This week in “Thanks, Internet” — Shlohmo revives a genre, Cindy Sherman becomes emoticons, a tourist remembers why we love NYC, a tumblr takes rap back to the Middle Ages, and Dinosaurs dance to Biggie.
1. DRUM AND BASS IS BACK? [NSFW-ish]
The mysterious and moody Los Angeles electronic musician Shlohmo (given name: Henry Laufer) has been known to dabble in hip-hop and R&B, but "Beams" is the first time he's landed in a mess of drum and bass. And what a beautiful mess! The single from his upcoming album Dark Red sounds like the perfect soundtrack to an epic night out and the potentially NSFW video reflects that with rapid cuts of young heathens raising hell.
2. CINDY SHERMAN EMOTICONS
Emoji has failed to properly represent the diversity of planet Earth's gene pool, so why not use just one young white woman to express yourself? An artist named Hyo Hong has captured and cropped 20 iconic images of Cindy Sherman for you to send your friends via text message. You (and hopefully Cindy Sherman herself) can download them on his tumblr.
3. <3 NYC <3
New Yorkers are just now crawling out of the longest winter in recent memory. Decomposing trash is appearing under melting ice and everyone’s struggling to remember what they ever loved about this city in the first place. But hey! Look! A tourist named Ynon Lan made a beautiful minute-long video to remind us.
"Still NYC” captures the mood, topography, and charm of the city by rapidly stringing photos of a few familiar subjects together: New York City’s diverse people, its yellow cabs, its brown Brownstones, and its infinite Starbucks locations.
4. RAP MEETS THE MIDDLE AGES
It was only a matter of time until B4XVI came along to showcase the similarities between the lavish lifestyles of contemporary hip hop stars and elites from the Middle Ages. Kanye’s fur looks a lot like that of a 15th century aristocrat! Drake’s album art is taken straight from Catholic motif! Some guy wore two chains long before 2 Chainz! Let's hope this tumblr never runs out of steam.
5. DINOSAURS HYPNOTIZE
In a way, it's amazing that the TV show Dinosaurs ever even happened. A family sitcom featuring humans in full-size dinosaur costumes? The internet continues to show love for ABC's audacious programming decision: a staycationing father (whose family was out of town) recently spent a few days making a music video for Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” using clips from the show. Dinosaurs forever.