Not my bag

Arcade dorks attempt "power punch" game, succeed in failing.


Maybe they should have taken this simple test to figure out their dominant eye.


And for those so inclined, extreme effort of questionable value in this superhero taxonomy chart.

"I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records peoples accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures." - U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren

 

Reading is fun and mental

A middle school in Texas takes this reading awareness PSA to the next level in creative music video form. [Miss Cellania]


And some deadpan wordly humor in these literal New Yorker cartoon captions.

"I have always imagined that Paradise would be a kind of library." - Jorge Luis Borges

 

There's always room for cello

Talented bower vaults the beautiful but otherwise typically classical and stodgy instrument to cello-rific heights. [Mashable]


Who knows what you would call that artistry, but there are a host of everyday things that I'll bet you never knew had real names.

"The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." - Emile Zola

 

Give us a sign

Rumor has it that this Japanese waterfall is going on "Jeopardy!" soon. (Thanks Gordon)


And when you don't know what to say, why not say it in llama?

"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." - Benjamin Disraeli

 

Be very afraid

Amusing parody put-together of the annoying nose-blow-reaction baby.


Steve Buscemi's trademark eye luggage superimposed on photos of women is more than somewhat disturbing, and perhaps not surprisingly looks even worse on other people.


"Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves." - Ernest Dimnet

 

Symmetry

A short video called Symmetry about life's conceptual mirrors.


Tom Hanks may be one of the greatest actors ever, but he's also, apparently, a whole bunch of animals.


"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." - George Patton

 

No strings attached

Incredible, beautiful footage of a maniac solo speed-climbing The Eiger. [Business Insider]


Also terrifying, a disaster alert map that tracks such events around the world, from vehicle accidents to volcanic eruptions to the nuclear events.


Finally, a guilty dog busted ex post facto; sort of painful to watch in a number of ways. Dogs will be dogs, and they're just alright with me. (Thanks Bomser)

"As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round." - Ben Hogan

 

Day in, day out

It's up... and it's... good. I wish I had more days like these. Lord knows how many takes, but apparently no CGI.


And for those intrigued by words and design, Six Word Story Every Day.

"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible." -Vince Lombardi

 

Apple of my i

Well done Conan O'Brien parody ad about Apple's "next big thing" destined for gadget greatness. [Gizmodo]


Speaking of questionable uses of money, these dollar bill sculptures will also do the trick.


And a bonus interactive that lets plug in your annual salary and find out where your (U.S.) tax dollars went.

"The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward." - John Maynard Keynes

 

H 2 O baby

Now, I would no sooner buy this overpriced French yuppie water than drink my own urine, but Evian deserves due credit for telling us about the side effects of their product. This ad is worth a sip.


And finally, corroborating evidence of something I've always told my wife in these His and Hers color charts.

"The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell." - Confucius

 

It's not what you say...

...it's how you say it. This mini-short puts on a clinic in marketing communications of a sort.


And along those lines, bad excerpts from bad romance novels. (Warning: quivering loins ahead.)

"In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on." - Robert Frost

 

Sweaty palms

Sign of the times perhaps (or not)... a strange finger fitness video brought to you by Google.


On opposite ends of the scale, mini-stuff and mega-stuff.

"The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon.'" - John F. Kennedy

 

Demolition, man

A video compilation of some choice building implosions from an International Society of Explosive Engineers (ISEE) conference. If you're thinking about a career change, this seems possibly worthy of making the list.


And somewhat on the opposite, this LEGO artist recreates Brooklyn in his living room.

"May the roof above us never fall in. And may the friends gathered below it never fall out." - Irish blessing

 

Change can be difficult

How many badasses does it take to change a light bulb? Just one, and a 1,768-foot climb, straight up. What some people do for a living... (Thanks rasric)


And some very creative job ads that will get your attention (though maybe not your application).

"A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths." - Steven Wright

 

Extra, extra

There's a rumor running around that this actor appears in every movie and TV show ever made. Come to think of it, he does look kind of familiar...


And other things appearing in strange places, a video game in your browser's address bar. [Boing Boing]


Finally, more placement kudos to these 10 Creative Bus Advertisements.

"If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade." - Tom Peters

 

Secret impromptu vocations

Daniel Smeeth -- the voiceover artist who never reads a script or does more than one take -- is back. In this one he tackles an advert for Glade air fresheners. More good stuff on his blog at Tumblr.


And on the topic of self-amusement, a little Photoshopportunity of what the rich do for fun when we're not looking.

"Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures." - Jessamyn West

 

The road much less traveled

When this guy gets around the house, he gets around the house.


And some extreme sleeping, a pursuit best left to the professionals.


She's living the simple life in 90 square feet of glamorous Manhattan "microstudio".

"About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends." - Herbert Hoover

 

Pumping enamel

Lunatic showing off what could be the world's strongest teeth.


Mistakes that amuse from local comestibles retailers in this compendium of best supermarket fails.


And finally, more drastic misuse in this video piece about Regina and her incredible show-jumping cow, Luna. (Yes, you read that right.) [Asylum UK]

"Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?" - Sun Tzu

 

Cowboy hip hop

You might have missed it too, but apparently this cowboy hip-hop dance craze swept the nation back in the 70s or 80s.


And an insane idiot breaking the "certified shallow diving record" with a 36-foot dive into a kiddie pool filled (and I use the term loosely) with less than a foot of water.


And finally, a high-energy hound shows off his patented jump-bark to the delight of almost no one.

"High expectations are the key to everything." - Sam Walton

 

Rick Rollin' in the Oregon State House of Representatives

A little editing has the Oregon State House of Representatives doing some self-rick rolling. No one knows the cost in terms of number of lives and hours of transcripts. [Neatorama]

And a collection of songs you know by people you don't in this cover song archive blog.

And more from the lost and found: Sad stuff on the street.

"A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than a whole one. It carries better." - Stephen Leacock

 

Harry Met Sally reprise

The remake of 'When Harry Met Sally' that everyone has been waiting for (?) is finally here. Getting old does indeed suck.


Famous movie posters get the pictogram treatment, and are re-imagined in minimalist style. Simple yet (in most cases) unmistakable.



And 100 years of eye-popping movie title sequences shows how they've evolved. [Gizmodo]

"Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?" - Edgar Bergen

 

Tune out

Gripping theater-quality short (two minutes) called "Tune for Two" in which an execution takes an unexpected turn. (Rated PG-13 for mature themes and humming.)


If you remove the last panel of a Peanuts comic strip it becomes a bleak wasteland of existential misery.


And keeping with the quasi-theme, something like "Japanese roulette" using a Nerf gun and thumbtack. Goofy but earnest attempt to build tension.

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner flame." - Albert Schweitzer

 

Scent by the gods

Scent by the gods, finally it's Bacon Cologne. (No, really.) [Gizmodo]

Many grains of truth in Facebook you vs. real you. And likewise, Sunday you.

Other things impossible... for example, building a Lego ship in a bottle.

"When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character." - W. Somerset Maugham

 

Paris 2K

A visual project that captures the City of Light in a unique light.
[Nat Geo]

This is knot art -- intricate pictures on canvas created using shoelaces.

Give war a chance -- an interactive map of every war ever fought. [Gizmodo]

"A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet." - Orson Welles

 

Soak 'em if you got 'em

An enlightening and entertaining video about wealth and the U.S. government's fiscal situation. Warning: it's not a pretty picture. The exposition starts at around 2:30 if you want to skip the set-up. (Thanks Bomser)

And on that same note (pun intended), interesting things one can do with paper, a little billosophy.

Perhaps only vaguely symbolic of what goes on in D.C., watch these giant subwoofers shred a phonebook. [Gizmodo]

"Any sufficiently advances bureaucracy is indistinguishable from molasses." - Unknown

 

Doing things...

...faster. Reclaim lost years from your life with these handy tips.

...better. Every country is the best (or worst) at something.

...bigger. Three days, seven Kg, 36,000 calories, and a homemade wrapper get you this giant Kit Kat Chunky.

"You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency." - William Maugham

 

Rauch auf dem Wasser

Apparently when German government ministers resign they have a military ceremony, and get to choose the music. This one (Minister of Defense Guttenberg) self-ejected in after disgrace of a plagiarized doctoral thesis, and having tried to order up a little AC/DC, ended up with this classic rock tune.

Also in the military tradition, Tank Cat.

And finally, the Manifesto Manifesto: a recipe for writing manifesti. Maybe only enjoyed by tech startup nerds. [Boing Boing]

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." - Abraham Lincoln

 

Theoretical

Two of physics' all-time greats Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking meet in an epic rap battle. Who wins? It's all relative.

And Kanye West and Bob Dylan compared head to head in a telling infographic.

Finally, a nice retro-style game where #2 is your #1 goal. (Thanks JoeY)

"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it." - Harry Emerson Fosdick

 

Musician mash

Impressive overlaying of music tracks created by amateur players to create a jazzy work of musical goodness that's worth a listen/view. [Mashable]

Who knows where all of those musicians come from... the U.S. of Music shows famous musicians from all 50 states.

And finally, a little analog music nostalgia, Cassettes from My Ex is a blog for stories of lost-but-not-forgotten loves and the mix-tapes they inspired.


"He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees."
- Benjamin Franklin
 

Are YouTube experienced?

This short video apparently (sadly) sums up someone's video watching experience.

Also unfortunate, these amusingly ill-placed ads and some poorly-named websites.

And finally, a bonus game, Shaun the Sheep, in case you're in the mood.


"A wholesome oblivion of one's neighbours is the beginning of wisdom." - Richard Le Gallienne