As a man, I’m sure you feel as though holiday decorations are not something that necessarily are representative of your overall interests. I’ve seen beer trees, exploding ornaments, pretzel and bottle top garlands; though all excellent examples of things you may like, they leave something to be desired in terms of traditional winter festivity. This year, try Star Wars Snowflakes! If you’re anything like me, your attempts at paper snowflakes in the past were horrifically butchered monstrosities that had more negative space than paper and were apt to explode the second you tried to unfold them to show off your brilliance. Since it’s damn hard to know when to stop snipping before you absolutely destroy anything snowflake like you may make, Matters of Grey has expanded on the phenomenal idea of an industrious nerdy couple, and created easy to follow pdf diagrams. Even if you’re so bad at crafts that peeling the labels off your bottles is difficult, you can handle this.
Gina
The War Against Christmas – Exploding Santas and High Speed Photography
It’s sad these days that “The War Against Christmas” is a phrase that gets tossed about as a vehicle for cultural tension and very un-merry sentiment. Since it doesn’t matter what you believe or how you celebrate it, we can all agree on a few things: namely hating mall trips, annoying music, and how awesome anything exploding is. This flickr set by Alan Sailer is the perfect holiday pick me up, and he’s taking the phrase back. Words cannot describe how excellent this photo set is, so feel free to ignore me and hit the jump. Colors, lighting, bulbs and their fillings, and even the projectiles are painstakingly chosen for striking effect. (That’s the only pun- my Christmas gift to you.) Since the holiday season is all about being joyful and celebrating family and friends, let’s drop all the sentimental crap just for a few moments and revel in lovely delicate things being shattered into microscopic pieces by powerful projectile weapons. Heartwarming!
Five Minute Fudge: Cheap, Fast, and Easy – The Thoughtful Lifesaver
I almost didn’t make it through typing the title of this article, because I got distracted by “I like my women like I like my five minute fudge” jokes. If you’re laughing as hard as I am, congratulations, you’re an insensitive asshole! As such, you likely effed up on this whole Christmas thing and have a day to come up with something thoughtful that doesn’t involve mall fistfights and empty bank accounts. Even if you aren’t, it stands to reason that there are a lot of you in this situation. What if I told you you could make exceptionally thoughtful, super impressive delicious homemade fudge from two ingredients in five minutes? While drinking a beer?! This, dear friends, is a completely plausible Christmas miracle. Five minute fudge is even darker and sweeter and easier than… Well, easier than staying focused, anyhow.
City of Shadows – Haunting Images by Alexey Titarenko
Everything old is new again- though these striking images by Alexey Titarenko appear to be age worn relics, they were actually shot in the early 90’s. I’ve always been drawn to dingy, forlorn aesthetics; strangely enough, I really enjoy the work that it takes to create a depressing photograph without relying on cliched, weepy subject matter. The atmosphere that Titarenko captures in his City of Shadows is one of fleeting ghosts, twisted souls, and a bizarre caricature of a bustling metropolis. Maybe I have a one track mind, but I can only imagine storming through people-mist covered streets, chased by terrifying screams and shuffling zombie creatures that fade in and out of sight. Best video game level design ever.
Buying Girls Drinks – When Did It Get So Complicated?
It’s been a while since I wrote for you guys about this sort of thing. I took a week and jetted off to Vegas (those of you who follow our Facebook page may have witnessed some of my drunken ramblings) and while I was there, I experienced a lot of offers for ‘free drinks.’ Buying girls drinks is one of those things that is starting to be viewed unfavorably by both sexes. As guys, you feel like every girl out there is a floozy out to take your money and run, and as girls, you feel like asshole bros are going to force feed you bad lines and cheap drinks so they can try to force feed you something else. This is ridiculous. What kind of state are we in in the dating world? The bar is hardly the place to find love – obviously- and you shouldn’t be throwing around money and alcohol to attract people to you. However, buying girls drinks can be fun, natural, and a great opener that will save you from being taken advantage of while helping her appreciate you as a no-pressure, normal guy.
Phenomenal ISS Earth Timelapse by Michael Konig – Lightning, Auroras and City Sprawl
Who didn’t want to be an astronaut when they were a kid? We dreamed of aliens in bubble helmets and laser guns in rockets, but as we get older we see the strange dichotomy of heightened public and professional interest and waning monetary support for space exploration. Regardless, most of us will never get up there, and what we see is filtered down to us with less chest bursters and moon civilizations, but infinitely more wonder and beauty than we could have ever imagined. This video, carefully crafted by Michael Konig, is a stunning skim over the incredible views we never imagined as children.
Bacon Lube: Insert Meat Joke Here…This Is a Thing
You know, we talk about bacon a lot. Really; bacon is one of those magical man foods that makes everything taste and smell delicious and wonderful, but I have to wonder- in the case of Bacon Lube… are you that ashamed of your junk that you need the attractive prowess of the world’s wonder meat to improve your own? Bacon Lube started out as an April Fools joke, and thanks to all the men on the net with more hunger and chest hair than brains, it is now a real product. I honestly can’t decide if this is the crowning achievement of civilization or if it’s the most retarded thing a man could possibly slather on his nether regions (and in this day and age, that’s really saying something.)
