March 25, 2013

Consider The Lobster Claw

Why Claw Machines Filled With Live Lobsters Delight and Disturb Us
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 10:25 PM PST - 53 comments

Two Short Films About the Fragrant Harbor

So Long, My Hong Kong pairs well with Hong Kong in 7000 Pictures.
posted by milquetoast at 9:34 PM PST - 6 comments

"Madame *** établit un piano dans les Alpes."

"Note that Scriabin did not, for his theory, recognize a difference between a major and a minor tonality of the same name (for example: c-minor and C-Major). Indeed, influenced also by the doctrines of theosophy, he developed his system of synesthesia toward what would have been a pioneering multimedia performance: his unrealized magnum opus Mysterium was to have been a grand week-long performance including music, scent, dance, and light in the foothills of the Himalayas Mountains that was somehow to bring about the dissolution of the world in bliss." - From Russian composer Alexander Scriabin's Wikipedia page [more inside]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 9:29 PM PST - 12 comments

Incommensurable values

Economists and the theory of politics - "why unions were often well worth any deadweight cost" [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 8:42 PM PST - 27 comments

There are floaty foamies in the gymnasium, Roscoe!

Radio controlled electric flying has been around for a while now, but a relatively new type of indoor pattern flying is becoming popular. Using very light electric airplanes called "foamies", F3P can be both mesmerizing and artistically beautiful simultaneously.
posted by pjern at 8:21 PM PST - 7 comments

Don't Go Alone Smoke This

Snoop Fairy's Weed Fountain [more inside]
posted by kittensofthenight at 7:45 PM PST - 16 comments

Water Wars

Georgia Senate passes resolution to move state line, claim Tennessee River water. A TPM reader provides interesting background.
posted by maggieb at 7:45 PM PST - 47 comments

Streaming jazzy, downtempo hip-hop from Cult Classic Records

If you like your hip-hop moody, jazzy, or downtempo, Cult Classic Records might scratch your itch, with more than 20 releases streaming on Bandcamp, plus 17 clips on YouTube, though most are still images with music.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:43 PM PST - 9 comments

Its totally 'shopped.

Watch Deviant Art's Elemental79 remaster classic game screen caps of Metroid, Contra and Doom into stunning HD works of art. [via Gizmodo]
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 5:05 PM PST - 27 comments

The Vietnam War like you've never seen it

In 1967, Charlie Haughey was drafted into the United States Army and was assigned to work as a photographer, tasked with taking morale-boosting pictures of service members. He shot over 2,000 images, the vast majority of which were never published and languished in boxes and envelopes. Until now. [more inside]
posted by gkhan at 4:38 PM PST - 43 comments

Midnight Rider - A short film

Midnight Rider [SLYT] (or if you prefer Vimeo: Midnight Rider) features Ryan Hurst (Opie from Sons of Anarchy) in a filmed monologue from the opening short story in the collection American Death Songs: Stories by Jordan Harper (mefi's own Bookhouse). Directed by Nina Corrado, music by Blake Neely.

[via mefi projects]
posted by cjorgensen at 4:37 PM PST - 6 comments

Yesterday and Today

If Matt Lauer doesn’t want to be seen with sharp knives, it’s because last summer his co-host Ann Curry was discovered with one in her back. Five million viewers, the majority of them women, would not soon forget how Curry, the intrepid female correspondent and emotionally vivid anchor, spent her last appearance on the Today show couch openly weeping, devastated at having to leave after only a year. The image of Matt Lauer trying to comfort her—and of Curry turning away from his attempted kiss—has become a kind of monument to the real Matt Lauer, forensic evidence of his guilt. What followed was the implosion of the most profitable franchise in network television.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:19 PM PST - 92 comments

You Are What You See

Google Glasses are being tested by tech writers as we speak. But are they a good thing? The long awaited Project Glass is nearly here. There are articles about them here, here, and here among many others. But is it a good thing? Questions are being asked both about safety and about privacy. Everything good, bad and ugly about the online world is about to get more intense. Are you ready?
posted by BillW at 2:38 PM PST - 218 comments

Meet me at Hoyt & Schermerhorn at 3 on the dot

Street signs at NYC intersections featuring rap lyrics about them.
posted by dry white toast at 2:08 PM PST - 27 comments

Menus as art

A digitized collection of 9000+ menus from the Dijon library, dating back to the 1800s. (Linked material is in French, but fairly easy to navigate). Menus scanned include weddings, baptisms, and wedding anniversaries among other events. Found via Chocolate and Zucchini.
posted by brilliantine at 1:57 PM PST - 8 comments

Nothing is the most important part of the Universe.

The concept of nothing is as old as zero itself. How do we grapple with the concept of nothing? From the best laboratory vacuums on Earth to the vacuum of space to what lies beyond, the idea of nothing continues to intrigue professionals and the public alike. Join moderator and Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson as he leads a spirited discussion with a group of physicists, philosophers and journalists about the existence of nothing. The event, which was streamed live to the web, took place at the American Museum of Natural History on March 20, 2013. [more inside]
posted by lazaruslong at 1:39 PM PST - 32 comments

Not pony tails or cotton tails or...

DuckTales the Video Game -- Remastered (SLYT)
posted by shivohum at 1:35 PM PST - 50 comments

NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette

NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette, a series by artist Nathan Pyle
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 1:09 PM PST - 160 comments

Kubrick's condensed NYC

Follow Tom Cruise as he navigates his way around Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut Greenwich Village set [more inside]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:53 PM PST - 29 comments

I deserve to be naked if I want to.

In a Room Full of Naked Koreans, Margaret Cho’s Body Is an Unwelcome Sight. Margaret Cho discusses the disapproval of her fellow Korean spa visitors upon seeing her naked, heavily tattooed body as she enjoys the facilities. Single link Jezebel.
posted by sweetkid at 12:25 PM PST - 174 comments

We Have a Barbecue Editor

We Have a Barbecue Editor. Texas Monthly has hired Daniel Vaughn (Full Custom Gospel BBQ) to be its first Barbecue Editor, a unique position in the U.S.
posted by kmz at 12:22 PM PST - 13 comments

First images from the LDCM

This week, the first images of Earth from the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) were released by NASA. The images show the meeting of the Great Plains with the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado. [more inside]
posted by tocts at 11:57 AM PST - 5 comments

Old People Wearing Vegetation

Old People Wearing Vegetation. Seniors from Norway and Finland (NSFW) model wearable art made of plants, in Eyes as Big as Plates. [more inside]
posted by Elizabeth the Thirteenth at 11:50 AM PST - 9 comments

Libraries: Not Just For Books

A seed library is a long-term lending institution, for plants. Seed Libraries Preserve Heirloom Varities [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:11 AM PST - 4 comments

Reports of genital theft have spread like an epidemic

"Elaborate greetings are the norm, I’ve found, when one enters a Central African village. So it was a surprise when I noticed that many people weren’t shaking hands the morning I arrived in Tiringoulou, a town of about 2,000 people in one of the remotest corners of the Central African Republic, in March 2010. I soon found out the reason: the day before, a traveler passing through town on a Sudanese merchant truck had, with a simple handshake, removed two men’s penises." [more inside]
posted by not_the_water at 11:08 AM PST - 53 comments

A long time ago, A long time ago, A long time ago, A long time ago...

All 6 Star Wars movies at the same time
posted by gwint at 11:08 AM PST - 46 comments

For the love of God and all that is holy

Michael Schiavello covers Resurrection Fighting Alliance 7 - Chavez v Mainus
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:31 AM PST - 5 comments

What part of "mine" are you not understanding?

Baby Panda Loves Ball. [slyt | adorable | previously]
posted by quin at 10:25 AM PST - 25 comments

They get around

The Beach Boys shred "I Get Around," in the style of StSanders (previously).
posted by jbickers at 9:26 AM PST - 23 comments

Yes, they play the song from the Fruitopia commercial.

Here's about an hour of The Muffs (v1.0) rehearsing somewhere in California on January 13, 1991. [more inside]
posted by mintcake! at 9:09 AM PST - 10 comments

Glass detonations

Smarter Every Day examines the physics of Prince Rupert's drop. Deceptively simple to create, these teardrop-shaped glass structures demonstrate the physics of tempered glass in spectacular fashion. Previously
posted by Morriscat at 6:52 AM PST - 34 comments

"That's kooky Kid. We're going in."

Sinatra, His Molls, and Me. Paul Anka riffs on his early days in Las Vegas, and a certain song.
posted by timsteil at 6:12 AM PST - 28 comments

A nerd's eye view of history

One insider's view of the mobile phone & internet revolution in the UK, 1992-2002. Featuring awkwardly stages pictures of the author, Simon Robinson, with Atomic Kitten.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:49 AM PST - 6 comments

Bye bye Boris

London mayor (and oft talked-up potential future PM) Boris Johnson is demolished in a slow motion bicycle crash of an interview. (The whole thing)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 5:26 AM PST - 92 comments

Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

When the US Department of Energy halted Plutonium 238 production as far back as 1988, things looked grim for the future of space exploration. On Monday, March 18th, NASA's planetary science division head Jim Green announced that production has been restarted, and is currently in the test phases leading up to a restart at full scale.
posted by cthuljew at 5:17 AM PST - 37 comments

The economics of time travel

Would time travellers affect security prices? An article by Richard Hudson. [more inside]
posted by medusa at 4:42 AM PST - 30 comments

Memories of BBC Television Centre.

Memories of BBC Television Centre. The British Broadcasting Corporation's central production hub for the past fifty years closes this week (though parts of it will reopen soon as a post-production facility). There have been many hagiographies, but this is perhaps the most poignant. It's a building full of the memories of millions, good and bad (SLYT).
posted by feelinglistless at 3:01 AM PST - 18 comments

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