Roadside Architecture. "I have been passionate about commercial architecture and roadside related things all my life. I grew up in California but New York City has been my home since 1980. I started this website in 2000 simply as a way to organize my own photos. Since then, it has become a bit of an obsession and grown to well over 1,000 pages." flickr. blog. [more inside]
posted by mwhybark on Apr 14, 2009 - 11 comments

Obsessed with Jews is a hilariously delightful documentary short about Jewish memorabilia collector, Neil Keller. Keller speaks effusively about Jews in basketball ("Ossie Schechtman, great story. Ossie Schechtman scored the first basket in NBA history.") and Jews in hockey ("The first Jew in hockey was Samuel Rothschild."), although contrary to the Chanukah Song, Keller provides a letter where Rod Carew explains he's not Jewish. The documentary is by Jeff Krulik, that mensch responsible for Heavy Metal Parking Lot. For more Jeff Krulik documentary shorts and a great article on Krulik's days in cable access TV, check the multimedia article here. (Click through the pages. It's worth it!)
posted by jonp72 on Feb 22, 2009 - 24 comments

According to legend, Einstein was eating chocolate when he came upon the theory of relativity. These sites are all about chocolate and candy in general. Chocolate Obsession. Hyperbole? Maybe. Just a little. Ok, a lot. Chocolate does have a lot to offer, though. It is a one of a kind food characterized by a truly unique and intense flavor. The idea of Jim's Chocolate Mission came after a discussion with friends about the greatest chocolate bar. Was is the Wispa? Galaxy? Clark? The Chocolate Review is most likely to review English chocolate because that's where they're from, but they also do imports. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Feb 8, 2009 - 39 comments

Remember the Mario Marathon? Child's play. These guys are playing through every song available for the game Rock Band, in a row, without sleep. That's 539 songs. 48 hours in and they are only 347 tunes down. This isn't just pushing buttons, this is taking sticks to drumpads rapidly for days straight. At what point is this no longer a game, but an obsession?
posted by mediamelt on Jan 10, 2009 - 96 comments

Crate Digging, Don't Do It! [more inside]
posted by hydrophonic on Oct 14, 2008 - 48 comments

The Video Diary of Ricardo Lopez On January 14th, 1996, A 21-year old Floridian man named Ricardo Lopez began a video diary to record his own growing obsession with Bjork. [more inside]
posted by grippycat on Sep 6, 2008 - 23 comments

Adam Savage's talk at The Last HOPE: Fascination with the Dodo Bird
parts:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  A  B  C
(YouTubeFilter with a great audience Q&A session) [more inside]
posted by Chuckles on Aug 29, 2008 - 37 comments

In 1940, Nana Milagro Hoyos paid a visit to Carl Tanzler von Cosel's home to confront him about a salacious rumor. What she found confirmed her fears. 63-year-old Tanzler had been sleeping with her young sister Elena. And storing her, held together by wax and chicken wire, in his bed for years since her death by tuberculosis.
posted by katillathehun on Apr 30, 2008 - 79 comments

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal [more inside]
posted by XMLicious on Feb 28, 2008 - 8 comments

Some people have built some seriously tricked out home theaters.
posted by mkultra on Jan 24, 2008 - 49 comments

Chris Matthews has been openly critical of Hilary Clinton. Still, he's certainly not the only one to suggest her recent tears were nothing more than a performance. So when does criticism cross the line into obsession? Note: For those of you sick of American politics, consider this: when was the last time you saw a potential leader pinched on the cheek?
posted by misha on Jan 10, 2008 - 150 comments

Crazy Love, a Sundance feature documentary, tells the bizarre love story of a couple (Burt Pugach and Linda Riss) who married after he stalked her and threw lyme acid in her face, eventually blinding her. Interview with the couple, some pictures from the movie. Some years into their marriage, he was again accused of stalking, and his wife defended him.
posted by misha on Jul 2, 2007 - 49 comments

Mike Essl and Greg Rivera are kinda obsessed* with Mr. T. *(polite understatement)
posted by miss lynnster on Jun 30, 2007 - 30 comments

Church Locking: shattering the myth that "all churches are locked". With the aim of visiting every church in England and recording whether it is kept locked or unlocked, this ten-year-old 'side project' now has statistics by county and diocese, county maps, and a map of the country showing their progress.
posted by chrismear on May 16, 2007 - 29 comments

I Love You Kenisha. My dear sweet Kenisha, If you find this page, please forgive me for my failure to be a the kind of leader in our marriage and our home that God has called me to be. When ever you decide to come home, I'll be here waiting for you. If I'm 100 years old, and on my death bed, and you haven't come back yet, I'll still be waiting for you!!! I love you with all my heart!!!
posted by jonson on Feb 11, 2007 - 125 comments

The Peacock : "We Challenge you to find a more Beautiful, Enlightening, and Inspiring Website on the Internet!! Please CLICK your Mouse HERE!"
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Nov 24, 2006 - 58 comments

Obsessive Consumption wants to know what you buy. Obsessive Consumption wants to know what you owe. Created by Kate Bingaman to showcase her love/hate relationship with money, shopping, branding, credit cards, celebrity, advertising and marketing, she documented all of her purchases for 28 months starting on January 22nd, 2002 and ending on April 22nd, 2004. Currently she is drawing a lot of her purchases and all of her credit card statements until they are paid off. Her Obsessive Consumption installation in Kansas City is particularly impressive.
posted by dead_ on Jul 28, 2006 - 9 comments

This page is 9 quadrillion pixels wide by 9 quadrillion pixels tall.
posted by boo_radley on Jun 22, 2006 - 53 comments

Adherents.com is "a growing collection of over 43,870 adherent statistics and religious geography citations". In plain English, this amazing site contains all the data one could ever want on religion, from the basic (nationally predominant religions by country, largest religious groups in the United States, top 50 countries with the highest proportion of atheists) to the esoteric (a guide to religion in films, authors who have converted to a new religion, religious affiliation of U.S. presidents, famous adherents of various religions (e.g. famous Mennonites)). There's even religious information for geeks, including obsessive articles on the religion of George Lucas, the religious affiliation of comic book characters, and religious affiliation of famous fantasy and science fiction authors (related: Amish in science fiction and Mormonism in science fiction). One could spend days sifting through this site.
posted by jdroth on Sep 29, 2005 - 46 comments

Mad Meg does all of her work with a black ball point pen on notebook paper.
posted by crunchland on Sep 7, 2005 - 38 comments

The pork butts seem to actually slump upon themselves as if they can no longer support their own weight. Got a Weber Smokey Mountain? Before you waste another afternoon or cut of meat, follow the professor's five-step program. I have never been lucky enough to partake of his fare, but those who have swear he is the master. He smokes more meat than you have ever seen, unless you work in a slaughterhouse. Check out the forums for advanced techniques and further study.
posted by mzurer on Jul 25, 2005 - 19 comments

On the trail of The Collector comes The Game Room. What a rubbish television.
posted by Pretty_Generic on Apr 16, 2005 - 14 comments

The Garbage House is a bizarre but all-too-common phenomenon. Garbage houses often seem to be a product of a particular type of obsessive-compulsive disorder called compulsive hoarding. The hoarding [wmv, direct] may be of garbage, animals, (the neighborhood "cat lady") or perhaps even "collectibles" from eBay. The most compulsive hoarders seem to be the Collyer Brothers[*], even prompting a book.
posted by afiler on Apr 7, 2005 - 29 comments

Want to know where David Bowie was on a given day between 1974 and 1980? Now you can find out.
posted by cedar on Feb 9, 2005 - 34 comments

Land of the Giants and other roadside attractions.
posted by crunchland on Sep 4, 2004 - 3 comments

scrap books ~ images at random you ought to see collected over thirty years (dedicated to Kirsty Carter)
posted by crunchland on Jul 2, 2004 - 3 comments

the candy wrapper museum
posted by crunchland on May 31, 2004 - 3 comments

a hole
posted by crunchland on May 3, 2004 - 129 comments

Coping with Asperger's Syndrome. The New York Times sheds light on this disorder that potentially affects millions of Americans. Many of them are bullied in school. Others simply have strange obsessions. Some find their niches in college, while others have to wait until mid-life to understand what is happening. However, it was only added to the DSM ten years ago. Since then, support groups and online resources have popped up.
posted by calwatch on Apr 29, 2004 - 89 comments

An unhealthy obsession? The Internet is full of websites dedicated to a rabid fan's obsession with a celebrity. These websites often reveal their owners' fantasies of sexual encounters with said celebrity. But it's not often the object of such sexual desire ends up being a well known public figure from the Clinton administration.
posted by gregb1007 on Dec 24, 2003 - 12 comments

At the recent Digital Games Research Conference held at the University of Utrecht, Netherlands, Florence Chee and Richard Smith presented a paper on Everquest and its implications for addiction policy. Here's the full text and a decent summary here.
posted by Ufez Jones on Nov 7, 2003 - 5 comments

The story of love is sometimes one of pain. Who amongst us doesn't have some failed obsession from their past. You know the one, that person who didn't love you back or didn't love you in the way you needed to be loved. So, what do you about these unresolved feelings? Well, you create a web site and paint a lot of pictures of the guy naked of course. The result is Naked Dave -- A Woman's Obsession.
posted by willnot on Mar 1, 2003 - 34 comments

These belly buttons pictures were all taken on the streets of Brussels, with a small digital camera.
posted by hama7 on Jan 13, 2003 - 22 comments

Another "magnificent obsession" site, seasonally spiced: oldchristmaslights.com is a huge attic space, packed to the rafters with illuminating images and information; history and pre-history, manufacturer backgrounds, timeline, patents, vintage advertising, trivia - it's all here, plus a "Light Set Gallery" and more. Plug in and enjoy.
posted by taz on Dec 7, 2002 - 23 comments

The day is June 3rd, 1999 and one mad genius decides he's going to photographically document every door or drawer that he touches. Can focusing on minor repetitive actions - normally lost in the whole of the experience - tell us anything about our world and the way we interact with it?
posted by willnot on May 28, 2002 - 19 comments

Tonight, when the grill is blackened with meat particles," he said, "I will literally clean it with the marinated onions so that all the flavor from the grill goes into them. That allows me to start the next morning. It's like baking sourdough. You have to save some to start the next batch."

Do you have a sandwich obsession?
posted by preguicoso on May 1, 2002 - 73 comments

SF Chronicle article about a condition that I have seen but didn't know had a name. . . .Orthorexia Nervosa. . .The obsessive quest for healty food. . .I would suspect that your average computer-active person would NOT experience this condition but perhaps you know someone or perhaps live with someone who could be described in this way. . .
posted by Danf on Jan 7, 2002 - 11 comments

EverQuest is just a game right? At what point do you play it so much that is becomes your life? And just what does it take to be a player?
posted by john on Nov 21, 2000 - 5 comments