Do that other stuff later. This is more fun!
75 Abandoned Theaters - this photo roundup contains mostly exterior shots (which are still fascinating) but there are also some breathtaking (not to mention heartbreaking) interiors like this:
Absolutely swoon-worthy urban decay. Hit the link to see the rest.(Thanks to Laura for the link!)
Worth a Thousand Words...A Photo Blog
This is a parody page, and if you've ever wandered through Tumblr or other hipster-ish, pretentious photoblogs you'll get plenty of LOLs out of it. From the overly dramatic descriptions to the post apologizing for not posting to the insanely ridiculous "share" buttons (which made me laugh so hard I scared the cats), it's well worth a read. (Found via @urlesque)
Reader Vita X. found this free online game sure to delight you literature geeks. Playing as Nick Carraway, you throw your hat to defeat waiters, jugglers, and party-goers in search of Gatsby himself. Here's a screen-shot:
Did I mention this is a Nintendo game from 1990? :D The guy who converted it for online play found it a garage sale for fifty cents, and it's apparently quite popular now. You can even buy t-shirts at his site. Heh. Anyway, it's well worth playing for a minute or five or ten.So tell me, guys, what's got you wasting time this week?
Those pinups are super neat!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the pinups thing!
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of "pin," it's Pinterest that's wasting my time this week. Unfortunately I can't "pin it" from work which is a shame 'cause that's where I read most blogs.
I LOVE the photoblog!! That just cracked me up.
ReplyDeleteAnd I found the pinups absolutely fascinating. Thanks. :)
The only other thing I did today in procrastinating with something worthwhile was looking at a slideshow of funny signs on the Ellen Show page. Now that is some funny stuff! :)
Thank you for posting the Photo Blog link, that seriously cracked me up!
ReplyDeleteThere's actually a LOT of size adjustments in the pin up before and afters. Take a look at their waists! And the legs are longer and thinner and the boobs are made bigger and rounder and perkier in almost every one.
ReplyDeleteI saw that theater thing and immediately thought of you, Jen! I figure you'd already seen it at some point.
ReplyDeletePhotoblog cracked me up.
Those theatre photos are just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to look at how the concept of 'beauty' changes over the years.
Speaking of hipster photoblogs! You may actually like these:
http://geek-art.tumblr.com/
http://steamscrapbook.tumblr.com/
I know I do.
I had to go check out that "photoblog" just to see the share buttons that were so funny, and I tell you, I was absolutely speechless. Speechless, I tell you. Thank you, THANK YOU, for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAlso, what I think is absolutely fascinating about the pin-up site: the "after" shots may look like the model had been topless (with a strategically placed towel, hand, etc.) but the model actually had her skivvies on still when the photo was taken. Even pin up models had enough self respect to keep their shirts on. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteI'm with EG. Pintrest has me distracted all week. I keep checking it to see what my friends have discovered!
ReplyDeleteIt's highly addicting. My friend just accused me of not pinning enough just so she could feel like she wasn't pinning too much. :)
I've got finals this week, so my procrastination mode is in hyperdrive. I've been going through all of my craft supplies trying to think of new ideas (if I come up with anything creative, I'll let you know). I've also been finding lots of new online comics to waste time...it's been great so far.s
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. That first theater picture took me 'way back - to the Warner Theater in Erie, PA! The photo shows an interior much as I remember from that studio-owned palace back home. Gilt everywhere, plush red carpeting, red velvet drapes, pink marble in the ladies' room... it was a really elevating experience to see a movie there. And the Strand Theater in Erie was just as lush; had to be, to compete. I miss those Saturday afternoons.... Thanks for the memories, Jen!
ReplyDeleteAnd my WV today? "mythetr"! Mythetr in Erie was really special.
Merry from Annie's Book Stop/Sharon, MA
I usually find new online games to play (I'm definitely going to have to check out that Great Gatsby one later) or teach myself the basics of another programming language. My most recent one was Python. (Yep, I'm that kind of nerd!)
ReplyDeleteWhat scares me about the photoblog (which is utterly hilarious!) is that you can still tell that the guy is a good photographer and knows exactly what he's doing!
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I've been procrastinating with this week is reading the Leviathan Series by Scott Westerfield.
ReplyDeleteBut the third book doesn't come out until September :(
You might like http://unhappyhipsters.com/ which is pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteBut what REALLY has me procrastinating is this site:
http://www.tonypa.pri.ee/start.html
especially the game Jorinapeka. They're all beautiful games but I got really hooked on that first one. I got my nephew hooked, too, so I hope I don't cause him to fail his sophomore year of high school.
That game isn't actually an old NES game- it was just made in the NES style. Still pretty cool, though!
ReplyDelete(Here's an article that talks about it)
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/02/great_gatsby_nintendo_game_rel.html
I LOVE the abandoned theaters...I'm doing my thesis on one that was torn down in the '70s after a century, and I love imagining what it MIGHT have looked like on the inside (not a lot of interior photos back in the day...flash photography was a pain.)
ReplyDeleteMostly, though, I'm wasting time figuring out how to knit my husband an iPad sleeve.
Those before-and-after pinups are fascinating! I'm trying to spend less time in front of my computer, so my free time is spent working on knitting a Dalek plushie. I found it online, so here it is: EXTERMIKNIT! I'm almost finished with it. Really pleased with how it's coming along.
ReplyDeleteThe Gatsby is a fake. :( What sucks is that I'd be interested in it if they were just like "hey, I wrote this flash game that looks like an NES version of The Great Gatsby" instead of pretending it's legit. Lying about it makes me hate it a little and also die inside some.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107870-The-Great-Gatsby-NES-Game-Discovered
Procrastinating by reading your blog and listening to Fibber McGee & Molly! I should be packing to move into our first house in a couple weeks. : )
ReplyDeleteActually, those pinups were all done by single artist, Gil Elvgren. I love his work. His method of using photo reference, while changing the poses and gestures to be more ideal, was actually required study where I went to art school. Its great to study these images even now :) thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWow--those theater photos are alternatingly creepy and sad and amazing. Sometimes all at once, I guess!
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget exploring an abandoned theater in the middle of the night with just a flashlight, back in college. My friend and I figured it was an adventure, and we weren't doing any harm, cause we found a door unlocked. We explored it from crawlspaces under the stage to the roof! The building is still there--the main seating area was being used as storage by an adjoining family-owned department store, which has long since closed. . . wonder what is happening with it now?
But for a positive note, if you are interested, check out the google images for "Virginia Theater Champaign" (that's IL, my hometown. It is a gorgeous old theatre that is undergoing a complete restoration (even the organ, which rises up on a little stage from the pit to play during intermission, which it did when I saw "Dances With Wolves" there when it came out--crazy!) and now is the home for Roger Ebert's own "Overlooked Film Festival."
Makes me proud of my town, that it recognized the value of the theater and raised the money to restore it. While the images of urban decay are pretty cool, I can't wait to see the second life that some of these spaces get someday--they deserve it!
We have been playing some on-line games by alderlea and amaranth. They are old style rpg games. Right now we are doing Millenium2 on BigFishGames here. It reminds us of playimg Dungeons & Dragons.
ReplyDeleteCrap, I have cake orders to make today. Must... turn off... computer.... Must... not... play Gatsby game....
ReplyDeleteThe Photoblog is pretty clever. I do picture-heavy posts on my blog fairly regularly, but I sincerely hope they're not as lame as the ones it's spoofing.
ReplyDeleteI will need to check out that game sometime, but first I have some old Doctor Who eps to finish...
I love the pinup site!
ReplyDeletePlaying Filldoku (AKA Fil-a-pix) on my Nook Color. Totally, totally addictive - I'm worried about what's gonna happen when I finish all the puzzles.
ReplyDeleteWV: flogensm - I'm not touching that one with a, um, well, with anything!
This week I avoided sleep by watching the whole Firefly series and then Serenity after putting the kiddies to bed. Then my ten-year-old daughter walked in in time to see Nathan Fillion sitting in the desert nude. Ooops! Great. Every morning I wish I had more time to sleep. But it was worth it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of my hometown (Knoxville) for having two historic theatres (The Tennesse Theater and the Bijou Theater) which have been restored in the last 10 years or so. We had our prom at the Tennessee theater prior to the restoration, and it was super cool even then, although it's much prettier now. I couldn't find any good before and after picture sights, but they are both worth a visit if you ever come through Knox-vegas.
ReplyDeleteFound some pictures of the restored part:
ReplyDeleteTennessee Theater
Bijou Theatre
Thanks for the photoblog link-- I have a brother who seems to regard his own amateur photography in a rather self-important way, and reading this blog made me laugh at both of these guys!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the photoblog. I laughed so hard, especially at the hipstamatic entry. He has a gift, for sure!
ReplyDeleteYou would totally love my friend's photography. He likes to take road trips to shoot in abandoned places.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.295733216294.147456.295715726294
I don't know if you can check it out if you aren't a friend, but try. It's WELL worth it. And it will help with the procrastination...
Happy Belated Bday!
ReplyDelete(And the abandoned theatres were cool.)
I'm pretty sure that I've actually been in that theater in Boston for a Petra and News Boys concert in the very early 90's. I remember it was a little hole in the wall, falling down around their ears place at the time of the concert. But, it truely was breathtaking to see in person. And if I remember correctly, my seat was a center isle seat about 3-4 rows back on that balcony from the very front. Thanks for posting those pictures, it's been a long time since I thought about that place.
ReplyDeleteUmmmmm...yeah. Forgot to sign out of my sons account before submitting the comment about the theater in Boston. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteJen--
ReplyDeleteHere's a blog you might want to check out:
Not Martha
I think her giveaway is now closed, but the entry for 5/13 had a set of Inigo Montoya note cards I think you might like, as well as an entry on 5/12 regarding The World of Geekcraft.
Loved the photo blog with the endless list of ways to share...!
Of the abandoned theatre photos, number 52 is just over a mile away from where I live. There's a group hoping to restore it, and I do so hope that it'll be possible. :)
ReplyDeleteThe theater one was very cool...I was hoping to see the Uptown Theater in Chicago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptown_Theatre_%28Chicago,_Illinois%29
ReplyDeleteWhile the aesthetic of urban decay is pretty fascinating, the pictures of the abandoned theaters just make me sad...sad for the future of the performing arts. Every time I go to an opera or a ballet I and my friends are just about the youngest people in the audience. It makes me wonder what will happen in 25/30 years when all the regular patrons of such things have passed away. As a 24-yr-old, I can't get student prices any more, but I can't afford regular tickets either.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I enter a historic theater, a sense of reverence comes over me, almost like a church. I would love to see each and every one of those theaters restored to their former glory...