Everyone needs some entertainment from time to time. This is probably more true today, as the stresses of too little time, too little money combine with information overload and high-demand life circumstances. Activities like movies and concerts are becoming prohibitively expensive for many people. But the default of staying home with the TV machine can be damaging to your mental health and make you feel unsafe in your own home.
So tonight I am going to share a couple of sites that have risen to the top of my entertainment speed dial. The first features a plethora of interesting and useful things packaged in a soothing orange. The second has a decidedly Scottish accent, and it is filled with weird creatures doing unexpected things.
Speaking of entertainment, before we go any further, I want to say Happy Birthday to one of my favorite artists – David Byrne. Here is one of my all-time favorite Talking Heads songs, Stay Up Late:
Now that's entertainment. And so are these:
How About Orange
I know, I know. Everyone says they come here for the politics. But deep down, some of you just come for the orange. If you suspect you may be a closet orange-lover, one of my favorite blogs,
How About Orange, is for you. Not only will it help you discover your inner orange, it will provide endless hours of cheap/free entertainment.
How About Orange is the brainchild of graphic artist and textile designer Jessica Jones. While you can find links to Jessica’s portfolio website and images of her fabric designs there, How About Orange is not about sales, it’s about creativity, productivity, freebies and fun.
The four main areas in How About Orange are :
- DIY Tutorials
- Free Downloads
- Useful Resources and
- Time-Wasters
DIY Tutorials contains step-by-step instructions for items that can be made from stuff you probably already have on hand. Most of them are easy, so you don’t need a lot of artistic skills to produce fun and unusual decorative or gift items. Some are holiday-related, like the origami bunny-shaped favor boxes, while others, like making coasters from folded magazine pages or package bows from the yellow pages pages, are practical. There are instructions for tote bags, retro items, kids stuff, stenciled fabric and lots of other projects.
Free Downloads provides links to a ton of useful and creative ideas. These range from printable greeting cards or holiday decorations to free fonts and backgrounds for websites, wallpaper for your computer or mobile device or calendars.
Useful Resources are exactly what you would expect, and a whole lot more. You can find out how to customize your twitter page, locate an icon search engine, or find out how to do a reverse image search. There is a motherlode of vintage ephemera, a ton of seamless background patterns, as well as time management help and a cool clock screensaver.
Time-Wasters may the most pure fun area, though. Jessica has scoured the web to bring links to all manner of ways to waste time, whether you have only a few minutes or an entire day to devote. You can create paintings or line drawings, learn your design style, or test your knowledge of mid-century design. There are quick quizzes to help you find your color personality, your design IQ, or your social media status. You can engage in Font Wars, smash orange beans, make music with raindrops or translate Business Jargon, or test your knowledge of brands.
Although it is a personal blog, there is very little about Jessica personally. However, her bright, engaging writing style, creativity, and wide-ranging interests make How About Orange an excellent, highly entertaining place to spend some time.
Eclectech
Which brings up another of my favorite sites for refreshing creativity –
eclectech. Are you having a hard time making a decision? You can
Let the Die Decide for you. Want to see what you look like in your tinfoil hat?
Facemash gives you that option, among the many other silly faces you can create. Think you are a hot shot? Try your hand as a
wildlife photographer in one of the strangest zoos you have ever seen.
Eclectech has tons of animations, images, and photos (primarily of England and Scotland) to download. But for pure entertainment, the Play area is outstanding. There you can send a Pants message in “flavors” ranging from pirates to cats to holiday greetings.
If you are feeling creative you can make all manner of funny faces with FaceMash, design fireworks, play with the hummus monster, or create riddles with the Riddle-o-matic. If you crave excitement, try Poke-a-Sheep, where you can defend your hilltop from hoards of sheep mounted on pogo sticks, or take the Snap-Attack challenge. Or you can opt for any of a number of pair-matching games that allow you to match mutants, nostrils with eyes, or really posh pooties.
Before you rush off to waste your time hurling some haggis , here is a word from our sponsors. . . .
We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.
Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations by other Kossacks. So when you find a comment that enlightens, entertains, or encourages, send it to:
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Comments should get to the inbox by 9:30 EST to be included that day (but we will carry over later ones). Don’t forget to include your Dkos screename, a link to the nominee, and a brief comment about why you think it is a Top Comment.
Tonight’s Top Comments. . . .
We are apparently experiencing some difficulty in getting comments in the Top Comments mailbox today, so feel free to add your nominations below in the comments. I’ll get the ball rolling with my picks for this evening:
Responding to a snark-laden comment from puzzled, diarist Pluto kicks off an informative thread, swapping licks with Edgar to include the most good stuff. When puzzled brings the money quote, it is Edgar that draws the obvious conclusion in the excellent diary Are Americans Changing their Minds about Health Care?
mollyd succinctly sums up the narcissism that passes for thinking in Rand Pauls's ideology in rlhary's diary Lawrence O'Donnell Destroys Rand Paul's Crazy.