80s Film and TV composers filter: Let's hear it for Serbian-born action-flick composer Sylvester Levay. He scored a #1 Billboard 100 hit in 1975 with "Fly, Robin, Fly,", but moved from pop music to action movies. Maybe he's known best as the genius behind the alleged World's Most Expensive TV Soundtrack, the theme of which you don't have to pay $900 to hear.
Why did he move from action movies to historical musicals in the 90s? Maybe the genre was a little overloaded. [more inside]
posted by hpliferaft on Jun 3, 2009 - 8 comments

Shmoop is study guides and teacher resources that help us understand how literature and history and poetry are relevant today. Take for example Shakespeare's Sonnet 130. Get a technical analysis of it's literary devices, explanations of the themes, and audio/video readings of the sonnet.
posted by netbros on May 24, 2009 - 10 comments

TV-INTROS - Where all we care about is how the show starts. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Apr 29, 2009 - 60 comments

"Herbie Popnecker is unique among superheroes. While looking less like a superhero than any other, he may also be the most powerful.
     Herbie can "fly" by walking through air, or space, or water.
     Herbie can travel through time, or the ground, or through walls (some damage occurs), sometimes breaking the fourth wall.
     Herbie is the least emotional of any super hero, and one of few words.
     Herbie defeats many of his opponents by looking at them, but sometimes, he bops them with this here lollipop."
Herbie's further powers are examined thoroughly at Herbie Popnecker: Examples of Recurring Themes. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 11, 2008 - 32 comments

1 X Semana is kinda like a Spanish language version of Drawer Geeks (prev.). From the site: "We are a bunch of colleagues who every week propose a character, concept or idea to be drawn. In this Blog we share the results of our exercise." The site is relatively new, but so far, this result in the "Sea Monster" challenge is my favorite. Via.
posted by jonson on May 28, 2008 - 3 comments

Name That TV Theme Song
Need help? Television Tunes has 3000+ themes available in mp3 format. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Dec 1, 2007 - 22 comments

Things Look Like Things is an interesting photoblog concept; the author spends his flickr-browsing hours finding visual similarities between images & creating themed sets, usually with a small amount of accompanying text. I'm doing a terrible job of selling it, but the results can be really compelling. Via.
posted by jonson on Jun 16, 2007 - 28 comments

Rod McFarland's Wordpress Theme's Tired of these slick web2.0-ish blog templates? They are either inspired by OSX or seemed to be built completely around stock photographry. No my geeks, this interface will not cut it. I need something a bit more familiar, something that resonates with my inner nerd.
posted by MiltonRandKalman on May 1, 2007 - 25 comments

Cats in sinks. Nothing less, nothing more.
posted by mathowie on Aug 29, 2005 - 76 comments

Mike's Classic Cartoon Themes A pretty heavy collection of cartoon theme songs from the 1950's-90's as mp3's. Includes all of the obvious classics along with more than a few fun obscurities new to me, for example, "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home."
posted by Swampjazz! on Feb 23, 2005 - 32 comments

Yeah baby! Bite my toenails! Funny, sad, simple, sweet, it's all about the luuurve. Remics Vol. 3 features illustrations by 29 artists on the theme of "love"; past editions (Flash and some sound) explored thoughts on "Place" and "Birthday".
posted by taz on Nov 20, 2003 - 7 comments

Lucas: Powerful reteller of myth - or galactic gasbag? Salon has a scathing review of Lucas' claim that the basis of the Star Wars saga is in "man's oldest stories" and that he was guided by Joseph Campbell.
"With 'Star Wars' I consciously set about to re-create myths and the classic mythological motifs," Lucas says. "I wanted to use those motifs to deal with issues that exist today."
Hogwash, says author Steven Hart. Star Wars is based not on "The Odyssey" or the "Upanishads", but on Asimov, Heinlen, Herbert and other 20th century S.F.
posted by rshah21 on Apr 10, 2002 - 32 comments

Apple lawyers target Mac Themes Project -- Apple has issued a cease and desist order against Mac Themes Project (MTP) for creating a theme editor. Apple claims the editor enables third parties to copy its copyrighted trademark themes by "improperly copying Apple's copyrighted software code and graphic files".
posted by shauna on Apr 17, 2001 - 15 comments

Weblog essay genres:
Statements of intention.
Announcements of suspension.
Letters of resignation.
posted by jjg on Feb 28, 2000 - 6 comments