Digital Digest: 31/05/2010

The Best Of The Web

Sex

Blogspot.com

After the swathes of sex bloggers, comes a new wave: the bad sex blogger. Men I Wish I Hadn't Slept With relates the woe and the wisdom of a fashion-conscious single young woman in London, feeling her way (so to speak) around the dating scene. Make no mistake, this isn't just ITV3 fodder – it's wicked, witty and straight from the heart. Ind.pn/aHF0fK

Journalism

YouTube.com

Anyone who remembers John Sweeney's extraordinary meltdown in the face of provocation by a creepy Scientology PR man in 2007 will wonder if this hospital communications director studied the same text book. Sure, the scandal-sniffing interviewer is a bit pushy, but why the sinister shoulder tapping? Ind.pn/cjJBbJ

Virals

Youtube.com/user/PatrickBoivin

Patrick Boivin, a French-Canadian "autodidact director", has created some great YouTube hits before, usually involving stop-motion animation. At least one of them, 'Ninjas Unboxing a Googlephone', has previously graced this column. Boivin's new mini-masterpiece, 'Iron Baby', is a cover version of 'Iron Man'. Starring a baby. Ind.pn/aveTih

Music

Vimeo.com/user2642769

American guitar-stroker/heart-breaker John Mayer was in London last week to play at Wembley Arena. During the Australian leg of his current world tour he also shot this short film of a day in his enviable life. Hotel breakfasts, tour riders, adoring crowds and a minibar. What else is there, eh? Vimeo.com/11513701

Literature

Drb.ie

The Dublin Review of Books is an excellent free online literary journal, running since 2007. Their new summer edition has recently gone live and features a series of meaty essays about a wide range of subjects including Ian McEwan's 'Solar', Jonathan Swift, 'Ulysses', JD Salinger and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Drb.ie

Art

Womansday.com

Money and artists don't go hand in hand for the majority of the profession but cold cash is often a source of inspiration. Here are ten ingenious examples, from a shotgun made of one dollar bills to the Paris skyline rendered in three dimensions with a razor blade on a single five pound note. Ind.pn/aU19jS

Astronomy

Astrosurf.com

The web's into volcanoes these days, whether they're unpronounceable and annoying or just spectacular. But Cotopaxi only provides the backdrop to this captivating time-lapse footage of the night sky high above Ecuador. Watch as the world turns, creating a shifting kaleidoscope of light and colour. Ind.pn/aUHuZs