Neatorama |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2008 01:56 AM CDT  The Rubitone is a concept Rubik’s cube where the object is not to solve the puzzle, but to select colors that might look good together. That couldn’t be any easier than the classic puzzle. Link -Thanks, kid_1carus!  |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2008 01:54 AM CDT (Vimeo link) TMCO manufactures metal products in Lincoln, Nebraska. At a recent open house, they used one of their factory robots to pour beer for visitors. A you can see, the robot encourages tipping! -Thanks, beerorkid (steve Ramos)!  |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2008 01:52 AM CDT  This is no Jack-O-Lantern, it’s a pumpkin grown in a mold shaped like a human face! Creepy, huh? The clipping is from 1938. Link -Thanks, Dana! I experimented with growing molded pumpkins myself this year.  |
| How to Identify Drunk Characters Posted: 29 Oct 2008 01:50 AM CDT (YouTube link) You know people who turn into certain characters when they’ve had too much to drink. This funny ad is part of a public service campaign from Heineken, called Know the Signs. Go to the site and play a game of spotting the people who’ve had too many. Then learn how to handle them and even send a warning to a person who fits the profile. Link -Thanks, Paul van Veenendaal!  |
| Posted: 29 Oct 2008 01:46 AM CDT
Almost all NASA astronauts live in Houston. Link -Thanks, Jerse!  |
| Science Fiction for the Next US President Posted: 28 Oct 2008 10:08 PM CDT
If you could only choose one work of science fiction for the next President to read or view, what would it be? Link via PopPolitics  |
| Paraguay Breaks World BBQ Record Posted: 28 Oct 2008 07:11 PM CDT
30,000 people in Mariano Roque Alonso, Paraguay cooked and ate 28 kilotons of meat in six hours. As an American, I am appalled that this record has been taken away from us. Surely we are capable of outconsuming every other nation on earth, in every category. This usurpation must not stand! Link via J-Walk Blog  |
| Horror Movie Trivia: The Trifecta Posted: 28 Oct 2008 02:24 PM CDT I apologize for the lack of horror movie posts last week - I was on vacation. I’d like to tell you that I was visiting the Stanley Hotel or Sleepy Hollow or Gettysburg or some other haunted location, but I was actually at Disney World. I enjoyed lots of rides on the Haunted Mansion and the Tower of Terror, if that counts for anything. So, with the countdown to Halloween now in the single digits, let us continue with the horror movie trivia posts from the week before last.
The ShiningClassic Kubrick, classic Nicholson. Released in 1980, the Shining was one of the first films (and definitely the most famous of these early movies) to use the newly-invented Steadicam. It was a camera that was weighted, which allowed for smooth movement even in smaller spaces. Anyway… the trivia! • Jack Nicholson’s visitors on the London set of the Shining included Anjelica Huston, Mick Jagger, George Harrison, John Lennon and Bob Dylan. • Other actors considered for the Jack Torrance part were Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams (can you imagine?) and Harrison Ford. Nicholson was always the first choice, though. DeNiro later said the movie gave him nightmares for a month. Stephen King didn’t like any of those choices and tried to talk Stanley Kubrick into using Jon Voight or Jack Palance. • Diana Vreeland is more or less the reason the movie was able to continue shooting. Jack’s back was bugging him from a previous movie injury and he was popping all kinds of pills to try to alleviate the pain. Nothing worked and he was starting to get worried that his pain was going to have to halt production. The fashionista heard about this while at dinner and promptly left her meal and had Jack’s driver take her to a pharmacy, where she purchased two back plasters. Then she went back to the eatery, commanded that Jack drop trou and applied the plaster right then and there. It worked, and the film was finished. • Jack Nicholson claims he wrote the scene where Jack Torrance writes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” over and over and over. “That’s what I was like when I got my divorce,” he said. • It got baaaaad reviews: Variety said it was the “biggest box office disappointment since Exorcist II”, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner said it was “completely fake and banal” and the Wall Street Journal said it failed not only as a horror movie, but as any other genre as well. • The famous “Heeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” line was improvised. • Although most exterior shots were done at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon, all of the interiors were a movie set. Kubrick refused to film in the States if he had to, since he was an ex-pat. At the time, the movie set was the largest ever built. • Stephen King didn’t care for much of the Kubrick version, which is why he made his own T.V. miniseries version in 1997. Among other things, he didn’t agree with the casting of Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance. He pictured Wendy as a blonde, cheerleader type who had clearly never known any type of hardship - pretty much the opposite of Duvall. He cast Rebecca DeMornay in the 1997 version, which, you have to admit, fits King’s original vision much better.
Rosemary’s BabyThis was really Mia Farrow's breakout role. Prior to this she acted on Peyton Place but was mostly just known as Frank Sinatra's wife. The film rights to the book were purchased before the book was even released because producer William Castle convinced Paramount that the book was going to be a huge hit – and it was. • The book the movie was based on was written by Ira Levin, who also wrote The Stepford Wives. Strangely, he also wrote a play about a hillbilly who joins the Air Force - the play that launched Andy Griffith’s career. • The book, which was published in 1967, had the birth of Rosemary's baby occur in June, 1966 (6/66). • That creepy lullaby (title: "Lullaby") that accompanies the credits is actually sung by Mia Farrow. It hit 111 on the Billboard charts. • The movie caused a bit of marital strife for Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra, who was her husband at the time. Filming and post-production ran longer than expected, which made Sinatra angry because he wanted his wife to appear in one of his upcoming movies (The Detective). He actually called the production offices and demanded that the movie wrap by November 14, 1967, because Mia was scheduled to be on his set by Thanksgiving. It didn’t happen, and he told her that her choice was to be done with the movie or be done with him. She stayed with the movie after Roman Polanski convinced her she was all but guaranteed to win an Oscar (she didn’t). Sinatra then had her served with divorce papers on the set of the film. • Jack Nicholson and Robert Redford were both considered for the role of Guy Woodhouse - Redford was actually the first choice. • When Rosemary calls the actor who went blind, allowing her husband to land the role, the actor on the other end of the line is Tony Curtis. Mia Farrow recognized his voice but couldn’t quite put her finger on how she knew it, so the confusion you hear in her voice in that scene is Mia trying to place his voice. • Lots of rumors plague the movie - that Anton LaVey consulted on the movie, that he wore the devil costume in the scene where Rosemary is raped, that Alfred Hitchcock was scheduled to direct, and that Sharon Tate was one of the party-goers in the scene where Rosemary throws a party to see her friends. None of them are true. • Polanski was incredibly true to the novel. Ira Levin wrote in the book that Rosemary had her hair cut at Vidal Sassoon, so Polanski actually made sure that Mia Farrow’s iconic pixie cut was shorn by Sassoon himself. • Also - apparently a remake is scheduled for 2010. I’m horrified. • Ira Levin published Son of Rosemary in 1997. Rosemary wakes up in 1999 after the witch coven put a spell on her to keep her in a coma. However, the last witch has finally died, freeing her from the spell. Her son with the devil is named Andy and was raised by Minnie and Roman Castevet, and he is now the CEO of a huge charitable foundation. There's a big twist at the end, but I won't reveal it in case you want to read it. I find it to be a cop-out ending, but I'll let you decide for yourself. If you want to know now, here you go. • And a non-movie-related fact: after the divorce, Mia Farrow traveled to India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who the Beatles were also studying with at the time. She brought her sister Prudence, who inspired John Lennon to write “Dear Prudence” for the White Album.
A Nightmare on Elm StreetWe're breaking into a new horror genre here, but I think that's OK - Nightmare is a classic in its own way. According to the book Nightmares in Red, White and Blue, the movie was inspired by some articles in the L.A. Times. Apparently there had been a rash of cases where people had nightmares so horrific that they didn't want to do back to sleep in case they fell into the nightmare again. So they tried to stay awake for as long as possible, but when the urge to sleep finally came over them, they died in their sleep. You can see why Wes Craven was inspired – that's some pretty creepy stuff. • When you're watching movies like these, check out the posters on the walls in bedrooms and similar scenes. Wes Craven and Sam Raimi have a running joke with the posters. Here's the whole story – and hang on, the Nightmare reference is in here, but it's going to take a minute to get to. First, in Wes Craven's 1977 movie The Hills Have Eyes, a Jaws poster can be seen in the background. There was speculation that Wes Craven specifically put that poster there to say that his movie was much scarier than Jaws, which had come out two years before. So, in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, he placed a poster of The Hills Have Eyes to suggest that his film was even scarier than Hills. Not to be outdone, Wes Craven referenced The Evil Dead twice in Nightmare - there's a poster on the wall, of course, but it's also the movie that Nancy watches to keep from falling asleep. Evil Dead II features Freddy Krueger's glove hanging above the door to the tool shed – which, according to the DVD, is the real glove from the movie. I'd be willing to bet that the subsequent Nightmares and Army of Darkness contain more Craven/Raimi references, but I think I'll stop there – it will give you something to look for next time you catch them on T.V. • Robert Englund, the actor who plays Freddy, could have been in Star Wars. He was best friends with Mark Hamill in the '70s. Englund went to the studio to read for the surfer part in Apocalypse Now and ended up going across the hall to read for Han Solo. Rumor has it that he was the one who told Hamill to read for Luke Skywalker, but Englund didn't actually address that part of the story. The interview is here if you want to read the whole thing – it's pretty interesting. • Johnny Depp's part came down to Johnny and two other actors. Johnny got the part because Wes Craven's daughter thought he was the cutest. I must say, that girl has phenomenal taste! • Disney was one of the first companies to express interest in the film, but asked Wes Craven to tone down some of the violence and gore. He didn't think that was in the best interest of the movie, so he held out. New Line Cinema picked it up and it really launched their company – prior to Nightmare, it was just a film distribution company. • Two reasons have been given for Freddy's red and green sweater – Wes Craven once said that he read those that color combination was the hardest for the mind to process, so he used that combo to achieve an unsettling effect. He has also said that Freddy was partially inspired by an elderly guy who scared him as a child that was wearing a similar sweater. • More than 500 gallons of fake blood were used to make the movie. Sometimes it was just water tinted red (it flowed better during the geyser scenes) and sometimes it was a mixture of corn syrup and powder and dye. • The name is said to have come directly from Wes Craven's childhood bully – Fred Krueger. I think I’ll try to squeeze one more in before the big day. The last post will focus on three of these six movies: Evil Dead, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Child’s Play, The Blair Witch Project, Friday the 13th and Psycho. Or maybe the Birds. Hmmmm. Tune in to find out!  |
| Hyperinflation: In Zimbabwe, Everyone’s a Multi-Billionaire Posted: 28 Oct 2008 01:50 PM CDT Think that the economy is bad? Be thankful that we’re not in Zimbabwe, where $100 billion note buys you … three eggs!
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| Caption Monkey 49: Elephant Seal and Penguin Posted: 28 Oct 2008 01:50 PM CDT
Today’s Neatorama and Hobotopia’s Caption Monkey game features this fantastic photo of a bull elephant seal and a king penguin in the South Georgia Island, a rugged wildlife sanctuary near Antarctica (National Geographic Magazine has a neat article about the elephant seals by Susan Casey | Gallery by Yva Momatiuk and John Eascott - Thanks Marilyn!) Funniest caption wins an original Laugh-Out-Loud Cat comic by Adam "Ape Lad" Koford - all you have to do is provide a caption for this photo in the comment section. One caption per comment, please. You can enter as many funny ones as you can think of. For inspiration, check out Adam’s blog. Good luck!  |
| Posted: 28 Oct 2008 01:49 PM CDT
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| Creepy Baby Laugh-A-Lot Makes Little Children Cry-A-Lot Posted: 28 Oct 2008 01:48 PM CDT
I think I’ve heard that laugh in some horror movie somewhere … Link (embedded YouTube)  |
| Posted: 28 Oct 2008 01:48 PM CDT Ken Imhoff must have really, really, really wanted a Lamborghini Countach. But at about $100K used, he decided that he’d make one himself! Here’s Ken’s Countach, which took him over 10 years to make (he had to dig it out of his basement to get it out!): Link | More pic at Lamborghini Replica (surprisingly, a lot of people are making their own Lambos!)  |
| Halloween in the Time of Cholera Posted: 28 Oct 2008 10:27 AM CDT  Steven Martin collects pictures of Halloween from long ago.
See a gallery at Wired. Link Link to Martin’s Flicker stream.  |
| Man’s Arm Trapped in Train Toilet Posted: 28 Oct 2008 10:24 AM CDT
This is why you should not carry your phone in your pants pocket. Use a secure clip. Link -Thanks, Christophe!  |
| Posted: 28 Oct 2008 10:23 AM CDT (YouTube link) Macs don’t get viruses! OK, it has to happen sooner or later, and when it does, it will be worse than you ever imagined. -via Viral Video Chart  |
| Buddhist Temple Made of Beer Bottles Posted: 28 Oct 2008 10:22 AM CDT  Monks in Thailand’s Sisaket province collected a million beer bottles and built an entire temple! The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple is constructed of a combination of green Heineken bottles and the brown bottles of a local beer. See more pictures at Treehugger. Link -via Unique Daily  |
| Things You Probably Don’t Need, #1 Posted: 28 Oct 2008 10:17 AM CDT I was traveling last weekend and killed some of the flight by perusing the ever-fascinating SkyMall magazine. This, in turn, inspired me to start a new line of posts - Things You Probably Don’t Need. And you might disagree with me on some of the items, but you’ll see what I mean, at any rate. For instance, even the most hard-core Elvis fan probably doesn’t need this:  It’s an animatronic Elvis that sings and talks to you. He sings eight songs and recites 37 monologues recorded from various interviews The King gave. Even better - you can plug a microphone into Elvis and sing along with him, or plug your iPod into him to play other music through his speakers! I’d love to hear Elvis blasting some Snoop Dogg. He’s all yours for the low price of $199.  |
Talk about absentee voting! US citizens Michael Fincke and Greg Chamitoff are 220 miles above the earth in the International Space Station. But thanks to a bill passed in Texas in 1997, they will be able to vote by secret ballot on election day. 
Science fiction blog io9 asked six major political bloggers what single work of science fiction they would recommend as reading or viewing material for the next President, regardless of who is elected. Read responses from Markos Moulitsas, Andrew Sullivan, Jonah Goldberg, Amanda Marcotte, Glenn Reynolds, and Kevin Drum as they explain what works they selected and how they are especially relevant for the world of today.
Squirrels are overrunning the countryside of Devon, England, so Chef Ed Chester decided to do something about those pesky critters: he’s making squirrel kebab!
Here’s one from the archives of toys-that-never-made-it-big. Can you see why Baby Laugh-A-Lot from Remco isn’t a big seller?
A 26-year-old man dropped his phone into a toilet on a French train and reached in to retrieve it. His arm became stuck, and firemen had to rescue him!
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