MetaFilter

Many slot machines on Native American reservations actually, and somewhat surreptitiously, play Bingo! Why? - What are "Class II" machines? - Some of its consequences. - Is it fair? [more inside]
posted by JHarris at 9:18 AM - 1 comment

"That child is going to feel the same either way. We might as well do our part to get the tourist industry back on its knees....You want to go to Mendocino. You think no one ever suffered in Mendocino?" John Holbo's "The Ones Who Take The Train To Omelas" is a parody of a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin (and of another scifi classic), and comes with mocked-up old-school travel posters plus the essay "Thought-Experiments and Trains of Thought". (Via Crooked Timber.) Jed Hartman (disclaimer: a pal) has compiled a list of links to short stories responding to the Le Guin story, including stories by N. K. Jemisin and P.H. Lee.
posted by brainwane at 7:26 AM - 6 comments

The Technological Parentheses of Our Lives - "There are a lot of potential parentheses to speculate about, from the end of fossil fuels or eating meat as a society, to the end of screens due to augmented reality..." [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 7:11 AM - 10 comments

Stephen Sondheim left us with many things from his many musicals, but surely disco is not something you'd think of. But no! Losing My Mind: A Sondheim Disco Fever Dream [YouTube playlist, 45m] is a mashup/reimagining of the Sondheim oeuvre into something entirely unexpected, joyous, and fun. Playbill breaks it all down for you, track by track. I think the only shows not represented are The Frogs and Road Show. Putting It Together podcast interviews the creators. [40m] Purchase and streaming links! [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:20 AM - 4 comments

Sleep - so essential for body and mind, and yet sometimes so elusive. Can’t sleep after too much revenge bedtime procrastination? No need to stress. Grab your favorite teddy bear, and snuggle in. [more inside]
posted by ReginaHart at 8:02 PM - 12 comments

[via the timesink r/ObscureMedia]
In 1969, MickeyDee's hired Pat Paulsen to present their new-staff orientation film. How this happened, we may never know. It's a combo of dated, prescient, and timeless. It's sardonic, dry, and self-deprecating, yet sincere in its effort. It's both entertaining and informative. It's approximately seventeen minutes long, yet it feels like it's no more than fifteen or sixteen minutes. [Whoop, that means my break's over g2g]
posted by not_on_display at 2:56 PM - 29 comments

Forbes - ‘Arcane’ Is Still Putting Up Review Scores Like Netflix Has Never Seen Before. Arcane has a 9.4 rating on IMDB, which not only makes it Netflix’s top original series by a wide margin, but puts it in the same lifetime tier of shows like Breaking Bad, The Wire, Band of Brothers, Chernobyl and beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. [more inside]
posted by xdvesper at 2:34 PM - 49 comments

Travellers to tiny islands in Vanuatu claim to fulfil a local belief that a mysterious figure from afar will one day bring prosperity. What are they hoping for? (SLGuardian)
posted by ShooBoo at 8:09 AM - 11 comments

What if there's an ache you've been denying, and you've gone solitary to see to your own quiet needs, and someone tries to pull you back into the world? “The End of the World in Five Dates” by Claire Humphrey (previously) is a short fantasy story told in vignettes (text and audio available): “Happy Rapture,” she said, and kissed my cheek, although we had never met before. "Tell the Crows I’m Home" by Laurel Beckley, published this year and available in audio as well, is an atmospheric fantasy story: Nicole finds them all, save for the crows, who do not appear to be bound to the rules of the farm, and come and go as they please. Like Nicole, a crow is never lost. She used to have quite a few human visitors, back when the world was only half broken.
posted by brainwane at 7:25 AM - 1 comment

Ridley Scott Blames Millennials for ‘The Last Duel’ Box Office Failure (archive). A small snorter of generational discourse for your weekend.
posted by snerson at 4:59 AM - 156 comments

Stephen Sondheim was struggling with his newest show. Working with John Weidman to adapt another story from American History, the show went through three (or four) iterations across a decade before failing to open on Broadway. These separate and distinct shows all telling the same story began with the workshop production of Wise Guys in 1999. Here are Nathan Lane and Victor Garber (and a lot of tape hiss), directed by Sam Mendes in a "cast recording" of the show. [YouTube playlist, CastAlbums brings you a listing of this recording with actual song titles.] [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 2:32 AM - 6 comments

Watch Rollie Williams — who you may recognize from the Climate Town series — attempt to re-create incredible shots played in professional pool championships, but with the skill level of an ostensibly average player. Here is a ridiculous jump shot and a swerve shot to get you started. [more inside]
posted by nickheer at 10:46 PM - 10 comments

Stephen Sondheim, Broadway composer, artist and lyricist, has died aged 91.
posted by fight or flight at 2:11 PM - 147 comments

Carol Off of CBC's "As It Happens" interviews Jim Puckett , the mayor of Fitzgerald, Georgia, who stands by a "giant topiary chicken that got him ousted as mayor." Roadside America: World's Largest Chicken Under Construction, and an earlier NPR interview with Puckett [both interviews are available as audio or an edited transcript]. Fitzgerald is home to a population of wild chickens. [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:33 PM - 24 comments

The 2021 FIDE World Chess Championship has started in Dubai. Magnus Carlsen defends his title against challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi in a 14 game match between November 26th- December 16th. You can watch the games daily on a number of chess focused Twitch channels linked below. Games start at 4:30pm in Dubai/ 12:30pm London / 7:30am New York. Games typically last 6 hours. [more inside]
posted by interogative mood at 8:11 AM - 44 comments

"Everybody knows about Thrull. Thrull like legend among us folk—biggest, greenest, meanest, nastiest, and dirtiest of all—with one big difference: legends false, Thrull true." "Big Thrull and the Askin’ Man" by Max Gladstone is a short fantasy story, told as a tall tale or fairy tale, in which a straightforward host learns to respond to manipulative questions from a seemingly weak guest.
posted by brainwane at 7:21 AM - 7 comments

It's So Easy This is a 1987 commercial for the Toyota Tercel. [more inside]
posted by box at 6:45 AM - 59 comments

Sick of worrying about Joe Manchin's coal-fired lock on the US Senate? Come to Australia! We have a Federal Government made entirely of fossil fuel industry toadies. Angus Taylor, our Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, has long been a particularly toady (Sky News YouTube, 11m34s) toadie. Polly Hemming and Richard Denniss dissect his latest talk-back disinformation blast (YouTube, 29m02s) in the newest episode of the Australia Institute's Spin Bin (previously on MeFi).
posted by flabdablet at 10:01 PM - 24 comments

Today, on Thanksgiving, also known as the National Day of Mourning, we learn that Ian Fishback, Army officer and whistleblower against detainee abuse, dies at 42. His letter to Senator McCain. Remembered by a former student. I do not think anyone will nominate him for a medal, but I do. RIP Major Fishback.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 9:33 AM - 44 comments

Two short speculative stories about coping and related struggles. "Dragons" by Teresa Milbrodt (published this year) has a hard-to-quit video game: “I've thought about getting glasses,” the dragon said as we sat on rocks with mugs in our hands and the tin of butter cookies on another rock between us. The dragon even had cloth napkins, which hid the gaping wound in my abdomen. “How to Remember to Forget to Remember the Old War” by R.B. Lemberg (content note for self-harm): "I am luckier than most. Numbers come easy to me, and I look grave and presentable in my heavy jackets that are not armor." The Lemberg story is also available in audio.
posted by brainwane at 7:20 AM - 4 comments

The Oral History of the OJ Car Service
posted by chavenet at 6:58 AM - 4 comments

A gray wolf whose “epic” travels captured headlines and imaginations earlier this year was killed in California after being struck by a vehicle this month Rest in peace, brother. Let's hope you're not the last to make the journey.
posted by Man with Lantern at 6:24 PM - 23 comments

Two Tribes was an apparently upbeat celebration of global nuclear war by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Appearing on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome, it reached #1 in 7 countries, staying there for 9 weeks in the UK. The Godley and Creme directed video [alternative] featured caricatures of Ronald Reagan and Konstantin Chernenko having a fight. There were a billionty mixes, remixes and 12 inch versions; weekly performances on Top of the Pops were often unpredictable. In the same year, the movie Threads [clip][full length on vimeo] was released. In 2012, Trevor Horn, Stephen Lipson, Lol Créme, and Ash Soan played a gentle version. Previously: [2007][2009][2012]
posted by Wordshore at 1:29 PM - 62 comments

Climate change causing albatross divorce according to a new study, as reported by Manish Pandey for BBC News. [more inside]
posted by misteraitch at 1:24 PM - 7 comments

Hey, why not read up on brass history with Greg, on Greg's Brass History Page.
posted by cortex at 10:09 AM - 15 comments

"In your first conversations with them, you’ll probably want to refer to all you’ve learned in the past year’s intensive study of dolphin history, culture, and ritual. Maybe you want to put them at ease, or maybe you kind of want to show off. I’m telling you not to do that, because you know nothing." The science fiction short story "Share Your Flavor" by Jenifer K. Leigh has a fun friendship between a human and a dolphin who commiserate about their relationship issues. [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 7:18 AM - 6 comments

To be clear: I’m not saying MFAs made all novels terrible or that all contemporary writing sucks. A writer isn’t deterministically destined to produce defensive prose if they go through the MFA process. Not all writers who’ve sat in a workshop are “workshop writers.” And some academic experiences are amazing, vital and electric, lighting up students’ minds inside like a moveable feast. But those are instances within a collective system. A system that has, in its totality, changed both how prose is written, who gets published, and who the audience for fiction is. from How the MFA swallowed literature by Erik Hoel
posted by chavenet at 6:21 AM - 158 comments

Master teacher, advanced student. There's just tremendous trust and respect. It made me realize that yelling at people is showing a lack of trust that they're listening. (Cue up people explaining that's not the only thing it means.) I'm not saying you can always trust that people are listening. [more inside]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 12:06 AM - 16 comments

Johnny•Decimal helps organize your (digital) life. Thousands of emails. Hundreds of files. File structures created on a whim and six layers deep. Duplicated content, lost content. We thought search would save us from this nightmare, but we were wrong. It's simple in practice, but takes some thought to build the right structure for yourself. And that's the beauty of it - the structure is what best suits you and how you naturally group things.
posted by jpeacock at 2:56 PM - 87 comments

These online relationships are often just as meaningful and rich and strange as my “real-life” friendships, but they’re more difficult to define. Maybe we’re still a little embarrassed? Or maybe we just need to stop waiting for definitions and do the work ourselves. I care too much about my online friends to just coast along in relationship limbo. This is an ode to digital friendships, a taxonomy of connections and disconnections.
posted by sciatrix at 1:53 PM - 32 comments

Hayao Miyazaki Prepares to Cast One Last Spell “'When you meet something that is very strange that you haven’t met before, instead of being scared of it, try to connect with it,' Miyazaki tells me." Ligaya Mishan's interview with the genius animator for the New York Times is the first in an English-language publication since 2014.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:15 PM - 32 comments

You probably like some types of fries more than others. The 3D modeling of various fry shapes illuminates why this might be.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 12:59 PM - 61 comments

This webcomic made it okay to be sad online. Then its artist vanished. The author of ‘Pictures for Sad Children’ went AWOL after a 2014 Kickstarter drama. In an exclusive interview, she explains why she had to unplug from the internet.
posted by meowzilla at 10:27 AM - 48 comments

Michael Stipe is Present (A November 2021 interview with David Peisner of The Bitter Southerner)
posted by box at 6:23 AM - 25 comments

Wanna read action-y scifi about girls solving problems by hacking electronics? (Previously.) "Power to the People" by Kiera Lesley is shorter: “Sorry, print took longer than I expected.” Sarah said, fishing in her pockets for her offerings, all in white because that was the only colour filament she had. But "A Thousand Ways" by Beth McCabe takes place on Mars: Riley began moving the rows of panels from angled to vertical, a kluge Liam's team had fixed up to keep the sticky dust from accumulating during a storm. While she worked, her gaze travelled over the landscape of her childhood, littered with the debris of the Consortium's failures.
posted by brainwane at 5:44 AM - 3 comments

In 2022 it's been fifty years since you can love who you want in Norway.

When Harry met Santa -- a Christmas commercial from the Norwegian Post Office. (You don't need to speak Norwegian to get the gist.)
posted by MartinWisse at 3:41 AM - 26 comments

Our Favorite Things is an 80 minute collection of videos from the experimental music group Negativland.
posted by eotvos at 8:36 PM - 21 comments

"God is pursuing some sort of grand celestial design to replace all of humanity with Vanessa Hudgens clones one by one." (no paywall link) Yes, friends, The Princess Switch 3 has arrived, and it is fully as bonkers as the first two outings. The only holiday discourse you need this season is Princess Switch discourse and theories about the Netflix Christmas Movie Universe. And yes, there is an RPG.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:17 PM - 36 comments

Muppet wonders will never cease. I thought I knew or had seen every 90s Muppet show/special. Wrong. In 1995 Robert Downey Jr starred as Mr Willowby in this 30 minute Muppet Musical. He sings and dances! Stockard Channing (with a Swedish accent?) and Leslie Nielsen are in it. Ii ts pretty mild overall, Ive just never heard another person talk about this.
posted by Freecola at 3:22 PM - 8 comments

Anjali Joseph (Literary Activism, 11/2021), "Madame Bovary and the Impossibility of Re-reading": "In a way it's not a novel about human characters at all: it's a novel of objects and insects and sunlight and birds, of stains, or habit and repetition. And though the characters in the novel live straitened lives, lives in which there isn't much pleasure or satisfaction, the phenomenal world around them is generous with beauty." Birger Vanwesenbeeck's similarly personal reflections. French text. Notable translation and introduction by Eleanor Marx (entry at Marxists.org) criticized, contextualized / appreciated, and appreciated further.
posted by Wobbuffet at 2:56 PM - 10 comments

"After experiencing it for myself, it seems absurd that this fundamental strangeness of Facebook isn’t a regular topic of conversation." Kaitlyn Tiffany makes the world's blandest Facebook profile to see what's going on over there. (unpaywalled version)
posted by theodolite at 2:51 PM - 40 comments

Strange Horizons presents a conversation between Mary Robinette Kowal and Kristy Anne Cox “In hindsight, they are things that I have dealt with my entire life and have affected my ability to move through the world, because the world is not built for people whose brains are wired the way my brain is wired. But because, for decades, I didn't know that my brain was wired differently, I have come up with so many work-arounds that I just didn't realize it was a disability. And with ADHD in particular, I tend to push back against that very much. I'm like, you know, this is the way my brain is wired, and it's very useful in a lot of different ways. The parts of it that are a disability are parts where the world and the definition of normal have been rigidly defined based on a brain model that is not my brain model. But my brain model is not broken.” This is part 2 of WWD - first installment is an interview with Nisi Shawl.
posted by bq at 1:48 PM - 3 comments

"Deep image" Poet & essayist Robert Bly died at home on Sunday. He was 94 years old. He authored numerous poetry collections, essays, and works of non-fiction. An outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, Bly won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1968 for his collection The Light Around the Body. His mythopoetic exploration of male identity, Iron John, (1990) brought Bly fame and, occasionally, criticism.
posted by Bob Regular at 12:29 PM - 28 comments

Where Americans find meaning in life has changed over the past four years "The U.S. stands out as one of only three publics surveyed in 2021 where mentions of society significantly coincide with greater negativity. The other two are Italy and Spain, but in neither of them is the relationship between society and negativity as strong as it is in the U.S."
posted by meowzilla at 9:31 AM - 31 comments

Companies would rather exclude *entire states* from employment than list a salary range in a job posting Colorado’s pay transparency law, which has been in effect since January, is perhaps the most expansive and experimental of its kind. The transparency rules apply even to national companies who are hiring remotely. This stipulation initially caused national firms to exclude Colorado residents from their remote job openings earlier this year. For example, a remote listing from Realogy, a publicly-traded real estate firm, read: “This position can be performed anywhere except Colorado.” Dozens of other companies, including Nike, Johnson and Johnson, and IBM, used similar language in their listings after the law took effect.
posted by folklore724 at 9:04 AM - 50 comments

I’m used to, not to put too fine a point on it, Gentile nonsense about the Holocaust, fetishization and minimization at once, the ways Holocaust deniers at once erase the existence of history and long for it to recur. But I am, despite myself, angry. Yes, it’s the puffery, the self-righteousness of antivaxxers who are straining empathy across the nation to the point where even health-care workers find their reserves sapped. ... But it’s also the specific perversity of this comparison—the comparison of efforts to stop a disease with a genocide in which disease played such a crucial and central role. Talia Bracha Lavin writes on vaccine protests, yellow stars, and an inoculation of historical reality (including Nazi experiments and the brave individuals who tried to fight typhus among the Jews).
posted by Bella Donna at 8:33 AM - 39 comments

Kevin Perjurer of Defunctland (previously, also previously, also previously) had planned on doing a simple feature on Disney's now-defunct FastPass virtual queuing system. However, after falling into a rabbit hole of research, he instead produced a feature length documentary on queuing, the theory behind queue management, how that would drive the creation of FastPass - and how FastPass would become a monster out of control.
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:56 AM - 30 comments

"The Case for Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant" by Slant is a 4-part fanfic responding to "Expert judgment on markers to deter inadvertent human intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant" (the "this place is not a place of honor" report). [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 5:43 AM - 21 comments

Julie Green (NYT obituary) spent the last two decades working on a monumental art project, The Last Supper, which chronicles the last meals of people about to be executed by the state in the USA. Each installment is a plate painted with an image of the last meal in cobalt blue glaze. She planned to stop the project when the death penalty was outlawed or she finished the thousandth plate, whichever came first. She finished the thousandth plate in September and ended her own life via physician-assisted suicide a few weeks later, on October 12th. Her plates are currently on display at the Bellevue Art Museum in Bellevue, WA.
posted by potrzebie at 10:17 PM - 54 comments

Is China's catch-up growth over? "All things come to an end. Every other spurt of rapid development has eventually slowed to the stately pace of a mature economy. There are basically two reasons this happens. First, as you build more physical capital — more buildings, roads, railways, machine tools, vehicles — the added output of each new piece of capital goes down, while the upkeep costs just keep rising. This is the basis of the famous Solow growth model, and we’ve seen this happen again and again to fast-developing countries. The second reason rapid growth peters out is that it’s easier to copy existing technologies from other countries than to invent new ones yourself." By Noah Smith. [more inside]
posted by russilwvong at 8:12 PM - 36 comments