Face-Off With a Deadly Predator

The wild. Scary and beautiful.

Bag Art

Something Citrusy

Halloween's over but there are still some monsters out there! Find one is this funny comic strip from the folks over at Explosm.net.

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

Happy Halloween! Well, almost. Anyway, here's a Halloween classic: It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! Watch it streaming for free right here on Web Diversions.

The video does take a little while to load. Please be patient.

Peanuts: Specials: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Ep. 101)
Uploaded by Peanuts. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Carve a Virtual Jack o' Lantern

Hey Halloweenies. Just two days to the spookiest holiday of the year. Get into the spirit with a little online pumpkin carving!

Online Magnetic Poetry

Today we have another great recommendation from our long-time reader and occasional west-coast correspondent, Kate F.

This is one of those things that falls under the category simple but addictive (we should probably have a tag for that huh?). Magnetic poetry is awesome, so why not do it online. And you're not the only one moving things around: you don't have your own individual page, so any changes any one else in the world makes will show up on your page too. So maybe you'll start a poem and someone in Korea will finish it. Pretty cool.

A music video from the U.N.

Dude, the U.N. totally rocks. Fer serious.

The video takes a minute to load but it's worth it, I promise.

Bizzarre Google Suggestions

Google Suggest is a surprisingly useful tool. I'd say I usually get about half way through typing in a search term before Google tells me what I was searching for. But sometimes Google comes up with things that are, well, a little odd.

Check out the Huffington Post's photo poll on the Most Inappropriate Google Suggests Of All Time. Make sure to submit any weird suggestions you've gotten.

Community: Spanish Rap

The flu is kicking my butt so please excuse the lack of eloquence. This is a clip from the new NBC show "Community" which, from my Hulu browsing, is proving to be surprisingly funny. Enjoy! (And please send me some soup).

Friday Drive In: Dave Eggers on Ted Talks

I just applied to volunteer for the New York branch of the amazing institution 826. So I thought this would be a good time to spread the word a little. The video tells the story of the organization better than I could so I'll let it do the talking.

In case you live under a literary rock, Dave Eggars, besides being the founder of 826 is also the man behind McSweeney's, "The Best American Non-Required Reading" series, and a few novels including his first and most well-known: A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Detroit Unbound

As a former Michigander and lover of urban decay I find James D. Griffioen's images, "Detroit Unbound", beautiful and compelling. For those of you not familiar with what's going on in Detroit, the combination or riots, white flight, and the dying American auto industry has left what was once the the fourth largest city in the country a veritable ghost town. The Detroit News has reported that "According to the U.S. Postal Service, there are 62,000 uninhabited buildings and vacant lots throughout Detroit." ("Empty Monuments", August 17, 2009). Entire blocks stand deserted and there is a growing urban farming trend to make use of all this empty real estate.

If you enjoy Detroit unbound, check out more images from Smashing Magazine.

Friday Drive In: Combo

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Curveball

Curveball is basically just a 3D version of Pong. But like many of the simplest games it's highly addictive.

Odosketch

Dust off your beret and get to work. Odosketch is an online tool that let's you create very natural sketches that look like they were done with colored pencils. It tracks your movements as you draw, so when you're done you can watch a video of your sketch being created.

Some of the featured sketches are truly amazing. Especially as someone who isn't an artist it's fascinating to me to watch the process people use to create these amazing images.

Friday Drive In: American Retirement

The British comedy duo French and Saunders bring you a hilarious look at what the British think of us Yanks.

Incredibox

For you long time readers you may remember the signing horses from way back in June 2007. It's remained one of my favorite posts and today's site is a similar but more developed concept.

On Incredibox mix a song by selecting up to 7 loops from the 14 available. When you've used a certain combination of loops it opens "bonuses" which are basically musical break downs with an accompanying visual.

Keep in mind when playing with Incredibox: the order in which you select loops effects how the loops that come after it sound. To get rid of a loop just tap on the guy performing it.

Radiolab Podcast: Parasites!

The WNYC show Radiolab delivers up fascinating tidbits about science, presented in compelling narratives. You can subscribe to their podcasts via iTunes or at the Radiolab website.

Tonight they are having a live event at Water Taxi Beach here in New York. Unfortunately it's sold out so I won't be attending but if any video of it surfaces don't be surprised to find it here.

Here's an mp3 of their latest episode, Parasites. Just so you're warned: there are some kind of gross parts in this episode.

WNYC Bake Sale Disaster

I love NPR and especially my local station in New York, WNYC. Like all public radio stations they're always asking for money but they also always make it funny and interesting. Check out this hilarious fundraising video. It even features one of my favorite public radio hosts, Jad Abumrad from the awesome show Radio Lab.

Mad Men is Back (and so is Web Diversions!)

This week brought the season premire of what we here at Web Diversions think is one of the best shows on televison: AMC's Mad Men. And today is the premier of Web Diversions triumphant return to regular updates!

The AMC website has two great games to celebrate Mad Men's return. First, "Mad Men Yourelf", which allows you to create your own Mad Men-style avatar.


Then, test your 1962 knowledge with the Mad Man 1962 trivia quiz.

Top Crimes of 2008

There were a lot of shady dealings in 2008. Wired Blog has been kind enough to compile the seven best capers of the year. I think the Snohomish Smokescreen is the clear winner. Vote for your favorite.