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Stephen Sondheim was a hot property in 1981. Riding the momentum of Sweeney Todd, his next musical would be Merrily We Roll Along [Wikipedia], and that would be a gigantic flop, closing after over 50 previews, dozens of rewrites, and only 16 performances. The show would be rewritten again a couple of times before this 2012 London production was filmed [2h15m]. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 4:19 PM PST - 23 comments

A deep academic discussion of all 56 flags for the United States. Wait. Wut? Fine. Fight it out. (Defector link. Free-ish. See below the fold.) [more inside]
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 2:05 PM PST - 101 comments

"Sickness can be a very isolating experience for everyone involved. Like many people, I’ve lived with illness for years. But there’s something about flowers—even if they are garish or they make you sneeze or they are hardly noticed—that can occasionally poke a tiny hole in the wall of isolation that separates sick people from their loved ones. Flowers for Sick People is my own way of looking at illness while trying to understand how humans struggle to connect in difficult times."--Tucker Nichols. He discusses his multimedia art and health project-- a series of vibrant flower paintings--here. (Via) [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:03 AM PST - 2 comments

"For Dynamic Machines, I challenged 3D artists to guide a chrome ball from point A to point B in the most creative way possible. Nearly 2,000 artists entered, and in this video, the Top 100 renders are featured" [more inside]
posted by Gyan at 9:54 AM PST - 28 comments

How Tony Leung acts with his eyes, among other things. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai has played almost every type of role there is, from the comedic to dramatic, to tragic and romantic. [more inside]
posted by toastyk at 8:35 AM PST - 22 comments

I found the heaviest distortion pedal and used it on harp [SLYT]
posted by clawsoon at 8:17 AM PST - 22 comments

The Dance Music Archive brings together 30 years of electronic music history through DJ mixes, radio shows, live sets, festival broadcasts, lost tapes, blogs, artwork, magazines and forgotten recordings. It is a time machine for our scene, containing an ever-growing library, collected and curated by our community from around the world. [more inside]
posted by soundofsuburbia at 7:10 AM PST - 7 comments

"[...]I want to have one of those apartments that says something when people enter it. I want the apartment to extend out ahead of me and land like a solid, forceful thing in the minds of others.[...]It’s all stagecraft, of course. The accumulation of signifiers that when arranged into a tableau portray just the kind of cultured life that is underpinned by the right amount and the right kind of social capital." (slsubstack)
posted by Pong74LS at 6:47 AM PST - 26 comments

How our female rowers ate more and triumphed : After discovering most of our top female rowers were at risk of RED-S syndrome, Rowing NZ and its coaches helped the athletes take up a challenge to eat more. The glittering results in Tokyo speak for themselves. By Suzanne McFadden for Newsroom.
posted by carolr at 6:00 AM PST - 21 comments

Twitter user @politic_animal set out at 3:00 am on Friday morning to answer the question "How far can you travel by local buses from London in twenty-four hours?" Here's a ThreadReader compilation of his ongoing reports from the epic journey. [more inside]
posted by Grangousier at 3:19 AM PST - 52 comments

The Beauty of Bézier Curves - YouTube. Earlier this year, 3blue1brown put out a video Why arent you making math videos? (Also, a 3b1b podcast) - YouTube encouraging mathy people to take the plunge and make videos. This is one of the results.
posted by zengargoyle at 2:45 AM PST - 4 comments

Farewell to songwriter Tom T Hall, who wrote one of the most absolutely perfect “fuck you, you smug, highfaluttin’, morally super hypocrites” songs in history. I’m talking, of course, about “Harper Valley PTA”, which was a hit song on the country charts back in 1968, and snuck onto pop radio as well, I do believe. Always LOVED that song, ever since I first heard it at the tender age of 11. Ever hear it? Give it a spin. And after that, maybe raise a glass of your favorite beverage to ol’ Tom, and, extra points if it’s beer.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:05 AM PST - 35 comments