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Movie posters carry the movie in one still image. But they're also a great overview of trends, both artistic and popular. Modern major film posters are common enough, and if you're looking for some discussion of modern posters, Movie Poster Addict might be your scene. But dig deeper and you come across quality versions of foreign films, such as Mexican posters (deep link to a section of Pulp Morgue) or hand painted posters from Russia, India and Pakistan, even the US. MeFi's own flapjax at midnite shared a collection of recent finds from the 1960s and '70s on in this Flickr set. [flapjax at midnite's collection via mefi projects] Some-what pre-vious-ly on Me-ta-Filter. And not from MetaFilter, but from our favorite list site: 20 baffling foreign movie posters.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:31 PM PST - 13 comments

Today Kansas became one step closer to raising its state minimum wage and shedding its embarrassing position as lowest set state minimum wage in the nation at $2.65 per hour. (Kansas minimum wage is lower than Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, though 5 states currently have no minimum wage whatsoever.) The Kansas Department of Labor estimates that over 20,000 Kansans earn less than the federal minimum wage. After passing the Kansas Senate by a vote of 33-7, will the Speaker of the House allow a vote on Senate Bill 160?
posted by jlowen at 10:26 PM PST - 72 comments

The Giving Tree (1973), animated short based on Shel Silverstein's 1964 children's story and narrated by the author. [more inside]
posted by the_bone at 10:21 PM PST - 38 comments

Ken MacLeod, Paul Cornell, Iain [M] Banks and Ian Watson comment on the relationship between science fiction and science fact.
posted by shoesfullofdust at 9:07 PM PST - 49 comments

Wikileaks has posted the complete list of websites that the Australian Government intends to block under its proposed opt-out internet censorship scheme. The Government has flagged plans to expand the blacklist to 10,000 sites or more. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:45 PM PST - 79 comments

Paul Ford is back with six-word reviews of SxSW 2009 music (previously in 2008). Also be sure to check out Paul's (another Paul's) SxSW Artist Catalog (previously) for further SxSW music metadata goodness.
posted by shadytrees at 8:11 PM PST - 12 comments

ImprovEverywhere has a gallery opening in the New York Subway. "In the course of making the art labels, the mundane stuff of the platform really did become weirdly compelling and beautiful. I wasn’t sure if everyone else would have that experience, or if we would be busy consciously pretending that these random objects were art. In the course of the event, some other friends who came made brilliant observations about the pieces that helped bring my mindset firmly back into of-course-this-is-art, rather than viewing the subway as a collection of quick fixes over time. It’s wonderful how we can decide to create a collective reality, and how it can sometimes catch us up within itself. I’m glad other folks also got caught up in "Wow.. This might really be art!", and that some non-agents got such a kick out of it!"
posted by Kattullus at 8:05 PM PST - 50 comments

The 2009 Archie Awards honor Air Traffic Controllers, who, from time to time, perform remarkably.
posted by exogenous at 6:31 PM PST - 5 comments

So you go to be spaceman. If the space race had taken a few different turns, we might have ended up with a historical exhibit that looked like the one cooked up by the American Dream Technical Institute. [more inside]
posted by mikepop at 5:40 PM PST - 6 comments

Za and qi are now worth more than money, power, and sex. [more inside]
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:10 PM PST - 53 comments

Five ways 'common sense' lies to you - a description of some everyday logical fallacies and how they effect us in a larger scale.
posted by flatluigi at 3:56 PM PST - 70 comments

Your favourite record label sucks. [more inside]
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:54 PM PST - 34 comments

Dolphins at SeaWorld Orlando make and play with bubble rings. Others learn by watching. (SLYP) via [more inside]
posted by Toekneesan at 3:51 PM PST - 17 comments

American Houndsman is a site dedicated to showcasing vintage hound hunting. Back when hunters didn't have all the fancy equipment and gadgets of today, it was a time that hunting was simple. Fetch the dogs, the light, and the gun and off to the woods for a night's hunt. Features vintage photographs of beloved coon dawgs, even the ones still learning, and stories of hunting dogs in days gone by. There's even a coon dog cemetery where the best of the best are laid to rest. [more inside]
posted by netbros at 3:38 PM PST - 11 comments

Dave of Low Light Mixes spins together all manner of textural musical goodness into solid, themed sonic experiences. Component parts include but are not limited to ambient, jazz, "jazz", noise, field recordings and one hell of a lot of Brian Eno.
posted by colinmarshall at 2:53 PM PST - 2 comments

Sitcom Maps from DanMeth.com
posted by blue_beetle at 2:25 PM PST - 45 comments

Which way are the winds blowing in the world today? From New Calvinism to Ecological Intelligence, here are 10 ideas that are changing the world right now.
posted by daniel_charms at 1:24 PM PST - 14 comments

No conflict of interest there, no sir. Organic food fans and small farmers alike are saying if HR 875 is passed, it will mean the end of organic farming in the United States. An overstatement? Perhaps, but HR 875 has serious flaws. The bill, introduced by Rosa DeLauro last month (who happens to be married to Stanley Greenburg of Monsanto, the world's largest producer of herbicides, chemical fertilizers and genetically engineered seeds), is here. [more inside]
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:02 PM PST - 56 comments

The Cat Wig, The Inflatable Dartboard, et al. Plus, two inventions that sound bad, but aren't.
posted by forrestal at 12:46 PM PST - 23 comments

LET IT DIE: Douglas Rushkoff on the Economy.
posted by homunculus at 12:10 PM PST - 163 comments

Fantasy Meets Reality. The very best works of science fiction illuminate controversial current events and the intricacies of human nature. So, it's no surprise that the United Nations Public Information Department and the Sci Fi (SyFy?) Channel co-hosted a panel yesterday evening on "humanitarian concerns" at the UN, with the creators and actors of Battlestar Galactica -- a show which regularly explores those themes. A 2-hour video webcast is archived here. (RealPlayer video). Entertainment Weekly has an additional write-up. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 12:07 PM PST - 57 comments

Fly-Post —a community event site dedicated to the art and utility of the promotional flyer. Post flyers about your event, or search for flyers by location, event, or keyword. Browse by best designs, or the latest posts. It's in beta and serving only a few U.S. cities right now, but looks promising.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 10:54 AM PST - 6 comments

A Life Well Wasted is a new podcast about video games and the people who love them, created by freelance writer Robert Ashley. [more inside]
posted by Happy Dave at 10:00 AM PST - 20 comments

Familial genetic profiling of law enforcement DNA databases has already been used to succesfully establish both guilt and innocence. Legal and moral questions on these expanded techniques abound and are comprehensively explored by a speaker at a recent FBI symposium on the topic. In the author's words, scenarios previously limited to movies like Minority Report are unfolding quietly, before most of us have thought about the consequences. (Via)
posted by protorp at 9:57 AM PST - 29 comments

21 years after a crippling motorcycle accident, a paraplegic man is miraculously cured by a spider bite, then promptly gets arrested.
posted by empath at 9:54 AM PST - 60 comments

Dora Grows Up. Nickelodeon and Mattel have introduced a whole new look for beloved cartoon Dora the Explorer. But the new look has people asking, Is Dora too sexy? Nick and Mattel try to smooth things over.
posted by lunit at 9:18 AM PST - 140 comments

NASA Interim Problem Report 119V-0080: The bat that went up with the Space Shuttle Discovery.
posted by ardgedee at 8:57 AM PST - 65 comments

SpyBox A digital camera inside a parcel looks out through a small hole and captures images of its journey through the postal system. (via) Separately, the pinhole parcel project sent pinhole cameras through the regular postal service, and along the way they recorded their journey on the photographic negative, “creating highly unpredictable, abstract imagery.”
posted by desjardins at 8:54 AM PST - 10 comments

In 1996, sixteen children and one adult died in Dublane, Scotland after Thomas Hamilton walked into a school armed with four handguns. In 2009, journalist Paula Murray tracked down and befriended several of the survivors on Facebook, waited until they turned eighteen, and then wrote this article for the Sunday Express. [more inside]
posted by permafrost at 8:29 AM PST - 67 comments

JetBlue's timely introduction to commercial air travel for CEOs only (no minions, lackeys, or "regular" people allowed). Chapter 1, chapter2 and chapter 3.
posted by jim in austin at 7:41 AM PST - 45 comments

Things that go boom and flash and make pretty colors. DIY fireworks. From the the relatively benign Roman Candle to the fifty foot tall Cremora Fireball. (via Neatorama) previous explosive goodies: Pyroboy, Crump and pyro page
posted by caddis at 7:19 AM PST - 8 comments

Latvian copyright agency in Latvia wrote emails to over 500 local bloggers asking them to pay copyright fees for embedded YouTube videos (so far only one english post). Even more - in an interview spokesperson announced, that in Latvia YouTube is, in fact, operating illegally. If you dare to translate with google, more information can be found in latvian.
posted by laacz at 7:14 AM PST - 6 comments

Can't wait till Friday Flash Fun: Atomic Kaos 2 Orbits is a puzzle-ish game where you are trying to remove all the atoms from the playing field through a chain of explosions.
posted by schyler523 at 6:25 AM PST - 6 comments

Those of Love(+), those of Sex(+), those of Hearbreak(+), those of People and Places (+), those of Politics and Protest (+). The Guardian's journalists purloin you with "1,000 Songs You Must Hear". The plus links lead to people's outraged suggestions of those that are missing from each category. Perfect for when 10, 100, 500 or 3,000 are just the wrong numbers.
posted by rongorongo at 5:07 AM PST - 20 comments

Clearly you are not yet beautiful enough. Not to worry, there's help from Japan & Kyrgystan: Placenta 30,000 contains 30,000 mg of 100% undiluted horse-origin placenta. [more inside]
posted by slater at 1:42 AM PST - 56 comments