posted March 16, 2018 #

Alright, a year was long enough. https://t.co/bucDqnS4lQ

posted March 16, 2018 #

Girl crushes a cotton candy eating contest ❤️. https://t.co/AiEATAWBQH

Friday Videos - March 16th, 2018

posted March 16, 2018 #

That GIF is me trying to enter Springtime. Just. Can't. Get. There.

Enjoy some distraction, you earned it:

Only Slightly Exaggerated - tour tourism board of Oregon commissioned a Miyazaki style animation to promote the wonders of their state. Pretty stellar results.
Bystanders try to stop Hit N Run driver - after a man passed out at the wheel from opioid usage and slammed into another car, bystanders tried to stop him from getting away. They fail but it escalates quickly.
Dying Mrs. Gomez - I don't care what you think about SNL as a whole, this is a perfectly absurd sketch worth watching at least twice.
Tiroler Zungenpritschler - aka Blululululululul - A New Internet Classic.
Jujimufu Flamingo Kick - you could learn more about this guy but I promise, this is as good as it gets.
Strawberry Slurpee - yes, it's a parody. Or is it? Comedian Wynn Reichert really riding the line. All these years later, I still don't know.

Also this guy is easily my favorite thing as of late. Maybe even all of 2018.

posted March 16, 2018 #

I wonder how many times the #MuellerInvestigation team has said: “DUDE.” to one another as they reveal details of what they’ve found on their end. I’ll bet it’s a million. a million times.

Jean Andre - Silver Watch

posted March 15, 2018 #

would probably never wear such a thing but I think the execution is quite clever

posted March 15, 2018 #

Shout out to the kid wearing a @DiarrheaPlanet shirt and the dad wearing a @thefeatures shirt at this SXSW day party.

Turning the Tables

posted March 15, 2018 #

little promo piece for the TRNTBL creators and highlighting the womyn that make it.

Astronaut's DNA changed by time in space

posted March 15, 2018 #

7% of Scott's genetic expression continued to maintain his Space Genes. wild.

Aurora Borealis 360

posted March 15, 2018 #

Seeing the Aurora Borealis has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. This 8K 360 Timelapse is not the same as being there but it seems like it's a pretty solid surrogate.

via Kottke, a harbinger of quality links for 20 years.

Ori Toor 2018

posted March 15, 2018 #

It's been about a year since I visited the works of Ori Toor and his latest creations seem to have gone off the deep end; in a good way. The latest works are jam packed with characters, scenes and fantastic otherworldly creations.

The archive is vast. I'm having a hard time understanding how someone could create this much detailed output in such a small time. Going back through the archive you can see a distinctive shift in style and tone around late May 2017. From there on, it's been beautiful chaos. I dunno what happened but hopefully it continues.

NYT, Overlooked

posted March 15, 2018 #

This new feature from the New York Times, Overlooked, focuses on showcasing obituaries from important and influential women in history that they had, until now, not spotlighted their achievements in their passing. Here's their own take on why their doing this:

Obituary writing is more about life than death: the last word, a testament to a human contribution.

Yet who gets remembered - and how - inherently involves judgment. To look back at the obituary archives can, therefore, be a stark lesson in how society valued various achievements and achievers.

Interestingly enough, the past didn't value these women - at least in terms of honoring them in their passing. All of the names on the list are surprising - i.e. Sylvia Plath, Henrietta Lacks, Ada Lovelace - but it's refreshing to have an easy resource for learning more about them.

See also: When Women Stopped Coding.

Twenty.

posted March 14, 2018 #

20 years of kottke. awesome.

Jordan Lehning, Long Live the Dead

posted March 14, 2018 #

I've long been a fan of Nashville artist / songwriter / producer Jordan Lehning. He's been in a number of great bands over the years but recently shifted his focus to more production work with the occasional solo album finding its way out into the world.

His latest, Long Live the Dead, is no disappointment. I can't quite put my finger on what makes it so enjoyable but his songs seem to carry a light upbeatness anchored by a legitimate melancholy. They also tend to be under 3 minutes; which is a huge benefit for limiting any song from veering anywhere near doldrums.

You can also hear Boonie Tunes, a more ramshackle-y set of songs, and his previous Beatles-y ode, Jordan Sings! at your earliest convenience.

@vidalotrypodcast

posted March 14, 2018 #

As I've mentioned a few times, there's a limited edition series podcast over on We Own This Town focusing on Gore Vidal. The second episode focuses on Vidal's political career and it's beyond fascinating how much of his outlook can be reflected in our current atmosphere.

But my point here is that much of the episodes are supplemented by the Vidalotry Instagram, where you can see video clips, campaign imagery and further insight beyond what you hear in the episodes. Recommending you cruise over there and give it a follow.

WerePups and Fantasy Reborns

posted March 14, 2018 #

Somewhat recently there was a bit of a hilarious Twitter outburst around this tweet in which someone witness a subway rider pulling a tiny "goblin" out of a bag and realized it was dressed exactly like its owner. This, in and of itself, is a perfectly weird and wonderful thing to happen that requires no further information to enjoy.

However, if you did want to dig further you would discover a large subculture of these creatures. The primary source of this style of doll is called WerePups - the "original Real Werewolf Baby." Artist Charity Eriksen makes these bizarre creations by hand. You can read more about her process here but that's not the end of the story...

To fully comprehend all this, we need to start with Reborn Dolls - hyperrealistic dolls representing regular human babies. They are often at rest or peaceful staring ahead. These have been around since the late 30's and can often be used as a therapeutic device to deal with a lost child. It is both creepy and incredibly sad, depending on how you look at it. Out of that practice came Fantasy Reborn Dolls - hyperrealistic babies depicting infant versions of all kinds of characters. WerePups may be focusing on Werewolves but you can easily find a Na'vi Avatar Baby, an upset Vampire baby or a House Elf baby.

So, from that one tweet encounter you can slide deep into a subculture of the Internet that mixes fantasy obsession with a flair of arrested development in motherhood. The Internet is truly a strange place.

Heaven's Gate

posted March 13, 2018 #

If you are roughly my age, it's hard not to have some awareness of the religious cult Heaven's Gate, in which 39 members committed group suicide as part of a prophecy fulfillment to board a spacecraft that was trailing the Comet Hale-Bopp. Images of their shrouded bodies with crisp Nike shoes peeking out are seered into my mind. Their website still exists and the videos of leader Marshall Applewhite are available on YouTube. It's always been fascinating and a bit scary but I didn't really know any of the details behind it.

Enter the Pineapple Street Media show simply entitled Heaven's Gate that explores all aspects of the group through a ten-part series. From the history behind the two founders, to the impact of the families left behind, it's all there. It's respectful of the content and does a great job of not painting those involved as loons or idiots. I binged on several episodes the other day and can't imagine it will take long to get through the rest.

Satoshi Kurosaki

posted March 13, 2018 #

While browsing through various new offerings from Stay Home Club I ran across the work of Satoshi Kurosaki, an artist / illustrator with an amazing ability to create very simple pieces with a lot of character and story. This Tumblr of Life Works is a never ending grid of small square pieces that each tell a story, without any context.

Sometimes it's simply cute, sometimes it's something more or something bizarre - but it's always interesting.

Balloonfest

posted March 13, 2018 #

Oscilloscope Labs has a reliable history of putting out good films but this latest endeavor is especially interesting. They are distributing the Nathan Truesdell short film Balloonfest - a documentary about 1.5 million balloons being released in Cleveland with disastrous results - and marketing it as a pay what you want support endeavor. You can watch the whole film online but if you want to throw a few bucks to the film maker, they're giving you the chance.

It's not a new concept by any means but it's nice to see an established distributor like Oscilloscope embrace it for smaller content that they love.

posted March 13, 2018 #

Googling an artist you’ve never heard of and they have 1 BILLION youtube views. Oh shit! You got old bruh!

Jessie Baylin - Supermoon

posted March 12, 2018 #

wonderful new song