(Video Link)

The billion dollar virtual economies created by massively multiplayer online video games are something very few people saw coming in the 80s, when video games were just beginning to hold their own against other popular forms of media.

Even more surprising is how fast these virtual economies sprang up, and how people around the world are now making a living farming for loot in video games like World of Warcraft and EVE Online.

This episode of the PBS series Off Book focuses on the strange virtual economies created by video games, and how this internal economic snafu has become quite a headache for both the game studios and international law enforcement officials. Dern gold farmers, dey tuker jobs!

-Via Laughing Squid

No other superhero has had as many imitators, incarnations or variations as that wisecracking webhead Spider-Man, and even though it’s hard to keep track of all the men and women who have donned the Spidey suit it’s easy to see why Marvel loves coming up with new versions of their most popular hero.

Series writer Dan Slott revealed an upcoming series event called Spider-Verse which will feature “every Spider-Man from every universe” in one big ol’ web slinging bonanza that will start in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man and expand across multiple titles. And what's the best part about this crazy event? Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham will be there!!!!

-Via ComicsAlliance

(Video Link)

When the railroad cars come roaring into towns in South Africa some of the locals see it as an opportunity to take a ride and advance the dangerous sport of train surfing.

Marc Casino’s mini-doc Staff Riding focuses on these rail riding rebels, revealing how these thrill seekers relieve their angst by throwing on some sweet Adidas gear and staring death in the empty socket.

It’s good to know these guys feel that train surfing is a better outlet than violence and armed robbery, but if they want to make train surfing into a real sport they need to get their hands on some Adidas helmets and athletic pads because athletes need to live to play again.

-Via Booooooom!

(Video Link)

Robots can build cars, take a spin on Mars and generally do some pretty cool stuff, but are we already running out of ideas for uses?

You might assume that if you saw this gyrating robot dancer doing her hypnotic hip sway for them and didn’t know the back story, but this scary robo-gal is an art installation created strictly for entertainment purposes by Jordan Wolfson in conjunction with special effects studio Spectral Motion, and not necessarily the next step in robotic evolution.

So maybe she isn't the future of robo-tech, but it looks like Chuck E. Cheese is about to get a sexy new stripper to add to his animatronic band!

-Via io9

(Video Link)

Enormous is a web series with a mighty big name to live up to, and a highly competitive online market full of quality productions to vie against for viewers, but the Machinima and Prime Universe Films production looks like it might live up to its monicker.

Enormous tells a different kind of post apocalyptic tale- the world is overrun by monsters, and the remaining human survivors have to fight for survival or risk becoming a pile of critter crap.

It suffers from the usual first episode problems, namely generic dialog, slow pacing and actors still becoming familiar with their roles, but these problems are sure to be ironed out as the series gathers steam.

(NSFW due to language and violence)

-Via GeekTyrant

(Video Link)

Around is the kind of animated short that some viewers may find disturbing, not because of mature content or language but because of the squiggly hand drawn animation style.

Around was created by Ryu Kato in 2010, and it's a visionary short full of living motion, lines and otherwise, with a rough illustrative style that comes off as a mixture of Bill Plympton style and the unnervingly twitchy look of Dr. Katz.

The premise is simply "A chain of dizzying images illustrate a day in an imaginary town as seen through the eyes of a boy", but there is a lot more to this short than a simple visionary trip around town.

-Via Cartoon Brew

It can be a real pain to fit all of your stuff into a garage, storage space or closet, but thinking of the entire process as nothing but a big game of Tetris might make it easier.

Artist Michael Johansson is really good at playing Tetris in real life, with real life objects you'd find in storage, and his colorful puzzle game inspired art installations show his amazing ability to pack a bunch of junk into spaces of all shapes and sizes.

The objects in his installations fill every inch of space perfectly, and the color arrangement gives the whole arrangement a video game feel.

-Via Juxtapoz

Animation has come a long way since the days of classic Disney animated features like 101 Dalmatians and The Sword In The Stone, and now that we use digital art and animation programs to make the whole process easier than ever before these classic films would have a very different look if they were made today.

Tyson Murphy is a lead character artist for Blizzard, and he decided to do a digital painting lighting study by painting over stills from old Disney films.

Tyson's versions look very painterly, and the characters definitely look more realistic, but for my money it's impossible to improve on the perfection of the original backgrounds. Tyson says he's planning to do more of these studies soon, may I suggest a scene from the Black Cauldron?

-Via Bored Panda

(Image Via Instagram)

(Image Via Instagram)

Coulrophobes had better steer clear of Staten Island for a while, until the local authorities take care of a certain creepy clown they’ve got lurking around the city streets.

He has become a bit of a local legend in the few short weeks he’s been clowning around the streets of S.I., because people claim he’s an elusive clown, appearing with a wave then disappearing back into the city before most of them can snap a pic.

Is this the same clown faced freak that has been haunting Northampton, England, or is this one of the British clown’s disciples? Whatever IT is, if you see the Staten Island clown prepare to laugh your head off!

-Via BuzzFeed

Helmets are worn to protect the head against flying objects and the elements, occasionally worn to keep a Sith lord alive and show the galaxy that he’s a total badass, but these are not the helmets you’re looking for if you need head protection.

These bizarre dome helmets distort facial features in fun ways, helping Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee create some truly unique portraits for a series called The Objectuals, a series where the subjects look like Space Age supervillains or something out of an anime series.

Hyungkoo definitely has an affinity for facial feature distortion, with another series called Face Trace you can check out on his site.

-Via Hi-Fructose

(Video Link)

Toddlers are delightfully innocent, and any rude words that come rolling out of their mouth sound pretty darn funny, especially when they’re trying to prove how grown up they are.

Redditor PirbyKuckett asked his three-year-old son to list all the bad words he knows, and the kid’s reply is just what you’d expect from a grown up toddler.

You guessed it- butts, lots of butts, and one actual curse word at the end which makes this video awesomely NSFW, but that's what you get when you tell a kid "Tell me all the bad words you know...GO!"

-Via 22 Words

(Video Link)

Once upon a time, way back in 1992, a little cartoon show about a dog and a cat called Ren & Stimpy was making waves with episodes about rubber nipples, a toast headed superhero, and all sorts of gross out gags parents felt were too extreme for kids.

But Ren & Stimpy wasn’t really a kiddie show, John Kricfalusi’s seminal animated freakout simply fell victim to the cartoon stigma built by Disney decades earlier, which established the idea that all TV cartoon shows should be made for kids.

Proof that Ren & Stimpy was not made for kids lies in the episode where Frank Zappa voiced the Pope, who is rescued by Powdered Toast Man and has to cling on to Toast Man's speedo clad buns as they fly through the air.

Boy, they sure don’t make cartoon shows like that anymore!

-Via Dangerous Minds

A note to those in charge of advertising for Game of Thrones- be careful where you place your billboard ads or you might not get a very kind reception from the people.

It seems someone dropped the ball when they decided to put up this billboard advertising season 4 of GoT with the slogan “All Men Must Die”, because the billboard is located right above the Santa Monica Pavilion, a building that provides residential care for the elderly. 

I’m sure plenty of people will be watching when the show premieres in early April, but I doubt many of the viewers are going to be senior citizens with an advertising slogan like that!

-Via Nerd Approved

(Video Link)

Morning commutes can be rough, especially when you're riding public transportation to work, but it would all be so much more enjoyable if you could ride a giant cat to work!

You'd finally be able to catch up on the sleep you've been missing, the cat would provide you with a bath if you didn't have time to take one before work, and if giant rats attack the city you're sitting pretty atop your own rodent devouring machine.

This pleasantly ridiculous Japanese commercial for Lotte's Fit gum, who claims chewing will put you in a good mood, but if you can ride a giant cat to work without being in a good mood you're either allergic to cats or you'd prefer to ride the puppy to work.

-Via Kotaku

Photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard spent the better part of the 50s and 60s putting together this apocalyptic family portrait series, using his own family members as the subjects in a creepy collection that was way ahead of its time.

His wife wore an old hag mask and played the role of Lucybelle Crater, while other friends and family members donned masks and played along, creating the kind of family portraits only the Manson family could love.

The entire Family Album of Lucybelle Crater was collected in book form in 1974, two years after Meatyard's death, and I can’t help but wonder how many people received the book as a gift or bought a copy on a recommendation, then found the whole thing too disturbing to keep in the house!

-Via Juxtapoz