MetaFilter posts tagged with amateur

The Insiders

chunking express — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:08:59 -0800

"I began bringing a camera along to work, photographing my surroundings. And as this project progressed and I slowly learned my craft, I became increasingly fascinated with other photographers who had been in a similar situation, those who had found themselves recording their own jobs: The Insiders [A tiny bit NSFW] ."

And so you're back, from outer space ...

WCityMike — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:04:09 -0800

Not literate analysis. Not a fresh insight into a perennial problem ransacking the world. Not an obituary. But ... well ... Chewbacca dancing with a Jawa to "Footloose", Leia singing to Padme that "mommy dear, girls just want to have fun" (with a Gamorrean Guard with a red-haired fright wig), and were I to tell you the third ... ... that'd spoil it, but suffice it to say the heavy breathing's well-suited to that number. Then, next up, we have the prior year, where a pair of star-crossed siblings who oddly give off a Donny & Marie-type vibe, and a couple of exes meet up and sound off. And if you've chafed at your childhood memories being ransacked in such an amateur fashion, then have them professionally assassinated by LucasFilm in CGI. If you need an antacid after all that, this really isn't half-bad (it really needs to be seen larger for the scale of it, but that link's a download). (And here's a few more antacids.)

Ham Radio and Antennas

fogster — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:23:31 -0800

It's no secret that amateur radio operators, or hams, often build their own equipment. Especially with the aid of antenna tuners, most anything can be used as an antenna. One group of hams took this to the extreme, using ladders and shopping carts as antennas as they started an annual competition that would eventually see trucks, train tracks, a tree, and even a pair of exercise machines and a football stadium used. I stumbled across the site last night, and it turns out that this year's competition is this weekend! Ham radio, by the way, no longer requires a Morse code exam, just a set of questions on electrical and operations theory. Those curious can take practice tests online, since the FCC releases the question pools.

I'll be Bill Murray... and you be everyone else!

miss lynnster — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:03:55 -0800

Top Ten Fan-Made "Sweded" Films Featuring: Predator, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Die Hard, Back to the Future, Goldfinger, Total Recall, Jurassic Park, Armageddon, Lord of the Rings and Terminator 2.

HobbySpace

Upton O'Good — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 00:22:33 -0800

HobbySpace hosts an exhaustive collection of information and links about space-related hobbies, including amateur astronomy, satellite design, and rocketry for both beginners and experts.

Pencils down, please

kurumi — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:57:45 -0800

National Novel Writing Month (seen before) starts Nov. 1. The goal: complete a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, Nov. 30. If you'd like to start, or are otherwise working on a novel, Sean Lindsay and others would like you to please stop. Looking back, the author of "101 Reasons to Stop Writing" sums up his blog's first year: "there are almost as many reasons to stop writing as there are bad writers who need to. When I began I had no idea if I could come up with one hundred and one reasons to stop writing, but now I wonder if I can restrict myself."

A Vernacular Web

Armitage Shanks — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:40:14 -0800

Vernacular Web 2: Two years ago I wrote an article titled "A Vernacular Web", in which I tried to collect, classify and describe the most important elements of the early Web – visual as well as acoustic – and the habits of first Web users, their ideas of harmony and order. I’m talking about everything that became a subject of mockery by the end of the last century when professional designers arrived, everything that fell out of use and turns up every now and again as the elements of “retro” look in site design or in the works of artists exploring the theme of “digital folklore”: the “Under Construction” signs, outer space backgrounds, MIDI-files, collections of animated web graphics and so on.

Balloons for the hell of it

Burhanistan — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:08:43 -0800

The latest launch of the amateur enthusiast group Southern Alberta Balloon Launch Experiments was a success.

Teen goes nuclear

spock — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:14:27 -0800

Teen goes nuclear (but in a good way).

Thiago's mom, Natalice Olson, initially was leery of the project, even though the only real danger from the fusion machine is the high voltage and small amount of X-rays emitted through a glass window in the vacuum chamber -- through which Olson videotapes the fusion in action.

Draw This Pirate & Start Your New Career

jonson — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 09:48:20 -0800

DrawSpace is a collection of dozens of highly detailed (multi-page) online drawing tutorials & downloadable PDFs for anyone who wishes they could draw a little bit better than they can. Probably not very useful if you're already a good artist, although the tutorials do range from beginner to advanced.

Sing out Louis!

BlueMetal — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 21:48:10 -0800

Can a young kid sing the Queen of the Night's aira, stay in tune and hit the notes? This one should probably steer clear of opera fans carrying sharp knives until he passes puberty.

SLOOH - Access a high powered telescope from your desktop

Fozzie — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 08:58:58 -0800

Play with the big boys of astronomy by accessing a high powered telescope online.

Licenced to.........sing???

bap98189 — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 06:01:43 -0800

Fitness to Practice is a collection of songs written and performed by Amateur Transplants, two practicing doctors from the UK. The album consists of original songs as well as witty parodies of songs originally performed by among others Tom Lehrer and The Jam (mp3 links). The lyrics contain a lot of medical in-jokes, but the humour is broad enough to appeal to everyone.

Through the eyes of the soldiers

bedhead — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 14:12:55 -0800

What do the soldiers see? We've been saturated with images from Iraq - from the media and from other sources. Under Mars has images from a different perspective - they were all taken by soldiers in Iraq. Some are wistful, some are painful, and some are just plain great photographs. There are a few that are kind of funny, too.

Crispy New Freestyle

oliver_crunk — Wed, 17 Sep 2003 15:56:44 -0800

Crispy New Freestyle (warning .wmv file)....but it's funny....strong language also.

Amateur Scientists

MiguelCardoso — Fri, 15 Nov 2002 02:57:44 -0800

Amateurs, Mere Amateurs still make significant contributions to astronomy [The Canadian Laval group's website is typically enthusiastic] and may yet make a difference in other sciences, according to Freeman J. Dyson in this review of Steve Guttenberg lookalike Timothy Ferris's latest book [Here's an enticing glimpse of his home-made Rocky Hill Observatory.]. I wonder just how much easier it's becoming for amateurs to contribute to specific areas of scientific knowledge? Or is it, in fact, increasingly more difficult? And would it still be strictly limited to the observational sciences?

40 Watt — Thu, 11 Jul 2002 09:20:42 -0800

Who the heck is Shooby Taylor? By all accounts, he is (or rather, was...it appears he's dead) a musical outsider, but one blessed with a truly bizarre style. Just take one listen to his...unique version of "Lift Every Voice and Sing"(warning: MP3 file, hilarious)... it's pure gold. And there's plenty more where that came from...

pedantic — Mon, 20 May 2002 12:54:35 -0800

Amateur DVD commentary. The site is a little rough around the edges, but it is a fascinating exercise in voracious fandom nonetheless. Roger Ebert is heralded as giving the idea to the masses [NYT article], but as always, there seems to be prior art. ;)

CrazyUncleJoe — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 09:01:17 -0800

Making Memories?
If you've ever been dissapointed with the results of your "hey, we have a video camera - let's make a private movie" attempts, Live Acts Video offers a three camera setup, a videographer, and a fantasy themed room for around $500 an hour.
I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille.

dchase — Fri, 08 Jun 2001 09:26:27 -0800

You too can play with U2. With a little forethought and practice, a guy named Glen Goland lived every amateur guitarist's wet dream last night in Boston. Have you done anything to make your wildest dream come true? Or, like me, are you just letting it all ride on dumb luck?