bernot

Golden Corral and Beast Guests, 2014
 
Texas twins Nikolai and Simon Haas desperately wanted to see the Ralph Bakshi flop, Cool World as kids, but their parents wouldn’t let them. Mom and dad were right. Not only was the the...

stayuglystayangry:

some things you see with your eyes…

Hend Rezk,30 years old,Boxing Egyptian champion from 2000 to 2010 and the first in Africa and the Arab World.Hend studied fashion besides boxing and she trains self-defense for girls. #everydayegypt
Picture made by Hadeer Mahmoud @hadeermahmoud1 for @everydayegypt
#everydayeverywhere

magictransistor:

Helen Levitt, Cat next to red car, New York, 1973.

I came across a wonderful word today – borborygmus [bɔrbəˈrɪɡməs] (plural borborygmi) – which refers to a rumble or gurgle in the stomach. It comes from the 16th-century French word borborygme, via Latin from the Ancient Greek βορβορυγμός (borborygmós), which was probably onomatopoetical [source, via The Week].

Are there interesting words for this phenomenon in other languages?

Share

Waiting one's turn is annoying. We stand in line at the store, sit in our car at traffic lights and chew the inside of our cheek while our coworkers prattle out their complaints in the most endless possible way while we repeat the mental mantra, "Just-let-me-go-already."

This constant vigil of personal restraint can prolapse into bursts of barista abuse, fits of right-hand-lane passing, and colleague strangulation if kept under pressure too long. We need a safe outlet in which to pounce, cuss, fist-pump, gloat, turn the tables and score before we do some actionable damage to ourselves and those around us.

I give you: Killer Uno.

Yes, there are rules. Yes, there are turns. Yes, there is some basic addition involved in the score-keeping. But if you are sober enough to match a color and a number at the same time, you can play when it's not your turn and nobody can stop you. And that is beautiful satisfaction. So much so, you may not even need to kill people this week.

The game is simple. You start with the basic Uno rules that come with the cards. The object is to run out of cards first. Match the color or number of the card showing on the discard pile, play a wild card, or draw. This encompasses the Action Cards (Reverse, Draw 2, Skip) as well. But we don't want to wait our turn, do we? So here's the Killer part:

If you are holding the identical card (same color and symbol) that is showing on the discard pile, play it. Play it fast. Smack it down on the pile before the person whose turn it really is has even decided what he wants to play. There. It's not his turn anymore. Play continues to your left. Unless there is a Reverse card in play, in which case play continues to your right. Felt good, didn't it? A gloating "Whoop!" is appropriate here.

It gets better. You know those pesky Draw Four wild cards? If one gets played on you, and you have one in your hand — you play it! Bam! Now the guy next to you has to draw eight. But wait! The girl across the table just realized she has one, too. Pow! She smacks it down immediately after you do, and now her next-door neighbor has a hand that has grown by twelve cards. Snickers ensue. Cries of relief whoosh out from those saved from drawing.

There is one more house rule we have added to foil the really smart strategic players. The Green Zero.

If a green zero is discarded (there is one per deck), play is halted while everyone passes their entire hand to the person next to her (in the reverse direction of current play). Play continues as before. That guy who was just about to go out now has a really ugly hand. You probably do, too.

Other details:

• This game is best played with 6-10 players. We use two sets of cards for best impact and least re-shuffling.
• Identical cards may be played together: Have two Yellow Draw Two cards in your hand? Play them at the same time to make the next person draw four. Two Red Reverses? Play them together and they cancel each other out. Three Green Skips? Play them together and skip the next three players' turns.
• Don't have a card to play when it's your turn? Draw until you do, or until someone else realizes they can and puts you out of your misery.
• Don't forget to call "Uno!" when you have one card left. If someone else beats you to it, you must draw two cards.

Scoring:

• Black cards are 50 points.
• Action cards are 20.
• Number cards are face value.
• When someone discards his last card, play stops and everyone counts up what is left in their hand. The player to reach 500 points first is the loser. This is a good time to break for food and drink.

Advanced strategies:

• Round tables even the odds. Players with long arms have the advantage of reaching the discard pile faster when racing to play out of turn.
• Keep nail-clippers available for your guests. Blood droplets from scrabbling players make the cards sticky.
• Quiet, polite people tend to have atomic elbows. Body-blocks can be strategic.
• Couples should not always sit next to each other. You'll see.

Now go play!

Recent Comments

• Tamara: Excellent reference, Emillie! Your point about the spockish Draw 4 card brings up a huge debate I left out of this … [Link]
• Emillie: This sounds a LOT like the German version of Uno which is called Solo. It's basically Uno with these … [Link]
• Alissa: We broke my friend's back playing Cards Against Humanity. No joke. He was laughing so hard that he wrenched his … [Link]
• Tamara: Kat, Someone at work today told me that in their version, playing a 7 lets you trade hands with anyone at … [Link]
• Tamara: Is it bad that I'm cracking up? Card-game-related surgery. Sheesh. [Link]

+ 27 more! Join the discussion

Here be dragons!

Or rather, on the south side of Rabat, Morocco, there's a dragon growing out of the ground. Redditor seiteta snapped this photo of a tree that is growing just the right way to inspire a fantasy novel.

-via Geek Tyrant

 
It has taken just one word, one word to burst Russell Brand’s revolutionary bubble of being some kind of modern day “Che Guevara.”

One word, and all his pompous verbosity and over-weening self-aggrandizing vanity is turned to great comic effect.

The word is “Parklife” as in...

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20141102_BAL@PIT/roethlisberger-steelers-dominate-ravens-43-23

The post too much mustard — pittsburgh’s editorial difficulties appeared first on Football and Rational Thoughts.

Tonight saw the amazing return of iconic Doctor Who villain, and my personal all-time favourite, The Master. However, a lot of people found this reappearance surprising, and in some cases disturbing, as he is now a she.

It would appear that during The Masters last regeneration he transformed into a woman, now calling herself The Mistress, or Missy for short. Played by the brilliant Michelle Gomez, Missy has been making appearances during the series since Peter Capaldi’s first episode ‘Deep Breath’. Many quick minded fans, myself included, put together the connection from her name and went into the episode hoping eagerly for the reveal we were given.

The series has toyed with the idea that Galliferyans (remember guys, Time Lord/Lady is a title not the name of the race) can also change gender when they regenerate, even stating very clearly in the 2009 episode ‘The Doctors Wife’ that it is a possibility. This episode, however, makes the first time in the series that we have actually seen it in the flesh.

There were many reactions to the reveal on the internet, particularly Twitter, some very pleased with the revelation, some a little less so.

A huge range of reactions from the fans. I even chuckled a little at the Brian Blessed one.

For all those people who are complaining that The Master is now a woman and are quitting the series. Good. The rest of us don’t want you. If a character that belongs to a species that changes their bodies when they’re dying becoming female disturbs you then there’s something wrong with you. What is I was a black Master, or Asian? Would that be terrible then too? What happens eventually when the Doctor changes gender?

Oh, we all know that that day is coming. Fans have been clamouring for it for a long time now. And that’s probably what this is about. Yes, it’s some brilliant storytelling and one of the best things they’ve done to the character in decades, but it’s very clearly a test run to see how people react. A female Doctor is coming one day, though hopefully not for a while because Capaldi is brilliant.

At the end of the day who cares if the Master is a man or a woman? As long as she’s good in the role, and so far she’s been absolutely brilliant and I want loads more of her, it shouldn’t matter at all.

Amy.

On Twitter @Amazing_Amy_W and her amazing blog Trans Girl Writer.blogspot.

The Last skeleton

Via @mattufford

Every once in a great while, the world benefits from Tony Dungy’s complete lack of humor. Case in point, when someone on Twitter asks The Dunge whether he believes the Jets are haunted by the spirits of dogs killed by Michael Vick and the former head coach deadpans a response of no. All the credit in the world to @ballark. He launched a Hail Mary of a Twitter joke and hit paydirt. I may be mixing my metaphors in that sentence, but I can’t expected to be coherent when I’m laughing this hard.

Friend of KSK She Blinded Me With Violence mentioned that Dungy obviously has never seen All Dogs Go To Heaven, which prompted me to make this Photoshop.

Getty + PS

[h/t Ufford]

On Tuesday, a viral video PSA commissioned by anti-street harassment organization Hollaback practically took over the internet. By now, most of us have seen the footage of actress Shoshana B. Roberts getting harassed over 100 times in the ten hours she roamed the streets of New York City. The video documents instances of the Roberts being told to smile, having her body commented upon and even having her personal space invaded when a stranger silently walks up beside her for five minutes.

In a horrifying, but unfortunately not unsurprising turn of events, Roberts was then inundated with rape threats in the comments section of the YouTube video page.

The subject of our PSA is starting to get rape threats on the comments. Can you help by reporting them? http://t.co/NMYCFd9YOm

— Hollaback! (@iHollaback) October 28, 2014

“The rape threats indicate that we are hitting a nerve,” Hollaback director Emily May told Newsday. “We want to do more than just hit a nerve though, we want New Yorkers to realize — once and for all — that street harassment isn’t OK, and that as a city we refuse to tolerate it.”

Although many of the rape threats have been deleted, Lane Moore from Cosmopolitan points out that plenty of ignorant and troubling responses remain:

“She definitely targeted an area where she could expect that kind of reaction. Not only that she wore a form fitting outfit that excited the imagination. I think she is a narcissists that just enjoyed the attention. Ignore her protestations, she loved the attention!” –DEREKinNYC

“OMG THIS HARASS IS SO BAD!!! My class mate harassed me today too! She said; “Hey how you doing?!”, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? Later the same day the store clerk did the same thing! He said; “Have a nice evening”, what a pervert! WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO!?!?! I BETTER MAKE A VIDEO!!!”

Despite the threats of sexual violence and idiotic dismissive comments, the video’s popularity speaks to a heightened awareness and solidarity regarding the ways women are harassed and objectified when they are merely trying to exist.

Source: Newsday

Parchment face

Here’s something special. Last Friday I posted a blog on holes found in the pages of medieval books (The skinny on bad parchment). As in the image above, such defects are usually caused by the parchment maker: he pushed his knife too hard cleaning the animal skin, causing it to rip. While the resulting holes must have been a major annoyance to producers of books, the scribe of this twelfth-century manuscript used them to his advantage. He drew a bearded man while turning the gaps into an eye and a nose (slightly displaced), as well as a big laughing mouth. The reader of this serious text - a commentary to the Song of Songs - will no doubt have laughed at the unexpected sight of this funny stranger. Making art out of flaws: it’s just the perfect image, then and now.

Pic: Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, Msc.Patr.41, fol. 69r. Full digital edition here. This is a direct link to the page in question.

This is obviously made up, but if I had a dollar for every time a cis person argued with me why they think The Silence of the Lambs isn’t transmisogynistic…

evilsupplyco:

You are never too old to learn about necromancy.

Ed note: Aram Bajakian played lead guitar for Lou Reed on Reed’s last tours. We ran this piece shortly after Reed’s passing on October 27, 2013. Bajakian also performs with Diana Krall, John Zorn and more. His latest project Dalava is available here.

I’ll never forget getting the call at 8 AM to come down to Lou’s to audition for the guitar slot in his band. They wanted me to come in an hour. I was dead tired, my first daughter having been born earlier that week, and I hadn’t expected the call. I also hadn’t worked on the tunes. Nonetheless, I jumped into a cab for his West Village studio, praying that we wouldn’t get stuck in traffic on the Queensborough Bridge. The first thing he said to me when I arrived was, “You’re not going to play any jazz are you? Because this is a rock band.” I found my way into that weird state that exists when you’re exhausted but also know you’ve got the opportunity of a lifetime. I killed the audition—I remember him smiling as we played.

A few weeks later we were listening to trumpeter Don Cherry with an intensity and appreciation that none of my college jazz professors could come close to. Lou picked up on every nuance of every note—and loved it.

When I tell people I played with Lou Reed, the first reaction is often, “I hear he’s difficult.” To which I reply, “Do you really want it to be easy? Do you think any great art comes out of having a nice relaxing time?”

Multi-instrumentalist Doug Weiselman once said to me that while Lou could rip someone to shreds he didn’t get enough credit for how passionate, enthusiastic and supportive he could be when he heard something that was ON. At a rehearsal once with the great saxophonist James Carter, James played these incredibly beautiful low notes—Lou and I just looked at each other. The gig was great too, but there was something about that rehearsal and how James played, the spirit that he invoked—it was so deep, Lou talked about it for weeks.

For Lou playing as if your life depended on it was all that mattered. He instantly knew if it was happening and he lived by that litmus test. When he ripped on people, it was only because he was trying to wake them up, to make their art alive and to make them play with this level of attention.

I once said to him, “Lou, it doesn’t bother me when you rip into me, because I know that you’re trying to teach me something, or that I’m being lazy.” And he said “You’re one of the few who gets it.”

Lou was always in the moment. He often said that if the iconic “Wild Side” solo had been recorded a few hours later it would have been different. On many occasions we would work on something for hours and play it that way the next day only to have Lou say, “No no no, that’s not it.” Inevitably someone would respond with, “Lou that’s what we came up with yesterday.”

“That was yesterday. Today is today.”

And it didn’t matter if he was at a rehearsal or at a festival in front of 40,000 people. Lou didn’t care. Or rather, he cared more than anyone I’ve ever met about making the music ALIVE and in the PRESENT. He didn’t stand on ceremony, regardless of the environment.

Our first festival show was in England. The other guitarist/violinist, Tony Diodore, and I had never played in front of 40,000 people. It’s an overwhelming amount of energy. And on top of that, Iggy Pop and Patti Smith were watching us from the side of the stage.

Tony was taking a violin solo on the song “Ecstasy.” We had rehearsed a certain length for the solo and when we came to the end he wound down as planned. Lou yelled, “keep going!” And again, “keep playing!” Lou wouldn’t let up. He shouted it over and over.

At first Tony noodled a bit, but then something flipped and he started wailing. And the crowd went nuts. Lou taught him how to really play that day.

I see so many bands today that seem dead, like they’re running through the motions, afraid to make mistakes. Everything is so perfect—even when they’re trying to be punk, it’s so calculated. And I see it because of Lou.

The other day I was talking to guitar tech Stewart Hurwood about the awesomeness of sound checks with Lou. Most of the time bands’ sound checks involve running through a song, making sure everything is working properly, maybe a little rehearsing on something. But with Lou they were marathons, going two or three hours. Usually right until the doors opened.

We’d get really into the songs, making them better and better. And then better.

I remember one time in Bordeaux when he decided the saxophone sounded too much like a saxophone. “Let’s make it sound like something we’ve never heard before,” he said. And out came the pedals. Fuzzes and harmonizers and such.

Lou was on the ground twiddling the knobs and he was like a teenager again, just loving exploring the sound until he found that perfect cacophony. It reminded me of that beautiful space you’re in when you get your first fuzz pedal. You just love the sound. Lou was in that space all the time.

And the beautiful thing is that he didn’t have to do it. He was already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was already famous and rich. And we only had a few shows left in the tour.

He could have just said, Ah it sounds fine. Or found one weird sound and have just gone with that. But he always kept pushing and pushing, constantly searching for the next level.

When Lou was 70 he did a record with Metallica. Think about how punk that is. Think about what you’ll be doing when you’re 70. It’s such a beautiful, moving record, but so few people took the time to dig into it. I’ve listened to it probably 100 times and played songs from it hundreds of times. I didn’t like it at first. It’s a very difficult record to listen to because it goes so deep into uncomfortable feelings we all spend so much time on the computer ignoring.

But if “Junior Dad” doesn’t move you to tears, well, you need to wake the fuck up. Check out the live version from Dresden and Lou improvising lyrics as fireworks go off. We were all surprised by the fireworks, and what he improvised spontaneously was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever been a part of. It was like God was speaking through him to us.

Our show in Lyon at the famous amphitheater on top of the hill is still my favorite gig of all time. On “Sunday Morning,” I took a guitar solo, and you can hear Lou whisper to me at the end, “Keep going. Show off.”

And then there was the time we played Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” at the Highline Ballroom in NYC. After the show Michael Stipe came up to me and said “I don’t normally like guitar solos, but you moved me to tears tonight.” Lou was sitting on the steps and he looked up to me and said “You DO know who that is, don’t you? That’s a big deal.” When stuff like that happens, it’s such a strange thing, because it’s not really you that’s doing it. It’s some other thing. But it’s a thing Lou enabled night after night.

The second to last show we ever played at together was at Leamington Spa in England. It actually wasn’t a spa, that’s just the name of the town. It was a really cool old theatre that maybe held 1000 people. And it had a really small stage. Before Lou arrived at sound check, we were all worried—because of the small size of the stage, we were all on top of each other, and the bass amp was actually in front of the band. This makes it tough for the whole band to play, because you lose that punch and rumble you have when the bass amp is behind you. Lou really cared about the sound and the power of the sound, so we were worried this would bother him. But when he arrived and saw the setup, he said, “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we have fun.”

I think this was a turning point. Of course he still cared, but on these last shows we played together we got back to something that’s even more important than making mind-blowing art: having fun playing rock n’ roll.

I’ll say one more thing.

We were in France on a rainy day in a hotel lobby, all dead tired from an early morning flight. In a few hours we had to play a festival in the rain.

Lou looked and me and said, “Aram, say something positive.” He’d say this to me now and then.

I said “Lou, look at how beautiful the trees are in the rain. They’re so green.”

And he smiled and said “Yeah, they’re beautiful.”

And we sat and looked at them for a bit.

I miss you, Lou.

Ed note: Here’s the live version of “Sunday Morning” Aram writes about. It’s stunning.