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Stuntman Greg Gasson doesn’t wear a parachute when he jumps out of a plane. He doesn’t even wear shoes! Instead, he grabs a packed parachute with his hands. Don’t try this at home -or anywhere! -via Buzzfeed
It was a great idea to make a stunt video that shows what video game combat would look like in real life, and it makes for an action packed minute-and-a-half. But why do the bad guys always stand around, waiting for their turn to face the character instead of just mobbing them en masse?
And why does kicking ass mean characters fly through the air, throwing flying punches and other equally ineffective moves? Oh well, please excuse my criticisms and enjoy this video showing what Catwoman would look like kicking some street thug tail.
–via ComicsAlliance
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
Tens of thousands of games have been played in the history of Major League Baseball. But on August 19th, 1951, the strangest baseball at-bat ever recorded took place in Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. It was on that day, sixty years ago, that a 3’7″ player came to bat.
Edward Carl Gaedel was born on June 8, 1925. His parents and siblings were all of normal stature, but Eddie, for some unknown reason, just stopped growing sometime during his term in elementary school. According to his sister, “He cried a lot because people used to bother him. He’d come home swearing.”
As an adult, Eddie found work as a mascot for Mercury Records and during World War II Eddie had found employment as a riveter (his stature made it easy for him to crawl inside the wings of planes). By 1951, Eddie was working as a bartender at “The Midget Club,” a bar in Chicago that employed only little people.
In 1951, Bill Veeck was the colorful owner of the St. Louis Browns, the worst team in baseball. Veeck was known for thinking up wild publicity stunts to help draw crowds in to come and watch the pathetic, perennial cellar-dwelling Browns.
The original idea of a little person batting in a baseball game had been used in a 1941 short story (no pun intended) by James Thurber called “You Could Look It Up” (Veeck always denied the story was his inspiration).
In mid-August of 1951, Bill Veeck gave his car keys to the Brown’s public relations man, Jay Edson. Edson was told to go to the given address in Chicago and pick up a guy called Eddie Gaedel. “He’s a midget,” said Veeck.
“A midget?” inquired Edson, slightly surprised.
“Yes,” intoned Veeck.
Gaedel was picked up at his Chicago address, driven to St. Louis, and smuggled into the Chase hotel, wrapped in a blanket. A double-header was scheduled between the Browns and the Detroit Tigers the next day. The crowd of 18,369 had been promised “a festival of surprises” by Veeck.
Between games, Eddie popped out of a giant plastic cake, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the American League and in celebration of the Falstaff brewery. Gaedel’s appearance brought happy laughter from the crowd, who at the time had no idea of the strange baseball history soon to be made. In the bottom of the first inning of game two, the surprised crowd looked on as St. Louis manager Zach Taylor sent Eddie Gaedel up to pinch-hit for lead-off batter Frank Saucier.
Eddie came to the on-deck circle swinging three toy bats. He tossed two to the side and walked to the plate carrying his toy bat, the smallest bat ever to be used in a Major League baseball game. Gaedel wore a borrowed batboy’s uniform which sported the number 1/8. The crowd, at first surprised, was quiet, then burst into raucous laughter.
Ed Hurley, the home plate umpire, was duly shown Gaedel’s contract (legally signed a few days earlier and wired to Major League offices) and Eddie stood at the plate, in a slight batter’s crouch. Before he came to the plate, Gaedel had been warned solemnly by Bill Veeck that he’d have a rifle aimed at his head and if he dared swing, he’d pull the trigger. (In Thurber’s short story, the LP had swung on ball four and grounded out, ending the game.)
more …
Josh proposed to Brook and took the idea of a “leap of faith” to a ridiculous level! I don’t think her “No way!” is a rejection; I think she was only shocked and probably trying to lower her blood pressure. -via I Am Bored
Even super heroes like to take time for a little recreational skiing! This picture was taken at Sea World in Orlando, Florida during the mid 1970s. Link -via Mostly Forbidden Zone
Comments Off
Chris Unitt was brave enough to become a prop for a bicyclist during a promotion for Cirque Eloize in Boston. He’s got more nerves than I do! Link -via The Daily What
Comments Off This is just the latest in a line of crazy PR stunts Hot Wheels has been pulling lately. Top Gear host (and pro stunt driver) Tanner Foust drove down a steep, bright orange ramp to gather speed for the record-breaking 332-foot jump he successfully completed at the Indy 500 to set a new world record.
It’s now called the “special flip” because “Special Greg” Powell was the one who accomplished it. This performance of Nitro Circus was recorded in Gosford, Australia. -via reddit
Theodore Gray (featured previously at Neatorama) teaches us how stunt men can go around in flames. By setting himself on fire. On video.
There are a few perks to my job as a mad scientist, and one of them, as I recently learned, is being able to tell my colleagues that I can’t attend their terribly important meeting because I’m going to set my hand on fire.
In the movies, people on fire stumble out of burning buildings all the time. If you look closely, however, you’ll notice that they are almost always fully dressed, and that they tend to keep moving. These are two important factors that make the stunt much easier.
Warning: do not try this at home. Link -via the Presurfer
This strange video is part story, part showreel, as it was produced, filmed, and performed by stunt doubles Sam Hargrave and Monique Ganderton. -via reddit
Frank Mickadeit, a columnist for the OC Register, is staying in a monkey cage at the Santa Ana Zoo in California. He’s been there three days, and is scheduled to come out at 4PM PDT (7PM EDT) today. Mickadeit joined the monkeys as a human exhibit. The sign attached labeled his species as Columnist horribilis. While they observed him, Mickadeit in turn observed the zoo visitors.
For seven hours, I was entertained and, I hope, moderately entertaining, as a parade of moms with strollers, grandparents with charges, art students from Santa Ana College, biology students from Fullerton College, friends, regular readers and media types wandered up.
If they had no idea a human being was on loan from the Register, the look on their faces said, “What the …” If they did know, they wanted to know, “Why the …”
“Three days, and you’re getting paid?” one woman asked, as I regaled onlookers with a variety of tricks that included blowing smoke rings and figuring out how to extract tiny bits of papaya from a hollow ball my keeper tossed at me.
“Well, uh, yeah, I guess I am getting paid,” I replied indignantly.
“Paid just to sit in a cage three days a week,” she said, shaking her head.
“Oh, no!” I said, finally realizing where she was going. “I’m not here three days every week!”
The zoo has a live webcam trained on their “human exhibit.” Link
(Image credit: Paul Bersebach, OC Register)
One hundred years ago today, the Prince of Abyssinia visited the British Navy battleship H.M.S. Dreadnought. The prince and his retinue took a tour of the vessel and were accorded diplomatic honors as fitting for visiting royalty. The guests spoke a language the sailors did not understand, but they figured “Bunga Bunga” was a polite greeting because the royal group used it a lot. But this wasn’t the prince of Abyssinia! The Navy learned about the hoax when it hit the newspapers.
The next day the Navy was mortified to learn that the party they had escorted around the warship had not been Abyssinian dignitaries at all. Instead it had been a group of young, upper class pranksters who had blackened their faces, donned elaborate theatrical costumes, and then forged an official telegram in order to gain access to the ship. Their ringleader was a man named Horace de Vere Cole, but the entourage also included a young woman called Virginia Stephen who would later be better known as the writer Virginia Woolf.
By February 12 the British newspapers were full of the story of the stunt. “Bunga Bungle!” the Western Daily Mercury trumpeted. For a few days the Navy was the laughingstock of Britain. Sailors were greeted with cries of “Bunga, Bunga” wherever they went. One newspaper suggested that the Dreadnought change its name to the Abyssinian.
Link -via Metafilter
See a larger photograph of the event. Link
When he gets bored with doing double backflips on his bike, skydiving without a chute, or inventing new sports like the Hydrojump, Travis Pastrana takes life easy with a casual drive in Long Beach, CA. Watch him sail this rally car 269 feet with the precision landing of an experienced pilot. Don’t miss his celebratory backflip into the water!
26-year-old Travis Pastrana set the world record for a rally car jump on New Year’s Eve, flying his Subaru 269 feet over water and landing on a barge in the harbor of Long Beach, California. The record blew away the old one set by Ken Block at 171 feet. Pastrana had to throw the car sideways and slam it against a wall at the end of the barge to stop the car, as he said the ramp was slick with dew. (Brian Lohnes)
So here’s the scoop: I’m about to turn 30 – this friday in fact. Also: I love waterslides. Then I found a competition which, if I get enough votes, will send me around the world to the biggest watersldies there are. Best Present. Ever. This is my entry. Did it in an hour.
If you like it and fancy voting me into a state of splashy swooshy ecstasy, Vote for Slideyman in the Barclay Waterslide video competition. Just click the green thumbs up! Link
Love and Waterslides,
Oscar
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by Plinth.
The Triple Crown never seemed so two-sided.
There are those who go to the races to see and be seen. The rich and famous, and the classy entourage they bring with them.
And then, there’s this crowd…sound is mildly NSFW.
Sure, it may not be the smartest behavior, but doesn’t this spontaneous-looking game say something about culture?
Old: When life gives you lemons, make a lemonade. New: When Venice floods, go wakeboarding.
That’s exactly what Duncan Zuur did at St. Mark’s Square:
Duncan Zuur’s team pulled a compact, 20 horsepower motor winch from its hiding place and placed it under the square’s arches. One team member, clad in rubber boots, pulled the winchs cable about 120 metres across the square and pressed one end firmly into the hand of Duncan Zuur, who had taken the opportunity to get into his wakeboarding gear. Four elegant turns later, the event was over prompting by a standing ovation from an astounding crowd of tourists.
And luckily for Duncan, the police didn’t even notice.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – via Newslite
Some people out there are fearless. Take this guy for instance; he doesn’t seem to be the least bit distracted by the vehicle that’s passing him and at the same time, being video taped. I wonder what possesses a person to do such a thing.
Video: LiveLeak
