Friday Fun: Muppets try out for Star Wars

It's Valentine's Day, and I only have one thing to say...

Mmmmmmmm, chocolate!

(Oh, that's NOT what the holiday is about? Oops...)

Photo by Darwin Bell / CC BY 2.0

Vancouver Olympics on Flickr

The IOC has set up an official Flickr group where anyone can share their pictures of the Vancouver Winter Games - I love it when an organization "gets" some part of social media. There are so many ways to follow the Olympics this year, whether on Twitter, Facebook, online video, or several other sites (There's a good list at TechCrunch) that I think I'll have more fun following the games than I've had in years. It'll be great to be able to experience the Olympics through the eyes of athletes and attendees as well as "old" media.

Friday Fun: Poor Beaker

Somehow, Beaker's musical aspirations always end in fire...



and...

The Making of a Super Bowl Commercial

Somehow I missed this commercial during the Super Bowl. I'm sure it has nothing to do with me being a big nerd who was madly tapping away on the netbook in the middle of a sports bar filled with people. Apparently, even though I'm generally such a distracte-bunny, if you put me in a distracting enough environment, I come swinging round the other side and can really focus. I got more work done on my work in progress during a few hours in the midst of Super Bowl revelry than I have since NaNoWriMo. Who knew? (and I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with the fact that the bar's wifi was locked down so I couldn't get on the internet)

Anyway, today I came across Leo Laporte on TWiT, interviewing the guys behind "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like." I was fascinated by the work that that went into this commercial. Watch the video to find out if it was one long shot or CGI trickery, while I go clean the drool off my keyboard

Wed Pic: We need more beach

IMG_0863, originally uploaded by mdesive.

We're in the throes of February, so here's some more beachiness.

Hindsight...

A New York Tribune cover from 1910, pondering whether there will be any place to dock the Titanic when she arrives. I guess they need not have worried.

When she saw this, LilGirl, ever the conspiracy theorist, said "Maybe the iceberg was hired!"

(To read the story, click for the large version here)

Vader joint visitation

Warning to all women!

I don't remember who sent me this, but thanks!

A WARNING TO ALL WOMEN!

THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU... 

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR MOTHER ...

OR TO YOUR SISTER...

The strangest thing happened to me at lunch today. I was sitting at a local outdoor cafe having lunch by myself and two men came and sat down at my table..... I gave them the death look, but they just casually stayed at my table and wouldn't leave me alone. I shined up my ring on my married finger, then placed my hand on the table and I hinted to them that I was married and that I was not interested in them. Luckily for me they got the hint and left, but thankfully the whole thing was captured on the Cafe's camera. I'm including this picture as a warning just in case they try and pick you up too.

Honestly, some men think they are God's gift.

Friday Fun: Cake Wrecks

Today I'm sending you to one of my all-time favorite blogs: Cake Wrecks!. It picks me up when I'm down, and usually makes me spit something on the screen (I've finally learned not drink anything when visiting the site). The site features professionally made cakes. Yes, "professionals" did this:

From A Teaching Moment

and this:

From As We Fumble Along

Sometimes, it's not a lack of talent that makes the cakes go wrong, but great talent led horribly astray (or should I say, ashtray):

Yes, that's a cake. (From Holy Smokes!)

It's not all bad, though. On Sundays, they feature really awesome cakes (it's usually okay to have a beverage during those). Check out the Sunday Sweets. This is one of my favorites, from When Gamers Marry:

Wish I'd thought of this for my wedding cake.

A few weeks ago, Cake Wrecks featured a post that made my daughter laugh so hard, she made me stop scrolling through halfway so she could catch her breath. She still talks about it, always with a snicker. I'll link to it here, but be warned: It involves bodily functions. What else would make a fourth grader laugh so hard?

Have fun! 

Wed Pics: Happy Birthday, Norman Rockwell

Instead of the usual picture of my own today, I thought I'd follow Google's lead and celebrate Norman Rockwell's birthday. He's one of my favorite artists, and was probably my first favorite artist. I can't remember a time I wasn't familiar with his work. When I was little, we had a huge coffee table book of Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post covers (I think this was it). I could barely lift it, but luckily, the book was usually stored in a low place it could be slid out of, so I could lay it open on the floor and get lost in the paintings.

I always especially loved the covers that involved a whole sequence of events, like the gossips or the "Day in the life of..." ones like "A Day in the Life of a Girl."

I almost put that as "the covers that tell a story" but they ALL tell a story, and that's what's so great about Norman Rockwell. We also see ourselves in them, despite the passing of time, changes in technology, or changes in popular culture. The people in his paintings are humans, and we're all still human, whether it's 1920, 1950 or 2010.

Interesting link: Mathew Brady Civil War Photographs on Flickr

The U.S. National Archives have joined The Commons at Flickr. I haven't had a chance to peruse more than a handful of photos, but I'm excited to see a selection of Matthew Brady's Civil War photographs have been included.

These appear to be straight scans of the plates, not cleaned up and cropped for best effect as you would usually see in a book or documentary. They're essentially raw, and that almost makes it seem like you're seeing something completely new. I'll probably waste an evening in the near future browsing these.