December 1, 2018

"I could only imagine what kind of unholy cacophony it would create"

Born in the Manitoba prefecture of Canada, Steve-san Onotera, a.k.a. samuraiguitarist, answers the age-old question: What do 37 guitar pedals sound like when played at the same time?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:31 PM PST - 30 comments

Mouse on the Keys: synesthesia feeling in geometric, grooving music form

Mouse on the Keys is a (mostly) instrumental band consisting of the trio Akira Kawasaki (drums), Daisuke Niitome (piano/keyboard) and Atsushi Kiyota (piano/keyboard), who describe their sound "a mix of post-hardcore, techno and contemporary music, among others." John D. Buchanan wrote that "their intention was to combine the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk with artistic piano compositions inspired by jazz, contemporary classical, the work of Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube, and the well-known Ryuichi Sakamoto," and notes that their band name is inspired by the ragtime song Kitten on the Keys by Zez Confrey. Here's an hour-long live show from November 13, 2016; Reflexion @ Kaputtmacher Sessions; and 最後の晩餐 (Last Supper) music video. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 7:29 PM PST - 7 comments

The Christmas Light War

The long, strange story of the four-year-battle over Christmas lights that drove Hayden, Idaho insane. Featuring: a camel named Dolly, a dog named Ronald Reagan, the Three Percenters of Idaho, homeowners' assocations dragged into court, Fox and Friends, "Larry Bird threatened to murder me in front of my family," "Bolsheviks have taken over the school board," and much, much more. Reported by Daniel Walters at The Inlander.
posted by escabeche at 6:10 PM PST - 66 comments

Settling scores

Because it's raining, and without further ado:
Bernard Herrmann's last film score, the Theme from Taxi driver
Jerry Goldsmith's Chinatown soundtrack
Miles Davis for Louis Malle's 1958 Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Ennio Morricone's Cinema Paradiso
Hand Covers Bruise by Trent Reznor for The Social Network
Ryuichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
Vangelis Blade Runner
Up by Michael Giacchino
Hans Zimmer's You're so cool from True Romance
[more inside]
posted by growabrain at 6:01 PM PST - 57 comments

A Quote met a Quote on the Avenue One Day

And held a conversation In their own peculiar way Critic David Garner has emptied out his commonplace book, and arranged his favorite quotes in the form of a conversation. However jaded you may be by Bartlett's and its hundred sisters, you're sure to find something new here.
posted by Modest House at 2:09 PM PST - 12 comments

Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet; It Unleashed Catastrophe.

It was startlingly efficient, extremely profitable and utterly disastrous. The uniformity of the world he was growing up in was striking, like the endless plains of drilling rigs in an East Texas oil field. It was, in a way, an astounding achievement, the ruthless culmination of mankind’s long effort to extract every last remaining bit of the earth’s seemingly boundless natural wealth. SLNYT
posted by blue shadows at 1:12 PM PST - 16 comments

A Soap Label To Save The World From Future Hitlers

Emanuel Bronner didn’t just want to make soap. He wanted to unite the world. "In this light, the bottle’s breathless monologue reads more like a doomful love letter from the past. A warning to humanity rising up from the sorrows of loss at the hands of a despot. Woven between incoherent maxims are the raw wounds of a man incapable of communicating just how horrific his pain was. He discloses his grief in a desperate, almost childlike way—on a soap label. A soap label that has become the iconic face of a $120 million soap company. A soap label the Bronner family will never change." [more inside]
posted by homunculus at 11:50 AM PST - 83 comments

Gilets Jaunes

In the past number of weeks a French protest movement, the gilets jaunes (yellow vests), has sprung up and amid violent clashes with police in Paris today a car near the Jeu de Paume art gallery has been set on fire. [more inside]
posted by roolya_boolya at 10:39 AM PST - 132 comments

Singularly discriminatory.

"If you are divorced, widowed or never married and develop cancer, watch out. You may get less aggressive treatment than your married friends." Joan DelFattore on how the medical system quietly shortchanges single patients.
posted by Ralston McTodd at 10:34 AM PST - 28 comments

More nutritious than 25 days of chocolate

And we're off and running with the 2018 edition of Advent of Code, December's greatest nightly programming puzzle adventure game. Make friends with a new programming language you want to learn (but keep the old) and head on over to day 1 to collect stars and save Christmas! No CS degree or fancy computer necessary. [more inside]
posted by waninggibbon at 6:40 AM PST - 341 comments

My Beautiful Death

"I spent up to 12 hours a day grinding and sanding the shells." Artist Gillian Genser writes about art, shells, death and heavy metal poisoning. (SL Toronto Life)
posted by frumiousb at 2:29 AM PST - 52 comments

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