Neatorama |
- Kevin Bacon Dances Footloose
- $33 Million Fabergé Egg Discovered in Flea Market
- Brilliant Invention to Boost Men's Confidence
- Muses for Modern People
- The Diamond Armor Suit - For The Distinguished Super Spy
- In the Original Story, Pinocchio Murdered Jiminy Cricket, Got His Feet Burned Off, And Was Then Hanged and Left for Dead
- Repeat After Me
- This Banana Umbrella Keeps You Dry and Well-Nourished
- Salad for Your Head
- Go Paint Alice - The Artwork Of Grace Slick
- Good News: 9-Year Old Bullied Brony Will Be Allowed to Bring His <i>My Little Pony</i> Backpack to School
- Heds Will Roll
- Totoro and Friends
- The Oddest Book Title of the Year
- Springtime Has Sprung In This Classic Happy Harmonies Short
- Thierry Noir: Thirty Years of Political Street Art
- High Tech Battle Armor For Weapon Based Combat Sports
- Suor Cristina on <i>The Voice</i>
- Awesome Free-Floating Wooden Skateboard Ramp
- From Bump to Buzz
- Model Ship Built out of Coins
- Seattle’s Mystery Coke Machine
- An Exploration Of Wes Anderson's Obsession With Symmetry
- Banana Dolphins
- 16 Absolutely Awesome Shelving Systems
- Baby Jams Himself Awake
- The Genius of <i>The Joy of Cooking</i>
| Posted: 22 Mar 2014 04:00 AM PDT Kevin Bacon made a rather impressive entrance when he was on The Tonight Show last night, dancing like he did back in the ‘80s. What else could he do, when Jimmy Fallon announced that NBC has banned dancing on the show? Bacon is 55 years old. He was quite a bit younger when the movie Footloose was released just over 30 years ago, but he’s still got the moves (although there are a few “foggy” clips I suspect used a double). I guess it's true that dancing keeps you young -or at least keeps you in shape! -via Daily Picks and Flicks  |
| $33 Million Fabergé Egg Discovered in Flea Market Posted: 22 Mar 2014 02:00 AM PDT
The great jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) made 50 ornately jeweled eggs for the nobility of Imperial Russia. A few of them have been lost to time. But one of those lost prizes has now been recovered. An expert located one next to cupcakes on a kitchen counter in a modest home next to a Dunkin' Donuts in the American Midwest. Which isn't what you'd expect, right? The discoverer, who wishes to remain anonymous, bought it for $13,302 at a flea market. He planned to have it melted down for its value in gold and jewels. But one night, he Googled the word "egg" and a name inscribed inside. He found online an image of an identical egg that was a Fabergé. He immediately flew to London to consult with Kieran McCarthy, a expert on Fabergé eggs. UPI describes what happened next:
The American discoverer sold the egg for $33 million, so he can probably afford a nice new car. -via Ace of Spades HQ |
| Brilliant Invention to Boost Men's Confidence Posted: 22 Mar 2014 12:00 AM PDT When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand, someone will invent a robotic one. This strange contraption called the Morale Raiser was unveiled in 1951 to boost a man’s confidence and sooth his fragile ego, but for some reason, it didn’t take off as well as the inventor had hoped. More than one commenter remarked it was because these men were wearing it in the wrong position. -via Arbroath |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 11:00 PM PDT In ancient Greek Mythology, there were 9 Muses--goddesses that inspired artists and scholars in different fields, including poetry, comedy, astronomy, and history. Prudent people would venerate them in the hope of receiving inspiration. Gemma Correll has expanded the pantheon to include 4 muses for modern needs. I’m not sure that they should all be welcome. Sangria, I can function perfectly well without you. Directioneriaa, no one needs for you to exist. No offense. If there is a muse of finding 2 more things to post on the blog when it’s 10 PM and I’m out of ideas, I would like to get to know her. |
| The Diamond Armor Suit - For The Distinguished Super Spy Posted: 21 Mar 2014 10:00 PM PDT If you have 3.2 million dollars to spend on a bulletproof suit chances are you have something worth saving, at least on paper. And if you happen to be one of these wealthy targets for violence you need to check out the Diamond Armor Suit by SuitArt. It’s bulletproof, waterproof and air conditioned, for the rich guy who’s totally normal and definitely not a super spy in his spare time. The Diamond Suit gets its name from the 880 tiny black diamonds that line the lapel and edges of the suit, so you can survive small arms fire and look like a total boss at the same time. Is that 3.2 mil burning a hole in your pocket yet? Read more about this amazingly stylish armor suit over at Geekosystem. |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 09:00 PM PDT
We may have gotten used to the Disney versions of classic fairy tales when we were children. It's a good thing because the original sources for those movies were horrifying. An authentic Pinocchio movie would go from a G rating straight to an R. Carlo Collodi, the author of The Adventures of Pinocchio, composed his work in 1881 and 1882. It features Pinocchio beating Jiminy Cricket to death with a hammer:
Pinocchio suffered a lot, too. Did the Disney movie show him getting his feet burned off? Collodi's original did:
You can read more about the terrifying adventures of the wooden puppet at Today I Found Out. -via VA Viper |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 08:00 PM PDT There are some things that are just too much to ask of a child. Daddy, I love you, just don’t ask me to promise that! Anything but that! You know how daddies are protective of their little girls, because daddies were once boyfriends, and they remember it well. -via reddit |
| This Banana Umbrella Keeps You Dry and Well-Nourished Posted: 21 Mar 2014 07:00 PM PDT
-via Foodiggity |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:00 PM PDT You don't have to love salad to love the look of it -or to wear it around! This fresh fascinator will surely draw the eye and start conversations. And it's not only a hat, it's a one-of-a-kind artwork. Costume designer Maor Zabar has a line of fascinators (little hats) designed like plates of food! This fresh salad is joined by hats that display sushi, berry pie, and a frying pan of breakfast eggs. They’re handmade of felted wool and hand painted. Among his other hat designs, they’re available for sale at his Etsy shop, MaorZabar Hats. See the others at Blazenfluff. -Thanks, Rusty! |
| Go Paint Alice - The Artwork Of Grace Slick Posted: 21 Mar 2014 05:00 PM PDT Decades after she told us all to go ask Alice and feed our heads as the singer for seminal rock band Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick still had white rabbits and whimsical images of Wonderland dancing around in her head, so she began creating artwork based on Alice and her otherworldly adventures. Grace started her foray into visual art after retiring from music in 1988, stating that she'd always loved drawing and painting but couldn't devote enough time and energy to art while performing and touring. Her works aren't confined to the world of Wonderland, but so far the pieces which feature Alice, the White Rabbit and other denizens of Wonderland are her best sellers. -Via Dangerous Minds |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 04:00 PM PDT (Photo provided to the Citizen-Times of Asheville, NC) Grayson Bruce, 9, is a student at Candler Elementary School in Asheville, North Carolina. In defiance of gender stereotypes, he likes the cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. He owns a backpack featuring Rainbow Dash, a character from that show. Bullies in his school used this as an excuse to beat him up and harass him. The school principal responded by telling Grayson not to bring his My Little Pony backpack to school. His mother, Noreen Bruce, was outraged. She pulled Bruce out of the school and went to the news media, which picked up and spread the story. It appeared in many outlets including Good Morning America (warning: auto-sound) and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze. Also, Grayson’s fellow bronies took to the internet to express their anger. Under public pressure, the superintendent of Buncombe County Schools has capitulated, albeit in a mealy mouthed fashion:
We’ll see if the school district actually follows through. -via Equestria Daily |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 03:00 PM PDT We’ve brought you plenty of pun headlines, but there are so many more that never get published, because they are rude, crude, and socially unacceptable. Heds Will Roll is a fairly new Tumblr blog for news headlines that are clever, but were rejected for one reason or another. I’m sure you can figure out why. Be warned that some are offensive, or even NSFW. You can submit yours, too, and check back as the blog receives more material. -via Metafilter, where you’ll find more examples. |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 02:00 PM PDT MyCKs Sato painted this charming watercolor image. It's set near the camphor tree at the heart of the Hundred Acre Wood, where a flying ace dog and a wizard's apprentice take a day off from their labors. He also painted this image for the Pokémon fans among us. Who's the girl? |
| The Oddest Book Title of the Year Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:00 PM PDT
The winning authors have been nominated for the Diagram Prize twice before, for books with a similar theme. This year, they are number one for a book about number two. Although there is no actual prize, the honor does bring a bit of publicity. -via Time Newsfeed |
| Springtime Has Sprung In This Classic Happy Harmonies Short Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:00 PM PDT Spring has sprung once again, at least in some parts of the world, but have you ever wondered about the forces at work behind the scenes? Who is responsible for turning back the sheets of snow and revealing all that green beneath? The classic MGM Happy Harmonies animated short To Spring attempts to answer these pressing questions about springtime, and what the animators uncovered may surprise you. It turns out we have a bunch of underground dwelling elves to thank for the warming weather conditions and new growth, but if they don't work hard enough the winter chill will march on. Works for me! -Via Cartoon Brew |
| Thierry Noir: Thirty Years of Political Street Art Posted: 21 Mar 2014 11:00 AM PDT  Thirty years ago, Thierry Noir surreptitiously painted elephants, bunnies, and faces on the Berlin Wall. It wasn't just a subversive act of protest; it was very dangerous. He painted mile after mile of artworks on the wall, which not only highlighted how ridiculous the barrier was, but also brought new attention to the wall and emboldened other artists. A new exhibit looks at the Berlin Wall and Noir's later works. Get a sneak peek right here. |
| High Tech Battle Armor For Weapon Based Combat Sports Posted: 21 Mar 2014 10:00 AM PDT As combat sports continue to grow in popularity, and MMA style fighting inevitably gives way to something closer to full blown Thunderdome, there arises a need to protect the combatants so they can live on to fight again. The logical next step for combat sports seems to be weapon based arena combat, so creating a suit of battle armor seems like a good place to start. Enter the Lorica, a lightweight yet extremely durable suit of combat armor that can withstand weapon strikes, so fighters don’t have to hold back in the ring. This "pretty much is Batman" suit of armor was created by Unified Weapons Master, a company that hopes their suits will kick start the next generation of martial arts competition. Here's more on this amazing combat gear:
-Via Geekologie |
| Suor Cristina on <i>The Voice</i> Posted: 21 Mar 2014 09:30 AM PDT This Singing Nun has her Sister Act together! Sister Cristina Scuccia, a 25-year-old nun from Comiso, Sicily, sang Alicia Keys’ hit song “No One” on the Italian version of the TV show The Voice. All four celebrity judges liked what they heard enough to send her to the next level. When they turned around to see her, they were just as surprised as you’d expect. The audience loved it. |
| Awesome Free-Floating Wooden Skateboard Ramp Posted: 21 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PDT (Images via Myles McGuinness) Taking a spin on this free-floating skateboard ramp is not only more thrilling than busting smith grinds at your local skate park, it's also more dangerous, which is why it's floating atop Lake Tahoe and not on the open sea. This wooden skate ramp barge is the brainchild of pro skater Bob Burnquist, who decided long ago that regular ramps and half pipes were far too boring, so he collaborated with builders Jerry Blohm and Jeff King to create a ramp covered raft any skateboarding castaway would be proud to call home. (EDIT: In case you're thinking these pics are photoshopped)-http://www.visitcalifornia.com/Life-In-California/Dreamers/Lake-Tahoe/ -Via DesignTAXI |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 08:30 AM PDT Tom Fletcher of the band McFly writes a song for every personal milestone in his life, the most popular being his wedding speech song medley, but the pregnancy announcement was cute, too. When their first child came along, the video took nine months to produce. The song probably did not take that long to compose. He and his wife, author Giovanna Fletcher, welcomed their son, Buzz Michelangelo Fletcher, on the 13th, and posted the video yesterday. -via Buzzfeed |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 08:00 AM PDT Sergei Nikolayev Knurov, a chef in Ukraine, built this model sailing frigate. The 30-pound hull is made of 17,000 coins held together with a silicate glue. The sails are made of paper currency. According to Oddity Central, Knurov used mostly 2 and 10 kopek coins and 25 5-hryvnia banknotes. Knurov and his wife, Alena, worked on the project together for 2-3 hours a day for 6 months. It cost them about 800 hryvnia ($77 USD) to build. They hope to sell it for about 4,000 hryvnia ($386 USD). You can see more photos of the model at Komsomolskaya Pravda. |
| Seattle’s Mystery Coke Machine Posted: 21 Mar 2014 07:30 AM PDT Seattle has its share of mysteries, but one that everyone seems to enjoy is the Coke machine at the corner of John Street and 11th Avenue East. This vending machine is far from new; in fact it looks like a soda machine from the 1970s. And the price is anachronistic, too, just 55 cents a can, while most other machines charge a dollar. No one knows who installed the machine, or who stocks it. However, the locksmith shop it stands in front of may have something to do with it, but they aren't saying anything.
The “mystery” button often serves obscure and even rare soda flavors. The popularity of the Coke machine is such that it has its own Facebook fan page. -via Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader |
| An Exploration Of Wes Anderson's Obsession With Symmetry Posted: 21 Mar 2014 07:00 AM PDT You don’t have to be a film scholar to notice one interesting/signature thing about all of Wes Anderson’s movies- they contain an inordinate amount of extremely symmetrical shots. Clearly Mr. Anderson is obsessed with symmetry, and has no problem disregarding the rule of thirds while he explores his obsession on film. Vimeo user kogonada edited together clips from many of Wes's movies, complete with a dotted white line dead in the middle of the frame, which helps illustrate the symmetrical nature of each shot. Once you've seen the symmetry it's impossible to unsee, but knowing it's there may make you appreciate how much work and planning Wes Anderson puts in to directing his films. -Via /Film |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:30 AM PDT Just look at these banana dolphins! A kid wouldn’t be able to resist helping himself to these treats, even if he is one of those who’s made up his mind to hate fruit. Luz of Luz’s Unique Creations gives us all the details on making them. She made these for her son’s class. I’m sure the kids got a real kick out of that! -via Geeks Are Sexy |
| 16 Absolutely Awesome Shelving Systems Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:00 AM PDT I don't know about you guys, but if there's one thing my house could always use, it's more storage. That's why I simply loved writing this fun article on shelving units for Homes and Hues. The designs range from the fun to functional to a little over the top, but one thing they all have in common is that they are all useful when it comes to decluttering your home. So don't miss the full list of all of these cool shelves over at Homes and Hues: 16 Cool and Creative Shelving Systems |
| Posted: 21 Mar 2014 05:30 AM PDT Baby Christian wants to sleep. But when he hears the Bruno Mars song "Runaway Baby," he can't help but dance his little butt off. His father, Walter Piper, says, "This how we wake up my son every morning." It's like his on switch. -via 22 Words |
| The Genius of <i>The Joy of Cooking</i> Posted: 21 Mar 2014 05:00 AM PDT
The ubiquity of the Joy of Cooking is staggering. More than 18 million copies have sold since the Great Depression—when a Midwestern widow named Irma Rombauer published her recipes and anecdotes in the hope of lifting America's spirits. And while the lemonade concoctions and tuna casserole recipes were delicious, the real secret of the cookbook's success isn't that it soothed stomachs; it's that it catered to hearts and minds. The Artist of LifeIrma Rombauer's young life was uniquely charmed. She was born in 1877 to wealthy German immigrants and spent her teenage years shuttling between her hometown of St. Louis and the elegant port city of Bremen, Germany. After enjoying a brief tryst with novelist Booth Tarkington, Irma settled down and married an attorney, with whom she raised two children. Although never employed, she thought of herself as an "artist of life," a renaissance woman who aspired to live vibrantly and suck the marrow out of every moment.
The truth is that Irma had never been a great chef, but she was an excellent hostess. She could whip up a party at a moment's notice and keep all of her guests entertained. By infusing the Joy of Cooking's text with that same wit and conviviality, Irma set her cookbook apart. From the first page, she skipped the kitchen basics in favor of extolling the virtues of cocktails: "They loosen tongues and unbutton the reserves of the socially diffident. Serve them by all means, preferably in the living room, and the sooner the better." Irma's German heritage also deeply influenced early editions of the book. The first Joy includes recipes for dishes such as blitzkuchen and linzer tortes and even a few rousing quotes from Goethe. Irma also exhibited an endearing frankness with her readers. Unlike any other cookbook narrator at the time, Irma admitted to her lack of expertise and joked about not having time to cook. In one section, she wrote, "The German recipe reads, 'stir for one hour,' but of course, no high-gear American has time for that." Simply stated, Irma Rombauer knew her audience. Joy and Depression
Along with these tidbits, Irma also included the food preferences of celebrities and monarchs. "Is there anything better than good coffee cake?" she wrote. "I am told that the former king of Spain "˜dunks.'" These asides bore little culinary relevance, but they made readers believe they shared something in common with royalty and celebrities. Follow this recipe, Irma hinted, and you're making the same sponge cake that Queen Mary once made for King George V when he was under the weather. As the country marched off to WWII, the Joy of Cooking adapted to the times. Irma's 1943 edition was the first major cookbook to address the issue of rationing. Once again, she treated cutbacks as opportunities for innovation, creating recipes such as Butterless, Eggless, Milkless Cake. She even gave soybeans top billing, featuring them as a prime substitute for meat. A Family TraditionBy 1951, Irma was in her seventies, so her daughter, Marion Becker, took over the bulk of her work. In some ways, Marion was even more of a visionary than her mother, and many of her choices for the 1951 Joy of Cooking helped transform it into the classic it is today. For example, to illustrate techniques and ingredients, Marion added 150 line drawings. She could have chosen trendy photographs, but her decision to use simple, helpful sketches ensured that the book would feel timeless. By contrast, the technicolor cakes and sweaty roast turkeys of 1950's Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook now feel dated. Marion also introduced a simple lowercase font for the logo. At the time, this was an understated choice; today, it's an icon of cookery.
Marion also wanted Americans to eat healthier, so she added nutritional advice to the pages of Joy. Plagued by undiagnosed food allergies as a child, she understood the link between ingredients and wellness years before people started talking about "organic farming" and "health food." Although the book still contained plenty of recipes for condensed-soup casseroles, 1963's Joy suggested using fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables instead of canned or frozen produce. In an era of Wonder Bread, Marion Becker pushed for whole grains. Marion produced her last revision in 1975 with the help of her husband, John, and son, Ethan. The work was a monumental tome, containing more than 4,500 recipes and 1,000 illustrations. Thanks to its encyclopedic size, this edition became the resource not only for grandmothers searching for German chocolate cake recipes, but also for their hippie grandchildren looking for tips on granola. Presciently, the book warned readers against overusing microwaves, which were embraced by most major cookbooks at the time. (Off the record, Marion actually wrote to Ralph Nader that she believed microwaves were zapping the nutritional value from food.) The 1975 Joy was considered so authoritative that it remained in print for more than 20 years. Today's Tastes
Instead of catering to weight-loss fads (the authors thank heaven that low-carb diets are no longer in vogue), the latest Joy stresses moderation and balance. The classic, gut-busting German cakes are still there, but they share space with homemade energy bars. Marion would be pleased to see that ethnic cooking is represented on a level that reflects our culture, with recipes for hummus, cream cheese balls, and salsa on neighboring pages. Meanwhile, her mother would be happy that cocktails are back, along with old, quirky recipes, such as Lemonade for 100 People. And the tidbits are classically Irma. For example: "The Romans, who were passionate about snails, grew them on ranches where they were fed special foods like bay leaves, wine, and spicy soups as pre-seasoning." But to really grasp the spirit of the Joy of Cooking, one needs only to look at the index of the latest edition, which begins with a Samuel Johnson quote. It reads, "Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information on it." Irma would be proud. _______________________
Be sure to visit mental_floss' website and blog for more fun stuff! |
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Forget magazine clippings and newspaper headlines. If you really want to put your finger on the pulse of American culture, just flip through an edition of the Joy of Cooking.
When the stock market crashed in 1929, Irma's spirit was put to the test. Her husband, who'd long suffered from depression, committed suicide. But instead of wallowing in grief, the 54-year-old widow found meaning in a project—writing a cookbook she titled The Joy of Cooking: A Collection of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat. Once completed in 1931, she spent half her savings to publish the book locally in St. Louis. Friends and acquaintances tested the recipes, and the feedback was encouraging, so she began pitching it to major publishers. Five years later, in 1936, Bobbs-Merrill finally took a chance on it and agreed to distribute the Joy of Cooking nationwide.
Other than maybe The Grapes of Wrath, no book grasped the hardships of the Great Depression better than the Joy of Cooking. Irma understood that American housewives were struggling to put food on the table, and she addressed those challenges head on. Many entries began with the tag "Inexpensive and good." There was even an appendix on making the most of leftovers, including stale bread, bones, coffee grounds, and pickle vinegar.
Like her mother, Marion also drew inspiration from the national mood. When the next edition of Joy was commissioned in 1963, the carefree consumer atmosphere of postwar America was over. Doctors no longer plugged cigarettes on TV, and books such as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring dominated the shelves. To address growing consumer awareness, Marion cut some of Irma's digressions to make way for more relevant information. She included a massive section titled "Know Your Ingredients," containing charts, diagrams, and exhaustive explanations on everything from the best way to beat eggs to how yeast works. The goal was to help readers understand not just the hows of cooking, but the whys, as well.
In 1997, Scribner Books hired a team of chefs to write a completely new Joy. Critics slammed the edition for being sterile and lacking any sense of playfulness. In 2006, the publisher made amends. Ethan Becker and his wife, Susan, were put in charge of the 75th anniversary edition, creating a new version that combined Marion Becker's conscientiousness with her mother's sense of fun.
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