MetaFilter posts tagged with singles

“Single?” Lawn Signs Conquer the American Landscape

lekvar — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:46:00 -0800

Chances are, over the past two years you've seen lawn signs for [your_town_name]singles.com If you're like me, you wondered about the marketing strategy behind them. If you're like this guy, you launch an obsessive investigation into the phenomenon. tl;dr - an interesting essay about marketing strategy and good ol' sleuthing. via

Interactive Singles Map shows you where the ladies at

zoomorphic — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:38:03 -0800

Remember that disheartening map that cataloged the ratio of unmarried men to women per city, wherein the East coast was Single Lady Central and the West coast was a Boystown? Now there's an interactive version where you can adjust for age range, which dramatically affects the results. [VIA PROJECTS]

The Archive, Still Unsold

grabbingsand — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:25:19 -0800

The Archive. A short film by Sean Dunn and Ed David. "The world is dead out there. They have their ears closed. They don't understand what's going on at this moment. It's gonna take them 10, 15, 20 years to wake up and realize what they missed." Nobody has more records than Paul Mawhinney. He's ready to sell the whole thing for 6 cents on the dollar of their worth. 3 million records for $1 each. And nobody is buying. (Previously on Mefi.) And if your heart doesn't start cracking around the 6 minute mark, then heaven help you. (Found via OkayPlayer via NahRight.)

Mr. Good Enough

Horace Rumpole — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:29:45 -0800

"Everyone laughs a little too hard for a little too long, not because we find these sentiments funny, but because we’re awkwardly acknowledging how unfunny they are. At their core, they pose one of the most complicated, painful, and pervasive dilemmas many single women are forced to grapple with nowadays: Is it better to be alone, or to settle? My advice is this: Settle!" An interview with the author, Lori Gottlieb Some reactions: "What ticked me off was Gottlieb's, possibly unconscious, propagandizing on behalf of perpetually adolescent men and her advocation of marriage as an economical form of ensured quality day-care." "Well that's a story in the latest issue of the Atlantic Monthly by a single mom who dares to advance the iconoclastic argument that Rachel would have been better if she'd just married the orthodontist."

Best places to get coupled up.

allkindsoftime — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:40:15 -0800

Forbes' Best Cities for Singles 2006. Apparently you have better chances of meeting your mate at Sox game than at a Yankees' game. But as a New Yorker I still find it hard to believe my chances would be better were I a Rockies fan. Although, I might meet a good Christian woman.

John Peel's Music Box

Armitage Shanks — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 14:57:57 -0800

John Peel's box of 142 favorite singles discussed in The Times and The Observer. These guys are collecting the whole set (NSFMPAA). [via Stereogum]

Swingin' on the flippety-flop with some 7"s

kyleg — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:43:21 -0800

The Sub Pop Singles Club began in 1988 with the release of Nirvana's Love Buzz single, and continued to offer subscribers new singles from popular and up-and-coming grunge bands for five years. In 1998 the label briefly resurrected the club, ultimately ending it three years ago. Featured bands ranged from the popular to the obscure. Earlier this year, the complete collection of singles was put for sale on ebay, cementing its status as a collector's item and making a generation of music geeks feel old.

Anti-Hit List is Alive

boost ventilator — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 13:37:27 -0800

The Anti-Hit List , by John Sakamoto, continues to unearth music from the depths of the net and through rare releases. It can be found in the pages of the Toronto Star and is now available in convenient podcast form. Note: previous death and rebirth of the site.

marry a Canadian

milovoo — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 07:32:10 -0800

Plotting your escape? Marry a Canadian. "Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism." [via Gothamist]

Village Voice's 2002 Pazz & Jop Poll

boost ventilator — Tue, 11 Feb 2003 19:53:30 -0800

Pazz & Jop 2002 - The Village Voice has tabulated the top albums and singles from 695 critics (and 10,2002 LPs). Some of the ballot-fillers even got a little personal. The usual essays are included. If your fav CD didn't make the cut, perhaps it made it onto the dean's list.

Anti-Hit List

boost ventilator — Mon, 10 Feb 2003 18:56:26 -0800

As its old home lies dormant, John Sakamoto'sAnti-Hit List continues on in the pages of Toronto's Eye Weekly. Where else could you hear about The Flaming Lips covering Kylie, Ween singing ~~for~~ about Pizza Hut or quite possibly the best song title in ages.

LittleMissCranky — Sat, 09 Nov 2002 12:37:50 -0800

If this isn't a sign of the apocalypse, I don't know what is. What should be on the list of the all-time greatest pop tunes?

boost ventilator — Wed, 31 Jul 2002 15:18:30 -0800

The End of the Anti-Hit List? "And with that, the Anti-Hit List is retiring, at least for the foreseeable future."

John Sakamoto's Alternate Top 10 (AKA The Anti-Hit List) was one of the best top ten music lists on the net. It was short and sweet and a great way to discover b-sides, covers and alternate versions of songs from a wide variety of artists. And to think, it all started back on March 12, 1996.

engelr — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 05:48:12 -0800

City as Loser? Iron City was ranked last out of 40 cities in this year's "Best Cities for Singles" in Forbes magazine. Not that Forbes is the ultimate arbiter of the single life (don't they specialize in male readers over 35 with money?), but your best defense of Pittsburgh or your own medium- or small-sized town would be appreciated.

Steven Den Beste — Sun, 21 Oct 2001 18:53:40 -0800

A pickup bar for geeks. 60 TV cameras on the ceiling can be controlled by bar patrons from stations all over the bar, to snoop on other people. See someone you like? Send 'em an email; and maybe if you hit it off you can walk across the bar and actually talk to them.

perogi — Sat, 19 May 2001 07:51:47 -0800

Alone. Ahhh. Sigh. 27 Million Singles Do Whatever They Want. All by Themselves.

The problem with census data is there's never space for a longer answer to the question. (Yes, I live like this but I didn't plan to. See, here's what happened . . . ) This week's newsy trickle across the national spreadsheet reveals, among other things, that more Americans than ever live alone. Twenty-seven million people, give or take. That's a lot of air guitar being played in private. That's a lot of bowls of cereal eaten over the sink around 1 in the morning.....

Do you fit into this scenario? I know I do.

mathowie — Wed, 16 May 2001 11:32:03 -0800

Teenpeople.com premiering a new Sisqo single (press release too) seems like another example of media conglomerate cross-marketing. You can hear an entire song from a new album 2 months before release on a single website, before even radio or MTV gets it, but why is one corporation using another for an exclusive distribution channel? Are things like this and Madonna selling tickets exclusively through AOL going to remain experimental in nature or is it the face of things to come?

gi_wrighty — Mon, 26 Feb 2001 10:33:12 -0800

CD Sales down by 39%? And guess who's to blame. (Also linked in the article is the interesting stopnapster.com site.)