In the 1980s, U.S. and Canadian media were up in arms over Dungeons & Dragons and the problem of teen suicide. In the wake of various suicides and even murders linked (however tenuously) to the game, D&D started popping up everywhere in popular media, often linked by reporters to Satanism, witchcraft, and the presumed dark side of youth culture. Weirdly, this was all going on while CBS aired a Saturday morning cartoon version of D&D. The controversy came to a head when, again kind of... READ ON

"YOUR NAME HERE Presents: My TED Talk that you have no idea what the subject is and depending on the content could ultimately blow up in your face especially if I make you or your company look stupid for doing it -- that being said, it's a very good media opportunity." This was director Morgan Spurlock's (Super Size Me) pitch when he had the opportunity to give a TED Talk, and decided to sell naming rights...to his talk. Spurlock proceeds to explain his movie, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest... READ ON

Off Book is a new online series from PBS Arts. In their fourth episode, shown below, various web people explain online visual culture -- web videos, animated GIFs, and (ugh) "memes." It's worth a look, at the very least for the origin story of Nyan Cat. For previous episodes check out: Light Painting, Typography, and some video that YouTube is reprocessing right now (perhaps it'll finish by the time you click on it). Stick around until after the credits. The smartest comments in this thing are just... READ ON

Kyle MacDonald famously traded a red paperclip for a house, using a series of shrewd trades, great PR, and the power of the internet. In this five-minute video, MacDonald explains how it happened. And no, you may not have my red paperclip. My red Swingline stapler, on the other hand, is available to trade for a dwelling of pretty much any size. More recently, MacDonald (and a team of artists) decided to buy literally every item for sale in a corner store as part of an art project. "This is what... READ ON