F5.5G Leap-forward Development of Broadband in Africa The Africa Broadband Forum 2024 (BBAF 2024) was successfully held in Cape Town, South Africa recently, under…
The funniest, interesting, weird and thought provoking Tumblrs of 2012
Since Tumblr’s launch in 2007 it has grown immensely, gathering over 77-million mini-blogs as of October 2012. Since 2010, the site has grown more than 25 000 users a day and now more than 71-million posts are created daily on the site. Boasting celebs like Lady Gaga, Zooey Deschanel and John Mayer, it was also the first blogging platform to host President Barack Obama’s blog.
By being open to a multitude of different kinds of posts, blogs and viral videos, Tumblr has an immense amount of material. From serious bloggers to once-off viral memes it’s all there. Choosing the best was therefore never going to be easy. Many Tumblrs are country dependent, but there are some who make it through the myriad posts and have serious international clout. We chose some of the best to emerge in 2012.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh0AhrY9GjA&w=650&h=488]
Probably the funniest accidental viral videos of the year have to be the overly attached girlfriend. What started out as a I-can’t-sing-but-hell-just-for-fun-I’ll-make-a-creepy-video moment turned Laina Walker into an international meme buffet. With her huge eyes and creepy smile as a background, millions of parodies floated around on the internet, and her original Justin Bieber competition video reached more than 13-million views on YouTube. This is one of the most prolific and updated of memes you will find on the internet.
The funniest things mostly come from out of nowhere. Unexpected. Text From Dog has spawned numerous humorous memes. With the owner of the blog remaining anonymous, Dog has always been more than happy to give interviews. Still, even as Dog is “the one with the talent”, the owner has now managed to get a book deal. The best day-to-day laugh of the year.
Dive into the mostly unseen world of the photojournalist. With the immense amount of photo images floating around on the web (just imagine the web without images), the difficult and inspiring work of photojournalists has become almost unnoticed because of the influx of images of everything from everywhere.
Not everyone can create art with a thousand words from just an image. Sure, all the apps and digital equipment we get nowadays make it easy for most to “take a pretty picture”, but looking through the gallery of fotojournalismus tells a story that should rock you back to reality of what photography really is about.
Images are mostly garnered from the Associated Press and Reuters with minimal commentary. Truly a site that will make you think, experience, cry, laugh and sometimes scare you off the world we live in. There is nothing fake here…
Before you recycle your old newspapers, grab a permanent marker, be a bit creative and create poetry. While some might say he is a conspiracy theorist, for Austin Kleon it’s just an outpouring of his imagination to create newspaper poetry.
Blocking out certain “unwanted” words in newspaper articles, he manages to create sayings or poetry or whatever you feel it might be. It’s all up for interpretation. Guests can make posts to his blog, and anything from the funny to thought-provoking and even the downright silly can have an impact.
Awesome People Hanging Out Together
Quite self-explanatory, and a little entertaining in a mindless way, Awesome People Hanging Out Together is a collection of celebs literally hanging out together or photographed at a moment in time.
Even though it won’t change your life, it is hugely entertaining to see the odd couplings we would never have imagined. Famous comedians, rockers, politicians and whoever has been listed in history are seen together in some of the most interesting and oddest pairings. And some of the images are quite interesting, not so Mr Bogart…
Focusing on various topics such as the Middle East, gender equality, conflict and the growing changes in many parts of the world, The Political Notebook is a ground-breaking foreign affairs blog. Centering mostly on Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, the Middle East and South Asia, it is a jumble of political analysis, discussions and real-time news.
As described by its creator Torie Rose DeGhett: “Someone once called it ‘news, politics, and spunk!’ That’s probably the best and most succinct description I can come up with for TPN”. In the same breath, there is International Crisis Group that is worth looking at as well.
Falling again into the area of mindless but revealing, The Burning House lets users answer the question of “what would you take with you when the house is burning down?” With as much ability to waste your time as Awesome People Hanging Out Together has, the posts reveal quite a lot about what people consider to be important in their lives.
Users have also become pedantic in their choices, as is displayed by the layout of items photographed, such as a German soldier’s footlocker. From the obvious choices of iPhones and pets (maybe even a family member or two), to the weird and wonderful like a half a bottle of tequila and a collection of polka dot bow-ties (huh?). You have to wonder…
