Natalie.ayerdis

Vitaly Kryuchin is the head of the Russian Federation of Practical Shooting. He also built a musical instrument he calls the Metallophon. It consists of different-sized sheets of metal, which each deliver a different tone when you strike them. How does he strike them? By shooting at them!..(Read...)

These are the dragon inspired fingerless gloves crotched and sold by Etsy store Mareshop. They're all hand-knit and crocheted, come in a variety of different color combinations, cost $40+ depending on the length of the glove, and have little overlapping dragon scales on the fingers. Cool...(Read...)

I’d much rather stay in a hotel than sleep on someone’s spare couch or floor. Maybe I’m weird.

Actually, maybe I kinda suspect that I am weird, and that’s why I prefer the anonymity of a hotel over staying with people I know. One doesn’t like to discover, as a full grown adult, that their bathroom etiquette is not up to scratch.

Really, it’s mostly that I don’t like to impose on people, and if I do impose, I like the idea that I’ll live it down and put it behind me the instant I check out, as opposed to having a friend or relative bring it up at some random point in the future.

Note from Missy: If it’s weird, then call me a weirdo. I’ve stayed in people’s houses only a couple of times in my adult life, and it’s so anxiety-producing. That feeling that you need to be doing something or entertaining each other 24/7. I’d rather have a hotel room where I can just go and be away from people. (Though Scott would be there, but when you’ve been married for 20 years, you kind of don’t count as “people” anymore to each other, if you know what I mean.) I probably also feel like a weirdo on this point because we watch a lot of House Hunters, where everyone wants a spare room for out-of-town guests.

 

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"James challenges 9-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, Owen Wilson and The Late Late Show staff to a 100-meter race in the CBS Television City parking lot to find out who is truly the world's fastest man. "..(Read...)

I am a parent and receive e-mails—more of them than I would like, really—for moms meetup groups. And moms meetup groups are important because an enormous part of having children is venting and commiserating with other people who also have children.  Interacting with other parents is one of the things that keeps us sane and makes […]

I’ve made my position on milk abundantly clear, so I will not go into it again.

For many years, my go-to snack was dry breakfast cereal eaten out of a glass, as if it were a beverage. I still don’t see why anyone finds that odd. Cereal is meant to be eaten. A cup is just a bowl you can hold in one hand, and this way I don’t needlessly dirty a spoon!

One lesson I’ve learned in life is that when someone thinks that something you’re doing is crazy, having a logical, multi-point defense of said action will not make you look less crazy to them.

 

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This is the Twinkling Star Skirt sold by ThinkGeek. It has over 45-feet of wired LED lights (over 250 lights total) in between the top see-thru constellation layer and middle white gauze layer to ensure you're the belle of the spaceball (there's also a white liner layer so nobody can see your underwear). The lights are powered by a 3-AAA battery box and can be set to on, off, or twinkle. Cool?..(Read...)

For those who haven’t seen Soylent Green, (SPOILER ALERT) it’s a mystery story that takes place in a distant future where overcrowding and environmental problems have led to people mainly subsisting on a green protein cracker called Soylent Green. In the end, the hero discovers that the crackers are made out of people. It’s about as cheery and uplifting as most early-seventies science fiction got. There’s a reason Steven Spielberg and George Lucas took the world by storm.

I’m kinda surprised nobody has remade Soylent Green. I could see it a s a Bruce Willis vehicle. They’d probably give it a happy ending, with Bruce eating a cracker made out of the bad guy.

 

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The phrase “with all due respect” has always cracked me up. We use it to soften the blow when we’re about to criticize someone, but when you really think about it, it makes an insult that much more cutting. You’re basically prefacing your insult with “You’re not going to like what I’m going to say, but please understand, you totally deserve it.”

 

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In this brilliant new commercial from Audi Germany, a melancholic Tyrannosaurus Rex gets his lust for life back after years of being ridiculed on the Internet for his stubby arms...(Read...)

For the latest edition of his "Kids Explain" series, Jimmy Kimmel sent a camera crew out to Hollywood Blvd. to ask random kids where they think babies come from...(Read...)

We went out on the street and asked iPhone users if they wanted to try the new iPhone 7, which hasn’t even been released yet. Then we took their current iPhone, cleaned it, put it in a different case, handed them their own phone back and told them it was the iPhone 7. Do you think we found anyone who believed it?..(Read...)

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The post Karma for the honey thief. appeared first on Indexed.

I don’t discuss anybody’s pregnancy unless they bring it up. In my experience, expectant parents either can’t wait to talk about the pregnancy, or don’t want to talk about it at all.

Nobody is ever perfectly happy to discuss their pregnancy but not in a hurry to bring it up. If they don’t bring it up, it’s because they don’t want to talk about it, period. Oh, they’ll tell you they’re happy to discuss it, but in a flat tone of voice, while looking at you through narrowed eyes.

The worst-case scenario is bringing up someone’s pregnancy and finding out that they aren’t pregnant. The only way to get out of that faux-pas with honor involves cyanide pills.

 

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Who among us has actually read an actual book since the early aughts? Nonetheless, these paper artifacts played some important role in our society at some point (probably), so let’s pay homage to these adorable relics by feigning interest in the Great American Novel.

In honor of today being National Read a Book Day, here is an easy breakdown of our nation’s literary classics explained in a tweetable 140 characters (or less)…so you can act like you’ve read the American canon without having to be functionally literate.

The Catcher in the Rye

• Manic pixie dream boy goes on quest & feels all the feels #WhiteMalePrivilege

The Fountainhead

• Architect rants for 40 pages about working hard #Mansplaining

To Kill a Mockingbird

• Kids with hipster names solve mystery; learn about #ShitWhitePeopleSay

The Grapes of Wrath

• Drought, depression & dust #BreastIsBest #FreeTheNipple

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• A tour of Donald Trump’s America #MakeAmericaHateAgain

The Jungle

• Conditions for low-wage laborers haven’t improved much in the last century #ThanksObama #GetRichOrDieTrying

The Awakening

• Woman can’t even, so she doesn’t #ImWithHer

Moby Dick

• How to lose a whale in 1 voyage #Blackfish

The Sun Also Rises

• Americans in Europe get lit #SquadGoals

Their Eyes Were Watching God

• Fiercely independent woman finds true love but has to kill him cuz he contracts rabies #LoveWins #LeanIn

Thanks, National Read a Book Day, for rekindling our love of classics we never plan to read!

 _________________________________________________________

Jessica Besser-Rosenberg is a Chicago-based writer, improviser, and stand-up comedian and performs regularly at iO. Follow her at @JessGBR.

The post Classic Literature Explained Via Classic Hashtags appeared first on The Second City.

I once had a friend who was dissatisfied with their job, and when they finally arranged a promotion my friend pulled strings to get me the job they wanted out of.

I was desperate enough for a job at that point that I took their cast-off job happily.

Later, when I left that job, instead of replacing me with a new hire, they divvied all of my tasks up amongst my former co-workers, all of whom found it terribly demeaning, which did not do anything to make me feel bad about leaving.

 

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"Hidden Rainbow Hair for shy People who are bold Inside."..(Read...)

This lovely wooden USS Enterprise rocking horse from Etsy seller GandGRockers for $195, there’s some wonderful detailing on this miniature version of the Enterprise including warp engine nacelles, a tiny deflector dish beneath the saucer section, and the ship’s call sign branded on top of it...(Read...)

This is the gigantic Cockroach pool float manufactured by Kangaroo, and available on Amazon for $30. A creepy crawly inflatable pool toy!..(Read...)

Still feeling that Olympic energy flowing through you? Maybe it left you wondering who some of the greatest athletes of our time are? Well, espnW’s IMPACT25 list highlights 25 amazing women and a few of them just happen to be Olympians. If you caught some of the Olympics, you may recognize several of these faces, but there are also a few others to read up about. espnW teamed up with some Marvel illustrators to give these women the superhero treatment. So if you’re looking for the next Black Widow or Ms. Marvel, look no further. Check out a few of the pieces below.

Olympic darling Simone Biles effortlessly floats through the air, ready to save whoever might need her help. She just makes it look so easy!

World Cup and Olympic soccer star Carli Lloyd is The Boss in her very own story. The Boss knows how to take charge in order to save the day.

Katie Ledecky took the 2016 Summer Olympics by storm as the breakout star. But now she’s a superhero named Power Stroke and defends the ocean with her school of dolphins. Katie is the hero we always wanted.

Make sure to check out all of the espnW Impact stories and images. These women are as inspirational as any superhero and it’s exciting to watch them evolve over their careers.

What other superstars would you love to get the Marvel treatment? Let us know in the comments!

H/T: Vox

All Images Credit: espnW / Marvel

Do you ever miss those stories you got before bedtime as a child? Well LA-based illustrator Joey Spiotto is tapping into our childhood nostalgia with his “Storytime” series of Little Golden Book prints. But these aren’t the stories of your childhood. Instead, Spiotto has created adorable covers of our favorite geeky pop culture stories. From Star Wars to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The X-Files, there’s a print for everyone. Check out a few below.

This adorable Rey and BB-8 make us wish we could see them as little kids being read their bed time stories.

Oh wait, if this isn’t the cutest Peggy Carter you’ve ever seen, you’d be lying.

How does he do it? I don’t know, but I think it’s aliens.

And who you gonna call for more stories? The Ghostbusters obviously.

April O’Neil and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are pretty excited to have their own Little Golden Book.

Buffy and crew getting psyched to slay some vampires.

You can buy prints of these and plenty more of Spiotto’s work at his Etsy store. Now he’s launched a Kickstarter for an art book containing over 125 prints from his “Storytime” series. It met the original funding goal on day one, but you can still pre-order your very own copy of the art book.

Also, there’s this exclusive Kickstarter Stranger Things print which somehow manages to make Dustin even cuter than he was on the show.

Follow Spiotto on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get updates on his projects. Plus, make sure to check out his store and Kickstarter to grab some of this fantastic art for yourself.

What Little Golden Book art do you want to see next? Let us know in the comments!

 Image Credits: Joey Spiotto

Pelgrane Press recently released Seven Wonders, a collection of seven story games by red-hot, up and coming game designers. With innovative mechanics and fascinating settings, the book is a must-have for gamers who want to be on the cutting edge of the hobby.

So what is a story game? In the introduction, Pelgrane publisher Cat Tobin describes story games as “a way of collaboratively creating fiction, within particular narrative or structural constraints.” They are a kind of tabletop roleplaying game, but are usually incredibly light on mechanics. They’re played in a single setting, with the emphasis on the story, and not on success, die-rolling, or combat.

So what kind of gaming gems does Seven Wonders contain? Here are our three personal favorites.

When the Dark Is Gone — Becky Annison

This game asks what life would be like for the children from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe after they returned from Narnia and grew up. Probably, they’d be in therapy. Players–called “clients”–choose a mental disorder from which they suffer. They then work backwards from the disorder to what may have happened in their childhood journeys to give them that disorder. The GM or “therapist” then leads the clients in a group therapy session to resolve the issues, and recount shared incidents from their pasts.

Rise and Fall  — Elizabeth Lovegrove

Explore the rise and fall of a dystopian society in just three hours! Play is divided into three phases: Rise, Established Order, and Fall. Players create characters which will allow them to directly experience life under their dystopia in all three phases. The sky is the limit when it comes to dystopia creation. Players can make a fantasy dystopia, a steampunk dystopia, even a pony dystopia.

Nemesis 382 — Alex Helm

Your spaceship, after 20 years, approaches its destination: a black hole. Now it is up to you and the rest of the crew to complete your mission, and pilot your ship directly into the black hole. No one truly knows what lies beyond the black hole’s event horizon, so the only way to find out is to shoot some astronauts into it. You have volunteered for this possibly suicidal mission. But are you truly committed to the cause? Or will you decide to turn away from the black hole before it is too late? Nemesis 382 is a hard sci-fi story game of guts, decision, sacrifice, and science.

Other games include Heroes of the Hearth, which answers the question of what happens to loved ones left behind while heroes are off adventuring, Acceptable Losses which is about the life of the poor in a dystopic arcology, Small Things, which tells the tale of small things (little people, talking forks, sentient toys) protecting their home from threat, and Before the Storm, which tells the tale of heroes settling debts, forgiving slights, and remembering past deeds on the night before the battle which will decide the fate of the world.

Cat Tobin: Rising Star of RPG Publishing

Tobin was hired by Pelgrane in 2013, and in three short years became co-owner of the company. How does she account for her rise to the top?

Since joining Pelgrane, the company has seen the number of events it runs at Gen Con skyrocket from fewer than 10 to over 150. The company had a $120,000 Kickstarter, and won 15 ENnies, all while Tobin “worked hard to build a Pelgrane community that engages fans, and acknowledges the vital part they play…in our team,” she says.

Tobin states that Pelgrane Press owner Simon Rogers, “Recognized that my skill at ramping up production, while maintaining the quality we’ve built the brand on, meant it was worth keeping me. The cost of doing that was giving me half the company.”

Up next for Tobin and the Pelgrane crew is Cthulhu Confidential, which she describes as “a hard-boiled noir-flavoured Mythos game which launches our GUMSHOE One-2-One rules system, specifically designed for one player and one GM.”

While producing edgy story game anthologies such as Seven Wonders and nerd-standard hits like 13th Age and Trail of Cthulhu, Pelgrane Press appears to be setting a high bar for small press role-playing game companies.

Learn more about Pelgrane at their website here!

Have you played a story game? What was it like? Let us know in the comments below!

All images courtesy Pelgrane Press

 

Codenames is so ubiquitous that, unless you just thawed from carbon freezing, you’re stomach probably has warm and fuzzies from me just mentioning it. It won the 2016 Spiel des Jahres—which is kind of a big deal—and is so commonplace in the table top scene that you’ve probably played a game or two in your dreams. My buddy Ben is downright terrible as the Spymaster in that setting.

For all you Han Solos out there, this party game is simple. Two individuals are giving clues to their respective teammates. They take turns offering one word pointers that (hopefully) connect multiple face-up cards. The trick is that each of these Spymasters wants to link specific cards without accidentally leading their team members to guess the opponent’s. There’s even an assassin card which causes your team to automatically lose if chosen.

These leaders know which cards are theirs due to a nifty randomized solution grid only they can see. So, by looking at this key they need to fairly quickly scrape through the depths of their mind and find common linkages between the variations. While doing this you of course need to know who you are working with on the other side of the table. An obscure reference to Zack de la Rocha may not go over so well if you’re gaming with the local Church group.

Codenames: Pictures is the brand spanking new sequel to this immediate hit. Instead of a grid of randomized words in the center, we’re dealing with abstract pieces of art that are seriously trippy. You have stuff like a seahorse donning a saddle, melting clocks, and a car that’s half-lady bug. I didn’t know the ghost of Salvador Dali was up for board game commissions but here we are.

Regardless of images or words, Codenames succeeds because it’s a board game that makes you feel clever. Most titles in this genre want players to come up with clues to guess a single solution. This design has you coming up with clues that link multiple items, but it gives you freedom and room to reflect. This makes a sequence of giving a difficult lead followed by fantastic guesses exceptionally satisfying. You want to high-five your teammates and pull out that end zone celebration you’ve been honing your entire life.

Pictures doesn’t stray from this formula. Where it differs is primarily in how you formulate those clues. With plain words, it’s a more straightforward process to craftily come up with ways to exclude the cards belonging to your opponent. With illustrations, however, it can certainly be more challenging.

The difficulty here arises from the fact that most images can be linked to a great number of concepts. It’s like reverse engineering your clues from Codenames proper, but you have more options with each drawing. This means it can be more challenging to exclude cards. In early plays this will result in less confident answers and more dramatic swings.

Eventually the hump will be surmounted and you will adapt. The end result is an interesting twist on the Spiel des Jahres winner that has you working through altogether new mental challenges. The way it causes you to shift your mind and develop a new skill set is interesting. It can also be frustrating upon your first few plays if you’re stuck as Spymaster and struggle out of the gate. That strife is worth it as you will ultimately find a beautiful landscape beyond the wall.

Codenames: Pictures doesn’t reinvent the wheel or swerve off the road. It strays just enough from its roots to make for an interesting product. What’s most remarkable is that there is a great deal of utility in throwing down a mixed game of words and pictures for maximum delight. Let loose and mix it up; you won’t regret it.

Are you a Codenames fan? Looking forward to Pictures? Tell us in the comments below!

Cover image courtesy of Kevin Delp via BGG

All other images courtesy of Czech Games Edition

Yes. My middle name is Oscar.

I have a cousin who was born a few months before me, who is also named Scott Meyer. My understanding is that my parents liked the name and decided to use it as well. They differentiated my name from his by giving me the middle name Oscar. It didn’t make me any happier about the situation.

The sad thing is, I think Oscar is a really cool name. I might even prefer it to Scott, if it weren’t for my last name.

After putting this comic out there, I was made aware of this comic, which is very funny and much more concise than my take on the same idea.

 

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Ever wonder about the princesses who didn’t get a Disney movie made about them? Rejected Princesses tells the stories of women who, let’s just say, won’t be getting their very own animated kids movie anytime soon. On RejectedPrincesses.com, you can find Jason Porath’s versions of these stories. Having worked on many animated films himself, one day Jason thought, “What is the least likely woman to ever get the animated princess treatment?”. He then illustrated some of the stories he discovered. Check out a few below.

Meet Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the deadliest female sniper in history. I wouldn’t want to run into her in the woods. Or anywhere, honestly.

Or how about Kate Shelley who crawled across a bridge to save an oncoming passenger train?

Or a favorite Boudica, who was the headhunter and queen who burnt London to the ground. Okay, so she wasn’t the sweetest heroine by any means. But she was still pretty epic.

Want more stories? You’re in luck, the illustrations from Rejected Princesses are becoming a book! The book will contain “100 stories of badass historical and mythical women from all around the world, most of whom you’ve never heard of. Each entry has a page of illustration and a page or two of text.” And luckily, you can pre-order it now.

You can even get your copy of the book signed! Check out the details on RejectedPrincesses.com and make sure to follow Rejected Princesses on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with all of the latest badass historical female tales.
Which story from Rejected Princesses is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

All Images Credit: Rejected Princesses

The idea of the bowel cannon is one that predates the comic. It started out as a piece of stand-up material I could never get to work.

It’s amazing how many of my memories of my stand-up career start with the phrase “There was this bit I could never get to work ...”

The original idea was that a typical meal at a steakhouse—a bunch of bread followed by a big piece of meat followed by a cup of coffee—was analogous to the wadding, cannonball and explosive charge they used in breach loading cannons.

Back then I described the results in greater, or at least more graphic detail. The bit did not contain the word “analogous.” Drunk comedy club patrons in smaller towns do not take kindly to words like “analogous.”

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The post That place should sell beer. appeared first on Indexed.

Hey, Olympians who are female–way to go!

You’ve shattered that glass ceiling!

You make up 45% of the athletes competing in Rio this year, the highest-ever percentage in any Olympic Games.  But let’s not forget who got you there. The road to success is paved with the blood and sweat of all the great dudes who helped you along the way.  I’m looking at you, Corey Cogdell, or should I say Mrs. Chicago Bears Lineman?  Without your husband, you’d just be a two-time Olympic medalist.  

So let’s applaud all the other guys helping these women on their paths to victory!

Francis Scott Key

Thanks to this slave-owning white dude from the 19th century whose greatest triumph was writing our national anthem and fighting abolitionists, Gabby Douglas is getting all kinds of media attention. Nevermind she was the Olympic All-Around Gold Medalist in 2012 and is piling on even more hardware in Rio.  Instead of focusing on her athletic battle, she’s defending herself against claims she is not patriotic enough (She stood reverently for the “Star Spangled Banner,” instead of putting her hand over her heart.)

Because representing your country with grace, aplomb and strength doesn’t scream “I love America!!!” loudly enough.

Sean Abrams, ‘Maxim’ contributor 

These elite, talented competitors have spent years perfecting their skills in preparation for their true moment of glory: making Maxim’s list of the 10 Hottest Female Olympians, curated by one Sean Abrams.  Sure, the endless and grueling training had the nice side effect of making Brazilian volleyballer Jacqueline Carvalho a two-time gold medalist, but the true reward for all that hard work was her banging bod.  

Because the Olympics are only once every four years, but the male gaze lasts a lifetime. Or at least until a younger group of females come along in 2020.

Michael Phelps, circa 2006

Without the touching image of Michael Phelps signing an autograph for 9-year-old Katie Ledecky in 2006, we wouldn’t have the backstory we need to understand why one of the greatest athletes of all time, an actual world record holder, started swimming.  

Because 2016 Michael Phelps isn’t getting enough media coverage.

Al Trautwig, sportscaster

This NBC sports commentator put the focus right where it needed to be–on the irrelevant minutia about who Simone Biles’ parents are or are not.  It finally got people talking about the Olympian, whose vault and floor routines crushed so hard that she delivered her team a round of gold medals by a record-setting margin and has been declared the Greatest Gymnast Ever in the History of Gymnastics.

Nice work Al!

Sportscasters Jim Watson, Peter Mansbridge, Dan Hicks, Rowdy Gaines, Carsten Sostmeier, Han Qiaosheng and Byron MacDonald

This esteemed group is responsible for reminding us all that these female competitors are great athletes, but also women, so let’s not forget that these gals are ladies, too…

And did we mention that they’re women?

__________________________________________________________

Liz Reuss is a Chicago-based writer and actor.  Follow her @liz_reuss.

The post Behind Every Great Man is a Great Woman… Who Is Blocking Our View of Another Great Man appeared first on The Second City.

Here are some of the best "dives" from yesterday's 2016 Dødsing (Norwegian for "death diving") World Cup in Frogner, Norway...(Read...)

Kids have it so easy these days with all the streaming options. When I was in 7th grade the only way we could watch stuff was in the computer lab on those candy-colored iMacs that Jeff Goldblum drunkenly sold. That thing we would watch of course was Homestar Runner.

Starring the titular Homestar Runner (an oblivious goofball with no arms), Strong Bad (a rude dude in a Lucha Libre mask), and the rest of Free Country, USA, it is a flash animated web series that feels like a stream of consciousness of kitsch, early internet parody, and pop culture detritus all from the minds of two brothers, Michael Chapman and Matthew Chapman aka The Brothers Chaps.

Through all its permutations, the weirder the world got (Trogdor!!!) the more endearing it felt (‘The Cheat Is Not Dead’ episode). While the site only updates every once and awhile now (its heyday being the early 2000s), the brothers have gone on to do other things (Matt Chapman wrote eleven episodes of the modern animated classic Gravity Falls). In the last year though they’ve been collaborating again on a project/show called Two More Eggs for Disney XD’s YouTube.

With their second season premiering recently, Two More Eggs is a delightful collection of weirdness and unhinged silliness where “halosche” is a standard catchphrase, Hot Dip is the popular snack mascot your mom warned you about, and Dooble (a Homsar-like slacker who may or may be as mad as a hatter) reigns supreme like some twisted Tom Bombadil. Two More Eggs is what YouTube would be like if the platform existed in the Homestar Runner Universe and once you start watching you’ll get swept up in The Brothers Chaps’ hilarious new world. Check out some of my favorites below:

What are your favorite Homestar Runner cartoons? Have you been checking out Two More Eggs? Let us know in the comments below!