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 10:29 PM on November 23, 2010

It's also interesting to see what's remained constant about rock music and what's changed.

constant -- snare backbeat, eighth-note feel, ostinato bass, drums, lead and rhythm guitar, vocals, AABABCB structure

changed -- blues tonality now optional, shuffle feel now completely gone, I-IV-V very rarely encountered in unmodified form, sax almost never encountered
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 5:02 AM on November 24, 2010

Well, for a genre of music, wouldn't you need more than one song? So, for something to be the first Rock and Roll song, you need at least two Rock and Roll songs, but take away that second song and you don't have a genre anymore, you just have one, strange song. And like many, many things, genres - like Rock and Roll change over time, so the first song, isn't going to be similar to the, "last" (which, if you flip this argument around, also doesn't exist) song - sort of how chimps... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alex_skazat at 12:17 AM on November 24, 2010

In May, 1955, with an introduction from Waters, Berry went to Chicago to audition for Leonard Chess in hopes of landing a recording contract. Berry thought his blues material would be of most interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was the hillbilly "Ida Red" that got Chess' attention. Chess, a great blues label, in recent years had seen its market shrink and was looking to move beyond the rhythm and blues market and Chess thought Berry might be that artist that could do... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Potomac Avenue at 9:02 PM on November 23, 2010

The awesome part is that if you sync up this clip to any of the Downfall parodies they match...perfectly
posted to MetaFilter by jadayne at 3:54 AM on November 24, 2010

Well, having seen those pants, her anger and frustration is understandable.

I don't speak Swedish but she seems to be saying:

"How can I get on a plane when the only clothes I have are straight out of a Europe video? Look at these pants. These pants are psychological terrorism."
posted to MetaFilter by nickrussell at 3:34 AM on November 24, 2010

It is absolutely fucking criminal that eighteen-year-olds are allowed to do this to themselves. I don't want to hear any horseshit about how they're "legal adults." They were living on their parents dime not months before taking out the first pieces of these loans. If they were children the year before we, as a humane society, owe it to ourselves to protect them. If their parents aren't up to it, and aren't wise enough -- whether through ignorance or esteem -- to steer them away... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by griphus at 1:18 PM on November 22, 2010

In the academy, it is never appropriate for me to address a colleague or peer with "Disrespectfully Yours," even if I feel that way.
posted to MetaFilter by joedanger at 8:28 AM on November 20, 2010

Without Humanities as a mandatory part of a college education, students' great capabilities for critical thinking, and thus their abilities to identify injustice go undeveloped.

The thing is, I'm not totally convinced "critical thinking" is something real either. I see it used most often as a way to endorse whatever the accepted critical methodology of your preconceived position is--that is, when it's conservatives, it's all about learning... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nasreddin at 8:26 AM on November 20, 2010

"...British and American women today are five times more likely to be mentally ill than women in the 1950s...."

Doesn't he mean "more likely to be diagnosed as mentally ill?"
posted to MetaFilter by Perplexity at 12:35 PM on November 19, 2010

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with tanks

Yeah, but we know what we're doing.

We're not blinded by ideology like those Soviet fools were.
posted to MetaFilter by Joe Beese at 9:40 AM on November 19, 2010

I really liked her work in making the man's approach to the budoir less stressful through better lighting cues and reduced noise.

Oh wait, that was Temple Grandin, cows, and abbatoir.
posted to MetaFilter by condour75 at 8:35 AM on November 19, 2010

You know, I had to get a Facebook account in September for a temporary work reason, and then I let a bunch of acquaintances and a couple of family members "friend" me because apparently it's rude if you don't (super, another source of pointless social obligation, fab). And I like all these people just fine. They are lovely persons. But sweet Jesus, I would pay cash money if, in the 5 or 6 times that I've scrolled down the endless pile of stuff that evidently appears all day long on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by FelliniBlank at 8:00 AM on November 19, 2010

I read the following from the Embassy Bombing entry at WikiPedia via another MetaFilter post:

According to journalist Lawrence Wright, the Nairobi operation was named after the Holy Kaaba in Mecca; the Dar es Salaam bombing was called Operation al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, but "neither had an obvious connection to the American embassies in Africa. Bin Laden initially said that the sites had been targeted because of the 'invasion' of Somalia; then he described an American... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by notion at 10:18 AM on November 18, 2010

You can say that Shadyac's direction contributes nothing to the movie's quality. But you can not say that it hinders it either.

New Oscar category: least hindrance in a major motion picture
posted to MetaFilter by fleetmouse at 9:12 AM on November 18, 2010

When I read the excerpt from Elizabeth Rubin's longer magazine piece in the Times' Week in Review section Sunday morning, it just caught me up and made me sob. Perhaps Since I recently read some WWI histories, the futility of it all is heart wrenching.

"Last April, after three more years of killing and dying in that valley, the Americans decided to leave the place to the locals. "
posted to MetaFilter by readery at 7:28 AM on November 17, 2010

I've written before about the Sullivan elevator grilles that my parents rescued from the demolition of the Chicago Stock Exchange. The trading room was salvaged by someone else and eventually ended up reconstructed inside the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Museum of Modern Art has one of the grilles (as did, ca. 1988, Goldman Sachs), though I have no idea where the ones we used to own went to after they were finally sold.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dhartung at 7:19 PM on November 16, 2010

The Guaranty Building (pictured in the "entire book online" link) is in downtown Buffalo. Now, Buffalo has seen better days. Most of her architectural treasures, and there are many, are in some state of disrepair or ruin.

This building has not been treated with the care it deserves. The area around it is falling apart. And yet, take a look at some of the ornamentation on it. If you could spend a moment on that street you would understand so much of Buffalo: an... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by munchingzombie at 1:05 PM on November 16, 2010

I can't imagine many people under 30 being that excited about this.

Bach is on iTunes? I can't imagine many people under 400 being excited.
posted to MetaFilter by shakespeherian at 7:38 AM on November 16, 2010

Without the Maharishi there'd be no "Sexy Sadie" and a very different 'White Album' altogether. And "Within You Without You" is absolutely the right song to begin side two of Sgt. Pepper. I can't imagaine it any other way.

And, I swear, I'm not usually this guy (I adore my little red Nano & use it constantly) but Beatles records - even bootlegs (I'm looking at you, my dear, sweet "Ultra Rare Trax") never sound as good as when I listen to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mintcake! at 5:52 AM on November 16, 2010

"Within You and Without You", in retrospect, should at the time have been recognized as an indication that one can hybridize disparate music of the world and still come up with pabulum. It's not a lesson we really understood until the 1980s.

Snark aside, it's not experimentation if there's no risk of failure, so points to George for trying I guess.
posted to MetaFilter by ardgedee at 5:50 AM on November 16, 2010

You might say, the sixties started going bad the day George Harrison first picked up the sitar.

Yeah, you might say that. I wouldn't, though. The history of music is characterized by the continual human desire to extend the boundaries of musical knowledge and practice, particularly in regard to musicians' absorbing of influences (and putting those influences toward new types of expression) from musics outside their own particular, immediate milieu.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 5:40 AM on November 16, 2010

Norwegian Wood doesn't work without the sitar.
posted to MetaFilter by Blazecock Pileon at 5:07 AM on November 16, 2010

Is it just me, or does Lady Madonna without the piano make the song sound like it belongs in the Rubber Soul/Revolver era rather than the Magical Mystery Tour/White Album era?
posted to MetaFilter by Golfhaus at 5:04 AM on November 16, 2010

faze, i suppose i've always favored musical minimalism, but i really enjoy hearing what songs sound like when you take things away. (that's the reason the Cat Power cover of "Satisfaction" is my favorite cover evar.) "Lady Madonna" without the piano sounded...great. I don't want to hear it with the piano anymore after that.

that could be because I'm feeling the piano when I listen to it. i've heard this song probably a thousand times, after all.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by lodurr at 4:46 AM on November 16, 2010

Sorry for threadmodding a little, but I've been trying to nail down why this news carries so much emotional weight with me. It's been decades since I obsessively tracked down records by and books about The Beatles, and many years since my time as a Mac advocate. I think it comes down to this: The Beatles and Apple, endlessly at each other hammer and tongs over who what terms by which either of them gets to name themselves after a fruit (leading to all kinds of great little stories), appear to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ardgedee at 3:35 AM on November 16, 2010

I heard that in Turkey it's illegal to wear a fez. Here in America, anybody can wear a fez.
posted to MetaFilter by newdaddy at 7:25 AM on November 13, 2010

I’ve got some more bad news for you: America is actually among the least free countries on earth. Your piss is tested, your emails and phone calls are monitored, your medical records are gathered, and you are never more than one stray comment away from writhing on the ground with two Taser prongs in your ass.

I'm all for U.S. critiques, but what a bunch of fucking straw men.

First, MY piss is not tested.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by angrycat at 6:47 AM on November 13, 2010

Ok, smarty-scientist, how does my cat manage to drink the water coming out of the tap in the bathroom sink?
posted to MetaFilter by orme at 9:01 AM on November 12, 2010

I think it's great satire and a great point.

I asked a couple of dead soldiers and you know, they didn't disagree with me.
posted to MetaFilter by the quidnunc kid at 12:12 PM on November 11, 2010

Had he tried to speak in his cockney accident, they would have deliberately drowned him.
posted to MetaFilter by Astro Zombie at 5:29 AM on November 11, 2010

Are we sure it wasn't cartoon penguins?
posted to MetaFilter by shakespeherian at 5:26 AM on November 11, 2010

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.
posted to MetaFilter by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 7:03 PM on November 10, 2010

"Don't waste my time" is one of the ugliest, most narcissistic statements a human being can make. It basically asserts that "My agenda rules the universe. You are pointless."

I've got a poetry professor right now who I love the shit out of. He spends a lot of his time sort of rambling about things that aren't related to anything. Has us write papers about subjects on a whim. A lot of time in his weekly class is spent not paying... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rory Marinich at 9:11 AM on November 10, 2010

A week or so ago, The New York Times had a brief article about a college. It had a photo of a student in in dorm room, in pajamas, taking a course via tv/net...seems that course had some 1500 students enrolled (!) and so the students stayed in their rooms and took the class there.

Tip: if you can, go to a private or public school that does not offer grad programs and you will have full-time teachers, though possibly some part-timers. One N.England college, I noted two... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Postroad at 7:45 AM on November 10, 2010

Blame the writer's strike if you don't like it. Up until that point, Conan only played guitar in a comedy segments out on location where he was, as The World Famous points out, acting like an ass on purpose. But then the writers went on strike, he had time to fill and it turns out the audience likes totally self-indulgent rockabilly performances.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:08 PM on November 9, 2010

It wasn't cheating so much as taking advantage of the sportsmanship of the opposing team who were okay with letting the offense take the "correct" field position.

I don't like this. School sports should be as much about character development as athletic development.
posted to MetaFilter by Loto at 12:30 PM on November 9, 2010

The main thing Faze is right about is that modern pop-rap is about as far from Stagger Lee and murder ballads as possible. Not 'gangsta rap', lol that term is 20 years old and completely inapplicable. Current stars like Waka Flokka Flame, Rick Ross and Gucci Mane are corporate supported minstrelsy, with a violent background and copious nihilistic overspending replacing agrarian naivety.

And actually, what about those murder ballads? One of the first popularizers of... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Potomac Avenue at 8:28 AM on November 8, 2010

I am someone who shares Faze's prejudice: that hip-hop is a body of music that glorifies violence, racism and sexism. I am SURE my view comes from near total ignorance. For one thing, any style that generates as much content as hip-hop does is SURE to be varied. So I'm aware that I'm wrong. I'm just being honest about my knee-jerk response.

I would love to become better educated about the genre, but I doubt that's going to happen to me if I start by listening. I am very... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by grumblebee at 7:46 AM on November 8, 2010

And yet not one person has offered an impassioned, reasoned defense of hip hop as something they love. Not one.

I can't say that I love hip hop as a genre, with its overbearing focus on words and flow as opposed to music and words mixing together to create more than either. But I do love certain songs from, things in the De La Soul or Roots mode, stuff like Serengeti's Dennehy, a lyrical love poem to Chicago and daily life. It's sort of the opposite... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by nomadicink at 6:32 AM on November 8, 2010

But isn't "troll" itself rather racist? It's a kind of ad hominem attack that reduces the commenter to a form of subhuman status; a mean & rough creature that doesn't have a real home, but instead subsists beneath bridges, frightening & preying on passersby: just like a meth addict or a gypsy.
posted to MetaTalk by UbuRoivas at 5:11 AM on November 8, 2010

AnitaAnita, it's interesting you bring up The Message. I also remember when that song came out. It was as much a revelation as you describe and more. It's not much of a stretch to say that pretty much the entirety of hip hop from that point forward is simply a restatement of Melle Mel's perfectly prescient final verse from that song.

A child is born with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smilin' on you but he's... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by billyfleetwood at 10:31 PM on November 7, 2010

That's nothing. Her other dog does the video editing.
posted to MetaFilter by freecellwizard at 6:50 AM on November 7, 2010

Everyone knows that when you italicise you shut up, that makes it not totally assholish, right?

Right?

Oh. Sorry about that. Just got a bit carried away in the GRAR-valanche. I'm not the boss of you, faze; feel free to open and shut however and whenever you please, and in any direction.
posted to MetaTalk by Sys Rq at 3:14 PM on November 6, 2010

Singling out hiphop while ignoring rock (Van Halen!), pop (Madonna!), country (Dolly Parton!), or any other genre that is just as guilty of using female sexuality to sell records and ad time smacks of prejudice.

But the post was about Hip hop, not the other genres, I'm sure he has mouthfuls to say about those too.
posted to MetaTalk by Max Power at 2:47 PM on November 6, 2010

The music's OK (not as good as some of the older pieces), but the real treat is the video, especially in HD. I watched Snow White when I was a kid, but I never appreciated how lush and painterly the animation is.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:55 PM on November 6, 2010

The "Faze is a troll" meme that occasionally crops up is not based on any actual record of trollish behavior (boorish contrarianism, name calling, use of capital letters, flaming, profanity, racial or sexual remarks, putdowns, or efforts to make other posters or commentators feel bad about themselves) but derives from expressing certain opinions that are not all that far out of the mainstream

<snip>

I'm only... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by dubitable at 11:02 AM on November 6, 2010