Flip Face

You know by the time Grandmas are rocking facebook pages and the local Hardware store has a twitter account the amazing social power of the internet hasn't just hit mainstream, it's got it in cement shoes and is driving towards the harbor.

On top of having to sum up your life in a few words for every permutation of "Connecting with people" we have there is also the tricky situation of picking an avatar.

Very popular with the younger crowd is the "Take a picture of yourself with a cellphone in a mirror" or the "Hold the camera just out of reach and snap a blurry picture of your nostril."

But that's about as unprofessional as you can get short of putting up a picture of you flipping a canary. Unless your message to everyone is "please think I'm one of those weird 28 year olds with a MySpace page with glittering unicorns" this is a no go.

There is also the option of going with an adorable puppy or baby, but the super cute pictures seem to be getting a bit of a backlash as of late. Hard Times, just not a good time for cuteness I suppose.

So assuming that you want an image of yourself but not just a picture, what is there to do?

FlipFace!

There ya go, go off and flipface. I'll be here nibbling on a scone waiting. 

Oh you probably want a bit more of an explanation then. FlipFace is a pretty cool deal where the artist takes your picture and creates for you an awesome avatar that looks like you but is also refreshing and has none of those obsessive details the beauty industry would try to kill us with (aka no wrinkles, acne or gorillas camped out on your back).

Check out Flipped Me:

I'd like to say that my smile isn't that big in real life but it's probably bigger. I heard a few Julia Roberts references when I was younger (and not really in a good way).

I thought it was so awesome I just had to get one of Essie too for when I'm in more of a cartoon puppy mood:

I love my, not quite professional but still very personal and awesome new avs. No more scrounging over and over to come up with something new every holiday (oh who am I kidding I'm sure I'll have something fun at least for Halloween).

So if you're still hunting for a cool personal Av, check out FlipFace! Or if you love Halloween and monsters a lot, he also has a super cool Monster by Mail that you have to see as well.

Now I really will eat my scone while you get your FlipFace. Mmm craisins.