Most favorited posts in the past 24 hours:

Most of us will experience the death of a parent. That experience is unique for everyone, yet there is so much we can learn from each other. Sumana Harihareswara has created an extraordinary collection of resources about Eldercare, Family Caretaking, and End-of-life Logistics: Stuff I Learned. It is full of detailed advice, good sense, and compassion. (created by brainwane, found at MeFi Projects)
posted by kristi at 11:11 AM Dec 7 2023 - 16 comments [108 favorites]

BFI: 101 Hidden Gems: The Greatest Films You’ve Never Seen. “Hailing from every continent but Antarctica and spanning more than 120 years, this selection is, in its way, as representative of the riches of cinema history as that other list we released at the end of last year. Fiction rubs shoulders with nonfiction, films made by collectives sit alongside hand-crafted animation, and a healthy dose of comedy sidles up to heartbreaking drama – and then there are the films that defy all categorisation.”
posted by oulipian at 9:11 AM Dec 7 2023 - 23 comments [52 favorites]

Stairway to Heaven. (YouTube via Invidious so you aren't tracked.) At the annual prize-giving ceremony at St Andrews College in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) in Aotearoa, the music department covers Led Zepplin's 'Stairway to Heaven' and absolutely nails it. It's going viral here but deserves a wider audience.
posted by vac2003 at 2:17 PM Dec 7 2023 - 20 comments [21 favorites]

One of the important voices of modern Britain, Benjamin Zephaniah was not much like other poets teenagers get introduced to.
posted by plonkee at 9:59 AM Dec 7 2023 - 26 comments [17 favorites]

The ancient Cynic outlook was negative, but the Cynic did not become trapped by their negativity, or use a negative outlook on life as an excuse for doing nothing, for giving up on life, or for giving in. Cynic negativity was not associated with the idea that if everything is bad, nothing can be done, so let’s do nothing. Rather, Cynic negativity spurred the Cynic into action. Negativity was employed in a quest to become free of unnatural restraint, and to conjure a less servile state of mind. Negativity released the Cynic from social obligations, and social ties, and allowed the Cynic to think differently about the world around them. from How to live like a Cynic
posted by chavenet at 12:47 AM Dec 7 2023 - 20 comments [20 favorites]

Pressley, Welch introduce legislation to guarantee right to vote for people with felonies on record
posted by aniola at 11:12 PM Dec 6 2023 - 40 comments [15 favorites]

Writer-producer-developer Norman Lear, who revolutionized American comedy with such daring, immensely popular early-‘70s sitcoms as “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son,” died on Tuesday. He was 101.
posted by kitten kaboodle at 8:34 PM Dec 6 2023 - 46 comments [14 favorites]

This was the year she perfected her craft—not just with her music, but in her position as the master storyteller of the modern era. The world, in turn, watched, clicked, cried, danced, sang along, swooned, caravanned to stadiums and movie theaters, let her work soundtrack their lives. For Swift, it’s a peak. 'This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been,' Swift tells me. 'Ultimately, we can convolute it all we want, or try to overcomplicate it, but there’s only one question.' Here, she adopts a booming voice. 'Are you not entertained?'
"For building a world of her own that made a place for so many, for spinning her story into a global legend, for bringing joy to a society desperately in need of it, Taylor Swift is TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year."
posted by Rhaomi at 12:14 PM Dec 7 2023 - 38 comments [9 favorites]

I've watched a lot of these Actors On Actors videos from Variety, but none of them have felt as truly interesting to me as Cillian Murphy & Margot Robbie meeting for the first time and talking about the phenomenon that was Barbenheimer. 45m
posted by hippybear at 8:38 AM Dec 7 2023 - 6 comments [8 favorites]

"Ken Gun Min is a daydreamer. 'I have one foot in reality and the other in fantasy,' the painter says as he sits on the floor of his Koreatown studio and sews beads onto a finished canvas. 'I have a fantasy-oriented brain. I am constantly daydreaming and creating stories'" The LA Times presents a story on the artist and his big, gorgeous, sumptuously gay paintings/collages/beadwork. But also, because I cannot get enough: Ken Gun Min’s Vision of Gay Utopia (Hyperallergic). And from his 2022 show (ArtNet).
posted by mittens at 8:53 AM Dec 7 2023 - 5 comments [8 favorites]

Guardian: “As a BBC licence payer I demand more of this type of behaviour.” Huffington Post: “Undeterred by the faux pas, the newscaster simply composed herself and began reading from the autocue about the latest updates in the Boris Johnson Covid inquiry. Fortunately for Maryam, the moment took place when the UK feed was showing Prime Minister’s Questions, so only international viewers saw the moment play out live.” CBS News: “Maryam Moshiri, the chief presenter at the British network, said she was "joking around a bit with the team" when she stuck up her middle finger just as the broadcast went to air.” In the Metro, further BBC news mishaps.
posted by Wordshore at 11:27 AM Dec 7 2023 - 22 comments [8 favorites]

She spent a month trying to help stray dog whose head was stuck in a jug [CW: happy ending]
posted by chavenet at 1:41 PM Dec 7 2023 - 14 comments [8 favorites]

'Bluebird' by Charles Bukowski. (slyt)
posted by clavdivs at 2:50 PM Dec 7 2023 - 4 comments [8 favorites]

How does electricity decide whether to flow through an open circuit or a closed circuit, and how long does it take to make that decision?
posted by clawsoon at 9:04 AM Dec 6 2023 - 44 comments [31 favorites]

Lately, instead of emphasizing the importance of criminal consequences, advocates have begun calling for drivers who hit pedestrians or cyclists to be held accountable through “restorative justice,” a term for an increasingly popular set of practices that eschews a focus on punishment in favor of an emphasis on repair and an effort to meet victims’ needs (slJewishCurrents)
posted by Kitteh at 7:30 AM Dec 6 2023 - 58 comments [20 favorites]

Following on the recent Rolling Stone best albums of 2023 posting and with a few media outlets yet to weigh in, a few more best-of lists from the media jungle, compiled for your reference and enjoyment.
posted by the sobsister at 10:32 AM Dec 6 2023 - 28 comments [26 favorites]

The woman who threw a burrito bowl in a Chipotle employee's face back in September has been sentenced to a fine and 180 days jail time, with that time reduced to 60 days in exchange for working 20 hours per week at a fast food restaurant for two months. "She got exactly what she deserved. She’s gonna walk in my shoes,” Russell said.
posted by Night_owl at 12:51 PM Dec 6 2023 - 77 comments [18 favorites]

There are foods I don’t associate with a specific memory so much as with the act of remembering. If all my favourite breakfast foods were laid out before me—smoked salmon and capers, ful mdammas, soft goat cheese and honey—I would reach for labaneh and zaatar first.
posted by curious nu at 3:52 PM Dec 6 2023 - 5 comments [20 favorites]

Twenty-one critically endangered red handfish hatched in successful Tasmanian conservation breeding program. A lot is riding on this group of tiny baby fish — so much so, they'll be put through school to get them street smart before release into the wild in Tasmania.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 6:40 PM Dec 7 2023 - 2 comments [5 favorites]

Never been done before: This audio search engine can identify Australian wildlife by the sounds they make. Australian researchers and Google have launched a first-of-its-kind search engine that analyses and identifies wildlife sounds.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:48 PM Dec 6 2023 - 12 comments [9 favorites]