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Before television entered our homes, entertainment wasn’t an everyday thing -in fact, it was hard to come by. And people would go to see anything that was out of the ordinary for a little respite from the daily grind. Mental_floss dug up some rather obscure events that drew crowds desperate for amusement, like the Dionne Quintuplets. The five girls born in 1934 were put on display by the Canadian government in a special facility in which they could be observed through glass. Three million people filed through to see them over a ten-year period! Read the rest at mental_floss. Link
Sure Schindler was great guy who saved thousands of lives, but that doesn’t mean he had it easy after the war ended. Partially because of his affiliation with the Nazis, he was persecuted throughout the rest of his life and essentially survived only due to the good will of those he saved.
And that’s not the only movie based on a true story that didn’t bother to tell you the depressing things that happened after the credits rolled. Read the rest over at Cracked.
Up until now, if you wanted to actually have paper from Dunder Mifflin, the company made famous from NBC’s The Office, you would have to print out your own box labels and affix them to another brand of paper. Fortunately for those obsessive people who demand everything to be branded with a name they’ve seen on television, NBC has struck up a deal with Quill.com, a subsidiary of Staples, to sell official Dunder Mifflin paper.
No word yet on how it competes with the big office chains, but I hear their customer service is simply unbeatable.
Link Via The Consumerist
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Sure Fraggle Rock, The Smurfs and most other kid’s shows are a little strange, but these are nothing compared to the Teletubbies. If you really want to know just how bizarre children’s programming can get though, just take a look at these strange shows that make the Teletubbies look like a study in logical thought.
If you love American television programming, but wish you could use it to teach your children the perils of the evil Western fascist dogs, then Tomorrow’s Pioneers might just be your new favorite kids show. The show features a female host and a few costumed characters, including a knock-off Mickey Mouse character, entertaining children with ideas of antisemitism, anti-Americanism and Islamic extremism. As if that weren’t enough, many of the costumed characters are martyred, most notably, the Mickey Mouse character is killed by an Israeli interrogator, providing youngsters with a deep, long-standing hatred for Palestine’s sworn enemies. Nothing like getting your propaganda into your kid’s minds before they’re too old to think for themselves.
If you thought the Teletubbies were strange, just wait until you get a load of this show that their creator released after it. According to their website, the Boohbahs are “five magical atoms of power” who live in a Boohball, which is a glowing white ball that can travel from country to country whenever a child calls it. The Boohball features a spinning recharging pod where the Boohbahs can recharge their energy through the laughter of children they play with. Since this show was made for kids between the ages of three and five, I’m going to go ahead and say this show is actually just supposed to entertain kids with bright colors and weird effects –just like the Teletubbies, since all of that background story is way beyond the scope of any kids in their demographic.
more …
Dan Meth, the same artist who told us what prescriptions our favorite Pooh characters needed, has recently put together this graph of the relative intelligence of all the characters on Cheers. I personally agree with his assessment, what do you guys think?
Link Via Laughing Squid
If you aren’t familiar with the show, none of this really matters -but if that’s the case, you should go rent the DVDs from Netflix and then return here promptly after viewing.
Via Geekosystem
While those of you with kids might have gone to see the Smurfs movie, I’m assuming the rest of you haven’t. From what I’ve heard, you aren’t missing much if you haven’t seen it, but I can’t talk from first-hand experience because I haven’t gone either. Regardless of what you think of the new movie, it’s always nice to look back at the things that made The Smurfs so great in the first place.
Image via It’s Meng! [Flickr]
You may have wondered where the heck the word “smurf” came from and why the characters use it so often in the show, but as it turns out, the original characters weren’t “smurfs,” they were “schtroumpfs.” The whole thing started when the creator of the comics, Peyo, was at lunch with a fellow Belgian comic artist named André Franquin. If you’ve ever had a moment where you forgot the name of something, then you’ll understand Peyo’s frustration when he couldn’t remember the word “salt.” Being a goofy guy, he instead pointed at the salt and asked his friend to pass the schtroumpf. Franquin responded, “Here’s the schtroumpf — when you are done schtroumpfing, schtroumpf it back.” The rest of the meal, the two joked around using the word “schtroumpf” periodically throughout their conversation.
Now you know why the characters use their name so much in conversation, but suddenly, the question of how the comics became The Smurfs instead of The Schtroumpfs. Well, as I said, this all happened in Belgium, where the native language is French. The first language the comic was translated to was Dutch and while the name could have stayed the same (do you really need to translate an imaginary word?), Schtroumpfs didn’t quite sound right to Dutch speakers, so the name was instead changed to smurfen. When the comic was translated to English, the word “smurf” sounded good, so it was based on the Dutch version.
Image via Stephen and Claire Farnsworth [Flickr]
The first introduction of the Smurf characters started in Peyo’s earlier comic, Johan and Pirlouit. This strip took place in the Middle Ages and incorporated elements of sorcery and sword fights. In 1958, Peyo started a new series of the strip, which revolved around the characters searching for a magic flute. At one point in the story, the characters run into a number of schtroumpfs, small creatures with blue skin and human-like features. The smurf characters were a smashing success, so Peyo wrote them their own strip that first appeared in 1959. Although the smurfs would periodically interact with Johan and Pirlouit, the spin off was largely based on their own stories.
Technically there are two girls, Smurfette, who everyone is familiar with, and Sassette, who first appeared in the fifth season of the cartoon. According to the smurf back story though, there are actually no smurf females. Smurfette was actually created by Gargamel in part of an evil plan to cause jealousy amongst the smurfs and Sassette was created by the smurfs using the same magic formula they stole from Gargamel. Sassette was intended to provide Smurfette with a female friend, but because Sassette was a pretty big tom boy, the two didn’t get along at first. If you’re wondering why Sassette is so much smaller than the adult smurfs if she’s not supposed to be a baby, it’s because all adult smurfs stand 3 crab apples tall, but they only had two crab apples worth of clay when they created her.
Strangely, after making sure the two female characters were both made from clay and magic spells, season 8 featured another female, Nanny Smurf, with no background story explaining her creation. Nanny Smurf was Grandpa Smurf’s gal, but she disappeared in a haunted house for 500 years before the smurfs rescued her. She only lasted one season and appeared in one episode in season 9 before disappearing forever again.
If you’ve been itching for more female characters in the comic, Peyo’s son who is the current writer of the French comics has promised that he will be introducing more females in upcoming years.
Image via Scottobear [Flickr]
Most people seem to think that smurf berries aren’t real, but as it turns out, they are really supposed to be the berries from the sarsaparilla tree. Interestingly, in the comics, the smurfs don’t eat smurf berries, but instead gorge on the leaves of the plant.
If you’ve ever watched the cartoon and thought that Papa Smurf or Gargamel’s voices sounded familiar, you’re right, you probably have heard them somewhere else. Papa Smurf was voiced by legendary cartoon voice actor Don Messick who also did the voices of Boo Boob Bear, Ranger Smith, Astro, Muttley, Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo and Droopy. As for Gargamel, his voice was performed by Paul Winchell, a professional ventriloquist who became a voice actor later in life. Some of Winchell’s more famous roles included Dick Dastardly (that’s right, he and Mesick worked together before) and everyone’s favorite spring-tailed predator, Tigger.
Image via DNNYA17 [Flickr]
Do you guys dig The Smurfs? What about the movie, if you’ve seen it, what did you think?
Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, Smurfs Wiki #1, #2, #3
These characters aren’t going to be kicking anyone’s butt in battle, unless they find a way to use their cuteness as a weapon. Illustrator Ivan Camelo has taken our favorite musclebound DC heroes and turned them into diminutive, bubbly and shiny little cuties that look like they belong an alternate DC/Sanrio Universe alongside Hello Kitty and Keroppi. It’s good to see that even though Batman and Superman have lost their muscles, their incredibly square chins weren’t lost in translation. You can see more at ComicsAlliance, but beware: drawings this sweet may rot your teeth.
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This Tron Light Cycle scooter just might be the ultimate kid’s toy for those aspiring to raise their children with proper reverence for all things geek. I don’t know about you guys, but I wish I had one when I was a youngster. Unfortunately, it’s only a concept at this point, but let’s hope it moves in to production soon.
Link Via Geeks Are Sexy
(Edit by Alex 8/25/11) See also: PlasmaBike over at the NeatoShop
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Not all cosplay takes place on the floor of some comic convention somewhere, and adding a setting or proper lighting really makes these characters pop. Take a look at this gallery from ComicsAlliance and see just what every cosplayer wishes they could look like. If only I could get people to clear the floor around the characters when i’m shooting pics at Comic Con!
While this little guy might not be in a mask like the others, I love this little guy’s fashion statement. Be sure to check out the rest of the cuties at the link.
Fernando Reza created these wonderfully designed business cards for fictional companies from television and movie plots.You can buy a print of the work for $25 on his site.
How many can you name?
Link via Laughing Squid
Literally one day after I wrote a post about the Haunted Mansion, Disney announced at Comic Con that they are going to make a second movie based on the famed ride. I know I’m not the only one who remembers that they already tried this and didn’t do very well with it. Maybe Guillermo Del Toro will do better though.
Image via Zeon Santos.
The following is an article from Uncle John’s Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader.
Just when you think you’ve heard it all… someone comes up with something like this. It’s from a little book called It’s A Gas, by Eugene Silverman, MD, and Eric Rabkni, PhD. It’s required reading for BRI history buffs.
In all fairness to the farters of the world, the greatest of them all was not by his passing of gas also passing a judgment. His completely conscious control of his abilities was confirmed by numerous chemical examinations, including two in published form. This man, a hero at bottom, was a gentle and loving father, a noble and steadfast friend, a successful and generous businessman, and a great stage entertainer. This unique individual, a phenomenon among phenomena, this explosive personality and credit to our subject, was christened Joseph Pujol, but invented for himself the name by which all history knows him: Le Petomane!
THE ART OF THE FART
Le Petomane could fart as often and as frequently as he wished. His farts were odorless. As other people use their mouths, Le Petomane had learned to use his anus. Furthermore, by constricting or loosening his anus he could vary the pitch of the air he expelled and by controlling the force of abdominal contractions he could control its loudness. With these two fundamental tools, simple enough but rarely seen, Le Petomane contrived not only to imitate a variety of farts, but also to make music.
He headlined at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, the most famous nightclub in the world at that time, and brought in box office receipts more than twice as high as those of the angelic Sarah Bernhardt. He was one of the greatest comedians of the turn of the century The manager of the Moulin Rouge kept nurses in the theater to tend to female customers whose uncontrolled laughter in tight corsets often caused them to pass out as Le Petomane passed gas. Here was not a court fool at all, but the toast of civilized society.
DISCOVERING HIS GIFT
As a boy, Joseph had had a frightening experience in the sea. Holding his breath and ducking under water, he suddenly felt a rush of cold water enter his bowels. He went to find his mother but was embarrassed to see water running out of himself. Although he recounted this in later years, apparently as a child he tried to keep his terrifying experience a secret.
Early in his married life he was called to military service and in the all-male atmosphere of the barracks he recounted for the first time his strange experience in the sea. When asked for a demonstration, he agreed to try again. On their next furlough, he and his unit went to the sea. He did succeed in taking water in and then letting it out. This might have been viewed as mere freakishness, but combined with Joseph’s gentleness and good humor, it struck the soldiers as a delightful feat.
Pujol, using a basin, practiced this art in private with water and, once able to control the intake and outflow by combined exertions of his anal and abdominal muscles, he soon began to practice with air as well. This, of course, was only for his own amusement and the occasional amusement of his fellow soldiers.
Making a lot of money doesn’t mean it will last. I guess some people just can’t handle the big bucks when they are famous. Boxer Mike Tyson is one of the many.
Tyson had earned over $300 million during his career as a boxer but jewelry, mansions, cars, limousines, cellphones, parties, clothing, motorcycles and Siberian tigers eventually caught up to him. In 2003 he had to file for bankruptcy, thanks to a colourful variety of debts including $13.4 million to the IRS and a $9 million divorce settlement to his ex-wife, Monica Turner. From 1995 to 1997, he spent $9 million in legal fees, $230,000 on pagers and cellphones, and $410,000 on a birthday party. In June 2002, he owed $8,100 to care for his tigers and $65,000 for limos.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by Nightcrawlerx.
A bridge can be a way of getting from one place to another. A bridge can also be a work of art, a sight for sore eyes, and a way to enhance the beauty of its surroundings. These bridges are all of these things! Shown is the Tower Bridge over the River Thames in London.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
You can probably guess the number one, and maybe number two daredevils of the past and present, but have you heard about the 63-year-old woman who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel?
63-year-old Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to successfully go over Niagara Falls in 1901, when she took the plunge inside a wooden barrel. A schoolteacher by trade, Taylor had found herself in financial trouble, and conceived the stunt in the hope that it would gain her fame and fortune. She had a specially designed barrel filled with padding, and after testing it with an ordinary house cat, went over the Horseshoe Falls section of Niagara herself on October 24, 1901. Amazingly, she survived the 173-foot plunge with little more than a small gash on her head.
You can see videos of some of the more recent daredevils in this list. Link
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Remember those old dinosaurs you use to ride many years ago at the local amusement parks? Well, some of these have gotten a facelift, and some remain some of the most famous, original thrill rides of our time.
The Diamondback is the new hyper-coaster at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, my old stopping ground. The coaster measures 5280 feet long, stands 230 feet in the air, has a 215 foot drop, has 10 complete drops, 2 helix measuring 323 and 287 degrees, and reaches speeds of 80 mph. The Diamondback “is similar to the Behemoth at Canada’s Wonderland in dimensions and statistics, and like Behemoth has staggered seating.”
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by lannaxe96.
I’ve seen one man bands before but this guy brings it to another level. Enjoy!
Link: Youtube
