MetaFilter posts by growabrain.
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The Crimes of Col. Qaddafi An original essay by Christopher Hitchens, that starts: In George Orwell's 1939 novel, Coming Up for Air, his narrator, George Bowling, broods on the special horrors of the new totalitarianism and notices "the colored shirts, the barbed wire, the rubber truncheons," but also, less obviously perhaps, "the processions and the posters with enormous faces, and the crowds of a million people all cheering for the Leader till they deafen themselves into thinking that they really worship him, and all the time, underneath, they hate him so that they want to puke."
posted on Aug-26-11 at 3:11 AM

"Japanese Jazz Opera" begins with "Now's The Time," by Charlie Parker. An old peasant couple sings along with the standard, in Japanese.
posted on Aug-24-11 at 8:50 AM

Muzak filter: Ernesto Cortazar (1940–2004) was a composer and pianist who was born in Mexico City. According to his wiki page (which reads like it was written by a friend), he composed background music for more than 500 motion pictures. His music is the type you receive in inspirational emails full of kittens & sunsets. So, it is suitable only as background wall of music for those willing to forgo their cultured sophistication. The only time he was mentioned on the blue, was on a pre-Askme Q&A from 2001 about ‘Cool Christmas Songs
posted on Jul-25-11 at 3:50 PM

'A one-man band is a musician who plays a number of musical instruments simultaneously using their hands, feet, limbs, and various mechanical contraptions.' Giulio Carmassi such a multi-instrumentalist. He uploads to YouTube jazz tunes & evergreens he records in his home studio. He often write, perform, sings, shoot & edit himself the whole productions. He also has a professional career.
posted on Jul-20-11 at 12:44 PM

Stairway to Heaven, played by identical twins Camille and Kennerly, Third Degree Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do, "The Harp Twins". Their YouTube Channel
posted on Jun-20-11 at 6:03 PM

Stuck. On their way home from photographing Formula Drift Palm Beach, Joe Ayala & Larry Chen found themselves stranded over night in Dallas Fort Worth as their flights home were canceled
posted on Jun-17-11 at 5:53 PM

Take Five, written by Paul Desmond and recorded at Sachal Studios, Lahore, Pakistan. Some other cover versions: By a 12 year old harpist Benjamin Creighton Griffiths. By The Tempo Vivace string quartet. Live at concert by Azerbaijani singer Aziza Mustafa Zadeh. By the Swedish singer Monica Zetterlund (1962)
posted on Jun-4-11 at 11:16 PM

Twin baby boys have a conversation. Beside music & how-to videos, politics, and whathaveyou, YouTube is an excellent conduit for cute home movies about baby twins (and triplets). Here’s another interaction between twin siblings, here's some kissing, some dancing, some crying, some more laughing (here’s a clip with triplets). So much more inside – you can search for the rest yourself there
posted on Mar-28-11 at 11:52 PM

"I called Sam and asked him if he wanted to come to dinner but he said he had softball practice and I said that was a damned shame and hung up. When I got to Sun City Bea and Rob were at were at the bar, behind tattooed women and men with guitars. They were sitting in the shade and their beers were half empty. We drank beer and ate pho but Rob was restless and did not talk very much..." Ernest Hemingway, Yelper. Fill free to riff up and add your best Imitation Hemingway below. Here is a guide and a sample
posted on Mar-25-11 at 3:23 PM

La cucaracha, la cucaracha - ya no puede caminar - porque no tiene, porque le falta - marihuana pa' fumar. (The cockroach, the cockroach, - can't walk anymore - because it doesn't have, because it's lacking - marijuana to smoke) The records of the Dutch accordion-playing duo Henny Voskuyl & Coby Mol (known as Die Kirmesmusikanten). Cecil Adams about the lyrics to the song.
posted on Mar-11-11 at 8:10 AM

4 photogenic youngsters travel to beautiful cities, to Paris, Barcelona, Beijing & London. Short, upbeat commercials by Gustav Johansson & Albin Holmqvist for a French language school
posted on Mar-9-11 at 9:16 AM

Barbecue (or barbeque) Porn. (SFW) And on flickr. (Sorry about that: Myself, I’m been a vegetarian for over 41 years, so this is not for me)
posted on Mar-2-11 at 11:17 AM

Rapper 50 Cent stashes $2,000,000 in the front trunk of his Lamborghini. (SLYT)
posted on Feb-28-11 at 8:57 AM

How would your life be different if your daddy loved to dance like this? SLYT
posted on Feb-27-11 at 12:11 AM

As you can see below, Ras enjoys smoking pot. He lives in Canada and according to his YouTube profile, his occupation is ‘Smoking’. His interests include smoking, and for music he likes Reggae. In ‘09 he smoked 40 bowls in 11 minutes, for an event called Tokecity’s Gauntlet, for which he was disqualified (because he exceeded the 4-minute smoke limit). Last year he only smoked 36 bowls, ‘about half of his collection’. Maybe he’s getting a bit behind. “Good luck to all the submissions.” (From 4-20 tumblr)
posted on Feb-25-11 at 6:37 PM

Organizing the Bookcase to the music of Rodrigo y Gabriela, by Sean Ohlenkamp. His version of The end of Movember. Portfolio inside.
posted on Feb-21-11 at 11:20 PM

200 romantic songs for a Valentine's Day themed playlist on YouTube, as suggested by readers of The J-Walk blog. 12 hours worth of many obvious choices, combined with just as many sweet surprises
posted on Feb-13-11 at 12:41 PM

Heartbeat. Sung by Sano Motoharu. SLYT
posted on Feb-7-11 at 11:22 PM

Large elk antler arches in Jackson Hole & Afton, WY. (Btw, it seems that that antlers fall off naturally, so most of them are collected by Boy Scouts, not shot by hunters)
posted on Feb-6-11 at 12:17 PM

Slacklining at the Totempole in Tasmania. SLYT. (Previously: Funambulism on Wikipedia)
posted on Jan-25-11 at 11:28 PM

Since November of 2008, the Uncertain Times tumblr blog been offering a daily ragtag of unique, eclectic, intelligent eye-candy, over 8,000 wondrous posts. Bookmark and lose some hours exploring it!
posted on Jan-21-11 at 9:30 AM

Shoah, Claude Lanzmann’s 1985 film about the Holocaust, can be seen on YouTube, in 59 parts and lasting more than 9 hours. This is not for the faint of heart or for folks with short attention spans. Reminded of it through Ebert’s latest post. On Wikipedia. (Previously here)
posted on Jan-2-11 at 11:18 AM

Connecticut was once the home of the national bell business, with more than 30 bell foundries based in East Hampton alone. Now a lone survivor, Bevin Brothers Manufacturing, is thriving there, manufacturing everything from cow bells with college logos for the football season to traditional sleigh and dinner bells. (Lifted from girlhacker)
posted on Dec-23-10 at 11:26 AM

Short vids by photographer Noah Kalina: Chinese Herb store, (A guy standing still in the midst of movement), Seltzer (wonderfully NSFW!), Space Rail, Earl, The Floss Boss (also NSFW, due to some pubic hair & candy floss combination), a cat. 30 more, there… From his blog: A fitting portrait of Julian Assange by Phillip Toledano, a Giant Sesame Bagel Admiring Its Own Beauty...
posted on Dec-20-10 at 5:30 PM

Merry Christmas music from the North Point iBand, using borrowed iPhones and iPads
posted on Dec-13-10 at 12:38 PM

Choosing Beef With Jack O'Shea, Making Pfannkuchen (a sweet yeast dough fried in oil) with Lars Siebert at the oldest bakery in Berlin, Mannfred Otte baking Apple strudel and 6 similar culinary videos from The Department of the 4th Dimension studio . Also, Making Espresso in Venice, (CA). Other tasty topics at 'Perfunkt' with support from Emil Rathenau
posted on Dec-9-10 at 4:50 PM

Mag3737 (Tom Magliery) is a prolific flickr user with over 19,444 items uploaded. He categorized his photographs into sets (right now there are about 350 of them), and into larger collections. See for example, the Squircles (squared circle), the Monochromatic squircles, the Backsides and underthings page, numbers, letters, colors, many more. Since he once heard that there were 37 holes in the mouthpiece of the old-fashion telephone, he used to collect fascinating factoids about the number 37. Numerous other detours inside, Flower genitelia, Paul Bunyan's balls, etc. His old-fashioned website is here.
posted on May-25-10 at 11:24 AM

Portraits of the Hadza people by Martin Schoeller, known for his close-ups (total of 126)
posted on Dec-30-09 at 11:27 PM

Tracy Kidder’s new book 'Strength in What Remains' receives rave reviews from Ron Suskind at the NYT Sunday Book Review. An Excerpt from Chapter 1. The website of Deogratias' Village Health Works. A short blog post about Deo's younger brother, Asvelt, which also includes a video of wonderful Burundian drumming
posted on Aug-29-09 at 12:52 PM

Obama Reggaeton from the Tejanos wing of the Viva Obama movement. Love the big, white hats!
posted on Feb-22-08 at 12:50 AM

Just ended on eBay: Auction for the Wycliffite New Testament ca. 1400. Closing bid; US $399,100.00. The seller supposedly is The Bible Museum, Inc. (according to The Little professor). More about Wycliffite editions and some choice bookbinding samples at Bridwell Library
posted on Feb-2-08 at 2:59 PM

The story behind Woody Allen's signature typeface (with screengrabs from each film). Via.
posted on Jan-30-08 at 12:12 PM

Total Eclipse of the Heart (YT) as "performed" by Legion of rock stars, a cover band that does “such lousy job with the source material that it becomes oddly hilarious”. (Choice of 179 videos. Via The in-between)
posted on Jan-27-08 at 12:35 PM

Pride of Toledo - 2004 Contest Pictures of barbershop harmony female singers from Lake Erie Region 17, encompassing parts of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. (All are part of Sweet Adelines International, a worldwide organization of women singers, which was mentioned before)
posted on Jan-24-08 at 9:27 AM

Collecting Vintage Typewriter Ribbon Tins. (From Uppercase). Lots more on the internets
posted on Jan-18-08 at 8:57 PM

How Obama is branding himself in graphic design
posted on Jan-9-08 at 10:57 PM

I'm a Railroad (YT) pure Bush gibberish, from the same folks that gave you "Top Ten Signs Your Country May Be Going Fascist", And FDR Rant. (More inside. NSFW for language & juvenility)
posted on Dec-30-07 at 8:50 PM

Instant Messenger” performed by Nick Thune. (Found on the original blog your monkey called)
posted on Dec-13-07 at 9:22 PM

"What if I could get Neil Gaiman, our most fave author and fantasy writer, to help propose to my girlfriend?" A sweet tale of how Jason got Neil Gaiman to stage the proposal. (Video here. From Gravity Lens)
posted on Dec-9-07 at 9:53 PM

Comedy: The Bastard Break Up, "Being Gay" Commercial, Pointless Profanity Ep. 2, all by Canadian comedian Jon Lajoie. Total of 17 YouTube videos
posted on Dec-1-07 at 6:23 PM

Thanksgiving dinner with Brutus the Bear. (First link YT. Via Friday fish wrap)
posted on Nov-25-07 at 5:32 PM

Happy Thanksgiving to all. (YT. Click on bottom corner for full screen)
posted on Nov-22-07 at 9:00 AM

From Dubai: Go around twice if you’re happy (YT): Vincent Fichard and Matthew Jones put up fake construction signs around town to test the response of passing motorists
posted on Nov-13-07 at 7:20 PM

Yue Minjun, a Chinese avant-garde artist, known for his depiction of toothy, smiling males. More at Asia's Hottest Modern Painters. Bonus: Goldfish
posted on Nov-11-07 at 2:11 PM

Scent of a Führer - The dictator who smelt it, dealt it. Hitler wanted to control the world. But he couldn't even control his flatulence. (Via)
posted on Nov-3-07 at 9:00 AM

This series of photographs, Iconic Moments of the 20th Century, was enacted by pensioners in a home for the elderly in Glasgow. Aged volunteers pose in their everyday outfits and in the vicinity of their Home to re-create scenes from well-known historic photographs
posted on Oct-27-07 at 5:35 PM

Windows Startup Sounds - 1.0 to 98 to ME to Vista watch. A piano composition incorporating the sound effects heard in Windows. A different Windows remix (All YT). To get embarrassed at a public library, press here. To disable, press here. Previously-posted I’m sure: Windows noises & Icon Wars.
posted on Oct-21-07 at 7:03 PM

Zappos brings customer to tears (in a good way)
posted on Oct-15-07 at 7:47 PM

Hillary Clinton Falling In pantsuit or Bikini. Made by Planet Dan. That is all. (Previous empty suit)
posted on Oct-9-07 at 8:50 AM

...This site is my year-long cheese course. I mean that in both senses of the word. By next year I will have sampled at least 365 different cheeses, some old favorites, some brand new to me… More delightful cheese collections: French library of fromages, French boxes of Camembert, Polish cheese labels, etc. This is not the first & only cheese blog, there are many others. Not to mention the Venezuelan Beaver Cheese (YT). Tastings and pictures of all 43 cheeses from the sketch
posted on Oct-2-07 at 7:40 AM

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