Some various reads to throw in your Pocket or whatever Read-Later service you prefer:

• Are Cats Spies Sent by Aliens? A Deep Examination of One of the Internet's Best Conspiracy Theories - Obviously this is completely ridiculous but entertaining.
• Sex On A Pile Of Cash Didn't Meet Man's Expectations - possible contender for Best Hilarious Headline That Isn't From The Onion.
• Jack Handey Is the Envy of Every Comedy Writer in America - it's true, who doesn't love Jack Handey??

Max Wohlleber

joblomovienetwork

Last week saw the release of Talking With Hands debut album, The World and Ourselves. Now, there's a great animated video for the song "Alasseo" - the one track from the record not quite in English. I love this song and am happy that it's got a little video to go along with it. Go listen to the album!

Say what you will about lab-grown meat, it's happening regardless of your opinion. In fact, yesterday, some scientists cooked and ate the first hamburger made from lab meat. The review was a bit lacking in terms of taste but, as the article points out, that's beside the point.

The event, arranged by a public relations firm and broadcast live on the Web, was meant to make a case that so-called in vitro, or cultured, meat deserves additional financing and research. Proponents of the idea, including Dr. Mark Post, the Dutch researcher who created the hamburger at the University of Maastricht, say that lab-made meat could provide high-quality protein for the world's growing population while avoiding most of the environmental and animal-welfare issues related to conventional livestock production.

I realize this may seem "gross" or "wrong" to a lot of people but I'm curious what a valid, non-opinion-based, argument may be against it? Would it still be considered meat? Why hasn't this received more funding? Is it lack of awareness or is there just no interest in some altruistic cause to provide meat to the world without a huge environmental impact?

I may end up regretting this but after stumbling upon Dropbox Inbox, I immediately set it up and am sharing my link. The service allows anyone to, presumably anonymously, upload files directly into a specific Dropbox folder. As a service, it could be incredibly helpful and convenient way to get files from clients. As a wide open to anyone link, it could be dangerous and weird. But I'm open to see what happens!

Namsik Story

viral marketing for the new Arcade Fire?

Loving this relaunch of Reelizer, a repository of Fine Art Film Posters brought to you by TinchCo and curators like you! Anyone can submit but the bar is set really high. Images like this or this are easy to get lost in. Definitely one for the bookmarks.

The screenshot may not be much to look at but this repository of electronic handheld games is incredibly impressive. Not only are there a ton of games but each one is superbly captured and fully playable. It's nostalgia central without a doubt. Granted, games like Donkey Kong Jr, Bartman or Zelda are more fun to look at than they are to actually play but that's totally fine.. the repository is no less engaging. Brought to you by the fine folks at Hipopotam.

Loving this collection of 'lost' photographs by Louis H. Draper. Not lost in the traditional sense but lost in the sense that his collection was largely ignored until somewhat recently because he was marginalized by the color his skin. It's a damn shame because the work reflects a time and location that predominantly white photographers probably weren't privy to. There's a bunch of his work over on the Louis Draper Project or you can get a "best of" slideshow courtesy of the NY Times.

Anyone that's a superfan of The Beach Boys / Brian Wilson is familiar with Van Dyke Parks and his contributions to the Smile sessions. He's also a rather talented song crafter himself. In 1968, he released Song Cycle, notable one of the most expensive pop albums recorded (at that time). His latest, Songs Cycled, is an overt reference to that album and how Parks feels this may be his last album. It's comprised of songs previously released on 7"s, covers of his own works, rerecordings and, yet, still feels cohesive. It can be a bit of an acquired taste but I recommend it. He may not get the same light shined on him that Brian Wilson does but I think there's plenty of interesting things going on to make it worth your time.

helping Graveface pay their legal bills after a massive flood took out a big chunk of their stock.

Another week, another playlist.

• Billy Joel Goes Crazy In Concert - proof that context is everything. Watching Billy Joel lose his mind on stage, seemingly unprovoked, is hysterical and amazing. If you want the truth behind it, go read the top youtube comments.
• Daft Punk - Cat Lucky - is the combination of Daft Punk and Cats an obvious fusion for the Internet? Yes, absolutely. Is this executed better than you predict? 100%.
• Sexual Transmission - honestly, I've no idea why this exists but the pairing of youth swimming with big bold STD titles is pretty amusing. via Brian.
• Penguin Tickle - it doesn't matter if you've seen this before. See it again. And again.
• Those Darlins - OH GOD - new song / video from their forthcoming album. It's the most enjoyable thing I've heard from them yet and the new album artwork is "controversial" for whatever reason.
• Hillbilly Slide with Raccoon - The man dancing is vaguely amusing, the raccoon attempting to stop it is even better.

But enough about that, how are you? More here or here if ya need further entertainment.

United Visual Artists

As part of the relaunch of the Herman Miller site and their new WHY initiative, the talented folk at Part of a Bigger Plan put together this history overview of company - 108 Years of Herman Miller in 108 Seconds. Aside from being informative, it's got a lot of admirable styles to it - particularly the faux layering buildouts. There's a hand craftedness to the whole thing that I really love - it's slick but it also feels very labored over.

Every dream of the nostalgia of a View Master but wish it were coupled with viewing a handful of your own Instagram photos? Well, Reelagram is your solution! It's definitely heavily in the world of kitsch and novelty but it's also undeniably a potentially amusing gift for someone.

See also, Projecteo: the tiny Instagram projector.

KK recently pointed me towards Nautilus Magazine. Each issue is focused on a single broad topic and explores it within a scientific context. The latest issue, The Unlikely, covers Monsters and Anomalies, Human Behavior and, of course, Mind-Control Helicopters and the Healing Power of Poop. That last one is a varietal article about unlikely scientific breakthroughs and it's not to be missed. That being said, everything I've read so far is not to be missed and will, undoubtedly, become a regular fixture of reading for me.

At some point in US History there were some very Large Denominations of Currency, we all knew this. However, I don't think I was really all that familiar with the designs involved in a $1000, $5000 or $100,000 bill. The front sides look pretty standard - large head of influential political peson + ornate denomination - but the backs are the most interesting part to me. There's an odd (relative) sparsity to some of them that really sparks my attention.

via Mager

The thinking behind the Font Custom script is similar to what the IcoMoon app does.. only it keeps it relegated to the command line and restricted to the custom icons you supply (not a mish mash of various icons from different sets). While it may seem like more of a hurdle to implement, it does seem like it would create a more streamlined typeface. Oh, and I love that it implements them like Font Awesome with the automated "icon-noun" style naming convention..