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Fun Stuff 2007
Here's my annual roundup of all the Fun Stuff items I linked to in the email newsletter in the past year.
(Also see past annual roundups: 2006, 2005, 2004.)
Finally, remember that Good Experience Games has a lot more to explore, which I don't include on this list.
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2007 Fun Stuff Winner: This was a tough year, with so many good entries, but here's my fav for '07:
Runners-up:
• Music video, much like a new pop version of Queen
• Best Clapton guitar solo EVER (I think some people didn't get the joke when I ran this)...
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All Fun Stuff entries in 2007 (posted throughout the year in the email newsletter):
Video of talking dogs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYaw5tGYAs
Surprisingly funny FAQ from Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings:
http://www.ken-jennings.com/faqjeopardy.html
Birdhouses, from found materials, in post-tsunami Sri Lanka:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sean_kelly/sets/72057594087363136/show/
Fine art with the humans removed (thanks, boingboing):
http://tinyurl.com/u4zck
Lots of documentaries (and other shows), watchable online:
http://smashingtelly.com
From Uganda, a documentary trailer well worth watching:
http://www.shineglobal.org/shine_trailer_wardance.htm
Comic of the flight attendant dance. (thanks, kottke)
http://www.jenwang.net/art/comics/dance/
Bad album covers:
http://flickr.com/photos/18025993@N00/
Creative (and weird) re-uses of common objects (thanks, David G):
http://funny-town.blogspot.com/2006/10/absolute-crazy-innovations.html
Hours and hours of old-time radio:
http://otr.net/
Great skating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI3k--_jqys&eurl=
Food Network shows the future of ads in a TiVo world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMzbwa6PvEE
Video of a human slingshot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2-od4n5Xl0
Mario Bros theme on many instruments (thanks, boingboing):
http://tinyurl.com/224eku
New on the Gel videos page - the opening animations for both Gel '06 and euroGel '06 (full clips, not just excerpts):
http://gelconference.com/videos.php
Draw-a-pig personality test:
http://drawapig.desktopcreatures.com/
Creative billboards:
http://billboardom.blogspot.com/
You've never seen so many trucks. From a cameraphone in Dubai:
http://www.sushu.de/TruckJam/source/dubai-trucktrafficjam.html
Great cross-section of New York City, at the turnstiles (tx, jk):
http://www.3situations.com/BillSullivanWorks/MTmaster.html
Three human beatboxes worth watching:
• http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12565_beatbox (2007 Fun Stuff winner!)
• http://thefamegame.com/video/177/
• Yuri Lane at Gel 2005: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6864995778331946770&hl=en
Danny Brown (Gel '06 speaker) skis Denali:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNNRmxIxvgU
How 3-card monte works:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-163435387173807719
Remove PDA logos with sugar:
http://www.instructables.com/id/EFHU5V6TKYERIE2SMP/?ALLSTEPS
Ancient history: Internet trends from 1994 (thanks, kottke):
http://www.neonshop.com/bio/iw/bwv6n1.htm
Past future-visions of the planets, starting with Mercury:
http://davidszondy.com/future/otherworlds/otherplanets/mercury.htm
This literally is bathroom humor. You've been warned.
http://triggur.org/robodump/
Dating tips for mega-geeks: "Best of all, because Lisa was high-resistance anyway, her departure barely affected net current, which decreases from 3.1 A to 2.8 A - both radically higher than net series current." (thanks, boingboing)
http://www.bitquabit.com/2007/02/14/smart-guys-date-in-parallel/
Lego church (click Next near the bottom of the page):
http://www.amyhughes.org/lego/church/photosfirst.html
Debate on "mind, machines, and mathematics" at MIT, with past Gel speaker Rod Brooks:
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/422/
A look at the lunar eclipse last week (thanks, kottke):
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/onblack.php?id=409556078&size=Large
Documentaries on YouTube (thanks, boingboing):
http://tinyurl.com/373hrf
Fun music video (sounds like a new pop version of Queen):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzA0nG_PurQ
Not-so-comfortable shoes (thanks, kottke):
http://tinyurl.com/yw6ux3
Software that automagically beautifies photos (thanks, kottke):
http://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~tommer/beautification/
Math in medieval architecture:
http://tinyurl.com/ytxw28
Super Mario in Legos - brilliant:
http://www.dailymotion.com/featured/video/x1h08t_mario-bros-lego
Super Mario on trombones (thanks, boingboing)
http://killpacktravels.blogspot.com/2007/03/super-mario-trombones.html
Robots from found materials:
http://bennettrobotworks.com/robots.php
A must-see - 72 cursor effects:
http://gprime.net/game.php/cursorcatalog2
Cool pics of computer interfaces in movies (thx, boingboing)...
http://w5.cs.uni-sb.de/~butz/teaching/ie-ss03/papers/HCIinSF/
...some of which aren't not too far removed from "ferrofluid sculptures":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me5Zzm2TXh4
A "why didn't I think of that" moment - very clever:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/piwonka/384203161
Two chickens settle down fighting rabbits (thanks, kottke.org):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D35uQCtr4EY
Rant about bad writing in "The Da Vinci Code" (thanks, kottke):
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html
Strange statues from around the world:
http://haha.nu/central/
Sarah McLachlan's cheap video:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/001371.php
Great snapshot from Leave it to Beaver:
http://www.shorpy.com/leave-it-to-beaver
Baby Got Back, by Gilbert and Sullivan... (thanks, boingboing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkJdEFf_Qg4
Changing photos with classic palettes:
http://www.unfocusedbrain.com/projects/match_color/
Color changing card trick (watch the whole thing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE
Two environmental sites with fun animated features - www.KABman.org and www.GCycle.org - covered here:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/001390.php
Comparing Meetup vs Google:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/001400.php
Photos of "wee planets":
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gadl/sets/72157594279945875/show/
Watch cheese age:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVMt9ECdOjA
Rob P. vs. Pachelbel:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1731941/
Video about cheese-rolling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm7eIfcZKVA
Ji Lee's Abstractor: finally, TV is watchable.
http://abstractor.tv/03.Videos/Home_TV.htm
Oingo Boingo on the Gong Show (who knew?!)... thx, boingboing:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vTRd1a5MVMw
"ReacTable," the DJ turntable of the future (thanks, KW):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc
Skydiving from over 100,000 feet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n2AICdVv3g
History of the Luddites, shown on a hand-cranked zoetrope:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNklvaLilQA
Ugly mailboxes (thanks, boingboing):
http://uglymailbox.com/
Classic game show videos:
http://www.classicgameshows.com/
Good Experience reader Yiftach Levy saves a life - true & good story:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CYSDfHuopmo
Taiwanese basketball-arcade expert (thanks, boingboing):
http://hombrelobo.com/taiwan/hombrelobotv-baloncesto-en-taiwan/
New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff, shooting jumpshots:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lEQ8-yV76Kg
A theremin plays cool Gnarls Barkley tune. It's not just for sci-fi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW0B1sipLBI
Richard Serra, ha... trying balancing three Guinness pints:
http://www.scaryideas.com/print/2698/
Cool science experiments:
http://krampf.com/experiment_vid.html
Drama prairie dog (it's made the rounds but worth a link):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs
How to fold many types of paper planes:
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/guides/paperplanes/0,,,00.html
Audiobooks for download with no charge (thanks, Tai):
http://librivox.org
"Fish Heads," one of my favs from the 1980s (tx, boingboing):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cn73Wtem0No
Anonymous, expiring phone numbers:
http://numbr.com/
Nora Ephron's "six stages of e-mail":
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/007069.php
30,000 matchheads, one lighter:
http://www.break.com/index/kids-ignite-a-matchstick-bomb.html
Super-creative four-minute trampoline video - a must-see:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/009902.php
Save your eyes (and power) with white-on-black Google search:
http://blacklys.com/Good%20Experience.aspx
Geeky map fun - recursive lakes and islands:
http://www.elbruz.org/islands/Islands%20and%20Lakes.htm
Chipmunks at normal (human) speed... weird.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1729508
Two fun tech videos (on the iPhone and Microsoft's table):
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/009889.php
Fun and totally bizarre Comcast (yes) commercial:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/009897.php
Bizarre and fun video:
http://stashmedia.tv/feed/Fido_Tog.mov
World's fastest banjo player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbNlqXHVyoM
Build an atom:
http://keithcom.com/atoms/index.php
A sunset somewhere in the world:
http://www.eternalsunset.net/
Fun "lighting doodle" animation:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/009922.php
Insane treadmill gameshow (thanks, tango at designverb.com):
http://www.videosift.com/video/Japanese-Treadmill-Challenge-Gameshow-Hell
Mass of humans dances a cellphone display (thanks, tango):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X76ZIGQgBWg
Farmer contortionist girls (thanks, boingboing):
http://foryourentertainment.blogspot.com/2007/07/oh-my.html
Weird commercials from decades past (thanks, boingboing):
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/08/commercial-feve.html
A surprising New York Times correction:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/009952.php
Some personal stories of what "the good life" means:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1000
Everyone knows it's Windy (tx, boingboing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU8vOQNvd3c
Not so "fun" if you're not a big-company CEO... interactive grauph showing pay-grade disparity (tx, infosthetics.com):
http://www.portfolio.com/infographics/2007/06/salary_comparison
Bombay Taxi - a game of parallel parking:
http://www.armorgames.com/games/bombaytaxi_popup.html
Funny TV shorts & commercials...
http://www.ifun.ro/
...like this very clever one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtN15WTNHho
The Gratitude Dance (thanks, Lisa S):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9z2ELaBVJY
Some geek humor... a promo video for Microsoft's latest release of
Paint, a la Christopher Guest. "It really looks just like spray paint!"
etc.
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010007.php
Yet another "air" gun fight (y'know, like air guitar): (thanks, Krystyn)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2ZRGO7HPRU
Illustrated coffee guide (thanks, boingboing):
http://www.lokeshdhakar.com/2007/08/20/an-illustrated-coffee-guide/
Ever see a panda sneeze? (thanks, dougie)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8922875251875301807
Music video with a cute yellow spongy dancing-robot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPdP1jBfxzo
Videos of famous musicians hawking stuff:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010017.php
25 weird and wonderful animals:
http://divaboo.info/
Khaaan! Which is located at, where else,...
http://www.khaaan.com/
Two young DJs, five and eight years old (thanks, boingboing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2josUqMTUmE
"Crop circles" on SF beaches:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010051.php
Video of thieving seagull:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010053.php
Must-read story from Pittsburgh (not "fun" but important):
http://www.post-gazette.net/pg/07262/818671-298.stm
Along the same lines, Kevin Kelly on his remaining time:
http://kk.org/ct2/2007/09/my-life-countdown-1.php
Take (parts of) the new US immigration test:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21019797/
Several brainteasers:
http://www.sharpbrains.com/teasers/
Broken: V8's "100% juice" claim:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010066.php
Chinese customer service sign:
http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010057.php
Man versus scrollbar:
http://www.b3tards.com/u/f377488502e24adaf32a/scrollbars.gif
Best Clapton guitar solo EVER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCzUMjCykn8
Kevin Kelly on enormous vegetables:
http://kk.org/ct2/2007/10/big-vegetable-obsessions.php
Sausage experience:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010090.php
Google vanity ring:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010089.php
Broken: Metal misspelling
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010072.php
Darth Vader being "smart":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5blbv4WFriM
Darth Vader's true self:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eZBevXohCI
Vacuum or wookie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq5ZVdhHsiQ
Real X-Wing fighter in flight (tx, boingboing):
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=939
What *really* happened to that X-Wing fighter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF9hBL-CuA
Fun redesigning Google:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010113.php
Mario Kart fans, enjoy this quick one:
http://gprime.net/flash.php/mevs
Maps of "top ten countries that..." (different categories):
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/index.html
CBS video about an unusual blind person (tx, 37signals):
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/779704/
A bizarre round of "The Clapper" TV ad. (tx, kottke.org)
http://www.vimeo.com/343014
Unusual sights found via Google Earth:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134186-page,3-c,mapping/article.html
Read these from bottom to top: each one overpowers the one below it.
http://thesuperest.com/
Funny Ticketmaster captcha:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010119.php
20 Questions on The Simpsons and Harry Potter:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010124.php
History of religion animated map (tx, boingboing):
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html
Groovy dancing girl (thanks, zefrank.com):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bp0C4vhKEQ
Fun Cirque du Soleil clips:
http://onemansblog.com/2007/10/14/13-amazing-cirque-du-soleil-performances/
An infomercial for Make My Logo Bigger Cream, which just proves that
the world doesn't even need overpriced designers. Just apply the cream
directly to the logo.
http://whoneedsdesigners.com/
Dancing Post-It:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC_-Nx2CWR4&NR
Purty sea creatures:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/photos/?articleID=10033636
Richard Scarry books, then and now (tx, boingboing):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kokogiak/sets/1425737/
Fold those devalued dollars into "moneygami":
http://art.commongate.com/post/Show_Me_the_Moneygami/
I linked to cup stacking a couple of years back...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=H0YgrUKfTcA
...but *dice* stacking? Who knew? (tx, kottke.org)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIayUEi_KGo
"Onslaught," another good spot from Dove (tx, boingboing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9xVJhZEhwc
Edgy/spicy ads on shopping bags:
http://www.funny-potato.com/cool-bags.html
Dutch dominoes - millions of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoZ_SZDAPPg
Argentinian dominoes (and Guinness):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYL5ws18VZ8
Time to carve the... melon?? (tx, manhattanusersguide.com)
http://joeschwartz.net/extras/pics/melon/index.htm
Neat table tennis point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHWNRLmABFs
(also see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYYAN5Xt9x0 )
Brawndo energy drink! Funny, in a rude sort of way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbxq0IDqD04
Word illusions:
http://www.marcofolio.net/other/15_cool_word_illusions.html
How to refuel a plane:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010186.php
Huge stereos... on bicycles:
http://goodexperience.com/blog/archives/010189.php
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That's it for 2007... what, you're still reading? You still want more? MORE?! OK, try these:
• Past years of Fun Stuff: 2006, 2005, 2004.
• For yet more fun, try Good Experience Games.
