ABOUT CLICKED

The modern news consumer ignores Weblogs and online citizen journalism at his own peril. But not everyone has the time to keep track of what's going on the Web. With this blog we hope to track the highlights of what's being discussed online so when news breaks from the Web, we're ready.

Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



Wednesday

Posted: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 2:43 PM by Will Femia

I feel like I've been waiting my whole life to see a headline like this: Cincinnati Superhero Patrols Streets Fighting Crime; 'Shadowhare' Among Nationwide Group Of Superheroes UPDATE: OK, not quite as exciting with the video version.

Slate presents a Facebook-style visualization of the Senate. It's meant to show how the senators vote with each other (or don't) with an eye toward Specter's lack of real connection to either party. (Nothing very Facebook about it though. Not sure that headline writer knows what Facebook looks like.) UPDATE: Ah! This is a Facebook-style visualization.

Rap Chop - Auto-tune the infomercial! (the edits around 1:52 are hysterical)

Visualizing the U.S. power grid (via FlowingData)

100 Amazing Futuristic Design Concepts We Wish Were Real - Oh... number 4...

Does having the White House photos in a Flickr stream make them feel kind of chintzy?

Does every animal have a flu? I was just remarking that these animal flus are like the Chinese zodiac or something. What's your flu animal?

Do you think TextsFromLastNight is real? Since hearing that "F My Life" got a book deal and Why You're Fat got a book deal I'm cynical about these Post Secret (also book deal) descendant sites. Does Cake Wrecks have a book deal yet?

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Yes, Cake Wrecks has a book deal, the deadline for completion was the middle of this month!  Look for it in time for Christmas, I'm guessing.

Kate (Sent Wednesday, April 29, 2009 3:55 PM)

Yes, actually, I think CakeWrecks does have a book deal pending. Seem to recall a mention of it sometime in December of last year. She is fantastic!

Tracy, NW, TN (Sent Wednesday, April 29, 2009 4:34 PM)

Re: TextsFromLastNight

I have a little more confidence in Post Secret than any of these descendant sites. Why? Well, you actually have to send in a message written on a post card to get your entry on Post Secret, whereas sites like FMyLife simply take submissions over the internet.

FMyLife.com even has a "Moderate" site which allows you to view submitted FMLs that have not been approved for the main page. If you look at that portion of the site, you will see a large number of obviously fake FMLs, many of them piggybacking on other FMLs.
Ex: One FML read something like "Today, I was driving home from school and saw this girl from one of my classes walking home. I offered her a ride; she declined, saying she was already home. She proceeded to walk up to a random house, which she obviously didn't know was my house. FML".
The next day there was an FML on the Moderate site that said "Today, I was walking home and this creepy guy from one of my classes offered me a ride. I told him I was already home and walked towards the nearest house. What I didn't know was that it was his house I was walking up too. FML"

I'm sure that half of the submission on FML, and any other similar sites, are complete BS. That doesn't mean they aren't fun to read though.

Michael "Today, Random-Non-Life-Changing-Drama. FML" [Last Name Deleted] (Sent Thursday, April 30, 2009 9:22 AM)

Shadowhare. That's priceless. I haven't laughed that hard at a video in years. I mean, good for him and everything, but it's still comical.

chris, UT (Sent Thursday, April 30, 2009 9:57 AM)

If you want to read more about real-life masked heroes, there was a fascinating article about Master Legend and the Justice Force published in Rolling Stone last December. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25020634/the_legend_of_master_legend  

Andrea, TX (Sent Thursday, April 30, 2009 5:43 PM)

F My Life is a bunch of made up little vignettes. That doesn't stop my husband from thinking it's funny. You know, sort of like Penthouse forum. We don't think those stories are real, but we don't care either. :)

Jen (Sent Wednesday, May 06, 2009 12:28 PM)



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