HOME |
RSS | 
You might know all about the show, but what do you know of the men who played the Doctor? If you want to increase your knowledge of the subject, then don’t miss this great Mental Floss article filled with fascinating trivia on the actors and the show. Personally, I didn’t know the story of how Tom Baker’s scarf was born:
The Fourth Doctor is particularly famous for his ridiculously long scarf, which resulted from a miscommunication between costume designer James Acheson and the knitter hired to produce it; Acheson never specified a length, and bought far too much yarn, so the knitter just kept going until it was all used up.
I haven’t yet checked out Settlers of Catan, but it seems like a blast and those that play it certainly enjoy it. That being said, I can’t help but feel like maybe I’ll continue to wait to play the game until March, when the Star Trek version of the game is going to be released. After all, two great things can only be better when combined right? On the downside, it’s only going to be released in Germany.
Catan players, are you interested in trying out the new version?
Link Via Geekosystem
Let’s face it, most holidays already marked on your calendar are pretty boring -Valentine’s Day, Easter, Father’s Day…yawn. If you really want to geek up your wall calendar and ensure you celebrate holidays more appropriate to your specific interests, don’t miss io9′s round up of great science holiday including Pi approximation day (July 22) and Hagfish Day (October 17). Of course, since they’re all science related, certain other geek holidays are left out -after all, you can’t miss out on Towel Day.
Sometimes you just want to cuddle with Skeletor, Slimer or Admiral Akbar, of course, the problem is that the companies who officially license the merchandise for these characters don’t really believe there’s enough of a market for plush versions. That’s why those seeking such frivolities will need to head over over to the HandmadeStuffs shop over at Etsy. Have fun.
Comments Off
Back in August, I showed you guys the Angry Birds bra, but for those gals who prefer old school games to those available through smart phones, you might prefer this fun Pac Man bra instead.
Link Via Geeks Are Sexy
Comments Off 
The Addis family loves Legos…a lot. As in, this 100,000 brick Santa Dalek isn’t their only massive Christmas creation. Every year they make an equally impressive creation ranging from giant nutcrackers to mail boxes to angels. This year’s Dalek is certainly my personal favorite, but the rest are definitely worth a look.
Comments Off 
I would love having one of these in my house except that I couldn’t help but feel like I was counting down the days to my own EXTERMINATion rather than Christmas.
Comments Off 
We don’t tend to think of Santa as being much of a risk taker, but really, it’s pretty brave to trust flying reindeer to tow you through the sky before you jump down a chimney. So really this Huffington Post slide show featuring Santa bungee jumping, swimming with sharks and doing other outrageous activities really shouldn’t be that shocking.
The Nicest Place On the Internet is a place where you can cheer up after a hard day. After all, it’s hard not to feel good when random strangers keep giving you a virtual hug.
It’s been a while since we’ve posted a good Flash game, but Chuck the Sheep is certainly worth a play. You launch the sheep and move him up and down to land on the balloons. Don’t miss a chance to fly with Chuck.
Comments Off 
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m excited as heck for the release of the new Muppet Movie and these cake pops seem like a perfect way to get in the spirit for the new film. If you want to make your own, Bakerella has the instructions.
Link via Laughing Squid
Comments Off 
If you’re still hunting for a few fun last minute crafting ideas to spice up your Halloween decor, WebEcoist has a great collection of fun crafts that are all eco-friendly as well. Enjoy.
Comments Off 
Sometimes it’s nice to be able to say a lot in only a few geeky words. If you need a little help getting your message across, try one of these designs by Illustrator Nicole Martinez, as seen over on Mental Floss.
Link Via Mental Floss
Ordinarily, world record attempts at group activities seem boring to me, but the world’s largest lightsaber fight, now that sounds pretty darn fun! The most recent attempt to break the record took place at Washington Square Park, New York City last Saturday. While the record hasn’t been confirmed yet, there were at least 1000 people in attendance, so it sounds like the battle has a good chance of making it into the record books.
Link Via The Mary Sue Image Via Ennuipoet [Flickr]
Comments Off 
We’ve seen tons of fun Monopoly boards before, but this Princess Bride one is certainly delightful. Be sure to “do as she wishes” and collect $200.
Link Via Flavorwire
If you love paper dolls, but want a few more contemporary, geeky options, Flavorwire has you covered with a great selection of weird and wonderful paper dolls including Betty White and David Bowie. Print them out, cut them up and then stage your own delightfully odd plays.
Comments Off 
I don’t know about you guys, but just seeing this picture makes me want to visit Singapore’s Changi Airport where fliers can take the easy way to the bottom of the terminal with these delightful slides. If you’re a slide enthusiast or just curious what other weird places could install slides, don’t miss this great Oddee article.
Wired recently released this great chart of the most popular flavors of Girl Scout cookies and while it’s interesting and looks great, more than anything else, it just makes me want some Samoas. Is your favorite in the top 5 or in the “other varieties” section?
Link Via Laughing Squid
BuzzFeed often has a lot of fan art creations, but this round up is even better in that they are all paintings of video games. This Sonic painting by DeviantArt user Orioto is simply amazing, as are the rest of his works in his gallery.
I know school’s about to start (if it hasn’t already), but just in case you want to provide them with a few last educational activities at home, this geode egg project is a good way to get them interested in the science of crystallization.
Even zombies need some carefree down time! A short film by Travis Betz. -via The Daily What
If you’ve been to Disneyland in the last twenty years, then you’re almost certainly familiar with Splash Mountain. Even if you refuse to ride the massive log ride, you probably at least rode the train through the tunnel that shows the happy ending of the ride. But did you know the ride is based on a movie that has never been released on home video because it’s considered too offensive? Or that the reason there are so many familiar faces inside is because the imagineers salvaged the characters for another attraction? There’s plenty more fun trivia like this inside this edition of our Neatorama Facts series.
Image Via OpenThreads [Flickr]
The Zip-a-Dee River Run was originally conceived of as a way to start attracting more people over to the often empty Bear Country area of the park, which was renamed Critter Country after Splash Mountain was opened. Unfortunately, the project quickly ballooned over budget, becoming one of the most expensive projects the Imagineering team had worked on up until that point. To help reduce the cost as much as possible, the team decided to use previously existing animatronic animals from the recently closed America Sings attraction. Even then, the ride still ended up costing $75 million to complete.
Although CEO Michael Eisner kept pushing for the ride to be based on the film Splash, imagineers had long planned to base the ride on the live action/animation film Song of the South and they refused to be moved on that point. In honor of Eisner’s ignored contributions, they did decide to change the name of the ride from the Zip-a-Dee River Run to Splash Mountain.
Strangely, despite the fact that one of the most popular Disney rides was based on Song of the South, the company has still refused to release the title to American home video or DVD because their executives believe the content is offensive to black people. While Uncle Remus is the character believed to be the most offensive and was left out of the ride as well, his presence can be felt in the queue area; a variety of his quotes can be found throughout the barn-themed line area, all the way up to the loading area.
Images Via Express Monorail and PrincessAshley [Flickr]
more …
If your kiddos are getting tired of boring old regular playdough colors, then try adding some sparkles to the black dough and they can suddenly play with space playdough. If you want to make your own, Fairy Dust Teaching has a great recipe.
While I love geeky art, I think my favorite form of these works has always been mashups between two great sources. BuzzFeed has a great collection of such pieces, including this picture of Darth Valice in Wonderland by DeviantArt user Thumper-001.
My favorite thing about this video is how relaxed the one on the left looks, while the one on the right is so excited to be alive.
Via Laughing Squid
These days, it seems there’s a tool to alter photos into just about every character type you can imagine, but if you can’t get enough of these…or if you just love Captain Jack Sparrow, don’t miss out on Disney’s Pirate Yourself app on FaceBook. That’s mine up there.
Comments Off I don’t know about you guys, but I am super excited to catch the new Harry Potter movie! While critics of the series often complain that Rowling didn’t come up with most of the magical aspects of the story herself, they seem to be missing the point: rather than creating an alternate world where magic is real and wild beasts roam the countryside, she created a mythology that allows these fantasy elements to exist in our world, just out of sight of ordinary muggles like ourselves. To create this goal, it actually makes sense that she would use mythologies of cultures from around the world, as it allows the mythologies to work with the stories –muggles have seen dragons and unicorns in the past, but the wizarding community has hidden these things so well in the last centuries that muggles now accept them to be nothing more than stories.
To create this world within our world, Rowling had to do a lot of research into an array of mythologies and stories from all over the globe. She once explained, “children know that I didn’t invent unicorns, but I’ve had to explain frequently that I didn’t actually invent hippogriffs.” So what are some of the mythologies incorporated into her stories? Lets take a look, starting with those hippogriffs.
Image via Ben Dodson [Flickr]
Fans of the series are undoubtedly familiar with Buckbeak, the hippogriff that Harry and Hermoine saved from execution, but as Rowling pointed out, many people don’t realize that hippogriffs have been around much longer than the book series. The creatures entered the public consciousness in medieval times, where they were said to be a cross between a griffin and a horse. The cross breed creature was said to be even stronger, faster and more intelligent than either of its parents and could travel as fast as lightening. Fortunately, they were said to be much easier to tame than griffins, which is why Buckbeak was so willing to be ridden in the novels.
Hippogriffs were exceptionally rare beasts, largely because griffins considered horses to be food. In fact, the concept was considered to be so outlandish that “to mate griffins with horses” was a similar expression to “when pigs fly.” For this reason, hippogriffs were considered a symbol not only of impossibility, but of intense love.
Grindylows were one of the many dark creatures Harry had to face during his competition in the Triwizard Tournament. The nasty little creatures are known to live in the bottom of Hogwarts Lake and try to pull anyone who comes into their territory down to the bottom of the lake.
These creatures originally started being talked about in the English counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, but their myth spread throughout England and Ireland, where they were used to scare children from pools, marshes and ponds in order to prevent drowning. Stories said that if a child came too close to the edge, the grindylows would grab them and pull them down to the water’s darkest depths.
Image via Giovanni Dall’Orto [Wikipedia]
The basilisk that almost took down Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets was monstrously large, stretching almost 50 feet, and at least 50 years old. Rowling credits the creation of the basilisk to Herpo the Foul, who hatched a chicken egg under a toad.
Classic tales of basilisks vary quite a bit from those of the Harry Potter universe. While both of the creatures can kill with a single glance and are exceptionally poisonous, Rowling’s 50 foot serpent is quite a bit larger than traditional basilisks, which were no more than five feet long (although they seemed to get longer as the stories aged). Notably, the creation of a basilisk in classic stories is through a rooster hatching a toad egg, if a toad hatched a chicken egg, a cockatrice (a similar creature with wings) would be born.
more …
I don’t know about you, but the Jungle Cruise is one of my favorite Disneyland rides because the silly spiels from the skippers ensure it is different every time you ride. But what else do you know about the ride that takes you through four of the best known exotic rivers in the world? Get to know the ride behind the scenes with another edition of Disneyland related Neatorama Facts.
Walt originally envisioned the attraction as an educational adventure where boats would travel by live animals from around the world. He soon realized live animals would be too much of a challenge because they would frequently be sleeping and hiding in the back of enclosures like zoo animals tend to do. Even worse, they’d have to go poo at some point, which would look gross and could be pretty stinky given the small area of space the animals would have to live in.
So instead he opted to use animatronic animals, but he worked to have the creatures look as lifelike as possible and participating in realistic behavior, like the lions eating the zebra. Silly scenes like the rhino attacking the men on the pole and the gorillas ransacking the camp weren’t added until later.
The Imagineers based much of the ride on the movie The African Queen and the vessels used to ferry guests through the attraction are even based on the steamer seen in the film. Another inspiration for the ride was the footage used for the fifties Disney documentary series called True Life Stories.
One of the most difficult challenges of building the attraction was finding plants that looked exotic and getting them to grow. Imagineer Bill Evans chose to use both native and exotic plants in order to save money, but he ensured the local flora still looked in character by performing little landscaping tricks. For example, he grew orange trees in a way where their roots were exposed and then he grew vines on the roots, creating a very junglesque feel to the plants.
The Jungle Cruise was one of the first rides still around that were actually in operation when the park was first opened to the public. In fact, it was one of the first rides built because Walt wanted to give the foliage time to grow before the park opened, even so, it was still pretty sparse on opening day.
Because this specific ride was covered by the press so much during the construction process, it was always a popular attraction and was an E ticket ride.
The Jungle Cruise starts out with a simulation of the Irrawaddy and Mekong Rivers, taking visitors through the South East Asian forest. The boat passes a Cambodian temple adorned with crocodiles, giant spiders, king cobras and a Bengal tiger. Next they enter a sacred Indian elephant bathing pool where Indian elephants play in the fountains and spray water at the guests.
The boat then travels through the rivers of Africa, specifically the Nile and passes by two African bull elephants before approaching an African Veldt where giraffes, zebras, wildebeest all watch a group of lions munching on a zebra. A little past this area, there is an angry rhino trying to attack a group of safariers who are hiding up a tree.
Next, the boat is surrounded by angry hippos who are only chased away by a gun shot fired by the skipper. Interestingly, the gun is real; it’s a nickel plated Smith and Wesson .38 Special that has been altered so it can’t shoot live ammo. The skippers carry two types of ammo, the regular blanks used to scare the hippos and extra loud ones in case of emergency. Interestingly, the operators at the Magic Kingdom only carry inoperable prop guns these days, so I wonder what they do when there is an emergency.
Guests then pass under the backside of Schweitzer Falls, named after Doctor Albert Schweitzer, and then enter the South America and traverse the Amazon River. Drums and chanting signal that the boat is now in headhunter country. Soon enough the headhunters are wielding spears at the visitors, who are suddenly attacked by piranhas in the water. Just before the boat returns to the dock, it passes Trader Sam, the shrunken head dealer, who offers visitors a two for one special –two of his heads for one of theirs.
When the ride first opened, it was supposed to be serious, but within a few years, Walt realized that it would be greatly improved with a little humor to liven it up. So he decided to have animator Marc David write a script that incorporated some humorous gags. The funny bits started to be incorporated into the action in 1962.
These days, the skippers are always hired with their sense of comedic timing in mind. In fact, there has been a long-running comedy show in Fullerton, California since 2006 that features only Jungle Cruise skippers.
Video link
Disney believed in constantly updating rides to ensure they were always interesting for guests. While most people don’t notice the changes, the attraction has gone through quite a few stages to be at its current state. If you have visited the park in the last few decades, you may notice a few differences from the modern version and the one seen in the video.
The first change happened in 1962, when the elephant bathing pool was added. Two years later the safari camp was installed.
When the Indiana Jones Adventure was built in 1994, the Jungle Cruise queue area was redesigned and the river was slightly rerouted. The new attraction fit in well with the setting, but the throngs of tourists that could be seen from the ride itself were a little distracting. Fortunately, the skipper script was adapted to make fun of the tourists.
Another refurbishment took place in 2004, when the piranhas were added along with an explosion effect where the gorillas have taken over the camp.
Even the boats on the ride were changed, as they were originally clean and beautiful replicas of the African Queen, but the 1994 refurbishments allowed the imagineers to give the boats a grungy look so they better fit in with their surroundings and the Indiana Jones Adventure next door.
Like most classic Disneyland rides, the attraction is also featured at other Disney parks, but each has their own tiny variations. Disneyland Paris is actually the only one to not feature the ride. This is because Imagineers worried about trying to find appropriate jungle plants that could handle the cold temperature of the area and because other theme parks in France have already adapted the ride, so it would not be a unique experience to European visitors.
At the Magic Kingdom, the biggest differences are the order of the scenes and the inclusion of a downed airplane near the hippo pool. This is the back half of a Lockheed Model 12 Electrica Junior that was purchased for the Casablanca scene in the Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The other scene only required the front half of the plane, so the back half was added in the jungle setting.
Other than the plane, the Tokyo version of the ride is pretty much identical to the Magic Kingdom version, except the narration is in Japanese and the ride runs clockwise instead of counterclockwise.
The biggest changes can be seen at Hong Kong Disneyland though. At this park, the river goes around Tarzan’s Treehouse and the ending has been completely redone to include a grand finale with a battle between the gods of fire and water. This park has handled language problems by having three separate lines, one of English, one for Cantonese and one for Mandarin.
The skippers on the boat do control the speed and direction you are going, but the underwater railing prevents them from having to steer. They generally use the steering wheel prop throughout the journey, but only for fun. On the other hand, this does mean they can put you in the line of fire for the elephant sprays by adjusting their speed appropriately –as my sister learned the hard way when she was throwing a tantrum on the ride when we were kids.
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen in case of a breakdown, you can relax even if you are a bad swimmer. While the canal reaches depths of up to eight feet, it is is no more than three feet deep in most areas. The water is died brown to help prevent guests from being able to see the “river” bottom.
Do you guys like the ride? What’s your favorite terrible Jungle Cruise pun, or do you prefer to leave the jokes to professionals and avoid the ride?
Sources: Themed Attraction, Wikipedia, Disney Reporter, Jim Hill Media, Disneyland, Mouse Planet, Little Known Facts About Well-Known Places: Disneyland
Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts:
Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion
Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle
Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean
Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain
Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room
Still looking for the perfect Halloween costume that really expresses your interests? Well, if you’re looking for something nerdy, geeky or dorky, we’ve got you covered with this ultimate guide to geeky Halloween costumes.
If you thought wheelchair-bound people couldn’t have any fun on Halloween, think again. This tie fighter costume takes advantage of the chair and incorporates it into an undeniably cool Star Wars costume.
The Darth Vader with his Death Star costume might not be the most elaborate Star Wars costume, but it makes up for lack of complexity with comfort and the use of the baby bump to fill in the Death Star is just brilliant.
We’ve all seen our share of hokey, horse-riding costumes, but using expansion foam to construct an incredibly realistic looking tauntaun with Luke Skywalker on top is a whole different story.
Video link
There are tons of Transformers costumes out there and while most of them are pretty cool, few of them look so convincing when transformed into a car.
Yes, this Star Trek dog costume is geeky, and yes the dog does look cute in a sad way. But no, this costume isn’t a good idea. And no, he won’t like having cardboard and beer cans taped to his back.
Sure you could be Kingpin, Two-Face or Mystique, but none of those characters have awesome arms growing out of their back like Doctor Octopus. It’s a way cooler look to carry around your enemy on your back.
Sure he might need to change his name to Copper Man in this Jules Verne-inspired take on the classic Marvel hero, but it doesn’t make the character any less cool.
Video link
This Big Daddy costume is amazing in that it not only looks exactly like the characters in the videogame, but the left arm drill actually spins thanks to the help of a hidden electric drill inside the costume.
It takes one dedicated dad to put something like this together for his three year old, but if you have the dedication and technical proficiency, you can follow The Aging Gamer’s instructions on how to put together a Mega Man costume for your little one.
Video link
This Gameboy costume has a working monitor on it displaying Tetris, even better, the game can be controlled with the buttons on the costume.
The best thing about this weird meme costume is that the original cat in the video looked so fake and awkward, just like this woman.
I think the best thing about these two costumes is the intricate background details behind the “actors,” which really gives a 3D feeling to the video area of the page.
Most kids who dress as animals choose dog or cat costumes, but this webbegong shark costume is not only unique, but incredibly accurate as well. The little two year-old was obsessed with the sharks and his seamstress mother was more than happy to indulge in his interests.
What was your favorite costume ever? Do you know what you’ll be this year?
If you’re throwing a Halloween party this month, don’t let it be a regular old costume party. Instead, spice things up by adding some of these Halloween-themed recipes into the mix. Whether you opt to have a full dinner party or just have a few spooky beverages and snacks, these creepy cocktails and frightful foods are sure to set the perfect mood.
Every party has to have drinks and here are a few perfect brews for O Hallows’ Eve, including one virgin punch that is perfect for kid’s parties.
Perhaps the most beautiful Halloween cocktail is this Morphing Martini that changes colors from blue to fuchsia and has an impressive layer of fog over the top thanks to the addition of dry ice.
Alcoholic brain Jell-O is one of my own concoctions that involved the wonderful brain mold from the Neatorama shop. It’s delightfully sweet, looks creepy and the addition of Knox made it sturdy enough that guests were able to take slices from the brain a mess on their hands. If you replace the alcohol with water, this could also be a great kid-friendly dessert.
Swamp Juice is a fun, kid-friendly cocktail made with gummies, tapioca pearls, seltzer water, lemonade and some food coloring. Aside from the spooky look, the strange texture is sure to be a hit with kids too.
If you’re throwing a full dinner party, many of these can be repurposed as side dishes to round out your main course, but these snack-sized treats are also perfect creepy canapés.
While the potential messiness of roast tentacle au jus makes it a little intimidating for a party setting, the pure awesomeness of an alien tentacle complete with bones makes it worth buying a few party plates and forks.
