Image:Chris Sims

Chris Sims of The Invincible Super-Blog created a gallery of Facebook status updates for superheroes at Comics Alliance. Among the featured heroes are Batman, Green Lantern, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and The Punisher. Sims works in a comic book store, so he knows of what he writes.

Link via Urlesque | Writer’s Blog

Lizards in the shades of Spiderman’s superhero outfit are turning out to be the latest craze in pets. Rock agamas (Agama mwanzae) are high maintenance animals, in need of special diets and strict temperature settings. So if you were thinking of running out to the store to claim your own, you might want to think twice.

The vivid red-and-blue colouring is almost uncannily like that of the Marvel superhero, and comic book fans have been flocking to exotic pet shops to snap them up. Agamas like the Spider-Lizard, as it has become known make good pets, as they become tame and docile if handled regularly. However, they require specialist equipment in the UK to maintain their temperature.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by dontyoukeep.

You may have seen or read about some over-the-top wedding productions, but Tony Lucchese told Sarah LaFore will be going the extra mile when they marry today in Portland, Maine. They will say their vows dressed as Superman and Wonder Woman.

Aquaman, Flash and Spider-Man round out the groomsmen. Ten bridesmaids will be Amazon warriors — in comic mythos, Wonder Woman is an Amazon princess — with spears, togas and sandals.

Two weeks ago, LaFore and Lucchese made an emergency trip to Jersey, down and back in one day, to tweak her costume.

“Paramount to having a successful wedding is having the bride feel pretty,” he said.

He and volunteer carpenters built a Fortress of Solitude altar in a rented warehouse space in Portland. They’ll be married by Kieschnick’s father, dressed as Jor-El, Superman’s dad. Part of the script borrows from Kryptonian wedding vows. The couple will break character to say, “I do.”

The two met while working on a theatrical production in Oak Ridge, Tennessee seven years ago. They have been planning the wedding for 18 months. Link -via Fark

(image credit: Amber Waterman/Sun Journal)

Update: See more at Tony and Srah’s wedding blog. Link (Thanks, Tony!)

Everything – everything! – is just better in Japan. Take, for instance, Spider-Man. In the late ’70s, Japan turned Spider-Man into a billionaire with a Voltron-esque
flying robot.

Take that, Tobey Maguire! Gizmodo has the clip: Link

The only thing that can compete is, of course, the Italian Spiderman.

A fireman in Bangkok, Thailand used an interesting approach to reaching out to an autistic boy. Fearful of his first day at school, the boy climbed out on a third-story ledge and refused to come inside.

Despite teachers’ efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge until his mother mentioned her son’s love of superheroes, prompting fireman Sonchai Yoosabai to take a novel approach to the problem.

The rescuer dashed back to his fire station and made a quick change into a Spider-Man costume before returning to the boy, he said.

“I told him Spider-Man is here to rescue you, no monsters are going to attack you and I told him to walk slowly towards me as running could be dangerous,” Somchai told local television.

The young boy immediately stood up and walked into his rescuer’s arms, police said.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.

Guess who’s coming to star in an upcoming Spider-Man comic? It’s none other than Stephen Colbert, who’s running for president in the Marvel Universe!

Marvel is proud to reveal that Spider-Man and acclaimed television personality Stephen Colbert will join forces in an all new eight-page story featured in the extra-sized AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #573! Acclaimed writer Mark Waid and fan favorite artist Patrick Olliffe present Stephen Colbert, a candidate for the U.S. Presidency in the Marvel Universe, teaming up with Marvel’s most iconic crime fighter.

Link

In his blog Springfield Punx, artist Dean T. Fraser draws superheroes and other comic characters in the style of The Simpsons cartoons. So far, he’s done some characters from Batman, Spider-man, Star Trek TOS, etc.

Check it out: Link – via Super Punch

As promised, here’s the follow-up story to my board games article from last week, when we discussed Monopoly, Clue, Life and Scrabble. I guess I’m feeling nostalgic today, because I feel like writing about the oldies-but-goodies – the games that entertained you when you were a little shaver. At least, they entertained me. By the way, does anyone know where the phrase “little shaver” comes from? Ah, at any rate:

Candyland

A beloved game, to be sure, and a hard-to-resist brightly-colored game board with fun locations that make me think of Candy Mountain (Charlie the Unicorn, anyone??). Some trivia for you:

• The game was designed by Eleanor Abbott while she was recovering from polio in the ’40s. She wanted children who were also suffering from the disease to have something fun to do to bide their time.
• The first version of the game was sold for a mere $1.00. The advertising said it fulfilled the “sweet tooth yearning of the younger set without the tummy ache aftereffects” and also “A sweet little game for sweet little folks”.
• If you want to know the mathematical analysis of the length of a game (and who doesn’t), you can!
• Candyland.com was registered for an adult Web site. Hasbro sued and won.
• Want to see a more, um, violent history of Candy Land? Here you go.
• Characters include: The Kids, The Gingerbread People, Mr. Mint, Gramma Nutt, King Kandy, Jolly, Plumpy (taken out of the most recent version of the game), Mama Ginger Tree (replaced Plumpy), Princess Lolly (renamed ‘Lolly’ after 2002 edition), Queen Frostine (renamed ‘Princess Frostine’ after 2002 edition), Lord Licorice, Gloppy the Molasses Monster (renamed Gloppy the Chocolate Monster). I love the idea of a bunch of executives in business suits at Hasbro sitting in a conference room discussing the change of these names.

Bob: “Based on recent surveys, we have found that children don’t relate to ‘Queen’ Frostine. Based on the Disney ‘princess’ movement, we’re seeing a paradigm shift in consumerism. I think we need to be proactive and leverage the movement for our own purposes and facilitate the title change to Princess Frostine.”

Jim: “What about Princess Lolly? If Princess Frostine is going to be our cash cow, I’m not sure we should have another princess competing.”

Tom: “That’s a good point, Jim. Here’s a thought. Going forward, what if we just call her ‘Lolly?’”

Bob: “I think that’s a home run, Tom. That’s low-hanging fruit. Now, let me run this by you – how do you guys feel about ‘Plumpy’? I’m not sure that’s reflecting the diverse nature of our customers.”

Jim: “You’re right, Bob, I’ve been considering that. What I propose is a character that represents the audience who is actually responsible for the purchase of this product – the mothers. I was throwing some ideas against the wall to see what would stick and here’s what I came up with – Mama Ginger Tree.”

Tom: “Is that offensive to redheads?”

Sorry. I go off on tangents sometimes.

Operation

You know, in researching this, I realized I don’t remember the actual rules of operation. I just remember trying to pull bits out of the “patient” without touching the edges. But, there are rules to it, and they go like this: Specialist cards are handed out to everyone at the beginning of the game. Then players take turns drawing doctor cards, which ask the players to remove a certain piece from the patient. If they fail, then whichever player has the corresponding Specialist card for the piece in question gets to have a go at it. If they succeed, they get double the money that the original player would have. The winner is the player with the most money at the end.

• The game was invented in 1965 by John Spinello and snatched up by Milton Bradley the same year.
• The “patient” is named Cavity Sam.
• The ailments are: Adam’s Apple, Broken Heart, Wrenched Ankle, Butterflies in the Stomach, Spare Ribs, Water on the Knee, Funny Bone, Charley Horse, Writer’s Cramp, The Ankle Bone’s Connected to the Knee Bone (which is a rubber band, not a plastic piece like the others), Wish Bone and Bread Basket. At 1,000 points, the Bread Basket is worth the most.
• Fans voted to have a new piece added to the game in 2003 – the winner was Brain Freeze, an ice cream cone-shaped piece in the brain. Other contenders were Tennis Elbow and Growling Stomach.
• Other versions include Shrek, Spider-Man, SpongeBob SquarePants and the Simpsons.
• In 2007, a version was released with three different skill levels – and you’re timed. Also, Cavity Sam has a heart monitor and you can give him oxygen to buy more time.

Guess Who

This one is a little more recent (1987, to be exact) but used to be one of my favorites. Flipping down the tiles was just so satisfying.

• Guess Where? Is similar to Guess Who? On a house gameboard, eight family members are pets are randomly placed. Your opponent asks yes or no questions to determine who is where.
• If you’re like me, you always wanted to make your own version of Guess Who? Well, this girl did:

Her version includes Gene Simmons, Marilyn Manson, Tom Petty, Sid Vicious, Annie Lennox, Janis Joplin, the lead singer from Flock of Seagulls, Avril Lavigne, Paris Hilton, Enrique Inglasias, Billy Idol, Slash, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Tommy Lee, Kurt Cobain, Shirley Manson, Sebastian Bach, Axel Rose, Amy Lee, Alice Cooper, Steven Tyler. and Ozzy.
• Here’s how you can make your own, if you’re Craftily-inclined.

Chutes (or Snakes) and Ladders

The version of this game most of us are probably thinking about is the Milton Bradley version that has been around since at least 1952. But the game itself is ancient. See for yourself:

• The game was played in ancient India and was known then as Moksha Patamu. It’s believed that the game has existed (in some version or another) since 2 B.C. Ladders represented good qualities like faith, humility, generosity, honesty. Snakes/chutes represented the flip side – lust, anger, theft, murder. The ideal was to reach salvation – Moksha – by doing good deeds, and bad deeds will send you backwards in life (Patamu). There were less ladders than snakes to remind everyone that being good is much harder than sinning.
• By 1892, it made its way to Victorian England, where the good qualities and bad qualities changed to suit the times. Good = thrift and industry, Bad = indulgence and disobedience.
• By the time the game reached the U.S., the morality was still there but was toned down a bit. The snakes were changed to chutes and the board was given a playground theme. At the top of chutes, there were pictures of children doing something bad or foolish. The chutes could lead all the way to the bottom of the game, where it shows children being punished. The bottom of the ladders show a kid doing some sort of a good deed and the top of the game showed children enjoying a reward. Honestly, I don’t know that I ever made the connection – anyone else? Or was I a particularly unobservant child?
• Some Canadian versions of the game use toboggan runs instead of chutes.

Mouse Trap

I didn’t realize this, but Mouse Trap has been around since 1963. I loved this game when I had the patience to set up all of the pieces… which wasn’t that often.

• Here are all of the contraptions: The player turns the crank which rotates the gears, causing the lever to move and push the stop sign against the shoe, which tips the bucket holding the metal ball, which rolls downstairs and into the pipe, which leads it to hit the rod held by the hands, causing the bowling ball to fall from the top of the rod, roll down the groove, fall into and then out of the bottom of the bathtub, landing on the diving board. The weight of the bowling ball sends the diver through the air and into the bucket, making the cage fall from the post to trap the player who is on the spot under the cage. Whew.
• The game was inspired by Rube Goldberg, who was famous for creating insanely complicated machines to perform an insanely menial task. Examples of Rube Goldberg machines include lots of Wallace’s inventions in the Wallace and Gromit series, lots of contraptions in The Goonies and the device Ferris Bueller rigs up to fake his mom out when she comes home in the middle of the day to check on her ailing son. Oh, and Doc Brown makes use of multiple Rube Goldberg machines in at least a couple of the Back to the Futures.

The Library of Congress had just acquired the original 1962 drawings from Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s "Amazing Fantasy #15" – complete with Ditko’s pencil erasures and white-out opaquing fluid – in which Spider-Man made its first appearance in print!

Matt Raymond of the Library of Congress Blog wrote:

People who are more familiar with Amazing Fantasy #15 than I are probably not surprised by this fact, but I got a good chuckle from the disclaimer that appeared at the top of the first page (pictured at left). It almost seems to be begging skeptical readers to give Spider-Man a chance, completely unaware of the phenomenon that was about to be unleashed on the world.

The excessively exclamatory paragraph reads: “Like costume heroes? Confidentially, we in the comic mag business refer to them as ‘long underwear characters’! And, as you know, they’re a dime a dozen! But, we think you may find our SPIDER-MAN just a bit … different!”

The good folks at the LOC promises to digitize the collection forthwith! Link – Thanks Matt!

Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight in Los Angeles is currently exhibiting Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee. There are over 90 artworks, including this fantastic Spider-Man stained glass piece by Chris Roth featured above.

Link | Gallery (TONS of pics) – Thanks Jon Jason!

Five-year-old Riquelme Wesley dos Santos of Palmeira, Brazil was dressed in his Spiderman costume last Thursday when a house fire broke out. Riquelme entered the burning house, grabbed one year old Andriele from her crib, and took her to safety. Riquelme is now a national celebrity! The story does not say whether the two children are related. Link -via Fark

Hilarity ensues when Dave Letterman tries to find out (or tried to find out a few months ago).

Here’s related links, and here’s more neat Spider-Man stuff.

Read the entire article here…

The animated Spider-Man phone “shoots web”, talks and plays the Spider-Man theme song on incoming calls.

Link (with video demonstration)

Wanna work out like Spider-Man? In 1976, Marvel published this exercise book called "The Mighty Marvel Strength and Fitness Book," featuring superheroes doing sit-ups and so on: Link – Thanks John!

Link [YouTube] – via Videofeber

Check out this awesome Spider-man 3 / Venom case mod gallery at techPowerUp! Props, Jason!

Link – Thanks Jason Dumbaugh! | See also Neatorama’s Ultimate Case Mod List

Here’s something that I wish I had while studying for the SATs: Justin Heimberg’s Yo Momma vocabulary builder book, which uses the one-liner joke to teach new words!

Yo momma’s so emaciated, she can hula hoop in a fruit loop.

Yo momma’s so obtuse, she thinks a webcast is when Spider-Man goes fishing.

Here’s an interview with Justin at ABC News: Link

And yes, that’s Justin with his mom (who happens to love the book, btw).

Jeff Simmermon of And I Am Not Lying, For Real blog has a neat article on the 10 strangest spider-man incarnations. This one above is the Spider-Man Ganesha [wiki], which I suppose, is big in India.

Link – Thanks Jeff!

Spider-Man superfans rejoice, Marvel Studios has confirmed that a musical based on the Spider-Man comic book figure is currently in production. There’s no official open date yet, but casting starts this summer.

I’m actually pretty excited to see the musical, particularly since U2’s Bono and The Edge are writing the music and song lyrics. Link via Miss Cellania

Every year since 1929, the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences [wiki], an organization of actors and film professionals, has been giving the Academy Awards [wiki] or popularly known as the Oscars to acknowledge the year’s best movies.

Tonight, when you watch the 79th Academy Awards tonight, remember these fun facts about the Oscars:

The Statuette

The famous golden statuette, formally named the Academy Award of Merit, got its more popular moniker "Oscar" when Academy librarian Margaret Herrick said that it resembled her Uncle Oscar. Before this name stuck, other people had tried to call it "the golden trophy," "the statue of merit," and "the iron man."

Actually, there’s another story about how the statuette got its name. When Bette Davis got her first Academy Award in 1936, she remarked how the statuette looked just like her ex-husband, Harmon "Oscar" Nelson, especially its butt!

The Oscar statuette isn’t made of gold – it’s made from an alloy called Britannia [wiki], which is 93% tin, 5% antimony, and 2% copper. It is only plated with gold.

To conserve metal during World War II, the Oscars were made of plaster. The winners could then exchange them for the shiny statuettes after the war was over.

Until the 1950s, child actors who won the Oscars were given miniature statuettes instead.

When ventriloquist Edgar Bergen [wiki] and his dummy Charlie McCarthy got an honorary Oscar in 1938, he was given a wooden Oscar statuette with a movable mouth.

In 1939, Walt Disney got an honorary Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – he got one regular full-sized and seven miniature statuettes. Disney also held the record for most Oscar nominations (48), won (22) and honorary given (4).

Saying no to the Oscar

To date (before tonight), 2,622 Oscars were presented to winners. So far, only 3 people have refused the Oscars. George C. Scott who won in 1971 for his portrayal of General Patton, said that the politics surrounding the award was "demeaning" and that the Oscar ceremony was "a two-hour meat parade."

Marlon Brando [wiki], who won in 1972 for his role in The Godfather, also refused his Oscar based on the poor depiction of Native Americans by Hollywood.

The first man to refuse the Oscar, however, was not an actor. In 1935, a writer named Dudley Nichols [wiki] refused it (for The Informer) because at the time, Writers Guild was on strike against the movie studios.

The Winners Agreement

If you won an Oscar, the Academy wouldn’t just give it to you – you’d have to sign a winners agreement not to sell the award without first offering to sell it back to the Academy for $1. This makes sure that no award would be sold to private collectors. If you refused, then the Academy would keep the statuette (even after you won the award!)

This, however, doesn’t mean that people don’t try to sell their Oscars for lots of money. Director Steven Spielberg bought two Oscars (well, technically they were given before the winner’s agreement came into being) – a Bette Davis’ 1938 Best Actress Award for Jezebel and Clark Gable’s 1934 Best Actor Award for It Happened One Night – and gave them back to the Academy.

Need A Replacement Oscar?

The Academy has reissued Oscars for extenuating circumstances. Gene Kelly was reissued one after his original Oscar was burnt down in a fire. Jack Lemmon got a new one after his old one rusted.

Hattie McDaniel [wiki] was the first African-American to receive an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress playing the maid Mammy in Gone with the Winds (1939). When she died, McDaniel willed her Oscar to Howard University, a predominantly black school. Problem was, the Oscar had gone missing during racial unrest on campus in the 1960s. So far, the Academy has refused to reissue the Oscar to the University.

In 2000, 55 Oscar statuettes were stolen en route to the Award show. Fifty two were recovered next to a trash bin and one was found years later in a drug bust but two are still missing. Willie Fulgear, the guy who found and turned in the Oscars, was given $50,000 and two tickets to the show. Ironically, burglars broke into his flat afterwards and stole most of his prize money.

Several Oscar winners had their statuettes stolen: Whoopi Goldberg, William Hurt, and Orson Welles. Margaret O’Brien got her stolen statue back after it went missing for 20 years.

Oscar Stunt

In 1974, Robert Opel [wiki] got backstage by posing as a journalist. When host David Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor, Opel ran naked across the stage flashing a peace sign. Niven, ever the quick wit, remarked "Isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?"

Oscar Winners

Playwright George Bernard Shaw was the only Nobel Laureate (1924 for Literature) who also won an Oscar (1938 for Pygmalion).

The youngest Oscar winner was Shirley Temple when she was only 6 years old (1934 Special Award). Tatum O’Neal was the youngest winner of a competitive Oscar when she won Best Supporting Actress in Paper Moon in 1974. She was 10 years old. The oldest winner of a competitive Oscar was Jessica Tandy, who was 80 years old when she won Best Actress in 1989 for Driving Miss Daisy.

The shortest Oscar-winning performances belong to Anthony Quinn [wiki], who won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Paul Gauguin in Lust for Life (1956), and Judi Dench, who won Best Supporting Actress for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1999). They were actually on screen for only 8 minutes each.

Maggie Smith [wiki] is the only actress to ever win an Oscar (for 1978 Best Supporting Actress in California Suite) by playing an Oscar-losing actress!

Midnight Cowboy [wiki] was the only X-rated movie (for graphic sex scene) to ever win the Academy Award for Best Pictures.

After Marisa Tomei [wiki] won Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for her role in the comedy My Cousin Vinny, there was a rumor that presenter Jack Palance had called out the wrong name, and that the error was too embarrassing to correct. This was because Tomei beat out "heavyweights" like Vanessa Redgrave, Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson and Judy Davis. Later, it was revealed that the votes were so split between the more renowned actress that Tomei was able to sneak through, a phenomenon the experts now call "the Marisa Tomei Factor."

Oscar Losers

It’s important to keep your cool when you don’t win – When Samuel L. Jackson didn’t win Best Supporting Actor for Pulp Fiction in 1995, he was caught on camera muttering the "S" word. We were disappointed that Samel L. Jackson didn’t use his signature "M" curse word instead.

Martin Scorsese [wiki] has been nominated 6 times for Best Director without winning a single Oscar. He’s actually in good company: other great directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, Stanley Kubric, and Orson Welles never got competitive Oscars (they won honorary ones). Maybe tonight’s the night for Scorsese (The Departed is a favorite to win). [Update 2/25/07: Scorsese won.]

Last but not least, sound technician Kevin O’Connell has earned 19 Oscar nominations over the years for his work on movies like The Rock, Pearl Harbor, and Spider-Man, but has never won, thus making him the biggest Oscar loser. This year, he’s up for his work on Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, but said "I’m not really anticipating a win this year." Ironically, by not winning, O’Connell had become somewhat of a celebrity! We’re rootin’ for you Kevin! [Update 2/25/07: Kevin didn't win. Again. Better luck next year! If Susan Lucci can pull it off, you can too Kevin!]

AP/Xinhua, Fang Xi

What does Spider-Man do between making blockbuster movies? Why, he does stunts of course …

a stuntman acting as Spiderman leaps from a hurtling vehicle to another during a stunt show held at the Xinhualu Stadium in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province. The Filmka stunt group from Hollywood gave a dazzling show of car and autobike stunts to the audience in Wuhan.

Found at WFTV Slideshow (you have to hunt around for this one, but the whole thing is great!)