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This might be spoilers for an old movie, but one of the key plot points of Until the End of the World is a device that records the brain activity of seeing things, invented by a scientist who hopes to help his wife, blind since childhood, to see again. There's a lot more going on in the film, but that particular plot point is resolved about halfway through the movie, when, upon receiving the device loaded with her son's recordings of friends and family across the world, she… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:31 PM on May 10, 2024

For all the talk of it being a bad metaphor, I think there was a solid point made upthread that the Pope has announced that trans people are a threat to humanity. Go through history and check out any of the reasons given by oppressors and bigots for their bigotry, and more often than not, not too far from the surface, you'll get justifications based in some sort of "they're a danger to my way of life" bullshit. Look at any attempt at a rationale for why US schools have police deal with… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 8:56 PM on April 24, 2024

Like what does "Never again" mean?

To me, that was the most interesting and central point of the article. As someone raised Jewish, what I’d thoughtwas being instilled in me was Never Again (for anyone, ever), but the last several years have had me questioning if I just missed the point, and ascribed an utterly undeserved altruism to the faith I was raised in. It’s been hard for me to properly articulate it, this… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:51 PM on April 25, 2024

I’ve been listening to it for the last couple days, and it’s growing on me, but I’m also, I don’t know, a little burned out on the band? I absolutely loved them in the 90s, but also probably over-listened to them a bit.

I’m liking it, though. Several of the songs have bits and bobs that seem vaguely familiar, but all except one are still just out of grasp. The one that clicked though, is Wreckage. It’s got some solid later day Tom Petty-rock-anthem stuff going on there, and I’m digging it.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:19 AM on April 24, 2024

I never even watched it, but my cousin insisted on me sitting down with him to catch a couple episodes. The only thing I remember was Space Ghost expasperatedly trying to engage Ashley Judd in conversation, and finally saying: "Tacos, Ashley. You know. Mexican food?"

I haven't heard or seen the word tacos since then without hearing Space Ghost in the back of my head.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:23 AM on April 19, 2024

The article is pretty far behind the current trends. It's not that breweries don't make a ton of IPAs, but there are a ton of breweries making delicious lagers and pilsners, and most brewers I know would much rather drink those than an IPA at this point.

The thing is, all of the complaints about IPAs always ring just a smidge hollow to me. As a lover of non-IPAs (I love stouts and ales, pale, brown, reds they all make me happy), I get that it's frustrating to go into a… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 8:27 PM on April 12, 2024

I have a loathing for pachinko like little else here in Japan. I will go out of my way to avoid walking past a parlor simply because whenever I do, there's always someone coming out or going in, and the cacophony that pours out is honestly painful to me. The prevalence of them is one reason I'm almost always wearing in ear headphones when I walk around. The stench of tobacco was another assault on the sense, though a lot of places have become non-smoking, or at least have non-smoking sections by… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:04 PM on April 7, 2024

One of the biggest complaints (definitely not the only, trust me, I have more*) about streaming for films is the utter lack of commentary tracks that were pretty much standard on any decent DVD. As absurd as the extended versions of Lord of the Rings were, the commentaries, both the director/producer commentary track and the cast commentary track were really interesting to listen to. The commentary for the Thing is a fascinating explanation of just how they managed to do so many of the effects… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 2:52 AM on March 31, 2024

The closure of the port, for however long it takes to clear the debris is going to hit Baltimore hard. That's a lot of jobs directly affected by any shutdown, and a lot more dependent on those, too.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 7:44 AM on March 26, 2024

Reading No Logo as a teen had a hell of an effect on me, to the point that I (still) do my best to avoid brand logos, especially any products that seem to only exist to advertise the brand itself (mostly clothing). Clothing that leaves no doubt what brand it is because the logo is plastered all over it sets my teeth on edge, and has for most of my life.

What I find fascinating, now, is the explosion of bullshit brand names all over any kind of online marketplace, but… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 6:59 AM on March 24, 2024

Around about the same time as a lot of people, I got hooked on reading about Everest, largely because of Into Thin Air. From there, I ended up reading some of the "competing" versions of events, some of the historical accounts of other climbs (Everest, The West Ridge is still on my shelf), and then Brashears' autobiography, High Exposure, which, among other stories, talks about the 96 disaster, and how he was filming at the time, dropped pretty much everything and took part in the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 5:53 AM on March 21, 2024

Who the hell decided to try fois gras?!

I used to have a similar joke about natto (fermented soy beans with a pretty foul stench that have a slimy texture that turns very stringy in a visually, to me, repellent way). I’d say “how hungry did the first person to eat natto have to be to actually eat it?” and haha, etc, until one day a friend looked at me and said “very.”

That kind of killed my joke, but it’s also always the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:04 AM on March 19, 2024

Thoughts and prayers to Ted Cruz in this trying time

Flagged for putting the idea of Ted Cruz and Internet sexytime in the same mental space.

On the other hand, rather than requiring any kind of ID or age verification, if the goal is to reduce access to porn, just have the login page have an auto playing, unblock able video of Ted Cruz talking to the user. Even better if it’s Cruz forced to read descriptions of the video… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 10:29 PM on March 17, 2024

My voice has shifted as I’ve gotten older. A long time ago, I could sing More than Words decently well, but those days and ranges are beyond me now. I haven’t been in years (thanks Covid), but to this day, I need no screen nor lyrics to throw down the most perfect karaoke renditions of Bon Jovi’s Wanted (Dead or Alive) and Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn you could ever be blessed to hear.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 5:50 PM on March 16, 2024

I don’t doubt I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but I’m glad to see On The Road there. There’s a lot to recommend it as, if not the best form of the American novel, at least the most American. The whole concept of escape, of exploration, of searching (especially the mythical west) for some idealized form of pure perfect experience that’s never there, that, by the time they got there, was long since gone, exploited, or never as good as it could have been is… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 5:37 PM on March 16, 2024

Well, fuck. I just tested positive for the first time this morning, and the main fear I've had about it is all the stories about people in their forties being at a higher risk for heart attacks in the six months to a year after infection, and...

Fuck. I tried so damn hard not to get infected, and this was one of the reasons. I don't have anything witty or interesting to say, I'm just kind of overwhelmed with mortal terror.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 7:43 AM on March 12, 2024

De Lint had some great books, and I read a ton of “urban fantasy” as a kid. If De Lint or Kushner catch your fancy, you should also check out Emma Bull and Will Shetterly, who were also putting out books in the same subgenre. There was a small boom in modern retellings, of which Jack the Giant Killer was one, as well as Snow White, Rose Red, Thomas the Rhymer, and others which escape me now. A fond childhood memory was meeting Emma Bull and Will Shetterly at a con in Detroit, and seeing Bull… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 1:52 PM on March 4, 2024

gained some traction in more “respectable” conservative circles

Every time I see this phrasing pop up, it's just a reminder to move whatever "respectable" names from their current place in my head, and put them in the "batshit insane conspiracy theorists poisoning society" box where they belong.

Tl/dr: if someone is giving credence to things like this, they aren't "respectable."
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 7:54 PM on March 3, 2024

As a lifelong hater of beans, the Texas style of chili is a godsend, and gives me an excuse for leaving them out. "Wait, where are the beans?" someone will ask, and I'll say, "oh, I only make authentic Texas style chili," which allows me to replace my embarrassment at being a picky eater with my embarrassment at sounding like a snobby asshole.

But even then, I'm open to a whole bunch of variety. For one, every time I make sausage, there's always a… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:30 AM on February 29, 2024

One of the (many) things that just feel like a weight around the neck, pulling me down, is just how much, as a kid, I looked forward to the future. I loved science fiction, and consumed as much as I could in any form I could get it. I was hopeful and excited, and I believed in the possibilities the future promised, with a naive sort of belief that things would always get better because that’s how the world was.

One of the reasons it’s so difficult to deal with is the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 2:29 AM on February 27, 2024

they'd be produced and owned by fascist man-child edgelords

Hence, the dumbest possible future.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:40 AM on February 27, 2024

Biggest memories of childhood trips to Flint: bottle of grape Nehi from the vending machine at the gas station on the way (glass bottles, of Nehi, in five flavors, from a vending machine, in the 80s!), Six Flags Autoworld, and Coney Dogs.

A couple years back, getting ready for the last pop-up/closing party for my one time restaurant, held at a bar in Tokyo, I wanted to do something special, something that said, yeah, this is me, so I went down the Coney rabbit hole,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:17 PM on February 26, 2024

Also, the secret is crushed saltines to thicken the sauce.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:19 PM on February 26, 2024

seems to be a Greek immigrant thing

I think, not only is this likely the answer, it might be the root of a shocking level of American shared culinary experience. I don't know that I've ever been to a town in America that didn't have a diner with a twenty page menu, where, buried somewhere in the menu, was a full page or two of gyros, spanakopita, or other Greek food.

Theo & Stacy's in Kalamazoo, The Liberty in… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 7:20 PM on February 26, 2024

Roughly 16 years ago, Mrs. Ghidorah and I got married. We looked around at various honeymoon places, and we looked very longingly at the Maldives. I was entranced by the idea of a hammock just over the ocean, and really, really wanted to go. We realized, though, that for the same cost as a flight and two nights in the Maldives, we could spend six nights in a private villa (with a private pool) in Ubud, on Bali. I'd never trade the honeymoon we had for anything, but I also… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 10:00 PM on February 18, 2024

investigative look? A critical take?

Hmm... nope, that's not it...

just a (potentially paid for) puff piece

Yeah, that sounds more like it.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:19 PM on February 18, 2024

It’s a shame. Porter is finding herself a target of rich men who don’t like the idea of a strong woman telling them that there are in fact rules at the same time the DNC is quietly shitting on her for daring to run for a position they have decided should go to someone else.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking to replace Pelosi, who was great at spectacle but always stopped short of meaningful change (especially when it might cost the party something), who better than Schiff?… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 1:37 PM on February 18, 2024

I've got the middle-aged pocket patting down, too, Greg_Ace. Wallet, keys/phone, small bills and change, but even though I'm doing it as I leave the house, having locked the door said keys, I still end up checking at least once before getting on my bike.

I'm middle-aged, and aware that it's not Alzheimer's, or early onset dementia, but I do feel, and have for several years now, much less sharp than I used to be. My memory is lousy where it used to be one of the things I… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 11:31 PM on February 17, 2024

Jared Kushner and his two billion dollar deal with the Saudis.

Zardoz, if nothing else, a hypothetical moment where Kushner distances himself from Trump would probably be the fork stuck in it moment, letting us all know Trump is finally finished.

I can’t see it ever happening, sadly. Kushner seems to prefer his grifting in the shadow of a bigger, more obvious scam artist.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 2:23 PM on February 16, 2024

If you want to protest, unsubscribe from Prime and buy DVDs or Blurays. Don't be an asshole.

This works in a world where companies are still producing and selling physical media. Increasingly, movies and shows released by streaming companies are streaming only, with no physical media. Streaming through the company is the only way to access the media without piracy.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:34 PM on February 14, 2024

I was happily willing to pay about a thousand yen a month playing pokemon go up until about two years ago, and stopped cold turkey, which is good, as the app has become ridiculously expensive for people who still intend to buy every event ticket. I can’t even really remember the last time I really enjoyed playing it, but that hasn’t stopped me from keeping my daily catch, spin, and research streaks going, showing how addictive it is. I feel like the game should be studied by future generations… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 12:53 PM on February 5, 2024

Red, or lesser pandas have a sort of sweet spot in my heart, though I'm surprised to hear about the difficulties in breeding them in Australia. Way back in 2005, a lesser panda here by the name of Futa-kun made the news for, well, standing up on its hind legs. Cute animal, doing something quirky? That was pretty much all that was needed for media sensation. My first date with Mrs. Ghidorah was essentially going to the zoo with her coworkers to see Futa, and the panda is still living at Chiba zoo,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:22 AM on February 5, 2024

Elmo came long after I had grown out of the intended audience, and I wasn't really a fan, though I later came around a bit, having read about how Elmo, more than any other of the muppets, is intended as the point of view character for the audience, how he's learning and growing the way they are.

Still, it always felt like Elmo was taking that spot from a beloved, wonderful muppet that was already there, Grover. Sure, Elmo might talk about feelings, and be all wonderful,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:02 AM on February 1, 2024

Add me to the list of mildly annoyed overseas citizens who is deeply annoyed at the US tax code. I live, earn money, and pay taxes in a foreign country. I earn far, far less than the threshold for paying taxes (and am unlikely to ever earn even close to that limit), but I need to print, fill out, and send in my taxes every year. I say print because way back when the IRS said, hey, just use any one of these private companies, give them all of your data, and file your taxes that way, with each and… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 5:12 AM on January 30, 2024

Last week, I got a question at work from a Japanese colleague that I’ve been sort of dreading, the “(Ghidorah), why is Trump back? Why is he so popular?” The explanation I gave is pretty much what I’m writing here:

There are people, a lot of people, a lot more than we're comfortable admitting are out there that are just inwardly seething that they have been told they have to be nice, that they can’t tell blatantly racist/bigoted jokes without getting in trouble. There’s… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 2:07 PM on January 29, 2024

kirkaracha, the thing about Leary is one of those things that can be applied to a lot of public figures and entertainers. There’s what they want to say, to be known for, what they’d like the audience to hear, and what the audience actually latches onto.

Leary isn’t famous for saying babies aren’t born racist, he’s famous for singing a song about being an asshole, and being proud of it. Whether he was trying to make fun of assholes or not, the assholes thought he was on… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 7:37 PM on January 29, 2024

The writer, Tom Scocca, is so much more than an example of how fucked up the medical system is in America. He's a fantastic editor, and had a direct hand in some of the reporting that made the loss of Gawker and the gutting of Deadspin as bad as it was. He's edited at Slate, contributed to the Awl, was Features Editor for Gawker, and deputy editor for their Special Projects Desk. That he is struggling to find work is a goddamn shame. His writing, on Substack, is worth reading.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 7:21 PM on January 3, 2024

A sort of follow-up, Defector just launched a new Scocca-written column for this year's election, Margin of Error. The first piece went up today. I'm relieved to see him getting at least something regular, and have this weird sort of sensation that took me a moment to recognize: I feel good about a way in which I've spent money, seeing the thing that I'm supporting reaching out to take care of one of their colleagues and good friends when that person needs it most. It's unfortunate how rare that… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 9:43 PM on January 25, 2024

Over the summer, a friend reached out and asked if I’d be interested in joining a weekly online DnD meetup. One guy had to leave, and they needed a fourth player.

It’s been years since I played, and I gave it some thought. I wanted to do some full on character role play instead of the dumb min/max half elf ranger I always played as a kid. We’re playing 2E (uh, not my choice, but also, it’s the last edition I actually know), but the dm doesn’t have unearthed arcana, so… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 5:22 AM on January 22, 2024

Thanks for the kind words/commiseration. As far as the group goes, it’s a group of long time friends that I’ve only just met, aside from the one guy who invited me, so I don’t want to mess with their thing, but also there’s added pressure that if I leave, they’ll need to find another player.

Past that, any kind of rpg is hard as hell to coordinate. I don’t know a ton of other people here who play, and the time difference makes it next to impossible to play with people… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:15 PM on January 22, 2024

mediareport already pointed out the Defector piece on SI, but there's also a piece just up by Ray Ratto. Earlier in the week, Israel Daramola wrote about Pitchfork's ignominious end, through the filter that we're losing some real cultural value in the death of criticism:

What has filled the vacuum left behind by actual music criticism is a loose collection of YouTubers and influencers who feed slop to their younger audiences, and fan communities that engage with music… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:14 PM on January 19, 2024

That wasn't a major concern for the scrappy pioneers who inventing blogging a quarter century ago. Stop worrying about algorithms and popularity. Just do what you want to do, and say what you want to say.

Artifice Eternity, this seems to be arguing that blogging and journalism are on an equal footing, ignoring the skillset needed for journalism, as well as the entire eco-system of fact checking, editing, and sourcing that is required for anything… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 8:39 PM on January 19, 2024

"It was built in the 14th century after the old one was swept away in a tsunami and was built above the top of that flood wave, so everyone knows to build higher than that."


One of the things that came out after the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami is that several areas that were hardest hit were areas that had old markers from previous tsunamis far inland from the more recent towns along the coast. Over time, people stopped thinking… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 8:21 PM on January 18, 2024

I realize some of us are still living in a world where the issues still seem somewhat conceptual but don't worry, if shit is not real enough for you presently it will get very real soon enough

I think one of the things I have been struggling with, mentally, which has affected me on a very deep level, is just how wrong I had been, due in part to not being pessimistic enough. What we see around us is stuff that I had always assumed… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 5:00 PM on January 19, 2024

The votes in the decision will let us know who on the court believes that society exists because we are safer as a group, that governments earn legitimacy by providing a measure of safety to its citizens: the food is safe, the air is breathable, the water is clean. It will also let us know who views society as a holding pen where the sheep wait until every last speck of fleece is gone, every possible morsel of value is gleaned, and really, it’s the sheep’s fault for being a sheep in the first… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 1:03 PM on January 17, 2024

until Congress passes guidance on how to handle it

Unfortunately, Panjandrum, the GOP has just sort of realized they can reliably continue to hold the House simply by not doing anything at all. Just a quick check of what's passed the house in 2023-2024 shows just how little the GOP held House is actually doing, while complaining (and being believed by far too many) that the real problem is the other party refusing to go along with them (even though… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 5:43 PM on January 17, 2024

I was really excited to read the first book, but it was just like hitting a brick wall to me. I’ve read a fair bit of Chinese history, and I’ve been an avid sf reader most of my life, but it just felt like more work than it should have.

Then, watching the trailer, I was starting to wonder, wait, are they leaving out the game? Then, oh, yeah, the whole end of the trailer.

On the other, other hand, if this is Benioff and Weiss, they at least have… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 3:22 AM on January 10, 2024

thousands and thousands of stories have been told by hundreds of different writers continuously for over 80 years.

That’s one of the things that makes me hesitate whenever an idea for a Superman story pops into my head: it’s probably already been done. Still, reading this thread, and thinking of Superman’s need to do the most good he can, it kind of makes me want to see a story where the weight of it all, of all the things he can’t fix, of all the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 2:56 PM on January 8, 2024

The problem isn’t that people are wearing things fewer times just because they’re disposing of clothing for fun

The disposability of the clothing is very much part of the issue. The core concept of fast fashion is that modern manufacturing (and the exploitation it requires) can take something that appeared on a catwalk and put it into stores in a fraction of the time it used to take. The old process of fashion and haute couture slowly radiating… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 8:28 PM on January 6, 2024

From Reuters, the coast guard plane was on its third relief flight to the Noto peninsula within the previous 24 hours.

Something else worth noting is just how crowded Haneda was. It was essentially the peak of the “u-turn” rush, with everyone returning to Tokyo from their hometowns as the new year break was ending, with, from what I’ve heard, more flights added to make up for the trains that had been stopped due to the earthquake.
posted to MetaFilter by Ghidorah at 4:50 AM on January 4, 2024