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emo ambient
Claire Rousay
has gained prominence [NYT, archive link] as an experimental, ambient musician, but her most recent album, Sentiment, [Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music] is closer to lo-fi indie pop. Her website has links to her whole discography.
Degrowth vs Classical Socialism: The Irreparable Rift
You'll remember eco-communist philosopher Kohei Saito from our previous discussion of his surprising bestseller on the connection between Marx and the environment. But...was there a connection, or was Saito seeing an eco-Marx who never existed? More to the point, must we give up All The Things under communism? Matt Huber and Leigh Phillips offer a resounding 'no,' in their Jacobin review of Saito's newly-translated book: "Kohei Saito’s 'Start From Scratch' Degrowth Communism."
Learning About Illuminated Manuscripts and Calligraphy
I want to learn more about the history of illuminated manuscripts, and I would also like to teach myself how to write calligraphy in the style or styles that are specific to illuminated manuscripts — so, a two-part question.
Operation: I Do
Sometimes, when a rambunctious baked good and a kryptonian/atlantean doofus love each other very much...
I Found David Lynch’s Lost Dune II Script
"David Lynch’s 1984 sci-fi epic Dune is—in many ways—a misbegotten botch job. Still, as with more than a few ineffectively ambitious films before it, the artistic flourishes Lynch grafted onto Frank Herbert’s sprawling Machiavellian narrative of warring space dynasties have earned it true cult classic status. Today, fans of the film, which earned a paltry $30 million at the box office and truly bruising reviews upon its release, still wonder what Lynch would have done if given the opportunity to adapt the next two novels in Herbert’s cycle: Dune Messiah and Children of Dune."
The Death of the Tsundere
“The tsundere is a well-known anime trope, that many people still love to this day. But something happened to it since its inception, and I want to talk about that.” [19:05]
Finding weird, fun, cutting-edge internet culture in a post-SEO world
Most of us would probably agree that the internet now sucks. Is there a practical way to reframe my approach to how I use the internet so that I can still discover cool, new, interesting people and ideas, without wading through sixteen tons of angry garbage? (I'm seeking problem-solving strategies to make lemonade from lemons, not "just give up" cynicism, thanks!) What are the best punk rock, fuck-this approaches for discovering and enjoying the best and weirdest things that the internet still has to offer?
All Forza Drivers, Start your Engines
Forza Motorsport accessibility
is shaping up to be some of the most comprehensive of any game this year, and is available for early access now.
Particularly intriguing is a variety of assistance for blind drivers, which is a first in its genre.
It’s not language that makes you Latino
The 'no sabo kids' are pushing back on Spanish-language shaming.
Being Latino isn’t a monolith — some may speak Spanish, some may speak Indigenous dialects and some may only know English. Mala Muñoz, co-host of Locatora Radio (episodes): “I grew up just constantly hearing the reason dad speaks terrible Spanish is because he wasn’t allowed to speak Spanish. It was kept from him. They were being beaten at school. And that’s why he speaks his Spanglish, and that’s why we speak our hybridized Spanglish.”
Of the world’s languages, only 8% have ‘th’ sounds.
Although there are only five written vowels, English has 14-21 different vowel sounds, depending on the dialect. This is a much larger vowel inventory than most languages (the smallest is 3). However the consonant inventory for English is a very typical 22, though it does have "th," a relatively uncommon one. From the World Atlas of Language Structures: Consonant inventories of languages range from a low of 6 consonants to a high of 122 consonants. The more typical consonant inventory size is in the low twenties.
Oh joy (scratch, scratch)
Poison ivy is poised to be one of the big winners in this global, human-caused phenomenon. Scientists expect the dreaded three-leafed vine will take full advantage of warmer temperatures and rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to grow faster and bigger — and become even more toxic...
First video of Fight Club
Top 100 CG animations of Boss Fights from 2880 submissions.
"New York City is under attack by SWARMS of KILLER BEES"
The video for Wu-Tang Clan's Triumph superimposed a story of invasion by killer bees onto the one of greatest posse cuts of all time.
The Truth Is In Here (Maybe)
Yesterday (September 10th) was the 30th anniversary of the premiere of The X-Files, the paranormal-sorta television phenomenon starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. To mark the occasion, Rolling Stone has posted its ranking of all 217 episodes, worst to best.
No waka waka to be heard
Atari Archive, an excellent game-by-game video retrospective of the library of the Atari VCS (aka the Atari 2600) covers its infamous port of Pac-Man. (38 minutes)
The first death is in the heart, Harry
The case of Disco Elysium
illustrates the shortcomings of IP rights as protection for artists. Consequently, it contains a lot of lessons for the labor movement when it comes to the arts, and serves as a reminder that creative workers are, at the end of the day, workers.
But this is not just an academic exercise. It’s a human story about the intimate consequences of capitalist exploitation. “I got my soul ripped out of me,” Kurvitz told me over Zoom in April of 2023. “I got my skull cracked open and my brain lifted out of it by a fifty-five-year-old financial criminal.”
(text from article)
If You Want To Be Friends, Then Why Aren’t You Friendly?
In a new essay, A. R. Moxon looks at calls for "civility" decrying how people are shunning others for holding hateful positions, and how the position dismisses the harm of such positions, as well as what friendship and acceptance actually mean. (SLSubstack)
Time in the Sun
Stained Glass Sundials
Imagine a beautiful stained glass window that has a sundial face somewhere on it which permits you to tell the correct time from inside or outside! The main purpose of this not-for-profit website is to reawaken interest in these rare jewels of art and science so that new ones will be constructed and the old ones will be preserved.
I hope that someone gets my
72 years ago in Iowa, a worker named Mary Foss wrote a message onto an egg. She put the egg into a carton and sent the carton out for distribution. Last month, someone responded.
Feeling lunar gravity
Had ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface.
Let's check in on humanity's exploration of space as autumn 2023 draws nigh, starting with the Sun and working outwards from there.
A Mystery That Should Not Exist
Sarah Elizabeth, author of the upcoming book The Art of Fantasy, posted in May that she'd been searching for years for the name of the artist who painted the cover for the 1976 Dell Laurel Leaf edition of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Four months of dead ends from various internet sleuths later, the folks at WBUR's Endless Thread podcast have announced the mystery is solved and described how they did it. (Full transcript available at the link.)
The Best of America
"If that had been us that attacked the Capitol a couple of years ago, they would have shot us."
Remembering the March on Washington 60 years ago.
Spanish WWC Win Marred by Assault
In the immediate aftermath of a thrilling final that saw Spain's first Women's World Cup victory, Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain's soccer federation, kissed player Jenni Hermoso, which she has said was done without her consent. FIFA has suspended him for 90 days, but Rubiales refuses to resign, the Spanish soccer federation is threatening to sue Hermoso for giving her side of the story on Instagram, and the entire women's team is on strike.
There's a Manual for That
- How to draw Ronald McDonald
- How to be a Playboy bunny
- How to care for your Pet Rock
- How to run the Haunted Mansion
- How to fly to the Moon
- How to commit sabotage
Native Street Style
If the Indigenous community has its version of the Met Gala, this would be it.
Inlaid turquoise sunglasses? Don’t mind if I do. AuntieCreations - Lynn Traylor - making the ultimate beaded hat. Goodday, bringing it as always. “When you and your silly jingle chain make it to Vogue.” IndigiGoth looks. On Wednesday we wear pink to the Native Guitars Tour. Your earrings should be bigger. There are ribbon skirts, and then there are ribbon gowns. Raven Bright showing us how to move. Velvet and a wealth of turquoise. It’s the bomber jackets for me.
This Is What Transgender Eradication Looks Like
Trans teachers fired. Trans inmates detransitioned. Adult care banned. Allies killed. We are entering into a new phase of anti-trans politics, and eradication is the goal.
Yellowknife, NWT, Canada evacuating due to encroaching fire
Yellowknife, the largest settlement, capital, and only city in Canada's Northwest Territories, is being totally evacuated by land and air due to an encroaching fire.
Fundraising Initiative: "Ask Mods Anything" (AMA) Session!
We're thrilled to have you join us for this fun event to engage, learn, and support MetaFilter. As we strive to make a positive impact, we're excited to open the floor to your questions.
Playing with video games
YouTuber Any Austin has a quirky approach to his presenting, and to his subject matter. My favorite I've seen is Snow! (this is about video games) [16m30s]. He also explores "unexpected and odd places" in several games, including Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2005) [14m], Skyrim [14m], even Mario Kart 8 [13m]. Here's the first part of a series on breath holding for different characters [13m]. One of his unemployment surveys of video game towns [Castle Town, Twilight Princess, 18m]. His YouTube page lists many more.
A Creative Act of Dandyism
He did not merely attempt to imitate his social betters, impersonate a gentleman, or claim the privileges of Whiteness. Instead, he deployed style and self-presentation to invent a new kind of negro. In a city where “Black gentleman” and “Black dandy” were unthinkable oxymorons, and where Black men in fine dress were read either as liveried servants or absurd, out-of-place upstarts, Raúl forced White Porteños to contend with and make sense of a flamboyant Black man who turned style into a feature of his singular brand. And not just, as his studio photograph attests, the prescribed buttoned-down style of the “gentleman”, but the more knowing, often outrageous style of the bohemian dandy. from The Black Dandy of Buenos Aires, Racial Fictions and the Search for Raúl Grigera [CW: historical racism]
Nahre Sol and Her Mother
YouTuber Nahre Sol is a classical pianist and composer, and as such posts videos on the creative and technical aspects of making music. But today I'd like to present two of her more personal videos, which she made with her non-musician mother. In the first, she and her mom play a piano duet. In the second, they compose a piece together. The videos are about 10 minutes each and heartwarming as heck. There are some sweet mother-daughter moments (some funny, some touching), cute dogs, and, of course, good music.
"My Country 'Tis of Thee" was the national anthem of the United States.
Analog horror filmmaker Alex Casanas (MISTERMANTICORE) is perhaps best known on YouTube for the Monument Mythos. This is a wide-spanning series of alternate history of the US, past and present, but it mainly focuses on the time of the 37th President, James Dean, and occasionally his best friend, Richard Nixon.
The lore goes three seasons deep, but it begins simply, with the CORNERFOLK, and goes into rich, strange places, some more like short fiction than film -- the LIBERTYLURKER (3:48), the mitosis of Alcatraz (4:07). It's best to take them in order to catch the full scope of exactly what the hell is going on here, which, by turns, is dreadful, hilarious, and heartbreaking -- as when the Ever Given got up and walked away (16:22).
The lore goes three seasons deep, but it begins simply, with the CORNERFOLK, and goes into rich, strange places, some more like short fiction than film -- the LIBERTYLURKER (3:48), the mitosis of Alcatraz (4:07). It's best to take them in order to catch the full scope of exactly what the hell is going on here, which, by turns, is dreadful, hilarious, and heartbreaking -- as when the Ever Given got up and walked away (16:22).
Every Avenger Ranked by How Likely They’d Be to Save Me, a Muslim
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? More like Earth’s Mightiest MENACES! It’s no secret that the Avengers cause a lot of collateral damage — so they have to prioritize who to save and when. Ever since Thor flew through the local Halal Guys, I’ve found myself thinking about which ones I can count on to have my back if they know I’m Muslim. Here’s my best guess, arranged in a neatly ranked list based on existing reports.
The Historic Battles of “Hot Labor Summer”
TODAY: 99-year-old trucking company Yellow shuts down, putting 30,000 out of work, including 22,000 Teamsters. NPR reports that both the Teamsters and Yellow's management blame each other for the shutdown, with the freight company claiming that the threat of a strike induced volatility and crashed the stock price. What else is going on in organized labor in the U.S.?
Feel free to share your positive feelings...
On the erosion of film criticism by influencers.
Manuela Lazic laments the decline of film criticism's vitality.
Bit Nap
Sleep is a liability for creatures as soft and tasty as humans. If humans have evolved into such a liability, there must be a benefit to balance the risk. There is evidence that sleep in general and dreaming specifically provides a state for association. In our dreams, we can revisit memories and make connections in ways not possible while consumed with the activity of consciousness. This would allow strengthening associations through repetition without having to repeat the physical event ... While computers are ideal for multitasking, they have performance differences in trying to develop associations as events unfold versus processing and pruning after the fact, once removed from the situation (like humans, robots benefit from hindsight even without rear-facing sensors). Despite the apparent benefits, when dividing human and machine tasks for optimization, one would expect resistance to signing robots up for nap time. from Why Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [Modern War Institute]
A low barrier to entry TTRPG
With a freely downloadable, compact ruleset, fast character creation and narratively focused gameplay, Cairn is a low barrier to entry table-top roleplaying game. It's derived from Chris McDowall's Into the Odd and Ben Milton's Knave and is a prime example of the emerging NSR scene.
Several dedicated adventures have been produced by the game's enthusiasts. Popular starters include Tannic and Barrow of the Elf King. Alternatively, there's a growing list of conversions of classic OSR modules.
Most recently, creator Yochai-Gal has recently made available a playtest of the game's second edition, meaning that there's never been a better time to get on board with the Cairn community.
More of these games should have ended with the monkey hugging the dog
YouTuber oddheader recruited his wife Mrs. odd to review and rank nearly 60 Barbie video games. I played Every Barbie game. HELP ME. (Ft. Mrs Odd) [1h16m] presents them in low-to-high ranking, so it jumps around in time, but grows in quality as it goes on. It's a fascinating and insightful look through the prism that is current rampant Barbie commentary. It's also much less pink than you're expecting.
How to fight fatigue
The Guardian's Hattie Garlick offers tips on fighting fatigue. Our circadian rhythms are important, says Ramlakhan. “But built into those is a shorter rhythm – the ultradian rhythm – a cycle of about 90 minutes.” She is, therefore, a passionate proponent of regular, short rests, ideally every 90 minutes and for three to five minutes, with occasional longer breaks. “If we were to live in rhythm with our cycles, we’d allow ourselves the intermittent, intentional replenishment of energy. We’d oscillate, rather than drive on relentlessly and into the ground.” Resting does not, however, involve social media scrolling. “We get our energy from physical, mental, emotional and spiritual practices,” Ramlakham adds. Her prescription might involve: “eating something healthy, hugging someone, playing with the dog, or going outside to look at the sky.”
You are Atlas
You are Atlas. You hold up the sky.
A (very silly) not-really-a-game by Aidan Strong, who also has a blog with interesting thoughts on gaming.
Friday Flash Fun Forever
Still mourning the death of Flash, and with it an entire era of online gaming? Enter ooooooooo.ooo (9o3o), the new searchable (and playable!) web frontend for the incredible Flashpoint preservation project. Browse over 145,000 preserved Flash games powered by the Ruffle emulator, and share your favorites with a simple link. Highlights:
DICEWARS -
Fly Guy -
Alien Hominid -
Samorost -
Crimson Room -
Nanaca Crash! -
Line Rider -
Don't Shoot the Puppy -
Bloxorz -
Gimme Friction Baby -
The Impossible Quiz -
Portal: The Flash Version -
Feed the Head -
Sprout -
Achievement Unlocked -
QWOP -
Cursor*10 -
Dino Run -
Grid16 -
Meat Boy -
SHIFT -
You Have to Burn the Rope -
6 Differences -
Canabalt -
Don't Shit Your Pants! -
Nevermore 3 - Small Worlds -
Don't Look Back -
Redder -
VVVVVV (demo) -
Synopsis Quest -
The Room Tribute -
The Scale of the Universe -
Mitoza -
Wonderputt -
Bullet Bill 3 -
Frog Fractions -
Dys4ia -
Snakes on a Cartesian Plane -
Want (gulp) more? Download Flashpoint Infinity to stream over 156,000 games from 70+ platforms (including Shockwave, Java, and Unity) plus over 27,000 animations... or clear some space for the monster 1.76 terabyte Flashpoint Ultimate to store every single file locally. So much more inside!