Edward Gorey must have been a fascinating person. By looking at his disturbing narrative illustrations, one would easily assume he was a twisted, deranged character; however, according to people who knew him, he was actually a wonderful man, an absolute opposite to the characters and settings he consistently conjured.

You see, Gorey’s graphic stories evoke the most ominous and terrific feelings, even though they could easily be mistaken for children’s books. The themes he addresses in his body of work are dark and gruesome, even as they are seemingly natural. Within this apparent paradox, we find the brilliance of a remarkable and influential 20th century illustrator.

For a good example of what I’m talking about, I’ll show you a famous alphabetized poem he produced, titled “The Gashlycrumb Tinies”. You can check it out both as a series of 26 drawings here, or through the following video:

The Gashlycrumb Tinies from Labyrinth13 on Vimeo.

Oh, I almost forgot… when people asked Gorey how come such a nice guy would always produce such disturbing stories he was known to reply something like “That’s because I’m mostly interested in the real world”. Go figure!

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I’m not usually into animal cruelty, but there’s something about rodeos that really turns me on – I suppose it reminds me of politics. Think about it: in a rodeo, you’ve got cowboys making all sorts of incredible stunts while trying to ride a bull. In politics, you’ve got a bunch of scheming politicians doing their best to ride the public opinion, using all sorts of crazy PR tricks. In the end of the rodeo, the bull is most likely to get bruised; in the end of the elections, the public is most likely to get screwed: see, it’s just the same thing!

All in all, I must say I actually favor rodeos over politics, even though both things are representative of our primitive, aggressive roots. Why? At least the rodeo people are honest about what they’re doing: having fun at the expense of the bull. Myself, I’ve never been to the National Finals Rodeo (NFR), but it sure sounds like an interesting event – after all, many people refer to it as “super bowl of rodeo” (and not many people refer to the elections as “super bowl of the manipulations of the masses”, although they could). So if you’re looking for shelter from all the political madness later this year, why not consider getting some National Final Rodeo tickets; I guarantee you’ll be better off!

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If you’re looking after homes for sale, you might want to check the San Antonio Real Estate – that’s a prime internet real estate service, in case you don’t know. They have everything a regular well-balanced person could possibly look for. Now, if you happen to be an eccentric cook looking for a unique habitation, you may want to check this brilliant list of strange houses around the world! On the other hand, if you want to help raise funds to actually provide help for a homeless guy by doing nothing but watching an online video, you must definitely check this out! Either way, keep enjoying life, and do your best to help the good people around you! Home is where you put your heart, and heart is where you put your feelings! Put your feelings in your house and you’ll be more likely to be happy!

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It was a day like any other, mid-January in Port Maillot on the periphery of Paris. As usual, Lucchina strolled along, always looking for interesting subjects she could use in her videos. That day, she noticed something particularly interesting, underneath a bridge… something she would appropriately refer to as “The amazing homeless house” :

The Amazing Homeless House

After having uploaded this video and engaged a healthy dose of social marketing, this inspiring internet video producer was able to come up with $150 (so far), which she could have easily kept to herself. That’s possibly what many people would have done. But not this girl. Do you want to know what she has done with her profits? Simple! Just watch the follow-up video:

Thank you, Metacafe!

She could have offered the homeless artist Diego a mere scrape of her profits, but she actually opted to donate all of the money she earned from the videos that lonely homeless person whose soul brims with dignity and creativity, even though his house lacks in walls. Besides having released this campaign, Lucchina is actively trying to get him a dog to keep him company. So if you happen to live in the neighbourhood and you think you can help Diego in any way, don’t be shy about it and make sure to stop by.Most importantly, even if you don’t live in the neighbourhood, you can also help – and it’s a lot easier than you might think!

You know… it’s been nearly a year, since the realization dawned upon me that I could actually make a decent living off the Internet. Such realization would direct me towards many discoveries and adventures, one of which was the creation of this blog-like oddities webzine you’re reading just now. In the meanwhile, many other creative endeavours have gradually sprouted upon my virtual backyard, and I’m getting progressively convinced I’m in for a living. This has been a wonderful year we’re I’ve discovered astounding resources, curiosities, websites, and most importantly… people.

As chance would have it, I went on scouring the vast cyberspace land in my quest for profitability, and as I done so, I’ve come across some amazing dreamers who have come up with the most impressive concepts that prove the Internet is much more than something you have on your computers and use to check e-mails: the Internet is something that connects the world, and moreover it’s a powerful tool that can help make a better world into a better place, if only we put it to good use. Well, today I’m hopefully provifing you with a perfect real-life demonstration which clearly supports this claim.

Lucchina is a girl from Paris France. She may look like any other charming European girl, but she’s actually a very special person. She’s a person who loves horses, and she’s also a person who loves helping the unprivileged. Moreover, she’s a person who has mastered the art of monetizing her time spent online. Lucchina is a top user from the community of video producers who benefit from Metacafe’s revenue sharing program (they pay $5 per 1000 views). In the 9 months since she registered for the program, she has earned over $5k with her 30 videos; while this is admitedly impressive on its own, the story behind her latest videos is especially remarkable.

Needless to say, I wholeheartedly encourage all of you to add both videos in your favorite social bookmarks such as DIGG, StumbleUpon, Reddit, del.icio.us, MIXX, and any other potential source of traffic. Also, you should feel enticed to write a post such as this one in your own blogs. Starts chain newsletters, make forum postings, and use your imagination every way you can. Suggest both videos for inclusion in major sites such as BoingBoing and slashdot. Keep in mind that the more views both videos get, the more money Diego receives. Myself, I’m a hopeless dreamer, but I *really* believe that we could easily make money for Diego to actually get a house!

If both videos get a combined 2 million views, the profit would be $40k, which might be sufficient to set Diego on a whole new life path – one that would be staged beneath an actual roof, for a change. Granted, we cannot make a better world all at once, but we can make a better world for this homeless person, right here and now. Now wouldn’t that be something? We *can* easily make a difference, and this could easily become an outstanding demonstration of how the internet can positively be used to help as a powerful instrument for peace and compassion.

Lucchina has done her part by making the videos and coming up with this movement. I’m doing my part, as I write this post and put my best effort into alerting the largest possible mass of consciousness. This is something real, and it’s something that we can all be a part of. It’s something that can become huge, if only we let it! So, what are you waiting for? We’ve done our part – you can do yours quite simply: help spread the news! I’ll make sure to keep you posted on further developments, so stick around! Now more than ever, this is a honest down-to-earth reminder of why we genuinely like it here!

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The other day I read this interesting article about two British folks who caught this insanely enormous fish, while going on a fishing trip in Fraser River, Chilliwack, Canada. According to their fishing guide, the locals talk about some creatures in that river far bigger than this. I didn’t really pay that much attention to the article when I first saw it, but I think it must have really stuck in my sub-conscious mind; so, last night I had this strange dream where an old friend of mine e-mailed me with some coupons for free flights to Canada.

Before I knew it, I travelled to Canada (Indiana Jones -style, I clearly recall at some moment in the dream there was a cartoon map with an animated dotted airplane) and I was sitting near the back of the river with a remarkably old couple. We were leisurely sipping some tea, and they were telling me about Read the rest of this entry »

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