March 19, 2014
Is it cutting off someone's penis?
Book of Kells online
Trinity College Dublin has added high-quality scans of the Book of Kells to their archives. These scans are now viewable by the public online.
Welcome to the SHINee WORLD
Domu - Return of the Rogue, and rise of Sector 12/12
Four year, four months after Dominic Stanton, aka Domu (among other stage names), retired from the music industry, he has returned. Under the Weather (Bandcamp) is a three-track EP, spanning an updated take on his his trademark heavy breaks, a slightly housier direction, and lush hip-hop inspired instrumental. It was released on the new Sector 12/12 label, which earlier released another 3 track EP, Past Twelve, from Infest aka Robbert Peperkamp.
Witty Unpredictable Talent And Natural Game...20 years later
I Actually Thought Something in the PA System Had Blown Up
There are two main options when a sneeze is coming - let it happen, or try to ride it out. The decision often depends on your situation. For one unlucky trombonist, it was while playing in an orchestra at a church in Tiptree, Essex. He tried to ride the sneeze. He failed (SLYT). (via) [more inside]
Valve Presents: Free To Play
FREE TO PLAY [1h15m] is a feature-length documentary that follows three professional gamers from around the world as they compete for a million dollar prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament.
"Thanks for taking this walk with me"
I lost my phone after the St. Patty's parade and thought it was gone forever. However, we used the find my friends app to track it down and the guy who found it decided to document his adventure before leaving it at a local bar! I don't know who he is but thank you so much stranger!
"Scams don't work if the victim knows what the hustler is trying to do."
Dark Patterns is a term used to describe web design that intentionally exploits specific aspects of the users psychology to drive them into making certain kinds of decisions. [an update to this fantastic previously] [more inside]
20 Iconic Bands Recreated in LEGO
"Self-proclaimed knowledge, music, LEGO and die-cast car junkie, Adly Syairi Ramly presents a collection of 20 iconic bands that he’s taken the time to recreate with everyone’s favorite building blocks." [more inside]
"My friends need a paycheck, not an empty promise."
Meet Scott, the cool young Republican! A new ad campaign from the RNC showcases a young man named Scott Greenberg, a young voter who is 'ticked off' with politicians. [more inside]
The Cute is strong in this one.
Christopher Walken Dance Now
Maybe you anticipated the explosion, the sound of shattering glass, and the flames rising out of the flowing gasoline. But did you ever anticipate all the dancing? Here's a supercut of Christopher Walken's dance scenes, from 57 movies. [SLYT] [more inside]
"We're no longer a radio network, we're a sad political glee club"
Left-Wing Darling Pacifica Radio Is Sliding Into the Abyss "The recent internal strife at Pacifica underlines a depressing truth for liberals, for whom the radio network is — or at least was — an important voice in an increasingly homogenized broadcast media landscape." [more inside]
In the great movie tradition of Tom Hanks' Mazes and Monsters
Debbie and Marcie arrive at college unaware of the dangers of RPGing. They are soon indoctrinated into this dangerous lifestyle where they face the threat of learning real life magical powers, being invited to join a witches’ coven, and resisting the lure of Ms. Frost, a vile temptress of a GM. But what peril must the two friends face when they stumble across the Necronomicon and their fantasy game becomes a reality game? Find out in Dark Dungeons! [more inside]
What really happened at the lake that night?
The Murders at The Lake. "In the summer of 1982 the city of Waco was confronted with the most vicious crime it had ever seen: three teenagers were savagely stabbed to death, for no apparent reason, at a park by a lake on the edge of town. Justice was eventually served when four men were found guilty of the crime, and two were sent to death row. In 1991, though, when one of the convicts got a new trial and was then found not guilty, some people wondered, Were these four actually the killers? Several years after that, one of the men was put to death, and the stakes were raised: Had Texas executed an innocent man?" [more inside]
Roll for initiative.
Randomness in map design
"I introduced an element of randomness into a recent map design. Misplaced buildings and overlapping areas of texture bring energy and excitement to the experience of viewing a map. The end result is a little disorienting, but still mostly familiar."
"Are you pro-environment or are you just anti-getting anywhere fast?"
In a hard-hitting interview on CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Mark Critch asks Toronto mayoral candidate Olivia Chow tough questions about her platform and does some mayoral candidate debate roleplaying to prepare her for going head to head with the incumbent Toronto mayor Rob Ford. (SLYT)
Age Before Beauty
I think about that a lot these days, as now, I’m 37 and uh…I ain’t OLD like your pappy or anything, but for a guy in a punk rock band, 37 is old. This is a game played mostly by people aged 23-33. You fall on one side or the other of that spectrum, your age suddenly becomes an interesting factor in who you are and what you’re doing, particularly the farther away you get.
The Real Knausgaards of Norway
If there's a literary equivalent of reality television right now--albeit one with more reflections on the cultural taboos surrounding dead bodies and the lingering consequences of the Holocaust--it's Karl Ove Knausgaard's sprawling autobiographical novel My Struggle (Min Kamp). [more inside]
Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli dies in captivity
Cao Shunli died while incarcerated recently for advocating the right of ordinary Chinese citizens to have input into China's entry in the UN's Universal Periodic Review, a new set of human rights reports for every UN member state. She died because she was denied medical care. Her family has not been allowed to see the body. [more inside]
Play! OR ELSE.
"But in a consumer culture committed to prolonging adolescence at all costs, the boundaries demarcating child and adult experience have blurred to the point that it’s no longer obvious just who is imitating whom. The American state of play is terminally confused. Much of it feels grimly compulsory, and carries with it a whiff of preemptive failure to achieve the target level of revelry." Mandatory fun, the drudgery of child's play, and the American trend toward rejuveniliaztion are among the topics touched on in "Play, Dammit."
“I don’t want to sound too glib about this. This is a serious concern.”
Vanity Fair interviews George R.R. Martin about his plan for staying ahead of HBO.
For Pete's sake Bob, don't spread rumors.
After a grand total of eleven teasers (featuring Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton,) FX has released a trailer for their upcoming TV series Fargo.
Devon Sawa unavailable for comment.
Does slacktivism work? Using a series of field and laboratory experiments, the authors found that those who engage in slacktivism can and do sometimes engage more deeply.
"In other words, those whose initial act of support is done more privately (for example, writing to a member of Congress) are more likely to engage in deeper, more costly forms of engagement later on. Those whose initial support is public (i.e. through posting to Facebook or Twitter) are less likely to engage more deeply. Moreover, the researchers find that most appeals for token engagement “promote slacktivism among all but those highly connected to the cause.” [more inside]
I Am Kawehi
Watch the one woman band Kawehi build and then sing a cover of Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box". Then enjoy her doing similar with Nine Inch Nails' "Closer." Now groove on her original music.
Why did Anthony Gatto back away from his art?
I feel like I should let you know what you’re in for. This is a long story about a juggler. It gets into some areas that matter in all sports, such as performance and audience and ambition, but there’s absolutely a lot of juggling in the next 6,700 words. ... The usual strategies of sportswriting depend on the writer and reader sharing a set of passions and references that make it easy to speed along on rivers of stats and myth, but you almost certainly don’t know as much about juggling as you do about football or baseball.
Dropped: Why did Anthony Gatto, the greatest juggler alive — and perhaps of all time — back away from his art to open a construction business?
the big musical history of a little island
Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music, is an excellent BBC Documentary in three parts: 1 - Forward March, 2 - Rebel Music and 3 - As Raw As Ever.
"Mortal Combat. Same floor, two doors down, talk to Vern."
Pete Holmes, who was previously highlighted here for his "Ex-Men" sketches, has decided that the one-on-one-interview-with-pop-culture-characters format really works for him, and so we now have "Street Fighter Red Tape" with Ryu, Vega and Chun-Li. [more inside]
"Next thing you know, you're packin' extra socks!"
"In this excerpt from Keith Cameron's new biography Mudhoney: The Sound and the Fury from Seattle, spanning the end of grunge's golden era (Fall 1993 to Fall 1994), we have Mudhoney opening area tours first for Nirvana and then Pearl Jam - the latter of which is shattered by Kurt Cobain's suicide - and joining Vedder & co. for a tour of the White House, during which President Bill Clinton meets with Eddie Vedder to discuss whether or not he should address the nation about Cobain's suicide."
It's Madness, I Tell Yah! Madness!
Bored with basketball but want some Tournament action in your March-to-Early April? MentalFloss.com has collected* a list of (More Than) 11 OTHER March Madness Tournaments, covering books, music, TV, webcomics, various flavors of sci-fi and fantasy, plus bunny slippers, hot dog toppings, the (previously here) WORST Company in America and MORE! [more inside]
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