Neatorama

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• Don't Tell the Kids!
• Skrillex Quest Is One Glitch-Tastic Indie Game
• Batman Cat
• Library Card Catalog Cabinet Now a Liquor Cabinet
• 12 Alternative Holiday Sweaters For the Season of Joy
• Read This Shirt: Entire Books on T-Shirts by Litographs
• True Blood Fangtasia Travel Mug
• Wood and Leather Flashlight
• Everybody Comes to Rick's
• Man Pulls Truck with His Ear
• Is Zero an Even Number?
• Bacon Jello
• Dubstep Christmas Lights
• Uhura Pony
• The Hawkeye Initiative
• Beer Can Lamp
• Lego Ramen
• Penguin Fan
• Every Little One Starts Bathing in the Sink
• The Toughest Course in College
• The 10 Largest Canyons on Earth
• The Most Terrifying Garfield Comic Ever Published
• Scratchin' DJ Cat
• Absinthe Lollipop
• A Sincere Homage to Larry Fine
• Cheetos-Flavored Macaron
• Deer Race

Don't Tell the Kids! Posted: 03 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST The following is an article from Uncle John's 24-Karat Bathroom Reader. Think writers of magical tales that enchant children are all sweetness and light? Margaret Wise Brown hunted rabbits and collected their severed feet while writing The Runaway Bunny, Ian Fleming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang between James Bond thrillers, and Maurice Sendak modeled the monsters in Where the Wild Things Are on his Brooklyn relatives whose bad teeth and hairy noses he detested. Here's the dark side of other famous kid-lit authors. AUTHOR: Kay Thompson CLAIM TO FAME: In 1955 Thompson wrote Eloise, a tale about a pampered, mischievous little girl who lives with her British nanny, her dog Weenie, and her turtle Skipperdee in the penthouse of New York City's elegant Plaza Hotel. Eloise and its three sequels (along with a lucrative line of dolls, records, toys, luggage, and clothing) made Thompson a media star. THE DARK SIDE: Thompson, who'd had a meager career as a singer, actress and songwriter, finally achieved stardom with Eloise and she had no intention of sharing the spotlight with anyone. From the beginning, she insisted that her name be on every Eloise book, above the title, as on a marquee. When she heard a rumor that Eloise was based on her goddaughter, Liza Minelli, Thompson snapped, "I am Eloise!" She was equally put off by the attention her collaborator, Hilary Knight, was receiving for his illustrations. She responded by canceling the nearly-finished fifth book in the series and blocking further printing of the Eloise sequels, putting Knight in dire financial straits. (After Thompson died in 1998, the books were re-released, and Knight started receiving royalties once again.) AUTHOR: Shel Silverstein CLAIM TO FAME: Silverstein wrote several books that became children's classics, including The Giving Tree, a bittersweet fable about the relationship between a boy and a tree. Since its publication in 1964, the book has sold more than five million copies and has been translated into 30 languages. THE DARK SIDE: Before he started writing children's books, Silverstein was a full-time cartoonist for Playboy magazine. His work had a decidedly adult -even raunchy- air to it. So when his friend illustrator Tomi Ungerer, suggested he write for children, Silverstein brushed him off. But Ungerer was persistent and pointed to his own career: In addition to children's books, his output included political, antiwar, and even erotic books. Ungerer introduced Silverstein to his editor, Ursula Nordstrom. She liked to publish "good books for bad children," and thought Silverstein would be a perfect fit. So in 1963, she published his first effort: Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back -the story of a lion who ate a hunter, learned to shoot the dead hunter's gun, joined a circus, and then returned to Africa with a group of humans to hunt lions. The next year, Silverstein came out with The Giving Tree, and equally morbid but (literally) sappier tale of a tree that loves a boy so much, it sacrifices itself down to its stump to keep him happy. The book caused quite a stir. Some saw it as a story of a beautiful relationship; others, as a worst-case example of self-destructive love. At a Giving Tree symposium in 1995, Mary Ann Glendon of Harvard opined, "Tree's qualities would make her a terrible mother -a masochist who, quite predictably, has raised a sociopath." AUTHOR: Laura Ingalls Wilder CLAIM TO FAME: In 1932 Wilder published Little House in the Big Woods, the first in a series of books based on her pioneer childhood. The Little House books spawned a multi-million dollar franchise of spinoff books, mass merchandising, and a long-running television show. THE DARK SIDE: Wilder is listed as the author of the Little House books that made her famous, but it appears that she had a lot of help from her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Lane was an accomplished writer whose work appeared in Harper's, Saturday Evening Post, and Ladies' Home Journal, and her short stories were nominated for O. Henry prizes. Though Lane suffered bipolar bouts that resulted in her losing confidence in her work, she discovered that she could still perform as editor and ghostwriter during those times. She ghosted several bestselling books by celebrity "authors" who either credited her for "editorial assistance" (Charlie Chaplin) or with the line "As told to Rose Wilder Lane" (Henry Ford). Lane's formidable skills have kept several generations of literary detectives trying to figure out how much she actually contributed to her mother's books. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a treasure trove of stories about early prairie living, but her first attempt to write them down, an autobiography titled Pioneer Girl, never found a publisher. So, in 1930, Lane began a collaboration that would turn her 65-year-old mother into a household name, and leave her in the shadows. Scholars have found substantial evidence that Lane read, edited, and revised her mother's work on every one of the Little House books. But if she acted as her mom's ghostwriter, it's a secret mother and daughter took to their graves. AUTHOR: Roald Dahl CLAIM TO FAME: With sales of more than 100 million books, Dahl ranks as one of the world's bestselling fiction authors, Many of his works have been turned into major motion pictures, including Matilda, The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and James and the Giant Peach, the story of a boy whose parents are eaten by a runaway rhinoceros, leaving him stuck living with his horrible aunts, Sponge and Spiker. THE DARK SIDE: When Roald Dahl was nine years old, his parents sent him from their home in Wales to St. Peter's, a boarding school in Somerset, England. The school offered an excellent education, along with regular canings by the headmaster for such minor infractions as eating or talking during class. His teachers graded him harshly, including one who wrote that Dahl "persistently writes words meaning the exact opposite of what is intended." Homesick for his family back in Wales, Dahl felt abandoned, alone, and at the complete mercy of cruel adults. Given this history, it's no surprise that horrid grown-ups and abandoned kids appear in almost all of his children's books. But -as it turns out- Dahl could have given Sponge and Spiker a few lessons in how to be nasty. Sometime in the 1970s, he reportedly advised novelist Kingsley Amis to start writing children's books: "That's where the money is," he told Amis. "I don't think I enjoyed children's books much when I was a child," Amis replied. "I've got no feeling for that kind of thing." "Never mind," said Dahl. "The little bastards'd swallow it anyway." ___________________ The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John's 24-Karat Bathroom Reader. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

Skrillex Quest Is One Glitch-Tastic Indie Game Posted: 03 Dec 2012 04:00 AM PST If you like playing old school video games, like The Legend of Zelda, and you enjoy stompin' around to some Dubstep then you'll definitely enjoy Skrillex Quest, an indie game created by Jason Oda. If you don't like Dubstep just mute your speakers and give the game another try. It's free to play at the link below, and don't worry-your screen is supposed to get all glitchy like that! Link  --via Super Punch

Batman Cat Posted: 03 Dec 2012 03:00 AM PST Yes, this cat looks just like Batmen. Don't you think so? Link  -via Uproxx

Library Card Catalog Cabinet Now a Liquor Cabinet Posted: 03 Dec 2012 02:00 AM PST Just file me under 641.8 (or TX 951, if you prefer). Marni, an Apartment Therapy reader, found an old card catalog cabinet with waist-high retractable shelves. It was perfect for a intoxicating research. Link -via Erica Magelky

12 Alternative Holiday Sweaters For the Season of Joy Posted: 03 Dec 2012 01:00 AM PST There are festive Christmas sweaters, ugly Christmas sweaters, and tacky Christmas sweaters. Then there are those sweaters that just make people go "Huh?" Wear them ironically or cluelessly, or even proudly in the case of the Slayer holiday sweater pictured, for Christmas or all year 'round. Link

Read This Shirt: Entire Books on T-Shirts by Litographs Posted: 03 Dec 2012 12:00 AM PST Alice in Wonderland - Litographs Howdy Neatoramanauts! We just wanted to let you know that our pal Litographs, who make posters out of the text of classic books (for example, the image above of Alice falling down the rabbit hole is made entirely out of the text of the book), has pretty nifty new project: They're going to be printing their posters as T-shirts! That's right - you can read the entire book and wear it too! Check it out: Link - Thanks Danny! Then check out the rest of Litograph posters, available from the NeatoShop. Moby Dick - Litographs Secret Garden - Litographs Emma - LItographs More Litograph Posters | Similar: Postertext Posters

True Blood Fangtasia Travel Mug Posted: 02 Dec 2012 11:00 PM PST True Blood Fangtasia Travel Mug - $14.95 Attention True Blood fans! Are you looking for the perfect vessel to hold your favorite warm beverage? You need the True Blood Fangtasia Travel Mug from the NeatoShop. This great travel mug, with sealable lid, features the logo of your favorite vampire bar.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Glassware & Drinkware.  Link

Wood and Leather Flashlight Posted: 02 Dec 2012 11:00 PM PST Gad Scott Tal's lovely flashlight is made from reclaimed wood polished with organic beeswax and held together with leather and brass pieces. It's beautiful, but, Tal argues, also practical:   Initially, it might be enjoyed as a curio, but its practicality would likely be realized during the next rolling blackouts. Link -via Nag on the Lake

Everybody Comes to Rick's Posted: 02 Dec 2012 10:00 PM PST Rick's Cafe Americain in Casablanca was an exciting place to hang out, There was one problem: it was fictional. But the 1942 film Casablanca made it in real in the minds of fans, including Kathy Kriger. Kriger went further than just enjoying the movie -she went to Morocco and opened a nightclub. “After 9/11, I thought people would become xenophobic and anti-Muslim,” Kriger says. “I thought that Rick’s Café, just by existing, would show that there was something different about Morocco if an American woman like me could do this all by herself.” To realize her dream, Kriger drew from every source she could think of — family, friends, and, especially, the film — to ensure her homage was as close to the “original” as possible. “I’ve watched the movie hundreds and hundreds of times,” she says. “I would also watch it to keep encouraged…I was seeing my goal flashing on the [screen].” Rick's opened in 2004, with details as close to the movie version as possible, down to a grand piano playing "As Time Goes By." Kriger wrote a book about the adventure of opening a business in Morocco. Read more about the new Rick's Cafe at National Geographic Intelligent Travel blog. Link-Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!     (Image credit: Cotton Coulson and Sisse Brimberg, Keenpress)

Man Pulls Truck with His Ear Posted: 02 Dec 2012 09:00 PM PST (Video Link) And who can blame him? The last time I needed a tow, I had to pay $70! It's outrageous. But Lasha Pataraya, a strongman from the nation of Georgia, was towing the truck attached to his ear for competitive rather than practical purposes. Depending on the news source you read, the truck was either 8 tons (16,000 pounds) or 8 tonnes (17,637 pounds). Either way, that's a lot of weight to haul on your ear 70 feet. -via Dave Barry

Is Zero an Even Number? Posted: 02 Dec 2012 08:00 PM PST Is there any question that zero is an even number? It came up after hurricane Sandy, when New York mayor Michael Bloomberg announced gas restrictions. He used the words "Those with license plates ending in an even number, or the number zero," which made people think about the nature of zero. Dr James Grime of the Millennium Maths Project at Cambridge University says that people sometimes think of zero as even, odd, or neither. Children find it particularly difficult to recognise if zero is odd or even. "A survey of primary school children in the 1990s showed that about 50% thought zero is even, about 20% thought it was odd and the remaining 30% thought it was neither, both, or that they don't know," explains Dr Grime. "It appears that we may file numbers mentally into lists such as the even numbers two, four, six, eight or numbers to the power of two which would include two, four, six, eight or two, four, eight, 16. Zero is not on these lists so it takes us longer to work out."    Just for the record, zero is an even number, although it took mathematicians a thousand years to decide it is. Bloomberg worded his announcement to eliminate any possible confusion. Link (Image credit: Flickr user Gabrie Coletti)

Bacon Jello Posted: 02 Dec 2012 07:00 PM PST The ingenious canida, inventor of the mutant baby costume, slasher ice cream cake mask, and taxidermied computer mouse, has a great treat for the holidays. Canida shaped bacon-flavored jello into a realistic slab of bacon! You can find the recipe at the link. Link P.S. Do you love bacon as much as we do? Check out our bacon store!

Dubstep Christmas Lights Posted: 02 Dec 2012 06:00 PM PST (YouTube link) Some will argue over whether "Cinema" by Benny Benassi and "Bangarang" by Skillex are technically dubstep, but that's what the video is titled. The fun starts at 1:55. The house in Meridian, Idaho, plays lots of tunes and has its own website. Link -via reddit

Uhura Pony Posted: 02 Dec 2012 05:00 PM PST EllisPONY's Lt. Nyota Uhura is perfect: high boots, 60s-era minidress, big earrings and enchanting gaze. She has that look in her eye that says she wants to know how your planet looks on a lazy evening when the moon is full. Link

The Hawkeye Initiative Posted: 02 Dec 2012 04:00 PM PST The Hawkeye Initiative is a place to draw attention to ridiculously sexist comic book character drawings by replacing a female in a typical superhero pose with the character Hawkeye. We are used to seeing women drawn as contortionists as they attempt to show butt and boobs at the same time, but when a male character does it, you see how comically painful it is. The project was inspired by a blog post from yesterday. Yes, this tumblr blog only went up today, and it already has tons of submissions. As these are female drawings from comic books, they may be NSFW. Link -via Metafilter

Beer Can Lamp Posted: 02 Dec 2012 03:00 PM PST This classy lamp is built around a beer can and shaded with can tabs. Gerrard Paschke made it and other lamps from beer and energy drink cans. He also makes birdhouses, insect sculptures and bowls from old license plates. Link -via Recylart

Lego Ramen Posted: 02 Dec 2012 02:00 PM PST Behold, a tribute to ramen tendered in LEGO bricks! This was created by Lego enthusiasts at the University of Tokyo. The display was part of the school’s 63rd Komaba Festival which hosts more than 100,000 people and is one of Tokyo’s largest festivals. The exhibition piece was inspired by Ramen Jiro, a tokyo-based ramen shop that is renown throughout the country and has even made The Guardian’s 50 Best Things to Eat in the World. See the soup it was modeled on at Foodbeast. Link -via mental_floss

Penguin Fan Posted: 02 Dec 2012 01:00 PM PST Penguin Fan - $7.95 Do you know someone one who seems needlessly hot under the collar because of the stress of the holidays? Get them the Penguin fan from the NeatoShop. This adorable and portable handheld fan is a great for when you need a little cooling off.  Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more delightful Personal Care items and fantastic Holiday stuff.  Link

Every Little One Starts Bathing in the Sink Posted: 02 Dec 2012 01:00 PM PST (Video Link) Sure, he's adorable bathing in the sink, but when he graduates to the tub then you can both benefit -after all, why use a rubber duckie when you can have the real thing instead? Via Cute Overload

The Toughest Course in College Posted: 02 Dec 2012 12:00 PM PST The picture was taken outside a classroom at George Brown College in Toronto. After many jokes and much conjecture, johannap, the creator of the power point presentation, came forward at Buzzfeed and explained that it was for an ESL class, and that Olive the cat didn't actually have to get wet during its creation. Link -via Buzzfeed

The 10 Largest Canyons on Earth Posted: 02 Dec 2012 11:00 AM PST Never underestimate the power of moving water -especially over millions of years. The canyons created by rivers are sculptural wonders found all over the globe. You are probably familiar with the Grand Canyon in the U.S. but do you know about Blyde River Canyon in South Africa? Unlike the Arizona canyon, this one (shown here) features tropical flora and fauna along its average depth of 2,500 feet. And the view is spectacular! See the other canyons at Environmental Graffiti. Link (Image credit: Dr. Thomas Wagner)

The Most Terrifying Garfield Comic Ever Published Posted: 02 Dec 2012 10:00 AM PST Garfield is known for eating whole trays of lasagna and punking family dog Odie, not being a cold blooded killer. But once upon a time, in a collection called Garfield: His 9 Lives, we were presented with an alternate reality version of Garfield that was possessed of a primal spirit and had blood red dreams. The comic still manages to be PG, but just barely... Link

Scratchin' DJ Cat Posted: 02 Dec 2012 09:00 AM PST (YouTube link) Put a little Bob Marley on the turntable, and pretty soon all the cool cats are coming around. -via Daily of the Day

Absinthe Lollipop Posted: 02 Dec 2012 08:00 AM PST Lollyphile, the folks who brought us the maple bacon lollipop, has a selection of lollipop flavors for adults, including the intriguing absinthe flavor. Others taste like Habanero tequila, whisky, and white Russian. No, they do not contain alcohol; they just taste like it. Link -via Laughing Squid

A Sincere Homage to Larry Fine Posted: 02 Dec 2012 07:00 AM PST Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website. Louis Fineberg was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 1902. Louis grew up as a normal boy with an easygoing personality and a devil-may-car attitude (traits he would keep for his entire life). One day, young Louis (or Larry) picked up a cup of the acid that his father used to etch the jewelry in his jewelry shop and tried to drink it, thinking it was a beverage. (If the incident hadn't been so frightening, one might easily imagine it being in a Three Stooges short.) His father, seeing his son bring the acid to his lips, instantly smacked it out of his hand. This may have saved his life, but the acid spilled on and deformed young Larry's arm.   As therapy for his now-withered arm, Larry took up the violin. It should come as no surprise to anyone reading this article that Louis Fineberg was later to grow up, begin a career in show business, join the great comedy team the Three Stooges, and become one of the most famous movie actors of all time. All of the above is true, but it doesn't quite fit, doesn't sound quite right, does it? "One of the most famous movie actors of all time"? Well, who doesn't know the Three Stooges? Who hasn't laughed, even if while protesting how stupid and silly they were? Larry Fine was "that middle guy" in the Three Stooges. The one everyone was sort of aware of, but no one really cared about. I've even had people ask me if he was Curly. Of course, they had seen his trademark curly, frizzy hair and assumed he was the one they called Curly. Larry's world-famous frizzy-haired, bald-in-the-middle hairstyle came about when he was performing in vaudeville in 1925 and a comic named Ted Healy, along with fellow comics Moe Howard and his brother Shemp, came into his dressing room and tried to recruit Larry to become a member of their comedy team. They weren't yet called "The Three Stooges," but they would be in a few short years. In his dressing room, Larry had been washing his hair in a sink and it was dripping wet. Like a fast-growing chia pet, Larry's hair started to blossom out into an Afro-like monstrosity. Moe, Shemp, and Ted all immediately knew Larry had to be a part of their act and Larry, in turn, agreed to sign on. At that time, Larry had a violin-playing act with his wife, Mabel. Ted Healy offered him $90 a week, and even $100 -if he'd drop the fiddle. The Three Stooges, as we all know, went on to the greatest heights of show business success, with Ted and Shemp eventually leaving and Moe's kid brother Curly joining their ranks. And thus, as Moe, Larry, and Curly, these three kings of slapstick comedy were to bring their timeless humor to countless millions  all over the globe. Larry's role as Stooge "middleman" in rather unique in film comedy history, in that it was pretty much his entire identity. Moe and Curly, his two comedic partners, each had very strong individual personalities and identities. Moe, the brutal, unsympathetic leader was a domineering bully, spending the greater part of his waking hours slapping, poking, and gouging his two "less intelligent" (a disputable point) subordinates. Curly, the eternal man-child, was a free spirit, the team's comedic powerhouse, an unquenchable well of hilarious, capricious comedic creativity. But Larry had no real identity of his own. He was sort of an empty suit with a frizzy haircut filling it out. He was two clear things: 1) the middle Stooge and 2) the one with the frizzy hair. We never really knew who Larry Fine was, he was just sort of agreeably "there," cooperative, always going along with Moe's bullying and Curly's craziness. Oh, every once in a while he'd try to stand up to Moe's bossiness, only to be quickly smacked back into submission by Moe the leader. Maybe he'd try to boss Curly sometimes, a much easier target, but even then he'd usually be foiled, either by Moe, Curly, or fate. At Stooges story conferences, witnesses say Larry would give forth very stupid and mostly useless suggestions. Moe would put him down and tell him to shut up (life mirroring movie comedy). One occasionally wonders if Moe and Curly could have even formed a good, solid two-man team sans Larry. But however Larry appears the "least of the three," Larry does have his moments onscreen. In the Stooges' 1934 screen debut Woman Haters, Larry takes on the lead role, and does a convincing and admirable job, falling in love and marrying the coquettish Marjorie White. In 1934's Punch Drunks, we watch as Larry fiddles "Pop Goes the Weasel" and the song transforms Curly into a Muhammad Ali of the boxing ring. But Larry's violin gets smashed, and Larry had to run around town trying to find anything that plays "Pop Goes the Weasel," frantically trying to save his pal Curly from taking a beating from his boxing opponent. These scenes of Larry running around the streets helter-skelter are unforgettably "film noir-ish" shots, as incredible as any Hitchcock scene. In 1936's False Alarms, Larry the fireman tries to slide down the pop;e, only to have Mow grab him by his trademark frizzle top and pull him back up. In 1946's Half Wit's Holiday, we watch Larry at the dinner party, stacking slides of meat and slabs of turkey in to a massive pile on his smorgasbord plate. "Are you going to eat all that alone?" Moe asks. "No," answers Larry, "With potatoes." (SLAP!) Poor Larry. He was an "alright" comedian, places by caprice or talent or whatever force, stuck in between a comedic powerhouse and a very domineering leader. In his way, he was George Harrison the composer, politely asking the other Beatles if there might be time to record one of his songs instead of  the next dozen being all Lennon-McCartney tunes. Curly, Moe, …..and Larry. The Curlys are rare, like diamonds or rubies, precious gems, something wonderful to behold. The Moes are rare, but in a different way. Moe is the politician, your boss at work, "the man," to one we have to listen to, the one we have to obey -or else. And like Larry, we all know what will happen if we dare try to strike out at Moe …(SMACK!) Curly and Moe -these two are both rare, one we enjoy, the other we know as an inevitability. But Larry? Heck, 99% of the world IS Larry. Larry Fine, a loyal Stooge for over 40 years, probably took more slaps, punches, eye-pokes, and stomach jabs than any comedian in history. According to Larry's brother, he developed a callous on the side of his face from Moe swatting him. But he stuck in there, he did his job, he watched as Moe hogged the leadership and Curly got the majority of the laughs. No one, in movies or in the real world, ever went with the flow like Larry Fine. In real life, Larry Fine and his beloved wife Mabel had a happy marriage of over 40 years. Mabel passed on in 1967. The couple had two children, a daughter, Phyllis, and a son, John. Sadly, John was to die in a car accident at the age of 24 in 1961. Larry Fine loved music, especially jazz. He loved to gamble on the horses and high-stakes gin rummy. His favorite baseball team was the Los Angeles Dodgers. Larry spent the last years of his life in a show business retirement home, surviving several strokes before finally succumbing on January 24, 1975, at the age of 72. In real life, Larry's friends all attested to his easygoing nature. He was described as a "yes man" by many of them. In the movies, like in real life. (YouTube link)

Cheetos-Flavored Macaron Posted: 02 Dec 2012 06:00 AM PST The Manhattan bakery Macaron Parlour offers every kind of macaron you could want including Earl Grey tea, s'more, tiramisu and bacon. This one, flavored inside and out with Cheetos dust, is perfect for game night. Link -via Foodbeast | Macaron Parlour | Photo: Rachel Tepper

Deer Race Posted: 02 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST (YouTube link) Veteran announcer Roger Houston knew what to do when three deer got on the track and delayed a horse race Wednesday night. He made up names for the deer and started calling their race! The event took place at the Meadows in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Link -via Arbroath

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