Jen's Gems 1/28/13

I have three quick videos to share, but I know a lot of times these things tend to not work in countries outside the U.S. or show up in RSS feeds, so let me apologize now if you can't see them. Especially since they are REALLY cool. (Not helping? :D)

Even if you can't see the vids, though, stick through 'til the end for non-video goodies.

First, the exterior secret door to end all exterior secret doors:

SO COOL!  (Found via Instructables)

I keep forgetting to show you guys this AMAZING Portal Turret music video. Even if you know nothing about Portal, it should give you a big, toe-tapping grin:

I have the original Portal 2 Turret song as my ringtone on my phone right now (it was a free download from Valve ages ago), but now I want to use this one!

And now, three minutes of fake educational hilarity:

Why does he pronounce it "sea whores"? The world may never know.

 (Found via BoingBoing)

The whole "True Facts" series is pretty hysterical, by the way, so be sure to watch the others when you need a laugh.

And finally, thanks to True Blue Me And You's Facebook page I've found my new favorite Pinterest Board: It's called Don't Compare Yourself To Celebrities, and it's a combination of non-photoshopped pics of celebs & models, side-by-side original vs Photoshopped pics, and modern, heavily photoshopped pics where writer Indy Ink points out and explains how you can spot the 'shop. It's a really uplifting, natural beauty-affirming board, and frankly I've never seen so much original content (by way of the commentary on each photo) on Pinterest before.

Here are a few examples, with Indy Ink's commentary:

This is one of my favorites:

That pic just makes me smile. You know, I honestly didn't think I was being all that fooled by digitally altered media, but after looking at this board, I realized I really *have* been blinded by rampant Photoshopping. I was shocked time and again by, say, Rhianna's real body, or how I never realized there are no elbow or knee lines or thighs-that-touch on doctored ads. There are still stunningly beautiful people, of course, but it's a comfort to know that most everyone really DOES look a little bit like me from time to time. (Meaning belly folds, large pores, wrinkles, and the like.)

So, yeah, I went in looking for fun before-and-after shots, and came away a little bit comforted, a little bit inspired, and a lot more educated. Definitely go check it out!