The Andy Kaufman of the web: Microfocused Tumblr blogs
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The Andy Kaufman of the web: Microfocused Tumblr blogs
The Internet can get pretty weird. One of the best illustrations of that is the growing trend of highly specific and deeply strange and often very funny blogs on Tumblr. Entire blogs dedicated to nothing but pictures of ugly babies from Renaissance paintings or single Cheetos left on the street. There’s one of just cats laying in piles of money. Malkah Duprix runs the popular Law & Order & Food. Screen shots of characters from the TV show “Law & Order,” eating food.
Malkah Duprix: In every episode, there is at least one scene where they’re eating. and it’s not just eating, actively putting it in their mouths. They’re constantly stopping at hot dog vendors, snacking in the squad room, even in the judge’s chambers, there’s food.
Moe: I guess on other TV shows, you really don’t see people eat.
Duprix: You really don’t. Even on the spin offs. And I’ve gotten requests for “Special Victims Unit.” People really want to see Ice-T eating and as far as I can tell, there’s not the same amount of eating at all.
Now, as a dad, I can confirm that kids usually think their dads are dorks. Brad Getty had a different experience. A few years ago, he grew a mustache and then flew home to see his parents. Including his dad.
Brad Getty: It was a really really pathetic mustache. And I got off the plane and my dad walked up to me and he had grown in a ridiculously amazing mustache, and he looked at me, and I’ll never forget this moment. He looked at me and he goes, “no matter what you do, I’ve already done it and I will always do it way better.”
Moe: Thanks, Dad, thanks for your support.
Getty: So it was one of those things the entire car ride home, I had all these flashbacks to all these things, like my dad wears v-neck shirts, he has a mustache now. It just kind of hit me like, oh my god, my dad’s a hipster.
Brad’s blog Dads are the Original Hipsters is old pictures of dads, doing the things hipsters do today but looking cooler. A book version of the site has just been published.
Getty: Every photo that you see on there is someone’s dad that they’ve sent to me, usually they’ll attach a story. It’s amazing. I’ve gotten them from around the world. I’ve gotten ones from Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Korea, you name it, somebody submitted a photo from there.
If you like Brad’s blog, you might also enjoy another Tumblr blog that has landed a book deal. Hungover Owls. It’s run by J Pat Brown. The blog did not get started after a night drinking with owls; it all began while celebrating a friend’s birthday.
J Pat Brown: One of her birthday gifts was Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter, and it’s this picture of an old owl, looking, suffering through whatever Squirrel Nutkin’s mischievous actions or whatever, he just looks really miserable, and I immediately identified with that owl. That owl is hung over…all owls are hung over. “I have to leave now and make a website that says all owls are hung over.”
And that’s what he did. Hundreds of owls all looking like they partied way too hard. And it’s funny. I asked J Pat if it was still funny to him, like we get it, owls look hung over, but he still updates this thing religiously even after he got the book deal. Why?
Brown: Ugly buildings and politicians you know the only things that gain respect after old age, and it’s like that with stupid Tumblr blogs. Once I reached past this oh, OK, it’s done its thing to the ok now it’s getting ridiculous stage; it became more sort of fun to keep it up because now I can say I have two years worth of pictures of hungover owls.
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