Neatorama

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• 15 Really Strange Movie Credits
• The Joy Of Leading Soldiers Into Battle
• Shark Fin Ice Tray
• Avengers X My Neighbor Totoro = Adorably Awesome!
• The Cat Gets Comfortable
• Functional LEGO Go-Kart
• Torture Lab Kills Trees to Save Them
• Marine Corps Mascot Promoted under Controversial Circumstances
• The Fresco Restoration Treatment
• The Best Mashup Cosplaying of Star Wars Celebration
• American Academy of Pediatrics Now Endorses Circumcision
• Peanut Butter and Jelly S'mores
• Women in Togo Will Go on Sex Strike to Demand President's Resignation
• Darth Vader Onesie
• Jumping Stick Insect Looks Like a Sci-Fi Character
• Exploiting the Fine Print
• Sky Garage
• Brett Cohen's Celebrity Prank
• Music Idol Causes Women to Swoon
• Schrödinger's Call Me Maybe
• Pinterest "Pin to Win" Winners
• A Boy and His Marmot Friends
• Josico Wants Attention
• Awesome Custom Made Star Wars Dresses
• Magic Carpet
• These Popsicles Are Chillingly Realistic
• Name the Big 12
• Bender-D2 Cosplay Hits The Con Floor
• Is There a Limit to How Tall Buildings Can Get?
• The Cookie Monster Rises

15 Really Strange Movie Credits Posted: 28 Aug 2012 05:00 AM PDT Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website. Do you ever read the credits for a movie? If you don't, you're missing some gems that pop up every now and then. 1. An American Werewolf in London (1981) had an end title congratulating Prince Charles and Princess Diana on their recent wedding. 2. The Beatles' 1965 film Help! was "dedicated to Elias Howe who invented the sewing machine in 1846." 3. Political correctness and feminism took hold in Slam Dance (1987). The "best boy" is credited as "best person." 4. Solomon and Sheba (1959) features a credit for "orgy sequence advisor." 5. The making of The Cotton Club (1965) involved so much litigation that the credits even included one for the law firm representing the successful litigants. 6. The Marsupials: The Howling III (1987) has a credit to the restaurant director for his Eggs Benedict. 7. There is a credit for "Roach Wrangler" on George Romero's Creepshow (1959). The film contains a scene involving thousands of cockroaches. 8. A title at the beginnign of Bill (1923) warned the audience that the film had no love interest and no mechanical thrills. 9. The Italian religious epic The Old Testament (1922), a silent movie, was released on America in three versions with three different sets of title cards: one for Protestants, one for Roman Catholics, and one for Jews. 10. During the early 1930s, supporting player Dorothy Jordan was always given star billing when her films were shown in her hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, however minor the role. 11. Probably the only film which managed to spell its own star's name wrong was in the credits to The Bit Part (1987), an Australian film, which billed topliner Chris Haywood as "Chris Heywood." 12. "Fangs by Dr. Ludwig Van Krankheit" is an interesting credit from Dance of the Vampires (1967). 13. Night Patrol (1984), a typical '80s comedy, has the end credits listed in French for some inexplicable reason. 14. Chosen Survivors (1974) features a credit for "technical consultant on vampire bats." 15. The somber Australian melodrama In Search of Anna (1978) features a dog named Billy and has an end credit telling viewers that "Billy eats Loyal dog food."

The Joy Of Leading Soldiers Into Battle Posted: 28 Aug 2012 04:00 AM PDT (College Humor Link) Who knew leading an infantry charge would be such an ordeal? Join Rhys Darby, of Flight of the Conchords fame, as he discovers that leading a phalanx of soldiers into battle isn't as easy as simply yelling "Charge!" --via Gizmodo

Shark Fin Ice Tray Posted: 28 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT Shark Fin Ice Tray - $7.95 Are you hunting for a frighteningly fun way to keep your drink cool? You need the Shark Fin Ice Tray from the NeatoShop. These floating dorsal fin ice cubes are a great way to attack the warm weather.    Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Ice Tray fun! Link

Avengers X My Neighbor Totoro = Adorably Awesome! Posted: 28 Aug 2012 03:00 AM PDT My Neighbor Totoro and The Avengers are two movies which are unlikely to ever become the subject of a crossover project, but the idea alone makes for some really cool fan art! Check out this adorable mashup created by DeviantARTist samoubica, who feels that the cute and cuddly nature of the Hulk has been overlooked. Hulkoro needs a hug! Link  --via Geek Tyrant

The Cat Gets Comfortable Posted: 28 Aug 2012 02:00 AM PDT (YouTube link) "Sit still, son, we're makin' a video!" Greta seems to think that Lee needs a little grooming. Or maybe a lot. Commenter Auden declared this the result of "Johnson & Johnson No Tears Fancy Feast Child's Tasty Head Shampoo." -via Metafilter

Functional LEGO Go-Kart Posted: 28 Aug 2012 01:00 AM PDT Eric Streenstra's go-kart appears to be made almost entirely out of standard LEGO parts. It can move (slowly) under its own power whille carrying a child. Next project: a car, please. Link -via Make (where there's a video of it in action)

Torture Lab Kills Trees to Save Them Posted: 28 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT Photo: David Gilkey/NPR Droughts kill trees. That much we know. But beyond the simple concept of "trees die without water," scientists actually don't know much about how heat and droughts affect trees. How long can they go without water? Which ones will die first? Ecologists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico want to help trees survive droughts, but first, they have to learn how to kill them: Nate McDowell runs what you might call a "tree torture" lab. It's actually outside in the desert, near the national lab. He's growing a group of pinon and juniper trees, about 15 feet high. Plastic gutters keep rain away from the tree roots, to simulate drought. The trees themselves are growing inside clear plastic chambers — tubes with no tops. Silvery hoses carry heated air into the chambers. We climb in through a hole in the chamber where you can immediately feel the heat. It's about 7 degrees hotter than the outside, roughly the increase predicted by computer models of climate change over the next 80 years or so. McDowell is simulating drought and a warmer climate. He measures how the trees respond — there are instruments stuck into and all over the trees. Even wrapped around the stem. "Every few minutes they measure the diameter of that tree," he explains. The trees look like patients in intensive care — wired up with tubes coming out of the stems. All to see what it takes to kill it. "Everyone knows it gets hot and dry; you know, beetles show up, the trees are dead," McDowell says, "but we don't really understand it." Christopher Joyce of NPR's Weekend Edition has the fascinating story: Link

Marine Corps Mascot Promoted under Controversial Circumstances Posted: 27 Aug 2012 11:00 PM PDT Chesty XIII* is an enlisted bulldog in the United States Marine Corps and that force's official mascot. His recent promotion from corporal to sergeant was almost aborted after Chesty angrily confronted a golden retriever owned by the Secretary of Defense. It was a major breach of protocol that, according to some Marines, indicated that Chesty wasn't ready to become a sergeant:  Other senior Marines worried about the message promoting Chesty might send. In military chain of command, Bravo is second only to Bo Obama, the president's hypoallergenic Portuguese water dog. The Constitution puts the military under civilian control, and some senior officers thought promoting Chesty might appear insubordinate. "The standards in the barracks had lowered," said one senior Marine officer. "The dog didn't really deserve it." Col. Montanus, who had the dog's fate in his hands, acknowledges that Chesty was wrong to shove his short snout in Bravo's face. "There absolutely was a protocol break," he said. "We don't bark at guests, whether they are human or the canine variety." Link -via Joe Carter | Photo: Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo/Department of Defense *Named after Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Lewis "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated Marine in history.

The Fresco Restoration Treatment Posted: 27 Aug 2012 10:00 PM PDT The story of the botched restoration of the fresco Ecce Homo spawned a lively round of Photoshoppery and other meme-making activities. Buzzfeed has a roundup of some of the funniest. Oh, and the Mr. Bean episode that Alex referred to in the original article? That's included, featuring the new masterpiece. Link

The Best Mashup Cosplaying of Star Wars Celebration Posted: 27 Aug 2012 09:00 PM PDT Just wait until Luke Joker and Leia Quinn learn that they're brother and sister. On second thought, I don't think that the Joker will mind. Jen of Epbot attended the most recent Star Wars Celebration convention. She compiled the best mashup costumes there, including Captain America the Ewok, Boba Lantern and Ackbar the Ghostbuster. You can view them at the link. Link

American Academy of Pediatrics Now Endorses Circumcision Posted: 27 Aug 2012 08:00 PM PDT To circumcise or not to circumcise, that is the question that many parents of newborn baby boys have to ponder. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics have released a new policy endorsing circumcision: "There is clear evidence that supports the health benefits of circumcision," said Susan Blank, who led the 14-member task force that formulated the new policy being published in the journal Pediatrics. The statement, and accompanying technical report, marks the first revision of the organization's position since 1999, when the academy backed away from circumcision. At that time, the group, which represents about 60,000 pediatricians nationwide, concluded that there was no clear evidence for or against circumcising newborns. The group affirmed that position in 2005. Since then, the popularity of circumcision in the United States has declined. Only about 56 percent of newborn males are circumcised. The academy's task force spent seven years combing through the latest research, analyzing more than a thousand studies. Their conclusion? For starters, Blank says, circumcision helps baby boys pretty much immediately. "The health benefits of male circumcision include a drop in the risk of urinary tract infection in the first year of life by up to 90 percent," she says. But there's a much bigger reason to do it, Blank said. Circumcised males are far less likely to get infected with a long list of sexually transmitted diseases. "It drops the risk of heterosexual HIV acquisition by about 60 percent. It drops the risk of human papillomavirus [HPV], herpes virus and other infectious genital ulcers," she says. Link (Photo: Shutterstock)

Peanut Butter and Jelly S'mores Posted: 27 Aug 2012 07:00 PM PDT Your diet can wait. These s'mores cannot. Make the right decision and follow Desiree's recipe at the link. Safety warning: it may be hard to fit the entire s'more in your mouth at once. But as the kids say, YOLO. Link -via Tasteologie

Women in Togo Will Go on Sex Strike to Demand President's Resignation Posted: 27 Aug 2012 06:00 PM PDT Forget marches and other such protests to force politicians out of office! The women in the civil rights group in Togo have come up with a plan that may prove to be far more effective in their fight to demand the resignation of the country's president: “We call on all women to deprive their husbands of sex for a week from Monday,” Isabelle Ameganvi, a member of the group, told AFP. “For us it’s a way to get all men, not only those from the collective, to do more in the fight undertaken by Let’s Save Togo over the past weeks. “Women are the first victims of the disastrous situation that we are living in in Togo. That’s why we are telling all women: one week without sex. That’s also a weapon of the battle,” said Ameganvi. Link

Darth Vader Onesie Posted: 27 Aug 2012 05:00 PM PDT   Darth Vader Onesie - $35.95 Does your baby rule your house with an iron fist? Accept your fate and dress him like the lord he is with the Darth Vader Onesie from the NeatoShop. This fantastic outfit comes with a headpiece and booties. This costume is impressive. Most impressive.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Star Wars items and Halloween fun! Link

Jumping Stick Insect Looks Like a Sci-Fi Character Posted: 27 Aug 2012 05:00 PM PDT Photo: Alex Wild Alex Wild (previously on Neatorama) took this photo of an Apioscelis jumping stick insect in the Jatun Sacha reserve, Napo, Ecuador, that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie.

Exploiting the Fine Print Posted: 27 Aug 2012 04:00 PM PDT Lawyer and financial planner Joseph Caramadre has made a career out of reading the fine print and exploiting loopholes. He's under fire now for a scheme in which he sold variable annuities with life insurance. The catch he found is that Rhode Island doesn't specifically state that you have to have some kind of relationship with a person in order to insure their life. And during the latest economic boom, insurance companies were very eager to sell policies. So Caramadre sold variable annuities to investors, tagged the attached life insurance policy on someone else who was close to death, and made himself and/or his investors the beneficiary of their insurance policy.   There is something morally unsettling about this. Put simply: Caramadre was setting himself and his clients up to profit from the demise of strangers. While the macabre aspect of his scheme offends many, it did not make Caramadre squeamish. He rationalized that a lot of people — funeral homes, hospitals and cemeteries — make money from the dead and dying, why not him? Caramadre's insight might have remained a curiosity were it not for something called "the arms race." As competition intensified in the mid-2000s, many life insurance companies launched an unprecedented war for customers, offering benefits they now acknowledge were far, far too favorable. The insurance companies' contracts provided little defense against Caramadre's approach. For policies under a million dollars, they didn't check the health status of people receiving variable annuities. Instead, they limited the ages of annuitants or the amount that could be invested. All that the companies required for persons to serve as a measuring life was their signature, birthdate and Social Security number. Some didn't even require the signature. There was usually only a single line that touched on insurable interest in the contract. Companies would ask if a relationship existed between the investor and the annuitant. Caramadre and the men with whom he worked would either leave the answer blank or type in "none." The companies, eager for business, took the policy anyway. Insurance companies have sued Caramadre left and right, and he is also being investigated for criminal conspiracy. The question is not whether the scheme was despicable; the question is whether it was strictly illegal. Link (Image credit: Matthew Healey for ProPublica)

Sky Garage Posted: 27 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT Problem: You want to be close to your Ferrari and don't want to leave it at a cold and lonely garage in the basement, but you live in a high-rise apartment. Solution: A car lift that brings you car straight into your living room. Watch the high-tech Hamilton Scott's "Sky Garage" Apartment in Singapore over at The Presurfer: Link [embedded YouTube clip]

Brett Cohen's Celebrity Prank Posted: 27 Aug 2012 02:00 PM PDT Brett Cohen? Sure, we know Brett Cohen*! Heck, we even knew him before he got famous for pretending to be famous. That's right. Brett is just an average guy with a crazy idea that in order to be treated like a celebrity, all one has to do is look like one. Hey, it worked for Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, didn't it? From the YouTube clip: On the night of July 27th, 2012, a huge prank was pulled in New York City and this is the video of what took place. Brett Cohen came up with a crazy idea to fool thousands of pedestrians walking the streets of Times Square into thinking he was a huge celebrity, and it worked! Not only did it work, it caused quite a stir. This social experiment, of sorts, makes a profound statement about how modern culture is so attracted to pop culture, without any real credibility needed. He dressed up like a typical celebrity and was accompanied by an entourage of two professional bodyguards, two assistants, and photographers pretending to be paparazzi. While the assistants and photographers waited for Brett to exit the 49th street marquee at NBC Studios, they started a buzz that a "big star" was about to walk out, thus making it worth their while to wait and get a picture. Many asked the crew whom Brett was, and no answer was given. They were forced to either make something up, or just take a picture with him in hopes that their Facebook friends or Twitter followers might have a better idea. As the crew walked over to Times Square, the crowds around Brett grew on each consecutive block. Very few people even questioned who he was, where he was from, or what he does. Brett took pictures with nearly 300 people before the stunt ended. The video even includes interviews with people who had just taken a picture with Brett, and puts them in an awkward position when they're asked questions such as, "Where do you know Brett from?" and "What's your favorite movie he was in?" Many of them were overwhelmingly excited over Brett's walk through Times Square, and it showed. Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via The Awesomer *We have no idea who he is. Really.

Music Idol Causes Women to Swoon Posted: 27 Aug 2012 01:30 PM PDT In the 20th century, we became used to seeing hoards of girls excitedly screaming over a musician: Frank Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles ...all the way to Justin Bieber in the 21st century. But the phenomenon did not start with Frankie; musician-mania just became better publicized in the modern era. In the year 1842, five years into the proper Victorian Era, and that's when Lisztomania swept the land. [Hungarian musician Franz] Liszt was 31 years old the year he landed in Berlin. He'd established a new mode of performance — the solo piano recital — and new kinds of non-narrative music that people compared to musical poetry. He also developed a violent playing style that broke strings and sometimes brought down entire pianos. The Berliners were enchanted. At his concerts, they worked themselves up to screaming, fainting ecstasies. Women followed Liszt down the street and picked up his old cigarette stubs, made bracelets from his broken piano strings — and tried to rush him en masse, and pull out or cut locks of his hair. The craze spread outward from there, getting Britons and Italians as Liszt moved around. Read more about Liszt and his fans at io9. Link See also: 6 Classical Scandals Straight from the Tabloids

Schrödinger's Call Me Maybe Posted: 27 Aug 2012 01:00 PM PDT It is impossible, we'd say, not to read the caption in the tune of Carly Rae Jepsen's viral hit Call Me Maybe.

Pinterest "Pin to Win" Winners Posted: 27 Aug 2012 12:30 PM PDT Last week, we ran our very first Pin to Win contest, where your Pinterest boards can win you neat stuff from the NeatoShop. We've got tons of really neat entries - thanks guys! Congratulations to the winners: Zombie Survival Kit Messenger Bag (see more from our Zombie Shop) Baby's Head Smell - Lavatory Mist Bacon Soap (see more from our Bacon Store) Zombies Ate My Cupcakes by Crystal Sell I'd give my left nut by Stewart Pierson Neatorama - Where the Cool Kids Shop! by Donna Kozar Be sure to follow us on Pinterest and visit Neatorama regularly to find out about our next Pin to Win contest!

A Boy and His Marmot Friends Posted: 27 Aug 2012 12:00 PM PDT Four years ago, Matteo Walch and his family went to the Austrian Alps and made some quite unusual friends, a colony of marmots! Since then, Matteo has returned to the same place every year to visit his furry buddies: The family return to visit the colony in Groslocker in the Austrian Alps for two weeks every year. Matteo’s father Michaela, said: 'Their friendship has lasted for more than four years now. 'He loves those animals and they are not at all afraid of Matteo because he has a feeling towards them and they understand that. ‘We go there every year now for two weeks - it’s amazing to watch the connection between a boy and his animal friends.’ The Daily Mail has more: Link

Josico Wants Attention Posted: 27 Aug 2012 11:30 AM PDT (YouTube link) Josico shows off her lovely voice. This sweet cat belongs to model and professional wrestler Reby Sky. Is Josico imitating a duck, a crow, or is she practicing her witch laugh for when she grows up to be a Halloween cat?

Awesome Custom Made Star Wars Dresses Posted: 27 Aug 2012 11:00 AM PDT Etsy seller Nerd Alert Designs is quite the geek fashion designer from dresses that look like Star Wars characters to scarves in the shape of your favorite scarves to cute fashions that take subtle inspiration from classic cult films. While I'd love to wear the one above, I can't help but adore her dress inspired by Evil Dead too. Link Via Fashionably Geek

Magic Carpet Posted: 27 Aug 2012 10:30 AM PDT (YouTube link) Isn't it amazing what a set of fans and one piece of fabric can do? Artist Daniel Wurtzel creates kinetic sculpture with air currents. The installation Magic Carpet appears in the new Cirque du Soleil tour Amaluna. -via I Am Bored

These Popsicles Are Chillingly Realistic Posted: 27 Aug 2012 10:00 AM PDT Stoyn is launching some amazing pop-culture inspired popsicles featuring characters like Freddy, Jason, Pinhead and Darth. But as great as they look, I can't imagine actually wanting to enjoy a bloody Mary or blueberry liqourice popsicle. At least the cheesecake one might be good. Link Via Geekologie

Name the Big 12 Posted: 27 Aug 2012 09:30 AM PDT Did you know that there are only ten schools in the Big 12 conference? I didn't. But if you knew that, you'll probably do well in today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss. The challenge is to name all the Big 12 school in one minute. Good luck! Link

Bender-D2 Cosplay Hits The Con Floor Posted: 27 Aug 2012 09:00 AM PDT A rare hybrid droid was spotted at the Star Wars Celebration VI in Florida, and the myriad of scifi universes orbiting spinning around inside our minds will never be the same. Bending unit Bender Bending Rodriguez has been combined with adorable R2 unit R2-D2, and the results are spectacular?  Result of asking Bender-D2 what he's doing at Celebration VI - "Bite my shiny metal beep-boop-beep-bop-bip-boop!" Link

Is There a Limit to How Tall Buildings Can Get? Posted: 27 Aug 2012 08:30 AM PDT The Burj Khalifa in Dubai may be the world's tallest building, but not for long. China and Saudi Arabia already have plans to build taller skyscrapers. How long can this go on? Is there a physical limit to how high you can build a tower? Architect Tim Johnson of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat thinks the only real limits are practicality and money, as engineers can always find a way around physical limits. For a Middle East-based client he's not allowed to identify, Johnson worked on a project back in the late 2000s designing a building that would have been a mile-and-a-half tall, with 500 stories. Somewhat of a theoretical practice, the design team identified between 8 and 10 inventions that would have had to take place to build a building that tall. Not innovations, Johnson says, but inventions, as in completely new technologies and materials. "One of the client's requirements was to push human ingenuity," he says. Consider them pushed. With those inventions and the hollow, Eiffel Tower-like base, Johnson says the design could have worked. The project was canned as a result of the crash of the real estate market in the late 2000s (and probably at least a little good old-fashioned pragmatism). But if things were to change, that building could be built, he says. "We proved that it is physically and even programmatically possible to build a building a mile-and-a-half tall. If somebody would have said 'Do it two miles,' we probably could have done that, too," Johnson says. "A lot of it comes down to money. Who’s going to have that kind of capital?" Other architects, engineers, and planners share their opinions on the limits of construction at the Atlantic. Link -via the Presurfer (Image credit: Jeddah Economic Company/Adrian Smith/Gordon Gill Architecture)

The Cookie Monster Rises Posted: 27 Aug 2012 08:00 AM PDT (Video Link) It's so great that his lips totally match. In fact, if I hadn't already seen this movie, I think I would actually think this was a scene from the real film because hey, why wouldn't Batman be obsessed with cookies? Via BoingBoing

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