Doodle4Google

These are pretty awesome, although there is an excess of "What if we saved the environment/achieved world peace" doodles. Not to mention -- two doodles made from hands (see grades 4-6, region 2, and grades 10-12, region 7)???

The ones I like best are the ones that, like real Google Doodles, replace the letters with other objects (check out grades 10-12, region 2 and 3, and grades 7-9, region 1, 5, and 6). I also quite like the one from grades 4-6, region 10.

I think the winner of this competition is going to have their doodle up on Google tomorrow. Not a bad deal.

At last!

I consume a lot of online media every day. I'm subscribed to 120 feeds in my Google Reader, and I share a tiny percentage of that with you on this blog. It's obscene, really, the number of things I could take time to read every day. (I don't; they build up, and when I have a home sick day I spend a lot of time weeding through them again. It's sort of like the way I deal with physical excess -- I pile up clothes all over my room until some day I have time to put them away. Judge away.) Anyway, all this is to say that there's some stuff I love but don't blog about since it takes time to open up another window, arrange the links, etc. Thankfully, Google has finally introduced a new sharing feature in Reader where, when you share an item that you've read, you can write a comment. Can you believe it took them this long? (I should insert here that my opinion is not the opinion of my company, obviously.) I can't. But I'm absolutely thrilled. And I should take this moment to point out that if you want to read my shared items, and you aren't one of my "friends" in Google Reader or don't use Reader at all, you can go here. Go forth and consume the Internet.

Jezebelles

It continues to be weird to see pictures of people you read about on the Internet all the time. (Like seeing Ira Glass on video.)

Food Porn

So maybe it's because I signed up for a 12-week nutritionist program thing at work (because, well, why not?), but I've got food diaries on the brain. I hate to say it because I think it's only cute when tiny little girls say it, but I do really love food. It's just so delicious! (Dumb statement of the day.) It's no wonder, then, that I'm fascinated with blogs of food -- all my recipe blogs, and then these two I discovered the other day. One my friend Sara pointed out to me, and it's the blog of this girl who pretty-near obsessively chronicles her entire diet, including repeats like tofurkey sandwiches and oatmeal. I think the appeal of this one is in the control factor, which thanks to reality and Courtney Martin, I know is part of every woman's thing with food. Or at least it's part of mine. Then, the other blog I discovered through kottke, like everyone else on the Internet, and it's just these two architect women in New York who photograph all their lunches out... and, perhaps more bizarrely, all their incredible delectable afternoon snacks. They are seriously all these divine looking pastries, and I think I read this blog mostly just wondering how the women writing it aren't 600 pounds (which they could be) and diabetic. Still, that kind of wonder-at-delicious-looking food is a sort of fun feeling, even though I doubt that it's entirely healthy for me.

I used to also read Simply Breakfast, which is a photographer who documents all her breakfasts. I did once get a great idea for a breakfast from it, so that is pretty sweet. (Oh man, now having sudden craving for my avocado cheese toast, which I should more accurately call Simply Breakfast's avocado cheese toast.)

Now I think about it I think I am drawn to these sites for the same reason I am drawn to 3191 and Postcards From Yo Momma -- they are like little archaeological records of someone else's life, and I am left to put together the pieces and build up an imaginary person behind the food photos. And the sites also give this impression of order and stillness, the way I imagine my life could be if I were a superwoman.

The Internet is weird, I realize, but I love it.

Spam is Poetry

Yet another idea I had for the Internet and didn't act on, Spam is Poetry is all about how spam is... well, you know, sort of poetic sometimes. Proof that I've talked about this before:

me: i am clearing out spam email

got some weird ones

titled

phoenicia

proserpine

3:08 PM some spam comes in series, almost like found poetry

John: ha

me: school god comet compass navy

3:09 PM John: WOW

me: shop air spoon aircraft carrier hammer

John: these are incredible.

The other day I got some awesome spam. It is obviously all sex spam, whatever it's trying to sell me (I clearly don't click on the links). But it's reminiscent of those surveys that you had to take in high school to assess whether you had like a healthy sex attitude/life -- that, or it's like a purity test. Either way, here is a small selection of the more than THREE PAGES' worth of this spam that I transcribed today:


I wanted to dominate the other person.
I wanted to give someone a sexually transmitted disease.
It was an Initiation rite to a club or organization.
The person was mysterious.
It became a habit.
I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.
I wanted to see what it would be like to have see while stoned (e.g. oon marijuana or some other drug).
I wanted to punish myself.
I wanted to gain access to that person's friend.
An erotic movie had turned me on.
I got "carried away".
Because of a bet.
I wanted to increase the number of sex partners I had experienced.
It was easier to "go all the way" than to stop.
It seemed like good exercise.
I was tired of being a virgin.
I wanted to express my love for the person.
I desired emotional closeness (i.e. intimacy).
I wanted to have more sex than my friends.
I wanted to become more focused on work -- sexual thoughts are distracting.
I wanted to reaffirm my sexual orientation.
I wanted to feel closer to God.
I was slumming.
I was married and you're supposed to.
I wanted to keep warm.
I wanted to change the topic of conversation.
I wanted to relieve me menstrual cramps.
I wanted to be used or degraded.
It was a romantic setup.
The person was famous and I wanted to be able to say I had sex with him/her.
Someone dared me.
I wanted to impress friends.
The person had alot of money.

All typos, by the way, are exactly verbatim. Spam is weird!

Peep Show!

It's already all over the Internet but, as expected, the Washington Post "Peep Show" contest yielded some pretty awesome Peep dioramas. You can see the whole slideshow here. My favorites are 2, 8, 19, and 36, although quite a lot of them are ingenious and it's quite shocking how much you can make a Peep look like a famous person (see Christian Siriano in #34, Randy Jackson in #32).

Internet Love-Hate

In related news, I so love and hate the Internet. Comments on YouTube suck, but comments on so many blogs are really insightful and well-put. I refer to the comments on the Jezebel article I just linked to. I particularly liked this one, this one, and this one so far (the third I feel like Dad will appreciate).