June 21, 2019
#OurHouseisAlwaysFullofLaughter
You've probably seen the video of comedian DJ Pryor discussing the season finale of Empire with his earnestly babbling son Kingston. Denny's used the two of them in a Father's Day ad, and Chris Cuomo interviewed them for CNN. Here's more Kingston, and here's the family's Facebook page.
rogue sneakers
These TV shows were ruined by stray shoes: A rogue sneaker is all it takes to smash through the suspension of disbelief. [more inside]
Stopette: industrial design, and interpretive dance
Jules Montenier was a cosmetic chemist who improved antiperspirant, making them less irritating to the skin, and developed a new squeeze-bottle applicator with the product name of Stopette (Cosmetics and Skin). He became sponsor of What's My Line? (Old Time [Radio]), as seen in this collection of ads. But wait, one of them is not like the rest. That would be Dorothy Jarnac's Stopette pantomime. She's more than the Deodorant Dancer -- Miss Jarnac started out as an exponent of the classical ballet, but her sense of humor got the upper hand and she gained some small renown for interpretive dance (Periodically Vintage). [more inside]
Stonehenge Skyscape
Stonehenge Skyscape. "For thousands of years people have made the pilgrimage to Stonehenge to gaze in wonder at the interplay with the monument of the sun, moon and stars, but from Friday a virtual version of the looming sky above the circle will be available to people from around the world. A live feed from a camera close to the stones has been set up – appropriately enough on the summer solstice – to allow people to tune in to the monument whenever they want. After dark, the live feed is replaced by a computer-generated image of the night sky as it would be at the moment a viewer clicks on the link to the website." [Via]
Some Suburb of Hell
standing in our living room pretending it's not our living room
What It’s Actually Like to Be on House Hunters Twice "For starters, we already had a house. It just got weirder from there." [Slate.com]
the knowledge that we truly belong to any place eludes many of us
The second in what will be a trilogy, coming after the Pulitzer Prize winning and all around incredible Become Ocean (Bandcamp link), is John Luther Adams' newest and equally incredible work Become Desert (NPR link with Spotify stream).
My Last Hideous Man
E. Jean Carroll, advice columnist extraordinaire and former Miss Cheerleader USA, reckons with a life full of hideous men, from being attacked by her Girl Scout camp counselor to being raped at Bergdorf’s by the current President of the United States. (tw: rape and sexual assault)
"tom holland could run me over with a truck and I would say thank you"
The first time I noticed that quite a lot of people on the Internet seemed to be begging celebrities to kill them was a couple of years ago. “Can lana del rey step on my throat already,” one person tweeted. “Snap my neck and hide my body,” another announced, when Lady Gaga posted a new profile photo. [...] One takeaway from all this is that young people really love celebrities. Another is that we’re craving unmediated connection so desperately that we would accept it in the form of murder. It’s also possible that we simply want to die.Love, Death, and Begging for Celebrities to Kill You
o/' Spider-Tank, Spider-Tank, ain't no mob that he can't spank... o/'
A week out from the launch of the game's third expansion, Shadowbringers, the folks at Square Enix have dropped an ad for Final Fantasy XIV where Hannibal Buress works on training Tom Holland to be the Warrior of Darkness.
Japan, on the other hand, gets an anime catgirl having fun with friends. [more inside]
Round of 16
The Group Stage of the 2019 Women's World Cup is over, and the bracket for the elimination Round of 16 is set: [more inside]
“I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to work there”
“They just said me and [my colleague] were very meticulous and had a lot of promise to move up to the SME position,” Speagle said, referring to the subject matter experts who make $1 more per hour in exchange for answering moderators’ questions about Facebook policy. “They said Facebook is basically shoving all of their graphic violence content to us, that they didn’t want it anymore. So they had to move more people to cover it. And that’s all that we saw, every single day.” For the first time, three former Facebook moderators in North America are breaking their nondisclosure agreements and going on the record to discuss working conditions that include squalid, bed bug infested offices, theft and abuse by managers, and developing PTSD from watching graphic violence : BODIES IN SEATS (Content warning: This story contains descriptions of violent acts against people and animals, accounts of sexual harassment and post-traumatic stress disorder, and other potentially disturbing content.)
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
The newest game from Niantic hit phones yesterday: Harry Potter Wizards Unite. Like Pokemon Go, you walk around and interact with icons on your phone, but Wizards Unite improves on what makes Pokemon Go great. Have questions? There's a lot of options, but there's also an FAQ.
Blue hedgehogs, blue shells, and blue jorts. 🏎️
Much more than Mario Kart: The history of kart racers [Ars Technica] “No video game genre divides and unifies us like the kart racer. For every Mario Kart there are a dozen by-the-numbers cash-ins, and even that hallowed series receives regular criticism as too derivative. But while we all breathe a collective sigh of disappointment with each kid-friendly license that predictably goes the generic kart-racing route, it's hard not to get excited by that rare entry that feels fresh and new. A great kart racer is a joyous thing. It's accessible yet deep, fun yet primed for oh-so-serious competition between friends, and full of colorful, wacky charm. It is a game for everyone. So in keeping with the spirit of the genre—and as the latest edition in our gaming genre history series that includes city builders, graphic adventures, and simulation games—it's time to ride through the ups and downs of kart racing.” [more inside]
Friday Flash Fun: 5 Step Steve
The Kitty Federation sent a crew, led by Captain Laika, to a distant planet. When they failed to return, the Federation got worried. Dozens of puzzles stand in your way. And you only have 5 steps to solve them.
Everything I Learned Getting Kicked out of America's Biggest Antivax Con
Everything I Learned While Getting Kicked out of America's Biggest Anti-Vaccine Conference Jezebel's Anna Merlan visits, and is ejected from, the AutismOneconference. [more inside]
"Woke Up Looking" by Gideon Irving
« Previous day | Next day »