Mefites' Choice best post contest, Week 4 and Community Prizes January 2, 2016 2:19 PM Subscribe
The fourth and final week of the Mefites' Choice contest is closed, and here are the results to warm your first week of 2016. Prize-givers, announce your chosen posts in here too.
To recap, here's the Metatalk about how the contest works, and here's the Mefi Wiki page for the contest. Here are the previous weeks' results: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3
As for the overall site votes, here's the roundup:
The 2015 Week 4 Mefites' Choice Award goes to.....
All the folks who offered month-long prizes can announce their picks in this thread - and if anyone's inclined to offer last-minute prizes, those too. Let 'em rip!
Thank you to the posters, and thanks to everyone who voted and offered prizes - it's been a lot of fun to see all the great posts this month.
To recap, here's the Metatalk about how the contest works, and here's the Mefi Wiki page for the contest. Here are the previous weeks' results: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3
As for the overall site votes, here's the roundup:
The 2015 Week 4 Mefites' Choice Award goes to.....
The single most important musical instrument in the history of baseball - All about Chicago baseball institution Nancy Faust, and how the historic organ from Comiskey Park was saved and is being driven to Cooperstown this week by a ragtag band of musicians.Runners up and honorables mention (also top vote-getters, if anyone's looking for community prize material):
by dirtdirt
dirtdirt wins $25 to spend at the store of his choice in the Mefi Mall. Congratulations, dirtdirt!
And finally, for the all-important Community Prizes... {drumroll please}
Analysis of an airplane crash reveals what can go wrong when shortcuts or bad practices are treated as normal in an organization
by desjardins
Short history of the weirdly awesome microcars of Hungary
by filthy light thief
Reviews of abortion episodes of tv shows by two women who've actually had abortions
by McLir
How we talk about maternal ambivalence
by MonkeyToes
Cellphone keypad covers of songs
by Wobbuffet
Examining the legacy of Rudyard Kipling
by Fizz
People post photos of their Christmas Eve sleeping arrangements
by Helga-woo
A cartoon series about bread baking from Japan
by filthy light thief
Spectacular photos of Lake Erie
by mandolin conspiracy
All the cheeseball low-budget 1980s ninja movie trailers you can eat
by juv3nal
An oral history of the Muppet Christmas Carol
by fearfulsymmetry
The mysterious Mrs. Claus
by filthy light thief
A collection of historical resources about why communism in eastern Europe fell in 1989
by infini
Have you heard of galalith, the early plastic made out of milk?
by jessamyn
A bunch of fun, playable Legend of Zelda links
by JHarris
All the folks who offered month-long prizes can announce their picks in this thread - and if anyone's inclined to offer last-minute prizes, those too. Let 'em rip!
Thank you to the posters, and thanks to everyone who voted and offered prizes - it's been a lot of fun to see all the great posts this month.
The conversation in that Nethack post has been going strong for almost a month now, too - a worthy pick!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:55 PM on January 2, 2016
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 3:55 PM on January 2, 2016
Shut up!
I chalk this win totally up to my good fortune that these folks' compelling project was starting to come to a head this week when work was slow enough that I had some time to put together a post. I didn't remember the contest until after I posted.
THIS ENDURING GLORY ASIDE the coolest thing has been conversing with Josh Kantor on Twitter. Turns out he is a fan of MetaFilter. Are all librarians??
I'm interpreting that Fenway invite as an extraordinarily cool idle politeness that I'd be way too shy to ever try and redeem anyway. But still!
posted by dirtdirt at 4:02 PM on January 2, 2016 [6 favorites]
I chalk this win totally up to my good fortune that these folks' compelling project was starting to come to a head this week when work was slow enough that I had some time to put together a post. I didn't remember the contest until after I posted.
THIS ENDURING GLORY ASIDE the coolest thing has been conversing with Josh Kantor on Twitter. Turns out he is a fan of MetaFilter. Are all librarians??
I'm interpreting that Fenway invite as an extraordinarily cool idle politeness that I'd be way too shy to ever try and redeem anyway. But still!
posted by dirtdirt at 4:02 PM on January 2, 2016 [6 favorites]
Are all librarians??
Except for a few stragglers, yes. How do I not know this guy?
Oh hey there is my name. Neat! My awards for best post between Solstice and Xmas are as follows.
1. This amazing and poignant post about the Walker mural being whitewashed as well as a lot of great backstpry about Walker, by orthicon halo
2. This nice single link post by saul wright about the health values of going outside. MeFites respond predictably.
dirtdirt DON'T BE A GOOF, GO TO FENWAY.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 4:30 PM on January 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
Except for a few stragglers, yes. How do I not know this guy?
Oh hey there is my name. Neat! My awards for best post between Solstice and Xmas are as follows.
1. This amazing and poignant post about the Walker mural being whitewashed as well as a lot of great backstpry about Walker, by orthicon halo
2. This nice single link post by saul wright about the health values of going outside. MeFites respond predictably.
dirtdirt DON'T BE A GOOF, GO TO FENWAY.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 4:30 PM on January 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
This nice single link post by saul wright about the health values of going outside.
Thanks, I missed that post!
posted by jaguar at 6:19 PM on January 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Thanks, I missed that post!
posted by jaguar at 6:19 PM on January 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yo, I upvote Jessamyn's picks if people are offering a bounty on my picks for some secret quonsar-ish reason - especially the Saul Wright and orthicon halo posts.
If you know me IRL, contact me privately for more - by text, email, or Twitter DM in that order. I'm not ready to write more on my main internet handle yet.
Because: everyone does need a hug and I keep trying to hug the world. So I'd better go to Boston while the ice is muddy, snuggle my partner, or at least listen to "The Ice of Boston" [SLYoutube] a lot. (Pretty sure I'm on stage somewhere at that show.)
posted by torridly at 6:22 PM on January 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you know me IRL, contact me privately for more - by text, email, or Twitter DM in that order. I'm not ready to write more on my main internet handle yet.
Because: everyone does need a hug and I keep trying to hug the world. So I'd better go to Boston while the ice is muddy, snuggle my partner, or at least listen to "The Ice of Boston" [SLYoutube] a lot. (Pretty sure I'm on stage somewhere at that show.)
posted by torridly at 6:22 PM on January 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
My favourite supervocalic post, of the six made this month, is knuckle tattoos's Donut Cat & Friends. The pure bliss and joy which those videos inspired in me overcame any minor reluctancy I had due to the use of the ampersand to achieve supervocality. As promised, knuckle tattoos receives his choice of one or more supervocalic items, cost not to exceed twenty-six US dollars.
I'd also like to acknowledge the other five artful posts, which made this choice a formidable duty:
Fir dearth spurs work, by knuckle tattoos
Antique Molds, by knuckle tattoos
Funk Whips Old Age, by Etrigan
Walls Not Included, by poffin boffin
Cryptographers' Quiz, by Tsuga
Thanks to all for indulging my funny vowel gaming!
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:33 PM on January 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
I'd also like to acknowledge the other five artful posts, which made this choice a formidable duty:
Fir dearth spurs work, by knuckle tattoos
Antique Molds, by knuckle tattoos
Funk Whips Old Age, by Etrigan
Walls Not Included, by poffin boffin
Cryptographers' Quiz, by Tsuga
Thanks to all for indulging my funny vowel gaming!
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:33 PM on January 2, 2016 [7 favorites]
A bunch of good ones there, including the Cryptographer's Quiz one, which is extra worth reading as Mefites worked thru the whole quiz and posted their results in thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:02 PM on January 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:02 PM on January 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yay! I mean, totally delightful that my typographic blunder (more candidly put: a little shortcut after I thought, "'Donut Anime' may not suffice" ) wasn't unforgivable.
My significant other wants Beanitos Puffs. Which is amazing, because she asked about those without knowing beforehand about the supervocalic limitation. But I'm still probably going to ask for Greg Rucka comics instead.
Thanks for running this really creative contest! I liked having the goofy task of deciding whether Dynamite Out, Something Awful, or Horadric Cubes would make good fodder for a post.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 10:29 PM on January 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
My significant other wants Beanitos Puffs. Which is amazing, because she asked about those without knowing beforehand about the supervocalic limitation. But I'm still probably going to ask for Greg Rucka comics instead.
Thanks for running this really creative contest! I liked having the goofy task of deciding whether Dynamite Out, Something Awful, or Horadric Cubes would make good fodder for a post.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 10:29 PM on January 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
As tempting as it is to say "Congratulations!" to Rev. Syung Myung Me for his great Neon Genesis Evangelion post, best anime post of December goes to filthy light thief's Yakitate!! Japan post. Bread! Puns! A rare comic turn by Takehito Koyasu, who is the best! Anyway, I am baking-pun-deficient since Bake-Off ended, so I am excited to be reminded of this show.
Prize: Undertale or game of similar value on that surefire method of getting a good baguette crust, Steam. MeMailing as we speak!
posted by knuckle tattoos at 11:06 PM on January 2, 2016
Prize: Undertale or game of similar value on that surefire method of getting a good baguette crust, Steam. MeMailing as we speak!
posted by knuckle tattoos at 11:06 PM on January 2, 2016
It looks like the cute animal youtube winner this December is...fraula and her daring post about bunnies in cups!
fraula, as your prize I will draw you a picture of anything you want (poorly, on a notecard) and mail it to you! Let me know what you'd like!
posted by phunniemee at 5:33 AM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
fraula, as your prize I will draw you a picture of anything you want (poorly, on a notecard) and mail it to you! Let me know what you'd like!
posted by phunniemee at 5:33 AM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
My favourite supervocalic post, of the six made this month, is knuckle tattoos's Donut Cat & Friends.
Using an ampersand to avoid a second A is total rat-bastard cheating. Terry Funk approves of losing to total rat-bastard cheating.
posted by Etrigan at 5:57 AM on January 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
Using an ampersand to avoid a second A is total rat-bastard cheating. Terry Funk approves of losing to total rat-bastard cheating.
posted by Etrigan at 5:57 AM on January 3, 2016 [4 favorites]
Thanks for the mention. MetaFilter has been lots of fun in December.
posted by Fizz at 6:52 AM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Fizz at 6:52 AM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yay, congrats to the winners and good job everybody for making a bunch of great posts this week and all month.
Also a big public thanks to LobsterMitten for stepping up in the face of the various strange figurative weather of this last month to more or less single-handedly maestro the weekly announcement posts; you've been a champ.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:21 AM on January 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
Also a big public thanks to LobsterMitten for stepping up in the face of the various strange figurative weather of this last month to more or less single-handedly maestro the weekly announcement posts; you've been a champ.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:21 AM on January 3, 2016 [3 favorites]
>Using an ampersand to avoid a second A is total rat-bastard cheating. Terry Funk approves of losing to total rat-bastard cheating.
Likewise, The Government Communications Headquarters would like to express their professional admiration for Mr. tattoos' exploitation of a loophole to remain technically legal.
posted by Tsuga at 4:57 PM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Likewise, The Government Communications Headquarters would like to express their professional admiration for Mr. tattoos' exploitation of a loophole to remain technically legal.
posted by Tsuga at 4:57 PM on January 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, looky there. I'm honoured to be mentioned!
Shit - can't believe I missed Fizz's Kipling post. How epic.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:02 PM on January 3, 2016
Shit - can't believe I missed Fizz's Kipling post. How epic.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:02 PM on January 3, 2016
The winner of the Malaysian aerogram, for best post to cover something outside the United States, is sapagan's post about an activist sound art project involving Palestinian music! Beautifully written with plenty of context.
Runners-up, who will get a postcard, are filthy light thief's post about Hungarian inventions and jet_silver's post about German actor Johannes Heesters. Please check your Mefi Mail!
posted by divabat at 1:53 AM on January 4, 2016
Runners-up, who will get a postcard, are filthy light thief's post about Hungarian inventions and jet_silver's post about German actor Johannes Heesters. Please check your Mefi Mail!
posted by divabat at 1:53 AM on January 4, 2016
Adding my congrats to the posters, and kudos to LobsterMitten for reminding us to vote and updating us on all of the results and runners up!
For my favorite post in December about a woman or women doing awesome things: it was really really tough to pick just one, so congrats to four winners!
- MonkeyToes' post about the WPA Sewing Rooms (also the official Week 2 MeFi winning post) was a fascinating new aspect for me of wartime history. (And although I don't know much about beer, I also enjoyed MonkeyToes' post about brewmaster Annie Johnson.)
- desjardins' post about The Normalization of Deviance, a concept created by sociologist and professor Diane Vaughan after the Challenger shuttle crash. I don't know if "enjoyed" is the correct verb to use here because of the subject matter analyzing mistakes and disasters, but I'm certainly glad of the post, and to have learned about Vaughan's role and her work.
- Bourbonesque's post about Diana Serra Cary, one of the last living silent film actresses. e.g. I loved reading in the Guardian interview that "she'll watch anything with Helen Mirren in it" and that her proudest work was writing her book Hollywood's Children: "I could find hundreds of studies about the effects of children watching too many movies. But nothing about the effects of being in them."
- ChuraChura's post Walking on Tigers' Tails, about stunt women through the history of movies. I'd seen the documentary Double Dare on PBS years ago and I especially enjoyed the links about the stunt women during the silent film era.
I'll send you each a picture postcard (that is, if you would like one) by postal mail... please check your MeMail for a message from me within the next couple of days.
Such a wealth of great posts -- a few honorable mentions:
- dirtdirt's post (and Week 4 winner!) about Nancy Faust and her Hammond organ.
- the man of twists and turns' slnyt obit post about Janet Wolfe, who sounds like she had an interesting life well before she eventually founded the New York City Housing Authority Symphony.
- A couple of video-related posts: I haven't been able to watch the full films yet, but wanted to mention A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, directed by Ana Lily Amirpour -- posted by filthy light thief; and the documentary Off the Menu: Asian America, by Grace Lee -- posted by Room 641-A.
- Wobbuffet's post about Philosop-her featuring current women in philosophy.
- yarntheory's post about Mary Collier and her 1739 poem "The Woman's Labour."
If you wrote about women and don't see your post mentioned, it doesn't mean I didn't like it! It was a seriously great month for content overall, so thank you for making it great.
And since LobsterMitten said last-minute prizes were okay -- I'd like to offer a picture postcard as a prize for filthy light thief's posts, because when I was looking through all of my favorited December posts (in general), I saw his username in many of the bylines! Aside from his posts mentioned above and in previous MeFites Choice announcements, one of my personal favorites was An unexpected bird, heard over and over in music since 1989: the loon.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 4:00 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
For my favorite post in December about a woman or women doing awesome things: it was really really tough to pick just one, so congrats to four winners!
- MonkeyToes' post about the WPA Sewing Rooms (also the official Week 2 MeFi winning post) was a fascinating new aspect for me of wartime history. (And although I don't know much about beer, I also enjoyed MonkeyToes' post about brewmaster Annie Johnson.)
- desjardins' post about The Normalization of Deviance, a concept created by sociologist and professor Diane Vaughan after the Challenger shuttle crash. I don't know if "enjoyed" is the correct verb to use here because of the subject matter analyzing mistakes and disasters, but I'm certainly glad of the post, and to have learned about Vaughan's role and her work.
- Bourbonesque's post about Diana Serra Cary, one of the last living silent film actresses. e.g. I loved reading in the Guardian interview that "she'll watch anything with Helen Mirren in it" and that her proudest work was writing her book Hollywood's Children: "I could find hundreds of studies about the effects of children watching too many movies. But nothing about the effects of being in them."
- ChuraChura's post Walking on Tigers' Tails, about stunt women through the history of movies. I'd seen the documentary Double Dare on PBS years ago and I especially enjoyed the links about the stunt women during the silent film era.
I'll send you each a picture postcard (that is, if you would like one) by postal mail... please check your MeMail for a message from me within the next couple of days.
Such a wealth of great posts -- a few honorable mentions:
- dirtdirt's post (and Week 4 winner!) about Nancy Faust and her Hammond organ.
- the man of twists and turns' slnyt obit post about Janet Wolfe, who sounds like she had an interesting life well before she eventually founded the New York City Housing Authority Symphony.
- A couple of video-related posts: I haven't been able to watch the full films yet, but wanted to mention A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, directed by Ana Lily Amirpour -- posted by filthy light thief; and the documentary Off the Menu: Asian America, by Grace Lee -- posted by Room 641-A.
- Wobbuffet's post about Philosop-her featuring current women in philosophy.
- yarntheory's post about Mary Collier and her 1739 poem "The Woman's Labour."
If you wrote about women and don't see your post mentioned, it doesn't mean I didn't like it! It was a seriously great month for content overall, so thank you for making it great.
And since LobsterMitten said last-minute prizes were okay -- I'd like to offer a picture postcard as a prize for filthy light thief's posts, because when I was looking through all of my favorited December posts (in general), I saw his username in many of the bylines! Aside from his posts mentioned above and in previous MeFites Choice announcements, one of my personal favorites was An unexpected bird, heard over and over in music since 1989: the loon.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 4:00 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Congrats to lunasol for the best post tagged Hamilton (as judged by flag count)!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:52 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:52 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Congrats to Blasdelb who is the winner of the capricorn's birthday contest! This very cool FPP about Supreme Skills and high-performance spinning tops was the best post on Dec. 30 by flag count+favorites.
posted by capricorn at 10:36 AM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by capricorn at 10:36 AM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
phunniemee: It looks like the cute animal youtube winner this December is...fraula and her daring post about bunnies in cups!
I won with bunnies!!! Yippee! Thanks for all the votes everyone, I am happy that the fuzzy dozing feets and noses brought peace and joy.
as your prize I will draw you a picture of anything you want (poorly, on a notecard) and mail it to you! Let me know what you'd like!
A bunny, natürlisch! Black and white with one lop ear :) [will memail you too]
posted by fraula at 10:56 AM on January 4, 2016
I won with bunnies!!! Yippee! Thanks for all the votes everyone, I am happy that the fuzzy dozing feets and noses brought peace and joy.
as your prize I will draw you a picture of anything you want (poorly, on a notecard) and mail it to you! Let me know what you'd like!
A bunny, natürlisch! Black and white with one lop ear :) [will memail you too]
posted by fraula at 10:56 AM on January 4, 2016
Codacorolla's post on a ranking of every Cleveland Browns loss since 1999 was the most favorited post about and tagged sports! For the effort, codacorolla won a delicious pound cake (has has been memailed).
posted by everybody had matching towels at 12:12 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by everybody had matching towels at 12:12 PM on January 4, 2016
So, even (or maybe especially) though I never really got manga/anime, Filthy Light Thief wins the best baking/crafting/homemaking post for "Yakitate!! Japan, an informative manga/anime series about bread baking"!
FLT - send memail with address and goodies will be on their way!!!
posted by Sophie1 at 1:40 PM on January 4, 2016
FLT - send memail with address and goodies will be on their way!!!
posted by Sophie1 at 1:40 PM on January 4, 2016
Congrats to everyone, and y'all are much too kind.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:18 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by filthy light thief at 6:18 PM on January 4, 2016
Sorry this is coming a bit late.
It turns out flex's awesome fruit fucking post was not only the Most Fantasticked of Week 3, but also the Most Fantasticked Post of the whole month (according to mods)!
Accordingly, I award flex this prize: The post memorialized as a vintage pulp fiction cover.
Congratulations!
posted by Kabanos at 3:57 PM on January 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
It turns out flex's awesome fruit fucking post was not only the Most Fantasticked of Week 3, but also the Most Fantasticked Post of the whole month (according to mods)!
Accordingly, I award flex this prize: The post memorialized as a vintage pulp fiction cover.
Congratulations!
posted by Kabanos at 3:57 PM on January 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
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posted by Etrigan at 3:54 PM on January 2, 2016 [3 favorites]