In an attetmpt to juxtapose this post from yesterday I present Portraits of Power - a collection of portraits of World Leaders collected during the recent United Nations meetup in New York. The photos, and accompanying audio, are great but the best part is that the photographer did not have scheduled interactions with these leaders, he merely convinced them to participate by doing his best hustle (as much as a hustle can be when you're an official New Yorker photographer).

Via Nathan.

I am sure there are loads more entries that could be added to this Flickr set of Passive-Aggressive WiFi networks but the ones that have been collected are quite good. I think my favorite might be this one - simply because the network is unprotected and, thus, more of a taunt than anything.

I have, admittedly, not listened to much Elvis Perkins and feel fairly confident that the album material is probably not up my alley. However, as I always do, I sat down and watched the entirety of his freshly launched Lake Fever Session and enjoyed it well beyond what I assumed I would. Maybe it's the unique style of performance with the backing band or the fact that the band just seems to be legitimately enjoying themselves but I really enjoyed it. Do yourself a favor and watch it.

Paige has been kind enough to post a new mix for your downloadable enjoyment. Strangled By The Radio made it into iTunes yesterday and I suspect will get quite a few spins... it's a nice electic mix of styles. I do have a bit of an issue with that song from The Knife (it sounds 100% inspired by the Diva Dance in The Fifth Element) but that's what the uncheck function is for. Everything else - gold. Go get it.

There's something shamefully voyeuristic about the level of enjoyment I derive from this repository of Celebrity Yearbook Photos but I'm keeping my head held high. There are some unbelievable entries as well as some people that look absolutely exactly the same then as they do now. Crazy.

For the sake of full disclosure I will also admit that I perused the entire archive from top to bottom - not a stone left unturned. I suggest you do the same.

The GIF format has come a long way since it's "Under Construction" animated days but still manages to provide the same style absurd entertainment. The above images do no justice to their active counterparts so I suggest visiting the following:

• Three Frames - a repository of animated GIF's consisting of three frames of a random film played in rapid succession. Lots of vaguely NSFW imagery and just an overall bizarre / unnerving vibe but it's all the better for it.
• Awesome GIFs - a repository of some of the best in animated gif's and some new gold that I'd not seen before (i.e. Julia Roberts Finds Herself). I'm sure there is some inappropriate imagery going on here too but I suggest just hitting the Random button for awhile and seeing what you dig up.

As best as I can decipher the above piece from Conrad Ruiz features an ambiguous object The Challenger Explosion doing battle with President Obama and Eddie Murphy riding an enormous Corgi. Eddie Murphy is throwing a Street Fighter 2 style blast from his hands of which a flying cat has burst forth.. presumably to make the horrible event into something "good". That's really just the tip of the iceberg of what's going on here and I can't say there's a single aspect of it I don't find entertaining.

I'll be totally honest.. I kinda thought today was a National Holiday and have neglected the blog because of it. So, nothing new today as I've got to get work but please accept my apologies for disrupting your daily blog rounds.

Starting off the new year right with some quality entertainment. Watch the playlist or the embed above..

• Greenscren Grandmas - the idea behind this is hilarious enough as it is but the noises the two of them make is off the charts. I'm laughing with them, not at them.
• Dog eats Dan's New Heart - despite never having seen the show I was under the impression that One Tree Hill was a drama. With that in mind, this is probably the funniest thing I've seen from TV in a long long time.
• Turkish Star Wars Training Montage - At first I thought this was just a parody having nothing to do with Turkey or Star Wars.. but then I verified the existence of it with this. The music is an overdub but the montage is real. Very very real.
• Incredible Tape Measure Tricks - yes, they're fake but they're well done and entertaining enough.
• Atomic Bomb Underwater Explosion - this is almost incomprehensible in terms of the amount of energy being expelled..
• Jan Pehechan-Ho - courtesy of Mohammed Rafi and KMS, this should be your new soundtrack for the weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Casey Britt, aka Your Favorite, has launched a new site chronicling a daily creative endeavor intended for the duration of 2010. I Am Your Favorite is one of those simple sites that keeps my attention as it obviously has a good bit of smart coding behind it but also manages to present a hefty amount of creativity in each piece - not always a common combo. Given that it's only the 8th day of the month there isn't a ton there yet but give it a bookmark and check back with regularity to keep him on task.

If you have not watched the Cartoon Network series Delocated please take a moment this weekend to watch the entire first season. Then, familiarize yourself with their new blog documenting the creation of Season 2 and some additional insights into the creation of the existing episodes.

Take a moment to watch the "Sheets" video from the forthcoming Aziz Ansari release, Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening. There's some NSFW language but it's hysterical and worth losing your job over.

Related: Follow Aziz on Tumblr and Twitter.

Also related: Follow Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel as well.

Forget about using Twitter to keep up with people you actually know.. it's best served as a tool for incoming hilarious blurbs.

I've got a site review tomorrow at work and I'm trying to go out of town as well. That means I'm squeezing a five day work week into four days... meaning my blog time is serious hampered today while I hunker down and get some tasks done. That being said, I hate to leave anyone in the lurch:

• Bryan Schutmaat Tumblr - I had no idea Bryan had a Tumblr. I am quite pleased to know now.
• That Cat House - the most well designed series of planks, overlooks and walkways for felines integrated into a home that you will ever see.
• Messbook - I should, honestly, give this more of a post than part of a bulleted list because it's a great collection of random drawings and musings but it's all I've got time for at the moment. There's something familiar about Nebojsa Cvetkovic's work but I can't put my finger on it.
• Dubai Skyscraper Celebration - they just opened the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai and set off a ton of fireworks for it.. in Dubai fashion. Meaning, fireworks are shooting off the actual building and it's totally awesome.

I stumbled upon the work of Matthew Lyons today and I'm quite smitten with the playful retro future vibe he's got going on. He has a number of fictional Movie Title Screens that I highly suggest looking into. Then, once you're done with that, follow him on Flickr and Tumblr.

In all honesty, I rarely read Penny Arcade - not because it isn't funny but because I'm so far removed from the in's and out's of serious videogame nerd culture that I don't always get what's funny about a strip. Despite that, I checked out PA TV and dove into the Pilot of the Penny Arcade documentary series. I readily admit that I was all set to turn it off after the first minute but found myself pretty glued to the on screen actions for the duration. It's a nice watch and good to see people passionate about what they do actually succeeding at it in such a way. I'll be watching the rest of the episodes anytime now...

Hype Machine has been posting their Music Blog Zeitgeist for 2009 and it's a series of custom illustrations from a wide variety of artists showcasing the top 50 artists from 2009.

The artwork (and variety) is great but the list itself is further confirmation that my grip on what is happening in the indie music world is slipping more and more - how are Sufjan Stevens, LCD Soundsytem, Chromeo and Bloc Party in the 2009 Zeitgeist? Are these just anomalies in the blogosphere of downloaded music or am I really not paying much attention anymore?

The portfolio site for Tony D'Orio is an impressive piece of work. The full browser grid / mosaic transitions are simple but entirely effective. It's nice that the Next / Previous navigation actually seem to jump you around the portfolio entries, rather than a linear checking off of boxes. Apparently Hello Monday is responsible for the site.. a task worthy of praise for sure.

Via Will.

Apparently GOOD magazine has been running a series discussing the concept of Technological Singularity that I'm just now finding out about. Part Seven is a bit of an essay criticizing the concept as a whole - speculating that not enough serious research has been done to make much speculation (thereby somewhat negating itself). I plan on diving into the rest of the articles soon but it's tough to imagine anyone could predict what will happen with the integration of technology and mankind. Although I guess half the fun is the guessing...