MetaFilter Projects

The Cecilnomicon

robocop is bleeding — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:52:27 GMT

So resident, mystical defender of Salem, Massachusetts, and fictional creation Cecil Crowninshield has put down his Lumurian Quartz topped wand and picked up the keyboard to help keep his neighbors informed of the weirder goings on around town. A shining beacon of etheric fortitude, Cecil eschews normal local news items and instead focuses on topics such as ghosts/sandwiches, spiders, and dating tips.

Part Welcome to Night Vale, part Weird Twitter, part early Simpsons, and a whole lot of Hawkwind, The Cecilnomicon covers a cast of characters never seen but always suspected that populate America's Witch City.

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Oracle of Mefi

Foci for Analysis — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:32:00 GMT

The Oracle of Mefi is a collection of intelligent, insightful, funny or otherwise interesting comments from all over Mefi.

Feel free to suggest your favorite comments.

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Vector tile river map

Nelson — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:02:09 GMT

I made a tutorial for open source maps with vector tiles. The result is a slippy map of American rivers and some pretty static maps of every US river. But my real goal is the tutorial source code, to help other developers learn to make their own vector maps from geographic data.

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Space: The New Canada

256 — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:23:01 GMT

A bunch of ideas I've had tumbling around in my head for some time about science fiction, fear, isolation, and death, have finally gelled into an article looking at all of SF through the lens of Margaret Atwood's "Survival."

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Analog film exhibitors list

bubukaba — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:35:15 GMT

A list of exhibitors who intentionally show films on film (35mm, 16mm, whathaveyou) to the public — cinemas, festivals, museums, and itinerant groups. It started out as a news digest looking at (1) cinemas that are switching to digital technology and (2) cinemas that are choosing to preserve analog film exhibition in some form, but I kept finding so many interesting little pro-analog cinema projects that I had to make a list of them.

Some favorites:

• KRRR! - a 70mm film festival in the Czech Republic
• The CineCycle - Toronto, Ontario
• The Cineforum - Toronto, Ontario
• Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, England

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Building an Open-Source Language Map

soma lkzx — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:44:45 GMT

I was working on some pretty fun language visualizations, but it turns out there's no worldwide, open dataset of where languages are spoken. So I figured hey, let's make one!

Even if you don't know the first thing about linguistics, a little Wikipedia-ing and the tiniest amount of elbow grease can go a long way toward helping out! Draw a shape on the map, fill in a couple fields, and voila - we're that much closer to the finish line.

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Hypno-Tumble

The Ted — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:44:33 GMT

Ever want to overlay text on a GIF flipbook of your favorite tumblr? Well, now you can.

This is my first clojure+heroku webapp, hope somebody out there likes it! The GIFs take a while to load, so try and be patient. Some good tumblrs I have found while making the site:

richandwinning.tumblr.com
ryangoslingvspuppy.tumblr.com
cryptomnesis.tumblr.com

FYI, the crawler makes use of via links, so there's no guarantee the GIF will only contain stuff from the tumblr you put in.

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Pieces of ourselves found in the memories of our ancestors

christopherious — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:29:49 GMT

Found in the Past is a blog dedicated to sharing the history of, and stories about, a family.

Found in the Past is a blog dedicated to sharing the history of, and stories about, a family. Through the examination of letters, diaries, stories and patterns we will explore the roots of how events and patterns of the past have influenced and helped direct the lives of those who live today. New diary/letter transcriptions, photos and stories (both factual and reimagined) will appear each week. Not in beta testing strictly speaking, but kinda/sorta. Feedback is very welcome.

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Grails Cheat Sheet

primer_dimer — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:16:28 GMT

A quick weekend project intended to stretch my design/marketing skills. A printable quick reference sheet for the Grails web framework.

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The Soul Never Sleeps

ChrisPeters — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:45:27 GMT

Chris Peters is a classically trained artist based in Los Angeles, with numerous collectors in the music and film industries. To complement his recent exhibition of new paintings at Paul Booth's Last Rites Gallery in New York City, Mr. Peters created this short experimental film "The Soul Never Sleeps". It was designed to evoke the same mood and atmosphere as the other 12 pieces, acting as the exhibition's "13th Painting." The original score was composed for the film by Michael Hebert, an Emmy award winner whose music can be heard in feature films, television and national broadcast commercials.

This film won the "Best Experimental Film" category at the 13th Annual FLICKERS: RI International Horror Film Festival in 2012 and is an official Selection of the 2013 Independent Filmmakers Showcase Film Festival.

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Waeguk.in

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:27:09 GMT

Waeguk-in is (a romanization of) the Korean expression that means 'foreigner,' and that's what I am. The site is Wonderchicken Industries™ newest entry into Korea blogging for fun and no profit whatsoever. I've dismantled my old neglected Korea-focused site and built a shiny new one devoted more to fun and interesting Korea-related stuff and less to turgid essays. If you're interested in Korea, come and have a look, or just follow @iamthewaegukin for updates.

It's probably slightly confusing that it's on a .in domain (ie India), I know, but I couldn't resist, and a little bit of confusion is good for the brain, if not for the discoverability.

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The Lab Bunny

boogah — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:17:28 GMT

A mystic? A shaman? A makeup artist? An esthetician? A girl wearing A LOT of lipstick? The Lab Bunny is all of these things.

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The Point of Life is the Explosion of Experience Into Ideas

shivohum — Mon, 13 May 2013 06:22:44 GMT

This is an article that puts forward a new theory of the meaning of life, one based on self-expression. It's the product of many years of thinking at the intersection of psychology, philosophy, and religion.

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You Can't Eat The Sunshine, Esotouric's podcast celebrating Los Angeles lore

Scram — Sun, 12 May 2013 17:31:05 GMT

Esotouric turns the notion of guided bus tours on its ear with excursions like Charles Bukowski's Los Angeles and Pasadena Confidential. Now you don't have to get on the bus to get the skinny. Each week on the You Can't Eat The Sunshine podcast, join Kim Cooper and Richard Schave on their Southern California adventures, as they visit with fascinating characters for wide-ranging interviews that reveal the myths, contradictions, inspirations and passions of the place. There's never been a city quite like Los Angeles. Tune in if you'd like to find out why.

• Episode #1: Hot Rods & Huell Howser (featuring a rollicking conversation about Hot Rods, Aerospace, High Performance and Rat Fink with legendary L.A. gearhead Gale Banks and Mike the Poet's tribute to the late, great Huell Howser).
• Episode #2: Orange Groves & Outer Space (Downey Space Plant history and demolition and early citrus industry stories from the proprietors of E. Waldo Ward farms).
• Episode #3: Bunker Hill & Bones of Contention (an interview with Gordon Pattison, whose family owned the last two mansions on old Bunker Hill, and a visit with our favorite forensic scientist, Professor Donald Johnson of the Criminalistics Department of Cal State Los Angeles).
• Episode #4: Swizzle Sticks & Secret Salons (Dwain Carlo Crum shares hidden gems of the San Gabriel Valley and curator Terry Ellsworth reveals secrets of the Arts District).
• Episode #5: Books & Bulldozers (featuring Michael Dawson, of the venerable Dawson's Book Shop on his new book of William Reagh's mid-century Downtown photographs, David Kipen of Libros Schmibros about his work fostering culture and community in Boyle Heights, and Susannah Gordon of the extraordinary house museum Casa del Herrero in Montecito).
• Episode #6: Steve Jobs' Great White Whale & Funky Folk Artists of Slab City (featuring tile expert Brian Kaiser on his salvage work at Steve Jobs' Jackling House, and artist Joe Holliday at East Jesus, an extendible, inhabitable art work in progress on the south eastern shore of the Salton Sea).
• Episode #7: Jazz Age Los Angeles: Haberdashers and Hermetic Rites (featuring Maja D'Aoust, the White Witch of Los Angeles, about the Southland's occult legacy, and Oviatt Building historian Marc Chevalier).
• Episode #8: Temperance Temple & Two-Lane Blacktop (featuring Marcia Harris on Fanny Bixby Spencer, an early 20th century suffragette, teetotaler and social reformer, and Dennis Justice about his wild life on the road managing for Stan Kenton, cross-country driving before the Interstate Freeway System, and his new food truck, Felony Franks).
• Episode #9: Fante & Hammett (interviews with poet, playwright, and novelist Dan Fante, the son of John Fante, and with Julie Rivett, granddaughter of Dashiell Hammett and keeper of his literary legacy).
• Episode #10: The Rank & The Charismatic (interviews with Gale Banks on kustom kar kulture and the evolution of California's creative engine, and Jackie Miller, curator of Sister Aimee Semple McPherson's Parsonage and Heritage Center on Echo Park Lake).
• Episode #11: The Lugos & The Chandlers (interviews with Vince Lugo, direct lineal descent of 19th century Californiano Don Antonio Maria Lugo, and historian Darrell Kunitomi of the Los Angeles Times).
• Episode #12: The Maltese Falcon & A Landmark In Chains (interviews with Julie Rivett, Dashiell Hammett's granddaughter, and with architectural historian Kevin Bash on the rise, fall and strange fate of the astonishing Norconian Supreme Resort, a forgotten jewel of the Jazz Age).
• Episode #13: Cowboys & Barflies (interviews with filmmaker Alina Skrzeszewska about her work capturing a vanishing neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row and with Ruth Ann Dome, tour bus dispatcher, about her competing passions for fast cars and well-trained cowboys).
• Episode #14: From the Arroyo to the Riviera (interviews with Jessica Holada, curator of "Where Bohemians Gathered," about early 20th century literary culture in Northeast Los Angeles, and with distinguished thespian Jerry Taft about his decades tending bar at the Riviera Country Club).
• Episode #15: Preserving Historic Los Angeles: On the Streets and In The Archives (interviews with Jenny Watts, curator of photographs at the Huntington Library, about Southern California Edison archives, and with Ken Bernstein, head of Historic Resources for the City of Los Angeles, about historic preservation tools and challenges).
• Episode #16: Death & Art Deco (historian Marc Chevalier debunks myths about the Oviatt Building and its influence on the American Art Deco style, and Professor Don Johnson gives a guided tour of his apprenticeships in mortuary and forensic science).

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Moon's Eye: Public Education Films From Another Dimension

One Second Before Awakening — Sun, 12 May 2013 00:35:23 GMT

Absurdist science fictional takes on such illustrious ephemeral film genres as the Nature Documentary, the Anti-Drug Film, the Pseudo-Educational Advertising Film, and the Ethical Afterschool Special, using a mixture of found and original footage.

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Making It: a cabaret web series

rhymes with carrots — Sat, 11 May 2013 20:24:25 GMT

A ten part portrait of an entrepreneur, told through monologues and song. Pete recently opened a small clothing store. He's begun recording a video diary to document what's happening with his business, as well as his thoughts on what it means to be a small business owner.

This project is my attempt to explore how people convince others that they can take on bigger challenges. I think it's a common experience to feel like you're stuck in a groove, based only on what others assume you can do. One's self-image is often grander and more multi-dimensional. How do you get other people to take you as seriously as you take yourself? I took "entrepreneurship" and dynamics of the current job market as a jumping off point.

Some notes on the style: While early Broadway was probably the strongest influence on the music, the dramatic presentation is more influenced by the unreliable narrators in Randy Newman songs and the low-energy style of "mumblecore" movies. The narrative has a shape, but I wanted it more to be something to be "observed" and reflected upon than a series of presenting strongly-connected plot points.

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untold stories of glove and loss

iamkimiam — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:47:08 GMT

onegloveclapping is a place for revisionist histories of lost gloves.

Thanks to sonika for the catchy URL name and to knile for all the wonderful guest posts!

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Maslow's Graph

curuinor — Wed, 08 May 2013 03:04:42 GMT

Abraham Maslow promulgated one of the most enduring, if probably not very correct, models of human needs, basing it on the observation that needs are hierarchical. Then, textbook makers everywhere adopted a visual way of showing the hierarchy, which was interesting. Here's another way of showing the hierarchy.

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Old Maps of Jerusalem on a Timeline

nir — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:12:00 GMT

300 real and fictional maps of Jerusalem, from 13th to 20th century, displayed on a timeline

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Secret Metafilter

jjwiseman — Fri, 03 May 2013 05:39:13 GMT

Secret Metafilter highlights discussions that are still active on older Metafilter posts. The idea comes from Metafilter user painquale, who wished there was a way to easily find older, active threads, and called the body of such threads "Secret Metafilter."

Secret Metafilter scrapes the past month's worth of Metafilter posts and shows recent comments (made in the past 4 days) on posts that are between a week and a month old.

More information is available on the about page.

The code running the site is available on github: https://github.com/wiseman/secretmetafilter

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