I've just started podcasting a new story, a novella-in-progress called "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow/Now is the Best Time of Your LIfe." It's a long, weird adventure story about the failure of futurism and the difference between "progress" and "change," all about immortal children stalking the bones of ruined cities in lethal mechas. — Read the rest

This record-breaking, 13-storey log cabin was hand-built by a ruined Russian gangster as a summer place in Arkhangelsk. The towering fire-hazard is all that remains from his life of crime, and the city is threatening to tear it down on the basis that it threatens to take the whole suburb with it if it goes up in smoke. — Read the rest

Here's a Flickr set of photos that Sasha took of Gosford Castle, a giant, haunting, abandoned castle in Northern Ireland. Sasha sez, "Plans have been made to restore it into apartments, a hotel, and a casino over the years, but they all failed and the castle has been empty since 1983. — Read the rest

This musical masterpiece is truly what the internet was made for. It's absolute perfection! And I promise you, the time it takes to watch it will be the best 20 seconds of your day—trust me!

The video in question? Nelly Furtado's 2000 hit "I'm Like a Bird," reimagined by the brilliantly warped mind of Dustin Ballard, better known as "There I Ruined It." — Read the rest

This delightful mashup combines the melody of "The Rainbow Connection" with the words to Snoop Dogg's "Gin & Juice," sung in Kermit the Frog's iconic voice. It's the mad brainchild of There I Ruined It, a Texas-based producer who does, well, stuff exactly like this. — Read the rest

From There I Ruined It comes another unexpected gem:

Claimed to be from Simon and Garfunkel's 1968 album "Booty Over Troubled Water," this one kept me laughing.

Thanks, Ryan.

I'm riding that Barbie wave, so here's the last entry in my Barbie trilogy: An AI Johnny Cash singing Aqua's "Barbie Girl." It was posted by "There I Ruined It," who describes the song as an:

(AI voice model trained by @therealmockingbird / singing by me)

On their YouTube site, "There I Ruined It" describes their work: "I lovingly destroy your favorite songs." — Read the rest

Aww, Lady Gaga sounds great set to the fiddle and steel guitar. This isn't ruined at all. Nice try, There I Ruined It's Dustin Ballard. (Neatorama)

Music is known for its malleability. We've probably all seen that viral video where a three-piece band uses four chords to play various popular songs. However, one of the coolest ways to highlight music's malleability is the mashup. 

Thanks to the internet, we've got a host of great mashups and musical fusions over the years. — Read the rest

Imagine mashing up Cardi B's racy hit "WAP" with a GE dryer commercial and, well you don't have to, someone's already done it. "There's some chores in this house."

thumbnail: There I ruined it / YouTube

Eep! Doo-wop doesn't do Down with the Sickness any favors in There I Ruined It's latest mashup. While it sounds terrible, it's for a good cause. "(Not) Down with the Sickness" donations are being accepted for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. — Read the rest

YouTuber There I Ruined It mashed up the original boy band with a nineties boy band and it's so so wrong, esp. Yoko's cameo. Sorry, not sorry.

screengrab via There I Ruined It

Christmas is ruined! Just kidding, YouTuber There I Ruined It never seems to actually ruin anything with their musical mashups. Case in point, here's a mélange of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" and Mariah Carey's holiday earworm, "All I Want For Christmas." — Read the rest

My heart be still. Here's YouTuber Dustin Ballard's latest mashup: Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" featuring Pee-wee Herman. Dustin's channel is called "There I Ruined It" but literally nothing is ruined here. Freddie Mercury and Pee-wee are two great tastes that taste great together! — Read the rest

Queen's "We Will Rock You" has been jazzed up by the good folks at There I Ruined It. Dixieland jazz, that is: "New Orleans jazz legend Freddie Mercury performs his signature song."

screengrab via There I Ruined It/YouTube

The latest mashup from YouTuber There I Ruined It (previously) features Billy Idol singing a lively Christmas song. The tune of "Jingle Bells" fits the lyrics of "Dancing With Myself," but that doesn't mean it's a good thing.

This one was a challenge from a co-worker.

"There I Ruined It" remakes Michael Jackson's "Bad" as a foot-stompin' bluegrass ditty.

I'm giving you
On count of three
To show your stuff
Or let it be

The story of the Bisgma Man might just be the strangest incident in embalming history. In this video, you can learn in depth about the history of this bizarre event in 1902, when a corpse was embalmed to remain sitting straight up in a chair, looking more alive than dead. — Read the rest

Fyre Festival 2, the hypothetical sequel to an infamous original so underplanned and oversold it led to a wire fraud conviction and jail time for front man Billy McFarland, has been "postponed." The BBC's George Wright reports that the event has been "thrown into doubt"—as if anyone had any faith to begin with. — Read the rest

Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, successfully projected her fabricated reality into others' minds for years. It's easy to get people to believe in something if they think it will make them rich.

As soon as it became clear there was no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the investors, lawyers, and power players snapped out of their trances and vanished. — Read the rest