"You are in a spooky cave. Lying on the floor you can see a skull covered with cobwebs and there are rats scurrying through the shadows bent on who knows what acts of unhygiene.
You shudder and clutch your terrapin to you for comfort. You review the poor life choices that led you to this unwholesome spot. On a walking holiday in the hinterlands, you foolishly walked off the designated walking path and struck out on your own. In a deep scary forest you saw the cave entrance and in a moment of rash curiosity ventured in. Little did you suspect what was about to befall...
Now in your dismal predicament you deplore the neglect and slovenliness around you and prepare to leave. But just then there comes the faint sound of singing drifting out of the depths of the cavern. It seems... somehow familiar...
Curiously, you venture in that direction, descending deeper and deeper into the bowels of the earth as sinister stalactites drip around you and evil bats wheel overhead and shriek like your ex-wife when you had suggested playing certain harmless dressing-up games with her.
At the end of the tunnel you come to a rotting oak door with rusty iron hinges. The handle is in the shape of a skull! From behind it you hear a vaulting tenor voice singing forlornly...
The Roy Orbison in Clingfilm Adventure Game, by Ulrich Haarbürste
[more inside]
posted by carsonb
on Jun 16, 2012 -
23 comments
Miriam Moskowitz is one of the last survivors of the McCarthy era trials. She was sent to prison after being convicted of obstruction of justice in a trial that Roy Cohn said was a "dry run" for the Rosenberg case. Indeed, Miriam was in jail with Ethel Rosenberg. Her newly published book, "Phantom Spies, Phantom Justice" is one of the only books on the period to write about Ethel as a woman not as a symbol. The gripping memoir of Miriam's trial, her imprisonment and its aftermath, is also the first thing Miriam has ever written. At 94, that's quite an achievement. The Talk of the Town section of the New Yorker has a piece on Miriam. Click on the link to read it.
posted by jeffisme
on Nov 23, 2010 -
12 comments
You'd be forgiven for thinking that the iconic American folk song
The Wabash Cannonball was written as a tribute to an actual train, but in fact, in an interesting case of life-imitates-art, the actual train name was inspired by the song. The Lake Erie, Wabash, and St. Louis Railroad Company was formed in 1852, but there was no train called the “Cannonball” when the song was first sung late in the 19th century. There
have been
many,
many,
many wonderful versions through the years, but I think
Roy Acuff pretty much
owns it, wouldn't you say?
[NOTE: See hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jun 7, 2008 -
20 comments
Ingmar Bergman once said that
Roy Andersson "makes the best
commercials in the world." The 64 year old Swedish director has also made a couple of striking feature films, including the 2000 Cannes Jury Prize winner
Songs from the Second Floor (
excerpt /
reviews) and this year's still unreleased
You, the Living (
excerpt /
review).
posted by billysumday
on Aug 8, 2007 -
5 comments
Arundhati Roy's call for action, on accepting the Sydney Peace Prize. (That's action from
us specifically). I often find Roy's speeches overblown, overcooked and one-sided, and if that kind of rhetoric bothers you then you might want to skip this link. But she does speak lyrically, and I find it hard to argue against what she says this time.
posted by iffley
on Nov 10, 2004 -
7 comments
Captain of Irish World Cup squad Keane sent home
This is
big news here in Ireland. He's our best player - he keeps the team together on the pitch. But after some incidents in the past couple of days, and some prima donna style behaviour (something he's always been known for), he's been told to feck off.
I think the manager did the right thing, but I can't help thinking that our chances of getting out of our group have been diminished...
posted by tomcosgrave
on May 23, 2002 -
27 comments
