Today saw the release of two distinctively creepy indie film trailers: the first is disturbing predominantly in its name and the obsession of its main character, if not its (seemingly light) tone. Manson Family Vacation, starring Jay Duplass, follows the Transparent actor and Togetherness/Cyrus/Baghead director’s character as he’s immersed in his brother’s obsession with Charles Manson. Together, the two go on a road trip, bonding as they visit Manson Family murder sites and are led, per the official description, “into the modern-day world of Charles Manson.” Though it’s hard to tell what the trailer for the other of the two films is about, it does a good job hinting that it’s about something that’ll disturb us: in Reed Morano’s Meadowland, Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson’s characters “come unhinged” after “unimaginable loss” — respectively experiencing the plunge into a “fever dream” and moral deterioration.
Though Charles Manson and psychological horrors may haunt you, one real, current danger, according to Uproxx, is the big bad selfie. Allegedly, this year, 12 people have died while attempting to capture a selfie; Uproxx puts it in perspective by noting that eight people have died in shark attacks. Should you meet an untimely end whilst taking a selfie — or doing anything else, for that matter — a new service is being offered that’ll preserve your tattoos…in frames. Save My Ink uses “a chemical and enzymatic process that permanently alters the chemical structure thus permanently fixing [the tattooed skin sample] against decomposition.” Read so much more (and see photos) over at Hyperallegic.
Another source of disquiet: not understanding New Yorker cartoons. As The Atlantic points out, since 2006, there’s been a series of saintly individuals who’ve provided an easy fix to such difficulties: noting that certain comprehensible captions could apply to every New Yorker cartoon. A new one — “Hi, I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” — surfaced today, thanks to designer Frank Chimero. Soon, other people on Twitter started tweeting their own, and the results are pretty spectacular.