2/28/2010 – Apple Computers and Child Labor

Blog #323: Apple Computers and Child Labor

It was reported by the telegraph that Apple has used child labor to build their computers. If we were paying attention at all this would have been very very obvious.

To view the blog click here.

2/27/2010 – That’s What Sheen Said

Blog #322: That’s What Sheen Said

I emerge back from vacation with a silly pun. At least it’s not that much of a topical pun. It’s kind of just a pun for the everyman… the everyman who chases women. THAT’S WHAT SHEEN SAID!

To view the blog click here.

2/26/2010 – Here Are Some Math Jokes

Blog #321: Here Are Some Math Jokes

By Guest Blogger My Friend Stephen

MATH JOKES! YES! Welcome to the weekend everybody with some amazing math jokes. Friday is here, and tomorrow Friday will be gone, but Math is forever.

My friend Stephen is a very good friend of mine, and I’m uberexcited that he is guest writing a blog for me. For three years me and him co-wrote and edited the humor section (The Back Page) for our weekly college paper back in Walla Walla, and I would say that a good chunk of my fond memories of that place were sitting in the office at 2 A.M. arguing over the wording of a pee joke being sandwiched into a Robert Frost poem. It was that or go back to actual school work that was due the next day. In our time as writing partners we (among other things) were threatened with a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood, accused of slandering our school president by the Board of Alumni leading to a public apology and viewed by roughly half of the school to be bickering lovers. It was a blast. He was the yin to my yang, the smart to my stupid and the only person who would tell me that my jokes were so stupid that they became high brow. He is also largely responsible for me calling all my friends “Girl” nowadays. What’s up girl?

My Friend Stephen is a good friend, and a good man. One of the funniest people I know, and I wish he would move to New York already. But until then I can sit back and read his math jokes.

Also, I’m coming back from my vacation one day early and will be blogging again tomorrow. This is in preparation for one weekend of guest blogs by the other two guys in my sketch/improv group. The New Deal weekend is gonna rock.

To view the blog click here.

2/25/2010 – Rejected Library Donations

Blog #320: Rejected Library Donations

By Guest Blogger Ingrid Burrington

Today we get to see some of the rejected book donations from the Decker Library in Baltimore. These are real books, and they were really rejected for circulation. Fucking bizarre.

A note about Ingrid: Ingrid is possibly the best. Yep. In that case best is a noun… that’s how awesome Ingrid is. A few months back I linked to her Craigslist Missed Connections project, but that’s just the beginning of her genius. I’m consistently awed by her art pieces and her elaborate presentations (one weekend she had an entire art show that was a bunch of artists who could only present art they made through the medium of Microsoft Office). I might be using the words wrong (I am very confused by the differences between shows, installations, exhibits, fingerpaints, etc.), but two words I do know (fucking awesome) describe Ingrid’s work pretty dern well.

Check out her website: LifeWinning, and also the sister blog to her rejected library donations: Decker Finds.

To view the blog click here.

2/24/2010 – Breaking Up With History

Blog #319: Breaking Up With History

By Guest Blogger Nicole Drespel

Taking it back to my nerdy blog roots, Nicole is helping me out by pretending to have a time machine and date historical figures (usually with poor consequences). Nice. For my 24th birthday Nicole got me a bookmark with FDR on it and also got me a fife… like one of those ol’ timey revolutionary flutes. Can we be real right now? How is that not the greatest present on earth?

That being said I’m going to start out this intro with a side note about Nicole. I’ve been in several improv groups with this girl, and have always admired her as an improviser (go see UCB house team Robber Baron if you don’t believe me), respected her as a historical discussion buddy and listened to her as a drama queen. But my story begins when I, myself, was being a drama queen, which I’ve been known to do: About a week into this project I was freaking out… there was no way I could ever see myself doing the year of the blog, Nicole was the first person to point out that

• A. Dru! No one cares, and
• b. Why are you freaking out about this so much?!

A week later I was talking to her and she brought up my blog… “Ohhhhh, I get it,” she said: “You’re making a BLOG a day.” Turns out she thought I was flipping shit about posting every day a random thought, which would have been irritating to listen to me flip out about. “Yeah,” I said. “A blog a day.” “Oh…” she responded. “Huh… That’s stupid.”

Yep. I agree.

But she read it anyway, and has helped me through a lot of road blocks and even guest starred in a blog in which I just changed her hair color. Nicole is an incredibly gifted improviser and comedian, and more than that an awesome, awesome person and a patient and caring friend. What other person would give me an FDR book mark? Only someone who travels in time to date historical figures…

To view the blog click here.

2/23/2010 – Old Art New Title

Blog #318: Old Art New Title

By Guest Blogger Matt Klinman

Ever since I began The Year of the Blog Matt has been there supporting it. The dude is incredibly fucking funny (his job writing for The Onion supports this claim), and I respect him for that, but more than that I am indebted to his support of this project. So when he brought up his idea for a blog entitled “Old Art, New Title” in which he quite literally just renames famous pieces of art I jumped at the opportunity to include that (after I hit myself for not using the idea yet). I love this blog. And what a perfect Tumblr Tuesday contribution.

To view the blog click here.

2/22/2010 – RI-NIC-ULOUS

Blog #317: RI-NIC-ULOUS

By Guest Blogger Nicholas Cage

Pitches for Nick Cage movies, By Nick Cage.

Nicholas Cage is my homie… and this is his guest blog. You might be thinking… “Wait a minute… Dru knows Nick Cage?”

Yes. He reached out after he saw my impression of him for my Master Impressionist video. He thought it was very accurate. So he decided to write me a guest blog when I approached him. I was flattered. I love Raising Arizona and Adaptation and feel so-so about Snake Eyes. But he told me a great idea for a blog: Pitches for Nick Cage Movies, from Nick Cage.

Perfect.

To view the blog click here.

2/21/2010 – Thoughts

Blog #316: Thoughts

By Guest Blogger Aaron Mandel

Let me begin by saying one thing about Aaron Mandel… I love the man, we had some great times in college, but the dude is fucking insane. So insane in fact that he was the only person I gave a blank check for the guest blogs… anything he wanted to do he could do. [EDIT: I made him take out a picture of poop]. And I stood by the promise [except for the poop, I wanted to be strong… but I just couldn’t handle it], at the expense of my readers psyche’s. His opinion needed a place to flourish… so The Year of the Blog is proud to accommodate. To give you a small sense about what Mandel is all about, here are two photos he sent me to put on this blog:

Running a Half Marathon

Sitting with a Frisbee in a bunch of algae

And here is the bio he wrote for me: ” the bio is stashed I was raised by wolves c. 2300 BCE but cryogenically frozen by woolly mammoth pee, if you wanna know me better then get into my bed and I’ll give you a piece of my head.”

Insane. You have been warned. And for a Sunday too…

To view the blog click here.

2/20/2010 – The Druth

Blog #315: The Druth

By Guest Blogger Tanner “Awesome” Ringerund

The description he gave me for this blog: “Exposing the terrible truth about Dru Johnston, creator of the year of the blog project.”

I’m gonna be real with you right now, reader, not only is Tanner an awesome, funny and rad dude, he is also an incredible friend. I worked with him a bit back on his ARG Must Love Robots in which he and my friend Jim Babb made me an evil mastermind of some sorts. It’s a pretty great game that those two have created, highly recommended. In any case, I got his email about contributing and it included this self-description:

I graduated from the Princeton Academy of Kinetic Movement with a degree in Improvisational dance. I have a masters degree in Southwestern and Native American art from Naropa University. I am very very handsome, about six feet tall, probably 160 lbs, slender build, but still very athletic. I spent three years in Thailand training under UFC champion Kimbo Slice to become a master muay thai kick-boxer. I also have had brief apprenticeships at NASA and Jo-Ann Fabrics, so I am smart and can sew and shit.

So of course I jumped at the opportunity to work with him again.

To view the blog click here.

2/19/2010 – A Brief History of Dinosaurs in Space

Blog #314: A Brief History of Dinosaurs in Space

By Guest Blogger Becky Ferreira

I’ve known Becky for about a year or so now, ever since we improvised in a show together that consisted of us making up fake historical facts and also during which she accurately predicted that John Updike would die. Ever since I knew that there was something special I loved about Becky. And now, that love is proven in this guest blog about Paleocosmology… the study of dinosaurs in space! If there’s one thing I love more than Dinosaurs it’s space. Let’s be real here, this blog fulfills all of my childhood dreams. And what a great way to kick off the weekend!

You should also check out Becky’s regular blog: Becky the Ferreira

To view the dinosaurs in space click here.