February 5, 2008

And something is vacant when I think it's all beginning : The Late Allen Ginsberg and Beck in Conversation

Not exactly breaking news, but still:
The Late Allen Ginsberg and Beck in Conversation
Related YouTuber: Beck on the late Allen Ginsberg
To complete the circle: Jackass by the South Austin Jug Band.
posted by y2karl at 11:38 PM PST - 26 comments

Cheika Rimitti, Mother of Raï

Head over to Cheikha Rimitti's MySpace page and listen to the first tune up on her player (starts when you open the page), called Saida. Whoa! Is that badass or what? Well, there's 5 other tunes of hers there for your listening pleasure, covering a wide swath of stylistic territory within the Algerian music tradition she was such an important part of. Yet another MySpace page pays tribute (with 4 more songs!) to this powerful singer, and you can also learn more about her at the Cheikha Rimitti website, which is in French, but with links like "Musique" and "Vidéos", you shouldn't have too much trouble with it. There's an informative English-language video biography of this "Mother of Raï", not to mention this performance footage (with those fantastic flutes!) of Saida. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:16 PM PST - 18 comments

Death Map of Baltimore

Google mashup: Last year's homicides in Baltimore. Depressed yet? Try looking at it in Black and White. [more inside]
posted by tkolar at 10:08 PM PST - 61 comments

The Notes of a Japanese prisoner in the USSR

Kiuchi Nobuo - a Japanese airman in World War II, was captured and sent to a prison camp in the Ukraine. He tells his story with drawings.
posted by tellurian at 7:54 PM PST - 23 comments

Drinking songs

Drinking Songs & Barroom-lore is an unbelievable collection of audio , textual and other materials related to "traditional drinking songs (many bawdy), toasts, recitations and other bar-room folklore." If that's not enough, check out ARRR!!!'s sea shanties and drinking songs and/or Barstool Mountain's Top 100 Drinking Songs. Still not enough? Well, OK. [more inside]
posted by cog_nate at 7:30 PM PST - 30 comments

All Across the Universe

Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi: 1917-2008
posted by Xurando at 6:34 PM PST - 61 comments

Here we go...

Well, it seems that some British scientists have succeeded in creating a human embryo from three parents. Oh, let the games begin... [more inside]
posted by krash2fast at 6:21 PM PST - 34 comments

S.H.A.D.O. supreme headquarters

Just Like Steppin' In Another World :: E.L.E.C.T.R.O. UFO :: KIMBA the white lion [more inside]
posted by vronsky at 5:59 PM PST - 18 comments

Once, sure. Twice, Maybe. Three? Four!?!

Much of the Middle East has been without reliable internet access recently due to the somewhat suspicious cutting of four seperate underwater cables, in seperate locations, within a few days of each other. The problem has been alleviated by re-routing of traffic until ships can reach the cables to repair them, a process which may take several weeks. The problem was initially believed to be caused by anchors of passing ships, but that has since been retracted and deals have already been signed by several companies for new cables. [more inside]
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 5:51 PM PST - 68 comments

The Dancing Pig

Le Cochon Danseur. [Via]
posted by homunculus at 5:15 PM PST - 35 comments

Getting MAD at Bush

In all its 55 year history, MAD magazine has been known much more for media satire than political satire... anything political was often camouflaged as a movie or TV parody and generally less partisan than most. (How can you take their politics seriously when they offered Alfred E. Neuman for President?) Another thing about MAD is how rarely it goes outside its "Usual Cast of Idiots" for content. Well, things have changed, as the MAD editors used 10 Pulitzer Prize Winning Op/Ed Cartoonists to illustrate the incendiarilly-titled “Why George W. Bush Is in Favor of Global Warming”. The usually web-shy MAD even allowed the New York Times to put most of the piece online in a slideshow. [more inside]
posted by wendell at 3:24 PM PST - 55 comments

Pictures by Cat

Fritz Cam [german homepage] is a collection of pictures taken by a cat during his daily walkabout using an interval camera attached to his collar.
posted by Mitheral at 3:00 PM PST - 27 comments

The Most Frightening Sandwich In The World

Often described as Elvis's favorite sandwich, the Fool's Gold Loaf has to be seen to be believed. Not satisfied with mere still pictures? Try the video from this Spokesman-Review story. Even in its glory, though, the Fool's Gold Loaf is just one (three-pound) part of the Elvis gastronomen: if you want to eat like Elvis, the way is clear. And, of course, there are plenty of cookbooks.
posted by scrump at 1:55 PM PST - 67 comments

The art of Lilly McElroy

The art of Lilly McElroy: "The gestures that Lilly performs for the camera are simultaneously loving and cruel; they are an attempt to discuss the desire and difficulty involved in making a connection...These photographs, videos, and installations that she produces, while trying to interact, acknowledge the possibility of failure - that someone might not catch her, that a connection might not be made." [more inside]
posted by Ira.metafilter at 1:17 PM PST - 11 comments

America's Middle Class

Livin' Large - To hear the Lou Dobbses and Bill O'Reillys of the world--not to mention politicians ranging from Ron Paul to Hillary Clinton--the middle class of America (however you define that term) has never had it so tough. Between credit squeezes, out-of-control immigration, rising costs of education and health care and everything else, it's all darkness out there for those of us who are neither millionaires nor welfare cases, right? (A video presented by Drew Carey and reason.tv)
posted by blue_beetle at 1:02 PM PST - 120 comments

Doing less with more

Bush requests $515.4 billion in funds for the defense budget from congress. So what do those numbers mean? The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments states the DoD’s base budget will grow to record (or near-record) levels and will require even greater increases in the coming years. The troops wouldn’t mind the planned pay raises commensurate with the private sector, housing that doesn’t smell like bug powder and mold, and chow that doesn’t turn your stomach. But according to the CSBA’s analysis ( here * caution PDF) , it’s doubtful that even an ideological Bush clone would be able to implement those increases given the economic realities. Some vets blame the silence of the generals. Should everything have changed post 9/11?(*PDF)
posted by Smedleyman at 12:12 PM PST - 74 comments

Why A Recession Might Be A Good Thing

The Upside of the Downside "I never imagined I’d find myself in the curious position of having so much more than my parents ever had, of having more, frankly, than I ever thought I would have—and yet simultaneously feeling like I’m falling behind, that I need to earn more, save more, invest more, acquire more. When did I begin to feel this anxiety of acquisition? How did I become such a jackass?"
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:29 AM PST - 139 comments

I have always known that at last I would take this road...

Any fool can hire an architect to draw up a plan for a house, but it takes a truly inspired fool — which is to say, an artist — to start building and see where the earth and driftwood and shards of broken pottery take him. [Slideshow.] [more inside]
posted by dersins at 10:57 AM PST - 19 comments

Found Cameras and Orphan Pictures

"I found your camera at Lollapalooza this Summer. I finally got the pictures developed & I'd love to give them to you." [via PostSecret]
posted by not_on_display at 10:40 AM PST - 35 comments

The new It-boy?

Who's the new darling of the literary world? Charles Bock. Although, some are asking, how the hell did a guy like him get all this high-profile coverage? [Bock previously on MeFi]
posted by mattbucher at 8:13 AM PST - 81 comments

Men from Nantucket need not apply

The man who runs xkcd
has created the LimerickDB.
Though often quite dirty
There are more that are nerdy;
If you check out the best ones, you'll see.
posted by kyleg at 7:27 AM PST - 88 comments

My Own Private Ariel

Steven Karl Zoltan Brust, one of my two or three favorite authors of all time, has written a Firefly novel, called "My Own Kind of Freedom." As Joss Wheedon has decided that he does not want novels to be written based on the series. So instead of selling it as he had hoped, SKZB has declared it to be a fanfic, and released it to the general public under a Creative Commons license.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 7:15 AM PST - 49 comments

Catholic flap over free flapjacks

There is no word on whether IHOP has asked the Vatican to shift the timing of Lent.

As mentioned previously, today is not only Super Tuesday, but also Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, or...International Pancake Day. IHOP is not a happy camper that the biggest payday in its calendar (when it admittedly not only gives away free pancakes but raises money for charity in the process) has to compete with our pesky American democracy. As they say in their press release: “Super Tuesday, set for February 5, 2008, encroaches upon the centuries-old celebration of Pancake Day, traditionally held the Tuesday preceding Lent to rid iceboxes of forbidden dairy products.” So it decided to thumb its nose at the Catholics and declare next Tuesday "National Pancake Day," even though it's during Lent, which defeats the entire purpose. Except for those whose religion's highest priority is the consumption of free pancakes.
posted by ericbop at 7:04 AM PST - 77 comments

Character. Integrity. Do.

20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack. A very thoughtful and eloquent comparison (transcript) of the core differences between Obama and Clinton - by Creative Commons CEO and Professor Lawrence Lessig.
posted by zenzizi at 6:44 AM PST - 493 comments

Madame Tutli-Putli

Novel techniques in the making of stop-motion short Madame Tutli-Putli. And the movie itself (alternate link).
posted by Wolfdog at 5:24 AM PST - 9 comments

Hold the front page

Rose Hacker, the world's oldest newspaper columnist, has died at 101
posted by criticalbill at 4:48 AM PST - 9 comments

Also, make sure to bring a number two pencil

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark California. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 4:26 AM PST - 33 comments

Will It Live In Infamy?

Texas Liberal, OUPblog and Howstuffworks on exactly how Tuesday became Super.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:53 AM PST - 4 comments

Concorde on steroids

Whooosh! London to Sydney in 5 hours on the A2 Hypersonic from Reaction Engines. Green too. If they can pull it off.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:47 AM PST - 26 comments

Barry Morse has Died

Barry Morse - an actor with an extremely rich and varied career, popular in many roles but iconic as the (original) pursuer of Dr Richard Kimble in the (original) tv series The Fugitive, and memorable to Sci Fi fans as Professor Victor Bergman in Space: 1999, has passed on. He was 89. [more inside]
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 3:27 AM PST - 11 comments

The contrysides were nice and the plants were singing and the birds and the sun was almost down from the top of the sky.

Half life: Full Life Consequences! Cartoon version! Based on the first piece of fan fiction to ever be critically acclaimed. [more inside]
posted by oxford blue at 3:02 AM PST - 29 comments

Starship Sofa: SciFi Podcast

Starship Sofa is a science fiction podcast with biweekly short fiction from known authors (David Brin, Bruce Sterling) and a more regular discussion on SciFi concepts and authors. Warning. podcast contains Geordie accents and the stories contain terrible fake American accents.
posted by seanyboy at 12:51 AM PST - 8 comments

Art in the Age of Digital Ubiquity

I was going to share the many amazing videos that StSanders has uploaded to youtube featuring guitar gods like Van Halen and Santana shredding, since they have inexplicably only received scant mention on mefi so far. But StSanders' account has been suspended all all videos have been removed! [more inside]
posted by billtron at 12:14 AM PST - 38 comments

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