Image via Flickr
Forget the whips and chains; this may be the most shocking thing to come out of 50 Shades of Grey. Don’t ask me how I know this, but Grey originally started off as fan fiction. Something about Spock meeting a glistening vampire. But after the work gained a following, it was rewritten into the masterpiece you know now.
Amazon Kindle wants to take the next step by letting all those wannabe Stephanie Meyers actually publish (and profit!) from their fan fiction. It’s called Kindle Worlds and it works like this: you write your Gossip Girl story (or whatever story from the licensed worlds Kindle has agreements with) and if it gets published, you split your profits with the copyright owner. Everyone wins, except literature.
Of course, there are “guidelines.” Hint: no weird stuff, and nothing that sucks. Get crackin’, future writers. But leave the whips and chains to the pros.
Image via Geoguessr
You wake up suddenly in a sweat. Dusting yourself off, you find you’re in the middle of a field. It’s hot. There are no markers, just endless plains stretching in every direction.
Kafka story? Nope, it’s Geoguessr, a crazy addictive game built on Google Maps. The game drops you in a random location and it’s your task to guess where you are. You can navigate all you want to try to find clues and you’re awarded points based on how close your guess it to where you really are.
My strategy: find a street sign, or better, a business sign or phone number. Googling that info should lead you to the actual address. And if you’re dropped in the desert and can’t find a sign? Well, good luck with that—you’re probably in Western Australia.
My top score is 33,162. Beat that, globe trekkers.
Image via The Impossible Project
The artists behind The Impossible Project are the necromancers of photography. First, they resurrected the classically campy Polaroid 600. And now, they set their sights upon an even older, slightly creepier format: the 8x10.
This is the format from back in the day when everyone looked ghostly (probably because some of them were). The Impossible Project sought to bring new life to this medium by setting up an 8x10 camera studio in their SoHo space. Jokes aside, it’s a cool project and 8x10 pics create gorgeous images.
Old-timey moustache and corsets not provided.
Image via Flickr
So what are your plans this weekend? On Saturday I’m thinking of checking out this hip hop/improv troupe out of Belgium. On Sunday I’ve got nothing planned…wait…
THIS SUNDAY IS MOTHER’S DAY.
It’s not too late. Here’s some electronic card options for your number one lady.
Punchbowl: Cute. Classy. Customizable. What’s not to love?
Hipster Cards: Edgy. Irreverent. Hilarious. No moustache necessary.
Blue Mountain: Flowery. Fancy. And some of them even talk!
Some E-Cards: Punchy. Bizarre. Fantastic.
Image via Cool Material
Most replicas are made of plastic, glue, and a sad, empty life. This certainly isn’t the case for the folks over at Team Galag (cool fact: Galag translates roughly into “This is Awesome” in Trans-Siberian Mongolian) as of late. They spent $1.6 million making the Tumbler from Batman, one equipped with a V-8, a top speed of 100 MPH, and totally street legal. If I had to spend $1.6 million on a car, it would probably be a Tumbler. Or at least a stretch limo. Or maybe a stretch Tumbler? That’s totally appropriate for a homecoming dance. Who even needs a date at that point? DON’T BOTHER CALLING ME BACK, NANCY.
Check out the Tumbler (and your new dance date) here.
Image via Coffitivity
Coffee shops are the new offices/creative spaces/ball pits. I was practically raised, then educated, and now employed at coffee shops. Even now, I’m typing to you from the warm, roasted insides of my local shop. But what do I do when I’m away from my favorite little spot say, when I’m at home, or (shudder) at the office?
Coffitivity is white noise for the Web 4.2.2 generation. It’s simply the sound of a bustling coffee shop, filled with chattering utensils, creaky furniture, hustling baristas, and even warbly conversation. And you can plug in your own tunes to drown out the drown out sounds. It’s a perfect balance of sub/urban respite.
Serious research from serious researchers shows a low hum actually increases productivity (even if you’re just pretending to work). Coffitivity isn’t perfect though — no cute baristas for eye candy.
Image via This is Colossal
It’s got sky. It’s got tasty drinks. And it’s on Instagram. So far, all the elements are there for yet another Instagram faux-artist. You know, the type your cousin (he got a scholarship to Pratt!) says he is. Cringe.
But wait. These photos are from artist Manon Wethly and they’re, well, art. Wethlys takes the usual tropes — beautiful landscapes, food — and combines them explosively. Many of her Instagram shots feature a wildly spinning beverage in midair, as if she meant to disrupt the natural beauty of the world with a man-made contusion.
Her feed is remarkable in its discipline. No brunch pics there, just carefully staged and crafted pics. Makes those pics of my puppy a bit low-brow. Why can’t you be more edgy, Mr. Wuggles?
Image via Flickr
Lightt. Grinder. Twitter. Dragdis. Instapaper. What’s in an app name? Are they misspellings? Is “misspelling” a misspelling? That doesn’t look right.
When’s the last time an app had an honest name? I took it upon myself to make my own descriptive app names. Because I’m helpful. Right?
Instagram: BrunchPhotos
Yelp: SnarkyReviewsFromMeanPeople
Facebook - WhyAmIFriendsWithThisPerson?
Songza - EverythingIsIndieMusic
Vine - SoShaky
Camera+ - ComplicatedInstagram
Spotify - EveryBandExceptThatOne
Tinder - AmIHotOrJudgey
Image via Google/Awesome Wired Intern
Indulge me for a second. Imagine I have a boat. It’s an awesome boat and you totally want it but there’s a catch—you can never alter it in any way. Change so much as the paint and suddenly the warranty is null and void and I’ll even go out of my way to make sure you can’t fix it.
Another one. So I got a cake. I’ll sell you a slice, but there’s a rule in my restaurant—no sharing. Every person has to buy their own. If you end up sharing, you gotta give up the cake and get out.
Weird questions? These questions mirror the ones brought up by recent Google Glasses and smartphone terms of service that say you can’t resell Google Glasses, or unlock your phones. Think that’s crazy? The law doesn’t. This law in question stipulates that you don’t really own your devices so much as you’re renting them. Guess you can’t have your cake, but you can rent it.
Type your comments below. Using that phone you don’t really own.
Image via PingMag
So I saw this tidbit about emoticons and first I was like :T but then I was like :D. Emoticons help us make sense of the enormous text-based MMPORG that is reality. I mean heck there’s even emoticon jewelry. Then I thought, what are some emoticons that don’t exist, but really should? I call them Fauxmoticons.
:& — “I really want a pretzel”
: # — “I just got a rapper-style mouth grill”
: {( — “I’m not happy with my ironic moustache”
@: ) — “Check out my beehive hairdo.”
$: ) — “Mind on my money and my money on my mind.”
? : )& — “Doctor? Doctor who?”
What’s your favorite fauxmoticon?
