Brittany Murphy

December 20, 2009 5:14 PM

If you need it, here is a MetaTalk thread to hash out feelings about the Brittany Murphy obit thread.
posted by Blazecock Pileon to Etiquette/Policy at 5:14 PM (201 comments total)

I have no feelings about it. But I'll have some hash.
posted by jonmc at 5:15 PM on December 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

Nature hates a vacuum
posted by found missing at 5:15 PM on December 20, 2009

I think it's as good an obit post as we're likely to get. I'm not sure that a post padded out with a bunch of youtube and wikipedia links would be better.
posted by empath at 5:16 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssshh.
posted by exlotuseater at 5:17 PM on December 20, 2009

Apparently some people said the post was not appropriate for MetaFilter.

*shrug*
posted by GuyZero at 5:20 PM on December 20, 2009

Shouldn't whomever had an issue with the FPP been the poster, making their case in the post body?

Well that would have been nice, but they were too busy shitting in the thread.
posted by empath at 5:21 PM on December 20, 2009

So she's dead. That's sad--she was young.

But a link to a puff piece dressed up in after-school-special hand-wringing? That's not the Metafilter I know and love/hate.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:22 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

floam: "What is this post for? I don't get it"

Preemptive MetaTalk threads are the worst kind. They serve no purpose in themselves: Blazecock Pileon is not saying he disagrees in any way with the obit or its content. There's no conflict happening in the thread. And as far as I can tell, no one really disagrees that the first thread was a first-to-post casualty.
posted by Plutor at 5:23 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

(Yes, it's a sad tale, and there's some legitimate disagreement to be had with the content of the linked article. But that's exactly what the comments in the blue are for: discussing the linked article. )
posted by Plutor at 5:25 PM on December 20, 2009

Not tragic, but sad. That piece is awful and I feel like that thread has some nice discussion going on.
posted by GilloD at 5:26 PM on December 20, 2009

Blazecock I'm real happy for you and Imma let you finish but orthogonality's evils of orthodox judaism derail in the vaccine thread is one of the best threadshits of all time.
posted by Justinian at 5:27 PM on December 20, 2009 [24 favorites]

I kind of wanted to flag that as "fuck Jezebel", because, really, fuck Jezebel, but I realize that would perhaps not be terribly constructive.
posted by elizardbits at 5:29 PM on December 20, 2009 [7 favorites]

I posted it because I felt that it was the only article about her death that went beyond trumpeting the bare facts of it to examining the event within a larger look at popular culture.

But the article still isn't very good, definitely not good enough to stand on its own as a one-link FPP, imo. So why not wait until there's more/better writing on the web about it? And if nothing shows up, maybe there's no post there? Do we have to have an FPP for every celebrity death?
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:31 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

Blazecock I'm real happy for you and Imma let you finish but orthogonality's evils of orthodox judaism derail in the vaccine thread is one of the best threadshits of all time.

Links or it didn't happen I don't get my daily dose of LOLs.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 5:31 PM on December 20, 2009

Plutor: Preemptive MetaTalk threads are the worst kind.

I have to disagree with you there. They generally go better than the YARRGH GARGH FORFRUML FLARFLARFLARRRRRR MeTa threads. And anything that channels a heated derail away from the front page post is a good thing, in my opinion.
posted by Kattullus at 5:33 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Watermelon Fouryo is actually quite piquant.
posted by jonmc at 5:33 PM on December 20, 2009

Four Loko, I mean.
posted by jonmc at 5:34 PM on December 20, 2009

Until today I had never heard of Brittany Murphy. Not saying that to be cool; not saying it to be uncool. Not actually sure why I'm saying it other than it's true. I do find it kind of amazing that she's been dead less than 24 hours and already she's being eulogized, according to the link in the FPP, as emblematic of something "we've watched progress this entire decade." I think we may have reached a point in celebrity culture where an unexpected death is not newsworthy of itself, but has to be made immediately emblematic of some larger phenomena. Since at least the ubiquity of the VH1 pop doc format, and especially since the death Michael Jackson, Americans seem to relish playing pop sociologists of pop culture. It's as if we can't process such things (such as the Tiger Woods scandal) without indulging in our own narcissistic desire to frame them into some pet narrative. But it's also possible that the unfortunate death of a young and famous person has no larger lesson. It just is what it is.
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 5:35 PM on December 20, 2009 [5 favorites]

My reaction to that post was "Oh, she's dead? Wonder when that happened? Maybe last month when I was on vacation?"
posted by smackfu at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2009

That's not an obit post, it's a single link to a crappy unthoughtful cliche-ridden link-bait opinion piece. Delete the fuck out of it please mods.
posted by cillit bang at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2009

My comment in the thread, and what I wrote to Jessamyn was: Single link to TMZ quickly deleted, as it probably should have been. A link to the Jezebel story was posted in a comment. Fast forward three hours. Single link to Jezebel story is now FPP. I'm not going to post Jessamyn's email response to me here, but to summarize she said 'that's probably as good as it's gonna get.' As someone else pointed out, padding it out with a Wikipedia entry, link to IMBD and some YouTube links won't really matter. Maybe it's too soon? Is it sad tale of drug abuse? Is it actress loses tons of weight, due to brutal Hollywood pressure to be thin, and anorexia causes irregular heartbeat and death? Is it because she's young?
posted by fixedgear at 5:40 PM on December 20, 2009

floam: So if I think posting dots in obit threads is annoying, self-important spam that adds nothing to the discussion, can I make MetaTalk pages for people to do that in instead of the blue, and just have that magically work out for me?

It's the way that this community has been noting respect and sorrow since at least 2001. It's ritual and tradition and like all rituals and traditions it is a bit stilted and odd but also like all rituals and traditions it gives a measure of belonging to people. I don't leave the full stop of sorrow often but I don't question that those who do mean it.
posted by Kattullus at 5:40 PM on December 20, 2009 [5 favorites]

Delete the fuck out of it please mods.

Honestly? We don't want to spend the entire evening playing whack-a-mole with obit threads for an actress we all sort of barely know. When the TMZ link obit was posted we were all like "single link TMZ? Yeccch" and the thread got a lot of flags quickly so we decided to delete it. Yet... that sort of makes us the arbiter of what a good post would look like which is a non-great place to be. It's not so much that we really want every obit post to be a paean to whoever the person was who died, but we want people to put the smallest bit of effort into it. So I look at it more like "you must be this tall to ride this ride" and less like "this is only 40% good and we're holding out for 75% good."

Fact is for pretty much every single obit post there's going to be someone showing up who either hated the dead person, hated the post or is just having a bad day and decided that's where they're going to tell people about it. We'd like it if people bothered to make an effort with obit posts, but a single link to a jezebel article, for me anyhow, barely clears the bar because the article itself is at least a real obit not a TMZ "breaking news!" sort of thing.

I'm sorry, I wish the world were different too.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:42 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

You know what I hate? Frosting on cakes, there's just no need for it.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:42 PM on December 20, 2009 [5 favorites]

Posters wondering if it's appropriate to start a thread wondering if a post was appropriate.

No wonder people give me blank stares when I try to describe this place.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 5:43 PM on December 20, 2009 [11 favorites]

fixedgear: Is it because she's young?

It's because it's shocking and came out of nowhere. She's also someone a lot of people grew up watching, whether in Clueless or King of the Hill or Sin City. I had seen all of one movie with Heath Ledger in it when he died but it was still a shock to me.
posted by Kattullus at 5:43 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I flagged my post.

Terrible FPP. Nonentity has died, her unremarkable biography clearly unworthy of a post on Metafilter. Only insight available is laughably portentous puff piece by an organisation actively promoting the culture they claim to detest. Utter shite.

I could not give a flying fuck about the plight of "Lohan" and their ilk. There is nothing interesting about blonde girls who have pursued careers in "entertainment," pulse or not. Leave it to TMZ and Drunken Stepfather.
posted by fire&wings at 5:43 PM on December 20, 2009

It was made hastily, without thought, and was justly deleted as crap. Sorry.

We are talking about mine, right?
posted by waraw at 5:43 PM on December 20, 2009

HP LaserJet P10006 hits on exactly why I thought it was interesting.

But hey, it doesn't bother me if it gets deleted. Perhaps the post doesn't work outside the observations I derived from the linked article, which means I ought to post it on MOFB.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:44 PM on December 20, 2009

Even the Gawker piece was better. Jezebel reminds me, more and more, of that well-meaning but really tiresome girl in college who won't stop turning everything into an excuse to write an op-ed about how the Standards Must be Changed. I mean, seriously, I'm a feminist, but if I were Jezebel's professor, she'd get a B- and a note asking her to come talk to me about when it is and is not appropriate to use the passive voice.
posted by oinopaponton at 5:46 PM on December 20, 2009 [8 favorites]

Brittany Murphy, the 32-year-old actress best known for her roles in Clueless and Girl, Interrupted, has died. The LAPD have launched an investigation into the actress's untimely death. [more inside]


There have been widespread reports of the actress's supposed drug abuse, as pointed out in a thoughtful article Murphy's death and the kind of attention it has gotten thus far. The Associated Press, however, are reporting that the coroner's office has indicated Murphy probably died of natural causes.

(I'm just saying. Mods, tell me if I'm way out of line. I pulled those links out of the air -- basically grabbing whatever I saw. It took ten minutes; if I wanted to spend an extra five I'd look for better links.
posted by brina at 5:52 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

Yet again Metafilter is too cool to care about anyone who is not some bullshit hipster.
posted by Artw at 5:52 PM on December 20, 2009 [8 favorites]

Yet again Metafilter is too cool to care about anyone who is not some bullshit hipster.

So I take it you like this place? Also, confirmation bias much?
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 5:55 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

GAH. Three minute edit window?
posted by brina at 5:57 PM on December 20, 2009

Brina, that's not the kind of obit post I was trying to do. Rather than a list of what she did, I was looking for something that talked more about the nature of celebrity death. The Jezebel article was the only thing I found that did that (and it also, in the end, happened to be a perfect example of the post-hoc justification of eulogizing and adulation that happens when celebrities die).
posted by ocherdraco at 5:58 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

I feel like I watched her deteriorate. Does fame attack people like a disease? Is it the money?

Or does this happen to normal people all the time and we just don't know about it?
posted by mmmbacon at 5:58 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

floam: Of course dots shouldn't be kicked out just because they annoy me, a weirdo. I shouldn't be able to deputize myself as mod and force discussion outside of the post because it bugs me.

Not to be tiresome* but MetaTalk exists exactly for that, talking about things that bug us, whether it's sexism, favorites or the non-existence of BookFilter.** Another thing it exists for is taking heated derails and cleaving them away from the threads they're happening in. That's a good thing. Especially if the derails are of a meta nature, focusing on whether a post or a class of posts is appropriate. Those only ever serve to shutter on-topic discussion or more interesting derails.


* Okay, a little bit tiresome
** *weeps* *weeps in footnotes, copiously*
posted by Kattullus at 5:58 PM on December 20, 2009 [4 favorites]

ocherdraco, you're right. I suppose I probably would have led with the Jezebel article, but included the other details as well. Regardless, it's much better than single-link TMZ and has already made for some interesting discussion.
posted by brina at 5:59 PM on December 20, 2009

There is nothing interesting about blonde girls who have pursued careers in "entertainment," pulse or not.

Yikes! Tai would say that's way harsh. I would say something worse!
posted by moxiedoll at 6:02 PM on December 20, 2009 [4 favorites]

Here you go, Alvy.
posted by emilyd22222 at 6:03 PM on December 20, 2009

Yet again Metafilter is too cool to care about anyone who is not some bullshit hipster.

And? You can opt out and hit Reddit any time you like.
posted by fire&wings at 6:03 PM on December 20, 2009

Aw, that Orthodox Jews/Vaccination derail was a lot less out of the blue and non sequitury than I thought it'd be.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:04 PM on December 20, 2009

Terrible FPP. Nonentity has died, her unremarkable biography clearly unworthy of a post on Metafilter. Only insight available is laughably portentous puff piece by an organisation actively promoting the culture they claim to detest. Utter shite.

I could not give a flying fuck about the plight of "Lohan" and their ilk. There is nothing interesting about blonde girls who have pursued careers in "entertainment," pulse or not. Leave it to TMZ and Drunken Stepfather.


Ugh.

This is why I usually only leave a dot on an obit thread. In fact, this is why I'm particularly fond of leaving dots on obit threads: I've been dealing with death since my dad died when I was eight, and I've never really felt able to say anything intelligent about it--and people's attempts to react intelligently usually fail utterly. And honestly? People's attempts to act like they're above saying anything intelligent about death are even worse.

Someone died. Someone who once lived and laughed and loved under the same sky as you is now gone. They were here; now they're not. So it goes. The least you could do is let others' have their moment of silence. That's probably the most you could do, too.

(And I actually liked the article quite a bit, for what it's worth--it's a nice summary of how people like Brittany are sort-of bit players in most of our lives, in the background despite their "celebrity." They're the people we never expect to be gone, but, often in part because of their prominence, are often the first to go.)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:04 PM on December 20, 2009 [38 favorites]

You can opt out and hit Reddit any time you like.

Shitfire, you're pretty cocky for someone who posted an Yves St. Laurent obit fpp. Beam, thine own eye, piss up a rope.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:08 PM on December 20, 2009

Burhanistan, that is precisely the funk I needed. How did you know?
posted by ocherdraco at 6:10 PM on December 20, 2009

Someone died. Someone who once lived and laughed and loved under the same sky as you is now gone. They were here; now they're not. So it goes. The least you could do is let others' have their moment of silence. That's probably the most you could do, too.

People die all the time, not all of them are worth discussing here.
posted by fire&wings at 6:14 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

So basically the FPP (yea I figgered that out) is being called out over here because it wasn't substantial enough?
posted by morganannie at 6:17 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Shitfire, you're pretty cocky for someone who posted an Yves St. Laurent obit fpp. Beam, thine own eye, piss up a rope.

If you want to compare the achievements of Yves Saint Laurent and Brittany Murphy I am all ears.
posted by fire&wings at 6:18 PM on December 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

One was famous for making pants and the other was famous because people wanted to get in hers?
posted by jonmc at 6:19 PM on December 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

You know what I hate? Frosting on cakes, there's just no need for it.

OH MY GOD all right-thinking people know that this is called ICING. Icing.
posted by elizardbits at 6:19 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

People die all the time, not all of them are worth discussing here.

Seriously, what Alvy just said.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 6:20 PM on December 20, 2009

If you want to compare the achievements of Yves Saint Laurent and Brittany Murphy I am all ears.

I could give a shit about either (So they do have something in common! Ha!), but I refrained from shitting in either post because MetaFilter isn't all about what is of interest to me - and no matter how much you may wish otherwise, it's not all about you, either.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:21 PM on December 20, 2009 [20 favorites]

So basically the FPP (yea I figgered that out) is being called out over here because it wasn't substantial enough? (morganannie)

Well, some are calling out the post for not being substantial enough; others are saying it's the subject that doesn't have enough substance.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:21 PM on December 20, 2009

fire&wings: "I could not give a flying fuck about the plight of "Lohan" and their ilk. "

Actually neither do I but obviously a number of people here do care which is why there's an FPP. Since you don't have any interest in the subject, why not just stay out of the thread? I don't care about many the posts on Mefi but I generally don't shit on those posts either, I just move to the next one that I do care about.
posted by octothorpe at 6:21 PM on December 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

People die all the time, not all of them are worth discussing here.

See, this is what I don't understand. There's an FPP today about a trainset. And I'm not critiquing the post because I didn't even read it or click any of the links because even if it's the most bitching toy train ever I don't care about toy trains. Just as I don't care about most of the things people post about on metafilter. And it's fine! I read the things I'm interested in and I ignore the things that look boring (to me) - but it would never occur to me to get all sweaty about The Worth of subjects that other people want to talk about.
posted by moxiedoll at 6:22 PM on December 20, 2009 [29 favorites]

You know what I hate? Frosting on cakes, there's just no need for it.

You just had to bring this up three days before my birthday, didn't you?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:22 PM on December 20, 2009

The problem with the FPP is that it's a SLOE masquerading as an obit post...two shitty tastes that taste even shittier together.
posted by dhammond at 6:24 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Is it because I'm orthodox?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:24 PM on December 20, 2009

And I'm not critiquing the post because I didn't even read it or click any of the links because even if it's the most bitching toy train ever I don't care about toy trains.

I don't generally either. However, once I saw a truly horrible comedienne, who asked the audience (all 6 of us) if any of us had ever had sex on a train. I raised my hand and asked if model trains counted. Got a bigger laugh than anything she said. She still hates me probably.
posted by jonmc at 6:25 PM on December 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

Burhanistan, I've just put on this playlist.
posted by ocherdraco at 6:26 PM on December 20, 2009

Well, some are calling out the post for not being substantial enough; others are saying it's the subject that doesn't have enough substance.


Some people are saying both.
posted by fixedgear at 6:30 PM on December 20, 2009

Is it actress loses tons of weight, due to brutal Hollywood pressure to be thin, and anorexia causes irregular heartbeat and death?

It's not the anorexia that fucks up your heart--it's the starvation. The heart doesn't care if you're anorexic or if you're on a 500-calorie-a-day diet because some doctor your agent recommended tells you it's OK, which it isn't, but your agent can always find some other young kid to exploit and the doctor isn't going to get referrals if he doesn't tell actors that starvation is perfectly healthy.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:33 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Nonentity has died, her unremarkable biography clearly unworthy of a post on Metafilter. ... I could not give a flying fuck about the plight of "Lohan" and their ilk. There is nothing interesting about blonde girls who have pursued careers in "entertainment," pulse or not. Leave it to TMZ and Drunken Stepfather.

I think you should maybe choose a different word than "nonentity", especially when you're talking about an artist who has performed a range of roles in cinema; enough to be recognized for this work in her own right, anyway. Adding a crack about "blonde girls who have pursued careers in 'entertainment'" is also fairly tasteless and confusing. The fact that you compare Murphy to Lohan shows you are already pulled so far back from the subject at hand that you don't really understand it anyway, so I have a hard time understanding why you care so badly. Which is why I think this:

You can opt out and hit Reddit any time you like.

... is a pretty hilarious thing to say. Don't care about the famous person who has died? Congratulations - you can skip the thread and not post in it at all.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:37 PM on December 20, 2009 [16 favorites]

People die all the time, not all of them are worth discussing here.

Hey, asshole. If you don't like it, move on. So you don't care about other people if they've reached a celebrity status. Whatever works for you. Basically, though, quit shitting on other people trying to pay their respects, asshole.
posted by cavalier at 6:39 PM on December 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

Thread shitting is just as bad as crappy posts to me. And don't get me started on the chatfilter brigade. Either it will get deleted or not. No point in having 15 people yell out "chatfilter" right before they answer the question. There should be an AskMe flag that reads chatfilter so people can use it because they seem incapable of just selecting "it breaks guidelines."
posted by milarepa at 6:43 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

I'm dying to tell someone this, so I'm going to bury it in a metatalk thread about something retarded. This is as good a place as any to note this. The other day I was in the supermarket and "Frosty the Snowman" was playing . And these lyrics struck me:

Frosty the snowman knew the sun was hot that day,
So he said, "Let's run and we'll have some fun
Now before I melt away."

Frosty knew that he was going to die, and he did nothing to stop it. And he kept playing with the kids instead of trying to find a walk-in freezer somewhere, dying so that they might truly live. Does that remind you of anyone? I think Frosty and Jesus are a lot alike.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:46 PM on December 20, 2009 [20 favorites]

Mayor Curley, we're already discussing the Frosty/Jesus connection over here.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:49 PM on December 20, 2009

Yeah, what's with the people who don't have a scroll button all of a sudden?
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:50 PM on December 20, 2009

Rudolph is pretty messed-up, too. "Your freakish glowing red nose that has been the subject of your life-long humiliation and ostracization would be useful in a fog." As always, Azumanga Daioh illuminates this subject well.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:50 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

yet another shallow one link obit.
posted by Artw at 6:52 PM on December 20, 2009

Hah, I thought so, too, Art, but didn't want to get into a "Literary Figure VS. Movie Actor" war.
posted by cavalier at 6:55 PM on December 20, 2009

No, see, Artw, that one's OK. Because it's about a man. Who was not from the US. And who did not appear in movies. Plus, he was a man. With dark manly hair.

Note: I think that both are OK. I enjoyed the work of both Pavic and Murphy, and I'm sure they both have family and friends who will miss them.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:55 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Santa Claus is Coming to Town is the Rambo III anti-red menace Christmas movie.
posted by Artw at 6:56 PM on December 20, 2009

I could not give a flying fuck about the plight of "Lohan" and their ilk.

So? I could not give a flying fuck about American politics but it's here pretty often and that's cool. If the site was all things I did like or care about it would get really boring. All cat macros and geeky science posts, preferably mashed up together.
posted by shelleycat at 6:57 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

I don't think Ed McMahon even got an obit thread here. Now that's troubling.
posted by jonmc at 6:58 PM on December 20, 2009

Actually, he did.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:59 PM on December 20, 2009

How bout Danny Federici?
posted by jonmc at 7:00 PM on December 20, 2009

Let me be clear: We're all going to be missed. Whether we appreciate that or not, it's there. We're all these single cell organisms that have grown and grown and grown and now we're socially, spiritually connected. Whether it's the lady down the street going in the hospital or your third cousin's new baby - life is happening. We are all we can hope to be in this very moment. In embracing the fragility and the brief tenure of our experience in this conciousness, we celebrate new lights and the exhaustion of previously bright lights. However you want to play it out -- this is happening. Here we are.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go burn incense or not wash my hair or something.
posted by cavalier at 7:01 PM on December 20, 2009 [7 favorites]

Organized like a dictionary — entries, which the reader is encouraged to peruse at random, include “Dream Hunters,” “Khazar Polemic” and “Betrothal Contract of Samuel Cohen and Lidisia Sarouk” — the book ranges over large historical, philosophical and theological questions as it tells (or does not) the story of the Khazars and what became of them.

Not enough commas.

In watching Clueless,
you recognize that there was something very unique about Murphy,
most notably her famously scratchy voice,
which also landed her a long-running voiceover role as Luann Platter on King Of The Hill,
and was still apparently relevant enough for an SNL parody less than a month ago,
even though Murphy's formerly formidable career had stalled as of late.

Now that's quality writing!
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 7:01 PM on December 20, 2009

Let me be clear: We're all going to be missed.

No. We're all going to be hit.

*hits everybody*
posted by jonmc at 7:02 PM on December 20, 2009

I think I just don't understand the whole third-party-making-a-placeholder-post-for-others-to-use-thing. Shouldn't whomever had an issue with the FPP been the poster, making their case in the post body? What's the rush for somebody without an axe to grind to beat them to it?

If you need it, here is a MetaTalk thread to hash out feelings about the Brittany Murphy obit thread MetaTalk thread.
posted by DU at 7:03 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Rudolph is pretty messed-up, too.

Have you seen The Eight: Reindeer Monologues? Poor Rudolph's more fucked up than I imagined.
posted by shelleycat at 7:04 PM on December 20, 2009

*breaks bottle over Burhanistan's head*
posted by jonmc at 7:04 PM on December 20, 2009

How bout Danny Federici?

Yep.

Have you seen The Eight: Reindeer Monologues? Poor Rudolph's more fucked up than I imagined.

No, but I'm definitely going to now. Rudolph is a pretty twisted story that has no place in the Christmas canon.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:05 PM on December 20, 2009

I'm rather enjoying the comedy and christmas cheer.

And wishing I'd followed Burhnie's advice about keeping a pure thing pure.
posted by cavalier at 7:07 PM on December 20, 2009

With dark manly hair.

And a pipe, so you know he's important! If Yves St. Laurent smoked a pipe, he might be remembered as more than just a French tailor long past his prime. Sad.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:09 PM on December 20, 2009

*haunts Burhanistan for eternity*
posted by jonmc at 7:09 PM on December 20, 2009

This is the version I saw last year. Hilarious, snarky, smutty, and highly recommended. You will never think of Santa the same again.
posted by shelleycat at 7:09 PM on December 20, 2009

This is the version I saw last year.

Oh. Oh God. This is ... what? I have to see this.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:11 PM on December 20, 2009

Has anybody here ever drank this? It supports my theory that strong ales are basically more sophisticated malt liqour.

disclaimer: I've enjoyed the shit oout of several Dogfish Head products like Fort, and that one with the chiles and the cocoa nibs. I've also enjoyed lots of malt liqour. so it's all good.
posted by jonmc at 7:15 PM on December 20, 2009

I've had the Dogfish Head IPA, and it's pretty tasty. But if you're going to drink malt liquor, drink Olde English 800.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:17 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

So what I'm getting out of this is that there should never again be a "What shoe is this?" on Ask Me.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 7:17 PM on December 20, 2009

MSTPT, I've drank enough OE to float away to Olde Englande. I'm just digging the bizarre juncture where refined microbrews and cheap-ass swill meet.
posted by jonmc at 7:18 PM on December 20, 2009

There is a mysterious gray area there, to be sure. What was that stuff ... Navigator something or other? It came in tallboy cans, was 12%, and tasted like lighter fluid. Usually sold for a buck fifty, but placed in the same end of the freezer as the fancy stuff.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:20 PM on December 20, 2009

Jessamyn: an actress we all sort of barely know.

I think "we all" is a big generalization. Even just in the obit thread, there are lots of people who have seen many, if not all, of her movies, and knew her from King of the Hill as well.

Brandon Blatcher You know what I hate? Frosting on cakes, there's just no need for it.
elizardbits: OH MY GOD all right-thinking people know that this is called ICING. Icing.

Pshaw! They're two entirely different things! BLASPHEMY!
posted by tzikeh at 7:22 PM on December 20, 2009

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go burn incense or not wash my hair or something.

I don't buy it. If you were really a hippie, you'd quit using TP and just keep a washcloth by the toilet instead.

(ewewew!)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:24 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

So what I'm getting out of this is that there should never again be a "What shoe is this?" on Ask Me.

What shoe is this,
On hipsters' feet
On city street
A-walking?

I would have asked
But feared I'd seem
Like some big creep
A-stalking.

This! This! Is the Puma Joy
Correctly worn by girl and boy
Comes in navy and olive green
It's dry; no need
For caulking.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:24 PM on December 20, 2009 [7 favorites]

Heh. I had a minor windfall this week and I saw a big bottle of Fort in my corner stores cooler. I took it home and after lubing up with a few Abitas and a 24 oz of Bud first, I started drinking. It had an aftertaste kind of like the raspberry jelly they use to fill donuts. I went looking for a review and was stunned to learn that the ABV was 18%! (it's not shown on the label). Knocked me silly, but in a good way.
posted by jonmc at 7:25 PM on December 20, 2009

I think "we all" is a big generalization.

Sorry, I meant Team Mod. Sometimes when this sort of thing happens one of us will write an obit post to sort of make sure it's done right. I've actually seen a lot of her movies and, oddly, really liked her in 8 Mile, of all things, but didn't feel like I could take on writing an obit post about her.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:26 PM on December 20, 2009

They're two entirely different things! BLASPHEMY!

*GASP*

Pistols at dawn, madam. Name your seconds.
posted by elizardbits at 7:30 PM on December 20, 2009

I would like seconds. Of frosting.
posted by mmmbacon at 7:32 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

I hope her body is kept safe from those Jewish organ thieves.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:36 PM on December 20, 2009

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing: Rudolph is a pretty twisted story that has no place in the Christmas canon.

The most twisted Christmas story actually is in the canon.

And those of us who've haunted Southern New England know that Haffenreffer Private Stock is where it's at when it comes to malt liquor. Hell, they've even got pretty fine rebus puzzles in their bottle caps.
posted by Kattullus at 7:38 PM on December 20, 2009

I went looking for a review and was stunned to learn that the ABV was 18%!

They have two other beers with 18% ABV. The 120 minute IPA and the World Wide Stout.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 7:40 PM on December 20, 2009

I hope her body is kept safe from those Jewish organ thieves.

was she related to the wurlitzers by any chance?
posted by pyramid termite at 7:41 PM on December 20, 2009

Never heard of her, have nothing to say in her obit thread. Just here for the funeral potatoes.

Dammit, who took the last of the corn flake topping?
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 7:43 PM on December 20, 2009

Why do so many people who complain about Metafilter continue to come back day after day? If you hate Metafilter, go somewhere else? I've been here as a lurker for nearly 6 years and I've been an active user for at least 3 and I don't buy that the site's been slowing circling some kind of intellectual drain the whole time, as some users seem to imply from time to time. I'm not trying to be all 'If you don't like it, you can git out...' but sheez. As someone who loves this site, I hate watching people shit all over it sometimes.
I would have been a little disappointed if there hadn't been an obit thread, honestly. Maybe Brittney Murphy didn't do anything that impresses everyone, but she certainly meant something to some.

That's all I have to say.
posted by Bageena at 7:45 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Who's up for eggnog?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:45 PM on December 20, 2009

Who's up for whisky?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:48 PM on December 20, 2009

They have two other beers with 18% ABV. The 120 minute IPA and the World Wide Stout.

my local place to get really good beers is selling 120 minute ipa for 18 bucks for a 12 oz bottle and they'll only let you buy one

of course, one can just buy a four pack of 90 minute IPA for 7 or 8 bucks less and get more smashed, if one wants to

or buy a 240ml bottle of jim beam

i really don't get why i would want to buy what seems to be a really unbalanced beer for 18 bucks when there's cheaper and more balanced alternatives - for me 10-11% abv is as much as a beer should have
posted by pyramid termite at 7:48 PM on December 20, 2009

Jeff Goode's website has a list of places putting the play on this year (down the right hand side).
posted by shelleycat at 7:51 PM on December 20, 2009

"You know what I hate? Frosting on cakes, there's just no need for it."

All right, Brandon Blatcher. I've seen you say some shit that I didn't like on this site, but for fuck's sake this time you have gone TOO FAR.

I am watching you, mister. From now on, I am watching you.

You have been warned.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 7:51 PM on December 20, 2009

jessamyn: Sorry, I meant Team Mod.

Ah! Gotcha.
posted by tzikeh at 7:52 PM on December 20, 2009

Frosting on cakes, there's just no need for it.

oh. my. god

you have made little debbie cry
posted by pyramid termite at 7:52 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

i really don't get why i would want to buy what seems to be a really unbalanced beer for 18 bucks when there's cheaper and more balanced alternatives - for me 10-11% abv is as much as a beer should have

I agree, mostly. There are some beers above 10% ABV that don't taste like it. A lot of oak aged stouts do a good job of masking the taste of the alcohol, especially if they are aged in bourbon barrels....mmmm. I will tell you though, I have had the World Wide Stout run through the Randal with espresso beans, and it was so damn delicious. We usually run IPAs through the Randal with fresh hops though.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 7:54 PM on December 20, 2009

elizardbits: Pistols at dawn, madam. Name your seconds.

Seconds:
Duff from Ace of Cakes
Clint Eastwood.
posted by tzikeh at 7:54 PM on December 20, 2009

Why do so many people who complain about Metafilter continue to come back day after day? If you hate Metafilter, go somewhere else?

"Why do we always come here, I guess we'll never know..."
posted by jonmc at 7:55 PM on December 20, 2009

mr_crash_davis mark II: jazz odyssey: funeral potatoes

Wow! I sooooo didn't know this was a thing. So, let me see if Google has set me straight... this is a potato dish that's pretty much to be expected at every Mormon funeral?
posted by Kattullus at 7:59 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

They're two entirely different things!

What's the difference? No really, I have no idea.
posted by shelleycat at 8:06 PM on December 20, 2009

Pony request: MeFi PvP; primary weaponry = icing cannons. That's right, icing.
posted by elizardbits at 8:11 PM on December 20, 2009

My .02--if you can't make me care about them irrespective of "WHO they were," then I'd rather just read about it on cnn.com and be done with it, quick, and I'd rather the mods just delete and move on.
posted by halcyon_daze at 8:26 PM on December 20, 2009

Make that "WHAT they were."
posted by halcyon_daze at 8:34 PM on December 20, 2009

"So, let me see if Google has set me straight... this is a potato dish that's pretty much to be expected at every Mormon funeral?"

Exactamundo.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 8:38 PM on December 20, 2009

My .02--if you can't make me care about them irrespective of "WHO they were," then I'd rather just read about it on cnn.com and be done with it, quick, and I'd rather the mods just delete and move on.

Yes, but MeFi isn't for an audience of YOU (even if you did win Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2006).

I wouldn't have expected Brittany Murphy's career to be big enough of a selling point for her to get a FPP obit, but I guess the circumstances of her death are odd enough. 32 is way too young to die of a heart attack.

But now that there is an obit, I still don't understand why people need to shit in the thread rather than scroll on by.

It's interesting that several people over on the Blue thinks she's famous enough that she basically bought into the Celebrity Industry and no-one should be surprised that she burnt out, while several people here are all "who is she, why does she deserve an FPP anyway".

Frankly, I've never heard of Milorad Pavic but I'm not going to post "Who the hell was he?" in his obit thread. I do wonder why people think Brittany Murphy deserves that sort of threadshitting.
posted by crossoverman at 8:40 PM on December 20, 2009 [5 favorites]

They're two entirely different things!

What's the difference? No really, I have no idea.

Frosting is made of frost.

Icing is made of ice.

HTH.
posted by scody at 8:42 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Hate to be on topic, but since her name was less well-known than her actual work, some Youtube (or Vimeo, or whatever) clps would have been nice to clue the pop-culture dim of us in.
posted by msalt at 8:49 PM on December 20, 2009

Ed McMahon is dead? I missed that.
posted by arse_hat at 8:52 PM on December 20, 2009

Frosting: good between layers of cake, excessive when spackled all over the cake's exterior.

Icing: see Frosting, above

Sprinkles: gritty little sugar bombs. The landmines of cake.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:53 PM on December 20, 2009

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing: The fact that you compare Murphy to Lohan shows you are already pulled so far back from the subject at hand that you don't really understand it anyway, so I have a hard time understanding why you care so badly.

I don't know who either one of those people are, so I have no idea if you are right or not. But:

ocherdraco: Murphy has been in the public eye for over 15 years, starting out in Hollywood when she was 14... It's something we've watched progress this entire decade: young women who are held up as the next big thing (Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears) and then brushed aside or openly mocked after they no longer fit an expected mold.

The comparison was made in the actual obit FPP itself, so continuing it here can't be as ridiculous as you'd like to pretend.

Also: jezebell is always shit, and some minor actor dying is a thin FPP.
posted by paisley henosis at 8:56 PM on December 20, 2009

Wow! I sooooo didn't know this was a thing. So, let me see if Google has set me straight... this is a potato dish that's pretty much to be expected at every Mormon funeral?

Jesus God. Frozen hashbrowns, canned soup, potato chips. I say this as a proud son of the Midwest: What the shitting fuck with cooking in upper middle part of this country? Pour some canned soup in a casserole dish, stir in some Coca Cola, top it with something out of a bag, and people can't shut up about how awesome it is. I swear to God that if I manage to invent New Midwestern Cuisine, I'll get my own goddamn James Beard award.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:05 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

*grabs shards and stabs jonmc in the jugular*

jonmc got slit in the jugular vein/
and jonmc I miss you more than all the others/
I salute you, brotha
posted by drjimmy11 at 9:08 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

some Youtube (or Vimeo, or whatever) clps would have been nice to clue the pop-culture dim of us in.

Do your own homework. How long does a Google search take these days, anyway?
posted by Cyrano at 9:09 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

and some minor actor dying is a thin FPP.

I don't know why this infuriates me, but it does. We do obits for all kinds of people, celebrities and not, and who the fuck are you to decide whose life is valuable enough to sully 2 lines on the front page for a day.
posted by empath at 9:12 PM on December 20, 2009 [20 favorites]

How much do you want to bet that if the FPP had been "Beloved cartoon voice actress dies", and Brittany Murphy had done nothing other than that with her career, there wouldn't have been any of these objections to the post?

Instead, since she was young/blonde/thin/considered a starlet, we get treated to full-on pathological hatred from those people who apparently lie awake at night fuming in rage over the fact that someone, somewhere might admire someone or something which has been Overhyped!!! to some extent.

To the extent of pissing on someone's obituary. Classy.
posted by kyrademon at 9:18 PM on December 20, 2009 [31 favorites]

I don't know who either one of those people are, so I have no idea if you are right or not.

I'm not saying this to brag about it, I'm just stating it as pure fact -- I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHO ANY OF YOU PEOPLE ARE. OR who these people are you are arguing about.

Now, let me tell you who I am, and what I think...
posted by hermitosis at 9:27 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA: Delicious, with a lovely hoppy character and a clean, short aftertaste.

Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA: Robust, strong flavor with a hoppy aftertaste and an amazing nose and top note.

Dogfish Head 120 minute IPA: An overly expensive dessert cordial with the consistency of corn syrup and a taste so strong you won't want more than one sip. Don't bother.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:34 PM on December 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

I suck at obituaries, but Olivia from Sesame Street died a few days ago.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:38 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

I went looking for a review and was stunned to learn that the ABV was 18%!(it's not shown on the label). Knocked me silly, but in a good way.

I find that anything over about 12% ABV is pushing it for beer (and my favorite beer for the past couple of years sits at an 11% or 12% depending on the batch.) I've rarely found anything above that doesn't get totally overpowered by the alcohol taste. I tried these three Avery beers recently (1, 2, 3) and couldn't get past the strength of the alcohol to the actual flavor of the beer.
posted by eyeballkid at 9:55 PM on December 20, 2009

I've rarely found anything above that doesn't get totally overpowered by the alcohol taste. I tried these three Avery beers recently (1, 2, 3) and couldn't get past the strength of the alcohol to the actual flavor of the beer.

With those kind of beers, it helps to drink them at cellar temperature, as it helps bring out the subtle characteristics of the beer. Most people have been brainwashed by the macro breweries into thinking that all beer must be ICE COLD. Only shitty beers need to be ice cold.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 10:19 PM on December 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

just so long as i get an obit thread when i die i'm cool with it.
posted by Glibpaxman at 10:52 PM on December 20, 2009

Holy crap, dirigibleman, that makes me so unaccountably sad. I never would have known - thanks for the link.

Also, RIP Brittany Murphy. Her poor mom.
posted by Space Kitty at 10:57 PM on December 20, 2009

just so long as i get an obit thread when i die i'm cool with it.

Alls you get is a metatalk thread, sorry.
posted by empath at 11:06 PM on December 20, 2009

I do agree that the post could have been better - I would have written the obituary, but I was babysitting when the news broke, and kind of devastated thereafter. She had a pretty extensive career of great importance to a lot of people, especially women my age (mid-twenties) who grew up watching her awkward, slightly crazy self progress through teen movies into the mainstream. She was someone to identify with. The folks who want to deem her a "non entity" or unimportant because she simply wasn't on their radar/was fairly popular in the entertainment industry... are stupid and selfish. There's no other way to put it. I don't see an obituary thread of a person I've not heard of and think "wow, that person must be worthless! After all I've never heard of them! Let's go and make a hard day even worse for a group of people", I think "wow, that person must be awesome. Someone cared enough about them to write an obituary thread, maybe I should check out their work".

Obituary threads have never really been about the main links, although it's always great when someone has the time to compile them (which is always hard when it's a celebrity, and the news is sudden and shocking). They're usually about people drawing together in a small space to reflect, show respect for those that have passed, share stories and sometimes personal memories. A minority interest has never been a reason to delete a post. Aside from the weak Jezebel link, there was nothing about the rest of the content that was detrimental to the site.

Sorry. I try not to make big posts on Meta about how I think this site should be, but this really feels like certain people are getting their jollies from shitting on this obit because of who they think Murphy was, not who she actually was in a professional capacity.
posted by saturnine at 11:15 PM on December 20, 2009 [10 favorites]

Why don't we just wave the white flag and set up obit.metafilter.com? Seriously, put this whole thing off in a corner of its own.

and by "we" I mean "pb"
posted by davejay at 11:31 PM on December 20, 2009

oh, I forgot to mention: all obit posts automatically get moved to obit.metafilter.com, and the links from the other sites to obit.metafilter.com are all dead.
posted by davejay at 11:32 PM on December 20, 2009

I'm cool with a MetaTalk obit thread. They're the snarkiest!
posted by eyeballkid at 11:32 PM on December 20, 2009

Sometimes, in my head, I sing the word "MetaTalk" to the tune of Van Halen's "Panama".

I need to get out more often.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:53 PM on December 20, 2009 [9 favorites]

I can barely see the thread from the snark coming off.
posted by stinkycheese at 12:53 AM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Who is this poor Brittany Murphy soul who is no longer with us? I have never heard of her.
posted by caddis at 1:14 AM on December 21, 2009

caddis: I dunno, but I think she may have been a controversial figure in the icing vs. frosting debate.
posted by mullacc at 1:26 AM on December 21, 2009

icing v frosting is a false opposition.

everybody knows that maple syrup is where it's really at.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:00 AM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

She was a well-known beer writer with strong opinions on strong ales.
posted by fixedgear at 4:21 AM on December 21, 2009

I am going to be so mad at you people when Abe Vigoda dies.

And also: I don't see why people feel the need to put cake under my frosting.
posted by Limiter at 6:21 AM on December 21, 2009

I wish music.metafilter could function as a request system.

I.e.,

"Could someone please do a cover of Van Halen's "Panama" substituting the word MetaTalk into Panama? Thank you."

Lyrics are forming.....
posted by cavalier at 6:50 AM on December 21, 2009

Now I'm really confused, because I posted a single link obit thread about a celebrity who wasn't really jaw-droppingly famous.

As I posted it, I assumed it would be deleted (and also had someone on MeFi tell me to expect it to be deleted), but it wasn't.
posted by Lucinda at 8:28 AM on December 21, 2009

It's because Ken Ober wasn't an attractive young blonde girl that bitter nerds hate on for no particular reason.
posted by empath at 8:43 AM on December 21, 2009 [5 favorites]

So, how about those zombies?
posted by blue_beetle at 9:20 AM on December 21, 2009

i love how this kind of meTa almost invariably devolves to goofy in-jokes and word games.

(Where by "devolves" I mean "ascends"...)
posted by lodurr at 9:21 AM on December 21, 2009

bitteroldpunk:
"Sometimes, in my head, I sing the word "MetaTalk" to the tune of Van Halen's "Panama"."

Great.

Now I do, too.

:/
posted by ersatzkat at 10:18 AM on December 21, 2009

bitteroldpunk:
"Sometimes, in my head, I sing the word "MetaTalk" to the tune of Van Halen's "Panama"."

Great.

Now I do, too.

Guys... this wasn't the Christmas gift I was hoping for.


*guitars solo, jump around like DLR*
posted by GuyZero at 10:20 AM on December 21, 2009

"Sometimes, in my head, I sing the word "MetaTalk" to the tune of Van Halen's "Panama"."


We all have our own little games.

Examples:


MetaTalk!

My, my, I tried to hold you back but you were stronger
Oh yeah, and now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight
And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose.
posted by The Whelk at 10:42 AM on December 21, 2009

fire&wings : Nonentity has died, her unremarkable biography clearly unworthy of a post on Metafilter.

In the spirit of not being fighty, I've deleted the comment I was composing. Let me instead just say that I emphatically disagree with your characterizations of her renown, her accomplishments, and your perceived value of what does and doesn't belong on Metafilter.
posted by quin at 11:25 AM on December 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

to the tune of Van Halen's "Panama"

Was so certain, on first glance, that this said PAJAMA and was excited that there could be a Van Halen song about pajamas that I did not know.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:47 AM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

OK, here's my rule of thumb: If by any stretch of the imagination your comment can be parsed down to "I do not find the subject of this post interesting and I disaprove of other people finding it interesting, and I wish for its deletion and so weill pour scorn upon the poster and anyone who disagrees with me" then it absolutely does not belong on Metafiler (or Ask). I cannot offhand think of a situation in which I would not want 100% of all such comments deleted.

On Metatalk it would be permissible, but still makes you an asshole.
posted by Artw at 11:58 AM on December 21, 2009 [10 favorites]

"Sometimes, in my head, I sing the word "MetaTalk" to the tune of Van Halen's "Panama"."

We all have our own little games.

In my head, I do an Elvis Costello impression:

MeeeeeetaTalk!
I know
this world
is kill-ing you!
Oh, MeeeeetaTalk,
My aim is true.
posted by cobwebberies at 12:31 PM on December 21, 2009

If by any stretch of the imagination your comment can be parsed down to "I do not find the subject of this post interesting and I disaprove of other people finding it interesting, and I wish for its deletion and so weill pour scorn upon the poster and anyone who disagrees with me"

I'm okay with one comment expressing disapproval of the post and/or subject in the thread, it's the refusal to let it go that gets obnoxious.
posted by empath at 1:39 PM on December 21, 2009

Do you know what I hate? FPPs are about snow (or mention snow, include videos shot in snowy settings, or even allude to frosty windows), because I live in one of the five magical Mediterranean climates, and I have never known the soft touch of the first snow on my cheek, nor the comfort of knowing life will be put on hold for a week because of an impending blizzard that will surely smother you in your home. Instead I must barbecue my turkeys for Thanksgiving, have wild boar spit-roast on the beach for Christmas, and frolic in the waves on new years day, all the while I dream of shoveling my car out of the drive so I can get to work on time. I surf to the office, thinking of what it would be like to walk on snow shoes to the grocery store or ride through a snowy forest to Grandmother's house, gliding along on a sled pulled by a horse with jolly jingling bells. I do not care for your stories of snowball fights gone awry, or pictures of Santa tip-toeing across a snowy roof. I know thousands of ways to say how warm and pleasant the sand is between by toes, yet can only describe snow as "cold and made of water."

Because of this, I am setting off, to create a new MetaFilter, devoid of snow-related stories, because they only infuriate me. If you wish to join me, come along and leave your slalom skis behind. I don't understand what the issue is with obit posts, unless it is about dogsledding champion from Alaska, because that would just rub metaphorical ice into my wounded heart. To those who despise the obit, I suggest you, too, form your own MetaFilter. May I suggest ObitFreeFilter? And then there will be a PlainCake Filter for those on the frosting/icing-free side of the dessert fence, and some sort of filter for US politics. This will be a fragmented world, but one I can embrace with the whole of my warm and sandy heart.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:12 PM on December 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

Instead I must barbecue my turkeys for Thanksgiving, have wild boar spit-roast on the beach for Christmas, and frolic in the waves on new years day, all the while I dream of shoveling my car out of the drive so I can get to work on time. I surf to the office,

I hate you so much.

So much.
posted by quin at 2:16 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

You're welcome here any time. All I ask is that I can borrow your toboggan and you give me directions to the best snow-hill. Or if you're stuck somewhere flat, you could drag me around on a sled when I visit you.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:28 PM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'll chip in my unasked-for opinion, and vote that the mods nuke all obit posts from here on out. If this relatively unknown and wholly unremarkable Murphy had not been a Hollywood actress, she'd never have made the front page. Merely existing is not reason enough to post about her.
posted by five fresh fish at 3:10 PM on December 21, 2009

c/merely existing/having merely existed/
posted by five fresh fish at 3:11 PM on December 21, 2009

I'll chip in my unasked-for opinion, and vote that the mods nuke all obit posts from here on out.

And thus began, the War on Death! Only celebrate the living, for the deceased are dead to us.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:23 PM on December 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

so if we nuke all obit posts just to avoid having to judge who's cool and who's not, then shouldn't we do that to all biographical posts, too?

Here, I'll try it: If this relatively unknown and wholly unremarkable Antonio Pineda had not had his obit posted to Metafilter, I'd never have heard his name. Merely making art is not reason enough to post about him.

Except, you know, imagine he's not dead.
posted by lodurr at 3:32 PM on December 21, 2009 [3 favorites]

Merely existing is not reason enough to post about her.


I think there were a couple of other reasons.

She put a couple notable performances in a couple notable films. The was kind of cult figure through King Of The Hill. Plus there were macro social issues related to her weight loss. And in that light her death was somewhat unusual.

If you think about using your kind of callous logic just you posting here is no reason to read you, either. I mean who the fuck are you and what have you done? Every time you leave a comment should you have to justify your existence to all 70K of us?
posted by tkchrist at 5:47 PM on December 21, 2009

I thought for a minute that said inhospital patients. Maybe you could make a fortune selling frosting as a quack remedy?
posted by shelleycat at 8:11 PM on December 21, 2009

Maybe you could make a fortune selling frosting as a quack remedy?

maybe, if you could get the ducks to stand still for it
posted by pyramid termite at 8:43 PM on December 21, 2009

Homeopathic frosting.

Gallons of frosting but only two molecules of sugar?

Actually I'd probably buy that.
posted by shelleycat at 9:27 PM on December 21, 2009

knowing life will be put on hold for a week because of an impending blizzard that will surely smother you in your home.

Nay! We had an impending blizzard week last week and it took the district until 6am day 2 of blizzard to cancel schools. Meanwhile, all the other businesses in town were still open for business as the snow plows worked 'round the clock. I love the snow, and the midwest United States does not put life on hold for inclement weather, let alone a few messily feet of snow!

And tomorrow morning, I fly out to Atlanta, where indeed your assessment holds true, where the mere threat of snow sends the craven southners scavenging the grocery stores clean of milk and bread. Weak, I tell you!!!


Actually, I'm just jealous of being able to walk outside without gloves and a cap and not regretting it for months on end.
posted by jmd82 at 9:39 PM on December 21, 2009

It's a beautiful 27 degrees Celsius here, with sparkly blue skies & a slight breeze. It'll be light until at least 8:30 tonight, allowing for a trip to the beach after work.
posted by UbuRoivas at 10:10 PM on December 21, 2009

It probably says something about me that I'm much more envious of the blizzard than of the beautiful sunny summer's day.

GODDAMNIT it's winter it's SUPPOSED to be snowy GODDAMN I'M IN ICELAND GODDAMN WHERE'S MY BLANKET OF SNOW GODDAMN *pant pant pant* excuse me got a bit out of breath there and worked up don't mind me
posted by Kattullus at 10:34 PM on December 21, 2009

You should have gone to Snowland, kat.
posted by joost de vries at 10:44 PM on December 21, 2009

Merely making art is not reason enough to post about him.

The guy makes more than art: he is a craftsman with the highest degree of skill. He excels in both vision and execution: a master. And then there's the post, which actually had links. And we can see good visuals and read a biography. Content-rich. And while the thread is short, it isn't nearly as dull as an endless stream of dots.

The obit post gave us a Single Link Blog Blipvert, no effort made whatsoever in what I assume was a mad rush to be First Post! about this big news. Biography? Hell no! Plagiarised text? Hell yes! IMDB movie links? Hell, no! Hometown newspaper? Critical reviews? Anything? Fuck, no! Gotta make this post!!eleventyone!!

And while I'm ranting, I had thought e-cards were pretty much the best way to show how much you don't care. But now that I've thought about it, a single dot in a thread following a pepsi-blued link to a corporate hollywood blog tops it.

For some reason, it's important to people that we have hastily-written posts about moderately famous people. Checkout-stand trashy news magazines have made an industry of it, and it seems to be part of MeFi's social habits as well.

I think SLOPs are shitty, and I doubt you're going to convince me differently. But don't worry. I'm sure my opinion isn't any real threat to getting your dot on.

.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:15 PM on December 21, 2009

"And while I'm ranting, I had thought e-cards were pretty much the best way to show how much you don't care. But now that I've thought about it, a single dot in a thread following a pepsi-blued link to a corporate hollywood blog tops it.

For some reason, it's important to people that we have hastily-written posts about moderately famous people. Checkout-stand trashy news magazines have made an industry of it, and it seems to be part of MeFi's social habits as well.

I think SLOPs are shitty, and I doubt you're going to convince me differently. But don't worry. I'm sure my opinion isn't any real threat to getting your dot on."

I agree with all of this but I still think you are a dick.
posted by arse_hat at 1:02 AM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think SLOPs are shitty

Putting things into perspective, at least they're better than shits that are sloppy.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:24 AM on December 22, 2009

GODDAMNIT it's winter it's SUPPOSED to be snowy GODDAMN I'M IN ICELAND GODDAMN WHERE'S MY BLANKET OF SNOW GODDAMN

The clouds are protesting. They are unhappy with the Icesave bill and told reporters that they refuse to drop a single flake until the parliament either kills the proposal, or the president refuses to sign it.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:49 AM on December 22, 2009

YAARGH GET YOUR ICESAVE OUT OF MY METAFILTER

can't an Icelander have a moment's respite from that insane discussion?
posted by Kattullus at 5:29 AM on December 22, 2009

Welcome to my world. At least you get to move back away from it in a couple weeks.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:31 AM on December 22, 2009

It probably says something about me that I'm much more envious of the blizzard than of the beautiful sunny summer's day.

I've never hurt my back shoveling sunbeams, so I guess I fall into a different camp.

Blizzards are only fun if you don't need to be anywhere, but for those of you who never got to experience it, it goes something like this; you wake up early because you heard you were going to get a bit of snow, you open your garage and are treated to the one good moment. The world is silent and smooth, The trees are thick and white and the hedges are all pressed flat under the weight of the snow. Unfortunately. your car is sitting under about two feet, it's heavy and wet, you get out your snowblower and work your way to the end of the driveway so that you can clear the packed in four foot high berm that the snowplow left. Once that is done, you clear the rest of your driveway, doing so you notice that despite the fact that it's freezing outside, you now have sweat pouring off of you. You then take a shovel to all the places that people need to walk that the snowblower won't reach. You clear your car with shop broom, and then start it up so that it's warm when you leave. You go back inside, and change all your wet clothes for ones that don't reek of gasoline and exhaust.

Then you go to work. This is exciting because some roads are plowed, some aren't. Some have been driven over, leaving hard packed tire tracks that are exceptionally slippery. You have to be particularly careful, because while you are an excellent driver that understands the importance of maintaining forward movement so not to get stuck, at least half the other drivers out there are terrified and have no clue. So you are constantly trying to negotiate your way around stuck cars that have been abandoned, or worse, ones that are occupied and trying to get out despite the fact that this has them backing out onto an active road.

Two hours later, you get to your typically 30 minute away office, and you realize that at least 1/3rd of your coworkers aren't there.

Then, after you're done spending a day playing catch-up, you go out to the parking lot, and try to clean the new eight to ten inches of new snow off your car, so you can start the whole process of going home.

And once home, you realize that you are completely physically and mentally exhausted. You look at the news and guess what they are reporting for tomorrow; more snow.

I'll take sun, thanks.
posted by quin at 9:22 AM on December 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

I agree with all of this but I still think you are a dick.

Really? For expressing an opinion in MeTa? Fan-fucking-tastic. FYI, it's a Really. Big. Dick. If you ask nicely, I'll let you suck it.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:21 AM on December 22, 2009

Sounds wike somewun has the Kwismus Kwankies!!!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:24 AM on December 22, 2009

If you ask nicely, I'll let you suck it.

politely asking you both/all to knock this off.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:27 AM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

Yah, fersure. I regretted it the moment I hit post. Sorry.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:35 AM on December 22, 2009

Thanks!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:39 AM on December 22, 2009

GODDAMNIT it's winter it's SUPPOSED to be snowy GODDAMN I'M IN ICELAND GODDAMN WHERE'S MY BLANKET OF SNOW GODDAMN *pant pant pant*

It's all over Europe and hampering my sleep keeping my friends from flying home for Christmas. :(
posted by ersatz at 11:53 AM on December 22, 2009

Wow Brittany Murphy sure brings on the hate.
posted by stormpooper at 12:46 PM on December 22, 2009

It's a pity she wasn't in Avatar.
posted by Artw at 1:44 PM on December 22, 2009

Merely making art is not reason enough to post about him.

The guy makes more than art: he is a craftsman with the highest degree of skill. He excels in both vision and execution: a master.

As the poster about Pineda, who was in fact referred to as Maestro Pineda, I just want to say that I am so sorry about Brittany Murphy, some of whose work I knew and who was apparently talented, hard working and haunted. I'm also still hoping to see more explanation at some point of her death. As when Heath Ledger's cause of death was known, it seems there is more to think about, chew on and talk about when we aren't still all wondering how this happened.

But I am also sad that my post about Pineda drew so much less apparent interest on MeFi than the Murphy post. I don't think Pineda was worth more than Murphy because he was a master craftsman -- but his death was a big loss, and his body of work is substantial and impressive. Some say he was part of, perhaps the main mover, in a real Renaissance in Mexican silver work.

On the other hand, one of the endlessly interesting things about MeFi is the (to me) often unexpected reactions to the huge variety of FPPs we post and read.
posted by bearwife at 5:27 PM on December 22, 2009

If the site was all things I did like or care about it would get really boring. All cat macros and geeky science posts, preferably mashed up together.

It would look something like this by the way.
posted by shelleycat at 9:30 PM on December 22, 2009

five fresh fish: The guy makes more than art: he is a craftsman with the highest degree of skill. He excels in both vision and execution: a master

So you say. I've never heard of him. To me, he's a mere silversmith.

And then, what if I don't like his art? What then?

For the record, to be utterly, pedantically clear, and just because you seem to have so carefully missed the point: You are making a judgement about the importance of this "Hollywood actress" based on your own values, and you seem to be expecting the rest of us to buy into them. What if we don't? Do we then not deserve to speak? Should we have to nevertheless attend when you do?
posted by lodurr at 6:03 AM on December 23, 2009

To me, he's a mere silversmith.

Nay, a mere tinker!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 9:10 AM on December 23, 2009

I like it when threads turn into Disney movies.
posted by Artw at 3:15 PM on December 23, 2009