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His career started with the memorable poster he created for Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, but encompassed so many more iconic movie posters of our time. ET? His work. Blade Runner? His too. The Lion King? Also his. You may not recognize the name, but the body of work speaks for itself. Although I didn't know his name back then, his art (especially this) made me want to design movie posters as a kid. He died last week at age 59. RIP John Alvin.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:53 PM PST - 17 comments

Hungry Russian Students (single link youtube)
posted by nasreddin at 11:04 PM PST - 12 comments

Some people like to text while driving(YT). Others think TWD is dangerous enough to be illegal.
At last there is a solution for literate(YT), bookish types (Googvid) to get in on the fun.
Sadly, as with everything good, reading-while-driving has its haters too.
posted by isopraxis at 8:39 PM PST - 67 comments

YouTube user lightning49 has 160 of videos of French singers which she has subtitled with her translations. Her biggest collection is of Jacques Brel videos but there are also songs performed by George Brassens, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf as well as a smattering of other stuff. To start you off with a few songs here are three of my favorite songs by Brel, Je suis un soir d'éte, Le moribond and La valse à mille temp along with Charles Aznavour's La boheme, Edith Piaf's Milord and Georges Brassens' Les passantes.
posted by Kattullus at 8:31 PM PST - 13 comments

The Beer Mapping Project is a Google Maps mashup with brewery and pub locations. So far, they cover eight countries, including Belgium, the UK, Australia, and, well, Italy. There are of course multiple regions of the US.
posted by A dead Quaker at 8:23 PM PST - 13 comments

Titan find - The hydrocarbon lakes on Saturn’s moon may contain hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all of Earths known oil and natural gas reserves.
posted by Artw at 8:10 PM PST - 55 comments

In Rainbows remixed by Amplive. Sample it. Download it.
posted by JPowers at 7:20 PM PST - 15 comments

What do you do when Charlie Trotter and a party of twenty of the world's best chefs come to dinner? Chicago hipster chef Michael Carlson serves a 14 course meal to some very refined palates. The next day he cancels all reservations, gives away everything from the refridgerators, and drops out of sight for months. [more inside]
posted by timsteil at 6:22 PM PST - 61 comments

Saved from a lynching: Enrico Dangino, friend of Vigilante Journalist photographs a man seized by a mob and about to be set ablaze, then, with the help of his compatriot, frees him. More photographs and blogging from the ground in Kenya's current political crisis from Vigilante Journalist. via.
posted by klangklangston at 5:11 PM PST - 15 comments

Possibly the best Craigslist post of all time. via Daring Fireball Cinderblock content ahead!
posted by porn in the woods at 4:30 PM PST - 64 comments

Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees was the first movie on the internet. Also, allegedly the first indie movie edited on a digital non-linear system. Mostly, though it's just awesome because it features a cameo from William S. Burroughs and is just plain weird. [more inside]
posted by juv3nal at 4:25 PM PST - 21 comments

Easily the most hotly-anticipated game for the Wii (if not ever), Super Smash Bros. Brawl has topped 1 million sales in its first two weeks in Japan (U.S. release date is next month [3/9]). Featuring the addition of celebrated video game characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake to its bloated cast, as well as the ability to record fights, design levels, single-player storylines penned by Kazushige Nojima (Final Fantasy VII), and the first SSB game to feature online play, it's no wonder the game has delivered on the hype and become only the 7th game in acclaimed magazine Famitsu's storied history to receive a perfect 40/40 score. Watch the Japanese intro, spoil the game for yourself by checking out all leaked in-game secrets, or simply learn more about all the details that went into the game with this chat with the head game developer. Finally, if you're hardcore enough to hang with the big boys, head on over to the Smash Boards and find yourself a tournament to participate in.
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 4:22 PM PST - 39 comments

Oamos is a "metasearch engine" that generates a sprawling cornucopia of sound, text and images based on your query.
posted by dhammond at 4:20 PM PST - 14 comments

Are you an affected provincial ? "Affected Provincialism can take many forms, but personally I prefer borrowing heavily from the combined qualities of the naturalist, philomath, dandy and aesthete. Independence, liberality, optimism, playfulness, curiosity, lightness, and generosity are integral to Affected Provincialism; it's modeled loosely on the idea of the eighteenth-century gentleman amateur, as wrongly imagined by a twenty-first-century twit." via
posted by vronsky at 3:15 PM PST - 54 comments

Moving houses but don't want to buy bulky furniture? Get a Casulo.
posted by divabat at 3:10 PM PST - 13 comments

Think you've had clumsy moments? Ten bucks says you've never had one quite this bad.
posted by jbickers at 1:36 PM PST - 118 comments

Welcome to the BIL Conference Wish you could go to TED but don't have the money? Try BIL! As described on their site "an open, self-organizing, emergent, and anarchic science and technology conference. Nobody is in charge. If you want to come, just show up." With a number of talks in various categories, the most notable being Aubrey De Gray. The conference takes place in Monterey, CA on March 1st and 2nd.
posted by LoopyG at 12:50 PM PST - 11 comments

"Men were picked up and hurled against buildings, horses and carriages sent flying here and there, and falling wires full of deadly fluid added to the horror of the scene,"The St. Louis tornado of 1896, one of history's deadliest. Photos. [more inside]
posted by Atreides at 12:32 PM PST - 10 comments

Politics of Hate: What's happening to the city of Mumbai
posted by hadjiboy at 12:16 PM PST - 14 comments

Last minute valentine idea: Chocolate Ganache Truffles. "You'd have to go a long way to screw it up." (video, expect an interstitial)
posted by rouftop at 12:14 PM PST - 19 comments

Mythbusting Canadian Health Care, Part I. Part II: Debunking the Free Marketeers. [Via Orcinus.]
posted by homunculus at 11:11 AM PST - 227 comments

Harvie Krumpet: Part 1, part 2, part 3.
Good stuff for a cold February wednesday.
(youtube. s'been mentioned in passing here before, but here's the thing itself)
posted by es_de_bah at 10:45 AM PST - 11 comments

Meghan McCain's blog. Just another political blog, by another candidate's daughter. O! what the internet has wrought. [more inside]
posted by OmieWise at 10:31 AM PST - 84 comments

This is a post about 6'4", 380 lb. professional fighter and entertainer Bob Sapp. A good place to start is this fantastic, disdainful overview of Sapp's kickboxing career through 2005. It features lots of pictures, crooked officiating, illegal blows to the back of the head, and some well-deserved humbling. Sapp is also known for a less distinguished MMA career, which includes one of the most exciting fights of all time, against the great Antônio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira (Watch it here: [Round 1] [Round 2]). [more inside]
posted by 1 at 9:59 AM PST - 50 comments

Weth wins lots of contests. And you can win with Weth too. [Second link has a brief, but well-worth-it, sound clip]
posted by blahblahblah at 9:33 AM PST - 19 comments

Did You Know 2.0 (Youtube 08:19) Facts about education, population, globalization.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:30 AM PST - 6 comments

Hungry for some retro and slightly offbeat music? Visit Thrift Store DJ (owned and operated by Metafilter member Otis) and download or listen to streams of albums from many different genres such as Bossa Nova, Caribbean, Exotica, Flamenco, General Fruitiness, Greek, Hawaiian, Latin, Mambo, and Polka. Via (in a roundabout way)
posted by cog_nate at 9:29 AM PST - 14 comments

Canadian artist Kate Beaton draws wonderfully expressive comics which she publishes variously on her website and her LiveJournal, Hark! A Vagrant. In December 2007 she asked her readers to suggest historical figures and promised to draw comics based on the first twenty submissions. Highlights of the resulting series include Mary Shelley, Genghis Khan, and yes, even Søren Kierkegaard. [more inside]
posted by Songdog at 9:12 AM PST - 16 comments

Michigan to build the country's first Maglev public transportation system between Detroit and Ann Arbor. The Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Super Highway will utilize solar and hydrogen power and TCP/IP for communications. The cars will carry people, cars (drive on/off) and cargo. Construction is set to begin this year. [more inside]
posted by stbalbach at 7:40 AM PST - 73 comments

"Today there is no eggroll..." As posted at jewschool, your best source for hip heeb hype,

Asian restaurants across [Israel]detante went on a one-day spring roll strike on Tuesday in protest over government plans to rid kitchens of foreign chefs, and said sushi and noodles would be the next items off the menu. [more inside]
posted by ericbop at 7:30 AM PST - 87 comments

Uno the Beagle named Best in Show at Westminster. For the first time since its inception, a Beagle took the top honors at Westminster Kennel Club's annual Dog Show. The honors usually go to dogs such as Wire-Haired Fox Terriers, Poodles, and Welsh Corgis, with traditional household dogs such as Beagles being honored merely by appearing in the ring. The winsome Uno took the top hound honors, and was the audience favorite for Best in Show.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:16 AM PST - 59 comments

Michel Gondry has a new movie coming out called "Be Kind Rewind." And then, since I guess he wasn't entirely happy with the way the studio's trailer looked, he made his own.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:09 AM PST - 46 comments

Ron Murphy cut records, but not just any records. Responsible for cutting the actual vinyl master plates of much of the now revered Detroit Techno including Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Underground Resistance's seminal Knights of the Jaguar, and much more - he demonstrated impeccable craftsmanship and skill in both mastering records for sound and aesthetics at company known as Sound Enterprises source link AKA National Sound Corporation. Schooled in Motown, dubplates and jukeboxes, he is the bespoke-crafted, analog link between the digital future and analog past that is the roots of Techno music and modern techno DJ culture. [more inside]
posted by loquacious at 2:55 AM PST - 15 comments

Charles Fawcett. Film maker, adventurer and activist. In his 92 years, Mr. Fawcett rescued English POWs, starred in 100+ movies, and helped show Charlie Wilson why he should fund an army.
posted by phyrewerx at 2:30 AM PST - 7 comments