42 Awkward Fanny Pack Photos

42 Awkward Fanny Pack Photos is a self-explanatory article on Buzzfeed.

My anti-favorite is that dog-shaped fanny pack. That's got to warrant a lot of double-takes. And the kids one. Please, think of the children!

(From my laziness)

40 Useful and Creative Infographics

40 Useful and Creative Infographics is an article on six revisions.com about pretty and informative infographics.

As an extremly infrequent coffee drinker, the coffee one clarified a lot for me.


(From Dan S.)

Funny Street View Google Maps

Funny Street View Google Maps is a self-explanatory blog that chronicles interesting scenes captured on Google Maps Street View (akin to this previosly featured TOTI).

Pictures include anything from leopard print pimp cars in San Diego to an alleyway tummy show down in Barcelona. Sometimes the pictures have trouble loading and you have to click on the title of the entry. 
(From Sarah W.)

Your Favorite Michael Jackson Memory

Your Favorite Michael Jackson Memory is an article on Buzzfeed, starting the collective grieving process. Seriously, no one else is talking about anything else.

Let the poor-taste jokes begin.

(From everyone and their mom.)

David Scott and the art of the literal music video

David Scott and the art of the literal music video is an article follow-up to the video featured on the "Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version" TOTI. Basically, Simon Owens, a social media consultant, explains the origins of the video on Bloggasm.com. The article is written in a very casual, 25-year-old style. Anyway, I love finding out the origins of these viral memes, so enjoy!

"His literal version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” has received over 2 million views. But how does he choose which videos to satirize?

David Scott couldn’t quite put his finger on what it is about 80s music videos that makes them ripe for satire, but he said it has something to do with the fact that the 80s witnessed the birth of the medium and artists suddenly found themselves overwhelmed with three to four minutes to provide visual acrobatic interpretations of their lyrics.

“This is when it stops becoming just a performance clip and goes on to become this whole audio visual extravaganza,” he told me. “So everyone would be throwing everything and the kitchen sink into these visuals, whether they made sense or not. They could go for this grand metaphor that nobody gets or something else entirely.”

Scott lives and works in upstate New York creating videos and commercials for local businesses, and though you likely haven’t heard his name, you might have seen his work. A few weeks ago he posted a literal version of Bonnie Tyler’s music video, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” to YouTube, and since then it has received over 2 million views. The literal music video is a meme that first gained popularity a few months ago, starting perhaps with a literal version of A-Ha’s “Take On Me” video. The genre involves taking a music video and dubbing over the original lyrics with ones literally describing all the actions and reactions of the characters in the video, often adding in humorous commentary and pop culture references. For instance, in the literal version of Total Eclipse, at one point you hear the Bonnie Tyler impersonator describe the “close-up on some candles and dramatically posing” of Tyler as she looks out a window.

Scott said he became intrigued with the literal music video meme when it first gained popularity and began playing with some ideas with creating his own, putting together literal interpretations of Monkees and Beatles videos in February. He went on to create a literal version of Meat Loaf’s “Anything for Love,” which proved to be especially challenging.

“There’s just quite a bit of technical trickery involved, so it can be more fun in hindsight to talk about,” he said. “The Meat Loaf one for instance, that took awhile to just get the instrumentals. There’s no karaoke track to match up against the video. He put that out as the album version, and there’s all these different single edits made from this 11-minute album version, and then they’re all different from the version that appears on the video, which to my knowledge never appeared on a CD. And so I had to take two CD versions, and then thankfully I was able to use Adobe Audition to filter out the vocals for the most part, and I was able to insert my vocals in there. It’s harder than it would seem. So you definitely have to really like the artist and the song.”

He explained that it’s not just a matter of replacing the lyrics, but also managing to uphold and mimic the inflection and context of the original lyrics, matching up how they’re being presented. This creates a kind of authenticity of the satire because it correlates with the “cognitive memory” of the original. 

I asked Scott how the “Total Eclipse” video became so popular, and he said that the only thing he knew about how it spread was that it did so organically. When he launched it he only had a few hundred subscribers on YouTube, and he also placed a link to it up on his Facebook news feed. It eventually began to spread so quickly that his own friends were getting sent the link from people who didn’t even know him.

The artist puts together the videos from where he works, usually during after hours. He said it often can take a few hours a night to line up the lyrics and the music, and he can finish a video within a matter of days. He got the idea for the Total Eclipse video after someone on a message board thread about the literal video meme suggested it.

I asked him if he had any plans to somehow incorporate his YouTube exploits into his career, but he seemed to have little interest in mixing the two. He said that he prefers to keep his work life and his “goofy side” separate, leaving his more creative endeavors into his after hour video creations and acting in a local dinner theater group.

Though he said he wants to mix things up a bit, he has definite plans for more literal music videos. His next target?

The 80s soft rock duo, Air Supply."

(From Simon... Yeah, he got through.)

Don't Even Reply

Don't Even Reply is a website by a prick who messes with people and then posts the results online.  According to John, the prick: "This is a collection of e-mails I have sent to people who post classified ads. My goal is to mess with them, confuse them, and/or piss them off. These are the ones that succeeded." He explains further:

FAQ:
Why don't they just ignore you?
Most of them do. I'd say only 10% of people I write to write back.

What is with all the different names you use?
They are all me, just different e-mail accounts.

HEY! I recognize myself in one of these e-mails, you prick!
No you don't. You're wrong. Go away.

Why are a lot of these e-mails sexist?
It seems to piss the women off more. I'm not really sexist or racist, but I still find it hilarious.

How can I contact you?
Put up a classified ad, and try to sound like an idiot. I'll find you.

No seriously. I want to give you money.
In that case, john@dontevenreply.com. I'll try to respond, but I do get a lot of e-mails so don't think I am a jerk if I don't."

And here are some samples, enjoy! 

Original ad: 

litter of 6 kittens up for adoption! they are all 3 weeks old and are looking for a good home. contact if interested.

From Mike Hunt to *********@***********.org 
Hi, 
I am interested in taking all six kittens off of your hands. How much do you want for them? 
Mike 

From Shannon ******* to Me 
Mike, 
Are you going to take care of all of these kittens? I want to make sure they all find a good home, and was expecting to sell them one at a time. Are you able to house all six of them? 

From Mike Hunt to Shannon ******* 
Shannon, 
To be honest, I own a pet Bengal Tiger and he is on a strict diet of cats. I usually feed him one cat every couple of days, so this litter should hold him over for a while. Don't worry though, I'll take good care of the kittens until I feed them to him. 
Mike 

From Shannon ******* to Me 
That is horrible! You will not get a single kitten from me. I really hope you are not serious. 
From Mike Hunt to Shannon ******* 

Shannon, 
I was kidding. I seriously need all six kittens though. Disregard anything I said about a tiger. 

From Shannon ******* to Me 
NO.

And a second:

"Original ad:
if anyone wants a ride from baltimore to nyc tomorow let me know! i am driving up there sometime tomorow afternoon and would be glad to help someone out if they want to throw up some money for gas. i drive a hybrid, so i wont need much!
From Mike Partlow to *************@*********.org

Hello,
I do need a ride to New York tomorrow. That would be great. My only concern is the fact that you drive a hybrid car. I don't want to give people the idea that I care about the environment. Do you have another, more manly car that we could ride up in? I really don't want to be seen in a hybrid. I'll gladly compensate you for gas.
Mike

From christine ********* to Me
no all i have is my hybrid. what is the big deal, who cares what people think? u should be glad to help the enviroment!

From Mike Partlow to christine **********
I'm sorry Christine but it isn't the 60's anymore. People aren't a bunch of earth-saving hippies that run around and hug trees anymore. Does your car have tinted windows? I really don't want to be seen riding in that bitch-mobile. My only request is that you stop by a lake somewhere so I can dump a can of motor oil in it, to make up for all of the earth that your car will be saving. Don't worry, I'll pay for the motor oil.
Mike

From christine ********* to Me
wtf is wrong with u! im not giving u a ride ur a jerk!!!

From Mike Partlow to christine **********
Well I am sorry you won't have the privilege of riding with me. Fortunately for me, I found a better, more badass ride to NYC. I'll be sure to wave at your crappy little hybrid as we pass you in our F-350, spraying cans of aerosol out the window and throwing empty six-pack holders into the sea.
Mike"

(From mjg and goosie gander)

Home Duvet Cover Single

The Home Duvet Cover Single is a recession chic item on Dutch By Design.  According to the site, 

"The Home Duvet lets you sleep under a cardboard box so a homeless person doesn't have to!

30% of the gross profits go to Centrepoint, the UK charity for homeless young people aged 16-25 (charity number 292411). Every night Centrepoint provides support and housing for 800 vulnerable homeless young people

Please note that the covers do not include pillow cases, you can order these via the drop down menu below."

Seems kind of  a low percent that goes to charity (though better something than nothing, I suppose). I think its main selling point is the awkward novelty. 

(From JenK )

Food, Inc

Food, Inc is a trailer about the eponymous commercial movie. According to Wikipedia, it was "directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner. The film is loosely based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling 2001 non-fiction book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal and The Omnivore's Dilemma written by Michael Pollan."

Seems like your typical lefty documentary. I like the creepy music and totally wan to see it. Shoud I bother?

(PS: Okay okay you caught me: I don't normally post things like this, it's really just a ploy to get someone to see it with me.) 

(From Tanya)

Fallen Princesses

Fallen Princesses is a project by Diana Goldstein on JPG magazine that places, "Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict." Basically it's what would have really happened instead of happily-ever-after, or how the conflict really went down. It's whimsical and cynical  and fun. Click through for additional pictures. Diana states that there are 2 more to be shot for this series which is going on exhibit on Oct. 15/09


(From Kottke)

The Cost Conundrum

The Cost Conundrum is a New Yorker piece by Dr. Atul Gawande published at the beginning of this month. It's a good article. The piece, which has been covered on Fresh Air this week, has purportedly become mandatory reading for White House staffers.

In it, Dr. Gawande discusses the peculiarities of our health care system, contrasting areas with high cost, poor-quality health care (such McAllen, TX) versus areas that have low cost, high quality care (Mayo, Grand Junction). The difference is in part cultural, and in part that there is someone at the helm working toward that goal. What's interesting about the article is that so far, the debate has largely been about single-payer insurance versus multiple, private versus government--but Atul states these arguments are neglecting the most important point--we need a contractor, a person actively working to lower costs while increasing quality:

"Providing health care is like building a house. The task requires experts, expensive equipment and materials, and a huge amount of coördination. Imagine that, instead of paying a contractor to pull a team together and keep them on track, you paid an electrician for every outlet he recommends, a plumber for every faucet, and a carpenter for every cabinet. Would you be surprised if you got a house with a thousand outlets, faucets, and cabinets, at three times the cost you expected, and the whole thing fell apart a couple of years later? Getting the country’s best electrician on the job (he trained at Harvard, somebody tells you) isn’t going to solve this problem. Nor will changing the person who writes him the check.

This last point is vital. Activists and policymakers spend an inordinate amount of time arguing about whether the solution to high medical costs is to have government or private insurance companies write the checks. Here’s how this whole debate goes. Advocates of a public option say government financing would save the most money by having leaner administrative costs and forcing doctors and hospitals to take lower payments than they get from private insurance. Opponents say doctors would skimp, quit, or game the system, and make us wait in line for our care; they maintain that private insurers are better at policing doctors. No, the skeptics say: all insurance companies do is reject applicants who need health care and stall on paying their bills. Then we have the economists who say that the people who should pay the doctors are the ones who use them. Have consumers pay with their own dollars, make sure that they have some “skin in the game,” and then they’ll get the care they deserve. These arguments miss the main issue. When it comes to making care better and cheaper, changing who pays the doctor will make no more difference than changing who pays the electrician. The lesson of the high-quality, low-cost communities is that someone has to be accountable for the totality of care. Otherwise, you get a system that has no brakes. You get McAllen."

...

The way I read this article, Atul seems to be asking for a Health Care Czar, a contractor in charge of lowering costs, increasing quality, and managing the totality of health care for the country:

"Dramatic improvements and savings will take at least a decade. But a choice must be made. Whom do we want in charge of managing the full complexity of medical care? We can turn to insurers (whether public or private), which have proved repeatedly that they can’t do it. Or we can turn to the local medical communities, which have proved that they can. But we have to choose someone—because, in much of the country, no one is in charge. And the result is the most wasteful and the least sustainable health-care system in the world."

...

"As America struggles to extend health-care coverage while curbing health-care costs, we face a decision that is more important than whether we have a public-insurance option, more important than whether we will have a single-payer system in the long run or a mixture of public and private insurance, as we do now. The decision is whether we are going to reward the leaders who are trying to build a new generation of Mayos and Grand Junctions. If we don’t, McAllen won’t be an outlier. It will be our future."

PS: I like that little nod to Malcolm Gladwell at the end. And that diaeresis over the ö in coordination tickles me... it's just New Yorker whimsical. 

PPS: Kottke points to a follow-up from Atul's address to the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine.

(From Margaret, that New Yorker I bought at the airport, the SF Bay Area's 88.5FM)