*Andres Segovia rushes into the cathedral just as the last bars of the piece finishing ringing*

Andres: Guys! Sorry I'm late. The traffic on 95 was unblievable, you guys literally would not have believed it. Anyway, you didn't start without me, did you? Oh, god damn it.
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 10:59 AM on September 5, 2008

Oh, and wamph wamph wa mammph mppgh mphh mm mph.
posted to MetaFilter by mwhybark at 7:48 AM on September 4, 2008

I can't imagine why any Chinese would collaborate on a risky protest venture with an artist from Williamsburg. It's like a forgone conclusion that in the end he's going wind up running his mouth about himself on Gawker and you're going to wind up connected to a car battery in some prison basement.
posted to MetaFilter by The Straightener at 10:19 AM on September 3, 2008

What's the point of this post? Just so Metafilter can collectively mock him? Do we really need this on the front page?
posted to MetaFilter by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 10:41 PM on September 2, 2008

Look out, God. Here comes Jerrrrrrry!

I don't like country music, but I always made an exception for Jerry.

"It's me they're after! They don't even know Cletus Snow exists!"
"Oh, they don't? Well, I tell you what we're gonna do, we just gonna introduce 'em to the boy! So move over good buddy because the Snow Man is coming through."

I used to work in a bowling alley.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Eideteker at 4:17 PM on September 2, 2008

15. Mythical beasts. Our development of new mythical beasts has slowed to a standstill, as television and video games have decreased creativity among children and the imagining of new mythical beasts becomes increasingly difficult because of the challenge of inventing mythical beasts that are not entirely derivative of the mythical beasts we have already conceptualized. What will you do to facilitate creation of new mythical beasts?

The development of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Slap Factory at 8:06 PM on September 1, 2008

I consider not liking someone else's brand of snobbery a deal-breaker.
posted to MetaFilter by heyho at 11:24 AM on September 1, 2008

I am able to read all the pages Dad, and I'm not a subscriber.
posted to MetaFilter by netbros at 3:18 AM on September 1, 2008

Seeing as my most wicked 80s fantasies involved Bringing About The Social Revolution and getting jiggy with David Bowie (pre Let's Dance, please note), I find this all rather confusing.

Lawn, etc.
posted to MetaFilter by jokeefe at 3:28 PM on August 30, 2008

People need and want information gathered, edited and disseminated by some source. I think right now we're at an awkward time because the major news media companies haven't figured out how to monetize the Web amid declining circulation and advertising in their print editions, but someone will, because there's demand for information.

I think we'll see a few broad things happen:

1. Intensely local news. If there's still something called the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Airhen at 6:44 PM on August 29, 2008

So is this a grocer's obituary?
posted to MetaFilter by weapons-grade pandemonium at 5:42 PM on August 29, 2008

yeah, great rant.

It's sad that although the "music business" is supposed to be about ...music, there's (relatively) easier money in the wings - selling instruments and gear, sound reinforcement, tour support, CD manufacturing, production, ticket sales systems, artist management, providing swag (T-shirts etc). And of course the latest musical cash-in - the "[your country here] Idol" shows.

(disclaimer - I did live sound for a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Artful Codger at 6:18 AM on August 29, 2008

You people with televisions sure are critical.
posted to MetaFilter by interrobang at 4:21 PM on August 27, 2008

This is sad. Even a civilian like me grew up knowing and respecting Bell Labs.
.

Most of the scientists working in the company's fundamental physics department have been reassigned...

In other news, Alcatel-Lucent announces the creation of the worlds smartest customer service staff.
posted to MetaFilter by Thorzdad at 4:42 AM on August 28, 2008

Was the Necco factory still operating? I thought they had made all of the Necco wafers back in WW II and just changed the wrapper every now and then.
posted to MetaFilter by tommasz at 10:29 AM on August 26, 2008

The thing about this blog is that it neglects the whole "Obama" phenomenon. How will this affect my taxes?

I know this is supposed to be a website for grownups, but I can see you there. Yeah, you. You know I'm talking to you. I'm on to you, kid. I know your dad walked away from the monitor for a sec to go polish his Ajax or tweak some CSS, and you thought you might get a quick look at some pictures of frogs having sex or something. It's all right, though,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Greg Nog at 10:44 AM on August 26, 2008

The advantage of living near poor people is an enriched cultural palette, to have a greater diversity of foods and music and arts, to know people with a broader range of personal experi...oh, what the fuck am I talking to this guy for?
posted to MetaFilter by The Straightener at 7:53 PM on August 25, 2008

Are there any advantages to living near poor people? I can't think of any.

Yeah, many of them are artists and/or musicians and I wouldn't wish neighbours like that on my worst enemies.
posted to MetaFilter by philip-random at 9:37 PM on August 25, 2008

why do so many annoying male gaijin talento sound like prissy middle girls? Thane Camus is one of the best/worst examples of this.
They learn Japanese primarily though conversations with fawning Japanese women then speak like them - Japanese has gender differences built into the language so it's pretty funny to hear a guy speaking like a coy schoolgirl.
So many of the gaijin talento reinforce negative stereotypes of the west - that is one of their roles. Camus thinks... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hooptycritter at 6:38 AM on August 22, 2008

"It takes my arm, I take its head, " said Devin

He should have the alligator hand on the end of his prosthetic arm, that would be totally self-explanatory.
posted to MetaFilter by StickyCarpet at 9:19 AM on August 23, 2008

Yes, your honor, we know such things are frowned upon in the Louvre, but my friend and I have a blog that extols realistic depictions of the human form. We obviously couldn't just let it stand that some guy painted that chick without eyebrows. It was for the blog, your honor. For the blog.
posted to MetaFilter by Greg Nog at 8:31 AM on August 22, 2008

Warner will probably just throw money at this until it goes away. It doesn't make a lot of sense for Fox to kill the project and make its own Watchmen when this one already exists, allowing Fox to just sink its hungry little mandibles into its profits without investing a dime of its own (except on legal expenses, of course).

I have to admit, however, that I'd be happier to see it go unreleased...not because I think the movie looks so bad (although I'm... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kittens for breakfast at 6:37 PM on August 20, 2008

They're the government... and remember, they're here to help.

Wasn't this one of the constant quips made by the conservative icon Ronnie Raygun?

Now these same "conservatives" want us to believe that the government who they do not trust to regulate Wall Street, they do not trust to run schools, they do not trust to run healthcare, should now be to be trusted with far more complicated tasks while all the time being... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by three blind mice at 12:17 AM on August 20, 2008

This is a really interesting FPP. I'm currently taking a year off to write my MBA dissertation, but during my course of study we got to work through (in the context of our classes) ideas for various businesses.

One concept that I pitchedfor a few of my classes was a low scale record label focused exclusively on live shows of pub bands.

If we look at bands that are capable of attracting, pretty consistently, 50 people or more to a show at a pub,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 7:04 AM on August 19, 2008

As I telescoped words and phrases out, I was so hoping for something like, "I made (a likeness of myself from tiny pieces of clay I stole from the prison crafts lab, day after day for nearly three years, and left the dummy in my cell bed before going to the cafeteria for breakfast. I told a guard I was on mess duty and went into the kitchen. When the garbage truck came, I paid the driver the 500 dollars I promised him and jumped into the piles of bags in the back, covering myself well. Once... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:47 AM on August 18, 2008

Yeah, the Aurora interface is dumb. "Hey, I've got an idea...let's take the least useful part of an interface, the eye candy, and make it the whole interface."

I mean, how exactly does it make it easier to find things if you have to fly through space to see them?

Maybe someone who's a really really "visual" person can explain how looking at a big blob of windows is easier than doing a keywords search for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Deathalicious at 5:18 AM on August 18, 2008

This wasn't as good as this.
posted to MetaFilter by brevator at 9:05 AM on August 17, 2008

Oh for crying out loud, don't ask him to explain it further. Just keep flagging it until it goes away.
posted to MetaFilter by nanojath at 11:45 AM on August 17, 2008

The thing about "talking to pirates" is that it's a bunch of hooey. It depends on a self-selected set of pirates, and it depends on actually believing their reasons. For example:

I got a few people, maybe 5% of the total, who basically said "I do it because I like free stuff and won't get caught. I'd do the same with anything if I knew I'd get away with it." This is depressing, but thankfully a small minority.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Justinian at 1:34 PM on August 16, 2008

Here's me.
posted to MetaFilter by Greg Nog at 7:37 PM on August 14, 2008

Someone should do this over at missed connections.

davros: It was at Porter Square. 5ish. The barest sliver of a moon was riding the sky. Do you remember the tall, aloof 20something with the elliptical wireframes and an expression culled from a hundred Vice covers?
new_slang82: omg, with the fixed gear bicycle! i remember u!
davros: Oh. Oh dear. No, sorry... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kid ichorous at 4:20 PM on August 14, 2008

Man, remember when CmdrTaco and Hemos claimed they were going to shut down AlterSlash. They had some crackpot theory of copyrights where they thought not only did they own the copyright of their commenter's posts, but also that they were required to police other people's uses of said copyrighted content.

Obviously, none of that is true, and it was pretty much at odds with everything they 'stood for'. It's amazing how people's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 12:51 PM on August 14, 2008

So if he's so smart he should come back and tell us about it.

I once opened a story book in the middle for my three-year old daughter and she said, "No, no, Daddy. Bewind it."
posted to MetaFilter by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:22 AM on August 14, 2008

Dear elves,

We don't compete in your weightlifting competitions. Stay out of our gymnastics.

KTHXBYE
posted to MetaFilter by qvantamon at 10:10 PM on August 11, 2008

I guess the owner has been hurt by the economy, because the real solution to the problem of dirty, imperfect finishes is to buy a new car every 15 miles. But sure, if washing and polishing it for a week gets it back to almost new condition, his friends probably won't be able to tell. Right away.
posted to MetaFilter by DU at 9:36 AM on August 12, 2008

Next they're going to tell us those fight scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon weren't real.
posted to MetaFilter by Knappster at 12:14 PM on August 11, 2008

I really appreciate this post because I had never heard of Pathologic until now, but the "are games art?" discussion is the most pointless and arbitrary thing ever. Can't we just talk about how certain games resonate with us without trying to somehow authenticate them as high culture? Oh please oh please??

Also that Eurogamer review is pretty much the perfect example of why I can't stand game reviews (especially ones with scores). This guy seems to love the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by palidor at 12:58 AM on August 10, 2008

In all seriousness, something about the debate seems important (and I recognize that it might not BE important, at all), and the reason is that, given the whole history of art and artifact, and all of the shifts in medium it's seen (from cave wall to Grecian urn to Fluxus happening to Pierrot le Fou blowing up his head with pretend dynamite on celluloid), and all of what it's told us about ourselves and our tiny human lives, and all of the techniques it's used (far more than one human being... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sleevener at 5:59 PM on August 10, 2008

the flattened corpse of a coyote was found underneath the rocks nearby some roadrunner tracks; investigators are considering the possibility of fowl play
posted to MetaFilter by pyramid termite at 12:22 PM on August 10, 2008

"Repeat to yourself it was just a show. You should really just relax." - Joel Hodgson
posted to MetaFilter by ZachsMind at 5:19 PM on August 8, 2008

I honestly think the worst thing to ever happen to Trek is the rise of a militantly loyal and endlessly forgiving fanbase. Creators can get away with all sorts of bullshit when they know that the consumers of their stories aren't absorbing them as an entertainment choice, but a lifestyle choice. With a massive bloc of Trekkies propping up the franchise, the writers are freed to kind of coast on the fans' reflexive goodwill. How else can you explain the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by EatTheWeak at 9:19 PM on August 8, 2008

It won't happen, obviously, but the IOC should condemn the Russian attack and send its delegation of athletes home. Using a global festival of sport as a cover for a nationalistic land grab and the murder of civilians is disgusting.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 8:16 AM on August 8, 2008

Further (and perhaps more to the point) I thought that the raison d'être for that kind of design was that you had interesting stories to tell about the objects, tales that related to your life and experiences: "Oh, I found this in a marketplace in Ghana. There was an amazing woman there..." rather than "Oh, thanks. My designer has an eye for things."

Some of the ideas: blackboard paint on the walls - are actually really practical. But you know that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 12:14 PM on August 7, 2008

I (and at least one other Mefite, who I won't call out lest I embarrass him) have had the pleasure of subtitling the Japanese program shown in the USA under the title Ultimate Banzuke.

We got paid decent rates for this, and were able to work on a pretty easy schedule. It was the first subtitling job I'd ever done, and while I was familiar with the general principles of subtitling Guy discusses in the linked article, I'd never had to put them into practice.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamrice at 7:03 PM on August 5, 2008

Plus, people without degrees in high-paying fields can't really afford to be bikers anymore.

I think I disagree with you there... they can afford to be bikers, they cannot, however, afford to buy a $22k Harley Electra Glide Classic (or a an 18,000 Yamaha cruiser) and $800 worth of leather logo gear, get $80 in patches and $200 logo sunglasses with a $149 beanie helmet that's worth $18 and stand around in Ed's Generic Biker Bar talking about all the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MildlyDisturbed at 9:33 AM on August 5, 2008

I want to say that I loved this link and it made me laugh but, alas, I can not tell a lie.
posted to MetaFilter by Justinian at 1:16 PM on August 4, 2008

Dear America:

We understand. We feel bad about 9/11 too-- really bad, on your behalf. We sympathize. Having experienced ourselves what it feels like to have lots of bombs dropped on us, and having to deal with war right on our doorsteps-- we know. It's really bad, and the memories and difficult to deal with.

That said, please move on, and try to let it go a little bit. We get it, you're traumatized. But let's try to move forward now, okay?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jokeefe at 10:18 PM on August 3, 2008

If your ashes can't be sent into space, I reckon being scattered in a rocket launch is pretty damn good.

And this stuff isn't easy. It is rocket science.
posted to MetaFilter by Phanx at 1:55 PM on August 3, 2008

"Microsoft Messenger still has seven users?"

yep, six average people and Kevin Bacon.
posted to MetaFilter by HuronBob at 12:12 PM on August 2, 2008

infini -- "...and I believe her children did not inherit that wealth..."

Yeh, I started out as a dirt poor country boy and because I work in banking have come to know many wealthy people - even one billionaire - and I've got maximum respect for those who decide not to leave the bulk of their wealth to their children.

Back in New York I got to know a couple of trust fund kids that ran with our... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 5:10 AM on August 2, 2008