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Is will.i.am’s ‘#willpower’ the Death Knell for the Hashtag?

By Tom Hawking on

There should be a law that adoption by the ghastly will.i.am immediately signals the absolute official end of a phenomenon’s cultural credibility. As such, it’s interesting in a mildly queasy way that he’s chosen to bless his fourth solo album — working title: Black Einstein — with the oh-so-hip moniker #willpower. And, just in case you didn’t get the fact that he’s down with the Internet kidz, its lead single is called “#thatPower.” Oh yes, dear readers, will.i.am is all about the hashtag. … Read More

Music

Why We Probably Won’t Use Twitter Music

By Tom Hawking on

We wrote yesterday about what we were expecting from Twitter’s much-anticipated new music application, based on the tidbits of information that were already available. It turns out that the application arrived earlier than we expected, launching this morning, and we’ve spent the last couple of hours playing around with it. So what is it, what does it do, and most importantly, is it any good? Read on to find out. … Read More

Web

Crowdfunded Culture: 5 New Projects That Are Worth Your Money

By Mark Mangan on

Welcome to Crowdfunded Culture, a new bi-weekly Flavorwire series in which we sift through the stacks of half-baked ideas on various funding platforms and hone in on a few that might be worthy of your money — endeavors which we think could make the world a slightly better place, or more importantly, could actually pay out. … Read More

Web

The Best April Fools’ Jokes From Around the Web

By Alison Herman on

April Fools’ jokes are tricky, and not just because it’s way too easy to forget the date and believe Gmail’s about to turn blue for a few minutes. They’re also hard to get right: they need to be believable, but not too believable; absurd, but not totally out of left field. And most importantly, they need to leave your readers feeling in on the joke, rather than cheated and pissed off. We’ve compiled the highlights (or, depending on your viewpoint, lowlights) of today’s pranks from around the Web. From the email of the future to an Aaron Sorkin-esque HR move at a comics giant, here are the headlines that made us smile, cringe, and sometimes both. … Read More

Web

Helpful (and Hilarious) New York City Etiquette GIFs

By Jason Bailey on

Our (and by “our,” we mean the Internet, as a collective) obsession with GIFs serves many purposes: immortalizing catchphrases, making pithy points, creating hilarious juxtapositions, churning out cat superstars. But the GIF can also be an effective educational tool, as evidenced by “NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette,” a wonderful new GIF series by New York-based artist Nathan W. Pyle. “I’ve lived in the city for 4 1/2 years now,” he explains on his blog, “and I’ve decided to start writing down some of the things I’ve learned in my time here.” His notes thus far are both accurate and important — particularly the one about the empty subway cars. (Good heavens. There are certain things you can’t unsee/unsmell.) Check out some of Pyle’s best GIF tips (GIps?) after the jump. … Read More

Web

Brilliant and Bizarre Nail Art Inspired by Internet Memes

By Jennifer Lewis on

Running out of nail art ideas? If so, don’t be a Grumpy Cat — why not Zoidberg? Over the past year, we’ve brought you everything from literature-inspired nail art to artist-inspired nail art to comic-inspired nail art. Now, because we’re in the mood to paint “all the” nails, it’s time to bring you a selection of nail art inspired by your favorite Internet/Reddit sensations. Check ‘em out after the jump, and hit the comments to let us know which Rage Face best suits your thoughts. … Read More

Web

Adventures in Fandom on New .GIF Search Engine Giphy

By Alison Herman on

The idea behind new search engine Giphy is so brilliantly simple we’re shocked no one’s come up with it before (and the site’s creator’s know it, too; the tagline is “This is Giphy. You’re welcome.”) Instead of forcing Tumblr addicts to keep massive animated .GIF folders of all their favorite reaction shots, Giphy designed a clean, efficient search engine for the Internet’s favorite image format. Even in the age of relatively mainstream blogs like What Should We Call Me, though, a glance at Giphy’s front page reveals that the site caters to the kind of dedicated fandoms that popularized the .GIF in the first place. So, in further service to the cult followings that obsess over Sherlock, Honey Boo Boo, Community, and other online favorites, we’ve compiled the best that Giphy has to offer for fans of the Internet’s most hashtagged topics. … Read More

Web

This 'Game of Thrones'-Themed Minecraft World Will Blow Your Mind

By Caroline Stanley on

Thanks to The Verge, we just came across an incredibly detailed Game of Thrones-themed Minecraft world that is sure to wow the George R. R. Martin fans in our audience. Their impressive rendering of the King’s Landing alone features 3,000 unique buildings with fully-decorated interiors, and apparently took 100 builders a little over four months to complete. The exciting news: The talented team behind “WesterosCraft” plans on turning the entire project into a “giant, open world RPG with quests and NPCs” when they’re finished. In the meantime, click through to explore renderings of just a bit of what they’ve come up with so far! … Read More

Web

In Defense of the Hashtag

By Alison Herman on

For a website that only deals in tiny posts — 140 characters, to be exact — Twitter has managed to step on some pretty big toes: the entire French language, if France’s Academie Francaise is to be believed. In an effort to keep the English-language term from contaminating the mother tongue, the government agency has ruled that French citizens are to be discouraged from using the term and ought to replace it with “mot-diese” (which, as many users have already pointed out, ironically doesn’t work as a hashtag because it contains a punctuation mark). But that’s not the only reason why the hashtag is worth preserving. Read on for an ode to the symbol that revolutionized microblogging and its myriad uses. … Read More

Web

In Case You Missed It: From Famous People's Business Cards to the Next Bechdel

By Caroline Stanley on

This week on Flavorwire, we were a little more obsessed with famous people than we usually are around these parts, examining everything from their fascinating business cards to their final photographs to the evolution of their private jets. We met the people who hang out at New York’s public libraries and eight worthy successors to Alison Bechdel. We got an interesting look at some lovely burlesque performers both costumed and in the nude. … Read More