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2014/06/13

Neatorama

Neatorama

Charlie Chaplin's <i>City Lights</i>

Posted: 13 Jun 2014 05:00 AM PDT

Eight decades before The Artist took Hollywood by storm, one put his career -and his fortune- onthe line to save silent films.

"I did not wish to be the only adherent of the art of silent pictures." -Charlie Chaplin

It was 1928, just months after the first talkie had hit theaters, and Charlie Chaplin’s life was a mess. He’d recently been through a highly publicized divorce. His ex-wife was selling stories to tabloids detailing his many affairs. The IRS was hounding him for $1.6 million in unpaid taxes. On top of his private woes, Chaplin’s career was on the ropes. As talking pictures swept the nation, silent film—the art form he’d elevated to new heights—was flickering out. In the last few years, major studios had stopped investing in the medium, and Charlie Chaplin, the world’s biggest movie star, had considered retiring.

But instead of packing it in, Chaplin decided to fight back. He wanted to produce one final movie that would put talkies in their place and showcase “the great beauty of silence.” When no one would finance his picture, he doubled down on his bet, cashing out his entire stock portfolio to finance it himself.

“Nothing could deter me from making it,” Chaplin said. Yet, 18 months and $2 million into shooting City Lights, Chaplin found himself wading in unfamiliar waters.

He’d never spent this much time working on a picture. Hits such as The Gold Rush (1925) and The Circus (1928) had been shot and stitched together effortlessly. But as the clock ticked and silent film became increasingly outdated, Chaplin’s anxiety rose. He fired his lead actress. He canceled shoots. He left actors waiting on set for full days at a time. Instead of a movie, he had a patchwork of disjointed scenes and sight gags. Hollywood insiders had already written him off, publicly proclaiming his downfall. For Chaplin, the stakes couldn’t have been higher. The fate of his career hinged on the success of this film.

A Sight for Blind Eyes

From the beginning, Chaplin knew City Lights would be about blindness. His original plot involved a circus clown who loses his sight, then must hide the fact from his sickly child. After tweaking the concept, Chaplin settled on an idea he liked better: his signature character the Tramp would fall in love with a blind flower girl, then try valiantly—and comically—to help her restore her sight. Along the way he’d befriend a drunk, enter a boxing match, get a job, lose that job, party with millionaires, get mistaken for a burglar, and land in jail. But not before coming to the flower girl’s rescue.

Chaplin’s biggest hurdle was finding a girl “who could look blind without detracting from her beauty.” He rejected nearly 20 actresses before discovering Virginia Cherrill sitting ringside at a boxing match. As he studied the 20-year-old society girl, Chaplin thought she was blind. It turned out she was just extremely nearsighted and had refused to wear glasses out of vanity. Chaplin didn’t mind that she had no experience as an actress. As a Svengali-like auteur, he routinely molded his costars with explicit directions about every gesture and expression. One of the young actors who played a street tough in City Lights opined, “I think Charlie would’ve much rather played all the parts himself if he could.”

Working with Chaplin could be exhausting. While the director was fair in many regards—he was scrupulous about paying the crew for their time—he was also erratic. Of the 534 days scheduled for filming on City Lights, Chaplin only filmed on 166. When he did shoot, he ran the cast ragged. The director demanded perfection, and his lead actress suffered the most. Chaplin hounded her. He belittled her. He drove her through 342 takes on a single scene alone. When Cherrill bristled, he called her an amateur. Then one day, when she returned late from lunch, he fired her. Chaplin recast the part with his Gold Rush leading lady Georgia Hale.

Before long, Chaplin realized his mistake—the time spent directing Hale and the cost of reshooting Cherrill’s scenes would set him back too far. In desperation, he re-hired Cherrill, though now at twice her original salary. The friction between the two leads was palpable, and it wasn’t just about money. As Cherrill said, “Charlie never liked me, and I never liked Charlie.” Yet, none of that animosity shows on screen; their scenes together are heartbreakingly tender, and some of the most extraordinary in all of cinema.

The Bet on the Table

For City Lights to truly outshine the talkies, Chaplin knew he couldn’t rely on gags alone. In previous films, he’d built thin scripts around a series of vaudeville set pieces. This time he insisted that plot and characters drive the action—a modern notion for comedies. He also retooled his storytelling: Chaplin interweaved the pathos and comedy to wrench more emotion from each scene. When a lonely millionaire contemplates suicide, it’s tragic. When the Good Samaritan Tramp attempts to save him from drowning, and accidentally ends up with a weight pinned to his own neck, the laughs come quickly.

For Chaplin, even the use of sound had to be innovative. In one scene, the Tramp accidentally swallows a penny whistle during a performance, then tries to contain himself as he hiccups an aria. This wasn’t standard “Mickey Mousing,” or punctuating a gag with a sound effect; Chaplin was doing something novel—using sound as the punchline.

Chaplin took nearly three years to complete City Lights. But even with a great film in the can, the odds were stacked against him. Despite his incredible track record, theaters had a wait-and-see attitude before they’d commit to screening the film. For its New York City debut, Chaplin was forced to roll out City Lights with a soft opening at an “off the beaten path,” “white elephant” movie house. Determined to make the film a success, Chaplin took over the movie’s PR and marketing. He dyed his hair. He talked up his fitness routine to reporters to prove he was still in his prime. And he sank $30,000 (equivalent to nearly $500,000 today) into buying newspaper ads, hiring ushers, and even having a new electric marquee installed at the theater. Chaplin obsessed over every detail. But ultimately, the public would decide.

Legacy

When City Lights finally debuted in New York in 1931, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The film was so popular that the theater had showings from 9 a.m. to midnight continuously, every day except Sunday. According to historian Charles Maland, “by the end of 1931, the [United Artists’] ledgers reveal, City Lights had already accumulated more domestic rentals than The Circus and over 90 percent of the domestic rentals that The Gold Rush had garnered since 1925.” Critics showered praise as well. The New York Times declared, “Mr. Chaplin’s shadow has grown no less.”

For a short period, it seemed that Chaplin had accomplished what he set out to do. Studios invested in silent pictures again. Screen legend Douglas Fairbanks Sr. talked excitedly about returning to the medium. And in 1931, the Oscar for Best Cinematography went to another silent film, Tabu. Many expected City Lights to nab the award, but it wasn’t nominated. As film historian William M. Drew wrote, “Perhaps Chaplin’s perceived audacity in persisting in making a silent film in Hollywood after sound had arrived ... seemed too great an act of insubordination for the industry to honor.”

But the swing back to silent films could never last. In a 1973 interview with director Peter Bogdanovich, Chaplin confessed that City Lights was his favorite of his films. Indeed, it’s often declared “the most Chaplin” of his movies because it bridges all of his strengths—the highbrow and the low, the serious and the slapstick. And while City Lights is considered the last of Chaplin’s silent films (it had sound, but no speech), the film marks the first time the director used his camera as a soapbox. As the Tramp pinballs between the worlds of the rich and the poor, Chaplin is highlighting the issues of the class divide. City Lights kick-started Chaplin’s move both to more political films, and to a more political life. In 1936, Modern Times voiced his anxieties about industry and society. And in 1940, Chaplin used The Great Dictator to bullhorn his opposition to Hitler.

But what makes City Lights a masterpiece isn’t its politics, or its silence, or even the fact that countless later movies have borrowed from it. What makes City Lights special, quite simply, is the story.

(YouTube link)

Throughout the film, the blind girl has mistaken the Tramp for a rich benefactor, only to learn his true identity after her sight is restored. The moment of revelation unfolds slowly. She hands the Tramp a flower, then presses a coin into his palm. Having an acute sense of touch, she recognizes the feel of his hand. The camera shifts between the mix of fear and longing in the Tramp’s eyes, and the confusion and tenderness in the flower girl’s. Author James Agee called the scene “the greatest piece of acting and the highest moment in movies.” The fact that he had achieved it without words made it all the sweeter for Chaplin.

A Viewer's Guide

Making Noise
In the opening scene, Chaplin throws a curve ball at the crowd. A town official and a woman dedicating a statue are heard speaking. But instead of words, all the audience hears is Charlie Brown-style quacking. Minutes later, the Tramp is caught napping on the unveiled statue and climbs down. As an official yells at him, Chaplin pauses, his character inadvertently aligning his nose with the statue’s open hand. The message is clear: Chaplin is thumbing his nose at talkies.

The Magic of a Car Door
Mistaken identity is the driving force of City Lights’ love story. But Chaplin agonized over the first meeting between the blind flower girl and the Tramp. Specifically, he wondered what could possibly make her mistake the Tramp for an aristocrat. It wasn’t until a year and a half into filming that Chaplin had the idea to use the sound of a car door.

To avoid a traffic cop, the Tramp steps through a parked limousine, and exits onto a sidewalk. When the flower girl hears the door, she thinks a rich man has emerged from the car. The Tramp buys a flower from her then realizes she’s sightless. A moment later, when the door slams again, she calls out to the wealthy man for leaving his change behind. Meanwhile, the Tramp, still standing there, doesn’t bother to correct her. The simple scene sets the story in motion brilliantly. Chaplin called it “completely dancing.”

TKO Comedy
In one of the film’s funniest sequences, the Tramp enters a boxing match to earn money for the blind girl’s operation. The scene was planned for weeks, then shot over four days. That may seem excessive for five minutes of comic action, but consider that it was done without any edits. Chaplin was so proud of the complicated choreography that he invited all his friends to the filming. Virginia Cherrill described it as the “only social life we had at the studio.”

The Sounds of Silence
Chaplin’s perfectionism extended to the sound track. Unwilling to hand the task to anyone else, he scored an “elegant” musical backdrop for the Tramp’s hijinks—penning the melodies himself, then hiring musicians to fill out the lush sound. As Chaplin put it: “I wanted the music to be a counterpoint of grace and charm.”

“Yes, I can see now”
Perhaps the surest confirmation that City Lights was a masterpiece came at its Los Angeles premiere, where Chaplin’s friend Albert Einstein, the world’s greatest thinker and humanist, was in the audience. “During the final scene I noticed Einstein wiping his eyes,” Chaplin reported.

(vimeo link)

_______________________

The article above, written by Bill DeMain, is reprinted with permission from the March-April 2012 issue of mental_floss magazine.

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What "Superpredator" Made a Meal of This Great White Shark?

Posted: 13 Jun 2014 04:00 AM PDT


YouTube Link

A mystery revolving around the death of a nine-foot-long great white shark off the coast of Western Australia is the subject of a documentary to air June 25th and 26th on The Smithsonian Channel. Remains of the great white washed up on shore months after the shark was killed. A satellite tracking tag that the shark had been fitted with surfaced as well.  

Information retrieved from the tracking device showed the shark was subjected to depths and conditions consistent with a larger predator, possibly another great white shark. The sensor on the tracking device was deprived of light for three weeks before it washed onto shore. The remains of the shark also showed signs of bleaching, possiblly from exposure to stomach acid.

Read more at CNN and watch the Smithsonian documentary for their analysis. 

 

This World Is Rotten - A Love Note To Death

Posted: 13 Jun 2014 02:00 AM PDT


This World is Rotten by bocaci

He knew the world was a rotten place well before he received that notebook with the power of death, but he gave it a chance to prove him wrong. Slowly but surely all those people and forces working against him came to the surface, and every time they showed their ugly face he wrote their name in his book and awaited their demise...

Lovers of dark anime fantasy are sure to love a This World is Rotten t-shirt by bocaci, pick one up and start a notebook of your own!

Visit bocaci's Facebook fan page and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more dark and geeky designs:

Pierce The SkyHappiness Only Real When SharedJust Who The HellZanarkand Ruins

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25 Delicious Facts About Lobsters

Posted: 13 Jun 2014 02:00 AM PDT

If you are a seafood fan, or even if you aren't, here’s some things you should learn about lobsters. No recipes, though; these facts are about the animal itself, its anatomy, and life cycle. Some may ruin your appetite -at least for a short time. For example, lobsters communicate with each other by peeing!  

14. Lobsters pee out of their faces. The urine comes from antennal glands located near the antennae. "They're greenish brown spots," Bayer says. "They actually look like two pieces of snot—that’s the best way to describe them. You'd have to open them up to see them." Peeing at each other is part of both fighting and courtship.

17. A lobster that's a pound and a half might carry 8000 to 10,000 eggs, which are kept in place by glue created in her cement glands. "The bigger they are, the more eggs they have," Bayer says. "You might have 30,000 or 40,000 on a really big lobster." If you’re eating lobster and find bright red stuff, that’s unextruded eggs—also known as roe.

Cement glands. That’s something you don’t read about every day. Ain’t nature wonderful? Read the rest of the list at mental_floss.

Spider Web Tuning 101

Posted: 13 Jun 2014 12:00 AM PDT


YouTube Link

This amusing video from NPR explains how spiders "tune" their webs in a similar manner as a musician tunes a stringed instrument. Spiders may tighten or loosen the silk strands of their webs to achieve variation in the way each strand vibrates. The sensors in the spider's legs "read" the vibrations to gain information, such as the location of an insect newly trapped in the web. The spider's web must be "tuned" in a certain way in order for the process to work. Scientists learned this information during research recently published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Learn more in this article at NPR online. Via Twisted Sifter. 

This Airport Disappears During High Tide

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 11:00 PM PDT

(Photo: Catherine Morgan)

Barra is a 23-square mile island off the western coast of Scotland. It has an airport with three marked runways. It conducts regularly scheduled flights. What makes those flights unique is that the schedule takes into account the tide. That's because during high tide, the sea submerges the runways.


(Photo: ㇹヮィㇳ)

According to this history of the Barra Airport, commercial air service to Barra began in 1936. A wide beach called Traigh Mhòr proved to be the ideal landing strip for the rocky island. A passenger terminal was built in 1978.


(Video Link)

Here's a video of a plane landing on one of Barra Airport's beach runways.

-via Marilyn Terrell

Red Panda Cubfest

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 10:00 PM PDT


Two rare Nepalese Red Pandas that were born during March of this year at Hamilton Zoo in Hamilton, New Zealand are now old enough to explore their enclosure like the curious cubs they are. Hamilton Zoo curator Samantha Kudeweh explained the health concerns the keepers had about the cubs soon after they were born:

"Initially the cubs weren’t gaining as much weight as they should have so we started supplement feeding. That worked really well and now the pair are fit and healthy and enjoying hanging out with their extended family."

Kudeweh said that while it's difficult to tell the sex of this species early in their lives, the zoo is relatively certain the two cubs are females. She added that if the zoo staff members are correct about the sex of the cubs, it will be a nice addition to their family, which consists of three male cubs born last year.

Red Pandas, which look more like raccoons than giant pandas, are typically found in the Himalayas, ranging from Nepal to China. Their diet consists primarily of bamboo leaves, but also includes bird eggs, blossoms, leaves and berries. The species is threatened more and more by loss of habitat and humans hunting them for their pelts.

Read more about Red Pandas at the Hamilton Zoo website. Via Zooborns. 

Slothfulness

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 09:00 PM PDT

(vimeo link)

A young sloth wants to learn how to fly. That seems funny to the other sloths, who don’t want to do anything, as sloths do. It’s kind of funny to us, too, because it’s hard to imagine a sloth ever flapping his arms that fast. But this is a cartoon, by John McGowan, so anything is possible. In fact, it was his graduate thesis project.

This reminds me somewhat of another graduate thesis project in animation about a flightless bird who dreamed of flying, but trust me, this one is not nearly as heart-wrenching. -via Daily of the Day

Real Life Laws That Regulate The Supernatural

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 08:00 PM PDT

(Image Via Supernatural Law/Batton Lash)

Whether you believe in ghosts or not is irrelevant, at least according to the powers that be, because there are laws in place related to ghosts and hauntings that were created to help protect the living...from being ripped off by the living in the name of the afterlife.

For example- if you’re looking to buy a house in New York the realtor has to tell you if it’s haunted or lawsuits may be filed against them.

Looking to practice necromancy in San Francisco? You’d better have a fortune telling permit, or the spiritualist squad will storm your lair and shut you down, and don’t even think about hunting Bigfoot in Skamania County, Washington, or you may find yourself imprisoned for committing a felony!

Read more about these ethereal laws over at io9

Life with a Toddler

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 07:00 PM PDT

Someone once told me it’s a good thing toddlers are so cute and sweet and loving because that’s what keeps you from killing them. Grant Snider of Incidental Comics has an 18-month-old daughter and is well aware of the extremities of that difficult, dangerous, but oh-so-memorable age. He created this wonderful comic for Fathers Day. You can buy it as a poster. -via Laughing Squid

Ad Agency Uses Mannequins To Raise Money For The Homeless

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 06:00 PM PDT

(Video Link)

Homelessness is a problem affecting more and more people every day, and providing shelter for every homeless person, no matter how temporary, ends up costing some serious coin.

Enter a creative, albeit creepy, ad campaign put together by the JWT Amsterdam ad agency, who are using mannequin "piggy banks" to raise money for the homeless.

A Piggy Bank for the Homeless is a thought provoking campaign that has its heart in the right place, but there's something off-putting about inserting money into a mannequin piggy bank's head, especially one shaped like a little kid.

It gives new meaning to the expression "shut up and take my money!", but if it helps give Amsterdam's over 15,000 homeless residents hope for a future that lies indoors then I'm sure people will overcome their fear of mannequins and donate to such a good cause.

-Via DesignTAXI

The Patent Model Quiz

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 05:00 PM PDT

From 1790 to 1880, the U.S. Patent Office required that patent applications for a new inventions must have a model accompanying them. When the requirement was abolished, there were around 200,000 such models. Some went to the Smithsonian, while most were bought by Sir Henry Wellcome. After Wellcome’s death, the collection was split and many were obtained by Alan Rothschild, who founded the Rothschild Petersen Patent Model Museum.

But before you look through the tiny treasures at the museum’s website, take a little quiz and see if you can guess what the machines represented by the patent models do. You will no doubt score better than I did -I only got seven out of twenty right! -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Rothschild Peterson Patent Museum)

All The Horrible Ways Animals Can Kill You With Venom

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 04:00 PM PDT

(Image Via Shutterstock)

Nature can be terrifying, with all those claws and fangs out there in the wild just waiting to chomp down on our very chewable human skin, but nature has another trick up her sleeve that’s even more terrifying, and way more harmful, than mere tooth and nail.

That poisonous substance is known as venom, and critters create this foul chemical cocktail for a variety of reasons, whether to help defend themselves or hunt other animals.

Humans have a hate-fear relationship with poison, and have even created stories and historical events based around poison, all of which is explored in the American Museum of Natural History exhibition The Power of Poison, on display through August 10.

Here's a video starring exhibition curator/professor Mark Siddall explaining the various ways poison can be delivered to a victim:

(Video Link)

And here's another informative video which explains the differences between poisons, toxins, and venoms:

(Video Link)

-Via Sploid

Battle Of Titans - Homer And The Epic Bender

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 03:00 PM PDT


Battle of Titans by Creatiboom

The day that bonehead Homer went ape was the day a tear opened in the cartoon space-time continuum, causing two Groening grade universes to collide. Two massive creatures emerged from the tear and began stomping Springfield into oblivion- one was a shiny metal robot, the other a hairy, stupid looking gorilla. They began to battle it out, until they discovered that they had one thing in common- a love of alcohol. Soon the two giants were knocking down distilleries and fat becoming best friends.

Your favorite cartoon shows collide on this Battle of Titans t-shirt by Creatiboom, try one on for size and watch your style points soar through the roof!

Visit Creatiboom's Facebook page, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more boldly geeky designs:

They Shall Know No FearAn Extra LifeTo Save The EmpireMushroom Time

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Video Game of Thrones

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 03:00 PM PDT

(YouTube link)

The Legend of Zelda gets a Game of Thrones intro, courtesy of The Pixel Kingdom. To be exact, this is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The 16-bit format and overhead view works well with the style of the TV show intro. Now if someone with a little time would put some violent Game of Thrones clips behind the beautiful Legend of Zelda Main Theme.  -via Gamma Squad

Hyperrealistic Wax Sculptures Of Pop Culture Icons

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 02:00 PM PDT

Wax is a sculpting medium that can be used to create extremely realistic works, and as any visitor to one of the wax museums across the country know it’s the chosen medium for photorealistic sculpture, and wax works don’t come much better looking than the works of Bobby Causey.

Bobby is a self taught artist who has been creating incredibly realistic sculptures of movie characters like The Joker, Hellboy, and Jack Torrance from the Shining for private collectors and galleries for years, with finely painted detail, hand punched hair and just the right accessories to complete each character.

Bobby even created his own replica of the Batmobile from the 1995 movie Batman Forever, and it's every bit as spot on as his amazing sculptures.

-Via Nerd Approved

World Cup Exhibition in Space

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 01:00 PM PDT

(YouTube link)

The astronauts aboard the ISS are celebrating World Cup soccer with a little match of their own. Bicycle kicks are easy in microgravity, but where the goal is isn’t actually clear. And who’s playing who when three guys are on the field? -via Buzzfeed

Researcher Suggests Fist Fights Shaped Male Facial Structure

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 12:00 PM PDT

               Australopithecus

The conclusions drawn by researchers in a study conducted at the University of Utah include that male human cranial structure, particularly that of the jaw, has evolved to minimize damage during physical altercations. 

Researchers studied the bone structure of australopiths, ape-like bipeds living four to five million years ago. They discovered that australopith jaws were strongest in areas most likely to receive injury in fist fights. The researchers believe that this facial structure has remained similar to present day and explains current "robust" features of males, as opposed to that of females. Dr. David Carrier, head of this research at the University of Utah, explained,

"The australopiths were characterized by a suite of traits that may have improved fighting ability, including hand proportions that allow formation of a fist; effectively turning the delicate musculoskeletal system of the hand into a club effective for striking.

If indeed the evolution of our hand proportions were associated with selection for fighting behavior, you might expect the primary target, the face, to have undergone evolution to better protect it from injury when punched."

Carrier's study is published in the journal Biological Reviews. Via Unique Daily. Image: Wikimedia Commons  

What Happens After The Action Movie Ends? Epilogue

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 11:00 AM PDT

(Video Link)

Combining romantic elements with an enjoyable action movie is a tall order, but a few movies have managed to combine the two genres quite successfully in the past, Romancing the Stone and Mr. and Mrs. Smith immediately come to mind.

That which cannot be easily accomplished in a feature length motion picture can often work out just fine in a short film, for example this very entertaining rom-act-com called Epilogue, created by Dylan Allen for Amalgamated Picture Co.

It’s got the guns and the fun you come to expect from an action flick, and yet it manages to blend the romance into the story in an organic way that really makes you feel like you're watching the epilogue to an epic action movie.

(Barely NSFW due to language)

-Via GeekTyrant

Combining romantic elements with an enjoyable action movie is a tall order, but many movies have

A Parking Lot Riddle

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 10:00 AM PDT

You can’t see the number under the car. Can you figure out what it is? Someone told me the answer before I could work on it. But a bigger question is: Since the lot is practically empty, why didn’t this driver choose the space nearest wherever he is going? -via Bits and Pieces

Pole Vaulting Antics

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 09:00 AM PDT


YouTube Link

Have you ever thought you could perform a stunt that's worthy of Letterman's Stupid Human Tricks? How about performing the same stunt using a pole vault for an added layer of complexity?

Australian athlete and pole vaulting title holder Joel Pocklington has pieced together this entertaining video of pole vaulting tricks that are amusing as well as impressive. Via Unique Daily.

The World Cup of Everything Else

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 08:00 AM PDT

The Wall Street Journal took a World Cup bracket and used it to illustrate things other than football. At the interactive page, you can select from a list of statistics. Which of the 32 World Cup teams is the tallest? Shortest? Youngest? Whoa, there’s not much difference between the youngest team’s average age and the oldest. Which country has the most water? That’s easy -the Netherlands is largely below sea level. Which has the most forest? Oh yeah, Brazil. No? What? Japan? Ah. I see, it’s a percentage of the land. I did not know Japan was 67% forest!

Play around with it yourself. You will not be surprised by which country has the highest body mass index or the heaviest drinkers, but which has the most women in government? The most Twitter users? You may be surprised! Shown here is the bracket for the lowest murder rate. -via Digg

Trailer: "Tim's Vermeer"

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 07:00 AM PDT


YouTube Link

Tim's Vermeer, directed by Teller of Penn and Teller fame and starring his partner Penn Jillette, focuses on a man's obsession with the photorealism of Dutch master Johannes Vermeer's seventeenth century paintings. Tim Jenison, an inventor and computer graphics professional from Texas, was fascinated by the paintings of Vermeer, which are so realistic that everything from skin tones to a multitude of natural and man-made surfaces seem more akin to photographic rather than painted representations.

Jenison was interested in whether Vermeer may have used a camera lucida or similar device using lenses and mirrors during his artistic process. Jenison's mission to recreate Vermeer’s painting The Music Lesson led to a five-year-long, complete reconstruction of the background of the painting. His research was filmed and the footage became the documentary Tim’s Vermeer, which was released today on Blu-ray and digital download. Via Colossal.

What Is It? game 331

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 06:30 AM PDT

It's Thursday, so you know what it means, Neatoramanauts: it's time for the What Is It? Game, brought to you by the always amusing What Is It? Blog. What is the object in the picture above? Your guess can win you a free T-shirt of your choice from the NeatoShop. Here's how to play:

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, but you can enter as many guesses as you'd like in separate comments. Post no URLs or weblinks.

You might know the correct answer, but if you want to win a t-shirt, you'll have to use your imagination, because we are going to select two winners who give us the funniest incorrect guesses. If you guess right, then good for ya - but you don't win anything, see? So, it's up to you, funny people: you have twice the chance of winning that T-shirt now.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize. We highly suggest you take a look at the NeatoShop's new selection of Funny T-shirts and Science T-Shirts.

Ready? Go for it! (Don't forget to visit the What Is It? Blog for another picture of this thing!)

The Burglar - Halfling Meets Dragonkind

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 06:00 AM PDT


The Burglar by Harantula

He looked like a massive, gruesome dragon statue laying atop his gleaming mountain of treasure, but the halfling burglar knew he was very much alive, and hungry. Despite his best efforts to walk silently, and the ring of invisibility he wore, that clumsy little halfling still managed to wake that smoggy dragon. It's a good thing he's little more than a snack!

Fantasy adventure from the middle of the earth awaits you on this The Burglar t-shirt by Harantula, it's a great way to stay sharp while burgling or simply kicking back and reading your favorite book.

Visit Harantula's Facebook page and official website, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more fantastically geeky designs:

Master PortraitDark KnightmareHFC (Hyrule Fried Cucco)Emerging from the Mountains

View more designs by Harantula | More Funny T-shirts | New T-Shirts

Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!

An Outdoor Shower That Hooks Up to An Ordinary Hose

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 06:00 AM PDT

If you have a pool, you need a shower to rinse off the chlorinated water before, but going in the house dripping wet isn't much of an option. That's where the Viteo Shower comes in.

This clever shower hooks into any outdoor hose and then turns on when you step on it. Just set it up outside your pool when you're going to go swimming and step on the platform when you want to wash.

Read more about the shower and how much it costs over at Homes and Hues: The Perfect Pool Accessory:An Outdoor Shower With No Installation Required

A Few Things You May Not Know About Superman

Posted: 12 Jun 2014 05:00 AM PDT

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

Created in 1938, “Superman" was the first-ever superhero. Sometimes, in life, in sports, or in the arts, the "first" is succeeded by newcomers and it's popularity is eclipsed and surpassed. Not so with the Man of Steel. Superman remains, after three-quarters of a century, the most popular and beloved superhero the world over. (Superman placed #1 on IGN’s “Top 100 Comic Book Heroes" list in 2011.)

Superman’s #1 status remains intact and this indisputable fact remains true, despite the appearance over the intervening years of Batman, Robin, Iron Man, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Captains Marvel and America, the Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, and countless others. Okay, let's take a look at a few things you may not have known about Superman.

*Created in 1938 by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-American artist Joe Shuster, Superman is generally acknowledged to be the very first "superhero.”

In fact, the term is derived from Superman. Although we commonly refer to superheroes as "superheroes", before superman, heroes were ordinarily called "mystery men" or "masked heroes.”

* He was originally a villain.

(Image credit: Joe Shuster)

In 1933, Siegel and Shuster had initially created a bald, telepathic villain bent on dominating the world in a short story called “The Reign of the Super-Man.” This "bad guy" version of Superman appeared in science fiction #3, a fanzine Siegel published. Siegel re-envisioned the character later that year as a hero, bearing no resemblance to his villainous namesake.

* Action Comics #1 (the debut of Superman) is the most prized comic book in history.

Only four comics have ever sold for $1 million dollars. Two of the four are Action Comics #1.

* Superman almost never made it into the public consciousness.

The comics creators, Siegel and Shuster, had actually been pitching the comic to various newspapers for years and had pretty much given up hope. DC comics editor Vin Sullivan actually dug the story out of a slush pile and decided to run it as a secondary story in Action Comics #1. Despite the fact that he wasn't even the lead story, Superman was featured on the cover of the comic (shown lifting up a car). Superman caught on like wildfire and quickly outsold practically every other comic book DC comics had sold up to that time.

* Who was Kent Taylor?

Superman's alter ego is, as we all know, Clark Kent. Clark Kent's name was derived from two movie actors: Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. Okay, everyone knows who Clark Gable is- the immortal Oscar-winning actor and star of Gone With The Wind (1939) as well as many other great films. But who the heck was Kent Taylor?

Kent Taylor actually appeared in over 100 movies, mostly in the 1930's, and mostly as a B-actor. his movie credits include I’m No Angel (1933) with Mae West. (Kent appeared in 14 films in 1932 alone.) In the 1950's, he switched over to television, doing guest spots on The Rifleman, My Little Margie, and Bat Masterson. He ended his career appearing in "slasher films" in the seventies, including Hell's Bloody Devils, I Spit On Your Corpse, Satan's Sisters, and Brain of Blood. Kent Taylor passed away in 1987 at the age of 79.

* Was Clark Kent pretending to be Superman or vice-versa?

The above question has been argued and debated by Superman fans since the inception of the comic. In fact, the question was often debated by the comics' creators. Siegel and Shuster, and various Superman artists and writers since then, have done comics with both themes.

* Clark Kent was based on Harold Lloyd.



Clark Kent's bespectacled, slightly nervous, insecure persona, was based, at least in part, on the classic silent movie comedian Harold Lloyd. Lloyd was probably the movie's first-ever "nerd": clumsy, fumbling, insecure with women, a ne'er-do-well who would always redeem himself in the end.

* Superman's stance was based on Douglas Fairbanks.

The classic Superman stance i.e. strong, confident, bold, hands clenched in fists and placed firmly on his hips, is derived from another legendary silent movie actor, swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks. Creators Siegel and Shuster were both huge movie fans and got the classic stance from Fairbanks' 1922 film Robin Hood.

* He originally couldn't fly.

The original Superman character was a bit different than the one we are all familiar with today. Originally, Superman ran at amazing speeds and could jump 1/8th of a mile. Superman first flew in action comics #35 (in april of 1941). This comic was also the first time Superman caught a plane in the air and carried it safely down to the ground.

* Metropolis was based on a film, too.

Superman's hometown Metropolis was also based on a silent film, Fritz Lang's classic Metropolis (1925).

* Jerry Siegel may have based Superman on the death of his father.

Although Siegel never stated the fact in any interviews himself, both Gerald Jones and Brad Meltzer (two famous comic book artists) share this theory. Jerry's father, Mitchell Siegel, was an immigrant who owned a clothing store in Cleveland. He died in a robbery in 1932, a year before Superman was created. “It had to have effected him,” says Jones, “There's a connection there: the loss of a dad as a course for Superman.”

Adds Meltzer: “Your father dies in a robbery and you invent a bulletproof man who becomes the world's greatest hero. I’m sorry, but there's a story there".
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