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Big Finish Productions, producers of Doctor Who audio plays and audiobooks since 1999 (including New Series content since 2015, definitely not thanks to the murder of an obstructive BBC higher-up by a dimension-hopping Master because people need to know about the Doctor's hubris dammit) has announced the Fifth Annual Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity (previously), your chance to write a forty-minute Doctor Who audiobook and make your mark on the franchise's canon (Such As It Is^TM). Entries are due by 30 June 2020. Rules are on the page; additional rules are here (of particular note are character usage limitations and the entry format: a roughly 500-word summary and a roughly 500-word beginning). Previous winners, all downloadable for free, are below the fold. [more inside]
posted by BiggerJ at 11:42 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

Recreating childhood photos, set to Simple Plan's "I'm Just a Kid" [more inside]
posted by Gorgik at 8:47 PM PST - 4 comments

1985 was a ridiculously strong year for music releases. We recently discussed The Hooters' Nervous Night (May 6), so let's look at May 13,1985, when Dire Straits' album Brothers In Arms came out. This peculiar tone poem of an album became an international success around the world, with several hit singles. Side A: So Far Away [video], Money For Nothing (original album track with problematic verse) [video (same problematic verse), radio edit without problematic verse] , Walk Of Life [video, original UK video], Your Latest Trick, Why Worry [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 7:21 PM PST - 67 comments

The Carmina Quartet performs Boccherini's Fandango, complete with castanets...
posted by jim in austin at 6:12 PM PST - 4 comments

Everything you see is really happening, there’s no green screen.

I grew up on all the “Mad Max” movies — they’re very popular in South Africa. I remember being 12 and my dad letting me watch it with him. So I was like, “Oh yeah, I wanna be in a ‘Mad Max’ movie. Are you kidding me?”

posted by kirkaracha at 4:34 PM PST - 52 comments

Artist and their Cats is but a page.
GatosyRespeto has many, many more. (Pages all in Spanish, but hey Cats am i rite?)
There is Eugene Delacroix, photographer Henri Cartier Bresson , the surrealist Remedios Varo and her friend Leonora Carrington and cat queen Leonor Fini (Mefi Previous.)
Just click around and enjoy, it's 100% Gatos.
posted by adamvasco at 3:44 PM PST - 4 comments

Can a "regular" human hit a home run in a major league ballpark? A few years back, Sports Illustrated's (45-year-old writer) Michael McKnight decided to find out.
posted by maxwelton at 3:15 PM PST - 35 comments

Ben Stiller announced yesterday that his father, Jerry Stiller, passed away of natural causes. He was 92 Stiller began his acting and comedic career as part of the comedy duo, Stlller and Meara, with his wife, Anne Meara. Popular in the 60's and 70's and performing on variety shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show and The Carol Burnett Show, Stiller and Meara were considered the workingman's Nichols and May. In the 70's and 80"s, Stller moved with ease between Broadway, film, and television [more inside]
posted by goalyeehah at 2:04 PM PST - 51 comments

Even as to disinformation, the best-known and perhaps most overrated of their tactics, they have innovated, finding new ways to manipulate Americans and to poison the nation’s politics. Russia’s interference in 2016 might be remembered as the experimental prelude that foreshadowed the attack of 2020. - Franklin Foer in The Atlantic. [more inside]
posted by tommasz at 12:47 PM PST - 42 comments

The Life of Brian & The Apocalyptic Jesus. Bart D. Ehrman [wiki, blog], gives a talk in 2014 on the use of parody as a historical method. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:40 PM PST - 10 comments

I don’t know when it will be safe to sing arm in arm at the top of our lungs. But we will do it again, because we have to. Dave Grohl writes for The Atlantic's "Uncharted" series about the changes coronavirus is wreaking and will continue to wreak on the world.
posted by Etrigan at 11:44 AM PST - 30 comments

Drew Magary writes for SFGate about his diet:

I eat pancakes for breakfast every morning now. This is not because of quarantine.

posted by Going To Maine at 10:54 AM PST - 49 comments

This chip plays ‘Doom’ and nothing else [Engadget] It’s been over 25 years since Doom was unceremoniously released on a university FTP server. And despite its age, the classic first-person shooter has become a mainstay, not just for gamers, but also for programmers. The game has shown up on a ridiculous amount of hardware, from ATMs to printer screens to iPods. Graphics and game development enthusiast Sylvain Lefebvre [@Sylvain] , though, has created a machine that only plays his custom port of Doom. [Twitter thread linked below.]

The DooM-chip! It will run E1M1 till the end of times (or till power runs out, whichever comes first). Algorithm is burned into wires, LUTs and flip-flops on an #FPGA: no CPU, no opcodes, no instruction counter. Running on Altera CycloneV + SDRAM. Everything is described in a language I am working on: SDRAM controller, divider, BSP traversal, texture unit, etc. Main renderer (w/o data) is 666 lines of code (!). A great test case, made quite a few improvements, fixed some issues, learned a lot on CycloneV + Quartus.

posted by Fizz at 9:33 AM PST - 14 comments

While we wait for the first pitch of the 2020 season, take a couple of minutes to learn more about the mysterious, rare, junky eephus pitch. [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 8:46 AM PST - 15 comments

People keep creating stuff! Get inspiration for your own creations, or simply marvel at the amazing makers. [more inside]
posted by Stark at 7:47 AM PST - 5 comments

In response to the pandemic the US Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments via conference call, and it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened. From Ashley Feinberg at Slate: Who Flushed? A Supreme Court Investigation.
posted by jedicus at 7:44 AM PST - 26 comments

Move over Leeroy, May 2020 is the 15 years anniversary of a much more important and gayer cultural anthem. Previously, (even more previously).
posted by MartinWisse at 6:38 AM PST - 14 comments

Shoot the breeze, and sit in the wind, with the Esteemed Character Actress. Kevin Fallon at The Daily Beast talks to Martindale about playing Bella Abzug, staying grateful, and not liking the hats at all. [more inside]
posted by Gin and Broadband at 6:24 AM PST - 14 comments

World renowned vulnerability expert Brené Brown chats with long-time psychologist and author Harriet Lerner about the subject of her latest book, on the latest episode of Brown’s new podcast, ‘Unlocking Us.’ Together they delve into, and sort through, the intricacies of a good apology, and the often misunderstood art of making one effectively.
posted by TruthfulCalling at 5:29 AM PST - 2 comments

So, what does self-improvement look like during a global pandemic and widespread economic disaster under a corrupt fascist authoritarian regime? Maybe therapy isn’t enough.
posted by seanmpuckett at 3:42 AM PST - 61 comments