Let's alter our kids!

Photoshopping makes it easy to remember our kids in a way they never were.

I really hope that parents can detect the sarcasm in my voice when I make these statements, because altering our kids’ photos is one of the most heinous things I think we can do. Is it as bad as bleaching your Honey Boo-Boo sugar pie’s teeth and hair or providing plastic surgery for tweens? No, but it’s in the same arena.

I remember when they offered “photo retouching” when I was in grade school. It happened first when I was in about the fourth grade, and they offered to “retouch” our pimples and “blemishes” for a fee. Then we could remember ourselves as beautiful and not the hideous Chud children we were.

Seriously? If you’re going to pay for this you might as well say that you don’t love your child the way he or she is and you couldn’t stand to look at him or her, so you paid extra to have your kid “altered.” It’s the very first step toward telling your child that he or she isn’t perfect the way he or she is and that your kid better get on that road toward improvement NOW—if you haven’t already.

Please don’t pay for these ridiculous photo alterations. Let your children know that you love them just as they are right now, warts and all.

Motivational...or Not?

For a twist on the classic, these popular funny internet photos do the trick. They are adapted from the classic motivational posters that are often found in classrooms and offices. The originals are meant to inspire and motivate, while the new photos are meant purely for fun. Some of the motivational quotes include, Teamwork: You can’t spell it with I, and Goals: There is no end to what is possible. The original posters were meant to be artwork that inspires, and the wonderful people on the internet have turned them into a way to make fun of people.

Some of the most popular ‘unmotivators’, as they are called, include animals or, eh, unique people. The newest one that I have seen features a cat dropkicking a dog in the face. The title is Cat Norris, obviously referring to Chuck Norris. There are even many people that are creating their own unmotivators. You can even make one yourself featuring a picture that you have taken. So, get your camera ready, you never know when you are going to snap the next internet sensation.

I am sure that you have seen many of these posted on social media sites. You have probably even posted some of them yourself. Please feel free to share your favorites down below in the comments section. Do you think that it is just a harmless funny picture or is the fact that they poke fun at others and tarnish the original purpose of the posters taking things too far?

A great website to find more unmotivators is Very Demotivational. It features some of the best quality unmotivators available. 

What I Really Do

The newest funny photo craze

Have you seen the newest craze for internet photos? They are called the “What I Really Do” photos, and they are soaring in popularity. You can find them in any topic, from mothering to blogging to gaming. They all vary slightly, but mostly follow the same pattern. There are six different photos portraying a certain action. Below each photo is a caption, such as, “What my friends think I do.” If you want to find one of these photos that relates to your life try visiting Scoop.it!

What is it about these photos that people find irresistible? I think it may be the fact that it allows us to laugh at ourselves and share our interests with others. When people can laugh at themselves it provides them with a tiny bit of a release. For example, when I am up to my elbows in dirty diapers, ramen noodles, and trying to complete my freelance work for the day, I can find a small sanctuary in the Mother photo above.

If you want to add a fun twist to these photos you can create your own. Add custom photos or a different twist on a favorite topic to make it all your own. For example, this “What I Really Do” photo about freelance blogging perfectly depicts how others, and myself, view my career choice. It makes me laugh to see that I am not alone, and that others understand the different stereotypes typical to this type of work. What do you think? What is your favorite “What I Really Do” funny photo

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Celebrity School Pics

Would you have predicted stardom for any of these fresh faces?

In some cases, celebrities got their starts pretty early in life. Just look at Gwenyth Paltrow—she was born into stardom and likely never knew anything otherwise (which would explain her holier-than-thou, out of touch with reality newsletter with its equally detestable name). But with other celebs, you might have never guessed that someday they’d be invading your home through the television each night, blathering on about this movie or that cause.

Take these photos of celebrities from their school years, for example. Would you have considered this youthful version of Brad Pitt a heartthrob back in his day? The younger Marilyn Manson would definitely not have turned any heads—at least, the way that he does today. His younger self looks much more average than his larger than life gothic alter ego.

Jennifer Garner, on the other hand, seems to exhibit some kind of sparkle—just as she does in her films. I have yet to see her in a role that’s something different than the sweetheart next door, but her charm is still endearing and fun to watch even if it’s not Oscar-worthy.

If you click on photo #4, I’ll bet you’d never guess who it is. Avril Levigne looks much more like I did at that age than she does today! She seems more science club president than punk rocker—but then again, you can be both. The same goes for Charlize Theoron, who was just as pretty but unfortunately saddled with some huge, huge glasses—I can empathize, Charlize! My first pair were quite large as well, and clearish-pink to boot.

Jeremy Piven (photo 6), meanwhile, looks like half of the boys I grew up with—which is probably why he makes such a good sidekick character. His face blends pretty well within the crowd. Nick Lachey (photo 9) on the other hand seems to have remained the same. It’s funny how some people look so different from childhood photos while others haven’t aged a day.

I think one of my favorite photos in the entire batch is Mariah Carey (photo 10). She looks so next-door girl while still being beautiful, with a casual layer of hair and those trademark shining eyes and winning smile. I know her big, bouncy hair is one of her new trademarks, but I happen to like her layered high school look and certainly wouldn’t mind if she chose to revert to that style.

Why do Typos Occur?

Why is it that we find humor in the most humanistic problems …or errors, as the case may be? Maybe we can theorize that this was an intentionally made mistake. How so? Perhaps this newspaper’s typist didn’t feel they were getting paid enough and decided to rebel with a simple slip of their hand or finger.

Or maybe when you look at the logistics of typography: arranging words in such a way that printed material makes sense to the reader, this all may make more sense. Typos happen, because all typists are human.

To err is to be human. Or does it go “to create errors is to be human”? However the saying goes, this mention of typing error by newspaper, The Sentinel is pretty funny. Some may not find humor in this. Tosh.0 did when he publicly displayed this picture under the #pic hashtag on his blog. Though, originally, this picture was released by thedailywh.at/. Daniel Tosh declares that Mr. Henniger’s drug of choice is his drums. I think that much is pretty obvious.

Perhaps this typo occurred, because the typist was fat fingered. In typography, one could be termed “fat fingers”, which is usually used in conjunction with “fat-finger syndrome”. This is a type of slang terminology used to describe the unwanted secondary action that occurs, because one’s fingers are usually larger than the actual touch zone. For example: pressing a button not intended to be pressed on a touch screen, or hitting two keys at the same time on a keyboard during single stroke data entry.

What is a Photobomb?

All sorts of new lingo have appeared on the internet(s) thanks to more and more active users. In the Americas alone, it is estimated that some 488 million users regularly log onto the internet. In the world over, that number goes up to 2 billion or more. Read more about internet usage statistics here.

One such word: photobomb. According to hub pages, the act of photo bombing has been around since the invention of photography, yet it wasn’t until recently that we actually had a name for this illusive verb.

In essence a photo bomb is where someone who shouldn’t be in a photo appears in the foreground, background, diagonally, perhaps in just the right hand corner, etc. The photo bomber knows no boundaries.

Some photos are bombed intentionally, some are not. Some people consider photo bombing a sport. They will show up at clubs, dance halls, and weddings to simply crash photos. Therein lays the difference between a photo bomber and a party crasher.

Both will be unwanted and unexpected company, but the photo bomber will be forever recorded as a nuisance, because of the photographic evidence.

Tosh.0 (a television series on Comedy Central hosted by comedian, Daniel Tosh) features a website with a section devoted to funny pictures. Some of the pictures are hilarious; because they weren’t intended to be funny, but as with most humor… merely living your life can make for some of the funniest moments. That, or simply being at the right place, at the right time. You’ll see what I mean, click: 10 Best Wedding Photobombs. 

So Wong it Must Be Wright

America is known as a melting pot. We accept all races here.

So why is racism a form of humor amongst some social groups on American soil?

A common belief in America is that those of Asian descent have super brains. So they’ll go on to become math teachers or cure cancer or HIV and lead a humble, yet white collar lifestyle. On the other hand, a good old white bread American will do average in school. Then they’ll go on to work as a Mechanic and be the blue collar back bone of this country.

The top comment below the picture sums it up well: “Becoming a math professor is Wong, discovering cures to major illnesses is Wong, working at Napa Autoparts for life is Wright. Go America.”

To be honest, scrolling the comments below this picture are really the brunt of the whole joke. You might see a response to the picture such as, ROR (raff out roud) as opposed to the standard internet slang, LOL (laugh out loud). Then someone may post RMAO (abbreviation for raffing my ass (arse) off). Again, this differs from the standard LMAO, abbreviation for Laughing my ass off.

Further along in the comments, responses go so far as to state where this photo was taken and how the location matters in terms of humor.

When your average American is scrolling the internet with no particular destination in mind (also known as a troll); and they happen to run across a photo such as this (pictured). Why would they find it hilarious?

Well, my guess is because of those facts, exactly. We are a melting pot and we do accept all races in this country. This picture merely makes our acceptance of racial profiling blatantly obvious.

The Deepest Photo You'll Ever See

If that title makes no sense, it will in a moment...

I wouldn’t say this is a funny photo, but it is a photo nevertheless so I decided to make mention of it here, in the photo blog. I happened upon it when I was on Facebook one day. A good friend of mine posted up a link to said picture. Under the link, she wrote “This basically describes how I feel about God.” So, of course I had to click on it.

This picture link was actually retrieved off of 4chan. For those not familiar let’s just say 4chan is a site not known for the most positive imagery online.

Knowing all this, I still clicked. If anything, it was a fun read. I feel as if it almost preys into our subconscious, or attempts to, anyway. It touches on an age old, ever popular question: “What is the meaning of life?” It might also have you questioning within yourself “Who am I?.. Really.”

Your comfortable feelings about knowing the scope of the universe (and that we reside within the Milky Way and only on one arm and so forth) may just be obliterated. This picture also dances around the really deep aspects of human value and then also nature, as in, human nature.

By the end of reading this picture (which makes no sense until you click here), you may question whether God or the idea of a higher being is actually not a deity up above, but in you, in your soul.

Friends, you will either write this off as nonsense or you’ll relate to it completely. How you decide to interpret it is entirely up to you.

A New Adaptation of Dick in a Box

Who's got his male period? This guy.

A new adaptation of The Lonely Island’s famous SNL skit: Dick in a Box. Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 blogger, Carly Hallam recently uploaded this picture of a gentleman who obviously had the brilliant Halloween costume idea to trick others into thinking he had severed his penis off and put it in a box, complete with a pretty ribbon tied on top.

Tosh.0 is a television show that airs on Comedy Central and has quite a following. The show is hosted by Daniel Dwight Tosh, who is a stand-up comedian. The show premiered on June 4th, back in 2009. This show is centered on viral internet videos and pictures. The show was only supposed to air for 10 episodes. Though, when it became the second most-watched television show on cable, Comedy Central renewed their contract with Daniel Tosh. It has now been running for a solid three seasons.

The show finds its motivation from viewer participation. The Tosh.0 blog is constantly aflame with snarky comments, because of viral pictures and uploads. Daniel Tosh utilizes the popularity of social networking in his show, by communicating with his fans on the East Coast live during the taping of his shows via: tweeting on his twitter account.

This takes the term “Dick in a Box” to a whole new level. Unfortunately, as stated in the comments below the picture: “If you lose the box in the midst of party hopping, then you just look like a dude with blood on his pants.” Ew. If I were this guy, I’d be wearing shades to hide my face too.

 

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