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Mick Smiley Made the Best Ghostbusters Song, Then He Disappeared.
You know the scene in Ghostbusters where the power's been shut down, the ghosts have broken containment, and they start to run amok in New York? The distinctive, eerie song- "Magic" by Mick Smiley- that accompanies it exists only in the film and on the soundtrack; it was never released as a single and Smiley never released it himself. But who even is Mick Smiley? In 2016, Josie Riesman tracked him down and got his story.
The 50 Worst Decisions in TV History
The history of television is a vast wasteland of terrible decisions. For every groundbreaking show like Breaking Bad, Star Trek, and All in the Family that got on the air, there are 50 duds like Capitol Critters, Homeboys in Outer Space, and Joanie Loves Chachi. For every brilliant network idea, like NBC allowing Jerry Seinfeld to make a “show about nothing,” there are 100 insane ones, like ABC allowing Jim Belushi to create 182 episodes of According to Jim across eight seasons. (archive,today link)
Ancient amphibian almost ended up forgotten inside a sandstone slab wall
"An incredibly rare find": This ancient amphibian almost ended up forgotten inside a sandstone slab wall. Almost 30 years after a chicken farmer found an almost perfectly preserved fossil in a slab of sandstone, scientists have identified the skeleton as a prehistoric amphibian.
Who’s afraid of Lorne Michaels?
Very rarely can we see an entire system reflected in one person. The creator and executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” is such a person.
(Seth Simons, Longreads; content warning for sexual assault)
Special Event: 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: Semi-finals
Four teams left. Heartbreak and glory await!
The Particularities of Political Action Disappear in an Opalescent Wash
There are two ways of reading the central Maríasian lesson that we are nothing more nor less than the stories we tell about ourselves. In its negative form, it admonishes us that life is a brittle, insubstantial thing, a story that goes on falsifying itself day after day. In its positive form, it posits that we are constantly inventing ourselves afresh—indeed, that there is something fundamentally life-affirming in the phantasmal nature of the self. from Empty Suits by Bailey Trela
First study on menstrual products using blood published this year
An important study for uterus-carriers and period-havers... but also cw: discussion of body stuff. "The study was conducted by Dr Bethany Samuelson Bannow and a team of colleagues, in an effort to demystify and destigmatize heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) which, as it turns out, actually affects around one third of people who menstruate." [Marie Claire: The First Ever Period Product Study Involving Actual Blood Just Proved Why We Needed It]/[Link to BMJ study (free)]
What Happened To The Microfinance Company Kiva?
In MIT Technology Review
Mara Kardas-Nelson looks at organizational changes that have been made since 2019 to Kiva.org, the well-known microlending organization, including multi-million dollar salary hikes for executives, charrging fees to the borrowers, and a lenders' strike organized by contributors who were disturbed by the changes.
(MIT Tech Review allows some free articles, but you might hit the paywall)
You are neither too skeptical nor too gullible
misinformation susceptibility
In this study, you will be asked to rate 20 news headlines as real or fake and answer a few optional questions about your background. Results given in four categories, including:
- Veracity Discernment: 100% (ability to accurately distinguish real from fake news)
- Distrust/Naïvité: 0 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
- Veracity Discernment: 100% (ability to accurately distinguish real from fake news)
- Distrust/Naïvité: 0 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible)
The greatest American rock band: The top 5 R.E.M. songs ever
Luke O'Neil asked a bunch of people for their top 5 favorite R.E.M. songs. (scroll down a bit, or CTRL-F "andrew sacher")
Metatalktail Hour: Updates, Conclusions and To-Be-Continueds
The locked safe from this prior metatalktails has been opened, just a little too late to put the resolution in that post. (Local news link - archive link if you can't access original)
What's a story you'd like a update or resolution to? Can be a real life event, a series that you yearn for more of, or a problem you'd like a solution to.
short version if you just want a summary
The safe was mostly empty save some odds and ends and another locked compartment, which was also empty.The Greatest Animated Series in the Surreal Sci-Fi Toilet Horror Genre
Skibidi Toilet [SLYT] is a series of so far 55 minute-long animated episodes featuring an invasion of roving heads-in-toilets taking over the world as they sing remixes of "Brr Skibidi Dop Dop Dop Dop Yes Yes Yes Yes" by Turkish music group Biser King. (CW: Mild jump scares)
Turn off the high-beams on Mobile Safari
When scrolling the various meta* sites at night on Mobile Safari, the larger soft-gray and translucent address bar is replaced with a smaller, but full white bar that lights up the entire room.
Name every city
City Quiz is a fun little webgame where you literally just name every city.
It breaks down by the whole planet, or just one continent, or just one country, and scores you based on number of cities or percentage of the population.
An exceedingly bizarre choice if one wishes to obfuscate the IP address
A study into toxicity on Economics Job Market Rumors says it uncovered IP addresses for posts, linking many back to universities. The paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was presented at the NBER summer meeting and starts with a content warning on racism, sexism, and threats of violence. Study authors note, "Using only publicly available data we show that the statistical properties of the scheme by which [algorithmically-assigned] usernames were generated allows the IP addresses from which most posts were made to be determined with high probability." Approximately 10% of posts originated from university IP addresses; about 10% of all posts were categorized as toxic. A small proportion of IP addresses generated more than 60% of toxic posts. EJMR, previously on MeFi.
Special Event: 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: Round of 16
And we're down to 16, with glorious knockout glory awaiting.
Playing with video games
YouTuber Any Austin has a quirky approach to his presenting, and to his subject matter. My favorite I've seen is Snow! (this is about video games) [16m30s]. He also explores "unexpected and odd places" in several games, including Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2005) [14m], Skyrim [14m], even Mario Kart 8 [13m]. Here's the first part of a series on breath holding for different characters [13m]. One of his unemployment surveys of video game towns [Castle Town, Twilight Princess, 18m]. His YouTube page lists many more.
Women's World Cup of Soccer 2023
Maybe it started with this viral French telecom ad (you don't need the subtitles), but we're halfway through the World Cup going on in Australia and New Zealand. The group stage is over, and the round of 16 begins this weekend...
Dance like everybody's watching
For decades, the St. Louis music scene had a solo-dancing, enigmatic, and polarizing weirdo haunting live music shows, big and small. The mop-topped Robert Matonis, a.k.a. Beatle Bob, has passed away, after a cruel decline from ALS, on July 27.
New species of dinosaur discovered in Thailand
New species of dinosaur discovered in Thailand. Researchers say the young creature, which was about the size of a dog, is one of the best-preserved dinosaurs ever found in South-East Asia.
Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ remote were a mechanical marvel
The Zenith Space Command
, one of the first wireless television remotes ever to exist, is a monument to a time before we took the remote for granted. It also just so happened to contain one of the most influential and intriguing buttons in history.
Special Event: 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup: Match Day 3
Find out who makes it to the Round of 16!
4X games have a lot of colonial ideology just kind of baked in.
Can you make an anti-imperial empire game? [Eurogamer]
The 4Xperts behind Civilization, Syphilisation and Victoria 3 discuss eXperimental 4X design.
Record release of 380 baby seahorses into Sydney Harbour
Record release of 380 baby seahorses into Sydney Harbour gives endangered species hope. Marine scientists were able to find perfect conditions to raise the enchanting creatures, resulting in three pregnant males producing hundreds of babies.
[MeFi Site Update] June 21st
Hi there, MetaFilter!
Happy Solstice and welcome to your monthly Site Update! The last update can be found here. You’ll find some updates regarding the site below. I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions.
Reminder: I will be the only mod monitoring this thread so please be patient as I reply to your feedback and questions.
Happy Solstice and welcome to your monthly Site Update! The last update can be found here. You’ll find some updates regarding the site below. I’m looking forward to your feedback and questions.
Reminder: I will be the only mod monitoring this thread so please be patient as I reply to your feedback and questions.
Global BIPOC Board Meeting #17 Minutes
MetaFilter's Global BIPOC Board has made the decision to publish meeting minutes in the form of a MetaTalk to improve visibility and increase the speed at which minutes are shared publicly! Minutes will continue to be uploaded to the board landing page as well in the form of a PDF. Thanks for reading.
Why is the NY Times seemingly so Anti-Trans?
Imara Jones and the Translash Podcast capture the story of a trans former NYT staffer.
"Hunter" joined the New York Times and thought they found their journalistic home. This podcast, part of a series on the Anti-Trans Hate Machine series, captures how the paper of record seems to have made a deliberate choice to actively court right-wing voices, especially those who peddle disinformation about trans people, which came to a head in April.
PLEASE !!! STOP HITTING EXHAUST FAN WITH MOP HANDLES !!!!!
South Pole Signage
Signs that make you scratch your head. Signs that could exist in a suburban office park anywhere on earth. Signs that can only exist at the South Pole.
Movie: Barbie
Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and her existence.
Ukraine war, summer grinds on
In the war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian counteroffensive is still going on, but with slower progress than many in the West had come to expect. Professor Phillips O'Brien tries to put it into perspective, and War on the Rocks has some musings on the future of offensive warfare. Respected analysts Micheal Kofman and Rob Lee have visited with the Ukrainian military, and the preliminary conclusion is that they have a number of challenges, including scaling up offensive operations. Their report is not ready, but you can hear some initial thoughts. Russian fortifications including minefields are holding up well to direct attack, and the focus is on reducing Russian combat power with artillery, now using the somewhat controversial cluster munitions provided by the USA. There have been a couple of deep strikes into Crimea, and the hit on a fuel depot caused the full closure of the already-damaged Kerch bridge.
"Maybe it's the worst song ever, but it's also a great song"
Todd in the Shadows' One Hit Wonderland retrospective of Aqua's "Barbie Girl"
“Flowering dogwood trees are bisexual... Like us.”
The “Unhinged Bisexual Woman” Novel
is a critical review of the novels Big Swiss and Milk Fed and the hetereo-gaze in certain #sapphicbooks" in the socialist feminist glossy Lux Magazine. Writes Emma Copley Eisenberg: "The queer relationships in these books are plot devices meant not to say anything new about queer love or intimacy but meant rather to pit the bisexual or straight-proximate characters against themselves." Referenced in the article is a more hopeful write-up on the sapphic literature trend in 2022. Eisenberg previously on MeFi.
Something in space has been lighting up every 20 minutes since 1988
On Wednesday, researchers announced the discovery of a new astronomical enigma. The new object, GPM J1839–10 [...] takes 22 minutes between pulses. [...] The list of known objects that can produce this sort of behavior is short and consists of precisely zero items. John Timmer writes 900 words for Ars Technica.
Grudge Match
The pitch here is simple: a bunch of grumpy old magicians made a big fuss about sexy little Uri Geller just because he claimed his party trick was real psychic powers, and now they’re either dead or friends with him, and isn’t that great? Because really, even if he DIDN’T have psychic powers, what’s the harm in helping people believe that there’s a little magic in the world? from Uri Geller is Still a Giant Fraud, Despite the Glowing NY Times Profile by Skepchick, who, along with the CFI, Greg Mayer, DJ Grothe and Mark Evanier (among others) are raking the NYT for its recent "lengthy – and progressively more maddening – hagiography of Uri Geller." [New York Times; ungated]
“sonic architecture”
The Unexpected Genius Behind Akira's Legendary Score [SlashFilm]
There's never been anything quite like the soundtrack to the anime classic "Akira." To this day, the pulsating rhythms and otherworldly chants still sound unlike any other music put to film. That uniqueness is due to the unorthodox approach of composer Shoji Yamashiro, whose background in amateur musicianship allowed him to create a score completely outside the realm of professional tradition. "Akira" utilizes a host of sounds that may seem unfamiliar to Western ears. The soundtrack is an eclectic mixture of traditional folk music and digital synthesizer programming, eliciting a raw and primal feeling amidst the futuristic cyberpunk skyline of Neo-Tokyo. Yamashiro incorporated a form of Indonesian music called gamelan jegog, which stems from Bali and is made up of fast, intense rhythms played on bamboo instruments. The composer also drew from the chants of Noh, traditional Japanese theater. Combined with polyrhythmic drum machine beats and synths tuned to gamelan microtonal scales, these styles give a sense of ritualistic tension to the dystopian world of "Akira." [YouTube][Geinoh-Yamashirogumi "Kaneda" from AKIRA]
Anti-semitic conspiracy theories + Chinese version of TikTok =
In less than eight minutes, the video’s narrator accuses Jews of starting China’s “century of humiliation” by financing the Opium Wars, and describes their cunning Fugu Plan. This 1939 Japanese proposal to resettle German Jews in the puppet state Manchukuo was named after the deadly blowfish that is a delicacy if handled correctly and was based on "expert" analysis of the fabricated antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. While about 20,000 Jews found refuge in Japanese-occupied Shanghai between 1938 and 1941, the Fugu Plan never gained traction, even with the putative beneficiaries. Nonetheless, in July 2023, the Fugu Plan is in the top search result for the word “Jew” (犹太人) on Douyin.
“Things fall apart, especially all the neat order of rules and laws.”
Not much about Masked And Anonymous makes literal sense. It follows the rules of songwriting, not cinema, where surreal and nonlinear storytelling is more common, particularly in Bob Dylan songs. But mainly it’s just straight-up bonkers, following a loose narrative thread that functions primarily as a vehicle for a lot of colorful actors to give scenery-chewing performances. It’s the kind of movie where Val Kilmer shows up as a character known only as Animal Wrangler, and rambles in Bob Dylan’s general direction for several minutes about how people are worth no more than a crack in the mud at the bottom of a sun-dried lake. It’s also the kind of movie where Ed Harris dons blackface, Mickey Rourke plays the president, and Luke Wilson clubs a rock journalist to death with an old blues singer’s guitar. A real “just go with it” kind of film. from Inside The Making Of ‘Masked And Anonymous,’ The Strange Dystopian Bob Dylan Musical Comedy Movie [Uproxx]
“Dude, it’s beyond cool. It’s ‘we’re out of here cool’ is what it is.”
The birth of id Software by John Romero [The Verge]
In 1990, John Romero, John Carmack, and Tom Hall were working at Louisiana software maker Softdisk. There, they had an idea that would change PC games forever.
Je t'aime
Jane Birkin, actor and activist, died yesterday 16 July 2023 at her home in Paris. For anglophones of a certain age, her 1969 song with Serge Gainsbourg was a powerful incentive to learn some French. Tributes from President Macron "Parce qu’elle incarnait la liberté, qu’elle chantait les plus beaux mots de notre langue, Jane Birkin était une icône française" and many others. Chapeaux!