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By employing directors with backgrounds in drama, the studios hope action-heavy films will be infused with greater depth. The catch, however, is that drama directors are usually inexperienced at, and thus incapable of, properly handling [the] material that is the film's main selling point .... "The Wolverine" is the latest example of this burgeoning trend. To name just a few examples from the past couple of years, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (dir: Gavin Hood), "Quantum of Solace" (dir: Mark Forster), "Skyfall" (dir: Sam Mendes) ... were all brought to the screen by filmmakers whose careers were predicated on dramas or comedies, not action. That fad remains in full effect this summer .... While no studio exec would dare hand over an Oscar-hopeful drama to Michael Bay, the opposite model—Hey, Marc Forster directed "Finding Neverland," so he's obviously the ideal candidate for a Bond film!—now reigns supreme.

Nick Schager writes about action films helmed by a director who is not an action director.
posted by Jasper Friendly Bear at 11:56 PM PST - 59 comments

Archie Comics Gets Its First Gay Kiss, Takes On One Million Moms. A couple years back, Archie Comics introduced its first gay character, Kevin Keller. (previously) Since, he's become a normal fixture in Riverdale, and even gotten married in an alternate universe. But finally, Kevin gets an on-panel kiss for the first time -- in his own universe, even! The issue includes a riff on everyone's poorly-counting scolds One Million Moms. [more inside]
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 9:00 PM PST - 40 comments

You might know him as reformed drug addict Walon in "The Wire," or as Harley Watt from "Treme," or maybe even as the beardy, eyeglasses-wearing dude in the all-star "Give a Kidney" group on "30 Rock." But do you know Steve Earle? Ladies and gentlemen, please let me introduce you to this American treasure -- Grammy-winning singer and songwriter, activist, writer, actor, father, and the last of the hardcore troubadours. [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:35 PM PST - 52 comments

From all the depositions, here is a summary of the animal’s behavior and apparent anatomy: The animal only appeared in calm weather and in flat water; its body was thick as a keg in circumference and skin dark, nearly black, and reflected sunlight very brightly when it rested on the surface. It had black eyes, too, and its head was about the size of a big dog’s or horse’s head but leathery and snake-like — ship master Eppes Ellory, standing with 20 witnesses, deposed, “I was looking at him with a spy-glass, when I saw him open his mouth and his mouth appeared like that of a serpent; the top of his head appeared flat.” Did the Gloucester fisherman see a massive tuna, or a serpent? And what are we conjuring, when we imagine the sea?
posted by mannequito at 8:08 PM PST - 6 comments

The Avengers - 6 Pieces Of Pleasure. NSFW: Black Widow & Hawkeye Aren’t Left Out Of This Fake Avengers Sex Toy Line.
posted by homunculus at 6:31 PM PST - 70 comments

DEFCON is one of the world's largest hacker conventions, and for its 20th year, MeFite and technology documentarian jscott was asked to capture the event as best as he could. Almost 300 hours of footage was cut down to a two hour documentary, which has been recently released online in HD (YouTube, Vimeo, Archive.org, and an official torrent from DEFCON). More details on IMDb. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 5:42 PM PST - 27 comments

The X-Files 20th anniversary reunion panel at San Diego Comic-Con (Youtube) (Podcast version here) (Summary and slideshow), featuring Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Darin Morgan, Glen Morgan, Jim Wong, John Shiban, Howard Gordon and James Amann. sex scenes, a third movie and Home are discussed. The Lone Gunmen will return in Season 10. The Guardian picks 13 best X-Files episodes but somehow misses Jose Chung's From Outer Space.
posted by Artw at 5:22 PM PST - 115 comments

Matte Shot - A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX ...the inventiveness and ingenuity of the craft of the matte painter during Hollywood's Golden Era. Some of the shots will amaze in their grandeur and epic quality while others will surprise in their 'invisibility' to even the sophisticated viewer. I hope this collection will serve as an appreciation of the artform and both casual visitors and those with a specialist interest may benefit, enjoy and be amazed at skills largely unknown today.
posted by cenoxo at 3:03 PM PST - 13 comments

Some jazz sessions are incredible magic. And within those sessions one will occasionally hear a brilliant, cosmic rendition of a gorgeous composition - in this case it's Bill Frisell's gorgeous composition named "Throughout" played by Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra with Carla Bley, in 2004, at the annual Jazz in Marciac Festival in Marciac, France. [more inside]
posted by Vibrissae at 2:53 PM PST - 16 comments

CATS? WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY GOT DOMESTICATED (MAYBE??) A TUMBLR ESSAY
posted by The Whelk at 2:04 PM PST - 52 comments

Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin welcome you to Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. Every Friday, they dig through the annals of medical history to uncover all the odd, weird, wrong, dumb and just gross ways we've tried to fix people over the years. [more inside]
posted by pjern at 1:55 PM PST - 8 comments

Yesterday, Achewood, Chris Onstad's beloved webcomic, returned after a year-long absence, throwing off "its droperidol-impregnated ticking shroud" and picking up with the adventures of Ray, Roast Beef, Mr. Bear, Lyle, and the rest where they left off in the current storyline, "Ray in Rehab". (Previously)
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:57 PM PST - 73 comments

Ahh the morning breeze wafting. All are welcome. Even comic sans [more inside]
posted by vapidave at 12:07 PM PST - 9 comments

"This wall of shame is dedicated to photographers that feel that it's okay to steal others work and post it as their own. Oh I'm sorry, it's okay to let their "web designer" do it."
posted by nevercalm at 10:41 AM PST - 53 comments

Freetown fashpack shows you where it's at fashionwise in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Jo Dunlop's blog was covered today in the Guardian.
Meanwhile Sierra Leonean fashion model Kadiatu Kamara has launched her own fashion brand called "Kadiatu". (via brandsierraleonetv).
posted by adamvasco at 10:38 AM PST - 8 comments

"Depression comix are simply a graphical representation of how depression and other related illnesses feel from a personal perspective." (about)
posted by Memo at 9:14 AM PST - 22 comments

Could this be the next k-pop viral hit? The Wall Street Journal seems to think so. Climbing its way up the Korean charts since debuting at No. 143 in June, Crayon Pop's "Bar Bar Bar" has proven popular with policemen and policewomen, Taekwondo students, cheerleaders at baseball games (Samsung Lions, Lotte Giants, Hanhwa Eagles) and been parodied by Saturday Night Live Korea. Crayon pop also boasts some devoted fans - videobombing, serenading, and cheering at music shows.
posted by needled at 7:38 AM PST - 44 comments

The family of redditor oktober75 have opened up a great aunt's shoe store hidden for over forty years. There is a lot of interest in the front page Reddit post with offers to purchase the shoes and boxes, despite probable damage. I'm no hipster and I don't play one on tv but I'd love to get a pair of these.
posted by humph at 7:34 AM PST - 32 comments

No Country For Old Miley: Cormac McCarthy Describes the Video for “We Can’t Stop” [Previously] [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:20 AM PST - 27 comments

Nine Inch Nails' mindblowing festival tour set from Lollapalooza 2013 [~1h45m], designed by Moment Factory (who created the brain blender that was the Lights In The Sky Tour). The stadium tour NIN is doing this fall will be an entirely different production, so no spoilers here.
posted by hippybear at 6:20 AM PST - 38 comments

"Consider some iconic acre of Brooklyn vacant lot. You could grow food on it—or you could throw up a 30-story apartment complex housing 600 people. That’s 600 people who won’t be settling in low-density exurbs where they would be smeared across 60 acres of subdivision; in turn, those 60 acres of vacant exurb could remain farmland or forest. Using communal laundromats and lacking basements to put junk in, those new Brooklynites would lead lives of anti-consumerism. And because they would use mass transit instead of driving everywhere, their carbon footprints would be roughly a third as large as the average American’s. That fundamental land-use equation is the key to understanding how cities promote global sustainability. By concentrating high-density housing, business and lifestyles inside its borders, New York lifts enormous burdens from the ecosystem outside its borders, but that potential is squandered when we consign pristine brownfields to low-density crop-growing. We may root for the community gardeners in their eternal battle with real-estate developers, but it’s the developers who are, despite themselves, the better environmentalists." -- The case against locavorism and or urban farming.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:24 AM PST - 72 comments

"Folk Music in America" is a series of 15 LP records published by the Library of Congress between 1976 and 1978 to celebrate the bicentennial of the American Revolution. It was curated by librarian/collector-cum-discographer Richard K. Spottswood, and funded by a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. It's absolutely fantastic. And here it is.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:25 AM PST - 21 comments

Banks usually reserve the right to change the rules or rates for credit cards they issue at any time, and the only notice given is buried in a long legal document. Russian Dmitry Argarkov turned this on its head: After he received a junk-mail credit card offer, he modified the document to include terms ridiculously in his favor and sent it back. The bank signed and certified it without looking at it, and sent him a credit card. [more inside]
posted by Sleeper at 1:13 AM PST - 62 comments