A chance meeting between Kevin Pollak and Jason Calacanis at a poker game gave birth to Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, a weekly, web-based interview program. Episode 29, with guest Weird Al Yankovic, will be streaming live at 8PM ET/5PM PT. While you're waiting, check out previous episodes with guests like Eddie Izzard, Hank Azaria, and John Hamm. Or try your hand at the Larry King Game.
posted to MetaFilter by Horace Rumpole at 3:24 PM on October 25, 2009 (25 comments)

I Love Comix. Tons o' galleries of classic and not-so-classic newspaper comics. Essentials such as Little Nemo in Slumberland and Flash Gordon. Also Batman, Conan, Dark Shadows, and Pogo. Also lots of oddball stuff like Myra North: Special Nurse and Chris Welkin, Planeteer. [via]
posted to MetaFilter by marxchivist at 8:52 AM on October 22, 2009 (18 comments)

Perhaps a MeFite-created sarcasm punctuation mark just for MetaFilter?
posted to MetaTalk by tzikeh at 1:02 PM on October 17, 2009 (189 comments)

No, it is not Caturday.
posted to MetaFilter by Pronoiac at 3:35 PM on October 9, 2009 (63 comments)

Split Screen is a blog about      |   From Edwin S. Porter's Life of an American Fireman
the eponymous film technique    |   to Andy Warhol's The Chelsea Girls to Michel Gondry's
and its alternatives, with many   |   Sugar Water (the BEST EVER, imo), split screens have
surprising, intriguing examples.  |   encouraged alternate and ideally unlimited perspecitves.
posted to MetaFilter by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:11 PM on October 9, 2009 (28 comments)

"Magellan" by Stephen Crowley may be my favorite superhero comic on the web. The art seems to owe more to Tintin than Marvel or DC. The dialogue and plots are fun. The cast is huge, but the characters are distinctive, and generally charming. If you like Paul Grist's Jack Staff, give this a try. To start at the beginning: here.
posted to MetaFilter by shetterly at 4:33 PM on October 8, 2009 (10 comments)

RIP the master maven: William Safire dead at 79 of cancer. As someone who worked with him behind the scenes to help him with research for his language columns, I'm thankful for his attempts to bring discussions of language into popular discourse, or as he called it, his work in "the language dodge."
posted to MetaFilter by Mo Nickels at 12:11 PM on September 27, 2009 (61 comments)

The Mel Blanc Show ran on the CBS Radio Network from September 3, 1946, to June 24, 1947. In this show, Mel played himself, the hapless owner of a fix-it shop, as well as his young cousin Zookie. The plot for many episodes saw Mel "impersonating an exotic foreigner or other stranger in town" to either impress his girlfriend's father or, at the very least, avoid angering him. 40 episodes of The Mel Blanc Show can be found here in MP3 format for your listening pleasure.
posted to MetaFilter by Effigy2000 at 8:21 PM on September 25, 2009 (14 comments)

Galliard. Amienne. Miso. Postel. Is it a cheese? Or is it a font?
posted to MetaFilter by Alt F4 at 5:13 AM on September 10, 2009 (30 comments)

The images of 9 0 0 0
posted to MetaFilter by boo_radley at 11:16 AM on September 4, 2009 (54 comments)

The Computer Chronicles.
posted to MetaFilter by Mr. Anthropomorphism at 8:47 PM on August 30, 2009 (12 comments)

Old-time radio (often abbreviated as "OTR," also known as the Golden Age of Radio) refers to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the dominant home entertainment medium in the 1950s, with some programs continuing into the early 1960s. The origin of radio dramas in the United States is hard to pin down, but there is evidence of a remote broadcast of a play in 1914 at Normal College (now California State University at San José), and the first serial radio drama was an adaptation of a play by Eugene Walter, entitled "The Wolf," which aired in September 1922. Given the age of the programs and the fact that home reel-to-reel recording started in the 1950s (followed by Philips "compact cassettes" in 1963), it might be surprising that quite a few of these old shows have survived. Thanks in part to original radio station-sourced recordings made on aluminum discs, acetates, and glass recordings and other unnamed sources, many radio dramas and newscasts from decades past are available online, and more are being digitized and restored to this day.
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 12:47 PM on August 25, 2009 (53 comments)

I was experimenting with Google's search suggestions feature when I noticed that it gave some interesting results for "metafilter + [letter]". Since it returns the most popular search terms starting with that phrase, what you get for each letter is an A-Z listing of the most sought-after topics related to Metafilter. So without further ado, I give you... Metafilter A to Z.
posted to MetaTalk by Rhaomi at 3:33 PM on August 11, 2009 (177 comments)

Health Insurance Reform Reality Check. The White House has just launched a new site to attempt to counter concerns arising from the various factual distortions, misrepresentations and wild-eyed fears that some participants in the ongoing health care reform debate have loudly been voicing lately.
posted to MetaFilter by saulgoodman at 12:50 PM on August 10, 2009 (275 comments)

Dennis Wolfberg was one of the most distinctive voices (literally) from the stand-up comedy boom of the early 90s. A former schoolteacher, he became a fixture on the fledgling network Comedy Central roughly fifteen years BCM (Before Carlos Mencia). His vocal style and inflections had a way of selling the most outlandish comparisons. He was a guest on both Letterman and Carson, and had guest-starred as Gooshie on Quantum Leap on multiple occasions until he tragically died from cancer in 1994. Some of his most memorable routines were his experience with Fiber One cereal and encounter with a sigmoidoscope,, his wife's pregnancy and his twins' Bris. His HBO special is available in its entirety on YouTube: part 1 - part 2 - part 3 (most of part 3 linked above).
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 2:11 AM on August 8, 2009 (26 comments)

Sid Caesar demonstrates the art of doubletalk.
posted to MetaFilter by not_on_display at 11:45 PM on August 6, 2009 (32 comments)

Charles Nelson Reilly by "Weird Al" Yankovic and JibJab
posted to MetaFilter by Del Far at 5:37 PM on August 4, 2009 (54 comments)

Craig Ferguson explains the Jonas Brothers.
posted to MetaFilter by everichon at 8:06 AM on July 23, 2009 (113 comments)

Lovelace and Babbage Semi-historical webcomic adventures of mathematicians. Bonus: guest appearanace by Isambard K. Brunel
posted to MetaFilter by fixer at 9:30 AM on July 19, 2009 (28 comments)

Calling all MeFi Scrabblers! Who else uses the Internet Scrabble Club? Wanna play?
posted to MetaTalk by ORthey at 3:34 PM on July 11, 2009 (39 comments)

How well do you know your friends from Sesame Street? Scroll over this illustration of 101 Muppets to find out their names, a brief bio, and the season in which they appeared. Slimey is still my favorite.
posted to MetaFilter by kimdog at 6:53 PM on July 14, 2009 (49 comments)

Everyman's announcer: Ed McMahon enjoyed a remarkable entertainment career. From pitching vegetable slicers to passerbyers on the Atlantic City boardwalk to delivering the original king of late night to a national audience every night for thirty years; Ed McMahon's voice is part of the American fabric. Sadly, Ed McMahon has passed away.
posted to MetaFilter by cavalier at 7:26 AM on June 23, 2009 (76 comments)

Sam Kieth is an interesting guy, coming from an artistic family (including a cousin who created the animated series Cow and Chicken). His professional work has mostly been in the world of comics, though he did direct a movie for Roger Corman, entitled "Take it to the Limit" (2000), as a way "to recharge [his] batteries after the Maxx." The Maxx was a 35 issue comic (plus a few bonuses), and later animated and aired on Mtv's Oddities in the mid 1990s. (More videos inside)
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 10:34 PM on June 21, 2009 (30 comments)

Sorry about the sytigl, but - presenting the random youtube insult generator. Our work is done here.
posted to MetaFilter by jourman2 at 6:48 PM on June 20, 2009 (46 comments)

"Anyone under 18 can be eligible? Can’t they get a job during the summer by the time they are 16? Hunger can be a positive motivator. What is wrong with the idea of getting a job so you can get better meals? Tip: If you work for McDonald’s, they will feed you for free during your break." Missouri State Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-O’Fallon) is staking out a strong position on child hunger: she's for it. (via).
posted to MetaFilter by ornate insect at 6:37 PM on June 20, 2009 (92 comments)

In keeping with its mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," Google Books presents every issue of Weekly World News from 1981 to 2007. previously via
posted to MetaFilter by Knappster at 5:26 PM on June 20, 2009 (60 comments)

The Metafilter Team on Kiva.com has gotten started and two weeks later we have 16 members and have lent just shy of $1,000 to small businesses and collectives in developing countries. Our team is now launching a new campaign to celebrate Metafilter's wonderful users and help individuals, families, and communities around the world. Join us to find out more...
posted to MetaTalk by parmanparman at 10:52 AM on June 2, 2009 (51 comments)

An attempt to anger both Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 11:47 AM on June 19, 2009 (10 comments)

Curious about the health of your bank? You might find BankTracker helpful. This site crunches the FDIC's publicly available numbers on banks' deposits, loans, and nonperforming loans, and makes them available in a search interface for banks and credit unions.
posted to MetaFilter by A dead Quaker at 2:07 PM on June 13, 2009 (14 comments)

Some comics about mental illness by Darryl Cunningham. (via)
posted to MetaFilter by MegoSteve at 9:39 PM on June 12, 2009 (36 comments)

The internet loves it when things go wrong, anything from photoshopping to cakes. And while your personal failure might turn out to provide enjoyment for others, Adam Savage tells about the importance and upsides of colossal failures at Maker Faire.
posted to MetaFilter by bjrn at 2:41 AM on June 6, 2009 (17 comments)

When does making fun of yourself make you more attractive? Suppose, in an initial conversation, you say:

I hate this “to be continued” on TV. I was watching this show with a friend of mine the other day and I felt it was coming. We were into the story and when there was 5 minutes left you realize they can’t make it! There is no way to wrap it up in 5 minutes. The whole reason to watch a TV show is because it ends. If I wanted a long, boring story with no point to it, I got my life.

Would this make you seem more attractive?
posted to MetaFilter by AceRock at 2:41 PM on May 20, 2009 (65 comments)

Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world By Nassim Nicholas Taleb in FT.
posted to MetaFilter by jouke at 12:36 AM on April 9, 2009 (49 comments)

This man kept me awake at night as a child, As I stared, bleary-eyed, at my flip-card style analog alarm clock, willingly watching the hours go by, thinking, "How am I going to be able to wake up for school tomorrow?" And laughing, laughing. I place the blame for my night-owl-ness squarely in his lap.
posted to MetaFilter by not_on_display at 8:26 PM on October 18, 2007 (17 comments)

FoxNews copy-n-pastes Focus on the Family propaganda as news. Longtime MeFi user owillis caught the fact that FoxNews took the press release of a supposedly independent student pro-life group called Live Action/Live Action Films and essentially reprinted it verbatim. Bad journalism, sure... but how does this little student group afford to send its people across the country to try to entrap Planned Parenthood workers, and how do they get big-name attention on FoxNews and other major conservative media sources? Well, it turns out that Live Action was rather quietly founded by Stephen Reed, who is a key surrogate of James Dobson/ Focus on the Family/ the Family Research Council... and the media sources in question have close ties to Dobson and a longstanding history of parroting his talking points.
posted to MetaFilter by markkraft at 12:21 AM on March 19, 2009 (42 comments)

LET IT DIE: Douglas Rushkoff on the Economy.
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 12:10 PM on March 18, 2009 (163 comments)

Ladies and Gentlemen, your official 2009 Bracket. Previously.
posted to MetaFilter by wayofthedodo at 11:30 AM on March 17, 2009 (33 comments)

The entire Harper's index is now online.
posted to MetaFilter by chunking express at 12:44 PM on February 14, 2009 (29 comments)

The world should have more interestingly shaped creatures.
posted to MetaFilter by Brandon Blatcher at 8:29 PM on January 31, 2009 (29 comments)

Leaving office, President Bush claimed "that he took 'a deliberate and comprehensive approach' to preventing terrorism that combined military action overseas with strong defensive measures at home."

[As early as 2002] "We knew that the mortgage-brokerage industry was corrupt... Where we would have gotten a sense of what was really going on was the point where the mortgage was sold knowing that it was a piece of dung and it would be turned into a security. But the agents with the expertise had been diverted to counterterrorism."
[. . . . FBI Director Robert] "Mueller actually circumvented the Justice Department and the OMB to get resources. But he was shut down" by the [Bush A]dministration. [. . . . Testifying in October 2004, ] Chris Swecker, then assistant director of the criminal investigation division said ... "The potential impact of mortgage fraud on financial institutions in the stock market is clear. If fraudulent practices become systemic within the mortgage industry and mortgage fraud is allowed to become unrestrained, it will ultimately place financial institutions at risk and have adverse effects on the stock market."

posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 4:09 AM on January 29, 2009 (71 comments)

Invasion of the Big Robots! Say what you will about the decline of Garfield, but he had his brighter moments, like the time he woke up in the wrong cartoon and had to fight the big robots. Garfield and Friends writer Mark Evanier tells the story behind this budget-busting episode. [Previously]
posted to MetaFilter by Servo5678 at 9:57 AM on January 29, 2009 (3 comments)

It is the central, most eyecatching feature of the modern Oval Office. But for over a year, abandoned by a captain said to be harsh and venereal, it drifted slowly, its huge frame creaking, locked in ice, in the land of endless night.
posted to MetaFilter by felix at 9:56 AM on January 27, 2009 (122 comments)

Perhaps the finest Doctor Who/Benny Hill/Eminem mashup ever produced. (Collegehumor.com, possible NSFW sidebar ads)
posted to MetaFilter by EarBucket at 11:15 AM on January 26, 2009 (42 comments)

Larz Kristerz plays "Purple Rain". For some reason, Prince hasn't sued them. Yet.
posted to MetaFilter by iviken at 1:46 PM on January 17, 2009 (25 comments)

With many stations showing it over the next couple of days it may not be too late for you to catch Rick Steves' Iran. For a TV guy, Steves online documentation isn't bad either: read his compiled blog entries or peep his slideshow. We've discussed the fact that he's a man with an agenda before and that's certainly the case here as well.
posted to MetaFilter by Ogre Lawless at 1:09 PM on January 16, 2009 (15 comments)

Please Sir, could we have a free-for-all, ask-any-dumb-question-you-like thread?
posted to MetaTalk by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:44 PM on January 11, 2009 (605 comments)

Kurt Kuenne is a filmmaker and composer. His light hearted, modern fairy tales have a strange continuity to them. Validation is the story of how free parking can change your life. Rent-A-Person is a musical about restroom attendants and Slow is about the power of travel. But Kurt's work isn't just fairy tales.
posted to MetaFilter by Lord_Pall at 11:21 PM on January 2, 2009 (7 comments)

While Adult Swim is generally regarded as the pioneer of irreverent short-form animation -- especially for 'toons that reimagine past hits -- it wasn't always the king. In fact, the late-night programming block arguably found its birth in a series of short toons and interstitials that ran in the heyday of its daytime alter ego, the venerable Cartoon Network. The brainchild of C.N. Creative Director Michael Ouweleen and Hanna-Barbera chief Fred Seibert, these cartoons reinterpreted the network's properties through stock footage, indie music, and original animation in a wide variety of styles, as well as introducing prototypes of characters that would become some of the most famous in the history of American animation. (warning: monster post inside)
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:50 AM on December 30, 2008 (80 comments)

My Christmas message? There's probably no God.
posted to MetaFilter by chuckdarwin at 3:30 AM on December 28, 2008 (165 comments)

The Top Ten Top Ten Top Ten of 2008; NY Times blog, Social Citizens, Swan Fungus, lifehacker, PC World, Tynan, Something Else, The Exploding Barrel, Technorati, Google, Toptentopten.
posted to MetaFilter by twoleftfeet at 4:06 AM on December 27, 2008 (13 comments)