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Uncle Neptune's Song Factory is a treasure trove of old time music preformed by Mr. Neptune himself with his ukulele. The blog also sometimes features mp3s of the original 78s. From the Uncle's introduction "I have only to offer to you the songs that help make my world more sweet, and it is my hope that it may do so for you."
comment posted at 8:43 AM on Jan-11-06

Obese and overweight people do not want to lose weight.
comment posted at 2:05 PM on Jan-10-06

"I didn't know Jack London was such a good photographer." Jack London and his wife Charmian took photos several hours after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, and he wrote an eyewitness account for Collier's (it was the most he was ever paid per word--25 cents--for his writing). [more inside]
comment posted at 12:26 PM on Jan-6-06

Christian PepsiBlue. "Reviews" of a book with very similar content are all over the place. The author says she had to get special permission from God to write parts of the book. Is this definitive proof that God condones blogspamming?
comment posted at 10:36 AM on Jan-6-06

Pity Ron & Russell Mael of rock group Sparks. For over 30 years the brothers have been making groundbreaking, inspiring music, but, for the most part, the record-buying public's reaction has been subdued, if not totally apathetic. True, Sparks did enjoy a brief spell of success in Europe during the glam-rock era of the 70s, and again in the USA during the mid 80s. But to date chart success has been fairly elusive. However all this could be about to change! Sparks are due to release their 20th album, 'Hello Young Lovers', in February. And already the response from music critics has been highly positive. According to lead-singer Russell, "We've taken up the challenge to push things further in pop music. We don't hear much of a sense of ambition or adventure in music today". It looks like Sparks could finally achieve the mainstream chart success that has largely eluded them for the past three decades.
comment posted at 1:01 PM on Jan-5-06

What I heard about Iraq in 2005. Eliot Weinberger provides an updated companion piece to his earlier list (previously discussed on MeFi).
comment posted at 7:02 PM on Dec-30-05
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Derailroaded: Inside The Mind Of Wild Man Fischer . Larry "Wild Man" Fischer was a schizophrenic street musician on LA's Sunset Strip back in the hippie daze. Frank Zappa took him under his wing and produced a double album entitled An Evening With Wild Man Fischer (full audio available) [mi]
comment posted at 12:56 PM on Dec-29-05
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comment posted at 6:42 PM on Dec-30-05

MAN - Mothers Against Noise. "Noise is music that uses unpleasant or painful or extremely loud or discordant sound. Noise is also a very dangerous musical trend that is hell bent on destroying civilized culture, this anti-cultural movement is quickly sweeping the globe, and is very dangerous to our youth." via MonkeyFilter and our own panoptican.
comment posted at 11:27 AM on Dec-26-05

Derek Bailey has died. Here's an interview with him from 2001, and another about playing in Japan. Bailey was considered by many to be the father of free improvisation, beginning with his band Joseph Holbrooke, with Tony Oxley and Gavin Bryars, and, in addition to his voluminous discography, is the author of a book on the nature of improvisation.
comment posted at 11:37 AM on Dec-26-05

AllMusic.com's "Tapestry" playlist generator/recommendation doohickey has a demo that is open to the public. Through this page you can generate playlists based on similar songs, or by building a series of Styles, Tones, and Themes to get a specific list of music you want to check out. I really hope someone like iTunes can integrate this info so that I can hit one button on my iPod and generate intelligent playlists on the fly.
comment posted at 12:07 PM on Dec-26-05

Plastic Ono Man
comment posted at 8:33 AM on Dec-17-05

"To avoide the tediouse repetition of these woordes: is equalle to: I will settle as I doe often in woorke use, a paire of paralleles, or gemowe lines of one lengthe: ======, bicause noe .2. thynges, can be moare equalle." Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde (1510–1558) invented the equals sign in his 1557 work The Whetstone of Witte, which also introduced "Zenzizenzizenzic", the eighth power of a number. Recorde had advocated the + and – symbols in his 1540 work The Grounde of Artes. He died in debtor's prison in 1558. Read, watch, or listen to a recent lecture that links the equals sign to developments in art, navigation, and astronomy. (Wikipedia)
comment posted at 11:40 AM on Dec-16-05

Le Roi et L’oiseau - is an old school “anime” by Paul Grimault, the script and score were contributed to by Jacques Prévert. If those two names are not good enough for you then I also submit for your approval that the style in this film has been referenced as a source of inspiration for Hayao Miyazaki. Although the wikipedia article doesn't back it up, so ill link to another site that does. At any rate watching this movie will leave you wondering just how many people have ripped it off over the years.
comment posted at 6:33 PM on Dec-23-05

It was twenty-five years ago today. John Lennon was murdered in front of the Dakota building in Manhattan. While there have been many conspiracy theories surrrounding it, most reasonable people agree that his assassin was simply deranged.

Rest in peace, John. We'll keep imagining in your absence.
comment posted at 7:04 AM on Dec-8-05
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comment posted at 10:31 AM on Dec-8-05

The Ledge He appeared on Laugh In, produced one of the truly weirdest 45s of the 60's, and was one of many inspirations for David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. Meet Norman Carl Odam, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy.
comment posted at 2:03 PM on Dec-7-05

The only bad thing I can say about the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive is that it's been on the internets for 12 years but has never been posted to Metafilter.
comment posted at 1:34 PM on Dec-5-05

Fritz Richmond, former washtub bass player for the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, has died. Richmond pioneered the use of the homemade washtub bass, and taught himself to use the jug as a musical instrument. He was one of the favorites of the Cambridge folk scene of the 1960s. More here.
comment posted at 10:25 AM on Nov-30-05

"And this is where things got REALLY ugly. First off, Smith was taken aback when Peters asked him, in all sincerity, 'Kal-El’? Who’s this ‘Kal-El’ guy you keep mentioning in the script?'" The whole sordid tale of the making of Superman V. From the Kevin Smith script that was ultimately thrashed to the Tim Burton "vision" (which involved Tim Allen as Brainiac and Superman driving a Super-mobile instead of flying) to Nicholas Cage fighting to try and keep the character's depiction true to the comics. With the movie finished and due to hit theaters next year, will the last son of Krypton still be able to impress audiences and the fans?
comment posted at 3:23 PM on Nov-27-05

What have you told your children about Muhammad Ali? "I was frequently left with tingling all over because I had been in the presence of such a great man and still humbled by his compassion, tolerance and understanding." Inspired by this weekend's airing by ESPN Classic of most of Tyson's fights, I started thinking about the difference between these two men. Ali obviously transcended his sport and has become more than just a boxer while Tyson is clearly a lost and troubled soul. And yet Tyson's story still inspires reflection. Nietzche's statement that "What someone is, begins to be revealed when his talent abates, when he stops showing us what he can do" is perfectly illustrated by the twilight years of these two legendary boxers.
comment posted at 3:29 PM on Nov-27-05

And here is 'You Either Get It or You Don't:' Conversion Experiences and The Dr. Phil Show. Also on hand, are They Refused Jesus Too: A Biblical Paradigm in the Writing of Bob Dylan and Popular Music on Christianity in the United States: Christianity's Failure to Love. Taste, perhaps, A Potion too Strong?: Challenges in Translating the Religious Significance of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings to Film. Or consider Curses and Catharsis in Red Sox Nation: Baseball and Ritual Violence in American Culture.
All are selections from The Journal Of Religion And Popular Culture.
comment posted at 3:47 PM on Nov-27-05

We all know the story: little Elli, a girl living in the steppes of Kanzas with her dog Totoshka, is blown by a hurricane (stirred up by the wicked witch Gingema) all the way to Magic Land, where she meets the Cowardly Lion, the Iron Woodman, and the scarecrow Strashila and has to make her way to the Emerald City to find the magician Gudvin so she can get back home... What, you don't remember it that way? Didn't you read The Wizard of the Emerald City and its much-loved sequels Urfin Jus and his Wooden Soldiers, The Seven Underground Kings, The Fiery God of the Marrans, The Yellow Fog, and The Mystery of the Deserted Castle? Ah, you're not Russian! Listen [RealAudio] to a five-minute description (on Studio 360) of Alexander Volkov's Russified versions of Baum (with illustrations by Leonid Vladimirsky) and how they captivated children and adults in the Soviet Union (you even get a bit of the famous song Мы в город Изумрудный/ Идем дорогой трудной ["We're going to the Emerald City by a difficult road..."]); visit the Emerald City website (Russian version, where all the links work); and see the wonderful illustrations at this site, which links to the texts of all six novels (click on Читать...)—in Russian, but the images need no explanation. (Fun fact: the word "Oz" doesn't occur anywhere in the Russian versions.) And if you're interested in other alternate versions, go to Oz Outside the Famous Forty. (Via P. Kerim Friedman.)
comment posted at 3:26 PM on Nov-25-05
comment posted at 3:35 PM on Nov-27-05

Michael Brown starts Disaster Planning Firm After doing a "heck of a job", the former Commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association teaches others how to avoid stepping in shit.
comment posted at 11:01 AM on Nov-25-05

Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer: A Review of Recent Scientific Literature (PDF). There's a summary and analysis of the report in this article. (Via the Organic Consumers Association).
comment posted at 6:56 AM on Nov-13-05

"A car riged [sic] with a VBIED [vehicle-borne improvised explosive device] blows up on bridge in Hit, Iraq." (Caution: contains audio with profanity.)
comment posted at 1:39 PM on Nov-9-05

Author John Fowles, 79, died at home this weekend, after a lengthy illness. "I know I have a reputation as a cantankerous man of letters and I don't try and play it down" - John Fowles in 2003. One of the contemporary greats, author of The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Collector, The Magus... there seems like there should be more articles on this, but alas.
comment posted at 10:14 AM on Nov-7-05
comment posted at 2:43 PM on Nov-7-05

The Swing Years And Beyond is on in a matter of minutes. Five hours of swing, lounge, big band jazz and rhythm 'n blues is streamed live for five hours from 7 PM to 12 Midnight Pacific Standard Time every Saturday night. Streamed live but not archived, alas. But enjoy, you who tune in tonight. You who do not, bookmark this thread and tune in next Saturday. It's a great program.
comment posted at 6:19 AM on Nov-6-05

Albert Brooks is set to release a movie called Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World . No doubt we'll be hearing more on that, but let us reserve judgement. Meanwhile, for those who need persuading, here are some links concerning 13th century sufi and funny man Nasruddin . His people are understandably proud and you can find a lot more of his stuff, probably better than what I've put up. (This post prompted in part by Rumi post earlier today- for those who might be put off by the current trendiness of that most excellent poet.) Enjoy.
comment posted at 6:26 AM on Nov-6-05

Body Worlds is an art exhibition that toured Europe from 2001-2003. Retooled for 'aught five, it has made its way to the New World for stays in Philadelphia and Toronto. The brainchild of Gunther von Hagens, a German anatomist, progenitor and patentee of the plastination technique of preservation, Body Worlds features actual human corpses: plastinated, dissected and posed. Nutjob? Artist? Criminal? von Hagens says his aims are primarily educational. Slate has an informative sideshow about the current exhibit, its origins and predecessors. Criticisms of this work run the gamut from predictable outrage to marxist. But if you're interested, you can request plastination services, or go to the man himself and donate your body(cool downloadable brochure on this page). And, of course, what would a good exhibition be without a shop? Previously discussed, the first time around, here, here, here,and here. Similar exhibit in San Francisco this past summer called "The Universe Within". Plastination is also apparently a musical phenomenon.
comment posted at 5:48 AM on Nov-5-05
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comment posted at 12:54 PM on Nov-6-05

Did Bach compose Tocatta and Fugue in D minor?
comment posted at 7:30 AM on Nov-2-05
comment posted at 9:25 AM on Nov-2-05

On my 19th birthday in 1917, we were in the trenches at Passchendaele... Haig put a three-day barrage on the Germans, and thought, "Well, there can't be much left of them." I think it was the Yorkshires and Lancashires that went over. I watched them as they came out of their dugouts and the German machine guns just mowed them down. I doubt whether any of them reached the front line.
Harry Patch, Private, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Born June 17 1898.
Of the millions who fought in WWI, only a handful are still alive today -- and all are now well over 100 years old. With the horror of the trenches about to slip from living memory, Max Arthur has tracked down and interviewed these last survivors of the 'carnage incomparable'.
comment posted at 11:08 AM on Nov-1-05
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comment posted at 12:57 PM on Nov-1-05

A statue of Tommie Smith and John Carlos was recently unveiled at San Jose State University. Smith and Carlos were (in)famous for their raised fist protest on the medal podium at the 1968 Olympics, for which they paid a heavy price.
comment posted at 10:04 AM on Oct-26-05
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comment posted at 1:54 PM on Oct-26-05