MetaFilter posts by beagle

Roadside vernacular

beagle — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:10:28 -0800

The phenomenon of homemade roadside signage for Obama is not much in evidence on the other side. See also Obama signage and other art at The Obama Art Report, and many individual homemade Obama signs. Neither campaign is, shall we say, overly happy with renegade signage, however.

The Legacy of Daniel Pearl

beagle — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:51:09 -0800

In January, 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl disappeared in Karachi, Pakistan while seeking to meet with shadowy figures he believed to be connected with Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber." Before long, it became clear he had been kidnapped, and then that his captors had murdered him. His family responded by setting up a foundation with the mission "to promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications." Among the events and programs sponsored by the foundation:

Four miles of yarn on a car

beagle — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:26:38 -0800

Timothy Klein gets art. I mean, he really gets it. And he likes cars. So when he decided to become an artist, he covered a 1967 Chrysler Imperial Crown luxury car with yarn. Correct, yarn. Then, Tim didn't just show his car off to the local cruzers at the Dairy Queen. No. Tim took it to Artscape at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore in 2002, where he met other famous automotive artists like Harrod Blank and Chris Hubbard. He took it to the Outsider Art Fair in New York in 2003. Wherever he takes the Yarn Car, he documents the trips on his site. He got featured in Reader's Digest and "made Diane Sawyer giggle". Tim will be in Houston on May 10 for the 2008 Art Car Parade. Don't miss the yarn phone in the car.

Still living after all these years

beagle — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:35:36 -0800

Founded in 1947 and surviving today both as a relic of the psychedelic 1960s and a continually groundbreaking troupe, the Living Theatre found a national spotlight during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a "nomadic touring ensemble" performing anarchist, sexually-liberated, audience-participatory, collectively-created, sometimes nude or semi-nude productions like Paradise Now, the Legacy of Cain, and Frankenstein, under the direction of founders Julian Beck and Judith Malina. Beck died in 1985, but Malina, now 81, remains both an inspiration and a leading actress (currently starring in the company's Maudie and Jane).

The Last Battlefield

beagle — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:17:11 -0800

It has been called the Last Battlefield of World War II in Europe.

Senator Secrecy

beagle — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 09:39:27 -0800

A senator places a secret hold on a bill designed to counter secrecy in government. The Society of Professional Journalists, which supports the bill, smoked out Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) as the source of the hold, one of the more obscure parliamentary tactics possible in the Senate. The bill in question is the OPEN Government Act of 2007, which is an overhaul of the Freedom of Information Act. (See also.) Kyl claims the bill would force the release of "sensitive information." Kyl is also behind a measure that would criminalize the leaking of classified information.

BookWikis

beagle — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:18:03 -0800

A new genre of literary wikis is in the works. Pynchon fans can find as well as contribute answers to questions about his works at the Thomas Pynchon Wiki. The site currently offers sections on The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against the Day. Each offers spoiler-free page-by-page annotations, alphabetic search and a compilation of reviews. The Pynchon wikis were created by Tim Ware, "curator" of ThomasPynchon.com. Elsewhere, literary wikis have been started for James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and the works of Shakespeare.

What's in a name?

beagle — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:43:19 -0800

Thousands of new products and businesses every year need names. The creation of these names, is a business in itself, and is usually a pretty secretive process. But Igor, a naming and branding agency, offers a surprisingly detailed and illuminating primer on the naming game. Igor describes how they do it and who they’ve done it for. Igor’s naming taxonomy charts for various products (including one for the company names of naming companies) help illustrate the research portion of the process. Check out: studies of successful names like Pepperidge Farm’s cookie names, and why AT&T Canada’s name change to Allstream was a bad idea. And don’t miss Igor’s two blogs (metablogged here): Snark Hunting, “all about naming and branding in popular culture” and Wordlab, on “naming and branding issues.” For fun, try Wordlab’s own tongue-in-cheek naming tools, like the Drug-o-matic drug name generator, Name Your Band, and the Morpheme generator.

Tour winner disgraced?

beagle — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:34:56 -0800

Landis tests positive for doping.

Handicapping the midterms

beagle — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 09:54:46 -0800

As in the 2004 elections, several useful sites have sprung up to keep track of the 2006 midterms for House, Senate and state gubernatorial races. Some have a political point of view, others don't, but they don't differ significantly on the outcome at this point. One of the veterans in this game is ElectionProjection.com, which was pretty close to actual results in '04. (A creation of "the Blogging Caesar"). From the right, there's MyElectionAnalysis.com, while ElectionPredictions seems to come from a neutral corner. All of these track statewide polls as they are published; they may differ in how they weight results. For a more subjective approach, see Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball or the Cook Political Report. Overall, the consensus seems to be that the GOP will hold both houses, but with slimmer margins, and lose on the gubernatorial front.