September 10, 2007
LEAVE HER ALONE!
Dallas mourns
The Moving Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend
In 1921 comic strip artist Windsor McCay lay claim to the illustrious title Inventor of Animated Drawing on the title cards of his hand-drawn moving versions of Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend. Here are three of the delightful and funny animations:
The Pet
The Flying House
Bug Vaudeville
[more inside]
The Pet
The Flying House
Bug Vaudeville
[more inside]
Jeb Bush is all in my house with disease.
Meet Lee Mercer. He wants to be the next U.S. president, and he's "solved every crime in America and the world for the last 15 years dating back to before Christ."
Self Control.
"Self Control" is a song written by Giancarlo Bigazzi, Steve Piccolo, and Raffaele Riefoli in 1983; like many well-written pop songs, good musicians and production can make it better, but bad musicians have to work hard to destroy it. Without comment on which is which, here are five versions: RAF (1983, performed by one of the song's credited writers); Laura Branigan (1984); Soraya Arnelas (2006--this version reached #1 on the Spanish Hot 100); the Danish dance band Infernal (2006); and Caramelle featuring Nitro (2007, from a German label).
The Israeli Beatles -- Kaveret
Danny Sanderson. Alon Olearchik. Gidi Gov. Yoni Rechter. Ephraim Shamir.
Meir Fenigstein.
Yitzhak Klapter. Together, they are probably Israel's most famous band Kaveret. What to hear their most famous song? Yo Ya. Want to know what it means? Here ya go. Want more Kaveret?
Kol Hakavod. [more inside]
Kevin Everett and Catastrophic football cervical spine injuries
Paralysis likely for Bill Football player Kevin Everett. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Reviews Injuries to the Cervical Spine in American Football Players a detailed study of 1300 cervical spine injuries resulting from tackle football. In Kevin Everett's favor is the speed in which the fracture(s) were reduced
God wins in the end, in case you didn't know.
How a Gay Rights Leader became straight is a column by Michael Glatze, one-time editor of Young Gay America magazine. In the column, Glatze explains how be became gay ("I was already weak") and his eventual redemption ("Every time I was tempted to lust, I noticed it, caught it, dealt with it"). When he was still gay, Glatze seemed pretty in touch with gay youth. When interviewed for a Time cover story, he discussed gay teens' alienation saying that today's queer youth just want to be "normal kids." Apparently Glatze wanted to be a normal kid, too! Gay City News had its own take on the Glatze fiasco, quoting him as suggesting America "'examine whether homosexuality should be legal' or if gay sex should instead be punished by 'imprisonment.'" YGAmag responded to Glatze with an open letter.
More archived Young Gay America issues here.
La Casa De La Cascada
Skulls... why'd it have to be Skulls?
Indiana Jones and... the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls? Actor Shia LaBeouf announced the title of the new Indiana Jones movie at the MTV Video Music Awards. But what was George Lucas' inspiration? Where did these Crystal Skulls come from? These ancient objects have been referenced in many places, including an episode of StarGate SG-1, imaginatively titled "Crystal Skull". There is also a Festival and a not-for-profit Foundation dedicated to researching these artifacts.
the really sweet, tangy stuff.
Not to judge an album by its cover or anything - see larger image! - but Animal Collective's latest, Strawberry Jam, looks to be as weirdly delicious as ever. Pitchfork gave it a glowing 9.3, but you can listen to two of their new songs and decide for yourself at the BBC's less enthusiastic (but still positive) review. You can also watch the video for the first single, "Fireworks", here.
Panda Bear, one of the group's four members who released a widely-acclaimed solo album in March, was interviewed recently (also by Pitchfork) about the making of Strawberry Jam, as well as his thoughts on that cover... [more inside]
Michael Dudok de Wit
No Darwin, No Hitler
Darwin's Deadly Legacy illustrates how Charles Darwin caused the Holocaust. This documentary, from the late Dr. James Kennedy and his Coral Ridge Ministries, features not only rare, Bigfoot-esque glimpses of the notoriously camera-shy Ann Coulter, but also Francis Collins, the head of the Human Genome Project. Of course, Dr. Collins hates everything about the documentary and claims that his footage was simply spliced in under false pretenses, and even Michael Behe distances himself from the entire production, disagreeing as he does with its central tenets. Oh, and the ADL is pissed, but when aren't they? Anyway, not even arch-conservative websites with "We Need Alan Keyes For President" interstitial ads think the documentary is worth very much. And it seems that Hitler himself had a grand old time pimping out Christianity and denying that we came from apes. (More, more.) So watch the fucking trailer and learn yourself some history.
Anita Roddick dies of stroke
Obitfilter: Anita Roddick (1942-2007). Anita Roddick, who founded the Body Shop in Brighton's North Laine in 1976, has died of a stroke at St. Richard's hospital in Chichester. The shop, in Kensington Gardens, has long since closed - it's now an optician - but stories about it are still recounted. Although Body Shop is still based in nearby Littlehampton, the controlling interest was sold last year to L'Oreal for the tidy sum of $1.3bn, allowing Ms Roddick to concentrate on her campaigning work.
Many of World’s Poor Suffer in Pain
Drugs Banned, Many of World’s Poor Suffer in Pain "Millions of people die in pain because they cannot get morphine, which is legal for medical use in most nations." [Via TalkLeft.]
In The Night Garden
In The Night Garden [Danger - lots of Flash and YouTube] is your new favourite TV show (if you're under 4). Meet Igglepiggle, Makka Pakka, Upsy Daisy, The Pontipines, The Tombliboos, The Haahoos, The Ninky Nonk and The Pinky Ponk. Brought to you by the creators (previously) of the Teletubbies. Wikipedia link for the confused. Oh, and the great Sir Derek Jacobi narrates. [more inside]
lighght
Rumsfeld at home
"I sleep fine." Donald Rumsfeld interviewed in GQ. Most of the things you want him to acknowledge? "I'm not going to get into that."
Brigid Berlin
Brigid Berlin makes today's hollywood train wrecks look lame.
"In the early 70s, I went to Woolworth's and bought a jigger so I could have just one getting-dressed drink. By the time I left the house, I'd had 20. One time, I was in a hairdresser under the dryer getting bored. I went to the bar across the street in my rollers and had a glass of white wine. Then another glass of wine and another. I can't remember anything else until I woke up in a Howard Johnson near La Guardia Airport. And there were pancakes and maple syrup. There was a cute boy in the room watching Kids Are People Too. I think I thought that Andy would put him on the cover of Interview. He didn't."
1776 Video Mashups
YouTubey patriotic Goodness: Brokeback 1776. | Conquer the World-1776. | 1776 Lover Boy. | 1776 - A Christmas Story. | 1776-This Ain't a Scene, It's a Revolution. [more inside]
cross cultural play signals
Animals at Play: Stuart Brown, a physician and clinical researcher who founded the National Institute for Play, describes Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear playing with sled dogs.
I AM U
The I AM University honors all religions, Spiritual teachers, Spiritual paths, Spiritual texts, gurus, yogis, Masters, Spiritual centers, schools of thought, mystery schools, channels, healers, prophets, saints, sages, Spiritual leaders, counselors, philosophies and psychologies, all of humanity, all Kingdoms, and all Light, Love and Power Workers around the world! The I AM University seeks to offer an integrated and balanced approach to Self and God Realization. If what has been given inflames within you a spark of inspiration and aspiration to dedicate your life to the evolution of consciousness, both personal and planetary, then it will have served its purpose and bear the fruit it was intended to. [more inside]
This is why we dont build on spec anymore
Columbia Law grad is scammed, along with 78 other professionals, into working for free for weeks. Craigslist, some detective work, and the unusual motivation behind the scam all contribute to this interesting story of internets-related shenanigans.
Gaida! Gaida! Gaida!
The gaida is a bagpipe from Southeastern Europe. Gaida mp3s? Lots of 'em here. Gaida on the YouTubes? Why, yes. Yes, of course. Certainly. There's a bunch. Really. A lot. And electric ones? Yup. And here's a deflated one. But do any hippies play this thing? And dance to it? Sure! But the real question is: What is the problem with this gaida?
He's Pinin' For The Fjords
Alex, the African Gray parrot who "spoke" over 100 words, has passed away. y2karl introduced MetaFilter to Alex a few years ago. Alex had been the subject of Dr. Irene Pepperberg's research for nearly 20 years. His ability to communicate with people using an extensive English vocabulary demonstrated a level of intelligence previously unthought of in birds, but critics include no less than Noam Chomsky himself. Here's a 1999 NYT article about Alex if you have never heard of this incredible bird, and a video of another gray parrot demonstrating its own talents.
The song and tap dance of bottled waters
Salford Lads and Girls Club
BIGMOUTH BIKES AGAIN! "Smiths fans are organising a 16 mile sponsored bike ride around Salford and Manchester to raise funds for Salford Lads & Girls Club whilst recreating the video for the song Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before. But will Morrissey be available to reprise his role 20 years on?" via
What has the BBC ever done for us?
For those of us who thought the BBC's mammoth self-
marketing campaigns were one of the symptions of modern marketing excess, a trawl on the Internet has turned up this John Cleese-presented advertisment on What Have the BBC Ever Given Us?. And it being the BBC, Spitting Image have the right of rebuttal... [more inside]
Where's my flying car?
some more french great guitar players from abroad
Some more great french guitar players. Nelson Veras first came to France to meet Pat Metheny (he was 14 then, it has been documented on video by Frank Cassenti) but upon meeting some other jazzmen , he decided to stay in France and to experiment in various settings.
Robert Crumb isn't exactly a "great french guitar player", but his decision to move to France (his or his wife's decision) and later his responsability in the creation of Les Primitifs du Futur has played a part in the rebirth of ancient french styles ("musette") and the renewed interest in old jazz and blues forms. [more inside]
Two Jews...
An Unholy Act. This is the story of when two Jews disagree. Nothing new there. But a violent confrontation at UCLA brings to light the emerging divide among American Jews in regards to the most contentious issue of modern Jewish identity: Israel.
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