June 28, 2016

Sad Boner Confessionals

"You can tell you’re reading a Sad Boner Confessional when a man is describing the worst trauma of a woman’s life purely in terms of what it means about him. " After the Huffington Post picked up "self-described "Media Activist" Ian MacKenzie's blog post "Love Will be the Death of Us" (warning: Huffpo), author Alexandra Erin (previously, previously) had some thoughts on the narcissistic and self-serving genre of author confessional. [more inside]
posted by happyroach at 9:36 PM PST - 572 comments

The Spherical Droste Effect, with added twist and recursion

Mind-bending video from Matt Parker (standupmaths) and Henry Segerman. [more inside]
posted by carter at 7:44 PM PST - 22 comments

Threshold of Revlation

An Oral History of Angels in America. Isaac Butler and Dan Kois interview Tony Kushner, Oskar Eustis, actors, and other participants in the original production of Angels in America.
posted by JustKeepSwimming at 7:16 PM PST - 8 comments

How to Build a Straw Bale Garden

When I moved into my new Philadelphia rowhouse, I was determined to grow the vegetable garden that had eluded me all those years in a cramped Manhattan apartment. But reality struck with the first thrust of my shovel: my soil — a cocktail of concrete shards and construction debris mixed with a bit of sand and dirt — was useless. Faced with the expense (OK, and effort) of building raised beds, I decided instead to go cheap and easy: a straw bale garden. [more inside]
posted by storybored at 7:05 PM PST - 26 comments

Like a warm hug made of syrup and pie...

From Extra Crispy: 50 of the Best (Non-Chain) Diners in the US. [more inside]
posted by 1f2frfbf at 4:45 PM PST - 161 comments

A Movable Feast

Artist Minsu Kim uses synthetic biology to create food that wiggles, waves, and pulsates on the plate.
posted by merriment at 4:42 PM PST - 36 comments

The Surprising History of the Infographic

Clive Thompson and Smithsonian magazine bring us a history of data visualization, including classics from Florence Nightingale to the red-and-blue state divide. Via Kottke.
posted by Etrigan at 3:52 PM PST - 3 comments

Place your cat in front of the screen

Cat Game: Mouse Hunt (SLYT)
posted by Jacqueline at 2:56 PM PST - 24 comments

In Training, photographs of bonsai trees

In Training, photographs of bonsai trees [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by holmesian at 2:45 PM PST - 9 comments

The Art of Alexander Paulus

The Art of Alexander Paulus - for example: This season on Buy My Shit You Stupid Idiots; A very lucky boy; More trainer please; Tom devouring his Jerry. Some are NSFW.
posted by misteraitch at 1:43 PM PST - 5 comments

The Florida Highwaymen, Jim Crow era painters who captured old Florida

If you lived or traveled through the Fort Pierce region of Florida in the late 1950s and throughout the 60s, you may have had the chance to buy a landscape painting from an African American man, with Upson board as the canvas and crown molding as a frame, and the paint might have still been wet. Unable to get their art into local galleries, this rough collective of 26 self-taught artists peddled their wares to local businesses, through neighborhoods and to tourists. Their style fell out of fashion into the 1980s, but some of the painters persisted. Their style gained new recognition in the 1990s, a handful continue to paint to this day. They are known as The Highwaymen, and their art captures the natural, and somewhat lost Florida of the past. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 12:52 PM PST - 13 comments

When you wish upon a bra...

Victoria Coren Mitchell ponders the unrealistic purchases most women make. Especially the fancy bra.
posted by Kitteh at 12:17 PM PST - 153 comments

World's Laziest Wolf Howls

Alawa (the lazy howler) is a captive-born Canadian/Rocky Mountain gray wolf at the Wolf Conservation Center (WCC), a 501c3 non-profit organization, in South Salem, NY. She is one of the four 'ambassador wolves' at the WCC that help teach the public about wolves and their vital role in the environment. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:52 AM PST - 13 comments

Guaranteed to feature a basset hound somewhere

Top Ten Mamoru Oshii Films (that Are not Ghost in the Shell): does what it says on the tin, ten movies, animated and live action, which were directed by Mamoru Oshii, all of which probably offer better entertainment than the Hollywood adaptation of Ghost in the Shell could.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:28 AM PST - 24 comments

National, just smaller

"I think now is the perfect time to start (or restart) a local digital news operation. There are few greater gifts in journalism than a blank sheet of paper." In CJR, editor and entrepreneur Jim Brady (@jimbrady) on why and how now might finally be the time for local journalism in the USA to find a business model that works. [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:15 AM PST - 13 comments

Of course, none of them compare to "Big McLargeHuge"

To commemorate the 100th episode of "Comedy Bang! Bang!" on IFC, here are the 100 names of Scott Aukerman.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 10:52 AM PST - 7 comments

Soviet ingenuity at its finest!

Did you know that the Russians ignite Soyuz rockets with giant wooden matches?
posted by Small Dollar at 10:14 AM PST - 21 comments

The unintended consequences of tenure timeouts

The bombshell finding was that, when comparing candidates for tenure, the success rate for male candidates increased by 19.4 percentage points after stopping the clock was offered. For women, the rate fell by 22.4 percentage points. [more inside]
posted by Dashy at 10:11 AM PST - 60 comments

My Apartment: George Lois

Video tour of legendary designer George Lois's Greenwich Village apartment. Also in the series so far: Florence Welch, Glenn O'Brien, others.
posted by Bron at 9:43 AM PST - 5 comments

Legal Troubles

As the rich get richer, trouble continues to brew for law schools in the United States. [more inside]
posted by jedicus at 9:01 AM PST - 66 comments

MONEY FOR NOTHING

Confessions of a Payday Lender
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:25 AM PST - 31 comments

Pat Summitt

"The story of women’s basketball is so incomplete without Pat Summitt, it’s almost not worth telling. Not just the winningest coach in D1 history, Summitt is the modern game, her success mirroring its rise, her ascendancy propelling the sport out of obscurity. And now she’s gone." [more inside]
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:04 AM PST - 49 comments

இڿڰۣ-ڰۣ—

The Game of Thrones Graveyard [Slate] [Spoilers] If you watch Game of Thrones, chances are you’ve watched the show kill off a character who mattered to you: a lord, a sellsword, a queen, a knight; someone you loved, or someone you loved to hate. It’s so hard to say goodbye, even when the deceased are fictional. That’s why we’re opening the Game of Thrones Graveyard, where the show’s most well-known characters rest for eternity. Buried in this sacred ground are brave souls who George R.R. Martin took from us too soon, likely by beheading them, filling them with crossbow bolts, slitting their throats, or all of the above. Others lasted far too long and died far too easily considering their depravity. But good or evil, they all touched our lives in some way. Leave a flower for a fallen character.
posted by Fizz at 7:02 AM PST - 61 comments

A plate of Björk and beans

In 1997, Björk interviewed musicians Alasdair Malloy, Mika Vainio, Tommi Grönlund, and Arvo Pärt in a two-part BBC documentary entitled Modern Minimalists - part I | part II
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:04 AM PST - 3 comments

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