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This is the first time anyone has cheered for a Nixon in like 50+ years.

Mojo.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:13 PM on August 29, 2018

I believe you meant to say eraticated
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:02 PM on August 26, 2018

I was writing a comic published by SLG -- Dead Eyes Open -- at the apex of Zim, and spent a chunk of time hanging out with Jhonen at a Toronto comic convention. He had (has?) a following: James Turner (Rex Libris) and I would see if we could spot him coming to the table by looking for a procession of tall hair and a general aura of darkness winding its way through the hall.

I, a chubby bald guy with glasses in a button-up shirt,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:44 AM on July 24, 2018

I picked up NMS as part of a bundle thing about, I don't know, six or seven months ago and fell in love. I've reached the age/career/volunteerism point of my life where I struggle to find time for games that aren't sessionable in 15-20 minute segments, but I think it's a magnificent achievement as is.

I don't know I'd be able to sustain any kind of regular group play, but if multiplayer supports some sort of super-casual drop-in drop-out approach, I'd love to be part of a MeFi squad.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:22 AM on July 23, 2018

I'm actually finishing a two-part podcast episode about this for publication tomorrow -- the first half on the legal basis for provincial opposition, the second half on Aboriginal law issues related to the pipeline. This thing's got more issues than a lifetime subscription to Maclean's.*

*name of mediocre centre-right magazine used only to facilitate joke and is not intended as an endorsement.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:49 AM on June 4, 2018

I published the podcast a day early! Here it is:

http://www.certificate.queenslaw.ca/2018/06/04/unpacking-pipeline-challenges-fundamentals-of-canadian-law-episode-11/

There are two parts:
a) Professor Cherie Metcalf, on how provincial/federal responsibility is split and the parameters under which B.C. can challenge the pipeline;
b) Professor Hugo Choquette on Aboriginal land title, Indigenous law, the duty to consult… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:14 PM on June 4, 2018

I'm doing fine now (and married to Kitteh, above), but the notion of I can buy anything I want in the grocery store still gives me the vapors. Just to hear somebody say it makes me shudder. I check out the $/100g notations next to the prices on the shelves. I tell people I pressure cook my own beans and make my own soy milk and yogurt because it's healthier and Preservatives and such, but it's really because it's cheaper.

Being poor means never… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:02 AM on May 17, 2018

Gently rebuff with "no, Enoch was Light" and repeat as needed.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:22 AM on April 20, 2018

I absolutely loved Ren & Stimpy as a teenager looking for ways to rebel against my staid suburban town, but its transgressiveness became less amusing as I grew older. I held onto my favorite catch-phrases, but distanced myself from from John K as each successive project proved more and more off-putting.

I had exactly the same experience: loved Ren & Stimpy in university, but the early-Internet George Liquor stuff gave… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:04 AM on March 30, 2018

This looks fantastic -- I'm surprised to see USA Today supporting this work; I always mentally slotted them as lower-c conservative; information-light and more likely to align with protect-the-system interests than deep critical dives into the authorities.

I'm glad this exists, and, again, a bit amazed it wasn't killed by a middle manager early in the planning stages.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:55 AM on March 15, 2018

I have literally never met a person who seriously clicked on an internet ad with intent to buy whatever was being advertised. I know some plenty stupid people, so it's not like its implausible, yet, somehow, I still know none who have.

Well, hello. I'm a reasonably smart person; I can spell and everything. Here are things I've clicked on ads for:

- Sales on digital comics collections on Comixology
- Various… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:09 AM on February 22, 2018

My wife bought me How To Instant Pot for Christmas -- it's by a MeFite, I fuzzily recall (?) -- and I love it. I wish I could say I've made a lot of recipes from it but the risotto is so good it's hard to make anything else.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:58 AM on February 22, 2018

I've told our school's Aboriginal Access Coordinator (we have a specific recruiting role for law/medicine/business, who visits and does specific outreach in Indigenous communities to encourage Indigenous students to look into professional post-university degrees) and she's now soft-planning a summer field trip, so that's awesome.

As a Canuck, the word "Indian" is shocking to me now. Like less bad than "hate speech" but eyebrow-raising.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:36 PM on January 30, 2018

If it's helpful, I do a podcast for some undergrad law courses I offer through work, and one recent episode was the breakdown of Aboriginal Law vs. Indigenous Law as terms of art in the legal field, but it starts with a pretty thorough accounting of how we arrived at "Indigenous" (via Indian, First Nations, etc.) as the preferred* term. The episode is here. "First Nations" is one of three recognized groups in Canada: First Nations, Inuit and Metis are distinct.… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:32 PM on January 30, 2018

I’m basically aligned with Sys Rq on this. But do appreciate the dead accurate Winona Ryder vocal fry that the Veronica actor is bringing to the voiceovers.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:28 AM on January 19, 2018

I am gutted. I don't have heroes; I'm not a starstruck person and I generally hold individuals in esteem for qualities, but I've never really been able to point at somebody and say "That person. There. That's who I'd aspire to be, if I were better."

I aspired to be Joe Frank. Right down to trying to make my own Joe Frankesque radio show in the very early 2000s, and getting as far as doing some interviews and cutting a demo and even having a couple of… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:59 AM on January 16, 2018

I tapped on the “New York $40,000/year” one, immediately saw that mom and dad own the apartment and provide lodging and all utilities for $550/month and literally sighed so heavily my wife asked me what was wrong.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:07 AM on January 4, 2018

Now that gifts have been exchanged, I can share this: a print-ready 24" x 36" PDF made from the high-res Archive.org scans of the book (20 MB), which I printed and framed for Kitteh for Christmas.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:13 AM on December 25, 2017

Wiretap seemed like such a transparent ripoff of Joe Frank's work that I got tremendously pissed off at it and never really gave it a chance. Maybe I should loop back around on it.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:35 AM on December 14, 2017

One of the contributors is the former head writer for Clickhole, so I think it's a million monkeys plus a good editor giving us these results.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:40 AM on December 13, 2017

What do we want?

[REDACTED]

When do we want it?

[REDACTED]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:01 PM on December 8, 2017

But chances are unless you saw it when it first came out, or were enticed to, you're not likely to today.

This is 100% the opposite of my experience with VOD, which is entirely about watching garbage I never would have expended any money or effort to see in the theatre.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:38 PM on December 5, 2017

Watched Free Fire with Kitteh last week and had exactly this conversation about how Armie Hammer seems to keep getting... is it tenth chances?... in Hollywood. It's weird. Well, now that I know he's essentially crazy rich, it's less weird.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:24 PM on December 2, 2017

What's up with Jessamyn and Reddit now? I came for the (un)library cat, but now I'm staying for the vicarious Reddit drama.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:27 AM on December 1, 2017

Captain Genius at Flying Dog is saying that the trade association should focus on "the fight for market share with wine and spirits, the challenges coming from big brewers, softening of craft beer sales and winning new consumers," and doesn't see how making your product not blatantly offensive to 50% of humanity might be part of that master plan. I wouldn't stake great odds on him being a thought leader here.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:22 PM on November 29, 2017

I whooed out loud. Thanks for sharing this.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:02 AM on November 23, 2017

I'm not sure I'm buying it. It's an argument against a constructed dilettante that's frivolously getting their hair done while Rome burns. I guess there are some people like that, somewhere, but I don't really know that many. It's fun to imagine them and get mad and/or feel superior about it, but most of the people I know do a reasonable job of managing their lives, and also like to flake out from time to time. Sure, there's a balance to be kept, and if your house is on fire it's not the right… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:47 AM on November 23, 2017

I work at another Canadian institution, where one of our faculty (completely extraneous to his area of research and expertise) has drunk deep the Peterson Flavor-Aid and routinely embarrasses himself and all of us by writing dumbass op-eds that the National Post (of course) publishes.

It's frustrating to see people who are so damn smart in some ways be so completely stupid in others. Logic a five-year-old… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:52 PM on November 18, 2017

That...that's a beautiful turn of the phrase.

It is not. I was going for a Wizard of Oz thing with the scarecrow but then I didn't think it was ever a stage musical so I tried The Wiz, and it's all clunky and dumb.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:29 PM on November 18, 2017

Naberius, I would like to subscribe to your Fake Interviews of the Famous newsletter

they say the Devil's greatest trick was fooling mankind into subscribing to Mike Myers film properties
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:21 AM on November 16, 2017

Crossing my beloved space franchise streams: Mark Hamill seems like a real hoopy frood that has spent a lot of time and work to know exactly where his towel is.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:57 AM on November 1, 2017

I meet Polley on a sweltering September morning on the edge of Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park. Wearing a long-sleeved salmon-colored dress and gold earrings with her daughters’ initials, she’s petite, unassuming, and immediately solicitous.

sigh
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:02 AM on October 31, 2017

Is anyone here playing Hello Neighbor? I've considered it, but am definitely in the "love scary games in theory, can't handle them in person" camp. Bioshock was too much for me! Shrieking people out of the darkness. Blah.

Also: since nobody else here has mentioned it, if you're a MeFite and you like games, you should consider the particular flavour of MeFightClub, which I don't really participate in as much as I'd like, but which is great.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:22 AM on October 24, 2017

I started listening to this song yesterday and within the first minute I forgot I was listening to it.

I had the song open in a tab and before I got to this comment, I caught myself looking for some music to listen to because I kind of forgot there was already music playing. I like pop music! But this sounds like it was made by committee and produced by Hitbot9000.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:47 AM on October 21, 2017

There's a bit of pervasive received wisdom about the Hip that they were "big in Canada but failed in the U.S." that I always find myself pushing back against.

It's rooted in the notion that they weren't as relatively big in the U.S. as they were in Canada. And to be as "culturally big" in the U.S. as they were in Canada, they'd have to be, like, REM at their peak, or U2, or Springsteen. Which they clearly weren't.… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:13 AM on October 18, 2017

So great! Thanks for posting this.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:53 PM on October 12, 2017

I remember being in Grade Seven or so and going to the local bookstore in my midsized Ontario town just to check out the horror covers -- this would have been the mid-'80s, which I guess was kind of a golden age of horror books with covers exactly like "Piper", "Spawn" and "Cat's Eye." Cavalcades of weird children, half-face-half-skulls, spooky dolls, etc. Always in that kind of faux-painterly, embossed-lettering style.

I kind of miss them..… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:09 AM on October 6, 2017

I appreciate the lens, but, I mean, the premise of the movie is that it's a given that humans have created very human-like androids that are essentially sociopaths -- capable of mimicking human behaviour but incapable of empathy. Deckard is tasked with stopping them after they've gone on a straight up murder spree. And the question of whether or not they are capable of developing empathy, and whether or not they should have been created at all, those connections to slavery,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:27 AM on October 4, 2017

I'm legitimately struggling to think of an actor or comedian who was at the height of their powers, declared themselves proudly conservative, and then watched their fortunes decline. It seems to be something people get excited about once their stars have greatly faded, and then they start complaining about it. Working from the list above, this seems to be a laundry list of people who have cascaded from A- or B-list down to E through F-list, and then "discovered"… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:17 PM on September 28, 2017

Alphabetizing spice racks makes it easy to find the spices, and I already know what flavours go together, so I don't need to group things (we're also really good about keeping spices stocked).

My wife and I definitely instinctively follow the "lead cook / support staff" role assignments, but I think there's an equally important distinction to be made with "recipe book vs. just wing it" types of cooks. She's a book person, I'm a… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:36 AM on September 18, 2017

I'll be blunt (even though this is a little too identity-revealing): as someone who was in that very same program, I would have no problem with her participation. I'm very disappointed in Harvard for deciding not to take her.

If you're inclined to do a stranger a favour, write the alumni/advancement department a (paper) letter expressing your extreme displeasure. You can cc the actual department if you want, but targeting the alumni/fundraising… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:05 AM on September 15, 2017

I wonder if the clown as scary as fuck thing is a modern development?

There's a (possibly apocryphal) quote attributed to Lon Chaney, silent film and early horror star, along the lines of "there is nothing funny about a clown after midnight," so it goes back to at least pre-WWII.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:30 AM on September 14, 2017

The company's head of waste networks Matt Rimmer

OH COME ON PEOPLE
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:55 PM on September 13, 2017

I'm curious about whether the author experienced any other moderately popular pizza chains at around the same time. I certainly have similar memories of various Canadian pizza restaurants... Mother's, Frank Vetere's, kinda sorta Pizza Delight... from when I was a kid through the '80s. Not the rapturous salad bar experience, but the faux-old-timey-Italian restaurant thing: tall booths, carpet, small windows, etc.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:41 PM on September 13, 2017

That was fantastic!
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:03 AM on September 5, 2017

We're running ads for an academic program online right now and while our "brand safe" specifications were very carefully set, Google somehow managed to start jamming them onto Rebel sites. Thankfully, an alert org (Sleeping Giant) that monitors and notifies companies that their ads are on Rebel let us know ASAP, and we were able to intervene and course-correct before we gave 'em any actual money.

Just a heads-up to anyone in marketing in Canada, though...… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:06 AM on September 1, 2017

Really, really enjoying this -- thanks!!
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:26 PM on August 31, 2017

I'm feeling kind of the same way about Gigantic, a game I discovered through a podcast I do on video game music and quickly fell in love with. But it is basically steamrolled by Overwatch; I think it's doing okay, but I'm a bit afraid to invest much time in it, just in case it withers on the vine.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:17 PM on August 24, 2017

I love all 3 Bioshock games. I almost never replay games, but I've replayed those. Bioshock Infinite was one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had with a video game.

I keep meaning to formulate an AskMe on "What video games are deeply satisfying on easy mode?" with Bioshock Infinite as one of the key examples. I'm not good at games, but I'd like to play more games where I can enjoy a good story and immersive environment while Easy-Moding my way through it.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:03 AM on August 23, 2017

Those electric scooters with the little vestigial pedals stuck on the sides, however, are the official vehicle of dritbags (at least here in Toronto)

Is this an Ontario thing? I know in Hamilton, and where I live in Kingston, it's generally acknowledged that they're used almost only by people who have lost drivers' licenses due to DUIs. I don't know if it's true-true or truthy classist creepiness, but it's certainly a 'fact' that I've internalized to a degree.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:34 AM on August 21, 2017