MetaFilter posts tagged with obsession

old, weird america

mwhybark — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:38:17 -0800

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. For example: Mini Golf. Seattle's Walker Rock Garden. Fairy Tale Parks of New Hampshire. Please note, for whatever reason the site author uses a redirect on the primary domain name to here. Also, previously.

"Sid Luckman was great. He was probably the greatest Jewish football player ever."

jonp72 — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:55:07 -0800

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!)

When No One Understands You, Chocolate Is There

netbros — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:28:44 -0800

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. No discussion of chocolate would be complete without a little history, so here's the Chocolate History Time Line. For 4000 years, chocolate… like gold, has had a universal appeal. Candyblog has meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind. At Candy Addict you can find articles and reviews like the Top 10 Simpson's Candy Moments, or the 10 Grossest Candies. Just remember the 12-Step Chocoholic Program. Never be more than 12 steps away from chocolate. It's a helluva lot cheaper than therapy.

It's Like Playing Real Drums For Days Without Sleep, But Not

mediamelt — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:44:56 -0800

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?

"It's not about the music."

hydrophonic — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:23:17 -0800

Crate Digging, Don't Do It! From the last image: "Crate digging is a term used by DJ's and collectors to refer to the act of checking record stores, flea markets or thrift shops for second and music on vinyl. It's extremely boring." The post title is taken from the Alan Zweig documentary "Vinyl".

"I am the angel of death for her"

grippycat — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:28:46 -0800

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. Over the following nine months, Lopez amassed 18 hours of footage, documenting his own descent into madness, his decision to kill the singer, all amid the design, construction, and mailing of a sulfuric acid bomb. The diary ends as he rants, shaves his head, covers himself with paint, puts on a favourite Bjork song and commits suicide on camera. The footage allowed local police to alert Scotland Yard, and on September 17th, 1996 the gift-wrapped bomb was intercepted before it could be delivered.

Fascination with the Dodo Bird, by Adam Savage

Chuckles — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:20:08 -0800

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) Thank you opsin

'cause what would they say if they ever knew?

katillathehun — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:47:46 -0800

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.

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal

XMLicious — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:05:27 -0800

Papa Palmérino Sorgente, the Pope of Montréal Here's more photos of him and his art and here he is on YouTube in action and also on Google Video. More photos embedded in Flash in the Made in Montréal page for him. He's a bit dour in those but here he is smiling, straight out of Pixar's Geri's Game. I met this guy in the fall of Y2K while visiting “La Ville Aux Cent Clochers” / “The City of a Hundred Belltowers”. Flatluigi's recent post reminded me of him. He's a cool, talkative, and cheerful, if not entirely there, artiste of the grassroots genre. As you can tell by the frame of that first photo the Bedazzler was made for this man. It was quite confusing to try to carry on a conversation with him in my limited French until I realized that he didn't speak that language. (Or maybe his accent was so heavy I couldn't understand him.) According to the amusing anecdote on this page (in French) Papa Palmérino is a Kosovar. Though elsewhere it shows he emigrated to Canada from Italy. The YT video doesn't really do justice to what it's like being in his little shop, Le Musée de Papa Palmérino, but the Montréal Mirror says it best:

If religious collectibles are your thing, this place may be your little slice of heaven. The place is chock-full of Jesuses--statues big and small, crucifixes, key chains, mugs. Seems Papa is quite the Jesus fan, which makes sense, considering he believes himself to be his brother. Ask him to show you framed photos of himself mounted on a cross (I didn't ask if these were for sale). Papa Palmerino sells a wide variety of other religious doo-dads including rosary beads, candles and rings he claims cure arthritis. Even if the ‘Second Coming’ isn't quite the motif you're going for in decorating your house, this place is worth visiting for the browsing and... uh... conversation.

(Not sure if that's clear, but he actually has photos of himself mock-crucified, loincloth and crown of thorns and everything.) I don't know if he's still truckin' because he was 85 years old in 2003➚. I guess his shop burned down a couple of months after I met him! This person, Jona Pelovska, seems to have made a documentary about him. Her MySpace page says “in post-production.”

We've got a couch, a chair, and a coffee table.

mkultra — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:50:26 -0800

Some people have built some seriously tricked out home theaters.

Playing hardball

misha — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 11:58:04 -0800

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?

I don't want no more of this Crazy Love...

misha — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:21:47 -0800

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.

Pity the Fools

miss lynnster — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 19:07:39 -0800

Mike Essl and Greg Rivera are kinda obsessed* with Mr. T. *(polite understatement)

Church Locking in England

chrismear — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:27:16 -0800

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.

I Love You Kenisha

jonson — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:35:41 -0800

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!!!

Here they come to snuff the peacock | Yeah here come the peacock

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 20:58:52 -0800

The Peacock : "We Challenge you to find a more Beautiful, Enlightening, and Inspiring Website on the Internet!! Please CLICK your Mouse HERE!"

Consumption as art

dead_ — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:23:26 -0800

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.

That's 8.1 nonillion pixels!

boo_radley — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:41:42 -0800

This page is 9 quadrillion pixels wide by 9 quadrillion pixels tall.

All the stats on religion that you'll ever need...

jdroth — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:31:54 -0800

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.

mad meg

crunchland — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 08:50:40 -0800

Mad Meg does all of her work with a black ball point pen on notebook paper.

Not just for breakfast anymore

mzurer — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 21:12:47 -0800

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.

Gibby's Game Room

Pretty_Generic — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 18:04:35 -0800

On the trail of The Collector comes The Game Room. What a rubbish television.

Garbage, garbage everywhere, and not a drop to drink!

afiler — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 10:18:11 -0800

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.

The Golden Years

cedar — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 17:16:04 -0800

Want to know where David Bowie was on a given day between 1974 and 1980? Now you can find out.

Land of the Giants

crunchland — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 17:47:10 -0800

Land of the Giants and other roadside attractions.