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Photo: Combo-pictures/Flickr
Hadouken not withstanding, I agree with urban artist COMBO that Muhammad Ali would totally best Street Fighter's Ryu. But I'm not so sure about E. Honda. It's not so easy to defeat a fat man in undies. Via Twisted Sifter
Artist Michael Kalish and the architects at Oyler Wu Collaborative teamed up to create ReALIze, "the greatest" sculpture of Muhammad Ali EVAR!
The piece consists of an immense, two-story steel framework, more than five miles of cable, and more than 1,300 suspended speedbags.
This feat of gravity, with the bags hovering like hundreds of upside-down balloons, is enough to enthrall those passing through the plaza, but there’s an even more powerful message. From just the right vantage point, the punching bags line up to create a giant pixelated image, a convincing portrait of the man formerly known as Cassius Clay.
Alissa Walker of GOOD magazine has the story and video clip: Link
Michael Kalish created this elaborate sculpture that, when viewed from the right angle, looks like Muhammad Ali:
[...]artist Michael Kalish went big, using 1,300 punching bags, 6.5 miles of stainless steel cable, and 2,500 pounds of aluminum pipe to construct a 22-foot-high installation that took three years to complete.
The idea for the project came to Kalish as he was falling asleep one night in 2008: an array of custom-made, teardrop-shaped speed bags suspended in midair that, from just one vantage point, align themselves like pixels into an image of Ali’s face.
It’s not actually quite done yet. Ali himself will hang the final bag at the unveiling.
Link | Photo: Wired
DC Comics published one of the strangest comic books ever, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali in 1978 and reissued it last month. NPR’s Glen Weldon interviewed journalist Chris Klimek about the matchup of the century. Here’s the setup:
No sooner does reporter Clark Kent stumble across Muhammad Ali shooting hoops in Metropolis’ “inner city ghetto” than an despotic alien named Rat’lar appears to talk intergalatic trash. Specifically, Rat’lar is Emperor of the warlike Scrubb race, and he challenges earth’s champion to fisticuffs. If said Earth champion loses, Earth will be destroyed. If said champion wins, Earth will be spared.
The question: Who will be Earth’s champion? Superman claims the right, but Ali points out — quite rightly — that Superman is a Kryptonian, not an Earthman. Rat’lar isn’t having any of this Terran shilly-shallying — he’s got minions to yell at, and that fist of his doesn’t shake itself, after all — so he orders the two men to decide the issue by duking it out in 24 hours’ time.
It gets stranger as it goes. Link -via mental_floss
| The following is an article from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader Tired of Top 10 lists? Well, here's the cure: Bottom 10 Records, from the good folks at Bathroom Reader Institute. Behold, the official BRI countdown - and they do mean down. These don't sink any lower, folks ... These records are so bad, they're good! | |
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10. EILERT PILARM: Greatest Hits Anyone who's expecting this Swedish impersonator to resemble the King will be very disappointed. Wearing white leather and rhinestones, he comes across like somebody's Uncle Olaf after a drunken weekend in Vegas. His singing sounds as if he hit puberty around age 60. Our favorite: "Yailhouse Rock." Wanna hear it? Visit Eilert Pilarm's MySpace webpage. |
9. MAE WEST: Way Out West
Photo: bradleyloos [Flickr]
Is that an electric guitar in your pocket or are you just glad to see
me? On this 1969 album, the then-70-year-old former sex symbol tries to
prove she's still relevant by talking her way through rock classics like
"Day Tripper" and "Twist and Shout."
Wanna hear it? Here's the YouTube
clip |
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8. PADDY ROBERTS: Songs for Gay Dogs Roberts sing about the sex life of fish in "Virgin Sturgeon" and serves up a steaming pile of potty humor with "Don't Use the WC," a song about dirty bathrooms. It's not just in bad taste - it's bad. By the way, this LP has nothing to do with Spot's alternative lifestyle. So what does the title mean? Well, most of the songs are drinking songs - maybe he was under the influence when he picked it. Wanna hear it? Amazon has the sampler. |
| 7. SAMMY PETRILLO: My Son, the Phone Caller Media Funhouse interviews Sammy Petrillo [YouTube Clip], with a sample at the end Petrillo was an awful Jerry Lewis impersonator who starred in a few el cheapo flicks, including the memorable Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. This album features him doing moronic phone pranks like calling hospitals and saying that he's got a pregnant pet gorilla in labor, then asking how to deliver the baby. | |
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6. THE NATIONAL GALLERY: Performing Musical Interpretations of the Paintings of Paul Klee Four beatniks from Cleveland introduce us to the German Expressionist painter by performing "rock-art" song versions of his paintings. Complete with acid-drenched lyrics like "Boys with toys, alone in the attic / Choking his hobby horse, thinking of his mother." Want to hear it? Check it out at Frank's Vinyl Museum |
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5. HELEN GURLEY BROWN: Lessons in Love The editor of Cosmopolitan magazine gives advice to swinging singles on the finer points of adultery. It may have been edgy back in 1963, but today it sounds like Martha Stewart reading Affairs for Dummies. Side 1 (for men) covers topics like "How to get a girl to the brink and ... keep her there when you're not going to marry her." |
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4. LITTLE MARCY: Little Marcy Visits Smokey the Bear A creepy singing ventriloquist's dummy visits Smokey and his animal pals in the woods. Part of an evangelical Christian children's act, Little Marcy had an eerie grin and a high-pitched singing voice that were probably responsible for frightening thousands of kids into becoming atheists. Wanna find out more? Visit Little Marcy's MySpace page (Don't miss the Devil Devil Go Away) |
| 3. MR. METHANE: Mr. Methane.com [YouTube Clip] The masked Mr. Methane is a "fartiste" in the style of Frenchman Le Petomaine. He breaks new wind by pooting his way through classics like "The Blue Danube," Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and "Greensleeves," proving conclusively that he doesn't have to be silent to be deadly. Wanna hear more? Check out the official Mr. Methane website | |
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2. LUCIA PAMELA: Into Outer Space with Lucia Pamela A former Miss St. Louis, Pamela claims that she and her band flew to the moon in her own rocket ship to record this concept album about her trip to "Moontown." Sounding like an off-key Ethel Merman, she clucks like a chicken when she forgets the words. Wanna hear it? Check it out at Lala |
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1. MUHAMMAD ALI: The Adventures of Ali and His Gang vs. Tooth Decay Recorded in 1976. Ali assembled an all-star bicentennial cast, including Frank Sinatra, Richie Havens, and Howard Cosell, for this "Fight of the Century" against Mr. Tooth Decay and his evil sidekick, Sugar Cuba. Old Blue Eyes sounds like he's working on his fifth martini as a shopkeeper who offers Ali's gang of hyperactive kids free ice cream. The Champ sends Frankie packing back to Vegas to "tell Sammy, and all them cats like old Dino" about the horrors of periodontal disease. Wanna hear it? Check it out at Frank's Vinyl Museum |
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The article above is reprinted with permission
from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader.
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!
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