Neatorama |
- The History of the Tintin Comics & Film
- Digital Portraits Of Shredded People
- A Christmas Card From Terry Gilliam
- Panda Playing In The Snow
- Angry Birds Candy
- A Dissectable Dalek Birthday Cake
- Cozy & Adorable Muppet Hats
- We Wish You A Merry Hothmas
- A Briton Converts to American Football
- The Bacon of the Sea
- Picnic Table Brings the Outdoor Experience Indoors
- X-Men Covers with Googly Eyes
- Pen Removed from Woman's Stomach Still Works after 25 Years
- Google Maps Has Walking Directions into Mordor
- Like Father, Like Son
- USS Enterprise in Christmas Lights
- What Kids Wanted For Christmas In The 80s
- SPAM Mints
- Cat vs. Dog: A Trick Contest
- 12 Sci-fi Film Locations You Can Actually Visit
- Tesla and Other Geeky Tattoos
- Snow-Clearing from SUV Roofs and from Fire Hydrants: An Informal Look
- The Spanish Village that Voted Itself Blue
- Jedi Ninjas
- 8 Reasons why the Nine of Diamonds is Unlucky
| The History of the Tintin Comics & Film Posted: 21 Dec 2011 05:10 AM PST If you haven't already heard through the thousands of ads being seen at this very moment, the Tintin movie opens today. For the handful of Americans who are actually fans of the Belgian hero, this is big news. But since Tintin never caught on in America like he did throughout the rest of the world, many people are purely interested to see if a Peter Jackson/Steven Spielberg crossover could possibly be as epic as the big names on the marquee would suggest. That's why we here at Neatorama wanted to share a little bit of history and trivia about the world-famous character. Even if you are already a fan of Tintin though, read on because there might just be a few tidbits you didn't know about. The History of A HeroImage Via Dylan Parker [Flickr] Tintin was created by Belgian artist Georges Rémi, who wrote under the pen name Herge. He was largely based on one of the author's earlier characters, a chubby boy scout named Totor. While he was thinner and better dressed than Totor, Tintin maintained the earlier character's high ideals and kindness, as well as his knack for getting into sticky situations. The first Tintin strip was printed in the Belgian right wing newspaper, Le XXe Siècle (The 20th Century), on January 10, 1929. Going along with the paper's right wing beliefs, the character's first adventure, titled Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, featured him fighting against socialist leaders in the Soviet Union. After the comic proved to be a success, Herge went on to send Tintin on adventures throughout the world, both in real and imaginary locales. While Herge started out with a right wing mindset, his opinion quickly changed as Hitler's legions began to ramp up their occupation of other European countries. By 1939, Tintin began to fight off authority figures from the far right, even battling Musstler, the leader of the imaginary fascist state Borduria, in King Ottokar's Sceptre. If you couldn't tell by the name and the time period, Musstler was Herge's take on a combination of Hitler and Mussolini. Later that very year, Belgium was invaded by the Nazis, who quickly closed down the majority of the newspapers in the country. They did leave open the leading paper, Le Soir, under the condition that it be put under German management. After Le XXe Siècle, was closed, Herge was briefly unemployed, but soon was hired to work as an illustrator for Le Soir. Soon enough he started printing new Tintin stories in the paper's children section, but under the repressive political atmosphere, he was forced to strip the comic of its political affiliations. In an effort to get around these limitations, Herge changed Tintin's occupation from that of a reporter to an explorer, which allowed him a much more politically-neutral world in which to operate. By 1949, Herge's character was so popular that he was offered the opportunity to publish his own magazine exclusively dedicated to Tintin. He immediately left Le Soir and go to working on Le journal de Tintin. The character became a massive success and was adored in countries throughout the world, eventually having his adventures translated into more than 50 languages. As for Herge, he continued working on new stories for the character all the way up until his death in 1983. The Enigmatic TintinImage Via CoffeeGeek [Flickr] At first glance, Tintin seems like a pretty straightforward guy. In fact, fans of the series often praise how uncomplicated the character is, as it makes him entirely relatable even when confronted by an array of bizarre and eccentric characters in fantastical cities. But when you look a little deeper, you soon realize that Tintin's lack of complexities make him quite enigmatic. For example, how old is Tintin? No one really knows. He's old enough to not be concerned with school or family, to go to a pub and drink, to hold down a job and to live alone, but everyone still calls him a young boy. In 1979, Herges said that when he first started the comic, he thought of Tintin as being about 14 or 15, but by that point, he considered the character to be 17. It seems particularly strange that he never mentions his family given the fact that they must have given him quite an impressive education. After all, Tintin knows multiple languages, can drive cars, ride horses, fly airplanes, climb massive mountains, do yoga and more. These aren't just skills you pick up while sitting back in Belgium or even after a few reporting assignments. Additionally, Tintin must earn money to be able to live on his own without family assistance, but while Tintin is supposed to be a reporter in the early parts of the series, he never is seen actually writing or turning in a story. He never goes into the office, nor does he ever meet any coworkers or even get in touch with his employer. Even his name is a mystery. Is it a first name or a last name? No one knows. Maybe it's a nickname or maybe he's like Madonna and that's his only name. Some speculate that it's a pseudonym he uses for his journalism career, but that it doesn't do a reporter much good to go by a pseudonym if that's the only name he goes by. With Friends Like These…Image Via sinanyuzakli [Flickr] Of course, with all the vagueness in Tintin's life, his friends are complex and help provide the character development and back story that the main character is lacking. While there are tons of recurring characters in the stories, two of the most popular are the two that also happen to be featured in the upcoming film (no surprise there). Those two characters are, of course, Snowy (known as Milou in the original and French versions) and Captain Haddock. Snowy is Tintin's longest-lasting friend, the only character who stays with him throughout the series. Originally Snowy is there to provide a cynical contrast to Tintin's constant positivity, his thoughts portrayed in speech bubbles that cannot be understood by the humans around him, but once Captain Haddock steps in, Snowy is relieved of this duty and he becomes much more light-hearted. Unfortunately, while the pup is incredibly loyal, he also has some serious weaknesses. Like all dogs, he can easily be distracted by a bone, but more problematic are his clumsiness and his affinity for Scotch. Additionally, he is terrified of spiders, which makes him less than heroic in certain situations. As for Captain Haddock, he is also a bit clumsy and quite enamored with Scotch. While he starts out as an alcoholic, he eventually becomes a rather respectable and heroic character. Haddock is quite sarcastic, providing a good balance to Tintin's optimism. Up until the last story, his first name remains unknown, but at long last, it is revealed to be Archibald. The Many Roadblocks of the MovieImage Via Georges Biard [Wikipedia] You know the movie was successfully created, but at many points, the thing almost fell through. In fact, Spielberg was planning to work on the movie from all the way back in 1983. The director was a huge fan of Tintin after discovering the series after someone compared Raiders of the Lost Ark to a Tintin story. At the same time, Herge was quite a fan of Spielberg and the two were quite excited to work together, Herge even noting that he thought Spielberg was "the only person who could ever do Tintin justice." Unfortunately, the same week the two planned to meet in 1983, the illustrator passed away. Herge's widow still agreed to give the rights to the movie to Spielberg because she knew how much her husband was looking forward to working with him. Spielberg hired one of the screenwriters from E.T. to write a film version of Tintin, but he was disappointed with what she came up with. Unfortunately, he was too busy to work on it any more at the time, since he was starting production on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Eventually, the rights returned to the Herge Foundation and Roman Polanski started trying to work with the group to secure the rights to the film. The foundation felt he would be unable to provide the creative integrity Spielberg promised though, so they declined to issue him the rights. Eventually, in 2001, Spielberg got back in touch with the foundation. When the rights were secured, Spielberg had intended to make a live-action adaptation of the film, but he wanted Peter Jackson's company, Weta Digital to create a computer-generated Snowy. If you love or hate the motion capture that was used in the film, you should know that you have Jackson to thank, as he was the one who suggested live actors would not do justice to the style of the comic books. Unfortunately, only a month before the duo was slated to start principal photography for the film, Universal backed down on financing the film, citing the low box office tallies of other motion capture movies like Beowulf. After some frantic searching, the team finally secured a contract with Sony, who has agreed to make two Tintin films with Jackson and Spielberg. Yes, that's right, there will almost certainly be a sequel to the first film, although no one is sure which Tintin stories the next one will be based on. The second film is expected to be released in late 2014 or mid-2015. Image Via Gregory Bellemont [Flickr] In fact, if all goes well, Jackson and Spielberg actually want to make another sequel after that, but we'll just have to see how well the film does before we get too excited. If the box office grosses from the countries it has already been released in are any indication, we will very likely get to see a third film. The movie was already released throughout most of the rest of the world and as of December 11, it already made $233 million. In fact, it's already the highest grossing animated film ever released in India. What do you guys think? Are you excited for the new film or could you care less? Also, were you already a Tintin fan or is the movie your first real exposure to the adventurer?  |
| Digital Portraits Of Shredded People Posted: 21 Dec 2011 12:41 AM PST
The paper strip style is created by using 3d modeling software to re-design the models, then the photo details are added to the stripped model, resulting in these uniquely deconstructed portraits. You can see more of these intriguing artworks at the Flavorwire link below. Ayaka Ito Randy Church –via Flavorwire |
| A Christmas Card From Terry Gilliam Posted: 21 Dec 2011 12:25 AM PST Iconic animator, Monty Python alum, and one of the best darn filmmakers ever Terry Gilliam made The Christmas Card back in 1968, as part of an animated short called Storytime. Full of Gilliam’s signature tongue-in-cheek humor and cut paper style animation, it sure puts me in some sort of holiday mood! –via BuzzFeed |
| Posted: 21 Dec 2011 12:06 AM PST Hua'ao and Qingfeng’s from the Nanshan Park in Shandong, China are big fans of snow, as you can see from the way they roll around in the powdery covering. Via BuzzFeed |
| Posted: 21 Dec 2011 12:02 AM PST Apparently, these delicious treats are starting to be carried at Walgreens. Have any of you seen these in person, or more importantly, tried them? |
| A Dissectable Dalek Birthday Cake Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:58 PM PST |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:51 PM PST Looking for a good way to show your love of the Muppets while staying warm this winter? You could always try knitting your own Muppet hats like Annie of Wattlebird did. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have any patterns and isn’t planning on selling them, so if you want to make your own Statler or any of your other favorites, you’ll have to figure it out on your own. |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:44 PM PST Santa Fett was created by Cory Mcburnett, who is also the creator of Steampunk Fett. Link Via Geeks Are Sexy |
| A Briton Converts to American Football Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:41 PM PST
Link -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: AP |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 08:00 PM PST (Video Link) Big Majors Spot, a tiny island in the Bahamas, is inhabited by a herd of feral pigs. The food supply on the island is limited, so the little porkers will gladly swim out to boaters off the shore to beg for scraps. |
| Picnic Table Brings the Outdoor Experience Indoors Posted: 20 Dec 2011 05:39 PM PST The picNYC Table, designed by the Dutch firm Haiko Cornelissen Architecten, lets people in densely-packed urban areas experience nature without leaving home. That’s real grass, so owners have to tend to it like a garden. Ants are not included. Link -via That’s Nerdalicious! | Photo: Haiko Cornelissen Architecten |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST
Googly eyes are supposed to be cute, but adding them to X-Men comic book covers makes them scary. Do you want to see more? You’re in luck! There’s a Tumblr blog devoted entirely to this motif. Link -via The Mary Sue |
| Pen Removed from Woman's Stomach Still Works after 25 Years Posted: 20 Dec 2011 05:14 PM PST This story has all the makings of a wonderful ad campaign for the pen manufacturer. A woman accidentally swallowed a pen. Her husband and doctor thought that she was making the whole thing up, so nothing was done about it. Twenty-five years later, a surgeon removed it from her and found the pen in full working order. Link -via DVICE | Photo: British Medical Journal/Oliver Richard Waters, Tawfique Daneshmend, Tarek Shirazi |
| Google Maps Has Walking Directions into Mordor Posted: 20 Dec 2011 05:01 PM PST In that case, I’ll just take the Tube. Let us thank Google’s programmers for offering this prudent warning. The map is of northern London, but you can overlay a map in your own city by choosing “The Shire” as your starting point and “Mordor” as the destination when searching for directions. Link -via Geekosystem |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 04:57 PM PST About a year ago, we were introduced to a Tumblr blog called Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things. Now that Dear Leader has died and passed the torch to his 27-year-old son, there’s a new Tumblr blog that follows in the first blog’s footsteps. Kim Jong-Un Looking at Things already has plenty of material of the new North Korean leader inspecting this and that. Link -via Dangerous Minds |
| USS Enterprise in Christmas Lights Posted: 20 Dec 2011 04:53 PM PST This Constitution-class starship comes equipped extra running lights. According to several redditors, it’s on display in East Peoria, Illinois. That city is apparently famous for its grand Christmas light displays. Link -via Nerd Bastards |
| What Kids Wanted For Christmas In The 80s Posted: 20 Dec 2011 03:38 PM PST (Image via mattonfire) Continuing our series of what kids wanted back in the day, we explore the 1980s-a time of excess, badass toys and fashion regrets. While kids in previous decades may have had simpler tastes, by the 80s it was all about the latest toys based on cartoons and TV shows, electronics and video game systems, sometimes all rolled into one. I couldn’t find one site with a comprehensive list of what we all wanted for Christmas in the 80s, so I chose 3 different sites that detail most of the amazing toys from that decade: 14 Photos of Kids Opening Presents in the 80s –this one’s cute because you get to see their reaction as they get the toy/present of their dreams. Looking Back on the Hottest 80s Toys –a list, accompanied with pictures, that briefly describes each toy. This one’s mostly aimed at girls. Top 20 Totally Awesome Toys from the 80s –this one’s fun because it features TV commercials for most of the toys on the list. Enjoy this look back at the fabulous toys of the 1980s, and if you still have some of these treasures in a box somewhere, they may be more valuable than you think!
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| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 11:30 AM PST
What better mints to wash down a yummy meal of SPAM than these SPAM Mints? Though sadly they're not actually SPAM-flavored mints (they're cinnamon mints), the new SPAM Mints from the NeatoShop come in a cool collectible retro SPAM mini tins. Perfect for SPAM lovers and those in dire need of wacky stocking stuffers! Link |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:57 AM PST Who does better tricks, Kaiser the Bengal cat or Nana the border collie? I’d have to give the title to the dog, because I have a border collie, and can attest that they are always in a hurry to do everything perfect, as far as they understand it. However, getting a cat to do any tricks at all is a major accomplishment! This competition is from the pet trainers at Use Your Clicker. Link -via Laughing Squid |
| 12 Sci-fi Film Locations You Can Actually Visit Posted: 20 Dec 2011 10:14 AM PST Of course you want to visit Pandora! We all do! But since it’s a fictional planet, maybe the next best thing would be to visit the location where Avatar was filmed. You can do that, because it was in the Keahua Arboretum in Hawaii. The arboretum is chock-full of lush and exotic plant life, just like Pandora -without the Na’vi or the man-eating monsters. Find out eleven more locations where your favorite sci-fi movies were shot at TravelSupermarket. Link -Thanks, Danny! |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 09:43 AM PST As part of a continuing series, Geeks Are Sexy posted a roundup of tattoos sent in by their readers. Kristina contributed her tattoo of Nikola Tesla. There are lots more, including many that are so geeky I don’t recognize them, but you might! Link |
| Snow-Clearing from SUV Roofs and from Fire Hydrants: An Informal Look Posted: 20 Dec 2011 09:10 AM PST by John Trinkaus, Baruch College, City University of New York John Trinkaus was awarded the 2003 Ig Nobel Prize in literature for meticulously collecting data and publishing more than 80 detailed academic reports about things that annoyed him. Since that time, he has repeatedly gotten annoyed, collected data, and written monographs. This new study is the third in a series Professor Trinkaus is publishing in the Annals of Improbable Research. The first, "Hand Sanitizing: An Informal Look," appeared in AIR 15:6. The second, "Hand Sanitizing: Another Look," appeared in AIR 16:3.
To glean some indication as to the number of drivers who clean the snow off their vehicle's roof, and the number of people who shovel snow off fire hydrants, a small, informal enquiry was conducted during the first two days following a major snowstorm during the winter of 2010. The locale was a suburb of a large city in the Northeast. What Was Noted When On the morning of the first day following the storm evidence of passenger vehicle roof cleaning — as contrasted with merely clearing a viewing port for the front and rear windows — was observed. On the second morning, fire hydrant snow clearing was noted. Some owners of homes near a fire hydrant sometimes choose to clear a working area around the hydrant — to permit fire persons access in case of an emergency. Day 1 — Details On the first morning the writer positioned himself beside the two city-bound lanes of a 4 lane state highway. As passenger vehicles passed their roofs were viewed for the presence of snow. For the purpose of this study, they either had snow or they did not have snow. If a vehicle surface had both clear and snowy sections, it was not counted for there was no way of telling if some snow had been purposely cleared or simply had been blown off as the vehicle was driven. If the roof was clean and dry, without any trace of snow, again, for the purpose of this enquiry, it was not counted. It was assumed that the vehicle had been garaged during the storm. Of the 1,000 "qualifying" vehicles noted, 473 (47%) were sedans and 527 (53%) SUV's (sport utility vans). One hundred forty-two (30%) of the sedans had roof snow, and 469 (89%) of the SUV'S had roof snow. Day 2 — Details On the second morning, the writer drove through the area consisting or modestly sized and priced single family homes observing fire hydrants. For the purpose of this enquiry, only two states of the world were considered: the area around the hydrant was purposely cleared, or it was not. If there was a question of "status," no note was made. One hundred hydrants were observed. Nineteen (19%) were cleared; eighty-one (81%) were not.
Limitations The methodological limitations of this study, such as subjective judgment, the use of only one observer, convenience sampling and the inability to replicate the enquiry, are recognized. Similarly, acknowledged are such setting boundings as: use of a single community, absence of consideration of any applicable ordinances, lack of consideration of prevailing cultural norms and practices, and the want of factoring for other variables, such as day of the week and the prevailing weather following the storm. Thoughts About The Findings However, it might well be reasonable to advance some thoughts about what the findings or this enquiry could suggest about social morality. Ease seemingly plays an important part in the practice of social morality. If it is not too difficult for folks to do, they will probably do what society says is right. Removing snow from the roof of a sedan is certainly less of a job than clearing snow from the roof of a SUV. Too, leaving snow around a fire hydrant is easier to do than shoveling it away. Surprisingly, self interest does not appear to be too much of a modifier. Removing snow from a vehicle roof makes for safer driving. Removing the snow from a fire hydrant makes for more effective and efficient fire-fighting.  Satellite image, taken two days after a snow storm of the general region containing the suburb (of a large city) where this study was conducted. Photo prepared by Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. _____________________
Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK. |
| The Spanish Village that Voted Itself Blue Posted: 20 Dec 2011 06:26 AM PST The town of Júzcar in the Spanish province of Andalucía got an offer they couldn’t refuse. Sony Pictures approached the village for an opportunity to promote the 2011 movie The Smurfs. Would the citizens be willing to have their whitewashed homes and public buildings painted blue? The local government would receive a nice cash payment, and the buildings would be painted twice -once blue, and then restored to their original white. It was a win-win situation. But… the villagers and tourists liked it so much that Júzcar will remain blue! See lots of pictures of blue Júzcar at Kuriositas. Link -Thanks, RJ! (Image credit: Flickr user manuelfloresv) |
| Posted: 20 Dec 2011 06:00 AM PST (Video Link) As I watched the beginning of this video, I thought, “Why doesn’t anyone just get a gun?” Then, at the 2:20 mark, everything suddenly made sense. I never saw that one coming. -via Nerd Approved |
| 8 Reasons why the Nine of Diamonds is Unlucky Posted: 20 Dec 2011 05:17 AM PST Neatorama is proud to present a guest post from Gary Noarnan, a contributor to the ragbag. The king of hearts is called the suicide king because the king appears to be stabbing himself in the head. The jack of spades and jack of hearts are known as one-eyed jacks because their faces are in profile and only one eye is visible. But do you know why the nine of diamonds is called the curse of Scotland? Did you even know that it's considered to be the most unlucky card in the deck? It is, though how it received its fearsome name is a source of wild speculation.
Here are eight leading theories on why the nine of diamonds is called the curse (or scourge) of Scotland. Some are more plausible than others, but all of them are highly intriguing. 1. British Commander William Augustus, the "Butcher Duke of Cumberland" was a lover of card games and always carried two packs on his person. After his decisive victory in the Battle of Culloden, he quickly scribbled an execution order for his Scottish prisoners on the closest paper he had at hand. The paper turned out to be—you guessed it—the nine of diamonds, a card that haunts the Scots to this day.
2. In the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, A notorious jewel thief by the name of George Campbell snuck into Edinburgh Castle and successfully heisted nine valuable diamonds. He then escaped to a neighboring country, never to be heard from again. Queen Mary responded by levying a heavy tax upon her kingdom to replace the gems. The hapless tax-payers have ever since had negative opinions about the nine missing diamonds and have vented their frustration by renaming the nine of diamonds playing card, the curse of Scotland.
3. Comete, a card game inspired by the discovery of Halley's comet was introduced to Scotland by James II. To win the game, one needed to secure the nine of diamonds. It is said that the card was called the curse of Scotland on account of the large sums of money that Scottish gamers lost when first learning this new game.  The Cross (or Corse) of Scotland 4. Though the nine diamonds in today's playing cards are arranged in an H pattern, early versions favoured an X shape. When viewed sideways, these cards look very similar to the Scottish flag—known as St. Andrew's Cross or the Cross of Scotland. It's very possible that the original name of the card was actually the Cross of Scotland. 5. Pope Joan was a popular card-based gambling game played as far back as 1732. In the game, special significance is paid to the nine of diamonds which is called the pope. Because the pope was a villain figure among Scotch reformers, the nine of diamonds was renamed the curse of Scotland in this game and—eventually—all games played in Scotland.
6. Just as there's a supposed curse involving U.S. presidents elected in years evenly divisible by twenty, so too is there an observation that every ninth English monarch reigns as a tyrant. Because diamonds represent royalty, the nine of diamonds is said to be a symbol of the English rulers that have been oppressing the Scottish people since the dark ages.  The Dalrymple shield 7. John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair was a Scottish lowland noble who had some beef with the Highland MacDonald clan. He successfully convinced King William to sign an order to extirpate (ie. "root out and destroy") the clan in a heinous event known as the Massacre of Glencoe. The Scottish citizens were outraged, especially when King William absolved both himself and the Earl of any wrongdoing. The Dalrymple coat of arms features nine diamonds arranged like the playing card, so it is very likely that the nine of diamonds became associated with the much-hated Dalrymple. 8. Nine red diamonds (or lozenges gules presented saltire-wise as the arrangement is called in heraldry) are also said to be featured prominently on the crests of other detested figures in Scotland's past. Among them are a colonel named Packer who was on the scaffold when Charles the First was beheaded, the Duke of Argyle who helped unite Scotland with England, and a member of the Scottish parliament who voted for the introduction of the malt tax. Bottom line: don't go taxing a Scotsman's malt. Which (if any) of the above explanations is the correct one? Nobody can say for certain, but what is known, if you're playing Go Fish with a Scotsman you should do your best not to win the game by asking for his nine of diamonds—you don't want to give the Scots any more reasons to view the card so unfavourably. |
This digital photo manipulation series, a collaboration between illustrators/designers Ayaka Ito and Randy Church, turns the subject of each piece into a sketchy, shredded mess.
Gerard Baker, a native of the UK, grew up playing and watching two different sports called football, or what Americans refer to as soccer and rugby. But since that time, his passion for the sports of his homeland has petered out in favor of the American game. Why? Baker explains:
(Image credit: Flickr user 
(Image credit: Flickr user 
This article is republished with permission from the 
[Image credit: Flickr user 
[Prince William, the "Butcher Duke" of Cumberland]
[Image credit: Flickr user 
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