Ah, the magic of Kickstarter. A place where dreams can become reality; seeds of hope can blossom into astounding new horizons of possibility; and small-time inventors can gain new purchase for their creative vision. Some of these can be noble and good: Just witness Levar Burton’s successful resurrection of Reading Rainbow. Some are seemingly inexplicable, like the world’s favorite potato salad impresario.
Yet, dig beneath the smiling faces and fully-funded success stories, and you uncover a dark graveyard. A vertiginous cemetery of entrepreneurial corpses, their ghosts wailing like banshees, howling of the projects they never became. Now, there is an repository for these short-lived visions. Kickended is an archive that compiles all the Kickstarter campaigns that failed to net a single dollar in backing. It’s set to random, so refreshing the page will take you on a whirlwind tour of shattered dreams.
This may sound a little depressing, but quick perusal actually yields a delightful testament to the notion that the masses possess some common sense. For example, it turns out the world isn’t all that eager to help someone dress like an authentic World War II Nazi. The denizens of the Internet also ruled against the need to help this guy make a grilled cheese sandwich. Want to fund “the perfect melding of beach and urban fashion”? You’re not alone!
There are many, many, many other amazing campaigns buried here, but we would be remiss if we didn’t single out for special attention the guy who hoped to teach men how to strip tease, especially his promotional video informing viewers that “exotic dancing is a sexy way to dance.” Keep reaching for the stars, Drew.