December 9, 2014
Former Ghosts: catharsis through dark, noisy synthpop
If you enjoy dark electronic/dance-type music, and you're interested in "dry, haunted synthpop jam(s)" that "sound like what might've happened to Joy Division if Ian Curtis had bought a Casio and a four-track and fired the rest of the band," you might enjoy Former Ghosts, who consist of Freddy Ruppert (This Song Is A Mess But So Am I) with Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart, plus Nika Danilova (Zola Jesus), and Yasmine Kittles of Tearist. Former Ghosts only have two albums to their name, Fleurs (2009 - official video: Hold On; fan vid - Mother) and New Love (2010 - official videos: Taurean Nature, New Orleans). [more inside]
Album covers with people living in hair
These lights fantastic would be worth the trip!
By now, we've all seen those houses where the Christmas lights are synced to music, usually to 'Wizards In Winter' by the Trans-Siberia-Orchestra' (but not always.) Now, however, the bar has been raised considerably higher...
Girls Fight Out
Back at the gym that first day, they were filled with the wholesome optimism with which we like to imbue athletes. This was before things fell to shit. This was before you could see how a group of women, put together in a house to be pioneers of a thing, examples, were capable of systematically destroying one another, of bringing one another to their knees, which, as it turns out, takes only six weeks. (Warning: Pictures of bloody women). Girls Fight Out.
Book-selling on Mutanabbi Street: texts from vital sidewalks
Al-Mutanabbi is an open book, bearing symbols that are deeply etched into the body of today’s Baghdad. The street has no endpoint. [more inside]
Marie Tharp's map
How One Woman's Discovery Shook the Foundations of Geology "She crunched and re-crunched the numbers for weeks on end, double- and triple-checking her data. As she did, she became more convinced that the impossible was true: She was looking at evidence of a rift valley, a place where magma emerged from inside the earth, forming new crust and thrusting the land apart. If her calculations were right, the geosciences would never be the same."
academic podcasts
The Backdoor Broadcasting Company is a 'mobile audio recording and webcasting service,' based in the UK. They focus on recording academic events, like David Webb – From Mathematics to Ethics in the Work of Michel Foucault, Journalism, Whistleblowing and the Security State, Sally Davies – The Drugs Don’t Work: A Global Threat and have previously been linked on MetaFilter with recordings of Slavoj Žižek. The archives are here.
The Death of Mid-Budget Cinema
"Something happened that nobody can make a movie between $500,000 and $80 million. That can’t be possible.”
In 2003, 455 films were released. 275 of those were independent, 180 were studio films. Last year 677 films were released. So you’re not imagining things, there are a lot of movies that open every weekend. 549 of those were independent, 128 were studio films. So, a 100% increase in independent films, and a 28% drop in studio films, and yet, ten years ago: Studio market share 69%, last year 76%. You’ve got fewer studio movies now taking up a bigger piece of the pie and you’ve got twice as many independent films scrambling for a smaller piece of the pie.
Oh and the food? “It was delicious.”
I want my two four dollars!, or what happens when a professor (and lawyer) gets charged more than the prices quoted on a website.
It’s about ethics in video game parenting
"We just made a bubble ring without the bubble!"
Crazy pool vortex! Dianna, a science outreach coordinator for UCSD, has a video demonstrating and explaining cool vortex behavior in a swimming pool. She has other videos linked from her website physicsgirl.org. (vortices, previously)
“Camels are extremely popular right now.”
Coyote Booms, Bear Attacks And How Climate Change Is Wreaking Havoc On The Animal Kingdom.
"'The long-term drought impacts on vegetation that affect the prey of the animals that predators feed on is also a reason for encroachment,' said Crabtree. He said he thinks all large carnivores have this problem, especially the ones that depredate, or plunder — such as coyotes, bears, mountain lions and wolves. 'The drought decreases natural forage for herbivores like deer,' said Crabtree. 'There will be a relatively higher density of deer in urban areas where there are lawns.'" [more inside]
It's the most wonderful time of the year
Drew Magary brings us this year's edition of The Hater's Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog. [more inside]
I like soft things. I like being near water.
Four Christmases. A comic by Leslie Stein.
The world is becoming even more suburban, and better for it.
They should have sent a poet
CINEMA SPACE TRIBUTE SLVimeo - A beautiful montage of space scenes in big budget movies. Set to Hans Zimmer music (from Interstellar), with Anthony Hopkins reciting Dylan Thomas.
Greetings from the South Pole
James O. Thach has an amazing array of life experiences, as proven through remarkable Amazon reviews. Here he is proving his conservative bona fides as he pronounces Ann Coulter's newest book "a steaming cauldron of truth"; waxing rhapsodic on cardamom, "nectar of the gods, breath of the immortals"; and researching penguins with only a Justin Bieber Singing Toothbrush for company.
Dollree Mapp, 1923-2014: "The Rosa Parks of the Fourth Amendment"
In 1961, one dogged black woman took a stand against illegal police tactics. Today the fine folks at The Marshall Project profile one very important American you probably know almost nothing about. [more inside]
NSFAcrophobics
Cody Townsend is ignorant of gravity or physiology. That is the only possible explanation for why he would subject his body to this insane ski run, dubbed Best Line of the year by Powder magazine. [more inside]
Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks Around the World
Vaccine-Preventable Disease Outbreaks Around the World/Data Visualization. The video was based on an interactive map created by the Council on Foreign Relations. The short article linked in the video.
Christmas in L.A.
Funky-ass Vulfpeck (previously, previously, previously) drops your new funky-ass Christmas jam: Christmas in L.A.
There's a tear in my beer because of bad legislation in Ontario, dear
A 2000 report leaked to the Toronto Star details how the Harris government struck a sweetheart deal to ensure major brewers a stranglehold on Ontario beer retail. Long suspected but never before proven, the report details how the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) was forced to submit to a subsidiary role in beer retail in the province; the then-LCBO head has confirmed that Harris forced the deal onto the province. Martin Cohn reports in the Toronto Star.
CIA Torture Report Released
The Australian answer to the latte: the flat white
“I was in London on business in the fall of 2013 when an Australian colleague brought me to a coffee place at Canary Wharf,” says Jason Fox, the global head of product, technology, and program management at Reuters News Agency. “She ordered something called a ‘flat white,’ and I had no idea what it was, but she raved about it, and I got one too. I was hooked.” ("Meet the Flat White, the Coffee Drink Taking the U.S. by Storm", Bon Appétit)
33 Million Things
Shelf Life is the first episode in a new video blog from the American Museum of Natural History, in which scientists, curators, and collection specialists take you behind-the-scenes at the Museum. Bonus interview: Atlas Obscura.
Ubiquitous Sandstorm
How Darude's "Sandstorm" Became the EDM Track Everyone on the Web Knows
Norway is pretty
The land of fjords, trolls and vikings is a nation of 5 million people, and snow. Photographers like it, as do jumpers and skateboarders. Norway is pretty and has a long coastline due to the lovely crinkly edges, making it nice to sail in. There are islands such as the Lofoten archipelago, long train journeys, steep train journeys, the Northern Lights, ferry journeys that last 134 hours, road tunnels, cathedrals, more Aurora Borealis, mountains, lights, some skiing, sunrises and sunsets, cosy hotels, long walks and whales. And the Aurora. Their tourist board has an unfair advantage. Camping is nice, either with other people or on your own. Svalbard is quite north. Did we mention the scenery and Aurora?
Ralph Baer Has Passed Away
The father of video games has passed away. Console inventor Ralph Baer is dead at 92. Wikipedia. [more inside]
A pod of whales on the wing (SLYT)
If the Red Arrows flew 250-ton widebody airliners instead of fast jet trainers their display might look something like this. [more inside]
"I don't understand the attitude of not playing your hit, or whatever"
Bose has made a three video series in which musicians talk about making one of their signature songs:
Joy From The World
Hullooooo, It's Scott Manley!
Space enthusiast, astrophysicist, programmer, and retired club DJ, Scott Manley, a Scotsman living in San Francisco, is one of a great number of "Let's Play" youtube video creators. Among the players of Kerbal Space Program, however, he's somewhere between rockstar and deity. Now, he is on the cusp of a new level of achievement: Faster Than Light. [more inside]
Still Combining Numbers On A Grid To Get Bigger Numbers, But Different
Get 10 is a new browser game from veewo, creators of 1024.
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