The History of the Chipmunks

In some cases, no one will get behind a wacky idea until there’s nothing left to lose. Such is the case with Ross Bagdasarian Sr. who recorded a novelty song called “The Witch Doctor”. As his record company was close to bankruptcy, three executives went along with recording a chorus of three sped-up voices he called The Chipmunks.
Production commenced and in just a few months leading up to Christmas of 1958, the record shot to the top of the charts, becoming one of the best selling singles of all time. Bagdasarian won two Grammy Awards, Liberty Records was saved from bankruptcy, and the Chipmunks became a household name with children all over the world.
And that’s just the beginning of the story of Simon, Theodore, and Alvin. Link -via Boing Boing
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Simon's Cat in "Hot Spot"
A brand new animated short by Simon Tofield.
More videos of Simon’s Cat featured here on Neatorama: Fly Guy, TV Dinner, Let Me In!, and Wake Up!
The Spongebob Squarepants Quiz

We all love Spongebob Squarepants! Even when he is (or maybe because he is) ridiculously annoying. Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test your knowledge of Bikini Bottom trivia. I only scored 50%, but my kids aced it. Link
Comic Origins of Phrases
The following is an article
from Uncle
John's Triumphant 20th Who says that comic books don't contribute much to literature? Here's a few choice phrases, which origin can be traced back to comic strips: Security Blanket
Charles Schulz first used the concept in June 1, 1954, Peanuts comic strip by giving Linus a blanket to carry everywhere he went. Linus called it his "security blanket." The term is now used by psychologists to define a child's (or anyone's) excessive attachment to a particular object. (Photo: Time Magazine 1965 cover) "We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us"
After winning the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812, Commodore Oliver Perry wrote in a dispatch to General William Henry Harrison, "We have met the enemy, and he is ours." Walt Kelly, author of the comic strip Pogo, reworded the phrase as "We have met the enemy and he is us," in the foreword to his 1953 Pogo collection The Pogo Papers. The meaning: Mankind's greatest threat is ... mankind. The quote became better known when Kelly used it on a poster he was hired to illustrate for the first Earth Day in 1970. The Heebie-Jeebies
Other phrases coined by DeBeck: "horsefeathers," "hotsie-totsie," and "googly-eyed" (after Barney Google, who had huge, bulbous eyes). The strip also gave us the nickname "Sparky," from the name of Barney's horse, Sparkplug. (Many young comic-strip fans were given the name "Sparky," among them, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz.) Palooka
It came from the main character of the 1920s strip Joe Palooka. Joe Palooka was a boxer - likeable but dumb, a trait that probably came from repeated blows to his head in the ring. Soon after the strip's debut, any big, dumb guy might be called a palooka. Milquetoast
Thanks to the comic strip, by the 1930s the word "milquetoast" had become common slang to describe anybody who, like Milquetoast, was weak and timid. Sadie Hawkins Day
It's from Al Capp's L'il Abner. One day a year in the comic strip's rural setting of Dogpatch, single women would chase the single men around. If they caught one, they got to keep - er, marry him. The day got its name from Sadie Hawkins, the first woman in Dogpatch who caught a husband that way. High schools in the United States still hold "Sadie Hawkins Dances," to which the girls invite the boys. Foo Fighter
In Bill Holman's 1930s strip Smokey Stover, the title character rode around in a bizarre-looking two-wheeled fire engine (with a fire hydrant attached to it) that Smokey called a "foo fighter." The term was used by World War II pilots for any unidentified aircraft (including UFOs). The phrase became popular again in the 1990s when it was used as the name of the rock band Foo Fighters. |
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The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Triumphant 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader. Proving that some things do get better with age, the latest Bathroom Reader is jam-packed with 600 pages of fascinating trivia, forgotten history, strange lawsuits and other neat articles. 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! |
The New Simpsons Intro
After almost 19 years of the classic Simpsons introduction scene today the brand new HDTV intro with brand new drawings and animation is being heralded across the interwebs. Being a life long fan of The Simpsons TV show this really is quite a breath of fresh air to the tired yet famous intro scene. So far since this post there have been up 521,439 views alone on YouTube since February 13th.
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How To Crochet Master Shake
My crocheting skills are pretty minimal (as are my knitting skills, and pretty much all of my crafting skills), but I’m tempted to give Master Shake (he’s from Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force) a shot anyway. I think he would look smashing sitting on my desk at work. Great, now I’m going to have the ATHF song stuck in my head for the rest of the day.
Japanese cat Tetris iPhone game
I can’t decide whether or not this iPhone game is wonderful or terribly annoying. I *still* love Tetris and I love seeing games that build upon the original Tetris idea. I love to see the iPhone’s accelerometer being used in new applications. At the same time, however, having to listen to somebody else playing the game with its cacophony of cat-noises in a confined space seems like it might be tortuous. Has anyone played this? Any iPhone owners plan on buying the game now that you’ve seen the video? [YouTube]
The Voice Of Fred Flintstone
You might not recognise the face but I’ll bet that if this video omitted the title “Alan Reed the voice of Fred Flintstone” you would have guessed the voice in a second.
Trivia: Reed died shortly before his 70th birthday on June 14, 1977 and his body was donated for medical research to the Loma Linda University School of Medicine.
Link:YouTube
Voice of Bart Simpson
On Australian’s weekly television talk show Rove Live, hosted by Rove McManus, he speaks with Nancy Cartwright who is famous for the voice of Bart Simpson. In the interview, she also impersonates does other charactors such as Nelson Muntz, Rod & Todd Flanders and others.
Link: YouTube

Pioneering
child psychologist Richard Passman is given credit for identifying the
phenomenon of children habitually clutching or carrying a favorite toy
for comfort and security. 
Billy
DeBeck coined the term in his hugely popular 1920s comic strip, 
"Milk
toast" was a simple dish (toast served in milk) frequently served
at soup kitchens in the 1920s. Harold Webster named the main character
in his late 1920s strip, The Timid Soul, Caspar Milquetoast.















