Looking back on ten years of FPPs October 29, 2017 9:16 AM Subscribe
I've joined many web communities in my life, but none for as long or as wholeheartedly as MetaFilter. I've learned a lot, grown as a person, and taken direction from the thousands of smart, funny, and caring people who write here. And I've been inspired to write, too, putting more time and effort into researching worthwhile posts than I have at any other creative hobby. Sadly, what with work and the news chaos and competing interests it feels like there's less and less time to focus lately, and seeing linkrot erode what I do post is a drag. So when showbiz_liz's lovely celebration of ten years on the blue made me realize my own 10th Mefiversary was approaching, I was moved to do something about it. Nothing on the web lasts forever, but armed with old notes files, the Wayback Machine, and a drive to rediscover my own personal Best of the Web, I plowed through all 149 posts (and a few comments) to recover lost links, check on what had happened since, and organize it all into a single FPP omnibus for your reading pleasure.
To keep it simple, each underlined link points to an FPP, while the Now tag adds updates, fixes for important broken links, and other developments. Organized into nine broad categories: Megaposts, News & Politics, Web, Television, Film, Arts, Gaming, Literature, and Grab Bag. Each section has its own chronological order, 2007-2017.
The 15th anniversary of Active Worlds >>Now: Still online, still going strong! Apparently the community survives in a Facebook group.
The Dune Encyclopedia >>Now: The FPP link is mysteriously Russified, but there's another copy here.
Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic >>Now: This led to my personal favorite MeFi moment when developer Yoz Grahame dropped by to tell a series of increasingly incredible stories about the development of the game.
The marvelous short stories of Ted Chiang >>Now: He's since written three additional stories; working links to these and others in this comment on the trailer for the "Story of Your Life" adaptation Arrival (which was fantastic)
The Animatrix >>Now: Links are dead, but you can watch the whole thing in one piece here.
The best of Google Video on MeFi >>Now: While backlash staved off the closure of Google Video for over a year, the service did eventuallydie migrate to YouTube. Good luck tracking down videos of interest based on the title and context, because all the links are now broken. Also, FishBike, who helped compile the list, is no longer active. :(
The history of Nickelodeon >>Now: Their 90s revival expanded into an eight-hour nightly block, and the channel is looking to further capitalize on the nostalgia trend with faithful remakes of shows like Hey Arnold! and Rocko's Modern Life.
The music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? >>Now: The concert film is still available on Veoh. In subsequent years, the extensive catalog of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax that informed much of the soundtrack was posted online via The Global Jukebox.
Deep dives into OK Computer, Kid A/Amnesiac, and A Moon Shaped Pool >>Now: Following a successful world tour, Radiohead released a remastered OKC with new music and is now eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The AV Club's favorite Flash games >>Now: Most links still work, but enjoy them while you can, as Adobe Flash isn't long for this world.
The complete run of The Onion's Our Dumb Century >>Now: A redesign broke all the links, but you can view an archived copy of each one by prepending this to the URL: https://web.archive.org/web/2012/
The magical prose of Italo Calvino >>Now: Here's an archived city list. Some more thoughts and connections, plus a gallery of real cities named. The linked compendium remains a great resource; italo-calvino.com also has some good stuff. Pixar's 2011 short La Luna may have drawn some inspiration from Calvino's Cosmicomics
The Periodic Table of Breaking Bad >>Now: No way I'm rechecking all these links! The spinoff series Better Call Saul turned out fantastic, though.
The smart sci-fi horror of Peter Watts >>Now: A nice formatted version of the Reddit AMA, plus check out the MeFi comments for a drop-in from Watts himself! Echopraxia ended up being pretty great, and another novel is on the horizon.
The beauty of Katamari Damacy >>Now: Takahashi is back in the world of game development, working on a curious title called Wattam slated for release next year
The Master Chief Collection and a dozen years of Halo fandom >>Now: I'll always love the Halo trilogy, but this remastered version blew up on the launchpad and wrecked what would have been a great return to form for the series.
The end of the Colbert Report >>Now: After a decade of truthiness, Colbert went on to conquer late night television in Letterman's stead. (Bonus version for the Daily Show.)
Highlights from Key & Peele >>Now: The show still holds up (as do the links), and the duo went on to make solid films like Keanu and horror gem Get Out
The rise of Virtual Reality >>Now: The Vive's tech delivered as advertised, though Oculus locked up more exclusive titles. The market is small but growing pending the next generation of hardware.
Voting shenanigans in the California Democratic primary >>Now: Clinton narrowly won the California primary -- but it wasn't enough to secure the nomination.
Reactions to Barack Obama on MeFi: 2008 - 2010 - 2012 >>Now: .
President Obama and his Blackberry >>Now: "The Bush Administration, on the other hand, junked the Clinton archival process and replaced it with a comically inept alternative that has lost more than five million messages, many concerning official government business." ahahahahahahahaha.
Ad Council PSAs >>Now: Mirrors of the key videos in the FPP, more relevant now than ever: Library - Diner - Church - I Am an American - Global Warming
Rolling Stone lays out the case for Obama in late 2010, and The 2010 midterm election >>Now: Sadly, the midterms led to Republican control of the House and most state offices, blocking the rest of Obama's agenda, gerrymandering the nation, and setting up the political clusterfuck we find ourselves in now.
Anonymous hacks Gawker >>Now: Heralded the rise of mega-hacks that would affect millions of accounts. As for Gawker, it would kick the bucket six years later.
Southeastern tornadoes >>Now: Tuscaloosa, at least, has largely recovered with lots of new development, and Mayor Walt Maddox is angling to run for governor as a Democrat on the strength of his record.
The secret history of Fox News >>Now: Maybe time for an update with the secret history of Breitbart/Infowars/The_Donald?
Wisconsin recall elections >>Now: Unfortunately Scott Walker retained his seat, but on the bright side: at least he's not president!
Iran assassination plot >>Now: Surprisingly anticlimactic -- some sanctions, and the plotter plead guilty in 2013 for 25 years in prison.
Rick Perry forgets the Department of Energy >>Now: Rick Perry is Secretary of Energy.
The 2012 Iowa caucuses >>Now: Bachmann: retired. Perry: see above. Romney: eyeing a Utah Senate run. Santorum: still in everyone's hair.
Obamacare at the Supreme Court, and the eventual ruling >>Now: The Medicare expansion was rendered optional, leading many states to refuse, but the mandate survived, even a year into GOP control of Washington.
Paul Ryan as Romney's VP >>Now: After losing in 2012, Ryan "reluctantly" took over for John Boehner as Speaker of the House.
Charlie Pierce's political essays >>Now: He leans more toward withering sarcasm than gravitas these days, but he still writes on the regular for Esquire.
Puerto Rican statehood vote >>Now: Nothing came of this for arcane balloting reasons, but Puerto Rico could use American government support now more than ever.
Partisan gerrymandering >>Now: Had a big impact in 2012 and later, though a current Supreme Court case could change this
Boston Marathon bombing manhunt >>Now: One dead, one on death row, with a film adaptation of the attack in 2016.
The debt ceiling debacle >>Now: Narrowly averted then and now, though as long as Republicans control Congress, who knows?
Same-sex marriage in Oklahoma, and then nationwide >>Now: Marriage equality looks secure despite the climate, although Alabama's anti-gay Chief Justice Roy Moore, booted from the court for defying the Obergefell ruling, is angling for a Senate seat against Democrat Doug Jones in December.
Net neutrality >>Now: After Trump appointed Ajit Pai and gave him a conservative majority, the FCC looks ready to reverse course on net neutrality despite strong backlash
Jeremy Corbyn >>Now: Post-Brexit, PM Theresa May is in doldrums, while Corbyn is the most popular leader in the UK.
GCHQ surveillance >>Now: The so-called Snooper's Charter of 2016 strengthened these capabilities.
Medicaid in Kentucky >>Now: Governor Bevin did end up dismantling Kynect, forcing the state to fall back on the federal exchange (which is itself still in danger).
Sanders/Clinton data breach >>Now: Nothing much came of this, though it presaged further friction between the two camps.
The 2016 Iowa caucuses >>Now: We know how it ends now -- but who knew then?
Bannon joins the Trump campaign >>Now: Bannon has since been fired from the White House and now works to boost anti-establishment candidates in GOP primaries
Pussygate >>Now: He be president now. ಠ_ಠ
The charming indie webcomic Daisy Owl >>Now: Sadly stopped updating in 2010, though Driscoll went on to make the short-lived comic Peep which he's slowly turning into a video game
SquidSquid.com >>Now: Still online, still super-charming! No updates since 2007 though.
Almost Everything by Kirby Ferguson >>Now: While this series is over (mirror for most videos here plus 1, 2, 3), Ferguson went on to produce the ongoing series Everything is a Remix.
The disastrous Digg v4 redesign >>Now: Following on the heels of the DiggPatriots scandal, the redesign failed so totally that the userbase collapsed (boosting Reddit) and the site was sold for parts inside a year. It lives on as an editorially curated blog.
The staggering spoken-word dictionary at Howjsay.com >>Now: Still online -- and with another 41,412 entries recorded.
TVTropes - UsefulNotes >>Now: Still around and at least three times bigger than it was then.
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU- and the Cult of Inglip >>Now: GOOD GUY IMGUR // PRESERVES DEAD MEMES FOR SIX YEARS AND COUNTING
Encyclopedia Dramatica shuts down >>Now: Two years later, the owner's cleancut replacement OhInternet bit the dust, while mirrors of ED abound to this day.
Google Earth toys >>Now: The GE plugin has been deprecated, taking all the associated webtoys with it, but it's been more than made up for with large-scale stereophotogrammetry and virtual reality.
The Salty Droid >>Now: Still battling scammers, and with a snazzy redesign! His 2013 piece on Trump University is also quite prescient.
Eddsworld animation >>Now: Edd's friends kept the series going for several more years, concluding it in 2016.
Music discovery engine TheSixtyOne >>Now: After an unpopular redesign cratered its userbase, it eventually reverted the changes, but shuttered soon after.
The complete archive of DaveSecretary's lost TIME FOR SOME STORIES blog >>Now: Apart from the original thread (featured by XQUZYPHYR here), I think this is the only place where his latter-day stories can be found.
Epic Rap Battles of History >>Now: The ERBoH crew produced three more seasons after that, with a sixth coming next year. Some highlights: Gandhi/King, Russian leaders, King/Poe, Newton/Nye, famous directors, Clinton/Trump
Google Reader shutdown >>Now: STILL REALLY PISSED ABOUT THIS, though the rise of functionally-identical Feedly soothes the pain.
Peak Advertising >>Now: The market is still slipping, with many publishers pivoting to video and Facebook, though the recent political chaos has boosted news subscriptions
Backlash against Reddit crackdown >>Now: Pao eventually left the company, but her strategy bore out, leading to a marked reduction in hate speech on the site. Voat, meanwhile, regressed into a cesspool.
The rise and fall of Firefox >>Now: The deprecation of extensions is now fully phased in, and Chrome remains the undisputed king of the browser market.
Saturday morning cartoons on the web >>Now: Most of the official video providers are no more, but all the series mentioned are available on the extremely unofficial watchcartoonsonline.eu
The 27 Best (Non-Super Bowl) Commercials of the 2000s >>Now: Replacement links: Balls - Bubble Boy - Dangerously Low - Evolution - Noitulove
Craig Ferguson's musical puppet intros >>Now: Had to update broken links in this a few times, most recently here. Hopefully the end of the show in 2015 means an end to copyright takedowns! Bonus: all the Twitter/email jingles
The series finale of Lost >>Now: with bonus last-minute beanplating (and even more)
The comedy of Louis CK and the premiere of Louie >>Now: Louie turned out to be a masterpiece of television, and he's since moved on to other projects, albeit under a recent cloud of controversy.
Futurama's "The Prisoner of Benda" >>Now: The revived show would only last another season and is gone from Netflix, but Morbotron will ensure its GIFs will live on forever
Adventure Time >>Now: Continued to air many more seasons to critical acclaim; next year will see the series finale.
The Powerpuff Girls amazing Beatles tribute episode >>Now: The original annotated version is sadly gone, but the core video with Beatles songs spliced in survives on Archive.org
Five years of BBC's Planet Earth >>Now: You can catch all the chapters on WatchDocumentaries. Inspired several follow-up documentaries, including last year's full-fledged sequel Planet Earth II.
Whose Line? sequel Improv-A-Ganza! >>Now: The fansites mentioned were taken down, but CW has official episodes from all seasons of the US version (original and revival)
French TV host copies Craig Ferguson >>Now: Ce Soir Avec Arthur ended up outlasting The Late Late Show; they got some interesting crossover episodes out of it.
Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen Adventures >>Now: Comedy Central's site still has most of these episodes, though the post links are broken.
Rick and Morty >>Now: Would go on to become a critical and fan favorite, though not without some backlash against the more toxic parts of the fan base.
Simpsons World >>Now: The site delivered in spades, including long-promised features like Script View
Harry Shearer leaving The Simpsons >>Now: ...aaaand he came back.
Toy Story 3 and Pixar >>Now: Followed by a trio of short films: Partysaurus Rex, Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry. Subsequent Pixar films: Cars 2 (boo), Brave (okay), Monsters University (eh), Inside Out (YAY), The Good Dinosaur (meh), Finding Dory (decent), Cars 3 (BOO), and the upcoming Coco, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4.
Flickchart's addictive movie match-up engine >>Now: I still consult it after every movie I see, building a handy personal database of likes and dislikes. (Frustratingly, they have yet to expand into other areas despite years of promises.)
Disney's multilanguage song translations >>Now: Still going strong -- just check out Moana
Canadian indie horror gem Pontypool >>Now: Has since become a cult favorite, though still no word on a sequel (equal. sequel.)
Cars 2: Certified Rotten >>Now: If it paid for Inside Out, then who cares?
The Lion King >>Now: The revival of the film in theaters led to a 2015 spinoff film and TV series.
Independence Day >>Now: Not technically a post, but could have been! (And the ID4 sequel turned out to be trash, btw.)
28 Days Later >>Now: Still waiting on 28 Months Later...
The Prince of Egypt
Christmas Vacation
School of Rock >>Now: Good reviews for the Broadway musical, though the Nickelodeon sitcom is dire
Production design in The Fifth Element >>Now: Also not a post, but might as well have been.
Lipdubbing and other one-shot mastery >>Now: The kids behind the UQAM lipdub celebrate their success and provide a behind-the-scenes look
The right-wing art of Jon McNaughton >>Now: Mefite maudlin shared this brilliant parody of his featured piece. McNaughton went on to glorify Trump at a new site.
The Mind's Eye: a time capsule of early computer animation >>Now: The original is now on TVTropes and the Internet Archive! Bonus remaster of one segment (with a great description) in this video.
Every Calvin and Hobbes strip in an instant searchable interface >>Now: Was taken down after it got cross-posted to Reddit. But psst... don't tell anybody... it's back.
The spooky illustrations of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark >>Now: The entire hosting site for the images died awhile back, but the complete gallery lives on here (archive link)
Stephen Biesty's incredible cross-sections >>Now: Remarkably, most of the images still work! Plus Biesty illustrated a new book in 2014: The Story of Buildings
Post-nuclear webcomic Romantically Apocalyptic >>Now: Still updating (very slowly) under Patreon support, with an enhanced multimedia aesthetic.
Silent Snow, Secret Snow
Adele/Gnarls Barkley mash-up >>Now: The mash-up creators disbanded last year, but Adele remains inescapable on the radio.
Transmetropolitan >>Now: Sadly more relevant than ever.
The Course of Empire painting series >>Now: Hi-res images now available on Wikipedia
The choir behind Zero Dark Thirty's music >>Now: A list of tracks covered since then.
The Java classic OneSlime >>Now: Java gaming is largely deprecated, but the game lives on in this faithful HTML5 version.
The gravity-flipping platformer Green Moon Lab >>Now: It still works! Though for how long remains to be seen, as neither Newgrounds nor Flash gaming generally seem long for this world.
TheSmartAss.info's 5000+ emulated games >>Now: Survived for an impressively long time, though the creator apparently passed away this year, with the site closing soon after. There is a similar Flash-based site at the aptly-named emulator.online
The 1986 life simulator Alter Ego >>Now: The emulated version is still available free on multiple platforms!
The Halo backstory in multimedia and on the web >>Now: Sadly posted right around the series' "jump the shark" moment, when Bungie relinquished rights to Microsoft, flawed sequels emerged, and the expanded universe sprawled into increasingly obscure directions.
Mojang's Minecraft follow-up, Scrolls >>Now: Minecraft has become a world-conquering megahit, but Scrolls largely fizzled.
Portal 2 >>Now: A triumph of single-player gaming, Portal 2 was also the last major story-driven title Valve would release.
NationStates political simulator >>Now: The game itself is still around, but largely an adjunct to the strong forum community.
Twenty years of Sonic the Hedgehog >>Now: Out of many subsequent sequels, Sonic Mania is generally seen as the best. Though dark horse fan game Sonic Dreams Collection is worth a look!
The legendary flamewars of Derek Smart >>Now: Smart released a new game in 2014, unleashing a new wave of drama
The Last of Us >>Now: Earned a side-story, a remaster, a sequel, and a (stalled) movie.
Polyfauna >>Now: Radiohead's free art game is no longer compatible with the latest iOS, so enjoy it while (and if) you can.
Twitch Plays Pokemon >>Now: The crowd would go on to beat not just the first game, but pretty much every game in the Pokemon franchise.
Bungie fires composer Marty O'Donnell >>Now: The story behind the firing; O'Donnell went on to work for Highwire Games
Microsoft and E3 >>Now: Microsoft never really recovered from its missteps, and lags behind Sony in console sales.
Stanley Parable voice pack for DOTA >>Now: MOBAs remain a popular genre, though most Mefites would probably enjoy The Stanley Parable more.
Polygon's Nick Robinson accused of sexual harassment >>Now: Robinson was later fired, and women continue to come forward about abuse throughout the industry (most recently against NeoGAF founder Tyler "Evilore" Malka)
The Declaration of Independence >>Now: This year's NPR live-tweeting of the Declaration was attacked as anti-Trump propaganda. So.
David Langford's collection of Basilisk short stories >>Now: The death of Readability broke the last story link, but the original still exists. Also, that last image link broke, let me fix it for y--*dies*
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect >>Now: The death of Kuro5hin took down some links; here's a fresh one for A Casino Odyssey in Cyberspace. A sequel is still in progress -- here's an excerpt.
Melancholy Elephants
One of Earth's last uncontacted tribes >>Now: Even more detailed photos emerged late last year, and Survival International continues its work.
The complete run of Wired Magazine's Artifacts from the Future >>Now: Those links are all broken, but luckily another blog helpfully collected the ones I'd missed. Wired eventually revived the feature as a crowdsourced contest before ending it for good as part of their recent redesign.
Gaijin celebrity Thane Camus teaches English to a class of J-Pop stars >>Now: Morning Musume is still going strong (with a totally different cast), while Camus disappeared into the production side of the business.
Stunning pictures of Earth from space >>Now: While the Earth still exists (for now), most of the direct links in the post do not. But you can still find the gallery itself here!
Kate Beaton and the spirit of Santa Claus >>Now: Sorry kids, Santa's dead.
The Red Sox historic slump >>Now: After the improbable collapse, manager Francona went to the Indians while GM Epstein went to the Cubs; the latter wound up defeating the former for their first World Series win in 71 years.
Venice billboards controversy >>Now: As the billboards were posted on renovation scaffolding, the problem was temporary, though tourists and flooding are still problems.
The Hajj and Mecca >>Now: The Economist decried the continued overdevelopment of Mecca in a 2017 article
35 Years Backwards Thru Time with Sam Klemke >>Now: Turned into the 2015 film Sam Klemke's Time Machine
100th anniversary of Fenway Park >>Now: Will remain usable until at least 2061.
The Amplituhedron >>Now: Not disproven, but not as practically applicable as it seemed, either.
Heroin >>Now: The opioid epidemic is now a full-scale national health disaster.
Cute aggression
Toronto's insane 7th inning >>Now: The Blue Jays beat the Rangers, but went on to lose to the Royals (who eventually won the World Series)
And THAT... may be my last major post for awhile. I'm aiming to go back to school next year, pursue a more rigorous career in the public sector and other big changes depending on how things shake out, locally and globally. But my desktop folder remains full of great ideas for things to explore and share here when I can make the time and space for it. Judging by how hard it is to keep up with all the frequent excellent posts in my MeFi RSS feed, I know for certain that you fine people are more than able to pick up my slack until then. (Shout-outs to posters like JHarris, filthy light thief, zarq, Wordshore, Room 641-A, Fizz, JohnnyWallflower, and MovableBookLady who have the discipline to make solid posts multiple times per week! As long as this list was, some folks have made *thousands* of good posts, which kind of blows my mind.)
Thanks for inspiring me to work hard, even when times were tough -- and here's hoping this list is twice as long in 2027. :D
To keep it simple, each underlined link points to an FPP, while the Now tag adds updates, fixes for important broken links, and other developments. Organized into nine broad categories: Megaposts, News & Politics, Web, Television, Film, Arts, Gaming, Literature, and Grab Bag. Each section has its own chronological order, 2007-2017.
MEGAPOSTS - deep explorations of twenty of my all-time favorite things on the webClassic Animation Remixed >>Now: My first big megapost is sadly largely broken today. But just Google any video title and you're sure to find another copy! Also I dumped another 25 links at the last minute (literally, as in pb had to manually add the comment in).
The 15th anniversary of Active Worlds >>Now: Still online, still going strong! Apparently the community survives in a Facebook group.
The Dune Encyclopedia >>Now: The FPP link is mysteriously Russified, but there's another copy here.
Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic >>Now: This led to my personal favorite MeFi moment when developer Yoz Grahame dropped by to tell a series of increasingly incredible stories about the development of the game.
The marvelous short stories of Ted Chiang >>Now: He's since written three additional stories; working links to these and others in this comment on the trailer for the "Story of Your Life" adaptation Arrival (which was fantastic)
The Animatrix >>Now: Links are dead, but you can watch the whole thing in one piece here.
The best of Google Video on MeFi >>Now: While backlash staved off the closure of Google Video for over a year, the service did eventually
The history of Nickelodeon >>Now: Their 90s revival expanded into an eight-hour nightly block, and the channel is looking to further capitalize on the nostalgia trend with faithful remakes of shows like Hey Arnold! and Rocko's Modern Life.
The music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? >>Now: The concert film is still available on Veoh. In subsequent years, the extensive catalog of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax that informed much of the soundtrack was posted online via The Global Jukebox.
Deep dives into OK Computer, Kid A/Amnesiac, and A Moon Shaped Pool >>Now: Following a successful world tour, Radiohead released a remastered OKC with new music and is now eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The AV Club's favorite Flash games >>Now: Most links still work, but enjoy them while you can, as Adobe Flash isn't long for this world.
The complete run of The Onion's Our Dumb Century >>Now: A redesign broke all the links, but you can view an archived copy of each one by prepending this to the URL: https://web.archive.org/web/2012/
The magical prose of Italo Calvino >>Now: Here's an archived city list. Some more thoughts and connections, plus a gallery of real cities named. The linked compendium remains a great resource; italo-calvino.com also has some good stuff. Pixar's 2011 short La Luna may have drawn some inspiration from Calvino's Cosmicomics
The Periodic Table of Breaking Bad >>Now: No way I'm rechecking all these links! The spinoff series Better Call Saul turned out fantastic, though.
The smart sci-fi horror of Peter Watts >>Now: A nice formatted version of the Reddit AMA, plus check out the MeFi comments for a drop-in from Watts himself! Echopraxia ended up being pretty great, and another novel is on the horizon.
The beauty of Katamari Damacy >>Now: Takahashi is back in the world of game development, working on a curious title called Wattam slated for release next year
The Master Chief Collection and a dozen years of Halo fandom >>Now: I'll always love the Halo trilogy, but this remastered version blew up on the launchpad and wrecked what would have been a great return to form for the series.
The end of the Colbert Report >>Now: After a decade of truthiness, Colbert went on to conquer late night television in Letterman's stead. (Bonus version for the Daily Show.)
Highlights from Key & Peele >>Now: The show still holds up (as do the links), and the duo went on to make solid films like Keanu and horror gem Get Out
The rise of Virtual Reality >>Now: The Vive's tech delivered as advertised, though Oculus locked up more exclusive titles. The market is small but growing pending the next generation of hardware.
NEWS & POLITICS - a capsule history of our national nightmareThe Daily Show and The Colbert Report return amidst a writers' strike >>Now: It's now The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and Colbert has replaced Letterman on The Late Show. Also, another writers' strike was barely averted this year.
Voting shenanigans in the California Democratic primary >>Now: Clinton narrowly won the California primary -- but it wasn't enough to secure the nomination.
Reactions to Barack Obama on MeFi: 2008 - 2010 - 2012 >>Now: .
President Obama and his Blackberry >>Now: "The Bush Administration, on the other hand, junked the Clinton archival process and replaced it with a comically inept alternative that has lost more than five million messages, many concerning official government business." ahahahahahahahaha.
Ad Council PSAs >>Now: Mirrors of the key videos in the FPP, more relevant now than ever: Library - Diner - Church - I Am an American - Global Warming
Rolling Stone lays out the case for Obama in late 2010, and The 2010 midterm election >>Now: Sadly, the midterms led to Republican control of the House and most state offices, blocking the rest of Obama's agenda, gerrymandering the nation, and setting up the political clusterfuck we find ourselves in now.
Anonymous hacks Gawker >>Now: Heralded the rise of mega-hacks that would affect millions of accounts. As for Gawker, it would kick the bucket six years later.
Southeastern tornadoes >>Now: Tuscaloosa, at least, has largely recovered with lots of new development, and Mayor Walt Maddox is angling to run for governor as a Democrat on the strength of his record.
The secret history of Fox News >>Now: Maybe time for an update with the secret history of Breitbart/Infowars/The_Donald?
Wisconsin recall elections >>Now: Unfortunately Scott Walker retained his seat, but on the bright side: at least he's not president!
Iran assassination plot >>Now: Surprisingly anticlimactic -- some sanctions, and the plotter plead guilty in 2013 for 25 years in prison.
Rick Perry forgets the Department of Energy >>Now: Rick Perry is Secretary of Energy.
The 2012 Iowa caucuses >>Now: Bachmann: retired. Perry: see above. Romney: eyeing a Utah Senate run. Santorum: still in everyone's hair.
Obamacare at the Supreme Court, and the eventual ruling >>Now: The Medicare expansion was rendered optional, leading many states to refuse, but the mandate survived, even a year into GOP control of Washington.
Paul Ryan as Romney's VP >>Now: After losing in 2012, Ryan "reluctantly" took over for John Boehner as Speaker of the House.
Charlie Pierce's political essays >>Now: He leans more toward withering sarcasm than gravitas these days, but he still writes on the regular for Esquire.
Puerto Rican statehood vote >>Now: Nothing came of this for arcane balloting reasons, but Puerto Rico could use American government support now more than ever.
Partisan gerrymandering >>Now: Had a big impact in 2012 and later, though a current Supreme Court case could change this
Boston Marathon bombing manhunt >>Now: One dead, one on death row, with a film adaptation of the attack in 2016.
The debt ceiling debacle >>Now: Narrowly averted then and now, though as long as Republicans control Congress, who knows?
Same-sex marriage in Oklahoma, and then nationwide >>Now: Marriage equality looks secure despite the climate, although Alabama's anti-gay Chief Justice Roy Moore, booted from the court for defying the Obergefell ruling, is angling for a Senate seat against Democrat Doug Jones in December.
Net neutrality >>Now: After Trump appointed Ajit Pai and gave him a conservative majority, the FCC looks ready to reverse course on net neutrality despite strong backlash
Jeremy Corbyn >>Now: Post-Brexit, PM Theresa May is in doldrums, while Corbyn is the most popular leader in the UK.
GCHQ surveillance >>Now: The so-called Snooper's Charter of 2016 strengthened these capabilities.
Medicaid in Kentucky >>Now: Governor Bevin did end up dismantling Kynect, forcing the state to fall back on the federal exchange (which is itself still in danger).
Sanders/Clinton data breach >>Now: Nothing much came of this, though it presaged further friction between the two camps.
The 2016 Iowa caucuses >>Now: We know how it ends now -- but who knew then?
Bannon joins the Trump campaign >>Now: Bannon has since been fired from the White House and now works to boost anti-establishment candidates in GOP primaries
Pussygate >>Now: He be president now. ಠ_ಠ
WEB - assorted cool projects and news stories that sum up the webDoInk's free web-based animation engine >>Now: Now available exclusively on iOS
The charming indie webcomic Daisy Owl >>Now: Sadly stopped updating in 2010, though Driscoll went on to make the short-lived comic Peep which he's slowly turning into a video game
SquidSquid.com >>Now: Still online, still super-charming! No updates since 2007 though.
Almost Everything by Kirby Ferguson >>Now: While this series is over (mirror for most videos here plus 1, 2, 3), Ferguson went on to produce the ongoing series Everything is a Remix.
The disastrous Digg v4 redesign >>Now: Following on the heels of the DiggPatriots scandal, the redesign failed so totally that the userbase collapsed (boosting Reddit) and the site was sold for parts inside a year. It lives on as an editorially curated blog.
The staggering spoken-word dictionary at Howjsay.com >>Now: Still online -- and with another 41,412 entries recorded.
TVTropes - UsefulNotes >>Now: Still around and at least three times bigger than it was then.
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU- and the Cult of Inglip >>Now: GOOD GUY IMGUR // PRESERVES DEAD MEMES FOR SIX YEARS AND COUNTING
Encyclopedia Dramatica shuts down >>Now: Two years later, the owner's cleancut replacement OhInternet bit the dust, while mirrors of ED abound to this day.
Google Earth toys >>Now: The GE plugin has been deprecated, taking all the associated webtoys with it, but it's been more than made up for with large-scale stereophotogrammetry and virtual reality.
The Salty Droid >>Now: Still battling scammers, and with a snazzy redesign! His 2013 piece on Trump University is also quite prescient.
Eddsworld animation >>Now: Edd's friends kept the series going for several more years, concluding it in 2016.
Music discovery engine TheSixtyOne >>Now: After an unpopular redesign cratered its userbase, it eventually reverted the changes, but shuttered soon after.
The complete archive of DaveSecretary's lost TIME FOR SOME STORIES blog >>Now: Apart from the original thread (featured by XQUZYPHYR here), I think this is the only place where his latter-day stories can be found.
Epic Rap Battles of History >>Now: The ERBoH crew produced three more seasons after that, with a sixth coming next year. Some highlights: Gandhi/King, Russian leaders, King/Poe, Newton/Nye, famous directors, Clinton/Trump
Google Reader shutdown >>Now: STILL REALLY PISSED ABOUT THIS, though the rise of functionally-identical Feedly soothes the pain.
Peak Advertising >>Now: The market is still slipping, with many publishers pivoting to video and Facebook, though the recent political chaos has boosted news subscriptions
Backlash against Reddit crackdown >>Now: Pao eventually left the company, but her strategy bore out, leading to a marked reduction in hate speech on the site. Voat, meanwhile, regressed into a cesspool.
The rise and fall of Firefox >>Now: The deprecation of extensions is now fully phased in, and Chrome remains the undisputed king of the browser market.
TELEVISION - not something you'd need a television to enjoyAndy Richter destroys Wolf Blitzer in Celebrity Jeopardy >>Now: Clips of the show survive on YouTube, but sadly the rehearsal segment seems lost forever
Saturday morning cartoons on the web >>Now: Most of the official video providers are no more, but all the series mentioned are available on the extremely unofficial watchcartoonsonline.eu
The 27 Best (Non-Super Bowl) Commercials of the 2000s >>Now: Replacement links: Balls - Bubble Boy - Dangerously Low - Evolution - Noitulove
Craig Ferguson's musical puppet intros >>Now: Had to update broken links in this a few times, most recently here. Hopefully the end of the show in 2015 means an end to copyright takedowns! Bonus: all the Twitter/email jingles
The series finale of Lost >>Now: with bonus last-minute beanplating (and even more)
The comedy of Louis CK and the premiere of Louie >>Now: Louie turned out to be a masterpiece of television, and he's since moved on to other projects, albeit under a recent cloud of controversy.
Futurama's "The Prisoner of Benda" >>Now: The revived show would only last another season and is gone from Netflix, but Morbotron will ensure its GIFs will live on forever
Adventure Time >>Now: Continued to air many more seasons to critical acclaim; next year will see the series finale.
The Powerpuff Girls amazing Beatles tribute episode >>Now: The original annotated version is sadly gone, but the core video with Beatles songs spliced in survives on Archive.org
Five years of BBC's Planet Earth >>Now: You can catch all the chapters on WatchDocumentaries. Inspired several follow-up documentaries, including last year's full-fledged sequel Planet Earth II.
Whose Line? sequel Improv-A-Ganza! >>Now: The fansites mentioned were taken down, but CW has official episodes from all seasons of the US version (original and revival)
French TV host copies Craig Ferguson >>Now: Ce Soir Avec Arthur ended up outlasting The Late Late Show; they got some interesting crossover episodes out of it.
Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen Adventures >>Now: Comedy Central's site still has most of these episodes, though the post links are broken.
Rick and Morty >>Now: Would go on to become a critical and fan favorite, though not without some backlash against the more toxic parts of the fan base.
Simpsons World >>Now: The site delivered in spades, including long-promised features like Script View
Harry Shearer leaving The Simpsons >>Now: ...aaaand he came back.
FILM - posts all about some of the most interesting films and film-related sites out thereThe avant-garde stop-motion indie passion project We Are The Strange >>Now: Still available free in 1080p. Creator Mdotstrange followed it up in 2012 with the equally bizarre Heart String Marionette.
Toy Story 3 and Pixar >>Now: Followed by a trio of short films: Partysaurus Rex, Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry. Subsequent Pixar films: Cars 2 (boo), Brave (okay), Monsters University (eh), Inside Out (YAY), The Good Dinosaur (meh), Finding Dory (decent), Cars 3 (BOO), and the upcoming Coco, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4.
Flickchart's addictive movie match-up engine >>Now: I still consult it after every movie I see, building a handy personal database of likes and dislikes. (Frustratingly, they have yet to expand into other areas despite years of promises.)
Disney's multilanguage song translations >>Now: Still going strong -- just check out Moana
Canadian indie horror gem Pontypool >>Now: Has since become a cult favorite, though still no word on a sequel (equal. sequel.)
Cars 2: Certified Rotten >>Now: If it paid for Inside Out, then who cares?
The Lion King >>Now: The revival of the film in theaters led to a 2015 spinoff film and TV series.
Independence Day >>Now: Not technically a post, but could have been! (And the ID4 sequel turned out to be trash, btw.)
28 Days Later >>Now: Still waiting on 28 Months Later...
The Prince of Egypt
Christmas Vacation
School of Rock >>Now: Good reviews for the Broadway musical, though the Nickelodeon sitcom is dire
Production design in The Fifth Element >>Now: Also not a post, but might as well have been.
ARTS - music, painting, animation, comics...The cardboard stop-motion weirdness of Off-Planet Films >>Now: Puttered out three years ago, though by their recent output maybe it was for the best...
Lipdubbing and other one-shot mastery >>Now: The kids behind the UQAM lipdub celebrate their success and provide a behind-the-scenes look
The right-wing art of Jon McNaughton >>Now: Mefite maudlin shared this brilliant parody of his featured piece. McNaughton went on to glorify Trump at a new site.
The Mind's Eye: a time capsule of early computer animation >>Now: The original is now on TVTropes and the Internet Archive! Bonus remaster of one segment (with a great description) in this video.
Every Calvin and Hobbes strip in an instant searchable interface >>Now: Was taken down after it got cross-posted to Reddit. But psst... don't tell anybody... it's back.
The spooky illustrations of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark >>Now: The entire hosting site for the images died awhile back, but the complete gallery lives on here (archive link)
Stephen Biesty's incredible cross-sections >>Now: Remarkably, most of the images still work! Plus Biesty illustrated a new book in 2014: The Story of Buildings
Post-nuclear webcomic Romantically Apocalyptic >>Now: Still updating (very slowly) under Patreon support, with an enhanced multimedia aesthetic.
Silent Snow, Secret Snow
Adele/Gnarls Barkley mash-up >>Now: The mash-up creators disbanded last year, but Adele remains inescapable on the radio.
Transmetropolitan >>Now: Sadly more relevant than ever.
The Course of Empire painting series >>Now: Hi-res images now available on Wikipedia
The choir behind Zero Dark Thirty's music >>Now: A list of tracks covered since then.
GAMING - because not everything in games has to be toxicSpore creatures speak out in the video blog Inner Feelings from Outer Space >>Now: The Creature Creator was as incredible as advertised, but the full game was rather disappointing IMHO.
The Java classic OneSlime >>Now: Java gaming is largely deprecated, but the game lives on in this faithful HTML5 version.
The gravity-flipping platformer Green Moon Lab >>Now: It still works! Though for how long remains to be seen, as neither Newgrounds nor Flash gaming generally seem long for this world.
TheSmartAss.info's 5000+ emulated games >>Now: Survived for an impressively long time, though the creator apparently passed away this year, with the site closing soon after. There is a similar Flash-based site at the aptly-named emulator.online
The 1986 life simulator Alter Ego >>Now: The emulated version is still available free on multiple platforms!
The Halo backstory in multimedia and on the web >>Now: Sadly posted right around the series' "jump the shark" moment, when Bungie relinquished rights to Microsoft, flawed sequels emerged, and the expanded universe sprawled into increasingly obscure directions.
Mojang's Minecraft follow-up, Scrolls >>Now: Minecraft has become a world-conquering megahit, but Scrolls largely fizzled.
Portal 2 >>Now: A triumph of single-player gaming, Portal 2 was also the last major story-driven title Valve would release.
NationStates political simulator >>Now: The game itself is still around, but largely an adjunct to the strong forum community.
Twenty years of Sonic the Hedgehog >>Now: Out of many subsequent sequels, Sonic Mania is generally seen as the best. Though dark horse fan game Sonic Dreams Collection is worth a look!
The legendary flamewars of Derek Smart >>Now: Smart released a new game in 2014, unleashing a new wave of drama
The Last of Us >>Now: Earned a side-story, a remaster, a sequel, and a (stalled) movie.
Polyfauna >>Now: Radiohead's free art game is no longer compatible with the latest iOS, so enjoy it while (and if) you can.
Twitch Plays Pokemon >>Now: The crowd would go on to beat not just the first game, but pretty much every game in the Pokemon franchise.
Bungie fires composer Marty O'Donnell >>Now: The story behind the firing; O'Donnell went on to work for Highwire Games
Microsoft and E3 >>Now: Microsoft never really recovered from its missteps, and lags behind Sony in console sales.
Stanley Parable voice pack for DOTA >>Now: MOBAs remain a popular genre, though most Mefites would probably enjoy The Stanley Parable more.
Polygon's Nick Robinson accused of sexual harassment >>Now: Robinson was later fired, and women continue to come forward about abuse throughout the industry (most recently against NeoGAF founder Tyler "Evilore" Malka)
LITERATURE - including some fine science fictionLarry Gonick's Cartoon History books >>Now: Has since published guides to Calculus and Algebra, though sadly his long-running Kokopelli & Company comic strip was dropped by Muse Magazine.
The Declaration of Independence >>Now: This year's NPR live-tweeting of the Declaration was attacked as anti-Trump propaganda. So.
David Langford's collection of Basilisk short stories >>Now: The death of Readability broke the last story link, but the original still exists. Also, that last image link broke, let me fix it for y--*dies*
The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect >>Now: The death of Kuro5hin took down some links; here's a fresh one for A Casino Odyssey in Cyberspace. A sequel is still in progress -- here's an excerpt.
Melancholy Elephants
GRAB BAG - whatever else that's been postworthyThe Typo Eradication Advancement League >>Now: Yup, they did it for a book deal.
One of Earth's last uncontacted tribes >>Now: Even more detailed photos emerged late last year, and Survival International continues its work.
The complete run of Wired Magazine's Artifacts from the Future >>Now: Those links are all broken, but luckily another blog helpfully collected the ones I'd missed. Wired eventually revived the feature as a crowdsourced contest before ending it for good as part of their recent redesign.
Gaijin celebrity Thane Camus teaches English to a class of J-Pop stars >>Now: Morning Musume is still going strong (with a totally different cast), while Camus disappeared into the production side of the business.
Stunning pictures of Earth from space >>Now: While the Earth still exists (for now), most of the direct links in the post do not. But you can still find the gallery itself here!
Kate Beaton and the spirit of Santa Claus >>Now: Sorry kids, Santa's dead.
The Red Sox historic slump >>Now: After the improbable collapse, manager Francona went to the Indians while GM Epstein went to the Cubs; the latter wound up defeating the former for their first World Series win in 71 years.
Venice billboards controversy >>Now: As the billboards were posted on renovation scaffolding, the problem was temporary, though tourists and flooding are still problems.
The Hajj and Mecca >>Now: The Economist decried the continued overdevelopment of Mecca in a 2017 article
35 Years Backwards Thru Time with Sam Klemke >>Now: Turned into the 2015 film Sam Klemke's Time Machine
100th anniversary of Fenway Park >>Now: Will remain usable until at least 2061.
The Amplituhedron >>Now: Not disproven, but not as practically applicable as it seemed, either.
Heroin >>Now: The opioid epidemic is now a full-scale national health disaster.
Cute aggression
Toronto's insane 7th inning >>Now: The Blue Jays beat the Rangers, but went on to lose to the Royals (who eventually won the World Series)
And THAT... may be my last major post for awhile. I'm aiming to go back to school next year, pursue a more rigorous career in the public sector and other big changes depending on how things shake out, locally and globally. But my desktop folder remains full of great ideas for things to explore and share here when I can make the time and space for it. Judging by how hard it is to keep up with all the frequent excellent posts in my MeFi RSS feed, I know for certain that you fine people are more than able to pick up my slack until then. (Shout-outs to posters like JHarris, filthy light thief, zarq, Wordshore, Room 641-A, Fizz, JohnnyWallflower, and MovableBookLady who have the discipline to make solid posts multiple times per week! As long as this list was, some folks have made *thousands* of good posts, which kind of blows my mind.)
Thanks for inspiring me to work hard, even when times were tough -- and here's hoping this list is twice as long in 2027. :D
This is amazing. Also, I could never do this with my posts. Also, also, shoutout to you friend. I hope you stick around for many more years to come. Huzzah!!
posted by Fizz at 9:59 AM on October 29, 2017
posted by Fizz at 9:59 AM on October 29, 2017
Wow, this is the most Rhaomi that ever Rhaomi'd! Hats off to you, man, and I delight/shudder to think how much you'll get done when you turn this incredible energy to public sector work.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:21 AM on October 29, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:21 AM on October 29, 2017 [11 favorites]
What a great post, but I think what Rhaomi is trying to say is that we should all take a moment to wish the Metafilter class of October, 29 2007 a happy anniversary!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:03 AM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:03 AM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Holy. Crap.
posted by cooker girl at 11:08 AM on October 29, 2017
posted by cooker girl at 11:08 AM on October 29, 2017
Wow!! i don't think I've ever put as much effort into anything in my entire life. Rhaomi, I salute you. Good luck with all your future endeavours but somehow I don't think you'll need it.
posted by billiebee at 11:10 AM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by billiebee at 11:10 AM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Metafilter: i don't think I've ever put as much effort into anything in my entire life.
posted by Melismata at 11:17 AM on October 29, 2017 [10 favorites]
posted by Melismata at 11:17 AM on October 29, 2017 [10 favorites]
On the other end of the spectrum, I finally worked up enough gumption to put on pants today.
posted by double block and bleed at 11:31 AM on October 29, 2017 [18 favorites]
posted by double block and bleed at 11:31 AM on October 29, 2017 [18 favorites]
Rhaomi you are a legend!! Good luck with school! And you are, and will be missed.
posted by ellieBOA at 11:56 AM on October 29, 2017
posted by ellieBOA at 11:56 AM on October 29, 2017
My God! It's full of links.
posted by Splunge at 12:01 PM on October 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 12:01 PM on October 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
(standing ovation)
posted by kimberussell at 12:03 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by kimberussell at 12:03 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm approaching fifteen years as a member and have made 6 posts, most of which were rubbish.
Amazing work, Rhaomi.
posted by knapah at 2:08 PM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Amazing work, Rhaomi.
posted by knapah at 2:08 PM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Crimney. This post alone is bigger than the sum total of my posting history. Nice work!
posted by GuyZero at 4:14 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by GuyZero at 4:14 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
Duude. Way to make us all feel like slackers. Thanks for the updates and happy learning! Don't be a stranger.
posted by Bella Donna at 4:39 PM on October 29, 2017
posted by Bella Donna at 4:39 PM on October 29, 2017
Rhaomi, you are a treasure. Thank you for your wonderful contributions here.
posted by Fig at 4:54 PM on October 29, 2017
posted by Fig at 4:54 PM on October 29, 2017
Fantastic! Fantastic! Fantastic!
posted by mochapickle at 5:20 PM on October 29, 2017
posted by mochapickle at 5:20 PM on October 29, 2017
Yeah I feel like the Shocker or Hydro-Man or some other minor Spiderman badguy and I just met the Kingpin and I'm like HOLY FUCK YOU GOT IT NAILED DOWN
posted by vrakatar at 7:18 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by vrakatar at 7:18 PM on October 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
double block and bleed: "On the other end of the spectrum, I finally worked up enough gumption to put on pants today."
Don't rush into it.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:41 PM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
Don't rush into it.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:41 PM on October 29, 2017 [2 favorites]
I always admire your threads, Rhaomi! Bravo sir on this mega of all megaposts and happy 10th Mefiversary.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:03 PM on October 29, 2017
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:03 PM on October 29, 2017
On the other end of the spectrum, I finally worked up enough gumption to put on pants today.
Pants or underwear. Both is for special occasions.
posted by bongo_x at 12:16 AM on October 30, 2017
Pants or underwear. Both is for special occasions.
posted by bongo_x at 12:16 AM on October 30, 2017
Fucking showoff. You’re awesome. Thanks.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:59 AM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:59 AM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
This is extremely cool!! A select snapshot of history, through mefi.
Good luck in school Rhaomi! Thanks for doing this -- it's going to be fun immersing in all the links. :)
posted by zarq at 11:12 AM on October 30, 2017
Good luck in school Rhaomi! Thanks for doing this -- it's going to be fun immersing in all the links. :)
posted by zarq at 11:12 AM on October 30, 2017
Thanks. This is superb and probably my commute reading for the next month
posted by finisterre at 12:42 PM on October 30, 2017
posted by finisterre at 12:42 PM on October 30, 2017
You make the place more awesome.
/cues up "Here are all 38 of my posts about Aliens" megapost.
posted by Artw at 12:42 PM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
/cues up "Here are all 38 of my posts about Aliens" megapost.
posted by Artw at 12:42 PM on October 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Rick Perry forgets the Department of Energy >>Now: Rick Perry is Secretary of Energy.
Ooooh, that one stings.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:07 PM on October 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Ooooh, that one stings.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:07 PM on October 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
Laws a-mercy, son, I am staggered. And thanks so much for the call-out. You've certainly set a high standard, and we all hope you keep on keeping on.
posted by MovableBookLady at 5:10 PM on October 30, 2017
posted by MovableBookLady at 5:10 PM on October 30, 2017
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posted by cortex (staff) at 9:16 AM on October 29, 2017 [17 favorites]