10 things to waste your time on this weekend

Rob Walker, Yahoo News
·Rob Walker

Hey, do we have a functioning government yet? Either way, nothing shuts down the Procrastinaut Tumblr, where @gilbertjasono, @danielwbean and I offer a generous surplus of the best diversionary wonders and amusements, all week long. Here are this week’s highlights, plus a few bonus items. Enjoy. (Oh, and follow the Tumblr here.)

1. Reanimating the classics


Scorpion Dagger, a Tumblr, posts GIFs of Renaissance paintings manipulated in various ridiculous ways. Creators Project picks some favorites here.

2. Words on 'The Wire'

This beautiful new poster series from Oliver Munday is certain to delight fans of "The Wire" — and it’s for a great cause. Munday has created 60 typographic posters, one for each episode of the beloved series. Each purchase benefits the Baltimore Urban Debate League. The posters go on sale on Monday. See the Wire Poster Project for more details.

3. Killer serve

Ping Pong With Knives. The Internet thinks this is fake, but it’s still awesome.

4. Paint it Mac

This week in digital nostalgia: Cloud Paint, which re-creates the black-and-white version of MacPaint, from 10,000 years ago. Fun! Via Prosthetic Knowledge.

5. Swelled heads

Balloon Portraits, by photographer Bela Borsodi, who is excellent. Via Ghost in the Machine.

6. Architecture fiction

Still not over "Breaking Bad"? Enjoy these architectural schematics of various settings from the show created by architecture journal Interiors. And once you’ve done that, get over "Breaking Bad."

7. The art of catastrophe

Artist Eyal Gever fabricates cataclysmic moments, such as a mushroom cloud, in disturbing yet engaging sculptural form. Check out this Flickr set of an installation of these three-dimensional freeze-frames, “Sublime Moments.” Via Radiolab.

8. Jell-O, Dalí

Designer Alexis Gallo has devised a Dalí-esque “malleable typeface that bends to the surface it rests on.” Imagine letters made of Jell-O. Or just watch the video. Via PSFK.

9. Red dot special

You know the red “alert” circle that nags you about updates on your mobile device? Now you can add those circles to your nondigital surroundings. Big Big Pixel has converted them into big ol’ sticky notes. Via Design Milk.

10. [Clever headline redacted]

Cryptstagram allows users to type a message, attach it to an image, then disguise that image with a glitch-making filter and post it, with (optional) password. This amusing perversion of social media intends to get people thinking about secrecy, surveillance and encryption. There’s a message from us on the service, just for you.

Follow Procrastinaut.Tumblr.com for breaking news of the weirdest and the coolest collisions of technology with design, art, robots, science, games, music, pop culture, current events, lulz and other stuff I can’t think of right now. Every day.