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Utah Hockey Club
The long, strange, ridiculous saga of the NHL team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes. Emily Kaplan and Greg Wyshynski of ESPN chronicle the poor decisions, bad luck, and outright chicanery that led to the NHL forcing the owner of the Coyotes to sell the team, which is moving to Utah.
Lepas Don't Lie
The Sea Creatures That Opened a New Mystery About MH370. Could freaky barnacles do what advanced technology couldn’t — find the missing plane?
There is nothing good about the plant.
Meet the spotted water hemlock, the most poisonous plant in North America. "Those who eat it will die in two hours. It must be a painful death. It twists the arms and ankles and turns the head back. Finally they die in a last wretching convulsion. They say it turns the eyes back."
Leatherface through the ages
Twitter user, horror fan, and writer Donnie Goodman photoshops Leatherface into a black and white photo every day until he forgets. The first 100 are compiled here, and then you can see the rest here.
The Man Who Introduced F1 Racing to America
Robert Daley: The Journalist Who Broke the Biggest Story in Motorsport History. He was also deputy commissioner of the NYPD and wrote 31 books (his official site), among them Prince of the City.
Chicago Blackhawks Covered Up Allegations of Sexual Assault
The Chicago Blackhawks chose chasing a tarnished Cup instead of doing what’s right. (CW: sexual assault) In the wake of an independent investigation that determined that the Chicago Blackhawks covered up allegations of sexual assault by one of their coaches in 2010, president of hockey operations Stan Bowman resigned. Other executives who knew about the allegations are employed with other teams.
That's a Lot of Dead People and Crime
Let Me Say This With As Much Sensitivity As I Can: Wow, That’s a Lot of Dead People and Crime. Ben Mathis-Lilley at Slate on the long, strange history of disgraced South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh's family.
The Honus Wagner T206
The Honus Wagner T206 is the sports card GOAT, and always will be. It sold recently for $6.6 million. Dan Hajducky and Tisha Thompson at ESPN.com give a short history of baseball card boom and bust and boom.
World's Greatest Jailbreak Artist
The secrets of the world's greatest jailbreak artist. Master criminal Rédoine Faïd loved the movies, and his greatest crimes were laced with tributes: to Point Break, Heat, and Reservoir Dogs. When he landed in a maximum-security prison, cinema provided inspiration once again.
Justseeds Activist Posters
Justseeds Artists' Cooperative is a decentralized network of 41 artists committed to social, environmental, and political engagement. They have a huge archive of activist posters that are available for noncommercial use. Topics include the protests against DAPL, the Poor People’s Campaign, antifascism, the Zapatista uprising, and prison abolition.
That time Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax went on tour together
Ten years ago, the "Big Four of Thrash"--Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax--stopped bickering long enough to go on tour together. Watch some concerts from the tour: Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Metallica.
Chicago's mass school closings
A Generation of School Closings. Since 2002, Chicago has closed or radically shaken up 200 public schools. Public radio station WBEZ takes a look at who the shakeup helped, who it hurt, and where the city’s schools stand now.
The Best Player in the World of the Week
Since the beginning of last season, ESPN hockey writer Greg Wyshynski has been writing a weekly column called The Best Player in the World of the Week. Starting with 45-year-old former NHL defenseman Darius Kasparitis, who managed a goal and two assists for the Lithuanian national team, Wysh profiles great players from around the hockey world. Sometimes he picks NHL players, but more often the top spot goes to someone with a great story, like 16-year-old goalie Jason Williams, who managed to score a goal in the middle of the game; UK player Patrick Dwyer, who completed a hat trick when the puck got stuck in his pants; Canadian Women’s Hockey League goalie Noora Räty, who earned a shutout in the longest Clarkson Cup game in history; and 11-year-old Riley Scorgie, who scored 50 goals in 19 games after being treated for Guillain-Barre Syndrome (that week’s runner-up list includes a dad who nominated his eight-year-old daughter for getting through practice without crying).
Miracle on Manchester
As the expansion Vegas Golden Knights face what might be the impending end of their miracle season, let’s look at another great impossible occurrence in the history of NHL hockey: 1982’s Miracle on Manchester, the greatest comeback in league history, when the Los Angeles Kings overcame a 5-0 deficit against Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers and won in overtime. Read an oral history. Read an interview with game-winning goal scorer Daryl Evans. Watch a short documentary. Watch the whole game.
Filk is the folk music of sci-fi and fantasy fandom.
Filk is the folk music of the science fiction/fantasy community, but also the act of singing filk. It got its name from a typo in an essay in a 1950s fan publication. It has a lot of definitions. It’s often funny, but not always. It often uses melodies from other songs, but not always. Filker Lee Gold wrote a comprehensive history. Wikipedia and TVTropes have lots of info. The Pegasus Awards are for the finest filking.
EMSH
Ed Emshwiller (bio) was an award winning artist whose paintings (often signed “EMSH”) graced hundreds of science fiction novels and magazines beginning in the 1950s. Here’s a gallery, and here's a list; click through to see most of the covers. He was also a filmmaker and pioneering video artist who founded the CalArts Computer Animation Lab and was dean of the school of film and video there until his death in 1990. Some films: Thanatopsis (1962), Carol (1970), Film with Three Dancers (1971), part of Scape-Mates (1972), Sunstone (1979). Also, a 1978 interview with Emsh on the Dick Cavett Show.
"Finnish baseball" doesn't quite cover it.
Pesäpallo (aka pesis) is a bat-and-ball sport that was invented in Finland in the 1920s. It's sort of like baseball, except the pitcher stands a couple feet from the batter and then gets the hell out of the way after tossing the ball into the air. And there are other differences. You can learn the rules and see demonstrations in this video, or watch this entertaining and informative video about the history of the sport.
A Hit Man Came to Kill Susan Kuhnhausen. She Survived. He Didn't.
"Does she need an ambulance?" "No, she's a nurse. She says call an ambulance for the guy. He may be dead." Susan Kuhnhausen talks about surviving her ex's plan to have her killed and her life since then. (slWillametteWeek) (content warning: gore, mayhem)
The Journal of Prince Studies
The Journal of African American Studies devoted its September 2017 issue to Prince. You can read and/or download all the articles at the journal's site.
Secret History of Cricket Magazine
The Secret History of Cricket Magazine, the "New Yorker for Children," by A.J. O'Connell at Electric Literature. "In a time when children’s magazines mostly featured hidden object drawings and games, Cricket stubbornly refused to underestimate its young readers. It welcomed their correspondence, and was such a human endeavor that for many readers, finding Cricket in the mailbox every month was like a visit from a friend."
Who Was Harvey?
A mysterious artist who signed his art "Harvey" painted almost 200 album covers for Savoy Records and its subsidiaries in the 1960s. Most were gospel, but some jazz and blues covers have turned up. Producers at Savoy never knew his identity; they sent concepts to an address in New York, he sent his painting, and they paid him in cash. If you know who Harvey was, please contact site administrators.
Stephen Fry Hates Dancing. Jo Roy Loves Dancing.
Stephen Fry hates dancing. "I hate dancing more than I can possibly explain," he explains. Canada-born, Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker Jo Roy (sorry, autoplay music) performs a spirited terpsichorean response to Fry’s monologue.
Exuma, the Obeah Man
"I came down on a lightning bolt / nine months in my mama's belly. / When I was born, the midwife scream and shout / I had fire crystals coming out of my mouth. / I'm Exuma, I'm the Obeah Man!" Being an introduction to the unclassifiable Bahamian musician Exuma (1942-1997). Read a Downbeat Magazine profile from shortly after his death, or a slightly less easy on the eyes profile from
Perfect Sound Forever. Or listen to some music after the jump.
Why Did This Guy Transcribe All These John Coltrane Solos?
"For nearly 60 years, Andrew White has committed John Coltrane’s solos to paper, capturing the saxophone giant’s famously free-flight improvisations in notes that don’t appear on standard jazz sheet music." As of 2015, White had transcribed 840 solos.
The Kid Who Didn't Die at Riverfront Stadium
On April 22, 1981, an Ohio teenager named Randy Kobman almost fell to his death at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium when he flipped over a railing trying to catch a foul ball. Deadspin's Dave McKenna tracked him down recently to get the story of what happened on that day and what he's been up to since his amazing avoidance of death.
Unearthing the influence of Native Americans on rock 'n' roll
Stevie Salas's research has led to the documentary Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, which traces the impact of Native people on America’s rich musical history.
Kelan Phil Cohran has died.
Kelan Phil Cohran has died. The pioneering jazz musician was a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra, a cofounder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a teacher, and the father of lots of equally talented children. Haven’t heard his music and unsure where to start? Here’s a primer from Zaid Mudhaffer, or just jump into this huge Youtube playlist. (previously)
The Plot to Disrupt the NCAA with a Pay-for-Play HBCU Basketball League
Our cranky future
The Rise and Fall of the High-Top Sneaker
"For the first time, a generation of players is playing in low-tops.... Today's highest-tech, most forward-thinking basketball sneakers don't look like basketball sneakers. And the sneakerheads who love the rich history of the high-top basketball silhouette have had to look beyond the basketball court for inspiration." (sl Esquire)
To Cite or to Steal
To Cite or to Steal? When a Scholarly Project Turns Up in a Gallery. Scholar Kevin Ferguson "use[s] public domain scientific image analysis software to create 'sums' of films, adding together the frames of a film to make one single abstract image." He was surprised when he learned about a gallery show of remarkably similar work by artist Jason Shulman. Includes a brief history of visual artists who have done similar work, and a tutorial on how to make your own.
A Tale of Three Cities
A Tale of Three Cities: The State of Racial Justice in Chicago Report. "The central finding of this report is that racial and ethnic inequities in Chicago remain pervasive, persistent, and consequential. These inequities affect the lives of Chicagoans in every neighborhood; they have not just spatial but also deep historical roots and are embedded in our social, economic, political, and cultural institutions; and they have powerful effects on the experiences and opportunities of all Chicagoans." Report from the Institute for Research on Race & Public Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago.
They're still digging for the keymaster.
Meet Zuul, destroyer of shins--a new ankylosaur. "In the creature’s horned head, she saw the spitting image of Zuul, the Gatekeeper of Gozer—the demonic dog that appeared in Ghostbusters and haunted Sigourney Weaver’s fridge." Also at Smithsonian.
The War at Morehouse
"Founded in 1867, two years after the end of the Civil War, Morehouse College is one of black America’s crown jewels.... Black America needs Morehouse. America needs Morehouse. But Morehouse is falling down." An in-depth look at the "yearslong slapfight for the steering wheel of one of black America’s most valuable institutions" from Michael Harriot at The Root.
I Was Ready to Go to Prison for My Anti-War Beliefs.
To protest the Vietnam War, I broke into a federal building. Half a century later, I finally got the chance to ask the judge why he made the shocking decision to let me walk.
Tunnel under the Temple of the Plumed Serpent
In 2003, a sinkhole opened up at the base of the Temple of the Plumed Serpent in the ruins of Teotihuacán. "In archaeology and anthropology circles—to say nothing of the popular press—Sergio Gómez’s discovery was greeted as a major turning point in Teotihuacán studies. The tunnel under the Temple of the Sun had been largely emptied by looters before archaeologists could get to it in the 1990s. But Gómez’s tunnel had been sealed off for some 1,800 years: Its treasures would be pristine." Here's an update on what they've found.
The demented sound of John Gavanti
"Oh Ancient Ocean!/You are nothing!/Vast you may be!/Next to me what are you?/I am beautiful pink and you are stinky green!" In 1980, members of No Wave bands Mars and DNA recorded John Gavanti. An operetta loosely based on Don Giovanni, it's the story of a man with magical powers and a strong libido who gets it on with a lioness and a grandmother "in the beautiful autumn of life," among others. It was recorded in an all-vaccuum-tube-equipment studio that Sonic Youth later used to record 1987's Sister. Glenn Kenny at Trouser Press said "Some have called this the most unlistenable record ever made, and that's a fine invitation indeed." There's a review of sorts here. There's an unreadable fake(?) interview with fans and musicians here.
The Boy They Couldn't Kill
My 2.5 Star Trip to Amazon's Bizarre New Bookstore
"'I just thought I’d ask in case you had it in the back somewhere' the customer explained. They did not have it in the back somewhere." Former bookseller Dustin Kurtz visits Amazon's new bricks-and-mortar bookstore.
Racial Profiling via Nextdoor.com
"Under the 'Crime and Safety' section of the site, the tone is much less neighborly. There, residents frequently post unsubstantiated 'suspicious activity' warnings that result in calls to the police on Black citizens who have done nothing wrong."
Concussions, CTE, and the NHL
Last month, former NHL enforcer Todd Ewen committed suicide. Earlier this year, former NHL enforcer Steve Montador died suddenly after struggling to cope with substance abuse and depression. In 2011, former NHL enforcer Derek Boogard overdosed on alcohol and painkillers, former NHL enforcer Rick Rypien committed suicide, and former NHL enforcer Wade Belak (probably) committed suicide. In 2010, former NHL enforcer Bob Probert died of a heart attack; his brain showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). As of today, the NHL "has 'no desire' to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleges negligence and fraud by the League regarding concussions."
Behind the Scenes of "The Warriors"
"To be a Warrior would mean running all night, every night, through the sweltering summer streets of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. It would mean showing up for work at six in the evening and not wrapping until the crew could see the sun rise over the East River. It would mean hopping subway turnstiles and enduring the taunts of the local street gangs. The line separating art and life would become blurred, the making of the film an adventure in and of itself." Jackson O'Connor of the Village Voice on the 1979 cult classic "The Warriors."
Vulgar auteurism
Vulgar auteurism “is a loosely affiliated group of young cinephiles and critics. In Sarrisite terms, it’s more concerned with Expressive Esoterica than the Pantheon ... the bulk of VA activity actually focuses on directors like Paul W.S. Anderson, Jon M. Chu, John Hyams, Nimrod Antal, Isaac Florentine, Roel Reine, the Farrelly brothers, Neveldine & Taylor, and Russell Mulcahy. VA is also interested in performance, especially when it’s applied to action stars. VA has two missions. The first is to mount convincing arguments in favor of figures it sees at major but undervalued: John McTiernan, Abel Ferrara, Walter Hill, etc. The second, larger mission involves exploring and analyzing [these] directors" (Ignatiy Vishnevetsky).
How Snoopy Killed Peanuts
How Snoopy killed Peanuts. "By the end of its run in 1999, Peanuts was an institution. It had become an omnipresent part of American culture, and that’s not a compliment."
Texas denying birth certificates to children of undocumented immigrants.
A recent civil rights lawsuit alleges that undocumented parents are being denied birth certificates for their children born in Texas, effectively denying the children the birthright citizenship enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment and federal law. State legislators have voiced their concern.
The Life and Death of Misty Upham
“My name is Misty Upham, and someday you will know that name as the best living Native American actress.” This story is about her demise. How she went missing for 11 days. How she was found by folks enlisted by her family, and not by the police. How she was mocked when she most needed help. How she survived rapes. How she inspired kids. And how as an indigenous woman, she was not alone in facing injustice.
Respect the Bass
The Killing Moon
Dr. Dre's Secret (Sequined) History
Dr. Dre's Secret (Sequined) History; or, that show in 1983 that widened Dr. Dre's horizons.
Hollywood Ending
Hollywood Ending Near for Orson Welles's Last Film. The Other Side of the Wind due in theaters next year.
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