October 2, 2019
"This year, I will outlive you."
What's Your Grief was founded by two Baltimore-based mental health professionals with 20+ years of experience in grief and bereavement. Their separate experiences dealing with the death of a parent led them to wonder why anyone should have to feel alone when so many have been through grief themselves. The section of their site called 64 Things contains lists of grief-related subjects, including a collection of 64 Six Word Stories About Grief. [more inside]
A thing I wish I knew about Thoreau as a teenager
[Thoreau's] mother brought him sandwiches and Walden Pond was on her property. Twitter rages against Thoreau. [more inside]
John Updike never tried to push a woman out of a moving car
Malfunctioning Sex Robot Patricia Lockwood tries to read every novel by John Updike.
Those pizzles are long gone
Thieves on the lam with bull penis dog treats, says St. John's pet store owner: "He spoke to As It Happens host Carol Off about the brazen theft. Here's part of their conversation."
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Nearly 30 years ago, Mortal Kombat’s blood forever changed the video game industry [Polygon] “Mortal Kombat’s fatalities were so graphic that they had to literally be seen to be believed. One kid would hold court on a playground and strive to convince a jury of peers that he’d seen one character rip off his face and breathe fire, reducing the other guy to ashes and bones. Another kid swore up and down that a fighter in a white jumpsuit and straw hat could zap characters’ heads off with a bolt of lightning. “That breeds interest and foot traffic,” later GamePro editor Dan Amrich said of the rumors surrounding MK’s gory finishing moves, “and before you know it, you have people looking closer because that controversial thrill was so unexpected. And that’s going to be very powerful with kids whose media is largely — and rightfully! — gatekept by their parents. Here’s a game you’re know you’re ‘not supposed to play,’ even if you haven’t been strictly forbidden to play it. It tapped into the lure of the forbidden.”” [more inside]
Purple No. 3309, Red No. 2904 and Black No. 113
The Public Domain Review recently showcased the work of Massachusetts illustrator Augustus Jansson. At the beginning of the 20th century, he created a series of vivid color advertisments for the Queen City Printing Ink Company in Cincinnati, the results of which look like a cross between classic playing card designs and the Beatles' Pepperland.
BOOK YOUR FLIGHTS, CRONES, WE'RE ESTONIA BOUND!
"The conversation inevitably turned to the uniqueness of the island. While sitting across from Ms. Koster, Ms. Matas pondered the concept of feminism, often met with bewilderment here. The reasoning: Of course, women are capable. Of course, women are competent. But no, men and women aren’t equal — women have proven they can do everything men can, but men can’t do everything women can." [more inside]
Your paper — you hope — is for posterity.
"here in the legal library fighting our cases on typewriters"
Want to Time Travel Back to the 80s? Visit a Prison "Typing Room" [The Marshall Project ] "Most federal prisons have a designated area for inmates to pursue legal work: a legal library/typing room." [more inside]
The Supreme Court showdown over LGBTQ discrimination, explained
On the surface, the stakes in this case seem enormous. In reality, they’re even larger. The Supreme Court will hear three cases next Tuesday that ask whether it is legal to fire workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. That alone is enough to make them three of the most important employment discrimination cases in many years. But there are additional layers to these cases, layers that could imperil all workers regardless of whether or not they are LGBTQ.
The defendants’ arguments would reopen long-settled legal arguments, potentially upending much of federal anti-discrimination law in the process.
Is a Job at Starvation Level Wages a Job?
“The question is straightforward: does it matter what the official unemployment numbers are if the people who are working are dependent upon food aid?” Brian Romanchuk wonders. (Found Via Joe Weisenthal’s Twitter). [more inside]
Externalizing Waste Costs Hurts Everyone But Producers
“Beyond disposability, present day waste practices like recycling continue the extension of profit through trash. The Container Corporation of America sponsored the creation of the recycling symbol for the first Earth Day in 1970 (Rogers 2006: 171). The American Chemistry Council, the world’s largest plastics lobby, enthusiastically testified in favor of expanding New York City’s curbside recycling program to accept rigid plastics (ACC 2010). Recycling is a far greater benefit to industry than to the environment. ” Modern Waste is an Economic Strategy (Discard Studies) We asked 3 companies to recycle Canadian plastic and secretly tracked it. Only 1 company recycled the material (CBC)
Dungeon synth: dark ambient sub-genre of black metal synth fantasies
On Dangerous Paths: an Introduction to Dungeon Synth A microgenre found at the mysterious intersection of old-school electronic music, synthesizer-based movie and video game soundtracks, and second-wave black metal, dungeon synth is quite a strange place to be. Melancholy, lo-fidelity, synthesizer albums recorded by artists like Mortiis, Depressive Silence, and Lamentation in the 1990s set the template for the genre, but never really circulated that far out of the black metal underground world. More recently, dungeon synth has made quite the comeback on platforms like Bandcamp (dungeon synth tag), lurking in the weirder corners of the digital realm, and you should be listening. This is the official B-Side dungeon synth starter pack. (Berkeley B-Side) [more inside]
The Haunting of Netflix House VII: Wes Craven’s New Netflix
What's up, Halloweirdos and Octobrocops? Every year I collect a list of good or good-adjacent horror or horror-adjacent movies available for streaming on American Netflix for your falltimes enjoyment. In past years this list has been available on Tumblr; in this year the seventh installment is located elsewhere and now features a darker sweater and a trench coat.
That's right, it's The Haunting of Netflix House VII: Wes Craven’s New Netflix , comics writer Benito Cereno's yearly recommendations of the creepiest, kookiest, most mysterious and spookiest movies on Netflix. Now on Letterboxd, to make it even easier to add some scares to your watchlist... [more inside]
Film tutorials
StudioBinder is a film production company in Santa Monica. Their YouTube channel is chock-full with interesting video essays. Like Directing Styles, The Director's Chair, Advanced Filmmaking Techniques, and many more.
This post just might include all letters of the alphabet
Robin Houston explains the history of a tweet (Threadreader) which contains all the letters of the alphabet while also describing itself. [more inside]
"To be wealthy and demand more is an abomination to a god."
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