MetaFilter

Overheard In The Office, Overheard At The Beach, Overheard Everywhere and Celebrity Wit. (From the people who brought you Overheard In New York, which was previously featured on Metafilter here and here).
posted by amyms at 11:29 PM PST - 15 comments

Kuroko, Japanese performance art: Why is my girlfriend mad at me?
posted by nickyskye at 10:50 PM PST - 14 comments

Charles Nelson Reilly (1931-2007) If, in 1940, you had a lobotomized aunt, an institutionalized father, a racist mother, and were the only gay kid on the block, what do you think the odds would be that you'd end up a Tony winner, a staple of television, and a generational icon? (contains YouTube links)
posted by LinusMines at 10:28 PM PST - 90 comments

Judd Apatow's Family Values A look inside the comedic mind that brought us "Freaks and Geeks", "Undeclared", and "The 40 Year Old Virgin". Apatow’s childhood hero was Steve Martin. On a summer trip to L.A., Apatow persuaded his grandparents to drive by Martin’s home until Apatow spied his hero in the driveway. Martin wouldn’t give him an autograph, so Apatow wrote him an angry letter saying it was his patronage of Martin’s projects that allowed him to live the high life. A few weeks later, Martin sent Apatow a copy of his book “Cruel Shoes” with an apology: “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was speaking to the Judd Apatow.” Also: Judd and Seth Rogen at play.
posted by ColdChef at 9:10 PM PST - 33 comments

Recycled folk art, Mayólica pottery and other exhibitions at the Museum of International Folk Art.
posted by dhruva at 8:32 PM PST - 11 comments

1 click!
posted by wilful at 7:46 PM PST - 20 comments

Become a joystick.
posted by phaedon at 7:17 PM PST - 15 comments

Bisexual, but Only on the Internet : Could this be a new 21st century version of LUGs and hasbians?
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:12 PM PST - 72 comments

Back in the day when... Mens fashion wasn't cutting it, modern Kiwi males welcomed in Stubbies ... Depth charges were the best because you always soaked Teresa McKee...You were there, and so was L & P. World famous in new Zealand since ages ago.
posted by clearly at 4:53 PM PST - 30 comments

Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey is valiantly fighting European attempts to extend the EU's emission trading scheme to aviation. Those silly Europeans, Ms. Blakey has argued, are so overexcited about global warming that they are even using helicopters with thermal imaging systems to enforce a green tax on outdoor BBQs! Unfortunately for her argument, it turns out that the story she quoted is a complete hoax. Now, unlike Brownie, nobody would ever accuse Ms. Blakey of being a novice. Apart from previous tenures at, among others, the Department of Transportation and the NTSB, Ms. Blakey also founded Blakey & Agnew, a "public affairs" firm with a special focus on transportation issues.
posted by Skeptic at 2:09 PM PST - 9 comments

A striking essay with photos documenting a visit to the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Mark Resnicoff, a database programmer and amateur photographer, visited Chernobyl and took a schwack of atmospheric photos. This reminded me of a set of slightly-controversial Chernobyl photos from 2004. Wikipedia provides a little context on KiddofSpeed, the photographer in question with an awesome Engrishesque nickname.
posted by dbarefoot at 1:50 PM PST - 26 comments

Happy Birthday John Fogerty! Swamp rock progenitor, Vietnam and Iraq War opposer, 40th greatest guitarist of all time, and performer at Woodstock, John Fogerty turns 62 tomorrow. Prolific singer, guitarist and composer extraordinaire with Creedence Clearwater Revival on such hits as Have you Ever Seen the Rain?, Who’ll Stop the Rain?, Bad Moon Rising/Proud Mary, Born on the Bayou, Green River, Travellin’ Band, Whitfield and Strong's Motown classic I Heard it Through the Grapevine, Susie Q, and last but not least, Fortunate Son, a song whose message has again become so timely, more than a handful of prominent musicians have covered it over the few years, including Pearl Jam, Sleater-Kinney, the Circle Jerks, Bob Seger, Sublime, Ivan Neville, Brandi Carlile and .38 Special. As a solo artist, Fogerty also penned such hits as Centerfield, a song purported to be one of George W. Bush's favorites (to Fogerty's apparent amusement), and The Old Man Down the Road.
posted by psmealey at 12:17 PM PST - 75 comments

"November 4: Voters from the six counties of the District agree to a $35 million bond issue, using their homes, farms and business properties as collateral, in order to support the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. The vote is 145,657 in favor and 46,954 against." On May 27th, 1937, the World's longest suspension bridge opened to the public. Happy 70th anniversary, Golden Gate.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:06 PM PST - 8 comments

Parallels is a 10 minute dance video comparing current B-Boy poppin and lockin to vintage clips of African and global dance, jazz and swing, martial arts, and athletics. It's an excerpt from Detours - An Experimental Dance Collaboration, a video by dancer extraordinaire David "Elsewhere" Bernal. Via beans, beans, good for your heart [more]
posted by madamjujujive at 12:04 PM PST - 11 comments

The Goodyear Blimp: Building, filling, painting, testing. Structure. People. Signage. Flying.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:03 PM PST - 18 comments

Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 news stories of social significance that have been overlooked, under-reported or self-censored by the country's major national news media. On this year's list : Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran, Oceans of the World in Extreme Danger, High-Tech Genocide in Congo, and many more.
posted by Afroblanco at 11:29 AM PST - 26 comments

You need more free stuff in your life.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:43 AM PST - 41 comments

On May 26, 1907, a 13 pound baby boy named Marion Morrison was born in Winterset, Iowa. Nicknamed "Little Duke" after his childhood dog, he grew up to become the most famous icon of American patriotism in the world. When he was a football player at USC, Western filmstar Tom Mix got him a summer job at Fox in exchange for game tickets. After two years working as a prop man for $75 a week, his first acting role was in The Big Trail in 1930. "Marion Morrison" didn't sound like the right name for a trail scout though, so the studio took the last name from a Revolutionary War general and replaced "Anthony" with "John." Voila! A working actor from 1930 through the 1970s, this year John Wayne placed third among America's favorite film stars, the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared every year. He was an opinionated patriot who, surprisingly, called himself a liberal... bigger than life, the consummate cowboy star, and the ultimate symbol of heroic action and the Code of the West. In the end, acting actually took his life indirectly thanks to radiation poisoning during a movie shoot in Utah (of the 220 persons on set, 91 had contracted cancer by the early 1980s), and almost three decades after his death, his family continues to carry on his legacy. He has an an airport, an elementary school, and various Cancer Foundations named after him, and while he wasn't much of a singer or dancer, he remains the ultimate symbol of American manliness to this day. Apparently there are hundreds of reasons to love the guy.

And for the record... no, he wasn't gay.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:39 AM PST - 73 comments

The Wagah border, that separates the countries of Pakistan and India, is the scene of some very eccentric pomp and ceremony during the lowering of the flags on either side, and the opening and closing of the gates of the opposing forces.
posted by hadjiboy at 7:12 AM PST - 57 comments

Bjarne Riis, current coach of premier cycling squad Team CSC, used drugs to win the Tour in 1996. His protege, Ivan Basso, was suspended from Team CSC before last year's Tour for suspicion of doping. Team Discovery hired Basso to fill Lance Armstrong's seat as captain, but Basso quit shortly before he had a chance to win his second consecutive Giro d'Italia, and is out for the season, if not permanently. The conclusion of Floyd Landis's appeals to reinstate his 2006 Tour victory will wait until some time after this year's Tour de France. Jan Ullrich capped a good but unsatisfying career by retiring early and under a cloud. Several of Ullrich's former Deutch Telekom/T-Mobile teammates, including Erik Zabel, admitted to doping, and the team masseur claims to have personally administered EPO to Ullrich. Ullrich, Basso, numerous other leading riders, and the majority of some team rosters continue to be under suspicion as the Operación Puerto EPO lab investigation grinds onward. It might be the best time ever to market a competition road bike called the Addict. (previously, previously, oh-so-very previously, )
posted by ardgedee at 5:47 AM PST - 14 comments

Controversial geneticist Jim Watson will soon be the first man to receve a fully-decoded copy of his own DNA blueprint. Watson and Crick discovered the structure of the DNA molecule and won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Watson is also known for his frank opinions. Very frank, indeed.
posted by chuckdarwin at 5:29 AM PST - 36 comments

Italian housewives travelled to Washington DC from their hometown of Vicenza, a UNESCO heritage site for its famed Palladian architecture, to protest the planned expansion of the US military base there. A huge tent has been set up to train local residents in non violent, peaceful non cooperation. They use pots and pans rather than guns and knives. How do you say "the Base" in Italian?
posted by infini at 5:08 AM PST - 9 comments

Drowned out by boos, former White House Chief of Staff, Andy Card, receives an Honorary degree from UMass Amherst. (youtube)
posted by empath at 4:20 AM PST - 96 comments