Posts by matt

Great, great, great AskMeFi thread: In the art forms you are experienced or well versed in, what kinds of stuff is notorious for being only liked by the experts, and what kinds of stuff is notorious for only being liked by less experienced or educated casual consumers?

Examples of artists (or works of art) beloved almost exclusively by other artists in their domain include Rothko, Linux, Cloud Gate, Yasujirō Ozu, Ernie Bushmiller, Rush, the screenplay “BALLS OUT” (pdf) and Paranoia Agent.

There are also some fun minor art-snob arguments, and mini-digressions on the nature of taste. As well as a terrific New Yorker essay I never read about the appeal of Charles Bukowski.

Gabe Askew’s fan-video for “Two Weeks” by Grizzly Bear can conjure only one appropriate adjective: Sublime.

Here’s an interview about it, and here’s the thing itself:

(Towlerrific.)

Read more…

If you were planning on not reading this week’s NYT Mag cover story because it’s, um, about Guitar Hero, reconsider. It’s really good. And the photo at top is mesmerizing. (And whoever came up with the headline, I salute you.)

I’ve been an independent contractor for the past year, and my boyfriend’s been unemployed. So I’ve been getting acquainted with the intricacies of the US health care system outside of employer-provided care, the universe affectionately known as the Wild West. Firsthand familiarity led me to seek a bit more policy familiarity – reading some books and think tank reports, following the health reform battle as it wends its way through Congress. And I’ve been itching for a while to create something that I hadn’t been able to find – a stark, straightforward overview of why health reform is happening and where it’s heading.

This week, when the hysteria seemed to reach a fever pitch, seemed like the right time to get this project done. So starting Tuesday night, I put together a quick little site, on the order of The Money Meltdown: DeathPanels.org.

Hope you enjoy it. Please send it to your crazy grandpa.

Awesome story from MeFi. You know that Nat King Cole song “Nature Boy”? The haunting one that opens and closes Moulin Rouge? Turns out it was written by a vagabond hippie and left in an envelope for Cole after one of his performances. Much more in the thread.

Now I don’t remember who pointed me to this; it’s been abandoned in a tab all day. Best NYT infographic I’ve seen in many a day: a visualization of how Americans spend their time, hour by hour.

Update: Just looked at my RSS reader, and now I remember who pointed me to this … everybody in the world. Geez.

Also from my I ♥ the Internet file, Kottke alerts us that the entirety of Paris Is Burning is available on YouTube, for the time being at least. It’s probably fair to say this documentary changed my life. Somehow, confronted with a culture too rich and enormous for the ghetto it’s been relegated to, the film manages not to gawk or exoticize or judge. Jennie Livingston takes the world of voguing and drag balls completely on its own terms, no small feat at the pinnacle of the AIDS epidemic in GLBT America. For a post-adolescent gay boy fresh out of Christian school, this was a revelation. I can’t imagine that most people wouldn’t find a completely different and equally valuable story in it.

We already know how much I love Final Fantasy IV and its immortal score. So even though this appeared on MeFi weeks ago, it’s clear that it would find its way here eventually:

The geniuses over at OverClocked ReMix have given FFIV the full OCReMix treatment — an entire album of Final Fantasy songs, re-imagined in something other than midi. My first love, the “Red Wings Theme,” has been transformed into “Full of Courage.” (Incidentally, I think “Full of Courage” is a very valiant attempt, but it sadly neglects the song’s longing in favor of its bombast; it’s like John Williams’ take on Nobuo Uematsu.)

The album’s available as a free download, natch. Let me say it again: I LOVE the Internet.

Found this via Ezra Klein, whose admonishment to watch all the way to the end for the Pixar-worthy octopus feat is worth heeding:

We all know how I feel about suburbia. How would you redesign the suburbs?

The question is the subject of a contest from Dwell magazine and Inhabitat. I’m pretty curious how Snarketeers would answer this question.