MetaFilter posts by scratch

File under photography/women's studies/full bladders

scratch — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 07:52:47 -0800

Good bathroom reading. A book of photos has been published. The theme of the photos is public urination. Apparently, this is art, but not in China. More dribbles here and here. Oh, and the book also has an interview with good ol' Annie Sprinkle.

"Cookie Monster singing"

scratch — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 09:56:35 -0800

Betcha didn't know: "While the extreme branch of heavy-metal music known as death metal is defined in part by often-vile lyrics about violence, catastrophic destruction, nihilism, anarchy and paranoia, its singing style is associated with a beloved goggle-eyed, fuzzy blue puppet." The Wall Street Journal considers death metal and Sesame Street in an article I'm sure Lester Bangs would have enjoyed.

Lionel Shriver wrote an interesting book.

scratch — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 08:04:58 -0800

Woman wins Orange Prize for novel "many people will hate" Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin is one of the few novels I've read in which the protagonist admits that she dislikes her child and is ambivalent (to put it mildly) about motherhood in general. In this case, she has good reason--the boy has a few problems, which culminate in a school gym massacre (preceded by something really grisly). (I'm not giving anything away by saying this, it's not a mystery novel.) Many people do indeed hate it; I personally thought it was fascinating. See also The Independent, The Guardian, ID Theory, Salon, and many more.

Useful critique or pointless nitpicking?

scratch — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 12:08:36 -0800

Dick Cheney, Dressing Down I can't decide if this is interesting cultural criticism or ridiculous nitpicking about something that isn't very important. Maybe it's both. Side note: It's a nice change to read about a male politician's appearance and wardrobe for once.