Great bit of viral marketing in the form of an online flash board game from the "California Milk Processor Board". Very addictive. I spent a lot of time in Milkatraz. :S (Note: the last puzzle is *really* obvious.)

Another amazing mystery game from the BBC.

Papervision 3d: interactive content in a 3d interface.

30 shorts in 30 days: a set of short flash animations. My favorite is #21.

Some absolutely amazing paper cutouts. (Image above)

Some music. (Mike Doughty: The Only Answer)

Labels: links, other people's stuff, sometimes other people are much more creative than i am. ;)

The wonderful and interesting Schmutzie (of Milkmoney or Not, Here I Come) paid me the great honour of giving me a "Thinking Blogger Award".

*Blush*

Given the amount of silliness and side-tracked thoughts that I let myself indulge in on these pages, I surprised and pleased, and for the first time I empathize with Sally Field: "You like me, you really really like me!" I have to say that I really admire Schmutzie, the thoughts she sets on page and wonderfulness that is herself and her blog, so its lovely that this came from her.

:P I digress: Tee hee. I feel a *bit* like when I won the valentine's day cake at school in grade two. It had those spicy cinnamon hearts on it and white gooey frosting and the inside of the cake was dyed red (always a dubious choice). I had a "reaction" to the red food dye and ran around like crazy after eating the cake, so my teacher had to send me home. OK, I don't feel exactly like that, but a little bit.

So, it seems that there are some rules for this award (because bureaucracy of some form never fails us), which are the following:
Here are the blogs on which I would like to bestow the thinking blogger award (I would happily give one back to Schmutzie, but I don't think that's allowed. Plus she already has one.):

• Linda of the Grumpiest Girl in the Room for her gentle yet blunt and humorous insight into life and living.
• Neil of Citizen of the Month for both his wonderful "Great Interview Experiment" but even more for his great wit.
• Randall Munroe of xkcd and of his own blag for being smart and funny, and for bridging the gap between geekdom and romance.
• Andrew Vande Moere for information aesthetics for bringing together information and ae... er... wait, for bringing together knowledge and beauty in such a great way. (Much better).
• Everyone involved in PostSecret which despite its uber-famousness in the world of blogdom has given many people a forum in which to open their hearts, express their art, and otherwise inspire or horrify. It never fails to make me think. And despite the fact that I know that it is unlikely that they will continue this meme... I couldn't not acknowledge how great I think their blog is.
• {Honorary mention: the now acclaimed Ze Frank who coined the phrase "thinking so you don't have to." I have a serious blog-crush on this guy. He combines funny with thoughtful and shocking all of the time and I don't know what I have enjoyed more thoroughly than his one-year "The Show", and his continued blog which varies and combines the ridiculous with the deeply introspective with "silly happy kidness". But he's too famous to get an *actual* award. Sorry, Ze. ;)}

Labels: beyond entertainment, brains, cheesy, sometimes other people are much more creative than i am. ;), token valentine's day mention, writing inspiration

I feel lazy today, so here are some links that I am clearing out of my "favorites" folder, which is aptly entitled "fun stuff":

The image on the right is by Joe Baran

Funny and strange graffitti

Bloxorz, a good time wasting game from the fabulous Albino Black Sheep

Altered books is poetry from pulp fiction, or the gross defacing of literature. It all depends on how you look at it.

Figure out this Rube Goldberg puzzle in solid edge garage (it took me about six tries)

Linda Vista Hospital consists of pictures of a now abanadoned hospital. Both creepy and wonderful.

An episode of Who's Line is it Anyways with Robin Williams. Very funny.

The bible illustrated with lego

An online Valentine's Day mixed tape

More abandonment, this time in the form of an abandoned amusement park. Again, both cool and creepy all at the same time.

Uber cool sparkle balls (they are made of plastic cups and Christmas lights and look wonderful. I don't think I have the patience to make one, but wish I did.)

The mystery of the face on the cake (read all three episodes, since it is a great story)

An informative instruction set for the caring of babies.I had seen this as t-shirts for infants, but it was fun to see the whole series.

The result of a university assignment in which two strong willed students participated in a tandem story. The result is very very funny.

A gallery of walls with stuff written on it.

Fabulous spam art. (Sadly not the "food" but the e-mail version.)

And finally, a video that doesn't make sense but doesn't have to because it is so delightfully weird:

Labels: funny but instructional, links, other people's stuff, sometimes other people are much more creative than i am. ;), wasting space, wasting your time on a friday

I was fortunate enough to come across yet another a very lovely online community project through Neil's blog: Citizen of the Month. The premise is that "everyone is somebody", and that we all should be interviewed, at least once, regardless of whether or not we are famous in the world's weird heirarchy of acknowledgement.

Of course I absolutely love this since I firmly believe that there are billions (maybe even gazillions) of wonderful, tragic, sad, beautiful, happy, grusome (etc) stories never told, so I signed up.

How it works: Neil uses the commenting on his blog to assign interviewers and interviewees, so that eventually all of those who comment on his post get the opportunity to be interviewed and they can then post the results of the interview on their respective blogs. The questions are to be derived from taking a look at the interviewees blog so that the interviewer can ask questions that will gain a little more insight into the fabulous and quirky character of their interviewee.

While I have not yet been interviewed, today I had the priviledge of interviewing the lovely Blackbird.

Here is my interview of Blackbird:

IF: When you were little, what did you dream of doing?

BB: I really have to say that from the time I was little I dreamed of being a mom. I played mom constantly with doll babies - I cooked for them and shopped with them and made little homes for them.

IF: Did you play with Barbies? If so, are there any strange scenarios you would like to share?

BB: I SO PLAYED WITH BARBIES. I switched a Stacie head onto a Francie body - I liked her smaller chest, and pretended that Stacie was the only daughter in a family with six brothers. They were very wealthy, hence her extensive wardrobe, and I changed her name to Samantha Jones.

IF: Tell me a memory about your childhood. Something involving food.

BB: I went to stay with my grandmother every once in a while. In the city. I loved her tremendously - she had a great sense of fashion and style. This particular visit was during a heat wave and the two of us were not able to walk around her neighborhood too much. She was never known for her cooking, was famous for boiling EVERYTHING, and on this one afternoon she intended to make potato salad for the two of us. But we were starving and tired and she only got as far as boiling the potatoes. We took them out of the pot, slathered them in butter and salt and ate all of them. I don't think I could have been more that 5 or 6 and I remember the way they tasted, how hot it was, the scent of her steamy kitchen.

IF: What makes you laugh?

BB: Lately? My youngest son, who has just honed his adult sense of humor.

IF: Name five things you are really proud of.

BB: My kids, who seem to be turning out okay.
My husband whose integrity continues to impress me.
My youngest for caring so much about everything he does.
My middle boy for pursuing his art so fervently.
My oldest son for being the only completely authentic person, good and bad, that I have ever met.

IF: What is the strangest job you have ever had?

BB: It's a toss up - I spent a summer working at a microwave store that was really just a front for a guy who sold pot. It was never dangerous and I occasionally taught 'classes' for women to learn to use their microwave oven to make dinner! I was 16.
The other strange job would have been the summer that I spent as an inventory clerk at a big discount store. This involved checking off miniscule boxes on giant sheets of graph paper for each piece of merchandise sold. I checked hundred of items each day, developed symptoms of stress and quit - after about six weeks.

IF: Tell me about a recent moment of joy.

BB: I tend to be moody - I'm either pretty joyful or walking around fretting. A week or so ago, we had dinner at my house with friends. The conversation was good, the dinner was fantastic and all around me friends were happy. It was a nice moment in time. On the other hand, when I picked Youngest up at school yesterday I was just so happy to see him. I had missed him. For no particular reason seeing him at the end of the day just made me happy.

IF: What is your favorite food? What does it make you think of?

BB: I don't really HAVE a favorite food. Isn't that funny? I think it's because food is held in high esteem at my house - everything is carefully chosen and prepared, so I don't have one thing that I love best because it's really all GOOD. My favorites change all the time - bread, pasta, really good beef - salad...I'll tell you, and this is going to sound funny, but I could really go for some Russian caviar, which I have fond memories of as my dad made a point to have some around for special occasions. I haven't had any in a long time and it is the perfect symbol of how he treated us to all the best things in the world.

IF: In what ways do your children resemble you in personality? What makes you most proud? What freaks you out a little?
BB: I'm not a good judge of resemblance. AND K and I have similar features. Each of them has sort of an air of me, but none really LOOK like me. Personality-wise I'd say they have my sense of humor. I always believe that one person in a couple is the funny one and one is the pretty one. I'm the funny one. I like that they are funny. What freaks me out a little is that two of them are worriers like me - not healthy.

IF: If you could go to any city in the world tomorrow where would you go and what would you do? (Assume unlimited funds, it's more fun that way.)

BB: As it happens, there are a few places I'd like to go tomorrow, with unlimited funds. I need to finish my Positano trip. I need to spend real family time with my friends there and show my kids some of the things we saw. We need to shop for and prepare a meal for our pals in Positano. Then I think I'd spend a week or so in Paris - I've been missing Paris and would like to rent an apartment and just BE in Paris. There too I'd like to do some food shopping and cooking. Finally, I'd hop someplace tropical. K has been talking about the Maldives. Wait. You said city? Tokyo. And Sydney.
I bought lottery tickets today. I'd better start packing.

Labels: delightful, other people's stuff, sometimes other people are much more creative than i am. ;), there are beautiful unique and quirky people in the world

Learning to love you more. This project consists of a series of assignments. People can choose to "Accept this assignment" and then post the results on the site.

I think that this whole concept is lovely on so many different levels; so inspiring and beautiful.
Here are some some of the "assignments" and results:

5. Recreate an object from someone's past.

4. Start a lecture series.

3. Make a documentary video about a small child.

Film called: "Not right now"

2. Make a neighborhood field recording.

1. Make a child's outfit in an adult size.

Stay tuned, because I'm quite in love with the idea... So I may be participating. :) Let me know if you do too.

Labels: ideas for bleak days, interpreting and reinterpreting, moments, other people's stuff, sometimes other people are much more creative than i am. ;)

part 2 and part 3

Labels: funny, sometimes other people are much more creative than i am. ;)