Salon.com > Tumblr http://www.salon.com Tue, 02 Jul 2013 11:56:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Millennials don’t hate cars; they can’t afford them http://www.salon.com/2013/05/30/millennials_dont_hate_cars_they_cant_afford_them/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/30/millennials_dont_hate_cars_they_cant_afford_them/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13312856 This morning, Salon attended a panel discussion at the advertising and marketing firm Ogilvy devoted to the question of whether millennials want to buy cars, or whether the sort of seismic generational shifts documented by Joel Stein in Time meant that Detroit was in trouble. The invitation from Ford, which had put on the event, told us the goal: "use data, trends and expertise to show that Millennials aren’t just a bunch of PBR-drinking hipsters who spin vinyl and ride bikes." We were trepidatious.

The panel included Jason Dorsey, a self-styled "millennial expert" who makes himself available to corporations as "The Gen Y guy"; Tumblr employee Jeremy Kressmann; and American Express senior vice president David Rabkin. Attendees were asked to tweet about the event using the hashtag "#fordtrends."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/30/millennials_dont_hate_cars_they_cant_afford_them/feed/ 85 Mass killers have always been heartthrobs http://www.salon.com/2013/05/29/mass_killers_have_always_been_heartthrobs_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/29/mass_killers_have_always_been_heartthrobs_partner/#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 22:45:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13312304 Pacific Standard Michelle Legro runs a website called My Daguerreotype Boyfriend, a Tumblr where readers can submit photos of really attractive and long dead men. One of the men featured is this guy.

That’s Louis Lingg, the German anarchist partially responsible for the 1886 Haymarket Bombing. Haymarket started as a labor demonstration. When the police came in to break up the demonstration someone threw a dynamite bomb at them. Seven police officers, and four other people, were killed in the event. Investigators later discovered dynamite bombs in Lingg’s apartment. He was arrested and tried with seven other anarchists.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/29/mass_killers_have_always_been_heartthrobs_partner/feed/ 14 “Great Art in Ugly Rooms” Tumblr is pretty much what you’d expect http://www.salon.com/2013/05/28/great_art_in_ugly_rooms_tumblr_is_pretty_much_what_youd_expect_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/28/great_art_in_ugly_rooms_tumblr_is_pretty_much_what_youd_expect_partner/#comments Tue, 28 May 2013 18:53:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13311069 Hyperallergic

 

What is the bizarre pleasure in looking at art in banal rooms? Is it the economic disparity between the blue-chip objects and their more middle and lower class surroundings that make them interesting? Maybe this unexpected contrast emphasizes that context is everything in the realm of modern and contemporary art. Well, presenting Great Art in Ugly Rooms.

Outside of the white box, do these works lose a little of their power to inspire? It amazes me that Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2″ (1912) looks surprisingly at home in a wood-paneled room, or that the Barnett Newman easily blends into the bargain store surroundings by visually being transformed into a generic super graphic. Some of the art does look out of place, like the work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which is far too edgy and busy for a typical fast-food chain.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/28/great_art_in_ugly_rooms_tumblr_is_pretty_much_what_youd_expect_partner/feed/ 2 The best of Tumblr porn http://www.salon.com/2013/05/26/the_best_of_tumblr_porn/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/26/the_best_of_tumblr_porn/#comments Sun, 26 May 2013 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307253 Earlier this week, in light of worries that Yahoo's purchase of Tumblr would mean an end to porn on the micro-blogging platform, I reviewed its most popular adult blogs. I slogged through hours of explicit material -- all for you. But then, the sophisticated porn-oisseurs among you were like: Who needs this plebe porn? Show us the best!

Alright, I hear you. But there is only so much of the Internet -- even the pornographic Tumblr Internet -- that one woman can cover, so I called in some expert help from porn stars, journalists and sexperts. The result is a wildly eclectic bunch of blogs featuring everything from porn superstar Stoya to the indifferent cats of amateur porn. There is something in here for everyone -- even if you don't consider yourself a pornophile.

------------

Art or Porn: You Decide

Because of its "unique twist," sexpert Emily Morse (she of Bravo TV fame) suggests this Tumblr. "You get to look at beautifully composed photographs that can also be considered pornographic," says Morse. "The photographs titillate and tell a story. It's up to you to decide whether you're enjoying porn or art."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/26/the_best_of_tumblr_porn/feed/ 16 The most popular Tumblr porn http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/the_most_popular_tumblr_porn/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/the_most_popular_tumblr_porn/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304998 Yahoo's purchase of Tumblr has some devotees worried that what they love most about the micro-blogging platform -- the GIF porn, obvs -- will disappear. TechCrunch calculated that more than 10 percent of the service's most popular 200,000 sub-domains feature Yahoo-unfriendly adult material. The panic was barely lessened by CEO Marissa Mayer's promise to protect "the richness and breadth of content available on Tumblr." So I decided to take a look at what, exactly, Tumblr-ers have to lose -- by visiting the community's most popular adult blogs, of course. You know me, any excuse to watch porn at work!

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/the_most_popular_tumblr_porn/feed/ 20 Should wunderkinds be allowed to drop out of high school? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/should_wunderkinds_be_allowed_to_drop_out_of_high_school_ap/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/should_wunderkinds_be_allowed_to_drop_out_of_high_school_ap/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 15:06:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304504 NEW YORK (AP) — Thomas Sohmers, 17, of Hudson, Mass., has been working at a research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since he was 13, developing projects ranging from augmented reality eyewear to laser communications systems. This spring, his mom, Penny Mills, let him drop out of 11th grade. She says she "could see how much of the work he was doing at school wasn't relevant to what he wanted to learn."

On Monday, Thomas and his mom learned that he is in esteemed company as a high-school dropout with a knack for computers: David Karp, 26, sold Tumblr, the online blogging forum he created, to Yahoo for $1.1 billion.

Examples of tech geniuses who lack college degrees are well-known — Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg among them. But Karp left high school after his freshman year, with his mother's blessing, at the tender age of 14.

Critics say dropping out of school to pursue a dream is a terrible idea. Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford Law School who teaches and advises startup companies, says it's like "buying a lottery ticket — that's how good your odds are here. More likely than not, you will become unemployed. For every success, there are 100,000 failures."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/should_wunderkinds_be_allowed_to_drop_out_of_high_school_ap/feed/ 7 How to screw up Tumblr http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/how_to_screw_up_tumblr/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/how_to_screw_up_tumblr/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 16:25:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303457 In her announcement of Yahoo's purchase of Tumblr for $1.1 billion, CEO Marissa Mayer promised "We won't screw this up." Rhetorically, that's almost always a bad move. For a CEO, not screwing something up should be the default position, the operating assumption. The possibility of failure need not, and should not, ever be voiced. As soon as you make a promise like that explicit, you sow more doubt and uncertainty into an already fertile territory of fear.

Mayer was trying to be hip, trying to reassure Tumbler's young userbase in the same language that the blogging service's founder and CEO, David Karp, uses to communicates with his audience. Karp signed off his announcement of the deal with a gleeful "Fuck yeah." But note the difference: Karp exuded confidence while Mayer projected massive corporate low self-esteem.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/how_to_screw_up_tumblr/feed/ 9 Yahoo shells out $1.1 billion for Tumblr http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/yahoo_shells_out_1_1_billion_for_tumblr_ap/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/yahoo_shells_out_1_1_billion_for_tumblr_ap/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 14:49:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303350 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to rejuvenate an Internet icon that had fallen behind the times.

The deal announced Monday represents Mayer's boldest move yet since she left Google 10 months ago to lead Yahoo's latest comeback attempt. It marks Yahoo's most expensive acquisition since the Sunnyvale, Calif., company bought online search engine Overture a decade ago for $1.3 billion in cash and stock.

Yahoo is paying all cash for Tumblr, dipping into some of its remaining stash from a $7.6 billion windfall reaped last year from selling about half of its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Holdings Group. Taking over Tumblr will devour about one-fifth of the $5.4 billion in cash that Yahoo had in its accounts at the end of March.

While hailing Tumblr as fount of creativity that attracts 300 million visitors per month, Yahoo pledged "not to screw it up." David Karp, a high school dropout who started Tumblr six years ago, will remain in control of the service in an effort to retain the same "irreverence, wit and commitment to empower creators," Yahoo said.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/yahoo_shells_out_1_1_billion_for_tumblr_ap/feed/ 2 Cosmarxpolitan: Sex advice from Karl Marx http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/cosmarxpolitan_sex_advice_from_karl_marx/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/cosmarxpolitan_sex_advice_from_karl_marx/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13285850 Rife with double entendres and political wordplay, here is your new favorite dishy Tumblr, Cosmarxpolitan, in which Karl Marx rations out sex advice for your average proletarian gal.

View more issues here.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/30/cosmarxpolitan_sex_advice_from_karl_marx/feed/ 3 “The Legend of Zelda” gets a feminist makeover http://www.salon.com/2013/04/17/the_legend_of_zelda_gets_a_feminist_makeover_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/17/the_legend_of_zelda_gets_a_feminist_makeover_partner/#comments Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:32:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13274274 The Daily Dot Brooklyn-based cartoonist Aaron Diaz is getting a lot of attention on Tumblr for his drawings of The Legend of Zelda’s damsel in distress taking on the hero’s role.

“For a long time I've been conscious of the fact that female protagonists are in short supply in the gaming industry, but beyond making entirely new properties, I didn't think much could be done to rectify it,” Diaz told the Daily Dot in an email.

After watching pop culture critic Anita Sarkeesian’s new series Tropes vs. Women in Video Games however, Diaz was inspired to draw concept art for a possible video game called The Legend of Zelda: Clockwork Empire.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/17/the_legend_of_zelda_gets_a_feminist_makeover_partner/feed/ 7 Mean Mad Men Tumblr shows that admen are all mean girls at heart http://www.salon.com/2013/04/02/mean_mad_men_tumblr_shows_that_ad_men_are_all_mean_girls_at_heart/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/02/mean_mad_men_tumblr_shows_that_ad_men_are_all_mean_girls_at_heart/#comments Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:35:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13259308 The Internet loves a good Tumblr mashup. Taylor Pearce has delivered us another one, pairing quotes from the Tina Fey movie "Mean Girls" with a show that has almost nothing similar, "Mad Men."

Pearce explains on the Burn Book of the Tumblr, Mean Mad Men:

After seeing Mean Girls, Girl World was forever changed: consoling someone when they were sick was replaced with “boo you whore,” fabulous was switched with “fetch,” and girls grabbed their boobs when there was a “30% chance it’s already raining.”

Then AMC decided to grace the earth with Mad Men and suddenly I found myself wondering WWJD- “What would Joan do?,” questioning if it’s ever too early to drink if you’re on Roger time, and daydreaming about whether I would have caught Don’s wandering eye.

In the end, if you’ve ever quoted Mean Girls, or cried during Mad Men*, you’re in the right place.

Credit for all images to Taylor Pearce's Tumblr, Mean Mad Men.

[slide_show id=13259334]

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/02/mean_mad_men_tumblr_shows_that_ad_men_are_all_mean_girls_at_heart/feed/ 0 New Tumblr: Actresses without teeth http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/new_tumblr_actresses_without_teeth/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/new_tumblr_actresses_without_teeth/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:22:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13253850 There are some Tumblrs that are exactly what they sound like. Then, there are Tumblrs that are exactly what they sound like, but that doesn't mean you're prepared for what you are about to see.

"Actresses without teeth" is one such blog ... and it is terrifying. (Don't say we didn't warn you).

h/t Bobby Finger

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/new_tumblr_actresses_without_teeth/feed/ 3 Literature meets television in Slaughterhouse 90210 http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/literature_meets_television_in_slaughterhouse_90210/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/literature_meets_television_in_slaughterhouse_90210/#comments Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:12:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13246184 If you're a) a literature nerd  and b) a pop culture junkie and haven't yet discovered Slaughterhouse 90210, go check it out right now. It's a Tumblr founded in 2008 by Maris Kreizman, editorial director of digital content at Barnes and Noble, that, as its name suggests, pairs poignant passages from literature with popular moments on TV -- and the result is hilarious.

Kreizman told Salon via email:

"Slaughterhouse 90210 is a celebration of books and TV and they ways they intersect, blending high and low culture to create something entirely new. I've been an avid reader all my life, and I love TV too--I don't think the two have to be mutually exclusive. I love discovering new writers and raving about their books, and if pairing their quotes with photos from Mad Men or Girls or Jersey Shore exposes these authors to new audiences, all the better."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/literature_meets_television_in_slaughterhouse_90210/feed/ 1 Slideshow: Obama and Biden, laughing together http://www.salon.com/2013/01/08/slideshow_obama_and_biden_laughing_together/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/08/slideshow_obama_and_biden_laughing_together/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:33:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13164888 A new Tumblr, called Barack Obama Laughing With Joe Biden, is exactly what it sounds like: A place to find pictures of the president and vice president enjoying each other's company. Though there is infinite documentation of the phenomenon, we were inspired to pick a few of our favorites:

[slide_show id=13164887]

 

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/08/slideshow_obama_and_biden_laughing_together/feed/ 3 Obama and Biden laughing http://www.salon.com/2013/01/08/obama_and_biden_laughing/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/08/obama_and_biden_laughing/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:41:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13164887 http://www.salon.com/2013/01/08/obama_and_biden_laughing/feed/ 0 Anti-blogging hackers attack Tumblr http://www.salon.com/2012/12/03/anti_blogging_hackers_attack_tumblr/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/03/anti_blogging_hackers_attack_tumblr/#comments Mon, 03 Dec 2012 21:41:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13113836 Deviant hackers operating under the purposefully provocative title GNAA (which stands for something we cannot publish) waged war today on Tumblr bloggers. The group claimed to have propagated a worm through 8,600 blog sites -- including those of the Observer's BetaBeat, USA Today and the Daily Dot -- replacing content with the following expletive filled message:

Dearest Tumblr users,

We have taken the liberty of upgrading your (rather tasteless, we must say) blog to our premier GNAA Deluxe Gary Niger... Signed Edition! This is in response to the seemingly pandemic growth and world-wide propagation of the most... WORTHLESS, CONTRIVED, BOURGEOISIE, SELF-CONGRATULATING AND DECADENT BULLSHIT THE INTERNET EVER HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF FACILITATING.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/03/anti_blogging_hackers_attack_tumblr/feed/ 0 Kids hate-tweet Obama, echoing what they hear at home http://www.salon.com/2012/11/16/kids_hate_tweet_obama_echoing_what_they_hear_at_home/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/16/kids_hate_tweet_obama_echoing_what_they_hear_at_home/#comments Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:06:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13101024 The reelection of President Obama has hardly dimmed the enthusiasm of hardcore GOP racists. Even Mitt Romney, not too many hours after his hasty but graceful (for him) concession speech, is already out on the airwaves bitterly claiming it was the president’s promises of “gifts” to the unwashed 47 percent (read: minority) that got him reelected. Paul Ryan blames the unexpected high turnout of the “urban” vote (if you feel at all that the GOP uses the word "urban" to mean anything other than black, please refer to this video of Lee Atwater and the birth of the GOP’s “Southern strategy”). Karl Rove, who should have his own TV show called “The Biggest Loser,” has been petulantly invoking a high “urban” turnout, even bafflingly labeling a large and enthusiastic voter turnout as “voter suppression” — he must mean that lots of minority voters are considered suppressors of the white vote.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/16/kids_hate_tweet_obama_echoing_what_they_hear_at_home/feed/ 62 Dan Savage launches blog thanking straight gay-marriage supporters http://www.salon.com/2012/11/13/dan_savage_launches_blog_thanking_straight_gay_marriage_supporters/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/13/dan_savage_launches_blog_thanking_straight_gay_marriage_supporters/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:20:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13071692 Sex columnist and gay rights advocate Dan Savage has launched a blog called Straight Up Thanks, honoring straight men, women and children who helped "win marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, and Washington state, and who helped us defeat an anti-gay marriage amendment in Minnesota." The blog invites members of the LGBT community to publicly thank their straight friends who "worked phone banks, knocked on doors, spoke out, gave money" by submitting pictures of them to the site.

Those who didn't support marriage equality can watch this instead.

 

 

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/13/dan_savage_launches_blog_thanking_straight_gay_marriage_supporters/feed/ 5 New Orleans sends a love letter to New York http://www.salon.com/2012/11/02/new_orleans_sends_a_love_letter_to_new_york/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/02/new_orleans_sends_a_love_letter_to_new_york/#comments Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:18:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13060763 Sometimes, you just need to hear it from someone who's been through it. That's the poignant idea behind NOLA to New York, one of the most touching online responses to Hurricane Sandy.

Former New Orleans resident Andy Kopsa started the Tumblr while stuck waiting — in the Big Easy, as it happened — to get home to New York in the wake of Hurricane Sandy earlier this week. In an acknowledgment of both her immediate travel plans and the fate of the Big Apple, she tweeted Wednesday, "We have a long, long road ahead." And so Kopsa used her time to create the Tumblr, and put out the call to encourage "Katrina survivors [to] talk to New York."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/02/new_orleans_sends_a_love_letter_to_new_york/feed/ 1 The debate’s biggest loser: Memes http://www.salon.com/2012/10/23/the_debates_biggest_loser_memes/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/23/the_debates_biggest_loser_memes/#comments Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:09:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13049474 For the final, foreign-policy-themed sparring match between the two men who would be commander-in-chief, expectations were high. Fake Twitter accounts and Tumblrs and gifs were all at the ready. Why, then, did Monday's testy confrontation between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ultimately prove something of a letdown? Where are those glorious debate memes of times gone by?

It seems like only three weeks ago we were idly watching the first presidential debate when a seemingly out-of-left-field remark from Mitt Romney turned into a collective WTF. And no sooner had the candidate uttered the words, "I'm sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I'm not going to keep spending money on things, borrowing money from China to pay for it," than "Sesame Street's" beloved yellow Muppet became a bona fide Internet sensation. Soon after, the phrase "binders full of women" became a brilliant Tumblr — and entered the lexicon just in time to provide Halloween costume inspiration for everyone not yet locked down with Honey Boo Boo or Potato Jesus. And in between, there was every single gif-worthy, laughtastic moment of Joe Biden during the vice-presidential debate. Malarkey!

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