(Photo: Vivian Xiaowei Mao/Deep Springs College)

Deep Springs College is a liberal arts college deep in the California desert near Death Valley. It’s both a school and a working cattle ranch. Those very few students who are admitted to it study great books, especially within the fields of religion and philosophy, as well as do hard physical labor to earn their keep.

It’s an incredibly selective institution. Only 6 to 15 freshmen are granted offers of admission each year, of which 90% accept. After spending two years there, 80% of graduates go on to higher universities, including elite Ivy League schools. The all-male school offers an isolated, almost monastic lifestyle of study and work. Wallace Kalkin of Messy Nessy Chic describes this college that is unlike any other:

The course catalogue reflects both the view that every young man should immerse himself in the desert before rejoining society as well as the serious intellectual vibe of the school. The President of the College, David Neidorf, teaches a class, ironically, on feminism, despite the student body being all male.

Other courses at Deep Springs include; God and Evil: Theodicies (Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies), Sacred Texts of Wandering and Journeying: Zhuangzi & Dante (Religion Studies, Literature), and Catching Spies (Literature, Film Theory). […]

The school shows no qualms in advertising the reality of the intense commitment. After all, as they admit freely on their website, each student really does “labor at least twenty hours a week.”

Instagram member Shameck is a fashion illustrator. Lately, he’s been drawing images of beautiful women in dresses, then cutting the clothes out of the paper. He holds the results up to the skyline, letting buildings, trees, and clouds fill in vacant forms. They’re striking collaborations between paper and reality.

Petra Švajger is an artist in Ljubjana, Slovenia. She describes herself as a fashion design graduate who never felt like she was a fashion designer. So she’s explored photographic and digital artwork instead. In particular, Švajger has raised the animated .gif file to an art form. The above example is from her series called Weird Flu.

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What would life be like if Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues hadn’t invented the World Wide Web in 1991? The short film “World Wide What?” narrated by Stephen Fry describes that scenario. The awesome thing about this video is that it’s packed with the founders of major web and internet applications, including Tim Berners-Lee, Michael Bloomberg, Arianna Huffington, and Jimmy Wales.

If this dystopian nightmare were real life, it would have an impact at Neatorama. We’d have to go back to delivering cat .gifs by telegram, as Alex Santoso’s great-great-grandfather did when he founded the company back in 1887. And the artificial intelligence program that we affectionately refer to as “Miss Cellania” would never even exist.

-via Marilyn Terrell

French photographer Sacha Goldberger (previously) is back with a follow-up to his 2014 Super Flemish photo series. His latest, Family Portrait, was created by dressing models as pop culture and comic book characters and posing them together as family portraits. The result is, again, an odd and intriguing mix of new Western culture and 16th century Flemish art.

Sse the photo series in entirety on Goldberger’s website and Facebook page.

Via Laughing Squid | Images: Sacha Goldberger

 

YouTube Link

For a recent episode of the series The Watercooler, author Chuck Palahniuk reads his Fight Club for Kids. This tongue-in-cheek effort — which Palahniuk explains by saying his readership is now  "growing older and having kids and... dying," thus he wants to introduce Fight Club to a new generation — is an illustrated children’s book version of Fight Club. Have a listen to Palahniuk's "child-friendly" club, complete with bedtime-storyish music. Via Laughing Squid

I'm The Captain by Alessandro Aru

You've been piloting your own ship through the seas of life, steering and ahoying however you see fit, and for that you deserve to be called Captain. As a Captain your life will feel like one big voyage, with sea monsters to snub, storms to weather and sunny days of smooth sailing, a salty life at sea for thee!

Give yourself a promotion with this I'm The Captain t-shirt by Alessandro Aru, and sail the seas of silliness!

Visit Alessandro Aru's Facebook fan page, official website, Twitter and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more delightfully geeky designs:

View more designs by Alessandro Aru | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

Enterprise Alumni by GreyMatterCreations

Those who proudly serve aboard one of the Federation's Galaxy-class starships generally retire from service feeling like that trek across the stars was thanks enough for a job well done. But then there are those redshirts who would like some sort of souvenir commemorating their survival, like a coffee mug or souvenir t-shirt. Captains like Kirk and Picard get to keep their uniforms, so why are support personnel forced to surrender their dingy red digs after they're discharged from service?

Commemorate a lifetime of service as a sci-fi fan with this Enterprise Alumni t-shirt by GreyMatterCreations, it's one souvenir you can add to your collection without leaving your seat!

Visit GreyMatterCreations's Facebook fan page, Tumblr and Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more far out designs:

View more designs by GreyMatterCreations | More Sci-Fi T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

Some guys (and girls) simply don't know when to say when with, say, an old pair of socks with holes in the toes or a dingy old pair of briefs.

If you live with a slovenly son of a grandma (or the rarer dirty daughter of a grandpa variety) then you know they don’t mean any harm with their filthy ways, they’re just not good at letting go.

Maybe you should show them this cleanly illustrated (and full sized!) chart from How To Be A Dad, so they can consult it before slipping on a sad pair of skid marked briefs that belong in the garbage can.

Skid Marks: When To Wash 'Em, When To Toss 'Em

The Dude abides. An Ood obeys. The Dood? Who knows how well he follows orders, but he certainly is cool, man. 

Via Fashionably Geek

Immortan Joe controls the cool, refreshing water that thirsty pack of post-apocalyptic mutants known as The Wretched need to survive, but even in this bleak environment people are bound to grow tired of plain old water.

Soon they’ll be looking for a meal, and wondering why they'd never before thought of eating their beloved leader, what with him looking all plump and juicy like a sandworm...

But that’s a story for another strip, this one’s a simply silly Fury Road/Garfield mashup by Burt Durand entitled Garfury Road and doesn’t contain any mention of cannibalism. My bad!

-Via Andrew Bridgman

Fans who are skilled in the ways of the cloth or yarn like to put their skills to work making things that are functional and geeky, but as any crafter knows these projects can take some time.

Skilled superfan Kjetil Nordin spent 800 hours over six years crocheting this amazing blanket that features a screenshot of the map of World 1 from Super Mario Bros 3.

This incredibly detailed piece of needlework art has all the fun little features and figures found on the Super Mario Bros. 3 world map, including a lurching Hammer Bros. and a cry for help coming from the castle.

-Via The Daily Dot

They’re the mic rulers, the old schoolers, the fast food combo meal with lots of flavor that some neighbors refer to as “food monsters”.

They’re the Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and they’ve ruled the airwaves of Adult Swim since their first appearance way back in 2001.

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What began as a bit for the flagship Adult Swim show Space Ghost: Coast To Coast has become a ridiculous romp of a (sometimes detective themed) show that keeps changing its name but the food based action always stays the same.

Sadly, the food monsters are about to shuffle off to that great big dumpster in the sky, so isn't it about time you learned a thing or fifteen about your favorite food themed show?!

Read 15 Facts About Aqua Teen Hunger Force at mental_floss

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Coma the Doof Warrior quickly became a fan favorite character in Mad Max: Fury Road because of his sweet onesie and facewrap outfit, his flaming hot guitar grooves and his dedication to showmanship even while in the midst of battle.

He’s a one-of-a-kind Doof warrior in a world full of shiny madmen, and if his life seems appealing to the metalhead in you then heed the call with a little help from Coma.

(YouTube Link)

Funny Or Die presents a face meltingly funny (and NSFW) lesson in post-apocalyptic guitar shredding and back of the battle wagon superstardom!

-Via Laughing Squid

Kart Racer by MAD13ARTS

Mario has kart racing in his blood, and he's the kind of racer who will win a race with sheer speed then win the next race by taking out the other racers with shells and banana peels. His racing track record is legendary, but there's one thing the record books don't show about that super racer Mario- he doesn't have a driver's license! Luigi does all the driving for those moustachioed bros, so it's rather ironic that Mario has come to be known as the Racer X of the kart circuit!

Bring home a win for geeky mashup lovers everywhere with this Kart Racer t-shirt by MAD13ARTS, and you'll look slicker than a banana peel on the Rainbow Road!

Visit MAD13ARTS's Facebook fan page, official website and Twitter, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more delightfully geeky designs:

View more designs by MAD13ARTS | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!