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Two guys talk life, the universe and lacquer over their monthly manicure. A comedy about being married, being single, and being best friends. [more inside]
posted by severiina at 8:25 PM PST - 8 comments

The Polish-born Romantic-era composer Frédéric Chopin, who lived most of his adult life in exile while the country was partitioned and incorporated Polish folk motifs into his compositions, is a national cultural icon in his country of birth, giving his name to a prestigious music competition, several festivals, Warsaw's international airport and a video game reimagining him as a supercool rock star saving the world, among other things. Now, a radio programme aired on the Swiss public broadcaster SRF reveals ardent letters Chopin wrote to male companions, suggesting that he may not have been, as previously assumed, heterosexual. [more inside]
posted by acb at 5:27 PM PST - 13 comments

WE TRUST YOU. PLEASE TAKE WHAT YOU NEED AND LEAVE THE MONEY ON THE TABLE

For drivers who’d notice the “Pasta King” sign from the rural Sonoma County road and pull into Art Ibleto’s driveway, the door to the kitchen was always unlocked. The fridge was always full of penne, marinara, pesto and lasagna. And when Ibleto wasn’t around to take people’s money, the desk was nearly always covered with folds of cash next to the yellow touch-tone landline phone and old Rolodex, accompanied by notes of appreciation. Ibleto, who died Tuesday morning at the age of 94, was the kind of person for whom this honor system was natural, instead of novel. For all of Ibleto’s philanthropy and civic service to the Sonoma County community he adopted as a young immigrant from Italy, it’s this fact that sticks with many of the Pasta King’s fans most: he trusted you.

[more inside]
posted by Lexica at 4:32 PM PST - 10 comments

Swedish Kitchen Sink Sci-fi artist Simon Stålenhag (whose book Tales From the Loop was recently serialised by Amazon) has moved on from creating sumptuous art books (previously) to directing a pop video starring a somewhat mournful robot called Hector and some rather large fish...
posted by Chairboy at 3:19 PM PST - 10 comments

A whistle-stop tour of W. B. Yeats quotations in popular culture (Lit Hub): “You can’t beat a good W. B. Yeats quotation, especially in these dour, doomscrolling days. (“The Second Coming”—with its widening gyre, errant falcon, blood-dimmed tide, and slouching beast—has been the English-speaking world’s go-to apocalypse lyric for 100 years now. Whether it’s the Nazis swarming Europe, Trump capturing the White House, or a morose A. J. Soprano attempting to drown himself in a swimming pool, as long as the world continues to be shit, Yeats’ most famous poem will continue to evoke a sense of paralyzing existential terror in its readers.) Though I have absolutely no hard data to back this up, I’d wager that Yeats is the most quoted and referenced (non-Elizabethan) writer in contemporary popular culture.” [more inside]
posted by not_the_water at 3:06 PM PST - 28 comments

Herald of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nov 21st marked the 30th anniversary of Super Mario World. [more inside]
posted by Zargon X at 2:45 PM PST - 13 comments

Infinite Bad Guy Using machine learning the YouTube team has analyzed all the covers of Billie Eilish's Bad Guy and aligned them to within a quarter beat of each other, allowing you to seamlessly move between cover versions while the song plays continuously.
posted by GuyZero at 2:39 PM PST - 8 comments

A collection of photographs of teenagers dressed up for proms cancelled due to Covid-19 wins this year's photographic portrait prize. See the winners and the other finalists in the virtual exhibition.
posted by Stark at 2:24 PM PST - 2 comments

Alexis Okeowo on the heartbreaking tale of the many rural households in America lacking safe sewage systems – and how entrenched poverty and unusual geology have created a public-health disaster in Alabama (The New Yorker)
posted by adrianhon at 2:12 PM PST - 8 comments

Black folk artist Helen LaFrance, who painted memories of her life in rural Kentucky, has died at 101. [more inside]
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:05 PM PST - 3 comments

Bill McKibben first wants to establish: I Do Not Have A Cow In This Fight. McKibben then takes us on a short tour, the pros and cons of how we grow and eat meat, and what it costs us.
posted by dancestoblue at 11:24 AM PST - 9 comments

O Human Star is a 505-page, eight-chapter web comic melodrama by Blue Delliquanti about a roboticist who is mysteriously reincarnated (as a robot) many years after his death and must find out why. It’s a story about gender and the self. It’s a bad guide to how the academic funding process works or appropriate employer/employee relationships, but is otherwise an optimistic, speculative vision of how the future might be.
This is the first page.
Samantha Reidel’s review in Polygon (August, 2020)
An interview with Delliquanti about their comic at Multiversity Comics (January, 2019)
Previously from 2014
posted by Going To Maine at 10:48 AM PST - 18 comments

David’s Dad’s Movie is a heartwarming comic by comedian and artist Doogie Horner about a little boy whose curiosity about his dad’s favorite violent R-rated sci-fi action movie gets the better of him.
posted by chinese_fashion at 9:14 AM PST - 25 comments

Diego Maradona, FIFA's player of the 20th Century, scorer of the greatest World Cup goal of the 20th Century, has died following a heart attack at the age of 60.
posted by MattWPBS at 9:11 AM PST - 36 comments

We must not attempt to exercise power we simply don’t have,” declared Van Langevelde, a member of Michigan’s board of state canvassers [more inside]
posted by gt2 at 5:36 AM PST - 46 comments