All projects: Gel, Jobs, Good Todo, Games, Uncle Mark, Blog, Bit Literacy
Fun Stuff 2008
(Also see past annual roundups: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.)
Finally, remember that Good Experience Games has a lot more to explore, which I don't include on this list.
- - -
2008 Fun Stuff Winner: Beatles-tribute band singing Led Zeppelin's "Stairway"
Nine Runners-up:
• Cakes that never should have been made: first this, then this
• All-time classic: Weird Al's "White & Nerdy"
• Great short animation about procrastination
• A breakup that sugar water companies could learn from
• SpongeBob actors overdub classics
• Dads and kids swap places in photos...and here are grandparents and babies
• For married people only: "Oooh, I wanna make weekend plans..."
• Fun rap video from way back in '94, Lucas with the Lid On
• Here Comes Another Bubble, nicely done parody video
- - -
All other Fun Stuff entries in 2008 (posted throughout the year in the email newsletter):
Baby's evil eye:
http://www.break.com/index/baby-gives-the-evil-eye.html
Studio photos from the '70s and '80s:
http://listoftheday.blogspot.com/2007/09/great-olan-mills-photos.html
Paper airplane flies above Manhattan (tx, boingboing.net):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZmUaFBCoa0
Tony-b, a fun virtual DJ machine:
http://www.tony-b.org/
Backwards singing a well-known tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbkNxYaULBw
Fun calendar with headshots:
http://www.humancalendar.com/
A good thought for the day - why Kevin Kelly is optimistic:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010288.php
This is one crazy bike trail:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1797566
Map of "last places" on earth:
http://tinyurl.com/2d642n
This is off-the-charts geeky: balrog math. I'm impressed.
http://tinyurl.com/23sx8a
Impressive badminton point:
http://metacafe.com/watch/472036/amazing_badminton_rally_at_aeo_07
Video games seen in Hollywood movies:
http://www.mameworld.net/movies/index.html
Gel speaker Charlie Todd and his Improv Everywhere agents recently
went to Grand Central Terminal and stood still for five minutes.
http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/
Neat form to help pick your presidential candidate:
http://www.dehp.net/candidate/index.php
Truth in fast-food advertising:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010311.php
Several Oscar-winning animated shorts, viewable online:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010330.php
Fun color illusions:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/02/08/color-tile-optical-i.html
For the next bad joke in the office... (tx, kottke.org)
http://www.instantrimshot.com/
Bullfrog ballet (thanks, boingboing.net):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKcztOR6UYM
Steve Martin in Smithsonian Magazine:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html
An alternate opening to Star Wars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z25t-PQDn5A
Whale spill (warning, graphic photos):
http://www.truckspills.com/whale_spill.html
(Part of the larger truckspills website, tx to boingboing.net)
http://www.truckspills.com
Trains of Western Australia. The Web is now complete:
http://www.webace.com.au/~chook/trains/pn2.html
Fun film re-enactments:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/03/among-brandon-hardestys-many-f.php
Charlie Todd's latest prank - a musical in a food court:
http://improveverywhere.com/2008/03/09/food-court-musical/
Balloon panzer (click links up top to see what happened next):
http://ingesidee.de/resourceviewer.php?pgid=63&subpage=1〈=en
English pronunciation foibles:
http://kottke.org/08/03/four-words-that-prove-how-difficult-the
(BTW, do you know how to pronounce "ghoti"?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti
Strange houses around the world (tx, manhattanusersguide.org):
http://www.2spare.com/item_72903.aspx?pagcomm=1
Interesting visual design in this music video by Mika:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be6jlCuMvVQ
Spooky robot dog (tx, informationnation):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww
Spooky food sculptures:
http://www.wackyarchives.com/offbeat/creative-food-sculptures.html
Mechanical Belgian tiger:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QMaS4pB9rw
Quiz: can you name the elements?
http://www.sporcle.com/games/elements.php
These neat virtual toys...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H5g9VS0ENM
...were made with a tool called Phun:
http://www.phunland.com
Clever alphabet popup book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZr0wiG1Hg
Someone's watching your cursor:
http://cubo.cc/
Charlie Todd rocks a Little League game:
http://improveverywhere.com/2008/04/07/best-game-ever/
Bembo's Zoo is made from the alphabet (tx, CK):
http://www.bemboszoo.com/Bembo.swf
Fun comics-creation tool:
http://makebeliefscomix.com
Charlie Rose interviews himself (tx, waxy.org):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFE2CCfAP1o
Side-by-side pictures of people years ago, and today:
http://colorwar2008.com/submissions/youngnow
Rube Golberg-ish commercial for a printing company:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TsOk-32Q8
A hike not for those with fear of heights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNSVcmBnt-o
Creative solutions to logistical problems:
http://tinyurl.com/62cake
A collection of bizarre collections:
http://tinyurl.com/6oq9wv
Moebius strip (and others) made from Legos:
http://www.maa.org/features/lego.html
A self-explanatory, one-use website:
http://www.sadtrombone.com
A better Youtube interface:
http://www.dipity.com/mashups/timetube
Low/hi-tech todo list - chalkboard on a laptop (tx, boingboing.net):
http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2008/05/blackboardpro.html
Oldie but goodie - "George Lucas in Love":
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5058529870025933880
Recap of Charlie Todd's Camera Flash Experiment:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/05/the-latest-improvever.php
Editing "Garfield" comic strips yields interesting results:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/06/viewing-garfield-with.php
Recaptioning a familiar interface:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/05/todd-moys-photo-shows.php
The "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks:
http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/
Read more fiction and poetry at work... in PowerPoint:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/06/read-poetry-and-short.php
Video of the world's first IT specialist (tx, alan):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=S8scuDaPM7A
Photo montage to "We Didn't Start the Fire" (tx, ep):
http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html
The Simpsons as Star Wars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6zuS_h2SYU
The strangest McDonald's imagery I've ever seen:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hOMMQmYwd4I
Bacon floss, mmmmmm:
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/06/17/archie-mcphees-bacon.html
Geeky fun. Go here and click on "click here":
http://www.bunnyhero.org/2008/05/10/scaring-people-with-fullscreen/
(Note - you can click "Esc" whenever you're ready :)
Charlie Todd launches urbanprankster.com:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/06/charlie-todds-urban-p.php
Spicy language (about language) from the late, great George Carlin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY
If you missed 'em, several years of Internet memes:
http://www.dipity.com/user/tatercakes/timeline/Internet_Memes
A clever take on a familiar stereo control:
http://www.vimeo.com/1105462
Music, hand-drawn cover art, and stories behind 80s-era mix tapes:
http://www.cassettefrommyex.com/
A drastic street sign:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/07/drastic-street-sign.php
The common thread of reality TV - what everyone doesn't do:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w536Alnon24
Christoph Niemann's funny and moving tribute to the New York subway
system, as seen through his sons' eyes. A must-read.
http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/the-boys-and-the-subway/
Geeky fun - the URL says it all:
http://tinyurl.com/googleasciiart
Clever traffic-calming scheme:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/30/fake-speed-bumps-pai.html
Neat business card designs (thanks, scott):
http://tinyurl.com/3me3vr
Using rice for pixels makes cool art:
http://coolthingsinrandomplaces.com/rice-field-art/
That's one big sign saying "oops" (thanks, gary):
http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2008/07/then-well-grab.html
Hamster and a LEGO elevator (tx, boingboing.net):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeBKHj_WaEY
Instant anagram:
http://www.sternestmeanings.com
Instant rhymes:
http://www.writerhymes.com
Matt Harding's dancing video has made the rounds, but if you missed
it, watch it. A must-see:
http://www.vimeo.com/1211060
Interestingly aged sign:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/07/i-love-how-this-sign.php
Resources for visitors to NYC:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/07/for-visitors-to-nyc-s.php
When skeet shooting clay pigeons is too boring...
http://www.Break.com/index/target_practice.html
Compiling found notes - the snippier, the better:
http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/
Not "fun", but worth learning about. Coney Island now offers a
"Waterboarding Thrill Ride":
http://goodexperience.com/2008/08/its-the-perfect-coney.php
Feel-good drawings of a new father, set to music:
http://www.vimeo.com/1428169
The travails of an artist working for a tiny (young) art director:
http://tinyartdirector.blogspot.com/
Animated short of a Lennon interview (tx, waxy.org):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR0V6s3NKk
Two videos by Rhett & Link worth watching:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/08/singing-the-lives-of.php
Redesigning the taco for the 21st century consumer:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/chris/videos/47/
Cute cute overload for Katamari Damacy fans:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/19/katamari-damacy-king.html
Persistent dog trying to go up a kiddie slide:
http://www.break.com/index/dog-determined-to-get-up-slide.html
Guinea pigs and a cucumber:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3BcAkfxu4E
Strange fences (tx, boingboing.net):
http://tinyurl.com/6koqzx
Building a seven-foot-tall robot out of styrofoam:
http://kk.org/kk/2008/08/the-styrobot.php
Taking a breath of reverse-helium:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/09/adam-savage-inhales.html
The Internet Overdose Song by Rhett & Link, presenters at Gel '08.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyPDHh4d1Xo
Downhill skateboarding, in traffic, at shockingly high speed (don't
try this at home!):
http://vimeo.com/1654340
The sticky-note experiment:
http://vimeo.com/1700732
Beautiful (if not always informative) visualizations of data:
http://tinyurl.com/6lxhc9
Seussian landscape off the African coast (thanks, MUG):
http://tinyurl.com/55tofg
Dominoes made of dominoes:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831335
Hair-as-face:
http://tinyurl.com/4cnqt3
Broken - ready.gov sign:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/09/broken-readygov-sign.php
A fried-good fried-food fried-experience:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/09/a-friedgood-friedfood.php
Very clever - remixing the VP debate with a beat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxGKlrS9SxE
Gadgets of meat:
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/10/02/electronics-of-the-m.html
The hairdos alone are worth a record deal:
http://lpcoverlover.com/2008/09/07/hairdoos-and-donts/
Fun with bar codes (thanks, Evan):
http://tinyurl.com/3uwh3k
Small but attractive collection of ray guns:
http://informationnation.blogspot.com/2008/10/fear-moon-no-longer.html
Cool LEGO designs:
http://www.portfolio.com/slideshows/2008/08/Lego-Artist
Painting Mona Lisa extremely quickly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKK933KK6Gg
Errol Morris's video interviews (like the old Apple "switch" ads):
http://www.peopleinthemiddleforobama.org/
Wassup, eight years later:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE
Ron Howard returns to Mayberry, and "Happy Days," for Obama:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d
Old-school Nintendo game, redone in paper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W_oPVMrx5g
Anyone for a fruit smoothie?
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/11/12/truck-laden-with-fru.html
Amusing & spicy parody of the photo-a-day collage movie:
http://www.oldeenglish.org/podcast/one-picture-every-day
Still dropping pianos, almost 20 years (?!) since I was there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhaVpicxL-s
Inspired silliness - squirrels dancing to Michael Jackson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A2moFdM1Yo
Cats showing phases of one's job, or something - ? I dunno. Weird.
http://yadogg.com/pictures/6-phases-of-work-explained-with-cat-pics
(tx, informationnation.blogspot.com)
Broken - stock photo in SF Marriott elevator:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/12/broken-stock-photo-in.php
Mario Kart in real life:
http://tinyurl.com/6qe3sa
'Tis the season for office parties. To get in the mood, here are
three office crews, all in San Francisco, acting up (videos
available on the page below). First, pirates from the company
Instructables attack the crew from Three Rings... then zombies from
Three Rings take revenge... and finally, the crew at Digg in San
Francisco get their groove on:
http://goodexperience.com/2008/12/three-office-movies.php
Online crowd sings "Jingle Bells" - by Rhett & Link, Gel08 speakers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d_wHSLZI1Q
Video of "Young Girl Talking About Herself" - via waxy.org:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN1ru6_u8lY
Bento box salutes Nintendo's Smash Brothers (great game, btw):
http://tinyurl.com/56dfl3
- - -
That's it for 2008... what, you're still reading? You still want more? MORE?! OK, try these:
• Past years of Fun Stuff: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.
• For yet more fun, try Good Experience Games.
