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It suddenly occurs to me that this story and "The Nine Billion Names of God", by Arthur C. Clarke, have exactly opposite premises.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:03 AM on April 8, 2024

I definitely think museums should be trying to get regular people through the door; the question is: what do you do with them when they are there? Having them shuffle in reverent silence past paintings with no context except what they bring with them is more of a chore than a pleasure, but shoving them into a gallery just to glance at a famous image or two for the thrill isn’t satisfactory either. The best shows (in my opinion) are those that help every viewer make a little extra connection.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 7:36 AM on April 8, 2024

The first article falls flat at the end because it doesn’t substantively address Cruz’s inclusion point, probably because everyone understands that it was an excuse, not a reason, or we wouldn’t be seeing a white director firing an Asian-American curator and taking over her role. Inclusion is not something, I would wager, that Cruz cares much about besides optics, because she’s an administrator.

What’s going on here, I think, is that the academics in art museums,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 4:16 AM on April 8, 2024

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: I am honorary president of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great, spectacularly prolific writer and scientist, Dr. Isaac Asimov in that essentially functionless capacity. At an A.H.A. memorial service for my predecessor I said, "Isaac is up in Heaven now." That was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. It rolled them in the aisles. Mirth! Several minutes had to pass before something resemble solemnity could... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 8:43 AM on April 8, 2024

I had an interesting debate about cops in a radical healthcare worker chat the other day. Some (including me) said they would provide emergency healthcare services for cops, others thought this idea was really offensive as cops are the enforcers of our murderous, racist, carceral society. I discovered my own moral compass about this is sort of arbitrary perhaps but it goes like this:

- Releasing bees against cops who are doing harm: Cool, funny. The cops can simply walk... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by latkes at 9:57 AM on April 5, 2024

I could only make it part way through.

There's so much familiar in this that I recognize from my past in small-town US.

The curse is in the lies we repeat about what are acceptable ways to be human. The poison we inflict upon each other, to seep chronically back out and twist our lives out of shape.

Bubba deserved a life to be who she (presuming) wanted to be. Not a lifetime of pain and guilt and hiding.
posted to MetaFilter by allium cepa at 11:55 PM on April 4, 2024

Fuck the people who did this. All of them-- the guy who wrote the articles, the editor who approved them, the founder who, when confronted about the death of a human being could apparently do nothing but babble about triggering "the leftist community"-- what an astonishing, sickening lack of humanity. Certainly not a fraction of the humanity that, from what this article says, Bubba Copeland seems to have brought to life and to the people around him.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Method Man at 8:33 PM on April 4, 2024

Well I'm crying now. Fucking transphobes.

A wonderful beautiful person who did so much good, a life destroyed by people who didn't understand and didn't want to, driven to despair, hounded to death. My heart goes out to their family. May their memory be a blessing.
posted to MetaFilter by Chrysopoeia at 8:00 PM on April 4, 2024

"Smoke rolls and scarves in the grove.
The mind of the hive thinks this is the end of everything.
Here they come, the outriders, on their hysterical elastics.
If I stand very still, they will think I am cow-parsley,
A gullible head untouched by their animosity,

Not even nodding, a personage in a hedgerow.
The villagers open the chambers, they are hunting the queen.
Is she hiding, is she eating... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by clavdivs at 2:22 PM on April 4, 2024

I wonder, did the bees get IN MY EYES THEY'RE IN MY EYES KILLING ME WON'T BRING BACK YOUR GODDAMN HONEY
posted to MetaFilter by Saxon Kane at 1:58 PM on April 4, 2024

I like my foreclosures like I like my coffee

COVERED IN BEES!

Sorry. Had to. What a weird mess.
posted to MetaFilter by AngelWuff at 11:54 AM on April 4, 2024

KQED had reported that “In recent ears, SPD has been rocked by instability and controversy. Watson, the current executive director, was hired in 2022 following an 18-month period of uncertainty after the resignation of Brent Cunningham. Cunningham’s tenure was cut short after accusations of discrimination and wage theft.” Does anyone know more about how this might have undermined financial stability?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Riverine at 12:12 PM on April 4, 2024

This is so much like a Stephen King novel. She even looks like Annie Wilkes aka The Great Bee Goddess.
posted to MetaFilter by BibiRose at 10:46 AM on April 4, 2024

A true hero.
posted to MetaFilter by seanmpuckett at 10:15 AM on April 4, 2024

I'm surprised we're not hearing that she'd secretly armed the bees with fentanyl.
posted to MetaFilter by praemunire at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2024

Look, I know you all think this is funny, but this is how we get Batman villains. In a couple of years, when Gotham is awash in clouds of trained bees, and “Queen” Woods in breaking into all the jewelry stores, how many of you will look back and say “well, I called that one wrong?”

At least the Joker and Two-Face are allergic to bees, so there’s that….
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2024

Homer: Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark, they shoot bees at you?
posted to MetaFilter by Kitteh at 9:21 AM on April 4, 2024

archived link, because I needed one myself
posted to MetaFilter by mrphancy at 9:20 AM on April 4, 2024

That mugshot is *chefkiss*

10/10 picture

Don't miss it, please, just that is worth clicking on the link for, though the article is also pretty awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by MiraK at 9:15 AM on April 4, 2024

That bit where he made one cent from a song in a TikTok video that's been viewed four million times.
posted to MetaFilter by subdee at 6:25 PM on April 3, 2024

I clicked on Finland thinking maybe it was some fun vaporware vibes and NO, but holy denim jackets I needed the laugh it provided.
posted to MetaFilter by cobaltnine at 5:47 PM on April 3, 2024

If you don’t speak Swedish the handy thing about watching it on Swedish TV is that you can just ignore the commentary. Which is harder to do if you can speak Swedish. But then I don’t care for commentators in general so that’s possibly just me.
posted to MetaFilter by Bella Donna at 3:00 PM on April 3, 2024

Is this something I would have to have a VPN for?

Thinking about March Madness vs. Eurovision…

EDIT: Finland Rocks! It’s the country where I want to be…
posted to MetaFilter by Windopaene at 1:53 PM on April 3, 2024

Finland was ROBBED last year and everyone knows it!! Bah.
posted to MetaFilter by orrnyereg at 1:12 PM on April 3, 2024

but he's the God of Mischief not the God of Time and I remain disappoint

On of the things I do like about the TV series is that in comics, while Loki has occasionally had heel-face turns, chances to be something other than a handy villain, but it is the nature of comics that no matter how interesting and rich something like Young Loki might be, at some point not long after some other writer is going to come along and go 'but I want the classic Loki'... [more]
posted to FanFare by tavella at 12:03 AM on April 3, 2024

Back when I ran a bookstore, I used to say that anyone could sell you a book you wanted, but it took a bookseller to sell you a book you didn’t know you wanted.

Here in SF, there was a bookstore on Haight street, new books. This guy there was responsible for setting up author visits and handled remaindered books, mostly from England. After a few times going there, I would walk in, he would spot me and say he’d got something for me. He would go to the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by njohnson23 at 1:03 PM on April 2, 2024

But anyway, a one bedroom apartment doesn't fit a CD collection AND a record collection. Something's gotta go.

So this may be apocryphal but legend on NY's downtown music scene has it that (composer/musician/impresario) John Zorn at one point had his kitchen removed in an East Village walkup apartment so he could store more records. Perfectly reasonable when you think about Zorn, NYC rents and eating habits, and the importance of record collections.
posted to MetaFilter by spitbull at 11:30 AM on April 2, 2024

distribute large amounts of text without killing trees and moving them around.

Let's talk about how your iPhone was made, and from what, and by whom, and under what conditions, and how much carbon power it takes to keep the server farms running 24/7/365 so you can read Instagram.
posted to MetaFilter by spitbull at 11:19 AM on April 2, 2024

It’s always sad to see a small company go, but in this case I won’t miss the industry at all.

Distributing physical books? You're against distributing physical books?
posted to MetaFilter by kimberussell at 10:47 AM on April 2, 2024

physical media is *all that's going to survive in the long run*.

I don't want to derail from the books topic, but I'll say this was something that I struggled with mightily as I've gotten rid of my CDs over the last few years, which had previously spent several years in a tall stack of boxes in my closet. Like is all that music available on streaming? Sure. (Well, technically no, but 90% of it is.) But how many years down the line will it be before... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kensington314 at 10:09 AM on April 2, 2024

In the college library, back around 1970 or so, I discovered this amazing book about an art movement I never heard of, Fluxus. It was by this guy Dick Higgins, and it looked like a Bible. It was a great book published in 1969 by Something Else Press. Jump ahead to around 1993 or 1994. The SF Museum of Modern Art had a Fluxus show that included an evening of Fluxus performance. And Dick Higgins was there! I told him about my discovery of his book and that I wished I had got a copy. He told me... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by njohnson23 at 8:42 AM on April 2, 2024

And turns out, depending on rich folks’ goodwill fucks you over in the end.

Especially when the new generation of rich people believe that reading is a waste of time.
posted to MetaFilter by thivaia at 8:32 AM on April 2, 2024

oh noooooooo.

.

Distribution is one of those "middleman" sectors that often get short shrift in economic/cultural analyses. Back when I was an active zine maker, I deeply appreciated distros as valuable resources for writers and readers alike. They still exist of course (hello Antiquated Future!).
posted to MetaFilter by spamandkimchi at 8:25 AM on April 2, 2024

2024 Hugo Awards Gives Second Chance to Two Nominees Wrongfully Excluded in 2023 Scandal: The 2024 Hugo Awards has re-nominated Xiran Jay Zhao and Paul Weimer, victims of last year's censorship scandal.
posted to MetaFilter by jenfullmoon at 10:33 AM on April 2, 2024

.

As someone who was once involved with the Bay Area poetry scene, this one really hurts. One thing I really loved is that they opened their stock room to the public once a year for discounted purchases. It was so exciting wandering the stacks, finding works by authors you liked and authors you'd never heard of, and coming home with a stack of books and chapbooks.
posted to MetaFilter by treepour at 6:18 AM on April 2, 2024

As the publisher of a small press that is getting to the point where we might have worked with SPD, this sucks. There are some other companies doing similar things, like Asterism, but not at nearly the same scale.
posted to MetaFilter by goatdog at 6:03 AM on April 2, 2024

It’s always sad to see a small company go, but in this case I won’t miss the industry at all.

I won't live long enough to see it, but let me tell you, as someone that has spent the last ~25 years beating his head against the problem: physical media is *all that's going to survive in the long run*.

We're standing on the edge of a gaping black hole, culturally. It's all going to go.
posted to MetaFilter by ryanshepard at 5:45 AM on April 2, 2024

Back when I ran a bookstore, I used to say that anyone could sell you a book you wanted, but it took a bookseller to sell you a book you didn’t know you wanted. Independent distributors were booksellers for booksellers; they gathered together things that you might otherwise never have heard of and made them available. If your rep was any good, they would have enough of a sense of your audience to steer titles toward you that could be huge hits for you (and sometimes earn you off material that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 4:15 AM on April 2, 2024

“I designed my entire life to not have to go to cookouts.”

I like this man.
posted to MetaFilter by scruss at 1:56 PM on April 1, 2024

Hey now, the mothman song is surprisingly catchy.
posted to MetaFilter by capricorn at 8:27 AM on April 1, 2024

I am shocked, but shouldn't be, that the Times reporter doesn't seem to have interviewed Farley's wife.

I was about to post there is no way this guy could be married but then I remembered local artist Sam Locke Ward, who is known for his prodigious musical output, and who is married with kids. Personally, I’m a fan of this track.

I would like to conclude by saying that the world is better with these sorts of people around.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Big Al 8000 at 9:15 PM on March 31, 2024

“The Odd Man is more shameless,” he explained. “The Toilet Bowl Cleaners are making statements with their albums,” though the distinction between the former’s “Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks Butt Cheeks!” and the latter’s “I Need a Lot of Toilet Paper to Clean the Poop in My Butt” may be subtler than he imagines.

all right, i'm on board.
posted to MetaFilter by ZaphodB at 7:41 PM on March 31, 2024

I am shocked, but shouldn't be, that the Times reporter doesn't seem to have interviewed Farley's wife.
posted to MetaFilter by knile at 4:19 PM on March 31, 2024

Wesley Willis, you were born too soon.
posted to MetaFilter by kittens for breakfast at 4:06 PM on March 31, 2024

Having now watched/listened to some of his stuff, I'd say he's doing comedy more than anything else.

Some youtube ads for his musical albums:
The Paranormal Song Warrior TV Advertisement!
The Singing Animal Lover TV Advertisement!
Papa Razzi and the Photogs TV Advertisement

And one for him to broker you a great deal:
Slingshot Cops Photos... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by trig at 3:36 PM on March 31, 2024

I can say from personal experience that Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You is easily their most important work (I believe it is streaming on Tubi).
posted to MetaFilter by Ashwagandha at 3:35 PM on March 31, 2024

Weird that I never made the connection between Matt Farley musician and Matt Farley movie maker. Definitely puts things into a different perspective. There's a fun book about their film work.
posted to MetaFilter by Ashwagandha at 3:26 PM on March 31, 2024

I sent this article to my teenager, who said:

i already knew him
and played his songs for 3 years

posted to MetaFilter by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:03 PM on March 31, 2024

I feel sad that "Ito Hootkins" isn't a username on here already.
posted to MetaFilter by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:00 PM on March 31, 2024

I can't fault the guy for figuring out how to make money 1/3 of a cent at a time.
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 2:38 PM on March 31, 2024