MetaFilter

Tantalus , one of the longest theatrical experiences ever has finally opened in London, and according to one critic, there is no greater endurance test. Always looking for an angle, The Guardian sent four journalists around London on May Day to see what other culture can be experienced in 12 hours, 40 mins. Merope Mills did film - "9:15pm. Both Dennis and Annette are working at the box office and, on seeing me again, Annette throws me the look of a concerned landlady, as in, "Haven't you had enough yet?" I, drunk on moving images, defy her concern and head straight back in. I might as well not have moved - it's straight back to screen five where I'm feeling rather territorial about the sudden influx of people. Nod off in the epic Traffic (18) for 15 minutes but dream about Michael Douglas so decide this little discrepancy still counts."
comment posted at 3:22 PM on May-3-01

MS VP Challenges GPL on Moral Grounds In Speech
Admitting that the company is feeling pressure from open source, free alternatives, Microsoft's Craig Mundie, lecturing at NYU, will speak out against G.P.L., which he considers impractical, dangerous and morally wrong. Stallman is quoted as saying something ludicrously funny about the American revolution.
comment posted at 3:23 PM on May-3-01

Marriage should be like owning a dog... Or so Rod Stewart believes. Stewart describes just why marriage licenses should be annually renewable, just like dog licenses.
comment posted at 9:28 PM on May-3-01

If you try the voluntary contributions model, be ready to take some flak. Steve Outing of content-exchange.com talks about his recent "pledge drive." Mostly self-evident conclusions, but more grist for the mill.
comment posted at 12:53 PM on May-3-01

McDonald's Fries NOT Vegetarian After All While I realize that a large percentage of veggies avoid McDonald's on principle, an equally large percentage of them go there for the fries.

A McDonald's spokesman said the restaurant chain had never claimed to offer vegetarian food and that it freely provides ingredient information to anyone who requests it.

I can assure you that no where on that ingredient sheet does it say there's animal products in the fries. They went to a good deal of trouble to switch to vegetable oil so they could say they were healthier. If they've always contained the beef fat and they are not trying to hide that, then why the hell isn't it on the ingredient list?
comment posted at 9:16 PM on May-3-01

John Salvati: not funny. Man imprissoned for 30 YEARS, known to be innocent by FBI, FBI kept him there b/c if the real perp was caught, dozens of informants would have been revealed. 30 years, gone, makes me sick feeling. There will be more news on this soon, I hope.
comment posted at 12:29 PM on May-3-01

is this the beginning of the end for tobacco companies? an award for damages caused by passive smoking has sparked huge debate here in oz.
comment posted at 12:35 PM on May-3-01
comment posted at 12:17 PM on May-4-01

It's almost over! and just a few thousand moments too late for most. Unfortunately Survivor 2 isn't the end. With the impending writer's strike still looming over Hollywood, reality programming will become even more commonplace, and may sound the death knell for television. Unless they actually start getting good. [more]
comment posted at 1:00 PM on May-3-01

Two Air Force servicemen sue the DoD, federal agencies and the manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine the military's forcing personnel to take. I don't know what kind of case they have, but I sure don't blame them. And the ramifications may be even more far-reaching and dangerous.

Of course Spreading The Fear seems to be a Bush Administration priority.

comment posted at 10:22 PM on May-2-01

any movement you can dish out. if you look underground, chances are cool hunters will stop you in your tracks and ask to take your picture and learn about your ways. it sure feels good to be recognized. where do they go with your picture, you'd wonder, i mean you never hear from them again. turns out these guys turn around and sell your image to corporations who turn around and mass market it. so much for cool.
comment posted at 9:42 PM on May-2-01

The Baffler offices have been destroyed in a fire.

From their frontpage: "[W]e have no computers, no contact lists, no rolodexes, no desks, and no desk lamps." Those of you familiar with The Baffler, or their book Commodify Your Dissent, know that they are a great source for acute cultural criticism. If this fire deals them a fatal blow, the world will have lost one of its finest publications. (Follow the link for information on where to send donations.)
comment posted at 9:31 PM on May-2-01

Bianca's is shutting down. One of the oldest community sites on the web is going away. It's been kept alive for so long through the hard work, passion, and sheer enthusiasm of the founders and volunteers who cared about the site. You Burning Man participants take heart though, Bianca's will most likely still continue on as a theme camp.

Bianca loves you.
comment posted at 1:53 PM on Apr-27-01

American Hollow - The Bowling family has lived in the same rural hollow in Kentucky for seven generations. The Washington Post tells their story using the Bowlings' own words (including audio clips) and photographs with a Web site you might expect from PBS. Urban Americans (and others, too) might be surprised to learn that there are many, many families in the U.S. who still live like the Bowlings.

"It's 1998 and we just last year put running water in the house, into my kitchen sink. We did it ourselves. We bought line, hooked into Iree's well, dug up a ditch and ran it to the house. But I still need a bathroom and a septic tank. I got a rinse tub that we take a bath in. I'd rather have a bathtub, but meanwhile I can make do."
comment posted at 2:13 PM on Apr-27-01

New web ads: one, two. what do you think? Good balance between ad friendly/obnoxious?
comment posted at 1:51 PM on Apr-27-01

google restores deja view google restores usenet archives; according to the article, it's a better search engine than before.
comment posted at 2:33 PM on Apr-27-01

Customer gives sick waitress $1,000 tip
i love hearing stories like this, it bolsters my faith in people.
comment posted at 10:28 AM on Apr-27-01

One small step for man, one giant leap for Tito. It looks like the American millionaire is actually going to make it to space despite NASA objecting. The launch is scheduled for tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and he'll be held responsible if he breaks anything while he's up there.
comment posted at 3:07 PM on Apr-27-01

What do you do when your news company decides to let you go? Why you post a revenge site to mock your former employer.
comment posted at 10:38 AM on Apr-27-01
comment posted at 10:42 AM on Apr-27-01

The Harvard Living Wage Campaign has been sitting in blocking the administration building for 8 days, 8 hours, and 58 minutes. They've been nytimesed and you'd think the college would have to listen to Ben Affleck (and Ted Kennedey and 200 faculty and...).
comment posted at 9:03 PM on Apr-26-01
comment posted at 9:41 PM on Apr-26-01

100 Days of Bush The DNC gets their digs in. I especially liked the Harper's like index. Their commercials section doesn't seem to be active yet - but there's some political ads here
comment posted at 8:14 PM on Apr-26-01
comment posted at 8:54 PM on Apr-26-01
comment posted at 11:33 PM on Apr-26-01

A penny for your thoughts? Why not one quintillion pennies!?
comment posted at 8:34 PM on Apr-26-01

Oops! "Weren’t you supposed to watch him?" "Me? I thought you were watching him."

This is what happens when they let the Shrub pretend he is actually in charge.
comment posted at 2:17 PM on Apr-26-01

The Webby Awards List is up... Didn't see it posted here yet and thought this list would spawn some interesting conversation.
comment posted at 2:02 PM on Apr-26-01

Yet another "Jackass" injury This time some teenagers were videotaping themselves performing a stunt in which a guy dodges an oncoming car, apparently in hopes of getting on the show. Interesting video of the event, from both inside and outside the car.
comment posted at 6:55 AM on Apr-26-01

Half.com expands to list used electronics. The site (owned by EBay) now allows sellers to list used electronics, computers, sporting goods, and trading cards, but receiving a defective or damaged computer will prove to be much harder to rectify with Customer Service than receiving a scratched CD or DVD. Not to mention the postage cost...
comment posted at 7:09 AM on Apr-26-01

Who Let the Blogs Out? I would just like to say, for the record, that my juggernautal legal team is currently assembling their case against Yahoo for copyright infringement.
comment posted at 9:22 PM on Apr-25-01

Ashcroft and Bush make their move. "Justice Department lawyers have warned that they may soon be forced to abandon the federal government's landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry because the Bush administration has not proposed enough funding to keep the litigation alive, according to a confidential memo reviewed by The Washington Post."
comment posted at 9:30 PM on Apr-25-01

Feeling chest pains? Maybe it's that gun in your pocket! Physicians For Social Responsibility want all doctors to screen patients for gun ownership, ostensibly so that they can warn them about the physical hazards said ownership can cause. Hmmm...doctors don't do that for toasters, trampolines, hammers, paper, and other things that can harm you. I'm no gun lover - don't own one, never will, but this smacks of political agenda.
comment posted at 4:34 PM on Apr-26-01

Sen. Bob Kerrey tells a personal Vietnam horror story
And the NYT has posted an advance copy of its Sunday Magazine story to avoid being scooped, which is a first, I believe.
[via <http://www.nytimes.com>] Kerrey, as a lieutenant in Vietnam helped kill a village of Vietnamese women and children in 1969. How many more skeletons in the closets of the current leaders of America? And will this spur the actual beginning of American critical reflection on Vietnam, or will it blow over in a few weeks like when MacNamara's autobiographical confession came out a few years ago?
comment posted at 4:51 PM on Apr-26-01

InfoBots are coming. I believe we've touched on this before, but now it seems to be moving from concept to reality: Instant Messenger "buddies" that are actually bots. You send them an IM with a question, such as "Hey pal, what's the weather in Thunder Bay, Ontario?" And it IMs you back with the answer, almost instantaneously. No waiting for messy web sites to load, no funky searches to run. ActiveBuddy has been the most, um, active in developing the technology, but they've been working on it forever without anything to show to the public. Now, it's out there, somewhere. CNET is reporting today that an ActiveBuddy beta bot has been live for a few months; you can play with it right now if you know its name. (And if you do know its name, a tip would be appreciated. I've been jonesing for this for a good while.) A more public version is supposed to be out in a few weeks. Here buddy buddy buddy...
comment posted at 6:39 AM on Apr-26-01

Why it sucks to be in the media spotlight. Need I say more? Why they felt the need to put this in print for the whole world to see is beyond my comprehension. My God... can you imagine?
comment posted at 3:37 PM on Apr-25-01

Robert Downey, Jr. arrested yet again on drug charges. He was fired from "Ally McBeal" directly afterward. Is anyone even surprised anymore?
comment posted at 3:30 PM on Apr-25-01

Hello, Peril. The so-called model minority inspire an amazing amount of mistrust, according to a survey of US residents. Featuring the revelation that one third of those polled "said Chinese Americans are more loyal to China than to the United States. "
comment posted at 12:37 PM on Apr-25-01

Generation X washed up? Okay, so it became a marketing term for a demographic I'm part of, and I usually cringe when seeing something described as 'Gen-X', but I still saw some truths while reading this. Was that it? Was the 90's Internet revolution and crash our time in the sun, and now we're "so over"? (And do Gen-Xers really range from 20-38 years old now?) [via obscurestore]
comment posted at 10:52 AM on Apr-25-01

Should all of America pay for Davenport? If a community has the ability to avoid a natural disaster and chooses not to, are the rest of us responsible? How many times. Apparently, Davenport benefits economically from the great view, unobstructed by a floodwall. Maybe it should use some of those benefits to clean up the mess?
comment posted at 10:56 AM on Apr-25-01

Dubya-bashing and Porn to be Salon's salvation? ...Oh wait, there's sassy synopses of reality TV shows too!
comment posted at 10:20 AM on Apr-25-01
comment posted at 12:54 PM on Apr-25-01
comment posted at 6:44 AM on Apr-26-01

Free speech rights of big tobacco Another case for the Supreme Court. This one involves billboard ads close to schools. Protect our kids or protect free speech?
comment posted at 9:53 PM on Apr-24-01

This auction at eBay has to be one of the more entertaining after effects of the dotcom meltdown. Personally, the last suggestion in the ad would be my preferred usage of the item for sale...
comment posted at 11:00 PM on Apr-24-01

Granted I don't speed anymore, but handcuffs hurt. Is it just me? But the Supreme court, it seems, cares nothing for the citizenry of this country. Who's hoops are they jumping through, dragging us along with our sore handcuffed wrists?
comment posted at 3:04 PM on Apr-24-01
comment posted at 3:25 PM on Apr-24-01

cell phone rings? the next napster. (could, could, could. do you think record companies will actually pursue this?)
comment posted at 12:10 PM on Apr-24-01

Corrupt Chinese Officials Plan Escape Routes. Why? Because they believe the collapse of the Chinese government is imminent. Their planning is premature, experts quoted here say. But we all know that experts can often be . . . well, not so expert. Wild headline, to say the least.
comment posted at 12:35 AM on Apr-24-01

Fatboy Slim and the Master of Badass team up to produce one of the phattest music videos I've seen in a long time. I didn't know Christopher Walken was trained as a dancer! (RealPlayer; also possibly dated)
comment posted at 3:12 PM on Apr-23-01