Social media is good for a few things. It’s good for seeing pictures of high school friends. It’s good for learning that those friends have babies now, and that those babies all look alike. It’s also good for hearing about those friends’ vacations, and how great they were. It’s even better for ranting about things you hate (like seeing pictures of your friends’ vacations), regardless of whether or not they really warrant feelings strong enough to be considered “hate.”
We often cycle through these hatable subjects with such swiftness that most of the time it’s difficult to even remember what we hated yesterday. Thankfully, Slate has mapped it all out for us with a nifty interactive “hate” calendar. It’s so fun! For instance, on September 15 — my mom’s birthday! — everyone was so upset about that blood-stained Kent State sweater from Urban Outfitters. Meanwhile, on my dad’s birthday (March 6!), everyone was outraged that upskirting was found legal in a Massachusetts court — happy birthday, dad!
Somehow, there was very little outrage about the practice of reindeer castration, which involves little more than biting the balls off of a reindeer. Yeah, dudes: biting the balls off of reindeer is still the preferred method of reindeer castration, even after the invention of scissors. I mean, that’s something to be mad about. Don’t they have scissors in the North Pole, Claus?
Something else to be mad about? The apparent continued popularity of the term “normcore.” Trends, bros. Do you feel them? Cool dudes do. I mean, all 50 of the cool dudes on this list do, especially, because they are all on fire right now, trend-wise. And number one? The McConaughey? So trendy.
So trendy, in fact, I’m surprised he wasn’t included as a potential date in the absurdly popular gay dating sim, Coming Out On Top . (That name, though, is so fantastic.) Kill Screen‘s interview with the creator of the game — a straight woman — is fantastic, and reveals that a huge percentage of the game’s fanbase is straight. The interviewer/interviewee insists that this is because the strength of the game is in its story, and not its peen-centric animation — but that’s pretty good, too, if you’re into the whole McConaughey thing. It’s not really great if you’re into, say, Lord Grantham.
If you’re one of those lads or ladies who fancies tailcoats more than six-packs, this gingerbread recreation of Downton Abbey , created by none other than the Martha Stewart, is for you. There’s even a tiny Isis, the dog of Lord Crawley. (Isis is also an Egyptian god. I think it’s also something else, but I can’t remember?)
To end on a relatively classy, totally un-angry note (enough with the anger, 2014), have a listen to this Wild Beasts performance of their song “Wanderlust.” They performed at London’s Royal Festival Hall, which is home to a pipe organ with 7,866 pipes. It’s a beautiful instrument and a moving performance, made even more powerful by the fact that Hayden Thorpe — the dude playing the organ — had never played one before. That’s a lotta pipes.