February 15, 2016

Bummm Dam Bum. Bummm Da-Bum. Bummm Dam Bum. Bummmmmm Dam-bum.

William Carrà is a somewhat mysterious affiliate of Nicolas Jaar’s Other People record label who makes DJ mixes of eclectic sounds suited for late night. Some things they incorporate: a cappella covers of the theme from The Social Network, piano etudes, sad orchestral music, cool jazz, opera, and wandering instrumental rock. Here are three of them: Elegy, The Heart Has Its Reasons Which Reason Knows Nothing Of, Contemplative Prayer
posted by Going To Maine at 10:55 PM PST - 8 comments

ATOMIC BOMBS

That time Solzhenitsyn made a presentation to Timofeyev-Ressovsky on American atomic weapons, in the gulag. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:12 PM PST - 7 comments

“Would we even be here if Julian Acox was white?”

In a 7-Eleven in Reno on Feb. 2, 2013, around 2:30 am, Julian Acox had a confrontation with the members of a motorcycle club. A few minutes later, as Acox was fleeing in his car, he fired his gun, killing one of the club members, Merlin Herrald.
Self-defense, or first-degree murder? A stand your ground state, and a black defendant. Race, self-defense and making of a murder charge
posted by ShooBoo at 7:54 PM PST - 34 comments

Reylo — My Heart Will Go On

Kylo Ren + Titanic
posted by Confess, Fletch at 7:28 PM PST - 18 comments

At least we spelled your name right!

The New Yorker unfurls a longform expose on Harvey Levin's gossip empire, TMZ, in The Digital Dirt - How TMZ gets the videos and photos that celebrities want to hide.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:40 PM PST - 24 comments

MILK PLEASE

Baby rhinos do not sound like what you think they sound like (SLYT)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:21 PM PST - 41 comments

Hoaxmap.org: Tracking unsubstantiated rumours about refugees

'Hoaxmap' busts rumors about refugees in Germany Reacting to viral rumours and accusations made against migrants arriving and living in Germany, Karolin Schwarz and Lutz Helm from Leipzig have launched hoaxmap.org, which researches and refutes claims made in German social media by contacting local police and newspapers.
posted by bouvin at 3:58 PM PST - 19 comments

The McGurk Effect

HaggardHawks demonstrates the McGurk Effect [more inside]
posted by unliteral at 3:21 PM PST - 17 comments

"The two women were alone in the London flat."

The Golden Notebook Project: the complete text of Doris Lessing's novel, with copious annotations and responses from seven women readers.
posted by Iridic at 2:59 PM PST - 7 comments

Trees: 10, Concrete: 0

The term APHERCOTROPISM refers to the response an organism makes as it grows to overcome an obstacle in its way.
Or, how to convince tree roots to make 90 degree turns.
posted by jeather at 2:38 PM PST - 15 comments

Six Extinctions in Six Minutes

Six scientists at the American Museum of Natural History explain what we know, and what’s still mysterious, about the disappearance of six different species/genera. [more inside]
posted by coolname at 2:35 PM PST - 13 comments

Match: Drawn

The 1972 World Chess Championship in Reykjavik occasioned a fantastic series of caricatures, by Icelandic artist Halldór Pétursson, of Fischer and Spassky. The unwatermarked versions at the bottom of the page are the result of some simple but clever image processing.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:05 PM PST - 5 comments

The Present

The Present is a short animation by Jacob Frey, about a boy who would rather spend his time playing video games instead of discovering what's outside. One day his mom brings him a little surprise which makes it hard for him to concentrate on his games.
posted by monospace at 1:23 PM PST - 22 comments

How are you gentlemen !!

Fifteen years ago today, Bad-CRC made a flash video from a techno song and a bunch of forum shops, and posted it to the Internet (youtube copy). [Warning: blinky lights.] The rest is history.
posted by effbot at 1:01 PM PST - 247 comments

Deadpool! (S)he's a Mean Motherfucker!

Kay Pike transforming herself into Deadpool with body-paint [ via | loud audio ] [more inside]
posted by quin at 12:20 PM PST - 17 comments

Not so sure about the soundtrack, frankly

The Most Satisfying Video In The World [SLYT]
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:25 AM PST - 85 comments

Charles Darwin’s List of the Pros and Cons of Marriage

“My God, it is intolerable to think of spending one’s whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all.”
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:15 AM PST - 16 comments

Hammer In Her Hand

Beverly “Guitar” Watkins is seventy-six years old. She is wearing house slippers, a hair net, and an Atlanta Hawks t-shirt on backwards. She is probably the greatest living blues guitarist that no one has ever heard of. [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:20 AM PST - 14 comments

On the straightness of cucumbers...

The History of the Cucumber. Or how to ferment a cucumber, badly.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:20 AM PST - 14 comments

You savor the repetitive, deliciously mundane rhythms of survival

What Romance Really Means After 10 Years of Marriage "You are both screwed, everything will be exactly this unexciting until one of you dies, and it's the absolute greatest anyway."
posted by jillithd at 7:12 AM PST - 53 comments

Long Lunch

Spanish civil servant skips work for years without anyone noticing. [slGuardian]
posted by ellieBOA at 6:40 AM PST - 72 comments

This is the last time I leave the house until I finish the novel.

Eventually, I wind up in the master bedroom, looking at a poster against the wall that has a hand-drawn map of Area X on it, just like I thought the former director would have left behind. It’s a poster I drew myself, of course. But I stare at it for a while, and a genuine feeling of dread and fear travels up my spine. I’m seeing the room through Control’s eyes—he’s looking at a map created by some unknown source, wondering what the hell it’s doing in the former director’s bedroom.

Getting an entire trilogy published in less than a year is bad for your (mental) health, as Jeff Vandermeer found out writing the Southern Reach trilogy.
posted by MartinWisse at 6:06 AM PST - 36 comments

It's time to liberate you from the shackles of freedom and democracy

The Jihadis Next Door follows a small cadre of British born extremists, including a bouncy castle salesman turned alleged Daesh executioner and a part time bus driver who moonlights as an online theological superstar. Documentary maker Jamie Roberts, who spent two years filming the cell, was ambivalent about giving fundamentalists a platform, but as the film makes clear, this is not what mainstream Muslim Britain wants. [more inside]
posted by Elizabeth the Thirteenth at 4:35 AM PST - 8 comments

“Walking for five minutes feels like running a marathon.”

That’s how Sarah Norfolk describes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Seventeen other sufferers also offer their impressions of this debilitating condition. [more inside]
posted by bryon at 3:05 AM PST - 15 comments

Eve's Glory

A hundred years after the First World War, modern women demonstrate military prestige by donning vintage uniforms historically exclusive to men. Highlighting uniforms from the Second Industrial Revolution until the end of the Weimar Republic, Eve's Glory compares the ceremonial attitudes historically associated with the military to the proud independence of modern women. [more inside]
posted by moody cow at 1:56 AM PST - 13 comments

A video that transcends any language barrier

"WHAT IF, SET FIRE TO 10 000 SPARKLERS!" (3:04 SLYT)
posted by Jacqueline at 12:29 AM PST - 40 comments

« Previous day | Next day »