421 MetaFilter comments by allaboutgeorge (displaying 1 through 50)

Patrick Haggerty, trailblazing gay country singer, 1944-2022. If you're a longtime MeFite or a longtime public radio listener, you might know Patrick Haggerty from his StoryCorps story about a conversation he had with his dad as a teenager in the 1950s, where his father told him, "don't sneak." [previously, and previouslier.] But Haggerty - in addition to being an organizer, an activist, and a Marxist, who was kicked out of the Peace Corps for being gay - was also widely acclaimed as the first out gay country star as the leader of the band Lavender Country, who as early as 1973 were releasing songs like "Come Out Singing" and "Back in the Closet Again."
comment posted at 6:12 PM on Nov-5-22

Know who else liked tunes by "subhuman" Jewish and Russian musicians? That's right.
comment posted at 5:11 PM on Aug-7-07
comment posted at 5:16 PM on Aug-7-07

NASA has a rule requiring that astronauts go at least 12 hours between "bottle and throttle." Reports say not everyone followed it, and they went up anyway.
comment posted at 2:19 PM on Jul-26-07

Can't Tell Me Nothing: Kanye West's new video features Zach Galifinakis and Will Oldham. "The hilarious clip was shot on Galifianakis' farm in North Carolina and illustrates the many trappings of big pimpin' on the homestead: rollin' tractor-style, hay bailin' and stayin' faithful in a room full of hoes (better known as cows)." Some backstory.
comment posted at 2:30 PM on Jul-26-07

"REwind: A Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony" debuts tomorrow night in New York. South African composer Philip Miller listened to hundreds of hours of audio cassettes from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings - the testimonies of torture victims, as well as their torturers who were given pardon in exchange for their testimony - and composed music around the samples he selected. It premiered in Capetown in late 2006; utterly haunting excerpts available here and here.
comment posted at 9:24 PM on Jul-5-07

In 1965, Peter Watkins produced a fictional documentary called The War Game in which the aftermath of thermo-nuclear attacks in Britain was depicted. The BBC declared that it was "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting" and was not aired until 1985. Watch it here (warning: graphic depictions of effects of radiation). Related, When the Wind Blows (parts 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), a sober animated tale of a British couple who try and survive nuclear holocaust based on the civil defense manual "Protect and Survive." (Previously).
comment posted at 9:25 AM on Jun-15-07


The always-excellent (and MeFi fave) Jonathan Coulton, inspired by Alanis Morissette's cover of My Humps from a few weeks ago, has done a marvelously droll cover of You Oughta Know.
comment posted at 3:40 PM on Apr-20-07

Don Ho passes away. Legendary Hawaiian entertainer Don Ho passed away this morning. Aloha, Don.
comment posted at 10:25 AM on Apr-19-07

Roscoe Lee Browne, class act from beginning to end. The first time I ever noticed him was in The Cowboys, a western I've watched many times just to hear him speak.
comment posted at 6:15 AM on Apr-13-07
comment posted at 6:30 AM on Apr-13-07

Kurt Vonnegut, Writer of Classics of the American Counterculture, Dies at 84 "His death was reported by Morgan Entrekin, a longtime family friend, who said Mr. Vonnegut suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago. Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States." .
comment posted at 7:46 AM on Apr-12-07
comment posted at 11:54 AM on Apr-12-07

Le sociologue et philosophe Jean Baudrillard, mort mardi à Paris à l'âge de 77 ans.
comment posted at 2:43 PM on Mar-6-07

Say What Again [audio NSFW] Pulp Fiction dialogue done with motion typography. [via]
comment posted at 10:00 AM on Feb-23-07

Goth Life Now "They won't like me saying it, but their lifestyle, unlike the punk scene, is a middle-class sub culture.' But hasn't it always been this way?
comment posted at 3:04 PM on Jan-24-07

Sneaky Pete Kleinow, [Wikipedia | Allmusic] passed away Saturday, January 6 at the age of 72. In addition to being an incredible pedal steel guitar player, most notably with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, he was also an accomplished visual effects artist who worked on films such as The Empire Strikes Back, Terminator I & II, and Army of Darkness.
comment posted at 11:57 AM on Jan-9-07

Watermelon Carving Creations with some instruction on how to carve your own swan. From whimsical to celebratory to just plain awesome. I bet this one took a really long time to carve while this one was funnier and faster. In the end, if you can think it, it can be carved into a watermelon. Yes, even that (NSFW, sound).Previously
comment posted at 11:34 AM on Jan-8-07


MSNBC and NBC News is reporting that former President Gerald Ford has died at age 93.
comment posted at 11:05 PM on Dec-26-06


The visual interplay of helicopters and fan blades in the opening scene of Apocalypse Now. The idiot-future soundscapes in THX-1138. The concept for the baptism montage in The Godfather. The actual cut of the "Director's Cut" of Touch of Evil. The man responsible for all of these is Walter Murch, one of the greatest film and sound editors of all time. More Inside.
comment posted at 3:41 PM on Sep-24-06


R.I.P. Arthur Lee The enigmatic and volatile frontman from the '60s psych group Love, has reportedly passed away after a battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.
comment posted at 9:51 AM on Aug-4-06


Gotta love a website that thinks it's 1982. Jack Lawrence, Brendan Benson, Jack White and Patrick Keeler are The Raconteurs. This is their website. It's kinda neat.
comment posted at 8:46 AM on May-3-06


What song was #1 (in the U.S.) on the day you were born? On my b'day, it was "Stuck on You" by Elvis the Pelvis
comment posted at 4:45 PM on Feb-20-06

According to his official website, comedian Richard Pryor has died at the age of 65. More coverage at Fark and updates at Wikipedia.
comment posted at 6:25 PM on Dec-10-05

Peter Jennings Dies of lung cancer at 67.
comment posted at 9:56 PM on Aug-7-05

Vanport was once Oregon's 2nd largest town. Built by shipbuilder Henry Kaiser during World War II to accommodate his workers, Vanport was the first Oregon city to house black Americans in significant numbers. (Blacks had a rough time in Oregon, even being legally prohibited to enter the state via the state constitution's exclusion law).
The city of Vanport was destroyed by a flood in 1948, displacing more than 18,000 citizens. Of these, over 25% were black. Although the city was never rebuilt, Vanport was Oregon's catalyst into racial integration and enlightenment. And dams.
comment posted at 5:05 PM on Apr-18-05

Johnnie Cochran, R.I.P. "Cochran died at his home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles of an inoperable brain tumor, according to his brother-in-law Bill Baker. His wife and his two sisters were with him at the time of his death. "Cochran, his family and colleagues were secretive about his illness to protect the attorney's privacy as well as the network of Cochran law offices that largely draw their cachet from his presence. But Cochran confirmed in a Sept. 2004 interview with The Times that he was being treated by the eminent neurosurgeon Keith Black at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles."
comment posted at 4:02 PM on Mar-29-05
comment posted at 5:27 PM on Mar-29-05

Paul Hester, Aussie drummer of such antipodean bands as Split Enz and Crowded House (as well as occasional television performer), has committed suicide at 46.
comment posted at 11:00 PM on Mar-27-05

Sony-Ericsson officially endorses upskirt photography. (Flash, SFW)

"If you see some bright lights at about the height of your ankle, you'd better watch out."
comment posted at 9:09 PM on Mar-20-05

Free stuff at the SXSW Music Festival for the wristbandless.
comment posted at 7:15 PM on Mar-16-05

Eastwood wins. Clint Eastwood got the double dipper tonight with Best Pic and Director. Not that Scorsese isn't badly due one, but the fact is, The Aviator is not one of Marty's top five films, while Million Dollar Babies is top five among Eastwood's pics. It's that simple. My thought: I think this film and Mystic River proves, once and for all and without argument, that Eastwood is among the top American directors ever, up there with Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, and the others. (He's actually better than Allen). I think all of the critics like Pauline Kael who dissed Clint without thinking over the years have to eat it and eat it hard.
comment posted at 1:10 AM on Feb-28-05

Jeff Raskin, widely considered the father of the Macintosh computer, has died. Visit folklore.org for stories chronicling the birth of the computer Jef named after his favorite varietal (but misspelled in order to avoid confusion). Jef's contributions to the development of simple, intelligible, "humane" computing environments didn't end with the Mac; learn more here and here.
comment posted at 3:23 AM on Feb-28-05

funky do morro From the ghettos of brazil comes this funky and fun music that recalls the energy and optimism of early 80's hip hop. Think Afrika Bambaataa and Malcolm McLaren. Before rap crossed over to the dark side.
comment posted at 3:33 AM on Feb-28-05
comment posted at 4:52 PM on Feb-28-05

Hunter S Thompson commits suicide. Goodbye, the king of Gonzo Journalism. A timeline of his life is here. And some more here and of course here.
comment posted at 9:23 PM on Feb-20-05

Goodnight, Johnny. The King of Late Night is dead at 79.
comment posted at 11:27 AM on Jan-23-05

The shift from Colin Powell to Condoleeza Rice at the State Department could have important implications for the future of American foreign policy. Some of the commonalities and differences between them are revealed in Powell's essay, and Rice's essay. (via Foreign Affairs)
comment posted at 9:02 PM on Jan-19-05
comment posted at 9:04 PM on Jan-19-05
comment posted at 12:46 AM on Jan-20-05
comment posted at 3:32 AM on Jan-20-05

goodbye joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh. 01/01/53 the true gran-daddy of white rock and roll is found dead in the back seat of a caddy.
comment posted at 9:27 PM on Jan-1-05

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii took three b&w photos of his subjects using red, green, and blue filters. Now, they've been digitally composited, and we have stunning, authentic color photographs of Russia in the early 1900's.
comment posted at 3:32 PM on Dec-27-04

It's Kwanzaa! Today begins the seven day celebration of the principles which make the African People and their descendants, and ultimately Humanity, great. While I don't celebrate, I will take the opportunity to learn more about the holiday and to hold the Seven Principles in mind.

Now it's back to watching my new In Living Color and Chappelle's Show DVDs.
comment posted at 6:58 PM on Dec-26-04

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