• Try not to think of this as me starting the post off with a downer, more that I’m starting if off with an important piece of writing. Poppy reminds us all that rape jokes aren’t funny.
• Comic Con looks like it really went off this year. Here’s 11 pages worth of costumes.
• Spotters guide to the undead.
• One woman’s story about how her hairstylist saved her life, she lost her life insurance, her life fell apart around her, and how she’s still living and fighting. A big reminder that America’s health care system is NOT ok.
• I can’t believe it’s not butter!
• David Thorne, you may know him as the guy that drew that spider picture. Well, now he’s confusing his landlord.

• First refresh your memory with this photo of Scarlet Johansen, Keira Knightley, and Tom Ford on the cover of Vanity Fair March 2006. Then take a look at this other version. I love these guys!
• Some random pretty pictures for your viewing pleasure.
• Amanda and her cousin Amy.
• Sometimes when people take parts of The Bible literally the only way you can get through to them is through tongue in cheek humour. Unfortunately most of those people are too dumb to get it.
• An embroidered back.
• When internet memes cross over to real life it can break up marriages.
• Bluntcard, a website dedicated to ecards that are blunt. Awesome!

Japanese TV – Ron (Rupert Grint)

I Love You, Man – Paul Rudd & Jason Segel Interview [hilarious!]

• Writers routines which led me to daily routines [currently on hold] definitely makes me feel better about my routine. A routine which consists of getting up at 1pm reading anything interesting I can find online for a few hours, getting some food, and then contemplating what I should write that day.
• Why magazines suck.
• If there were more parents like this then I believe the world would be a better place.
• Zombie costume. You’re doing it right!
• We will never know if everyone sees colour the same way. This site demonstrates something else though, that colour is relative. Quite cool!
• Beetlejuice and The Joker look surprisingly alike.

• What happens when a Chinese woman with a artist son hoards for 60 years? Well, if that son is Song Dong then your life gets turned into one big installation. The background story is quite interesting and certainly explains some of the questions you might have after viewing the pictures.
• The essence of New York captured in lego.
• Flickr Interestingness is a great tool and turns up some truly stunning pictures. Unfortunately most of them are copyrighted and therefore can’t be used on the blog. Until they create a way to explore interestingness using only creative commons photos I’ll be using the Creative Commons Flickriver. It’s a pool of beautiful CC licensed photos, if you’ve got some to submit you should definitely join the group.
• Fireworks and Lightning. If that impresses you then take a look at some more of Antti’s beautiful work.

Facebook – Off

Office 2010: The Movie

• How to suck it up in business lesson 5. Wry & Ginger’s take on doing business on Etsy, this section is about promotion and how hanging out in the forums isn’t a great marketing tool. All of the lessons are really helpful, tongue in cheek, and funny!

• Every person who does marketing, sales, product design or any other job that influences customers directly should spend at least an hour a week answering the customer service lines

  If only actual real life marketing managers agreed with that.

• Maureen
• Phalluses in advertising. The coke one was especially funny/shocking. Does anyone know if it’s legit?
• This little piggy went to market.
• Oh Snap! – How to get shot by the Sartorialist.
• OMG you fail so hard!

• Sleepy dinosaur.
• Make readers feel like they’re in on a secret, and that you’re the crazy person that makes them want to gossip. 10 tips for kicking ass as a freelance writer.
• If 80s has to make a comeback then this is the only way it should be done!

• According to my calculations you have just over a day left to enter into the nameplate necklace competition. Thanks to everyone who has entered and let us know which fonts they like best!
• Tim Ferris (author of the Four Hour Work Week) did a presentation at SF WordCamp and he has all 50 minutes of it on his blog.
  It’s a really great video with some awesome insights and recommendations on building a blog. Tim will also give you some tips on how to Tim Ferris your love life. lol.
• Warning: This elevator may kill you.
• Princess Lasertron was given permission to share the latest letter from the editor for Where Women Create magazine. It’s a great reminder of what us creative types have to be thankful for and that sometimes we need to have a bit of perspective.
• Loading witty retort.
• If I ever have a store I’m either going to need a trustworthy employee or a store hours sign like this.

• If you want people to hear you you need to be loud and proud. You need to market yourself. Sometimes we forget that we need to believe in ourselves before we can expect others to believe in us.
• Jesus <- WTF
• Photography rules.
  

  Before you start photographing remember to take the lens cap off.

• Try to get past the bad English and just concentrate on the amazing photos as you climb up 350 metres!
• Sexuality is fluid, especially more so with women. This interesting article addresses the topic – ‘Why Women are Leaving Men for Other Women‘.
• Please do not disturb.

1., 2.

I hope all of my American readers had a lovely 4th of July (and long weekend if you were so lucky). We actually had someone letting off fireworks near our house on the 4th too!

• The lovely Miss Aimee Marie interviewed me for the latest in her ‘Aimee Marie Loves’ Series. Take a look.
• If you need a dose of cute look no further than My Milk Toof. Cute little teeth travel around and have their adorable adventures posted online for us to coo over.
• Proof that scarification can turn out beautifully if you have a skilled artist.
• Michael Bay is becoming a cult icon, in the same vain as Chuck Norris. [thanks Whit]
  

  Michael Bay has 2 speeds: Slow motion and on fire

• Amazing artwork depicting the Batman baddies.

• Did you know the Bible is being translated in lolspeak?! I picked a section at random and it turned out to be hilarious.
  

  N grrlz ned to not b slutz (liek kep der cookiez to derself LOL) o n don look liek teh slutz eeder

• What would the screenplay of Twilight look like if it was 10 times shorter and 100 times more honest?
• My number one goal in furnishing my home is to have a daybed in my lounge. This one made out of pallets is clever.
• Some people are doing crazy things with their laser cutters, this guy is giving himself tattoos. I wonder how long they last.
• Ties and suspenders are a couple of my favourite clothing items. I need to work them into my wardrobe.

On a different note, I was at the supermarket yesterday and while perusing the chocolate aisle I noticed that both Whittakers and Cadbury chocolate were on special. I went to get a block of Cadbury’s only to find they’d put them in boxes and reduced them in size by 20%!
After a bit of poking around online I see that not only have Cadbury reduced the size while keeping the price the same, they’ve also reduced the cocoa product and added palm oil instead, and most (if not all) of the family size blocks are being made offshore. Looks like I’m going to be a Whittakers girl from now on.

1., 2.

• Mmmmm breakfast. Pretty, pretty breakfast.
• Rollasole seems like such a logical idea. I can’t believe no one thought of it earlier. If you’re a UK clubber with sore feet after a night in heels, you don’t have to walk home in bare feet on the scummy pavement any longer. Just get some rollasoles!
• Diva, a large retailer of cheap jewellery based mainly in the malls of Australia and New Zealand were recently found to be blatantly ripping off designs from Shana Logic, among other artists. Copying the designs right down to colours and beading. Not good.
  Shana just announced that she spoke to the CEO of DCK Ply Ltd (they own of Diva) and they may be coming to a resolution and finding a way to make sure this never ever happens again!
• Mmm smell the reason.

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• I haven’t seen the second Transformers movie yet, so I can’t vouch for the validity of Charlie’s statement that it’s Michael Bay’s first art movie (lol).
• Amazing street art from Bristol. My favourite is the girl meets boy stencil.
• Emma Watson has grown from a typical dorky looking kid to a gorgeous 19 year old young woman who is widely regarded as a fashion icon. Emma is a Teen Vogue cover girl once again and the photos are amazing. You can also see her fashion timeline, including a pic from 2001 (terrible!).
• Uber geeks don’t have the time to shower.
• Some people just have the knack to photographing food. These pancake photos make me want to eat my screen!
• Pacman gets a fright when he joins twitter.

• Banksy’s show at the opened in Bristol almost two weeks ago and BBC has some images of the installations for those of us unable to pop over and take a look. My favourites are the chickens and the stone slab.
• The world is your apple.
• Who knew that Bruce Willis was so edgy! He shows he’s still a star in his photoshoot with new wife Emma. (Not really safe for work)
• Where do books with sparkly vampires fit into a ven diagram of the parts that make up a good book?
• Check out these amazing Joseph Cartwright photos of a beautiful red head. And then check out the rest of his portfolio.
• But if we started dating it would ruin our friendship where I ask you to do things and you do them.
• In case of fire do not use Twitter.
• Eddie Murphy’s career rollercoaster.
• Aschobi Designs is based in Sierra Leone, a country on the Least Developed Countries list. The label is the first western style to set up in the country. You know someone’s on to a great thing when you’re desperate to see more photos!
• For all of you aspiring erotica writers, some tips from Belle de Jour on how to write sex.
• Beautiful tulle and a wall I’d love to pose against.

A beautiful wee story about girls and boys

• I may have written about Chris Guillebeau’s e-book 279 Days to Overnight Success before, chances are if you read a lot on the net that you’ve heard of or read it already. And if you haven’t you really should. Chris also has a manifesto that he published mid 2008 titled A Brief Guide to World Domination. He’s a great writer and it’s definitely a great read. And it’s free! In the manifesto he links to an exercise which will help you map out what your ideal life is, with the aim of being able to map the steps to get your ideal life. If your sick of the rules of having a career (go to uni, get an entry level job, work your way up, conform at every step) or are a non conformist in general. Then Chris is your guy.
• I didn’t discover DeadBall’s recaps of New Zealand’s Next Top Model until the show was finishing. But it doesn’t make them any less entertaining. DeadBall is usually a sportsy blog, and the NZNTM posts are written by the male editor of Real Groove magazine. It just makes it all the more entertaining. Plus they love Ruby (aka NZs most likeable hot chick) too.
• 100 awesome characters drawn on mostly square bits of cardboard. Amazing and unique.
• All of these “craziest and weirdest restaurants” look cool. I wouldn’t actually want to eat at most of them, but I love that people are pushing the boundaries. I would love to eat at BED though. I find bed so comfortable, probably because our couch is so damned uncomfortable, but that’s not the point. The Boy however hates sitting up in bed so I always have to watch movies in the lounge, the lounge with the uncomfortable couch. :[

• At my old job there was a guy just like this. I’m so glad I don’t work there any more!
• Pretty drawers. I could use all of those little cubbys for my beads and ribbons and chains and brooches and…
• Asian Poses is sweeping the internet at the moment. Maybe these poses are the secret weapons of the young Asian female, the weapon that make them so cute. I have a suspicion it will only work when you combine the poses with a tiny body and flawless skin and make up.
• The easiest tote bag to make ever! Now there’s a good use for all the old slobby t shirts you have. Will be trying this in the near future.
• More recycling, but of the much more complicated variety. Animals made from old electronic parts.
• Notes on people watching. Some good points about how to not look like a creepy weirdo.
• I think these two looks sum up my fashion ideals pretty well. An androgynous suit style and a sparkly poofy pink dress.

Hammer Pants flash mob

1. Candy Apple Aperture, 2. marshmallow

• Kiwianarama. All the shit Kiwis are into. Amazing blog! Although I’m not sure how much sense it’ll make to non-kiwis.
• I love sushi, and I love sweets. Is this potentially the best food ever?
• For all the people who voted Pirate way back on my Pirates vs Ninjas post. Here are your rules for life.
• You’re boring. Don’t forget it. Shock someone today.
• 100+ iconic portraits.
• Blazers and ties a go go.
• Who doesn’t need a random stranger complimenting them once in a while?

• Just because the source is in jail it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with his conclusions. Does it?
• Queen Michelle’s fuck the world attitude is what always draw me back to the Kingdom of Style blog. Her styling may not inspire me on face value, but I certainly see what she’s doing and the reasons, and that’s more than enough inspiration for me. Her response to someone bagging her outfit “This morning, fuelled by a desire to look like a dog’s dinner just to offend all the Britni’s out there, I dressed like I’d fallen into my closet. I mixed florals, tweed, tie dye, random print and zebra stripes. Hell yeah!”
  As a never grow old 36 year old Michelle also sums up women’s fashion choices in her 20s and 30s. And tells us to Age Disgracefully!
• Remembering Tiananmen through photos. 20 years later.

1. , 2.

• This long but perfect length interview with Christian Bale made me think he’s a bit of a wanker, a prima donna, and quite scary if you piss him off. I imagine putting yourself in the shoes of the types of characters he’s played, and the way he’s fucked with his body over the years has taken him from a weird 8 year old boy enjoying being scared in the dark of a forest, to a fucked up angry man. But somehow he managed to endear himself to me on page 9 of the interview. He realises who he is.
  Don’t forget to listen to his super rant from the set of Terminator. It’s on the intro page of the interview.

• Such bad taste. But I still laughed. :S
• What goes around comes around poster campaign.
• I find it hard to believe that a New Zealand Steiner school could have a ninja as a teacher. But it could explain some things about The boy.
• In the beginning, man created God. I love this bus ad, it takes one or two seconds to take in what you’ve just read. And it’s powerful when you realise what it’s actually saying.
• Pink + Black + Tophat.
• What an amazing thoughtful gift. 52 little packets, one for each week of the year, with a little bit of cash and a note in each, for Abbey to run across the road to the little flower stand and buy herself a bouquet.
• Some people say they really get into their board games. And I’m assuming they mean that while they’re playing the game they’re competitive and enthusiastic. But to play this game loosely based on the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas you would really need to commit. What an amazing work of art!
• You left your lights on and your passenger door unlocked.
• Eternal September. As Seth says, it’s going to take a long time for the newbies to the internet catch up to everyone else, so until it does we have to assume an eternal September.
• The liquid lamp makes for great design.
• Help Oprah out and let her know what you would really love to see on Jenny McCarthy’s new show. Maybe seeing her getting educated by intelligent scientists and doctors each week would be fun.
• Say it with me now. FUCK. THAT. SHIT.