March 19, 2016

From Arachnophobia to Argo, Goodman is our greatest supporting actor

FiveThirtyEight Chief Culture Writer Walt Hickey runs the numbers and determines that John Goodman is America's greatest supporting actor. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 7:53 PM PST - 88 comments

Peeling apart dreams: Death of FP-100C

For many analogue photographers, peel apart film was their instant film of choice. FujiFilm, citing poor sales (and resurgence of their integral films), has decided to discontinue their line of FP-100c pack film. There has been recent buzz around former Impossible Project Founder, Florian Kaps, about meeting with FujiFilm executives. As of now, more than 18,000 signatures have been registered for Change.org's 'Save Fujifilm FP100C Instant Films' petition. Will the film survive? [more inside]
posted by aeroboros at 7:20 PM PST - 11 comments

*Face* the future

Face2Face: Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment of RGB Videos We present a novel approach for real-time facial reenactment of a monocular target video sequence (e.g., Youtube video). The source sequence is also a monocular video stream, captured live with a commodity webcam. Our goal is to animate the facial expressions of the target video by a source actor and re-render the manipulated output video in a photo-realistic fashion. - Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory
posted by CrystalDave at 7:15 PM PST - 33 comments

I try to see the beauty in everything.

Tom Harrell is a jazz man and an inspiration to those who play with him. He once said, "The hardest part of playing the trumpet is the physical act of making the sound." He used to play with Horace Silver, and is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished trumpeters alive today. He also has a condition called schizophrenia.
posted by RedEmma at 6:09 PM PST - 9 comments

Two College Degrees Later, I Was Still Picking Kale for Rich People

While buying groceries for rich people, I realized upward mobility in America is largely a myth. (slBuzzfeed)
posted by Kitteh at 5:45 PM PST - 43 comments

The Obama Doctrine

In the Atlantic's April cover story, Jeffrey Goldberg interviews President Obama about his foreign policy philosophy and ultimately, its lasting legacy. [more inside]
posted by Ouverture at 4:48 PM PST - 64 comments

“Truly no, I am not Elena Ferrante,”

Who is Elena Ferrante? Novelist issues denial as guessing game goes on. by Rosie Scammell [The Guardian] Unmasking the true identity of the pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante has become Italy’s favourite – and increasingly farcical – literary parlour game. The latest writer forced to deny that she is the creator of the critically acclaimed Neapolitan novels is Marcella Marmo, a professor of contemporary history at the University of Naples Federico II. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 3:42 PM PST - 25 comments

Sorted!

"SORTING is an attempt to visualize and help to understand how some of the most famous sorting algorithms work. This project provides two standpoints to look at algorithms, one is more artistic.. the other is more analytical aiming at explaining algorithm step by step."
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 3:35 PM PST - 17 comments

A Farewell to the Dog Who Helped Him Off the Streets

   Raymond Goynes went uptown to see Sonja one last time on March 8, a sunny Tuesday morning. He let himself into her owner’s penthouse duplex in Hell’s Kitchen. Sonja, an 11-year-old wheaten terrier, was sprawled on the wool kilim rug in the living room. Her head rested on a towel.
   “Look who it is, look who it is!” Sonja’s owner, Mary Kilty, cried.
   “Miss Sonja!” Mr. Goynes called out. For the first time in an hour or so, the little tan dog raised her head.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:32 PM PST - 16 comments

We got him

Having evaded capture and been the 'most wanted man' in Europe for the four months following the Paris attacks Salah Abdelslam was arrested yesterday 500 metres from his childhood home in the now infamous Brussels suburb of Molenbeek. [more inside]
posted by roolya_boolya at 1:11 PM PST - 30 comments

We Were Promised Airships

Helium Dreams: A new generation of airships is born (SLNewYorker)
posted by ShooBoo at 10:38 AM PST - 110 comments

How to use a modem

From a suburban British house in 1984, Julian (password: 1234) demonstrates a modem while Pat (seemingly not allowed to touch the keyboard) lists her uses of the "communal" BBC Micro. Turn on your recorders as this TV clip ends with a data transmission! But how, in bygone online times, have modems been used... [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 9:47 AM PST - 30 comments

Steve Wozniak Answers Your Questions

Steve Wozniak hosted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) at reddit which attracted a lot of (good) discussion. Posts previously about Woz here, here, here, here, and here. Steve even stopped by AskMe once with a very gracious and interesting answer.
posted by SpacemanStix at 9:26 AM PST - 17 comments

Tucson's Xixa traces its heritage from Peruvian Chicha and SW US rock

In 1965, Peru had its first cumbia hit, with Los Demonios de Mantaro's La Chichera, localizing the Columbian music style (Cumbia previously). Los Compadres del Ande added some electric organ, foreshadowing the sounds of Juaneco y su Combo and others who would bring electric guitars, which opened the door for what would become known as Chicha. Decades later, The Roots of Chicha compilation would inspire first Chicha Dust to cover those original songs, and then Xixa to blend Chicha and the Southwest US sounds of Giant Sand and Calexico, as heard in their new album titled Bloodline (video for title track) and Cumbia del Paletero (live).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:15 AM PST - 17 comments

Casting Evita.

"The playing field needs to be aggressively leveled - possibly razed." Chicago theatre artists respond to an open letter to the Marriott Theatre regarding the casting of Evita, which only included one actor of Latin heritage.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 8:26 AM PST - 49 comments

How gentrification really changes a neighborhood

I knew the price of my new home in Kirkwood, just not what it would cost the neighbors who’d lived there for generations An examination of the racial and economic cycles of change in one Atlanta neighborhood, with a nice touch of soul searching and empathy.
posted by hydropsyche at 7:34 AM PST - 26 comments

haha cool, ok, we’re friends now, big guy. no problems

so anyway that is the best thing: bobcats are not equipped to make friends, but luckily for this bobcat this homeless lady did not give any shits and made friends anyway. and now they are both happy.
posted by moody cow at 5:38 AM PST - 34 comments

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