Everything’s heading over to 3D again these days. Like TETRICAL - 3D Tetris!

I’m calling this volume 1 because I can’t imagine that I won’t do some sort of post like this in the future - a summary of stuff that’s been helping me occupy my time lately. So here goes:

White Dwarf : a fairly addictive (simple) Flash game. You gather green circles with the white circle, while avoiding the red circles. Blue circles bank green circles and are OK.

Project Prostitute: utterly NSFW warning. So this person had the idea to ask random people to draw prostitutes. It’s spread and people are submitting their own illustrations to the site. Some are raunchy, some are wrong, some are funny, some are surprisingly lovely. When I’m not laughing at the stick figure renditions (I guess some people really can’t draw) I can even recognize this for what is really is: a supremely interesting sociological project/experiment capturing how people view sex workers… some with disdain, some with disgust, some with degradation, but some with sadness and even a certain kind of admiration. Interesting to say the very least, once you get past the surface.

A Selection of Perfect Ads: These things inspire me. I’m sad that way.

The Hype Machine: It’s been a few months since a friend told me about this site. At first, I looked and wasn’t all that impressed with the look and feel so I didn’t return for a while. What was I thinking? I mean, really - a music blog aggregator that lets you search for freely and legally shared mp3s from bloggers who are reviewing music and introducing you to new music you might not stumble across in your daily travels? How on earth could that be cool or useful?

Yeah, I was a bit slow on the uptake, but I’m pretty officially addicted (thanks, Kofi!) You know how you can go to Wikipedia or IMDb and look for one fact or actor and end up going on a fantastic voyage for 45 minutes, adding books to your Amazon wishlist and DVDs to your Netflix queue? (Or is that just me?) Well, the Hype Machine does the same thing but with music. Search for an artist or a song and then see how your trip unfolds as you discover them on a lists bands someone saw this year, along with another band who made their list of top albums of 2007, then listen to an mp3 from that band, link through to a post about who they’re touring with… etc. etc.

CHA MA GU DAO: “(ancient tea and horse trail) is a contemporary tea house offering 250 of the world’s finest teas, herbal and fruit infusions.” OMG. Best new place ever. Located in nearby Montclair, NJ - a teahouse from the heavens. Tons of teas and tea blends and tisanes to choose from, and cookies made with tea to boot (the lemongrass-ginger cookies were the favorite of the variety my friend and I tried). Perfect for an afternoon or evening of tea and conversation and cookies. And you can order the teas online, too - ship a bit of Jersey home to you?

You’re Catch-22!

by Joseph Heller

Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You could coin a phrase that replaces the word “paradox” for millions of people.

Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

This is day three of waking up early (sans alarm) despite having gone to bed at a relatively late hour. What’s most annoying is the inability to fall back asleep.

What did I do yesterday when I couldn’t get back to sleep? I broke. I joined Facebook, despite my earlier rant against social networking. Why? Well, since I work as a marketer, it’s good to have actual familiarity with the newfangled whozamawuzzits out there that all the crazy kids are using. And a couple of good friends sort of talked me into it—without knowing they did —separately from one another. Anyway, I figure I can put as much or as little effort into it as I see fit, and there’s always the deletion option.

Now I’m going to edit the post I started last night but got too sleepy to finish.