Category: Mindless Distractions

Crazy Google Maps Images

Montreal artist Jon Rafman has been combing through Google Maps “street view” images, uncovering the oddest and scariest shots.  Like the one that looks like a prisoner on the run, or a tiger sauntering by in a parking lot (above).

Check out the whole project (called The Nine Eyes of Google Street View) here.

Have a wonderful long weekend!  See you again on Tuesday.

[via Toronto Standard]

 

Annoy Your CoWorkers with the Museum of Endangered Sounds

Here’s something completely random and goofy for your Friday – the Museum of Endangered Sounds.  Turn up your speakers and relive the wonderful tunes of a dot matrix printer or the original Tetris on GameBoy.  My favourite is the dial-up modem.  Delightful.

[via Smashing Magazine]

Decor Dreaming: Outdoor Beds

Is there anything quite so luxurious (or quite so impractical) as an outdoor bed?  Couldn’t you imagine lazing the day away, reading books and napping?  I love the idea so much, I created a pinboard of gorgeous outdoor beds to inspire your daydreams.  (hahaha – get it? day dreams? of an outdoor bed? sigh.)

ps – check out this crazy one!

[images from here, here, and here via Pinterest] 

Vintage Toronto

Here’s a nifty way to procrastinate on the internet… check out this Vintage Toronto page on Facebook.  It has over 13,000 “friends”, and there are so many great photos that people are sharing.  Of course, there are lots of really old photos of Toronto, but the ones that I thought were the coolest are the ones from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. (like the “Girls of Ontario Place” – ha ha ha!)

Two things I noticed when looking at the pictures:

1. So many of the photos feature streetcars.  The TTC really is at the core of Toronto’s visual identity.

2. There are lots of pictures of things that I remember about Toronto that have already changed.  Like the shot of the Eaton Centre, above, with the Eaton logo.  I’ve lived in this city for 13 years now, and it’s cool to see it changing right before my eyes.

[via blogTO]

The Coolest Website Since Google Earth

I hope you have at least 20 minutes that you can spend (er… waste) on this website. It is so cool. Airpano is like Google Earth, in that you can look at beautiful places around the globe.  But on Airpano, you can tilt and pan the image, showing a 3D view. The website features approximately 70 places that have been shot by helicopter, light jet, or air balloon.  The resulting images are high resolution and gorgeous.

Check out Toronto, St Petersburg in “ultra high res”, Machu Picchu, Hong Kong, Angel Falls, the Swiss Alps, and even under the sea.

Wow, look at that, I just lost an hour of my day.

[via Twisted Sifter]

Funny Superbowl Ads

The Superbowl is this Sunday, which I couldn’t care less about. But I do enjoy some of the big game commercials, where advertisers pull out all the stops to entertain us.

Some of the Superbowl commercials are already available for you to see on YouTube.  The one everyone is buzzing about is the “Matthew’s Day Off” ad for Honda – it’s a spoof of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, starting Matthew Broderick.  Very entertaining.  Other ads that you can watch now include a commercial for Acura featuring Jerry Seinfeld, and a commercial teaser featuring dogs barking the Star Wars Theme from Volkswagen.  (Since when did commercials need teasers?!?)

Update: The full Volkswagen ad is now available on YouTube. Watch it until the end for the Star Wars connection to the teaser ad.  I’m not sure what Volkswagen, dogs, and Star Wars have to do with each other, but it’s entertaining at least.

Modern Family starts back tonight!


Ian and I (and most of our friends) love Modern Family, the sitcom on ABC.  It just cleaned up at the Emmy Awards on Sunday night, and the Season 3 Premiere is on tonight at 9pm.  It’s a special 1-hour episode.

Also on tonight – Up All Night.  Did you watch the pilot last week?  What did you think?  What are some of your fave TV shows?

New Fall TV Shows

There are a handful of new TV shows starting up soon that I’m kind of excited about.  Up All Night looks hilarious (and very timely for Ian and I).  I love Will Arnett (he was so funny on Arrested Development) and Maya Rudolph is a genius (so funny in Bridesmaids, so lovely in Away We Go).

New Girl could be quirky and fun, like most of what Zooey Deschanel does, or it could totally suck.  I can’t tell.  Same with the American version of Prime Suspect – Helen Mirren’s show from the UK, but with Maria Bello (isn’t she so beautiful?).

And for the Sci-Fi hole in my life left by Lost, Terra Nova could be good.  But somehow I doubt it.

NY Magazine has a great roundup of the new shows.  Have a look at their slideshow here.  And if you don’t see anything you like, don’t worry… Downton Abbey is coming back!  See a trailer for Season 2 here.