I’ve been hoping to do this project for a while now, and once I finally tracked down a copy of this map (from “Must: the Book of Ti’Anna”), I’m so excited to finally get this framed and ready to hang up in my office at work!
Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up, the stories behind the names of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods.
The stories within stories: the fictional books we wished were real.
The recurring jokes of Arrested Development.
New Looney Tunes are coming to HBO Max and this is making me want to subscribe:
The PG (granted, it’s become a right-wing rag on the editorial side) has a neat interactive site about the bridges of Pittsburgh. Note this may be behind a paywall, I think it was one of my three free articles when I read it.
Dolly Parton secretly executive produced Buffy! And we just now found this out!
A DM and a set designer created a DnD adventure in a dresser! Each drawer is new level of the dungeon!
We’ve all been doing a lot of virtual exploration of place, and the British Museum recently revamped their online collections.
Speaking of, need some peace in your life? Check out the livestream of the Northern Lights!
Because there is such a need for blood right now, the FDA has reluctantly allowed itself to accept blood from gay men, as long as we don’t have sex for three months. They still don’t want our blood, but they realize they need it.
The Atlantic has a great piece about pandemic fatigue, how we should approach it both in ourselves and others. The article also covers the similarities between COVID and the HIV pandemic: they’re very, very similar, just on a different time scale. Be kind to yourself and others, be as smart and safe as you can.
Also in Pandemic related content, CGP Grey’s new video about it. While I will disagree, I think that for many, just surviving is enough (instead of creation of coming out ‘better’ in some way), this video has great tips about how to survive our new reality:
Dumb Runner, The Onion of running, hits it on the head: Local runner cancels backyard marathon, refuses to offer refund.
New research shows that Antarctica used to be a rain forest. Global tectonics and climate history really are awesome!
The voice of Big Thunder Mountain looks exactly how you think he does. And that is comforting.
The trailer for the new Netflix show ‘Hollywood” looks really fun:
Myst is set to become a TV Series….for the third (?) time. I’m excited, but will believe it when I see it.
Slog has great coverage of the white privilege of protesting stay at home orders. Worth a read.
An artist created a chandelier that forms as it collects rain water, and it’s beautiful!
That’s it for today, but I’ll be back soon, have a great one!
Currently, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is hosting the Festival of F1rsts, and I’ve been lucky enough to catch four premiers!
First up, was “Manifold” a live concert and projection onto the side of the Benedum. It was live after the performance of “The Show That Goes Wrong” and was pretty neat, although sadly, I didn’t realize it was a live orchestra until after.
Just a few steps away, we stopped by to see “Beyond” which I really loved. You step into this corridor and the screen at the end, as well as the sound, lights and fog surrounding you give you a ten minute show!
Next, I saw Cirque Eloize’s “Hotel.” I’ve never seen a circus show before, and if Beyond din’t make me miss my Burner friends, this certainly did!
And finally, I was able to see Quantum Theatre’s “Chatterton.” Much like their production of “TAMARA,” you move about the space and don’t see the whole show, following different characters as they interact with each other. “Chatterton” took place in three time periods, and was a wonderful mystery to piece together, it’s still playing, so if you get a chance to go see this world premier, do it!
As a bonus, not specifically part of the Festival of Firsts, but after The Great Race Expo, I stopped by Rethink Perception, a small, temporary art gallery filled with works from the US Veterans’ Artists Alliance.
To see all the photos and short videos from my Festival experience, you can find the gallery here.
Shocker, people are idiots.
It’s decorative gourd season! Check out this video years in the making:
Kids can become certified ninjas in Japan! Well, close enough, at least!
A photographer added Pennywise into the engagement photos she did for her sister.
An awesome local protest piece of art here in town.
I”m so excited for Black Panther, check out the new trailer:
What happens with Chris Griffin and Pinky read Star Wars dialogue? Tons of laughter.
Disney brought real sloths to the DMV to recreate Zootopia. I’m so jealous!
Wizards of the Coast has pulled together some statistics about the most common race and class combinations, it’s pretty interesting.
Mika’s new song has dropped, and it’s catchy:
Another mystery solved: the scrolling text from The Matrix was a sushi recipe.
As always, XKCD makes a great point.
The trailer for season 3 of Eastsiders looks great (and even includes a stop in Pittsburgh)! But sadly, Colby Keller is in it, so I may not watch it because of that (although I think this was filmed before he was doubling down on his white privilege):
That’s it for today, have a great one!
Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up, the trailer for Disney’s Maleficient:
I really can’t prepare you for this, but 12 awful sex tips from Cosmo…presented by Gollum.
All the weird stuff that Blockbuster is putting up for sale on Craigslist.
And also, the new Muppets trailer:
Sadly, I don’t fit the age categories, but if you do, you can audition for Star Wars Episode VII
As it turns out, dinosaurs might have been bigger than we thought. Scary!
Who knew that dollar bills could be such works of art. Check them out here
In breaking news, women make less than men. And it’s awkward when it comes out in politics.
Personally, as a matter of style, I don’t use the Oxford comma, but I’m always of the camp that whichever style you choose, you be consistent with it. And XKCD covered it here.
That’s it for now, but I’ll be back with more soon, Happy Thanksgiving!
And we’re back. Here’s what we have today. First up, my new favorite song from Glee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8IqcLVDr2o
The Governor of Michigan admits that the war on unions doesn’t benefit the workers. Imagine that.
Really cool Walking Dead art installation, the fingers got cut off as the days counted down:
“Wait, I can do something. There’s injustice involving cake!” More reasons to love Charm City Cakes.
Say goodbye to the iron, and hello to the cat. This is why I only play Stars Wars Monopoly.
Speaking of Star Wars: Death Star lollipops:
It is sadly, now strange enough to print a newspaper, that it can be a reality show.
Awesome church sign of the day:
That’s it for today, have a great one!
Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up:
It may be almost 70 degrees (and I’m in shorts in January), this is awesome:
The White House has denied the request to construct a Death Star. But go read the response, someone is a great writer, and a huge nerd, it’s awesome!
A magical 3-in-1 connector from CES, seems strange it took this long to come up with this, but it should make Apple users very happy.
The Dark Knight Trilogy, condensed to three minutes. Spoilers, obviously:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-af-Pru2USc
Violence erupts over the AP/Chicago manual wars. Via The Onion, of course.
For all the Myst geeks out there, this totally reminded me of the entrance to Channelwood:
The Good Men Project takes on bathroom graffiti. The image is worth clicking through.
What is less popular than root canals, used car salesmen and even Nickleback? Congress.
I’ve been listening to this almost non-stop, I think the beginning of it is kind of bland, but halfway though it picks up:
Saving sound in a bottle, pretty cool idea.
Also via The Onion, so true, or at least, close to the truth:
Monks will now accept prayer requests via text, pretty cool!
JoHo has a good post up about the suicide of Aaron Schwartz, one of the founders of Reddit, and one of the creators of RSS.
While there were of course a wide range of things that made me change jobs, this certainly was up there among the top of the list.
Music recreated from The Hobbit, Part 1:
That’s it for now, have a great one!
Alright, let’s see what we have for today, first up, a new version of Sim City:
The Great Barrier Reef is losing massive amounts of coral, partly because of climate change, but also because of the increase of a certain type of starfish, much like the reefs in the Caribbean are being ravaged by the invasive lionfish.
Tim Cook paid tribute to Steve Jobs, one year after his death.
Someone is going to try to go over the Irish Sea in this, believe it or not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh8MiSmk-
If you’re a man, and your candidate loses, you may experience a drop in testosterone. Which may lead you to not again in the future, very strange.
This is really cool, removing some of the growth rings to show younger versions of (dead) trees:
Big Bird was on SNL last week! I can’t believe I missed that!
Okay, two fire videos, first up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2anNPtfVc
And secondly, a slow motion Molotov Cocktail:
And lastly, a full plane was crashed to learn how to better survive it, Nightline covers it.
Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up, this is clever:
The woman who ruined a priceless fresco of Jesus, has a lawyer and wants money now that her creation is on display.
Want a sneak peak of the sequel to Angry Birds, Bad Piggies? Click here for the details.
I’m really excited for this movie, and love the poster:
The Good Men Project has a great, heartwarming story about a bus driver, go read it and restore some of your faith in humanity!
I can’t embed it, but check out this cool video of an art project involving swings!
Need some recopies for beer milkshakes? Man Made DIY has you covered.
So, Senate Republicans rejected a bill that would provide jobs for Veterans. I don’t understand how anyone could be so awful.
That’s it for now, but I’ll be back with more soon, have a great one!
Let’s see what we have today, first up, it finally made it to an orchestra:
North Carolina Representative goes on a white supremist radio show. There are just now words. How awful.
The Voyageur Probe has been out in space for 35 years, amazing!
This has been floating around:
But also, the awesome followup:
“Our Care and Social Media teams are fully engaged to make sure he’s well tended to. On behalf of the many Trekkers and Sir Patrick Stewart fans across our company, I can assure you, we will make it so.”
Well this is just awkward and scary.
The Warhol foundation is set to auction of over 20,000 pieces. They are expecting to bring in over $100 million.
So this is a real thing, gross:
Soon to be parents, take note of thisl
At the DNC, they had induction phone charging stations, although it also looks like they had a variety of cables as well:
And lastly, so this happened, although thankfully it missed us, although it did affect some things, due to the magnetic field:
That’s it for now, have a great one!
