MetaFilter posts tagged with 2003

___ Days Without an Accident

Smart Dalek — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:46:53 -0800

Hochbetrieb [Nuts & Bolts] is a 2003 short from Germany that utilizes live actors and computer-generated effects in tribute to influences ranging from silent comedies to Charles Ebbetts' images of construction crews atop the GE Building, along with a cat & mouse cartoon from MGM guest-starring a baby and a Warner Brothers piece about an amphibian.

The Room: Best/Worst/Best Vanity Project Ever

boost ventilator — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:03:20 -0800

The Room: The Movie. Triple-threat (actor/writer/director) Tommy Wiseau made his cinematic debut in 2003 with the The Room (see trailer and various scenes), "a blend between a softcore porn flick and a Tennessee Williams stageplay." Wiseau ("who's not just one of the most unusual looking and sounding-with an unidentifiable Eastern European accent-leading men ever to grace the screen, but a narcissist nonpareil whose movie makes Vincent Gallo's "The Brown Bunny" seem the apotheosis of cinematic self-restraint...may be something of a first: A movie that prompts most of its viewers to ask for their money back-before even 30 minutes have passed." - Variety), allegedly raised $6 million outside Hollywood to cover production and marketing costs of the self-described "black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies" (see various rough dress rehersals). Audience members, including comedian David Cross, have been "marveling at the bizarre editing, bad bluescreen, uncomfortably explicit sex scenes and, of course, the enigma of Wiseau himself" as the film played monthly for years in Los Angeles. Available on DVD, diehard "roomies" swear by the theatrical experience, shout out their own commentary, hurl spoons at the screen and singalong to the soundtrack. Some call it "The Rocky Horror of the New Millenium" and stage "Room" parties. If you look at the marketing campaign or survived a screening you might see The Room as "a seminar on how NOT to make a movie." [Inspired by Boing Boing]

Slow Mosaic

sjvilla79 — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 16:45:50 -0800

Slow Mosaic is a mosaic generator powered by the Web. Feed it a word and watch it create related mosaics in front of your very eyes. Requires Flash. [MI]

Clay-riffic

serafinapekkala — Thu, 08 Jul 2004 11:24:35 -0800

"Untitled Inspirational Memoir" by American [White] Idol '03 Clay Aiken hits #9 on the Amazon bestseller chart. It will be published (presumably with a title) in November. Order yours today. Or, run home and mail off your Great American Novel -- or at least your own dashed-off U.I.M. -- to Random House, publisher to the stars.

Good shot

mr.marx — Sun, 30 May 2004 19:03:38 -0800

The World Press Photo awards of 2003

The Epic Battle of Testosterone

homunculus — Sun, 04 Apr 2004 13:25:05 -0800

The Bushiad and The Idyossey. "Narrative epic poems of 24 chapters each, The Bushiad and The Idyossey use satire and irony to cover events during nine months from December 2002 through September 2003, and were inspired by events as they occurred. Homer would recognize the tale." But where's Hercubush?

2003 Pazz & Jop

boltman — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 21:57:18 -0800

The 2003 Pazz & Jop results are in! Apparently it was the year of hip hop (sort of), in both albums and singles. Country music gets kudos for being so "cocksure" in a world of uncertainty. Acoustic jazz scores a big win with The Bad Plus coming in at number 60!

American Dialect Society's 2003 Words of the Year

y2karl — Fri, 16 Jan 2004 14:38:20 -0800

ass-hat: noun, a thoughtless or stupid person.
cliterati: collective noun, feminist or woman-oriented writers or opinion-leaders.
flexitarian: noun, a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat.
freegan: noun, person who eats only what they can get for free.

Some winners from the American Dialect Society's 2003 Words of the Year.

Your Government, Working for You

five fresh fish — Wed, 14 Jan 2004 19:32:58 -0800

Top Ten Drug Stories of 2003. Ten of the more egregrious examples of why the "War on Drugs" is a very bad idea poorly implemented.

Indie Films in 2003

boost ventilator — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 20:24:24 -0800

indieWIRE's Top 20 Undistributed Films and Film Threat's 10 Best/Worst Unseen Films of last year.

Journalism Net Picks of 2003

boost ventilator — Tue, 30 Dec 2003 21:09:33 -0800

JNet's Top Picks of 2003 : a random selection of some of the best, most topical or just plain fun sites for journalists.

solar challenge

ginz — Sat, 18 Oct 2003 08:03:31 -0800

World solar challenge 2003. Darwin to Adelaide 19 - 28 October. Check out the route. Meet the teams. Have a look at the Green Fleet class as well, where technology meets reality. I won't be able to watch the race but have high hopes for next year's Olympics.

WeirdScience

srboisvert — Tue, 07 Oct 2003 07:05:35 -0800

IgNobel 2003 Prize Ceremony. [Real Player Video 1:35:43] Waste your morning listening to the Ignitaries giving their nano lectures.

An American Soldier in Iraq

substrate — Sat, 12 Jul 2003 07:36:30 -0800

An American soldier maintains a weblog from Iraq. It contains details about his day to day life as a non-combat (and non-career) soldier during this conflict. Some people think he is an imposter, others think he's a dissident for using his voice in any manner other than as a Stars and Stripes reporter would. Thanks to I thought his weblog was interesting, including his responses to people's assertions that he isn't real or is somehow a dissident for using his voice. Thanks to Sensible Erection for the link.

B-Blogs: they're not just for stutterers anymore!

scarabic — Thu, 29 May 2003 15:50:55 -0800

The Clickz Weblog Business Strategies 2003 Conference & Expo kicks off on June 9, with the highly-relevant keynote: "What Are Weblogs?" Also on the schedule: "Business Blogs: Hype or Opportunity?"

Kathleen Goodwin (conference chair) Blogs : "Someone wrote that they are offended that blogs, what used to be "an 'innocent' repository of ideas," are now becoming commercialized. Hello! Get with the program. It is the 21st century and every great idea gets commercialized in a nano second these days."

E3 is this week

Argyle — Mon, 12 May 2003 09:39:26 -0800

E3 is this week - This week, geeks, gamers, booth babes, and movie execs gather in Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, the premier video gaming industry convention. As the LA Times reports, video gaming is a US$10 billion a year industry, pulling in more money than movie theater box offices. A US$25 billion global industry, video gaming is shaping culture around the world.

Are video games ready to join movies and music as mainstream art forms with game developers reaching celebrity status?

Muzzle Awards

waldo — Sun, 13 Apr 2003 14:00:44 -0800

The winners of the annual Muzzle Awards have been announced by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression; these are given out to "those who have forgotten Mr. Jefferson's warning that freedom of expression cannot be limited without being lost." The lucky winners this year include (among others) include John Ashcroft, for the DOJ's secretive expanded powers; the 107th U.S. Congress for USA PATRIOT; National Zoo Director Lucy Spelman for covering up mysterious deaths of zoo animals; and the NC House of Representatives for trying to shut down a college assignment involving the Koran. Are there any other outrageous cases of censorship this year that the Muzzles should have included? Are all of the winners worthy of ridicule?

Top 5 snow storm hits NYC

riffola — Mon, 17 Feb 2003 11:54:52 -0800

19 inches of snow at Central Park and counting. This is now a top 5 snow storm in NYC history. In 1996 the accumulation was 24 inches.