Blogs, Memes and Fails: Web sites you should be following

Those blogs. The ones you see linked, e-mailed to you, funny posts printed off around the office. These are those blogs that you will want to know about for the watercooler talk:


**UPDATE** The following blogs are user suggestions, sent in via Twitter and that old dinosaur, e-mail:


Oddee - http://oddee.com/
A blog on the oddest, bizarre things around. Think of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, but with less Dean Cain.

haha.nu - http://haha.nu/
It's kind of like a Lifehacker type-magazine, but, more blog-y. It's got some cool, unique content, well worth checking out. (Thanks, @namtrok, for these suggestions!)

RandomCreepyGuy - http://www.randomcreepyguy.com/
A blog dedicated to those terrible, creepy photobombers, the random creepy guy who winds up being the central focus of your photographed. (Thanks to the blog's founder for the suggestion)
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FAIL Blog - http://failblog.org/
One of the most recognizable blogs out there, this web site is full of failures and disappointments that will make you smile.

Probably Bad News - http://probablybadnews.com/
Whether it's a sloppy copy editor's mistake or trying to fill a newspaper with enough news to send off to the printers, the information industry makes mistakes. Big, big mistakes. If you bookmark this site, you can go to bed before Jay Leno does his "Headlines" skit. (And who doesn't want to go to bed at 10 p.m.?)

People of Wal-Mart - http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
Since this blog has started, there have been 'concerns' that people are dressing up intentionally like the most un-self-aware people around. If so, that makes this site even more sad, that people would do all their shopping dressed like they've never seen another human before.

My Parents Were Awesome - http://myparentswereawesome.tumblr.com/
It's funny now, but someday, we'll be laughing about what we wore in 2009.

Overheard in the Newsroom - http://overheardinthenewsroom.com/
More or less like the title says, this blog is a collection of quotes submitted anonymously from newsrooms across the nation.

Angry people in local newspapers - http://apiln.blogspot.com/
Posed photos never look natural. Why get upset over a puddle on the road? To make a photo more dynamic, of course. This blog collects the best of the worst of the staged news photos.

Picture is Unrelated - http://pictureisunrelated.com/
Not necessarily FAIL-worthy, but, random and unnerving.

Oddly Specific - http://oddlyspecific.com/
Sometimes, you need to be specific when posting a sign. However, there are times when you need to tone back your exact language. Else, you wind up on this blog.

Judge a Book by its Cover - http://judgeabook.blogspot.com/
Occasionally pushing the SWF limits.... This site mocks horrible book artwork. Oh, there is some truly bad stuff out there, particularly in fantasy and romance.

Awkward Family Photos - http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/
And you thought your Christmas card was bad.

Cake Wrecks - http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
Ever pick up a cake from the bakery and discover it's not quite what you wanted it to be? The worse, the better, for this blog-turned-book-turned-superblog.

texts from last night - http://textsfromlastnight.com/
Another kinda-not-SFW site... the title is brilliantly explanatory.

Others? Let me know in the comments, or @ reply to me on Twitter, @charlesjurries

Make use of your space

Web sites are being redrawn. For mobile applications, Blackberry and iPhone users can now enjoy content in a new type of web site that best utilizes the screen and design of their device. However, what does the desktop user get?

A web optimized for the smallest screen possible.

I realize the web isn't quite ready to go widescreen yet. It wasn't until this spring that I upgraded from my old CRT to a flat panel display, at 1440x900. While my desktop wallpaper looks amazing in widescreen, and I can watch HD shows that fill up my monitor nicely, the rest of the internet is not a particularly incredible experience. I can get used to viewing content on the left hand side of my monitor just fine. In fact, most times, I don't think twice about that.

That doesn't mean it should be fine.

If we can optimize the web experience for a tiny phone, web developers, how about the "regular" internet? I know technologies exist that'll add or subtract widgets based on the detected monitor resolution. Why isn't this become more commonplace? I have all this real estate available on my screen. Shoot, this text editor I'm using to write this blog post only covers about half the width of my screen.

This is my hope for the future of web: That web sites will become smart enough that they will have a fixed site size (for the smallest of small monitors, the ones that they cater to today), but then, based on browser and window size, widgets (added content) will be added (or subtracted). I have this nice widescreen monitor. I'd like the internet to be able to do something with it.

EDIT: Yes, I understand the irony, considering how small my blog's width is.

Video Mystery Shops

I was cruising through my local craigslist, seeing what was happening, when I came across an ad for a "Video Mystery Shopper." The job would have one entering a place of business with a tiny concealed camera and secretly videotaping an employee using customer service techniques. The employee's superiors would then use that videotape to show the employee how to improve their job performance.

While I'm sure this is hardly a new occurrence, it freaks me out a little. Who would go out of their way to conceal a camera on themselves to secretly record a conversation, knowing full well it will go towards a tedious review? No matter what employers have you sign when you get hired, that kind of practice just freaks me out a little. 

I'm sure later I'll look at this post and be like, "man, I just didn't get it then," but, for right now, that seems really tricky and devious. 

Why English is confusing, example #4,790

HEADLINE: "Obama seeks landslide victory; McCain says he's far left"

I know news organizations are scraping the bottom of the political barrel before election day as far as story ideas go. However, I doubt very much McCain would say that about himself. (Also, what candidate wouldn't seek a landslide victory?)

Lite posting

I'm getting ready for a camping trip and have a few other items to attend to, so blogging will be lite for the rest of the week. I'll be doing a post at some point about the new comic book-to-movie, The Watchmen. (Don't ask me what the movie is about, that's half my post.)

In the meantime, I've been taking some sports photography this summer. Check it out the team blog I post on, Russ' Softball.

The popularity of names

Have you ever wondered how popular a name has been throughout the past century or so? There is a web site out there that will show you a handy-dandy chart of any name you put into the program. The NameVoyager, from the Baby Name Wizard, tracks the popularity of names throughout the ages. If you put in my name, Charles, you'll see that decades ago it was very, very popular, but it has all but steadily declined since the 1930's. Go ahead and try your own name. See how popular it was, and is!

Mr. Clock Radio

Be thankful for what you have and what you do not have. And please be thankful you do not have this alarm clock:

(via BWE.tv)

Journalism blogs to read

Want to learn more about the changing face of journalism? Here are some blogs you should be reading:

Mastering Multimedia - Colin Mulvany, the multimedia editor at The Spokesman-Review, talks about trying to adapt a newsroom into the digital age.

Common Sense Journalism - Doug Fisher uses his print and broadcast career, along with his experiences as a current journalism teacher, to talk about how journalism is really just "common sense," and how journalist can use that to their full advantage.

The Online Producer - This blog is rarely updated (and that's an understatement), but the resources and views are priceless, especially to up-and-coming journalist.

Rosenblumtv - Training new journalist, training old journalist, issues in journalism, internet discoveries, there's rarely a topic that is not covered by Michael Rosenblum.

Depth Reporting - Mark Schaver shares vital web sites and points of view on how the new media-aware journalist can survive.

Sean Blanda - This guy is about the same age as me and looks like he will have a much more incredible career. If I didn't respect his thoughts about journalism and online, I might hate him.

Lost Remote - Want to hear how crappy journalism careers are? How print is dying? How online media needs to keep looking for the newest "it" thing to stay afloat? Then the tech-obsessed gurus at Lost Remote are for you.

Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog - Issues in journalism, plus, whatever he feels like talking about.

Charles Jurries - Not a blog at all. That link is there just in case you want to hire me.

Lack of transition = funny

This video should not be funny. Not in the slightest.
Yet, it is hilarious. And it is all because the anchor forgot to pause, making it sound like his co-anchor is not there because said co-anchor was murdered. Take a look:

(Via BWE.tv)

I saw a tornado on LIVE TV

I was in my room, enjoying a mid-afternoon snack after having mowed the lawn. Buzz came into the room - enjoying the last few days of sharing a room with me, I'm sure - and turned on the television in order to play GameCube. The television had last been on the FOX News Channel, you see. So he turned it on and my eyes instinctively went to see what was on. He had quickly hit the "Input" button to get to the gaming system. But in that brief second, I recognized something. Something amazingly incredible, rare and magnificent. THIS:
A TORNADO. On live television. Taken with one of those helicopter cameras that can zoom in for miles and miles.

Normally when you get to see a tornado video, it's edited. All the choppy parts are gone, only the highlights are left. And it's usually not more than a minute or two. This video was real, raw and long. We saw the tornado go back up into the cloud, then come back down and hit the ground. Over and over again. It was almost chilling to realize that you were seeing this big, black thing as it actually happened.

If you want to see the video of that broadcast, click below:

Part One


Part Two

You should be using...

Hulu.com - This joint FOX/NBC (and soon WB) venture has many shows and movies online for streaming - free! It has an amazingly clean and simple interface, making it very easy to find and select the television show or movie that you want to watch.

RedLasso - It's in beta testing right now, so you'll have to sign up. But this amazing site is like having a online DVR. It has feeds of most market's major networks - ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, et al - and some cable networks, too. They keep full hours online for up to a week to watch. But you can create a clip (to embed on your site/blog), and the clips will exist forever. So if you're watching the Food Network and see something that you just have to share with everyone? You can RedLasso it. If you need to see that episode of Supernanny? You can RedLasso it. Best. site. EVER.

LiveNewsCameras.com - If a television station is streaming an event on their national feed, you no longer need to work in a newsroom to be able to see it. You can see it online. There are even national radars, a live camera moderator who will point out breaking news that you can watch, and lots of network's standby is a skycam, which can be fascinating.

Embedded papers don't give you paper cuts

The internet is an amazing tool, isn't it? Use it for good and it is one of the most incredible inventions to have come out in the past couple decades. One of the next cool things is called Scribd. It allows you to upload text files, .PDF's, and a couple other file formats, too. Once uploaded, you can then embed your document into your blog or web site.

Take below for an example of how this can be useful. Say lots of people wanted to read a grammar-challenged 15-page paper on religion. Instead of copying-and-pasting and creating a really long blog post, I can upload the file to Scribd, and then people can read the file inside the embedded player, while keeping the post itself as short as possible. I don't see this being a YouTube or anything, but, I'll still use it in the future when I have large files I want to share with everyone on the internet.

AnthropologyMultiFormat - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: AnthropologyMultiFormat

Lessons from TV: Raising children

I don't often like to post videos to convey my message. However, I'm feeling the slightest bit lazy about my blog right now. So I'm launching an irregular feature, Lessons from TV. I watch an episode of a TV show - it may be the same show repeatedly - and I talk about the lesson I took away from it. Television is often a metaphorical garden of horrible morals and lessons. So what am I doing? I'm highlighting what I think are some of the good flowers that can be found amongst the weeds.

Below is an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (my new favorite show) that deals with Mary's neighbor, Phyllis, and the ramifications of raising a child according to books. It's kind of funny, and in an abstract way, a kind of nice warning against using childrearing books as a tool, not a guide. And that's this week's Lessons from TV!



Also learned: Shopping cures years of bad parenting in a single afternoon. Who knew?!

I'm not opposed to social networking, but...

LinkedIn is kind of cold and confusing. You have to make "connections" (like making "friends" on Facebook), and then the idea is that you make more connections with strangers, like you make "friends" with your friend's "mutual friends." Except this isn't so you can spy on their wall-to-wall, this is so you have another "connection," making you look more powerful and important, ergo, more employable. To me, it's like going up to a stranger at a party and saying "can you be a reference for my resume?" I don't KNOW these people. But no, this is kind of the idea behind LinkedIn. Is that you become "linked in" with all kinds of different networks.

And the interface! It's not "Facebook for professionals," it's more like "MySpace for professionals." It's not clean, it's not intuitive. But it is becoming extremely popular with businesses and human resource directors. So why not just forget about the site? With me thinking about dabbing into more New Media studies, I should have and maintain a LinkedIn account. It's a possible investment into a career. (And it's free, too.) But that doesn't mean I exactly like every second of it.

Coming to you from the future

Blogger is currently beta-testing a feature that will allow automatically posts a new blog at scheduled times. So I can write up a post and then tell it to post it Friday at noon, and it will do so. How cool is that?

Almost like a free DVR

If you record programs on your VCR or DVR a lot, do yourself a favor and sign up to get onto the beta testing for RedLasso. It is a bold new experiment in online video. The service has many content providers, from BBC America to MSNBC, who provide full hours of their on-air coverage to web users for a short while after broadcast. The idea is, I think, that you can go in and make a clip from the program you liked and share it with everyone. Or, I guess, you can just watch the full hour on the site! (You still get all the commercials, so it's not as convenient as traditional online viewing)

Content providers currently are: BBC America, Bloomberg, Comedy Central, C-SPAN, C-SPAN2, CNBC, CNBC World, CNN, CNN Headline News, CSTV, MSNBC, E!, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, FOX Business, FNC, Food Network, Univision, WABC7, WCBS2, WHY, WNBC4, MyFOX5. (And NPR radio, also.)

I created this clip from a random hour of BBC America that I clicked on. I've never watched Bargain Hunt, I've not even seen this episode. But RedLasso makes it so easy to create a clip to embed that I was able to do it 'blindly.'

RedLasso even has the local NYC channels, so if you miss Ugly Betty, you can watch it on RedLasso for a short while after it has aired. Too cool.

Adjusting

The new semester began at Grand Rapids Community College. I am once again working on The Collegiate, this time having the official title of Web Design Editor. (I'm an editor!!) I am also taking other classes which I hope are not too intense, because I hope I can just pour my heart and soul into the paper. (Well, parts of them, at any rate.)

One of the ways I will be doing that is by writing a TV blog for the web site. More on that when it launches.

My desktop computer died. I am without all of my music. John was able to get me some of my music from his computer, and I have what is on my MP3 player. But that new James Dooley music? It's in a hard drive that I cannot access right now. I am very sad. (I will access it later, when I get a new desktop in a couple of months.)

One thing about losing all my documents is losing all my documents. I had some word files set up for random things; assorted fiction (both good and kind of really bad), rants and raves that I did not necessarily want to post but am saving for a great tell-all-book, and other miscellaneous files.

I am using a laptop right now (it is the property of GRCC, for school work). Thank goodness I can hook my mouse up to it; the laptop mouse structure is not ideal. (Ctrl + button = right click? How inconvenient!)

I like the fall semester better than winter. I have had a full summer off, am recharged and ready to take on something new. The weather is nice and rejuvenating every day. With the winter semester, I get a couple of weeks off, but thanks to Michigan winters, it comes with gray, cold days. There is approximately four hours of sunshine between December and March. If anyone wonders why the West Michigan community is so cranky, it is because we have all developed S.A.D. The snow is pretty for about three hours after it falls, then the beauty fades away and it becomes an eyesore. Luckily for people who like snow, we tend to still have about two feet around April.

January is not even halfway done and I have heard that some stores have begun putting their spring clothes out already. If you want an ugly bright pastel polo to wear during a February blizzard, you are in luck.

My harder classes have also tended to be in the winter. Or, classes that I did not much care for, compared to other classes. (Philosophy, algebra, Spanish, biology, among a few others) This year I am taking Journalism II, Intro to Acting, Survey of Mass Media and Interpersonal Communications. We will see if I actually like this semester or if I will be a walking mass of self pity for the next sixteen weeks. (Perhaps both, actually.)

I wonder if a year at a community college newspaper is enough experience to apply for an internship?

American Idol starts again this week. I cannot wait. Without 24 or Heroes on this season, I need a show that I watch obsessively but absolutely hate every week.

Cloverfield comes out this upcoming weekend. It is about a monster that attacks New York City. It has been hyped to death, almost to Snakes on a Plane-levels of insanity. I am SO there opening weekend.

But, remember, online hype does not translate into real-world blockbuster results. See, Snakes on a Plane, Howard Dean's 2004 primary push. (I'd make a comment about this year's crop, but we haven't even gotten through Super Tuesday, so such a comment would be unfair to Fred Thompson. Or Ron Paul. Or Mike Gravel, whose YouTube video I adore so much. If only 13-year-olds who eat up viral videos could vote!)

I think it would be funny to come up with a movie script about shopping for a new church. (That is one of the documents I cannot access right now.) I have enough experiences personally visiting different churches, I'm sure others can add a lot. I would love to include a church that plays The Old Rugged Cross every single week, a hip mega church, an old stuffy church and a charismatic church. The contrasts would be terrific. And the main characters would be well-versed in fast talk - think Gilmore Girls going church shopping! It would be funny. (Do not worry... ultimately the script is mushy enough were all churches have redeeming qualities - even if I think one or two do not, as happens to be my opinion in real life - so as to not condemn the church universal.)

I now get the FOX Business Network through my QAM tuner. (Thanks for not encrypting the channel! I heart you, channel provider.) I now also get the Outdoor network, which is ten times worse than you think it could be.

I am becoming addicted to Sell This House on A&E. I love the fact that the show itself seems to be low budget, so many room innovations wind up being +/- $100, which would be closer to what would be fiscally prudent! (Here's looking at you, Trading Spaces.) However, what kind of stupid are the (probably staged) open house shoppers? If you do not like the color of the walls, paint them! The clutter, et al, will be gone when you move in. Look at the room itself, the space, and what YOU can do with it! Not just what is being done now.

I think that's about it for now.

Traditional Peacock Dinner?

The team over at the Drudge Report confuses me sometimes.
A peacock? On thanksgiving? Shouldn't that be a picture of a turkey instead? But no, Drudge has a picture of a Peacock (from a Nikon photo-takers web site) Now, the article "THANKS!" is actually all about the annual Macy's parade in New York City, which is televised by NBC, who uses a Peacock as their mascot. HOWEVER, the article made no mention of NBC.
(Side note: The peacock has been NBC's logo for two decades, but they have had a variety of logos before. Who knew?)

Maybe Matt Drudge eats peafowl for thanksgiving?

In Which I Briefly Describe a Web Site You Cannot Visit

I recently got my invitation to test out the beta version of Hulu, the "YouTube" killer put out by NewsCorp and NBC Universal. It's invite only, and I can't hand out invites, so unfortunately you either have to have gotten on the waiting list or have to wait for the public release if you want to go visit the site yourself. This is why you have me, to test this stuff out!

Hulu has plenty of on-air shows available for direct streaming from NBC and FOX properties, including House, Scrubs, Heroes, Bones, Monk, Arrested Development, Dragnet, Buffy, Remington Steele and more. They even have a movie or two up for viewing as well. Streaming works pretty well, with limited commercial interruptions modeled after ABC.com's player.

Most shows allow you to embed a full episode into a site. Here I embedded a full episode of USA's Psych. Since I'm logged in to Hulu, I don't know if this will load for you or not. But it loads for me, so I can watch TV on my blog. And if the blogger is happy, every one's happy.


Supposedly you can also custom clips by trimming the video in the embed menu, but whenever I tried to embed a section of the pilot for Mary Tyler Moore, it kept giving me the full episode.


Once Hulu goes private, you guys will like it. The video plays better than NBC.com's and the menu interface is a lot friendlier than FOX.com's. I would love to see ABC video added to here at some point in the future as well, including a backlog of Alias episodes, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. In case you miss an episode or forget to set your VCR or TiVo, Hulu will be a handy-dandy tool. Now the TV writer's just need to get paid for these streams!

No need to pay at Cheers!

Did you ever noticed that no one really payed for anything on Cheers? Yeah, so did the show's writers. They made it that way. Ken Levine, who used to write for the sitcom, gave a glimpse into the writer's room, and how they kind of used a "creative license" for some things, like making characters go straight from the airport to a bar, instead of to a hotel - and showing up without any baggage. I'm not sure details like that could go undetected today. At any rate, it's an interesting read.