June 17, 2016
"What if I pretended like I didn’t know what nails were?"
When the blogger/home renovator behind Manhattan Nest was hired to work on Olivebridge Cottage, it looked like a cute country bungalow in need of a little rearranging. Ten months later, he's almost viewing the experience as a post-modernist joke. (Blog entries appear in reverse chronological order; I recommend reading the entry at the top of the page, moving all the way down, and working up.)
That'll really grind their corn
Outlander fandom had reached epic levels of drama. William Shatner has intervened as fans harass the actors and production staff . Shatner's assistant has created a website dedicated to fighting online bullying among Outlander fans.
It's not like Outlander fans are alone, One Direction fandom has contributed a lot to the tinhatting phenomenon. Of course, long before 1D, Supernatural fans have always been pretty inventive in their creative take on reality.
PS, we talk about Outlander over here on FanFare, without the drama.
Floating Piers
Smithsonian Magazine goes in-depth with Christo and his new project Floating Piers which will open on June 18 and run through July 3 on Italy's Lake Iseo. His last major installation with with his late wife Jeanne-Claude in New York City's Central Park -- The Gates (2005).
DJ Earworm 2015½
It's halfway through the year so that means it's time for DJ Earworm's Summermash '16!
Naked Friday
all is love
Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary is the best place, both in real life and on the internet. A senior dog rescue with an amazing Facebook page, OFSDS fosters dogs out, but provides a forever home to a large troop of beautiful pups. Fan favorites include fluffbucket Leo, one-eyed Captain Ron, and presidential Mildred
. [more inside]
Cinnabon: Because You're At The Goddamn Airport
Honest Chain Restaurant Slogans. Mostly pithy.
"It is from Wisconsin! How not fancy is that?!"
"At the end of this post I find myself saying, 'You had a lot to say about that.' I am a little judgey of self. There is so much going on in our world, big and little, that I do feel a little silly devoting time and energy to a fizzy drink. But, maybe that’s the root of it. LaCroix is a beautiful escapist beverage. I think that’s why we love it. Crack open a can and just for a minute, you’re on vacation, the world is sane, and it’s all sunshine and sprinklers and rainbows."LaCroix quilt, LaCroix love (single link blog post, Dorie on Tumbling Blocks)
PRAY HARDER
The Bushy Tailed Menace
Slate discusses one of the most pernicious extant threats to our electrical grid, one that costs the US millions annually in power outages...Squirrels. (SLSlate)
‘I’m not black, I’m O. J.’
Why ‘Transcending Race’ Is a Lie [The New York Times] Few American athletes have been as widely beloved as Simpson was. Even today, his popularity seems inconceivable. “O. J.: Made in America,” the ESPN “30 for 30” documentary [ESPN] directed by Ezra Edelman that is airing this week, busies itself with the making of the man at the myth’s center and with the country that helped him become a monster. It’s the best thing ESPN has ever produced. And it answers my question: Simpson’s story is that of a black man who came of age during the civil rights era and spent his entire adult life trying to “transcend race” — to claim that strange accolade bestowed on blacks spanning from Pelé to Prince to Nelson Mandela to Muhammad Ali. Which is to say, it’s the story of a halfback trying, and failing, to outrun his own blackness. [more inside]
The Happiness Gap
Why parents are more unhappy than their childless peers. New York Times article on why parents in the United States are more unhappy than their childless friends and why it might be less about the kids are more about how we support families.
The Queen of Teen Suspense
Best known for her YA novels, author Lois Duncan has died at the age of 82. A prolific writer, her books have thrilled multiple generations and have also been adapted into a few movies you may have heard of. [more inside]
"My sister insisted that the van lifestyle is a major trend. "
You'd Have To Be Crazy
My sister and I are both, in our own ways, like children. When she saw the coat, she ran for it. She picked it up and oohed and aahed over it, turning it this way and that. She showed it to me, and started talking quickly about how much it might be worth. I got embarrassed by how loudly she was talking, and I thought picking a coat up off the ground might be stealing. I was in Seattle to see her; she said she would tell me about what it was like to be homeless.[more inside]
Smash Mouth is not a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder
The first rule of calling Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder is do not call Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder. The second rule of calling Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonderis do not call Smash Mouth a one-hit Shrek-coattail-riding wonder.
What's going on at Yellowstone?
No, I'm not talking about the "super volcano" that'll destroy the Earth (which is, you know, not likely). I'm talking about all the crazy stuff that's happened there this season, the result of growing numbers of both tourists and wildlife. [more inside]
Ascii to Icon
Happy Friday! Enjoy this neat little toy that let's you make symbols and icon by typing out a grid characters. Brought to you by xqt2, a nobody. [more inside]
他的名字是 John Cena
John Cena holds two minutes of his press conference in Chinese, arguably just as well as Mark Zuckerberg's forays into the language. This is partially due to the fact that the WWE offers its stars a free second language program, but is also indicative of the wrestling promoter's big push into India and China. The company just signed their first Chinese national athlete... and, well, WWE has a large fan base in India.
Temporal Gentrification
"The past is like a foreign country: They have weird McDonald’s specials there. Here, it's a burger with olives and larks' tongues; it's called the McTrojan Deluxe, which makes it sound like there's something sneaky hiding inside it, which if you hate olives is true. I hate olives. But they also serve wine, so I'm drinking lots of wine. It’s unpleasantly packed in the restaurant, but then, it’s packed everywhere." Time Travel tourism takes off in 'Trojan Horses' a short story by Jess Zimmerman [more inside]
Shouldn't you be moisturizing? Megan moisturizes
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 1
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 2
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 3 (Special Birthday Edition)
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 4 (Grad School Panic)
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 2
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 3 (Special Birthday Edition)
Anxiety: The Magazine, Issue 4 (Grad School Panic)
Woo Hoo!
South Korean girl group Mamamoo has created what might be the catchiest mobile phone advert ever. [SLYT]
"I heard this growl behind me."
Beer can and bears save mushroom picker from hungry wolf: Deep in the wilderness of the Canadian Northwest Territories, Joanne Barnaby and her dog were stalked by a starving black wolf in a twelve-hour ordeal. With the wolf forcing her away farther and farther away from the highway and into the woods, Barnaby resorted to a desperate gambit when she ran across a mother bear who was searching for her lost cub.
Pusheen in Real Life
Julien Therrien has a cat that looks like Pusheen (an internet cartoon cat who has created a merchandise empire). He took advantage of this, and recreated several of Pusheen's digital 'stickers' with adorable and hilarious results. (This page is in French, but is easy to get the gist of) Previous Pusheen
30 Minutes of ‘The Day The Clown Cried’ Surfaces
Lewis wrote, directed, and starred in the movie in 1972, but he never released the finished product. The reasons given for its disappearance vary, and could overlap; legal battles, rights issues, and the fact that the movie was about Jerry Lewis as a German clown who leads Jewish children into the gas chambers during the Holocaust. [more inside]
The gathering
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