MetaFilter posts by jonson.
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Giant Spiders is a website run by Guy Tansley, who spends his time collecting and photographing mankind's greatest known enemy, the Giant Spider, hopefully immediately prior to crushing them to death.
posted on Oct-8-06 at 1:20 PM
Sex education of trainables, a 1970's instructional video for educating the mentally handicapped about human sexuality is just one of the many excellent ephemera uploaded to Google Video by Slave to the Man Productions. Along the same lines (from the collection) are Parents Talk to Children About Sex and Walt Disney's Attack Plan for Syphilis.
posted on Oct-7-06 at 11:08 AM
Float (youtube) is the first of a series of short films designed to stir the imagination. The brief film shows the streets of Melbourne as the letters & numbers from every sign in town begin to peel off & float away on the wind. The project lives here, and open contributions are being listed here.
posted on Oct-6-06 at 9:23 AM
It's October, and across the nation, the search for the most sincere Pumpkin Patch begins anew. For those unfamiliar (or those wishing to reacquaint themselves) with the rituals & lore of the Great Pumpkin, the entire CBS Special is online here. Also, for the blind readers of this site, the long out-of-print spoken word radiodrama version of the Great Pumpkin can be found here.
posted on Oct-5-06 at 9:18 AM
During the Great Depression, thousands of young people wrote to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for help. They asked for clothing, money, and other forms of assistance.
posted on Oct-4-06 at 6:54 AM
The Imperial History of the Middle East is a flash based map of the Middle East, with a sliding timeline showing the various forces that have established dominance in the region over the last 5,000 years. Just one of many interesting interactive demonstrations over at Maps Of War.
posted on Oct-2-06 at 10:57 PM
Charles Krafft is a porcelain artist who creates detailed munitions made of fine china, painted servingware commemorating modern atrocities, and "Spone" art, bone china made using human bones as the base material.
posted on Oct-1-06 at 10:51 PM
This Must Be Designed By Idiots is an online art exhibit of three Amsterdam-based mixed media artists, where one of the media is taxidermy, and the other is some disturbing combination of fashion design, jewelry, glassblowing & handicrafts. The end result is compellingly creepy, and my personal favorite is this piece, a mouse permanently at rest inside the glass belly of a glass cat.
posted on Sep-28-06 at 11:58 PM
Long before Robert Johnson ever went down to the crossroads, violinist & composer Niccolo Paganini was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for musical ability. Evidence against this theory: Paganini's 5th Caprice actually prevented the devil from stealing The Karate Kid's soul (the devil settled for stealing Ralph Macchio's career instead). Evidence in favor of this theory: When played on acoustic guitar, the virtuosity in his 24th Caprice really seems supernaturally inspired. For my money, however, the perfect storm of ominous music & stringed instruments comes together in this version of Carmina Burana (mp3 direct download), arranged for solo banjo.
posted on Sep-27-06 at 11:49 PM
Come see the robots at Bennet Robotworks.
posted on Sep-26-06 at 11:47 PM
Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus is a two part film oddity from 1971-72; two episodes of the legendary British sketch comedy show with all new material performed entirely in German, despite the cast's inability to speak German. Well... not 100% new material, as the Lumberjack Song did get its own German version. Here's a brief interview with Michael Palin about phonetically learning the words to the song. via
posted on Sep-25-06 at 11:41 PM
Excellent news if you're overwhelmed by feelings of being imposingly huge & impressive; this brief set of QTVR photos taken inside of a wind tunnel should help realign your sense of place in the world. Warning: those feeling tiny & insignificant should under no circumstances click the link in this post.
posted on Sep-24-06 at 11:36 PM
Lunatic religious cartoonist Jack Chick is targeting a new demographic; converting his greatest hits to provide more "urban" appeal.
posted on Sep-23-06 at 11:29 PM
Urban Fiction is the ongoing art project of Xing Danwen, who takes photos of miniature buildings and then photoshops tiny versions of herself into the frame, doing mundane things amidst the tiny scenery(click the "Detail" images to see a zoomed in shot).
posted on Sep-22-06 at 11:24 PM
Tu Lou, ("earthen structures") are massive, fortress like dwellings, native to the Hakka people of China's Fujian province. Distinguishing features include a central courtyard, multiple levels, a lack of windows on the ground floor, a single, heavily fortified entrance, and dozens of homes all wedged together. The buildings are ringed with a one meter thick outer wall, feautre no concrete or steel; living quarters on the upper levels are largely built from wooden beams, jointed with pegs. A typical structure would take several years to build.
posted on Sep-21-06 at 9:04 PM
scale model cities: moscow, new york, edinburgh, shanghai, shanghai (ii), nanjing, london, london (ii), old jerusalem, sydney, san francisco, 4th century rome, singapore, havana, beijing, cincinnati, pompeii, futurama (via)
posted on Sep-20-06 at 8:59 PM
Walter Martin & Paloma Munoz carve beautiful minature scenes with an otherworldly (almost nightmarish) quality about them, and then display the finished product in snow globes. Full gallery here, additional gallery here.
posted on Sep-19-06 at 8:51 PM
This old post aboutknitted brains got me thinking, they'd be a delicious treat for some knitted zombies, like the cast of Dawn of the Dead (or Shaun of the Dead). For those of you non-zombie *but still made of wool* types, there's this fine selection of knitted foods.
posted on Sep-18-06 at 8:36 PM
Attention Tolkien Fans: if this obscure recording of JRR reading (and signing) The Lord of The Rings doesn't quench your lust for all things Middle Earth, then perhaps you should consider buying a home in The Shire, a new real estate development in Bend Oregon (which oddly seems to not feature Hobbit holes, but rather looks instead like Bree, the human village nearest the Shire).
posted on Sep-17-06 at 7:51 PM
In the 1960s, as a response to the Comics Code Authority's attempt to sanitize comic books, Warren Publishing^ created a series of Graphic Magazine style horror books (using the "see, they're MAGAZINES, not comics, so that's why it's okay" defense), picking up the gauntlet from EC's Tales of the Crypt & other 50's era horror comics. The magazines, Creepy (and later) Eerie & Vampirella were rife with sex & gore, and featured full color well illustrated front covers by fantasy artists like Frank ("Conan") Frazetta & H.R. ("Alien") Giger. The Warren Magazine Collection Site (warning: annoying non-skippable flash intro) has put the entire catalog of cover art from the full run of all three magazines online. Skip the flash intro, and go straight to the galleries: Creepy, Eerie & Vampirella.
posted on Sep-16-06 at 1:37 PM
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry recreated to scale using 526,000 matchsticks is the latest model being constructed over at Matchstick Marvels.
posted on Sep-15-06 at 10:42 AM
There are so many great old vinyl rarities being shared @ Scar Stuff, it's hard to pick a favorite. But for me, the front runners are Count Chocula & Frankenberry's Monsters Go Disco & this outrageous 1971 sex record, Wife Swapping Swingers Party. It's like obscure sampler's paradise.
posted on Sep-14-06 at 10:07 AM
Little People is a London street art project featuring tiny statues of people acting out the daily chores of full sized people (tourists, beggars, daydreamers, etc). Reminiscent of crash bonsai, or better yet the tiny food dwelling characters found @ minimiam.
posted on Sep-12-06 at 7:10 PM
Re Your Brains is the music video to a great song (a memo between two businessmen, detailing the fact that one of them is now a zombie and intends to eat the other one's brains) by the much mefi'd Jonathan Coulton; apparently inspired by his "Flickr: the Video", fans are making DIY videos for several of his songs over at the JoCoPro (Jonathan Coulton Project). Two of my favorite non-zombie related ones are The Presidents, a mnemonic for memorizing every U.S. President in order & at least one fact about each, and Code Monkey, detailing the warm secret heart of a Frito loving coder.
posted on Sep-11-06 at 7:02 PM
Pennylicious is a (relatively) new blog, all about money. And yet despite that, it's fascinating. With entries about JSG Boggs, who draws US Currency freehand, or the greatest hobo nickels ever created, or the official currency of Emperor Norton (the only Emperor of the U.S.), among many other subjects, the blog covers a number of topics that may or may not be familiar to readers with a interesting links that even fans of a subject may not have seen.
posted on Sep-10-06 at 6:58 PM
Attention lovers of privacy & salt air! This island, the house on top of it, and the bridge connecting it to the mainland are all on sale for a mere 750,000 pounds.
posted on Sep-9-06 at 9:55 AM
In the 1981 film Escape from New York, the entire island of Manhattan had been converted to a self-sufficient, walled off open air prison, devoid of guards & cells. The fiction of the film bears an alarming similarity to the reality of life in San Pedro Prison, a walled off, police-free convict slum in Bolivia's capital city, La Paz. This fascinating/horrifying experiment in criminal justice is the feature of a 2003 eponymous documentary; some of the details include the story of a drug kingpin, unhappy with his cell, who had a second story constructed to allow more breathing room; or the prison soccer team, sponsored by coca-cola, or even the non-prisoner children of the imprisoned, who roam the streets of San Pedro ("At least this way the parents live with their kids, and the family stays together. Outside, they’d have nowhere to live").
posted on Sep-7-06 at 9:31 PM
Save the Girls! A gallery of WWII era fighter & bomber nosecone art is the highlight of this site dedicated to the history and preservation of such works.
posted on Sep-6-06 at 7:28 PM
"A quoi ça sert l’amour?" (previously) is an adorable cartoon set to a fantastic old song by Edith Piaf; recently, students at USC Film School set out to act out a live version of the cartoon, results here.
posted on Sep-5-06 at 6:59 PM
As Labor Day 2006 winds to a close, America's long & twisted history with Organized Labor seems to never come to rest on any one side of the fence, opinion wise. While we hate the idea of the evil CEO crushing the employees underfoot, there's something profoundly un-American about bolshevikism. This excellent collection of political cartoons from Life Magazine from the early decades of the 20th Century explores both sides of the debate, reminding us at the end of the day that nobody loves a fat man.
posted on Sep-4-06 at 6:36 PM
Kirk Rademaker makes sand sculptures that look like whimsical, steampunkesque machines (among other things).
posted on Sep-3-06 at 6:08 PM
Even though there's no listing for this cliche in the Shark Jumping database, inevitably in every superhero TV show of the 1970s, the hero would face (and defeat) a creature with powers similar to (and usually greater) than their own. Like when Steve Austin battled the SEVEN million dollar man (or when he fought bigfoot). Or when the incredible hulk fought the incredibler hulk. Or when the Knight Industries Two Thousand did battle with its prototype, KARR.God bless YouTube for collecting these precious moments
posted on Sep-1-06 at 4:40 PM
Chaos Theory is a simple but highly addictive Japanese flash game where 50 blue orbs get launched into the air, and you have a single explosion you can trigger by clicking anywhere on the screen. Each orb caught in the blast explodes itself, creating a chain reaction. The goal is to catch as many of the blue orbs before gravity pulls them back to the ground. Each game lasts 3 rounds, with a maximum score of 150 total points. Click the dark blue Kanji script to begin the first round.This game is old, but I've not seen it posted here before
posted on Aug-31-06 at 3:53 PM
Look Around You is an insanely funny BBC parody of 1970's educational programs filled with pure nonsensical lies clothed as facts & pitch perfect mimicry of the style of governmental approved childrens education television. Each of the entire first season's worth of 8 10-minute episodes can be viewed here and is highly recommended.
posted on Aug-30-06 at 3:48 PM
If you love gourds but can't stand their gourdly shapes, then Dan Ladd is the artist for you. By snatching young gourds from their parents & stuffing them into unyielding molds, Dan ends up with remarkable natural shapes, organically grown sculptures that bear amazing details.
posted on Aug-29-06 at 3:44 PM
Amazing photoseries of 70 foot storm waves crushing the surface of a large tanker in the North Pacific. More on the post-storm damage here.
posted on Aug-28-06 at 3:40 PM
From this collection of framed art made only from the wings of African butterflies to Jan Fabre's beetle shell encrusted sculptures, the centuries-long war between artists their tiny insect enemies continues unabated. But never have I seen a more massive salvo for the artist community than "Terrible Beauty", an installation by Jennifer Angus. Featuring over fifteen thousand insects from the artist's personal collection (!), the exhibit features a series of rooms with textile geometric patterns on the wall created entirely by pinned insects of various forms, hues & sizes. All info on the amazing war between artists & insects found via the amazing Museum of Dust
posted on Aug-27-06 at 2:49 PM
Cane Hill^ is an abandoned state run lunatic asylum (link contains tons of photographs) in South London. Built in 1882, the hospital for years housed Charlie Chaplin's mother (before he became wealthy enough to rescue her). Shuttered since 1990, the locations' inherent creepiness continues to fascinate urban explorers. Inside Out has a series of interesting pieces on the location, including music & paintings inspired by Cane Hill, an essay on the location, detailed floorplans and further photographs.
posted on Aug-26-06 at 2:44 PM
The downside of being a nerd with your desktop set to a super-hi resolution is that you can rarely find cool wallpapers to use. This massive collection (in a wide variety of resolutions) should help.
posted on Aug-25-06 at 11:26 AM
Craig Mullins is a commercial photoshop artist & videogame fan. In the mid 90s, after a couple amateur pieces of fan art he created for the game Marathon made their way to the folks at Bungie, he was hired to create a series of Halo themed art for the company. His full portfolio of commercial & personal work is interesting.
posted on Aug-24-06 at 10:30 AM
How can I use a Barney Fife Impersonator at my next event? Do vasectomies prevent abductions? Where is the least painful spot? All these (and many more) questions answered at UsedFaqs, a round-up of the more bizarre frequently asked questions from all around the series of tubes.
posted on Aug-23-06 at 12:20 AM
If you've ever felt that yet another vacation in other beachfront paradise would be a waste of your precious leisure time, the Unusual Hotels of the World website is for you. From Treehouse Hotels to mountain Inns carved directly into (out of?) the rock face to Ice Hotels to Undersea lodgings, there's no shortage of vacation spots worldwide that you'll remember far longer than the traditional spa/swim up bar combo.
posted on Aug-22-06 at 12:19 AM
The Match World Virtual Museum is dedicated to showcasing the best artwork from the ~25,000 matchbooks in the collection of the Japanese Match Manufacturers Association, including Foreign Matchbooks, Advertising on Matchbooks and various matchbook companies, all with decent, sized images available if you click on the thumbnail versions. Some really attractive stuff in here. Previously on Metafilter
posted on Aug-21-06 at 12:14 AM
Lonely? Online? Unwilling to fuck people that aren't exactly like you? Good news! The PeopleMeet Empire has a dating website custom designed specifically to fit your needs, whether you're Italian, Jewish, Divorced, Marriage Minded, Asian (nonspecific), Asian (specific), Old, Really Old, Christian (Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentacostal, Born Again, Mormon or Other), Republican, Democrat, Midget, Fit, Fat, the Outdoor type, the Indoor type, a Pet lover, Professional, some kooky Black variation of the earlier types, or even (gasp!) Californian.
posted on Aug-20-06 at 12:12 AM
I'm just so sleepy... why do you insist on filming?
posted on Aug-19-06 at 12:11 AM
Gir, it's time for PANCAKES! youtube
posted on Aug-18-06 at 12:08 AM
For nearly two years now, Ben T Steckler has been reviewing, posting album covers, and making full albums available for download from his seemingly inexhaustible collection of out-of-print, spoken word, sound effect, educational & other kooky recorded ephemera. If you're a fan of album titles like How To Buy Meat, What Smoking Has Done For Me, or The Catholic Marriage Manual, this site will provide you with endless hours of reading/downloading/listening pleasure.
posted on Aug-17-06 at 12:08 AM
In the South of France you'll find the fortified city of Carcassonne, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a classic example of the medieval fortified city. Built upon the ruins of forts that predate Christianity, Carcassonne is one of the most photogenic places I've ever seen, never more so than on Bastille Day, when the city sets the night sky ablaze. A full gallery of Carcassonne fireworks can be found here.
posted on Aug-16-06 at 12:07 AM
The decade between 1922 & 1932 was not a good one for Frank Lloyd Wright; his star had faded in the US upon his return from Japan, and even though his most prolific years were still ahead of him, he had trouble finding work, and was evicited, his fabled home siezed by creditors. The Library of Congress hosts a fantastic collection of 5 projects he undertook during this era, none of which ever came to fruition. All that's left are his extensive blueprints, perspective drawings, and scale models carved specifically for the exhibit.
posted on Aug-14-06 at 12:58 PM
3000 feet up in the mountains of Eastern Myanmar (Burma) lies Inle Lake^, a giant freshwater lake that is populated by 70,000 people living in four separate cities on top of the lake. They dwell, fish, farm, worship and celebrate upon the surface of Lake Inle, living a unique lifestyle that seems wholly unto itself, untouched by the world outside. All pictures found using the amazing FlickrStorm tool.
posted on Aug-13-06 at 12:07 PM
posted on Oct-8-06 at 1:20 PM
Sex education of trainables, a 1970's instructional video for educating the mentally handicapped about human sexuality is just one of the many excellent ephemera uploaded to Google Video by Slave to the Man Productions. Along the same lines (from the collection) are Parents Talk to Children About Sex and Walt Disney's Attack Plan for Syphilis.
posted on Oct-7-06 at 11:08 AM
Float (youtube) is the first of a series of short films designed to stir the imagination. The brief film shows the streets of Melbourne as the letters & numbers from every sign in town begin to peel off & float away on the wind. The project lives here, and open contributions are being listed here.
posted on Oct-6-06 at 9:23 AM
It's October, and across the nation, the search for the most sincere Pumpkin Patch begins anew. For those unfamiliar (or those wishing to reacquaint themselves) with the rituals & lore of the Great Pumpkin, the entire CBS Special is online here. Also, for the blind readers of this site, the long out-of-print spoken word radiodrama version of the Great Pumpkin can be found here.
posted on Oct-5-06 at 9:18 AM
During the Great Depression, thousands of young people wrote to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt for help. They asked for clothing, money, and other forms of assistance.
posted on Oct-4-06 at 6:54 AM
The Imperial History of the Middle East is a flash based map of the Middle East, with a sliding timeline showing the various forces that have established dominance in the region over the last 5,000 years. Just one of many interesting interactive demonstrations over at Maps Of War.
posted on Oct-2-06 at 10:57 PM
Charles Krafft is a porcelain artist who creates detailed munitions made of fine china, painted servingware commemorating modern atrocities, and "Spone" art, bone china made using human bones as the base material.
posted on Oct-1-06 at 10:51 PM
This Must Be Designed By Idiots is an online art exhibit of three Amsterdam-based mixed media artists, where one of the media is taxidermy, and the other is some disturbing combination of fashion design, jewelry, glassblowing & handicrafts. The end result is compellingly creepy, and my personal favorite is this piece, a mouse permanently at rest inside the glass belly of a glass cat.
posted on Sep-28-06 at 11:58 PM
Long before Robert Johnson ever went down to the crossroads, violinist & composer Niccolo Paganini was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for musical ability. Evidence against this theory: Paganini's 5th Caprice actually prevented the devil from stealing The Karate Kid's soul (the devil settled for stealing Ralph Macchio's career instead). Evidence in favor of this theory: When played on acoustic guitar, the virtuosity in his 24th Caprice really seems supernaturally inspired. For my money, however, the perfect storm of ominous music & stringed instruments comes together in this version of Carmina Burana (mp3 direct download), arranged for solo banjo.
posted on Sep-27-06 at 11:49 PM
Come see the robots at Bennet Robotworks.
posted on Sep-26-06 at 11:47 PM
Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus is a two part film oddity from 1971-72; two episodes of the legendary British sketch comedy show with all new material performed entirely in German, despite the cast's inability to speak German. Well... not 100% new material, as the Lumberjack Song did get its own German version. Here's a brief interview with Michael Palin about phonetically learning the words to the song. via
posted on Sep-25-06 at 11:41 PM
Excellent news if you're overwhelmed by feelings of being imposingly huge & impressive; this brief set of QTVR photos taken inside of a wind tunnel should help realign your sense of place in the world. Warning: those feeling tiny & insignificant should under no circumstances click the link in this post.
posted on Sep-24-06 at 11:36 PM
Lunatic religious cartoonist Jack Chick is targeting a new demographic; converting his greatest hits to provide more "urban" appeal.
posted on Sep-23-06 at 11:29 PM
Urban Fiction is the ongoing art project of Xing Danwen, who takes photos of miniature buildings and then photoshops tiny versions of herself into the frame, doing mundane things amidst the tiny scenery(click the "Detail" images to see a zoomed in shot).
posted on Sep-22-06 at 11:24 PM
Tu Lou, ("earthen structures") are massive, fortress like dwellings, native to the Hakka people of China's Fujian province. Distinguishing features include a central courtyard, multiple levels, a lack of windows on the ground floor, a single, heavily fortified entrance, and dozens of homes all wedged together. The buildings are ringed with a one meter thick outer wall, feautre no concrete or steel; living quarters on the upper levels are largely built from wooden beams, jointed with pegs. A typical structure would take several years to build.
posted on Sep-21-06 at 9:04 PM
scale model cities: moscow, new york, edinburgh, shanghai, shanghai (ii), nanjing, london, london (ii), old jerusalem, sydney, san francisco, 4th century rome, singapore, havana, beijing, cincinnati, pompeii, futurama (via)
posted on Sep-20-06 at 8:59 PM
Walter Martin & Paloma Munoz carve beautiful minature scenes with an otherworldly (almost nightmarish) quality about them, and then display the finished product in snow globes. Full gallery here, additional gallery here.
posted on Sep-19-06 at 8:51 PM
This old post aboutknitted brains got me thinking, they'd be a delicious treat for some knitted zombies, like the cast of Dawn of the Dead (or Shaun of the Dead). For those of you non-zombie *but still made of wool* types, there's this fine selection of knitted foods.
posted on Sep-18-06 at 8:36 PM
Attention Tolkien Fans: if this obscure recording of JRR reading (and signing) The Lord of The Rings doesn't quench your lust for all things Middle Earth, then perhaps you should consider buying a home in The Shire, a new real estate development in Bend Oregon (which oddly seems to not feature Hobbit holes, but rather looks instead like Bree, the human village nearest the Shire).
posted on Sep-17-06 at 7:51 PM
In the 1960s, as a response to the Comics Code Authority's attempt to sanitize comic books, Warren Publishing^ created a series of Graphic Magazine style horror books (using the "see, they're MAGAZINES, not comics, so that's why it's okay" defense), picking up the gauntlet from EC's Tales of the Crypt & other 50's era horror comics. The magazines, Creepy (and later) Eerie & Vampirella were rife with sex & gore, and featured full color well illustrated front covers by fantasy artists like Frank ("Conan") Frazetta & H.R. ("Alien") Giger. The Warren Magazine Collection Site (warning: annoying non-skippable flash intro) has put the entire catalog of cover art from the full run of all three magazines online. Skip the flash intro, and go straight to the galleries: Creepy, Eerie & Vampirella.
posted on Sep-16-06 at 1:37 PM
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry recreated to scale using 526,000 matchsticks is the latest model being constructed over at Matchstick Marvels.
posted on Sep-15-06 at 10:42 AM
There are so many great old vinyl rarities being shared @ Scar Stuff, it's hard to pick a favorite. But for me, the front runners are Count Chocula & Frankenberry's Monsters Go Disco & this outrageous 1971 sex record, Wife Swapping Swingers Party. It's like obscure sampler's paradise.
posted on Sep-14-06 at 10:07 AM
Little People is a London street art project featuring tiny statues of people acting out the daily chores of full sized people (tourists, beggars, daydreamers, etc). Reminiscent of crash bonsai, or better yet the tiny food dwelling characters found @ minimiam.
posted on Sep-12-06 at 7:10 PM
Re Your Brains is the music video to a great song (a memo between two businessmen, detailing the fact that one of them is now a zombie and intends to eat the other one's brains) by the much mefi'd Jonathan Coulton; apparently inspired by his "Flickr: the Video", fans are making DIY videos for several of his songs over at the JoCoPro (Jonathan Coulton Project). Two of my favorite non-zombie related ones are The Presidents, a mnemonic for memorizing every U.S. President in order & at least one fact about each, and Code Monkey, detailing the warm secret heart of a Frito loving coder.
posted on Sep-11-06 at 7:02 PM
Pennylicious is a (relatively) new blog, all about money. And yet despite that, it's fascinating. With entries about JSG Boggs, who draws US Currency freehand, or the greatest hobo nickels ever created, or the official currency of Emperor Norton (the only Emperor of the U.S.), among many other subjects, the blog covers a number of topics that may or may not be familiar to readers with a interesting links that even fans of a subject may not have seen.
posted on Sep-10-06 at 6:58 PM
Attention lovers of privacy & salt air! This island, the house on top of it, and the bridge connecting it to the mainland are all on sale for a mere 750,000 pounds.
posted on Sep-9-06 at 9:55 AM
In the 1981 film Escape from New York, the entire island of Manhattan had been converted to a self-sufficient, walled off open air prison, devoid of guards & cells. The fiction of the film bears an alarming similarity to the reality of life in San Pedro Prison, a walled off, police-free convict slum in Bolivia's capital city, La Paz. This fascinating/horrifying experiment in criminal justice is the feature of a 2003 eponymous documentary; some of the details include the story of a drug kingpin, unhappy with his cell, who had a second story constructed to allow more breathing room; or the prison soccer team, sponsored by coca-cola, or even the non-prisoner children of the imprisoned, who roam the streets of San Pedro ("At least this way the parents live with their kids, and the family stays together. Outside, they’d have nowhere to live").
posted on Sep-7-06 at 9:31 PM
Save the Girls! A gallery of WWII era fighter & bomber nosecone art is the highlight of this site dedicated to the history and preservation of such works.
posted on Sep-6-06 at 7:28 PM
"A quoi ça sert l’amour?" (previously) is an adorable cartoon set to a fantastic old song by Edith Piaf; recently, students at USC Film School set out to act out a live version of the cartoon, results here.
posted on Sep-5-06 at 6:59 PM
As Labor Day 2006 winds to a close, America's long & twisted history with Organized Labor seems to never come to rest on any one side of the fence, opinion wise. While we hate the idea of the evil CEO crushing the employees underfoot, there's something profoundly un-American about bolshevikism. This excellent collection of political cartoons from Life Magazine from the early decades of the 20th Century explores both sides of the debate, reminding us at the end of the day that nobody loves a fat man.
posted on Sep-4-06 at 6:36 PM
Kirk Rademaker makes sand sculptures that look like whimsical, steampunkesque machines (among other things).
posted on Sep-3-06 at 6:08 PM
Even though there's no listing for this cliche in the Shark Jumping database, inevitably in every superhero TV show of the 1970s, the hero would face (and defeat) a creature with powers similar to (and usually greater) than their own. Like when Steve Austin battled the SEVEN million dollar man (or when he fought bigfoot). Or when the incredible hulk fought the incredibler hulk. Or when the Knight Industries Two Thousand did battle with its prototype, KARR.God bless YouTube for collecting these precious moments
posted on Sep-1-06 at 4:40 PM
Chaos Theory is a simple but highly addictive Japanese flash game where 50 blue orbs get launched into the air, and you have a single explosion you can trigger by clicking anywhere on the screen. Each orb caught in the blast explodes itself, creating a chain reaction. The goal is to catch as many of the blue orbs before gravity pulls them back to the ground. Each game lasts 3 rounds, with a maximum score of 150 total points. Click the dark blue Kanji script to begin the first round.This game is old, but I've not seen it posted here before
posted on Aug-31-06 at 3:53 PM
Look Around You is an insanely funny BBC parody of 1970's educational programs filled with pure nonsensical lies clothed as facts & pitch perfect mimicry of the style of governmental approved childrens education television. Each of the entire first season's worth of 8 10-minute episodes can be viewed here and is highly recommended.
posted on Aug-30-06 at 3:48 PM
If you love gourds but can't stand their gourdly shapes, then Dan Ladd is the artist for you. By snatching young gourds from their parents & stuffing them into unyielding molds, Dan ends up with remarkable natural shapes, organically grown sculptures that bear amazing details.
posted on Aug-29-06 at 3:44 PM
Amazing photoseries of 70 foot storm waves crushing the surface of a large tanker in the North Pacific. More on the post-storm damage here.
posted on Aug-28-06 at 3:40 PM
From this collection of framed art made only from the wings of African butterflies to Jan Fabre's beetle shell encrusted sculptures, the centuries-long war between artists their tiny insect enemies continues unabated. But never have I seen a more massive salvo for the artist community than "Terrible Beauty", an installation by Jennifer Angus. Featuring over fifteen thousand insects from the artist's personal collection (!), the exhibit features a series of rooms with textile geometric patterns on the wall created entirely by pinned insects of various forms, hues & sizes. All info on the amazing war between artists & insects found via the amazing Museum of Dust
posted on Aug-27-06 at 2:49 PM
Cane Hill^ is an abandoned state run lunatic asylum (link contains tons of photographs) in South London. Built in 1882, the hospital for years housed Charlie Chaplin's mother (before he became wealthy enough to rescue her). Shuttered since 1990, the locations' inherent creepiness continues to fascinate urban explorers. Inside Out has a series of interesting pieces on the location, including music & paintings inspired by Cane Hill, an essay on the location, detailed floorplans and further photographs.
posted on Aug-26-06 at 2:44 PM
The downside of being a nerd with your desktop set to a super-hi resolution is that you can rarely find cool wallpapers to use. This massive collection (in a wide variety of resolutions) should help.
posted on Aug-25-06 at 11:26 AM
Craig Mullins is a commercial photoshop artist & videogame fan. In the mid 90s, after a couple amateur pieces of fan art he created for the game Marathon made their way to the folks at Bungie, he was hired to create a series of Halo themed art for the company. His full portfolio of commercial & personal work is interesting.
posted on Aug-24-06 at 10:30 AM
How can I use a Barney Fife Impersonator at my next event? Do vasectomies prevent abductions? Where is the least painful spot? All these (and many more) questions answered at UsedFaqs, a round-up of the more bizarre frequently asked questions from all around the series of tubes.
posted on Aug-23-06 at 12:20 AM
If you've ever felt that yet another vacation in other beachfront paradise would be a waste of your precious leisure time, the Unusual Hotels of the World website is for you. From Treehouse Hotels to mountain Inns carved directly into (out of?) the rock face to Ice Hotels to Undersea lodgings, there's no shortage of vacation spots worldwide that you'll remember far longer than the traditional spa/swim up bar combo.
posted on Aug-22-06 at 12:19 AM
The Match World Virtual Museum is dedicated to showcasing the best artwork from the ~25,000 matchbooks in the collection of the Japanese Match Manufacturers Association, including Foreign Matchbooks, Advertising on Matchbooks and various matchbook companies, all with decent, sized images available if you click on the thumbnail versions. Some really attractive stuff in here. Previously on Metafilter
posted on Aug-21-06 at 12:14 AM
Lonely? Online? Unwilling to fuck people that aren't exactly like you? Good news! The PeopleMeet Empire has a dating website custom designed specifically to fit your needs, whether you're Italian, Jewish, Divorced, Marriage Minded, Asian (nonspecific), Asian (specific), Old, Really Old, Christian (Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentacostal, Born Again, Mormon or Other), Republican, Democrat, Midget, Fit, Fat, the Outdoor type, the Indoor type, a Pet lover, Professional, some kooky Black variation of the earlier types, or even (gasp!) Californian.
posted on Aug-20-06 at 12:12 AM
I'm just so sleepy... why do you insist on filming?
posted on Aug-19-06 at 12:11 AM
Gir, it's time for PANCAKES! youtube
posted on Aug-18-06 at 12:08 AM
For nearly two years now, Ben T Steckler has been reviewing, posting album covers, and making full albums available for download from his seemingly inexhaustible collection of out-of-print, spoken word, sound effect, educational & other kooky recorded ephemera. If you're a fan of album titles like How To Buy Meat, What Smoking Has Done For Me, or The Catholic Marriage Manual, this site will provide you with endless hours of reading/downloading/listening pleasure.
posted on Aug-17-06 at 12:08 AM
In the South of France you'll find the fortified city of Carcassonne, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a classic example of the medieval fortified city. Built upon the ruins of forts that predate Christianity, Carcassonne is one of the most photogenic places I've ever seen, never more so than on Bastille Day, when the city sets the night sky ablaze. A full gallery of Carcassonne fireworks can be found here.
posted on Aug-16-06 at 12:07 AM
The decade between 1922 & 1932 was not a good one for Frank Lloyd Wright; his star had faded in the US upon his return from Japan, and even though his most prolific years were still ahead of him, he had trouble finding work, and was evicited, his fabled home siezed by creditors. The Library of Congress hosts a fantastic collection of 5 projects he undertook during this era, none of which ever came to fruition. All that's left are his extensive blueprints, perspective drawings, and scale models carved specifically for the exhibit.
posted on Aug-14-06 at 12:58 PM
3000 feet up in the mountains of Eastern Myanmar (Burma) lies Inle Lake^, a giant freshwater lake that is populated by 70,000 people living in four separate cities on top of the lake. They dwell, fish, farm, worship and celebrate upon the surface of Lake Inle, living a unique lifestyle that seems wholly unto itself, untouched by the world outside. All pictures found using the amazing FlickrStorm tool.
posted on Aug-13-06 at 12:07 PM
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