Guilty Internet Pleasures – Awkward Family Photos

"The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it." - William Gibson

You may already be aware of Awkward Family Photos. This website provides a collection of awkward, weird, and/or disturbing family photographs sent in from contributors, with comment threads for each photograph. The website owners sort through the contributions and publish the interesting ones. The concept is simple but so universal and that is why it works – very well.
Most everyone has at least a couple of embarrassing and awkward photos in their personal legacy. Prior to the advent of digital photography and scanners as well as the power of the internets, these could be safely tucked away in the old shoebox – available to only close family members. Now with the potent combination of technology and the apparently insatiable desire for folks to attain attention whoredom, those photographs get thrown out in front of the world for all to see. Is the Internet great or what?
The AFP Hall of Fame is the crème de la crème. There are several photos in there that are LOL funny. Some gems in the comment threads associated with those pictures as well. Just to give a taste, here are three that I found particularly awesome.

Mustache Club. I am unable to do justice to the level of awesomeness that this photo possesses. These guys look so happy and natural. Major props to the son in the M*A*S*H shirt. He not only pulls off the short jean shorts look but adds the classy 70s tube socks. Major bonus points since this dude had to be separated at birth from Rush drummer Neil Peart (circa 1976).\

Strong-D. This picture has it all. Let’s start with the defensive position of the kid on the far right.  Yep, he looks like your classic lock-down defender. None of the family members is looking at the camera. What are the odds that the kid on the left really sucks at basketball? Johnny, why don’t you pretend to be the official – it will be so much fun! Finally, this picture looks to be from the 80s, but the kids appear to be transplanted from the 50s.  I did a double-take when I first saw this photo, convinced that oldest brother was actually a younger Jimmy Chitwood. Why would parents subject their kids to something like that?

The Space Between. This is the definition of cold. That poor little dude is totally shunned in this photograph. I detect a subtle smirk on the face of the daughter here as well. He must have been fussing up a storm during the shoot. Either that or another child was photo-shopped right out of the gap between that kid and the rest of his family.
Also of interest at this site are the Awkward Family Stories. Particularly topical is the The Thanksgiving Letter from Marney:
“Two half gallons of ice cream, one must be VANILLA, I don't care what the other one is. No store brands please. I did see an ad this morning for Hagan Daz Peppermint Bark Ice Cream, yum!! (no pressure here, though)."