Bored Panda

Today I would like to share a website I found called Bored Panda-the Only Magazine for Pandas. It is a treasure chest of random visual oddities, I think that's how it can be best described. I'll share just a few images along with links to the articles that go with each image. I found this site through StumbleUpon.com of course. I'll share five interesting things I found at this site and I'll leave the rest of the exploring up to you.

1) Here are some images from an article called "Top 33 World's Strangest Buildings"

The Kansas City Library, Missouri.
Apparently they carry books with large print.




Rotating Tower, Dubai.
It would be great to live in an apartment where you can say, "Honey, the sun is glaring on the TV, could you turn the room about 90º?"



The Basket Building, Ohio
I'm assuming it's a mental institution.

2) "One Sheet of Paper"-Here are some works of art made from one sheet of paper (just in case you couldn't figure that out from the title of the article).

Impenetrable Castle
I don't know about that, last time I checked, scissors beat paper.


Look at that detail!



White Hand.
Oh no, that skeletal hand is attacking a turkey!

Down the River.



"Do you hear that sound? Why is the current getting faster?"




Holding onto Myself.
Nice title.

3) When God Runs Out of Paint: 26 Albino Animals

"I am not a lab rat!"



"Corn always makes me sneeze."

"Wanna see my impression of a water sprinkler?"

4) Top 40+ Creative Ads Made to Stop You Smoking

Sorry, no funny comments for these ones. There really isn't anything funny to say about these. (Click the one above to see it larger if you can't read the label.)

5) 25 Incredible Photos Made without Photoshop

Are you sure that water is clean?



We have lift off.



She's an awfully mean big sister.

Hope you enjoyed these images, head on over to Bored Panda to see more!

Rest in PEZ

The other day I heard some sad news. Curtis Allina, inventor of the PEZ dispenser died at the age of 87 on December 15, 2009. PEZ has always been one of my favorite candies. It's not only a big part of American pop culture, but a part of pop culture the world over.

Here are some fun facts about PEZ.

1) People who enjoy collecting PEZ dispensers can attend an annual PEZ convention in Ohio, Missouri, California, Minnesota, Connecticut, South Carolina, Austria, Finland, and Sweden.

2) In 2006, a PEZ dispenser in the form of a clear 50's space gun sold for $11,000 on eBay.

3) PEZ candy comes in the following flavors: Apple, Cherry, Chocolate, Coffee, Cola, Grape, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Peppermint, Raspberry, Sour Watermelon, Sour Green Apple, Sour Blue Raspberry, Sour Pineapple, Strawberry, Sugarfree Orange, Sugarfree Lemon, Sugarfree Strawberry, and Yogurt.

4) There is a documentary called PEZheads: the movie. Here's the trailer:



5) A Tweety Bird PEZ made a special guest appearance on Seinfeld:




Here are a few pictures of some PEZ dispenser collections:











You can even put your own head on a PEZ dispenser:

(Click the pic to enlarge)

Since PEZ has become such a huge part of pop culture, I think a statue should be erected in memory of the man who invented the PEZ dispenser, Curtis Allina. So I took the liberty of making some concept art for a statue:

Rest in PEZ, Mr. Allina.

Jumping

Just wanted to share a short animated film that I remember from my childhood. I remember watching it at the day care I attended as a child. It's called "Jumping" by Osamu Tezuka, and it won the grand prize in 1984 at the World Festival of Animated Films in Zagreb, Croatia.



After watching this again after so many years it definitely takes on a whole new meaning for me. It's funny how we view things when we're children and then take another look at them when we are older. Now that I think of it, I can't believe they showed this at the day care I attended.

Calls From Chris: Part Three

I thought I would start off the New Year with another installment of "Calls From Chris". Click here for part one, and here for part two if you haven't heard the previous ones, or if you want to go back and listen to them again. I feel I should make a disclaimer before I post this. Something I haven't mentioned before is that I am not posting these to make fun of Chris in anyway. Chris is the kind of person that can brighten your day just by being around him, and I just want to share that with everyone. So enjoy "Calls From Chris: Part Three"!

Top Ten Favorite Posts of the Year

As 2009 comes to a close I would like to take this time to list my personal top ten favorite posts I have written this year. Here they are (with links to them) in no particular order:

#1) And They Lived Happily Ever...?: This post is from when I used to have themes for each day of the week. Thursdays were titled "Deep Thought Thursdays"

#2) I Am 7-Iron Man: Another one from my theme days, "Story Time Tuesdays"

#3) Jesus Junk: This is a two-part series I did within another series called "Christian Culture Edition" on "Freakin' Funny Fridays" Click here for part 2.

#4) Caught in a Webb: This is an "Artsy Fartsy Wednesday" post about Derek Webb along with a couple music videos and audio clips from Derek Webb speaking.

#5) I'm Not Bad, I'm Just Designed that Way: A "Freakin' Funny Friday post about poor design, poorly placed design, my discovery of Photoshop Disasters, and some fun me and my friends had with Photoshop.

#6) Reduce, Reuse, Re-Create: An "Artsy Fartsy Wednesday" post about recycling as art.

#7) Big Old Box of Crap: A "Freakin' Funny Friday" post about weird, useless, and products that just should not exist.

#8) Jared Didn't want a Snickers Coupon: A series of random events that happened at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

#9) Culture Clash: I share some thoughts on a story that I read on Stacy From Louisville's blog.

#10) Justice Has Been Served! So Why Don't I Feel Good?: A post about how we sometimes try to look down on others when we should be spending time building each other up.

I hope to have more in 2010, see you then! Hey, that rhymes! I'm a poet and I didn't even think that I was one!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Video Countdown Part Seven

Ok, I'm gonna wrap up this Christmas video countdown today. I'll do #24 and #25 since I shouldn't be wasting my time on the internet on Christmas day. I'll be wasting time with my family instead...I mean spending quality time with my family. Before we get started I just want to talk about the whole "Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays" controversy. A bunch of other blogs I read have mentioned it as well and I agree with what they say. I don't think it matters what your holiday greetings happens to be, what matters is where your heart is and what your motivation is when you say it. If you say "Happy Holidays" because you are being friendly, that's fine. If you say "Happy Holidays" out of spite, that's not fine. Same thing goes with "Merry Christmas". If you say it, fine. But if you say it after someone has told you "Happy Holidays" and you reply with an arrogant "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" that's not fine. So here's a video that I found amusing that kind of deals with what I just talked about.

#24) Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas:



I don't think the problem lies with certain religions, systems of belief, lifestyles, etc. I think the problem happens when people of certain religions, and systems of belief try to force others into doing things their way. Plus there are always going to be people who just want to argue about things and they'll always find a way. This time of year seems to be the time those people tend to get loud and voice their opinion openly. Look, if you celebrate Hanukkah, then celebrate Hanukkah. If you celebrate Kwanzaa, then celebrate Kwanzaa. If you celebrate Christmas, then celebrate Christmas. If you don't celebrate anything, then don't celebrate anything you party-pooper...just kidding.

I accept however people want to greet me. If someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, great! If someone tells me Happy Hanukkah, right on! If another person tells me "Have a kickin' Kwanzaa", awesome! If you have found something that you believe in and you want to share it, go for it. That's why I'll continue to say Merry Christmas because I believe in Jesus Christ and what he taught us and what he came to do for us. I want to share that, but I'm not going to force it on anybody. If someone has a problem with me saying it, then that's their problem, not mine. If I tell someone Merry Christmas and they reply with any other kind of friendly greeting besides Merry Christmas I will be thankful for that. I feel like I'm repeating myself. But anyway, to wrap this up, there is a little boy named Linus who sums up what Christmas is all about. Remember you don't have to watch it and you don't have to agree with it. I'm just saying this is what I'm about, this is what I agree with.

#25) Linus and the true meaning of Chirstmas:



That's what Christmas is about. It's about the birth of Jesus Christ. I think the best way to celebrate Christ and celebrate Christmas is to spend quality time with friends and family. To love and help the needy. It's not so much about the gifts, even though it's nice to give and receive. It's definitely should not be about stressing out, because if you do, you're missing the point. Sometimes this time of year can be depressing for some people and that's understandable. We need to reach out to those people. We need to be a light to the world. Some of our lights have dimmed, I know mine has at times. But let's do our best to make our light shine. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Christmas, Merry Holidays, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever you prefer.

BONUS!) I found this clip while searching for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and I had to share it:

Christmas Video Countdown Part Six

Is there anything you don't like about Chirstmas? I'm sure we could all name a few things we don't particularly care for. Today I found some videos of people/animals that don't like certain things at Christmas time.

#19) Here's a dog wearing a jersey that doesn't like snowmen:



#20) Some kids think it's terrible when Santa eats their cookies:



#21) This kid's grandmother was a good sport for helping him make an instructional video on how and how not to react to getting a bad Christmas gift. I thought it was funny:



#22) One of my personal pet peeves are those tacky over-priced battery operated animatronic Christmas decorations:



I've always wanted to do that too!

#23) And speaking of tacky over-priced battery operated animatronics, the Grinch doesn't like Elmo:

Christmas Video Countdown Part "FIVE GOLDEN RINGS!"

Don't worry, I'm not going to have a video of the 12 days of Christmas. That song is so annoying. I'm going to do something worse...here are some songs that parody the 12 days of Christmas.

#16) The 12 Days of Christmas, Indian style:





#17) The 12 Days of Christmas, Canadian style, (maybe it should be the 12 days of Christmoose) brought to you by Bob and Doug Mckenzie from the 1983 movie "Strange Brew" starring Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, no not the Wendy's guy. After the song is a preview for an animated series which may be a little inappropriate for the little ones:





#18) The 12 Days of Christmas Norah Jones and Jimmy Kimmel style in a tribute to YouTube? Didn't see that one coming did you? Me neither:




By the way, Christmas is only a week away. Good thing too, it's hard to find videos for this countdown.

Christmas Video Countdown Part Four

It's time for some more videos!

#12) One of my favorite Chrismas specials was Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas by Jim Henson. Here are some bloopers from that special, it's a long video, but it's funny, especially if you are a fan of this one:




#13) A couple of inconsistencies with Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer:




#14) Kids love Santa...at least they do from a distance. Up close, not so good. I love the picture shown 46 seconds into this video:




#15) And here's robot Santa helping out with the Salvation Army:

Christmas Video Countdown Part Three

Okay, I'm back with a few more videos. One of my favorite Christmas specials they played on TV when I was little was the Garfield Christmas Special. I don't know it they still play it, but I found it in three parts on YouTube, enjoy:

#9) Garfield Christmas Special part 1:



#10) Garfield Christmas Special part 2:

My favorite part is when they light the tree and everyone goes "Ooooooohhhhh!" Their mouths look funny. Even if you don't watch the whole thing, atleast watch 2:32-2:44

#11) Garfield Christmas Special part 3: