For no particular reason, here are some impressive feats of athleticism posted on Imgur.
That would be weightlifter, gymnast, and cheerleader Mattie Rogers (via TommyTheCatIsMyName on Imgur).
Here’s an impressive one from the comment section involving cheerleaders: Continue reading
The owner of Instagram superstar Jen Selter’s butt, whose name is Jen Selter, now has a fitness column in the New York Post. This does not affect my life in any way, except to cause mild amusement. I mean, good for her, but the usefulness of her fitness advice to others remains dubious, as a summary of her column about helping her mom get in shape seems to indicate (no, I didn’t read the original column):
According to Selter, her physique has nothing to do with genetics. Conveniently, this quote is placed very close to an image of Jen Selter standing next to her mother, who looks a lot like an older Jen Selter because that’s how genetics work — your parents hand you a set of traits that can manifest in different ways depending on an extent to personal choices and environment, and you kind of have to play the hand you’re dealt. Nothing. To. Do. With. Genetics. Continue reading
Let’s face it: people are posting too many pictures of their food to social media sites, especially Instagram. I know, I know. I don’t have to look at the pictures, and no one is suggested imposing a legal ban on food pictures (so keep your First Amendment rants to yourself, thank you much). It’s just an irritating trend. In fact, pictures of food topped BuzzFeed’s list of “11 Things No One Wants to See You Instagram.”
That said, I will freely admit that I post pictures of food on occasion. On. Occasion.
The world needs to know that these exist. I regret nothing.
I am not a prolific poster on Instagram. I may post to Facebook every five minutes, according to some who probably wish they had my type of ADHD, but I try to limit photos to things that are interesting, unique, or for which I have an awesome caption. I do post pictures of food from time to time. Just this week, I posted a picture of the beignet pancakes I had at Kerbey Lane, because how often does anyone get to eat beignet pancakes? How awesome is the very concept of beignet pancakes??? Beignet freaking pancakes!!!!!!!
(I also reserve the right to post pictures of ridiculously overblown chili cheeseburgers and absurdly large cinnamon rolls. The common thread is a unique mix of superlative qualities and hyperbole.)
Apparently, some people have taken amateur food photography to a whole new level, according to the New York Times:
There are the foreign tourists who, despite their big cameras, tend to be very discreet. There are those who use a flash and annoy everyone around them. There are those who come equipped with gorillapods — those small, flexible tripods to use on their tables.
There are even those who stand on their chairs to shoot their plates from above.
People, get over yourselves. I mean, I know this is all taking place in Manhattan, the home of pretension those of us in the provinces can scarcely imagine, but really, gorillapods?
The solutions some of these restaurants have found, however, might be even more annoying than the food photography: Continue reading
“If you see the finger-mustache guy on the road, kill him!” -Zen Master Linji [citation needed]
When I first discovered Tumblr, it appeared to be largely devoted to pictures of empty Starbucks cups framing a slightly out-of-focus Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the background. When I joined Pinterest, the boards automatically assigned to me, which the system seemed to think I would like, consisted mainly of pictures of tiaras. I am not kidding. Instagram was closed off to me for most of its still-short life, on account of my not having an iPhone. I remedied that last summer, but I wouldn’t say I entirely understand what Instagram is all about. Thankfully, the comical folks at College Humor have let me know that I am not alone:
Here’s the thing, though. Several wise friends have pointed out that hating on hipsters and hipster-y things has reached a point of becoming pretty hipster-y in and of itself. I’m not going to stop ripping on the most annoying of the hipster tropes, but I am going to try to be a bit more thoughtful about it.
Instagram and its ilk brings to mind Sturgeon’s Law: “Ninety percent of everything is crap.”
This applies to any and all forms and genres of media, be it visual arts, television, or cleverly-filtered smart phone pictures of half-eaten gnocchi from a deli on the Lower East Side. (Do they have delis on the Lower East Side? I haven’t been to Manhattan in eleven years, and even then I was not required to navigate.) (Also, do they serve gnocchi in delis?) (What exactly is gnocchi?)
Somewhere amid all the detritus (and by detritus, I mean “pictures of finger mustaches”) are a few bits of awesome. Yes, there is more detritus out there, in part because there are more people in the world, but mostly because more of the people have access to the internet, and the means to take and post pictures. Some people genuinely believe their pictures are meaningful, while others believe posting bad pictures is a good idea. I’m sure we have all fit in both categories at times. If you can get past the coffee foam and blurry sunsets, every so often something good will pop up.
And while you’re waiting to find it, you can join me in derisive laughter at finger mustache guy.
Photo credit: ‘Fingerstache’ by Vorhese [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikipedia.
