Ellery

Last hour to buy! Thanks one last time everyone. We're so happy to be able to make this book the way we want to make it.

It's good to share household chores just to help spread the load, but there can be some interesting side effects as well. A study by the University of British Columbia found that dads who help out around the home might be more likely to raise ambitious daughters.

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Technological mandala 30. Electronic components, copper wire, paper, 122 cm x 122 cm, 2013.

Technological mandala 30, detail

Technological mandala 27. Electronic components, copper wire, paper, 150cm x 150 cm, 2013.

Technological mandala 15. Electronic components, copper wire, paper, wood frame, 80 cm x 80 cm, 2014.

Technological mandala 34. Electronic components, copper wire, paper, wood frame, 76 cm x 76 cm x 7 cm, 2014.

Multimedia artist Leonard Ulian (previously here and here) has a number of new mandalas and wrapped books created using a variety of soldered radio and computer components. The mandala is traditionally known as a spiritual and ritual symbol in both Hinduism and Buddhism meant to represent the universe, but through his deep interest in how systems can be applied to the process of art making, Ulian has adopted mandala patterns to create symmetrical networks. The artist most recently had work on view at The Flat, and you can see much more on Ulian’s website. (via Beautiful Decay)

In an fascinating mix of papercraft, set design, and animation, artist duo Davy and Kristin McGuire bring stories to life inside these exquisitely built paper dioramas. With the aid of digital projection mapping the pair have created several theatrical installations including The Hunter and Psycho which netted the Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award and subsequently lead to The Paper Architect. You can see more of their work on their website, and on Vimeo. (via Laughing Squid)

Victor Frankowski / Brighton Festival

Victor Frankowski / Brighton Festival

Victor Frankowski / Brighton Festival

Victor Frankowski / Brighton Festival

World-renowned choreographer and artist William Forsythe (previously) has just unveiled his latest “choreographic object,” an old municipal market space filled with hundreds of suspended pendulums that swing in timed sequences. As visitors move through the space they are forced to duck, dodge, and dart through the rows of swinging weights (technically plumbobs) resulting in an impromptu dance. Forsythe is known for his unique blend of choreography and artwork where the viewer often becomes a participant in his interactive installations.

Titled “Nowhere and Everywhere at the Same Time No. 2,” the exhibition is located at Circus Street Market as part of the Brighton Festival, an annual arts festival in England. Stop by and you can practice your advanced avoidance strategies for free through May 25, 2014. Film by Shy Camera. (via My Modern Met)

BuzzFeed plays the ole gender-swap card this week with a new video that flips the script and shows men playing movie roles made famous by women.

Finally, a man giving a gratuitous peen flash in the style of Sharon Stone a la Basic Instinct. That should make for some great GIFage on Tumblr for the rest of the week.

Today's comic is a response to this individual.

New exclusive comic at The Nib this week!

So you probably already knew about Twinks and Bears and Chicken Hawks, but turns out the gay Animal Kingdom is a virtual cornucopia of classifications: Tootsie Pops, Swallows, Giraffes, Raccoons, Canadian Goose – each term describes a very specific type of gay. This clever video field guide from Adventures In Gay will help you distinguish between species.

I learned a few things here. I’m evidently part giraffe, with a bit of Fruit Roll-Up somewhere in my heritage.

They won’t tell you that on Ancestry.com!

The post Entire Gay Animal Kingdom Defined appeared first on thebacklot.com.

Math is way more fun when it's lent some narrative, some purpose—and we've never seen a better example than this stunning noir cartoon which explains fractals. You have to watch it.

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Thanks to the geeks in the SMBC facebook group for convincing me to do this one.

Hot off the presses, Gaming in Color is streaming now, over on VHX. The best part: it’s pay-what-you-want, so you can watch it for as little as $1. (But you should probably chip in more, because come on.)

The doc dives deep into the game world, interviewing everyone from casual gaymers and industry insiders about queerness in gaming. What we see is a familiar story: while some folks find companionship and solace in games, others find that their online interactions are even more homophobic than in real life.

The documentary charts the abuse that gaymers face, but it also highlights the community that they create and the progress that the industry has made. Slowly but surely, mainstream games are featuring more inclusive content. A decade or so ago, it would have been unthinkable for a major title like Mass Effect to include a gay storyline for the main character. But there it is! And with it comes a persistent nudge to the larger gaming community to remember that LGBTs like games too.

Another major highlight is the 2013 GaymerX convention in San Francisco. Thousand of queer gamers descended on SF’s Japantown for several days of panels, tournaments, cosplay and dancing. It was a major milestone for the gayming community: everyone coming together to say “hey look! We exist, and there are a lot of us, and we are awesome!”

Now would probably be a good time to pop on over to our gallery of cosplay cuties from last year’s convention. So many sexy nerds!

And it’s going to be happening again, from July 11-13. Tickets are on sale now, starting at $70 for a three-day badge. We’ll be there, challenging anyone we can find to a MarioKart DS showdown.

Not everyone can afford a separate computer or tablet for each member of the family, so you have to learn to share. It's not that difficult, as long as you set things up right and are willing to cooperate.

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By Chris Bucholz  Published: April 15th, 2014  So a few months ago, I became a dad for the first time (I had already been an aunt for several years by that point). And within days of this momentous event, I began detecting a new welling of activity in my head. No, it wasn't love, nor was it empat

Comedian Justin Sayre helpfully explains the newly revived hanky code. This time around it’s not about your sexual interests, but rather, your emotional baggage.

According to this new code I’m apparently “olive hanky left.” What are you?

 

The post The Hanky Code Returns! appeared first on thebacklot.com.

Kerpow!

Deep kitchen cabinet drawers are great for stashing your pots and pans away, but they can also easily turn into a mess. This DIY project brings order to that drawer, and the panels can be repositioned any way you like in the future.

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New poster in store!

Starpocalypse will be at the Big Easy film festival! If you're in New Orleans and wanna see our dirty jokes on a big screen late at night, this is the place.

Tuesday morning, the crew at Denver's Fox affiliate KDVR tried to show some photos from today's helicopter crash in Seattle. Instead, they accidentally aired a picture of a flaccid penis. [NSFW, obviously]

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Netherlands-based artist Redmer Hoekstra draws fascinating composite illustrations that merge animals and everyday objects or machines, from a lizard with computer keyboard scales to an owl with books for wings. At times he even brings three or more forms together, as with a whale emerging from a submarine, the entirety of which has the appearance of a banana. Whether you regard the pieces as humorous or slightly disturbing, it’s hard to deny the ingenious way each creature is formed.

Hoekstra has more work over on Behance and you can pick up postcards, prints and other things in his shop.

You, handling customer calls for a satellite-dish network, took a service call from my mother. She wanted a technician to come out to her house in the middle of the desert. But you had experience with stroke victims, and you convinced her to gather her many remote controls, park in front of the screen, and do her best to follow your directions and get service restored without a tech visit. For 45 minutes you guided her, taught her, talked to her. You offered her the kindness and patience that many people who have known her for decades have abandoned because they are too busy, this world moves too quickly, and her thoughts and words are now too slow for them to deal with. She read words, pressed numbered buttons in specific sequences, and navigated through remotes and screens until finally all was right in the TV world again—but only with your help. She floored my stepfather, who believed her recovery had all but stopped dead in its tracks. This woman—who, one year ago, lost all concept of time, dates, numbers, and names—was given a renewed sense of hope and the best day she has had in a long time because of your kindness. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, from a very faraway daughter.

Commiserate with commenters and complain about the dust in your eye at I, Anonymous.

Something tells me this would have inevitably happened, with or without the alcohol impairing their judgement.



See more: It’s Just the Alcohol Talking

First: watch the video. Created by Swedish designer Erik Åberg the Ghostcube is a fascinating system of interlocking wood cubes that can be twisted, turned, and folded to create increasingly complex shapes reminiscent of origami. The Ghostcube variations demonstrated in the video above seem to rely on hinges that connect all of the various pieces together. Åberg appears to have open-sourced the design in 30 minutes of video footage which you can purchase from his website. (via The Awesomer)

Hey geeks! I did another EXCLUSIVE COMIC over at The Nib.