The 89th annual Academy Awards are on, and seeing as how things are a bit tense in America at the moment there are sure to be lots of tense and awkward moments as Hollywood celebs accept their Oscar and speak their mind.
But will this year's awkward moments measure up to the absurdly awkward moments of the past?
Like the time Bjork laid an egg on the red carpet, and everyone around her was like "don't look down, it might be poop." Or the time Travolta made a pass at Scarlett Johansson in the oddest way possible, proving he'd lost that Saturday Night Fever sizzle.
And who can forget the time Seth McFarlane made us all feel dirty with his song "We Saw Your Boobs"? The Oscars don't get much more awkward than that! (best reactions at :13 and :46)
The Force is with this epic bowler hat designed to add a perfect level of geekiness to your fancy dress or steampunk ensemble. Etsy seller The Blonde Swan makes this brilliant design from handstitched leather. Of course, even with this incredible level of detail, for $600, I'd want a jetpack (or at least a blaster) to come with it.
You know those crazy pit fights you see in the movies where a bear is forced to battle a pack of dogs in the arena for the amusement of a bloodthirsty crowd?
Those sick shows were extremely popular in England back in Shakespeare's day, and all manner of fearsome creatures were forced to fight in a spectacle that seems revoltingly barbaric to anyone who cares about animals.
They called it "baiting", and the gruesome blood sport most commonly involved bears and bulls battling other animals to the death in a theater setting, one of the most popular nicknamed "Bear Gardens".
Baiting was so popular in the 16th and 17th century that Queen Elizabeth I and other royals could be seen in the crowds, and even though it fell out of popularity by the 1700s baiting wasn't banned in England until 1835.
Dogs can't use their words to express their displeasure so they resort to visual and auditory clues like snarling, barking and growling to warn people and other animals that they're not okay.
And yet people don't seem to be picking up on these signals, so they're constantly getting bitten by dogs who just want to be left alone.
That "smile" on a dog's face when a stranger approaches them and tries to pet them without a proper introduction?
It may mean the dog wants to bite the stranger's hand for being such a pushy jerk, but most socialized dogs who have been raised around people resist the urge to snap.
Their wagging tail can also be misconstrued as a positive reaction to a person:
The tail can send a bunch of different emotional signals, depending on the kind of wag. For instance, look at the height of the tail -- if Spot is holding his tail up high, he's warning you.
If the tail is a little lower, he's more calm. If he's keeping it down near the "between the legs" position, he's scared.
Then you also have to consider the direction of the wag. A dog wagging its tail more to the right has noticed something it is cool with and would like to approach. However, if the wagging is switched to the left, it indicates anxiety. All of these nuances of wagging can convey a wide spectrum of different emotions to other dogs from a safe distance.
In the very near future mankind will use robots to effectively clean up all kinds of horrible messes so humans will no longer have to worry about being exposed to hazardous waste.
Before the robotic cleaning crews are mobilized we can see what it'll look like when a robot arm squeegees up a massive puddle of blood by viewing this installation by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu.
"Can't Help Myself" is on display at the Guggenheim Museum through March, go and show your support for our robotic overlords before they take our jobs!
Tin cans seem too heavy and cumbersome to bring along while camping or backpacking, but there are so many clever uses for an empty can they make a great addition to your pack. Of course, you'll have to pack a can opener too...
Anyhoo, this fun video by Specific Love Creations shows you how to turn a lid from a metal can into a survival whistle, so you won't lose your friends while you're out getting lost in the woods.
Or just make one at home and drive your pets crazy!
Coconut crabs are crazy cool looking, but they're also 3 feet long, weigh nine pounds and tear coconuts open with their claws, so if you see one in the wild it's probably best to keep your distance.
And even though you'll want to get a closer look despite knowing they can literally shred your skin you may want to reconsider- because they're also known as robber crabs, so they might snatch your shiny keys.
Coconut crabs are also extremely antisocial critters, living up to the "hermit" title better than most of their hermit crab cousins, so if you see a coconut crab waving at you it's trying to tell you to stay away!
Wolverine's most identifiable features are his claws which, along with his entire skeleton, have been coated in the virtually indestructible metal adamantium.
This advanced alloy is strong enough to stand up to a good smashing from an angry Hulk, so it's no surprise that an hydraulic press doesn't do much of anything against Wolvie's claws.
Still, there's something delightfully geeky about watching the press smash down on Wolvie's claws as they sink into the steel base like hot butter. (NSFW due to language)
This Hydraulic Press Channel video is a clever way to advertise the new Marvel movie Logan, which is in theaters March 3rd, and it's a good example of how to do an online promo the right way.
You've heard this tale many times before- a princess is bored of the royal life, so she decides to go out and find some adventure outside the castle walls, where dire circumstances in a dark forest help her grow up fast.
The animated short Dark Dark Woods is kinda like that, only in this story the dark woods come to the princess...
Dark Dark Woods was created by third year students from The Animation Workshop in Denmark, and hopefully it won't be long before this short is turned into a feature length movie!
Wolverine will be a badass until the day he dies, and he'll probably spend his golden years slashing and slaying his foes like he did when he was a pup, but the Old Man Logan storyline tells a different story.
And if that wasn't confusing enough the new Marvel movie Logan tells yet another story about the mighty mutant's later years, so which story is to be believed?
This video by The Warp Zone seems like the most realistic interpretation to me!
There are far too many people out there who want to become professional artists and far too few with actual talent, so the wanna-bes resort to gimmicks to sell their art rather than earning their success.
But Norwegian artist Alexander Selvik Wengshoel wasn't trying to capitalize on a gimmick when he ate part of his own hip for an art project- he was just trying to make his art project that much more personal.
First, here's a little background on Alexander- he was born with a deformed hip, which was a constant source of pain and left him in a wheelchair for much of his life.
Around 2010 doctors offered him the chance to receive a metal hip replacement, which he jumped at so long as the doctors would let him film the operation and keep his old hip.
After some discussion the doctor agreed, and Alexander began The Body Project- the multimedia journaling of a life-changing event. So how did he end up eating his own hip?
Taking a piece of yourself home in a plastic bag is one thing. But how did you end up eating your own tissue?
Originally my meat wasn’t part of the project. I was just going to scrape it off and throw it away. As I gave the bone its first boil, in a little kettle, the flesh came off and I poured it into the wash sink. Then the shock hit me – I thought: "Oh my god, this is my flesh."
I quickly concluded that it was too personal to photograph and picked up a piece. I stared at it for a long time and then I said, "F@#k it." I put it into my mouth, tasted, chewed, swallowed and got to crying uncontrollably. It was happiness, anger and frustration combined.
Did you throw up? No, after a couple of minutes of crying, it suddenly felt very natural and I didn’t think of it as human flesh anymore. So I continued boiling and scraping. Pulled out some chilli and garlic and fried it in a pan. Salt and pepper was mandatory and so was a good bottle of wine. Then I lit some candles and also whipped up some potato gratin. Sat down and ate it all – it became a ceremony, a ritual.
The Ren & Stimpy Show made a strong impression on young minds (and probably warped a few too), but John K.'s incredible cartoon show wasn't made to be watched by kids alone.
And for the most part kids didn't get why Ren & Stimpy was such a special show, one that inspired the animation industry to give up safety for the sake of artistry and visual delight- they just liked the visual gags.
The Nerdwriter Evan Puschak grew up watching Ren & Stimpy in the 90s, but as he rewatched the series he started to appreciate all the amazing and groundbreaking elements that made The Ren & Stimpy Show super special.
Engagement photos have become a big social media show, and people have asked for their partner's hand in marriage in so many creative and clever ways they've set the bar far too high for the unengaged.
But if you're feeling intimidated by all the amazing engagement photos you've seen online don't worry- there are plenty of fails posted online too that'll make you say "WTF were they thinking?"
In theory engagement photos should make you either feel happy for the couple, jealous of their love or both, but terrible engagement photos make single people feel like they've dodged a bullet!
Weapon based martial arts are exciting to watch, and fighters who train in these deadly styles are truly a brave lot, but there's something so cringeworthy about fighting with a machete.
Maybe it's because machetes are made for chopping through trees so they do nasty things to human flesh, or maybe it's because I associate machetes with Jason Voorhees and Central American drug cartels.
But in Haiti machete fencing is not only a popular martial art with roots in agriculture- it's an important part of history that dates back to the Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1804.
National Geographic spoke to machete fencing master Alfred Avril about Haiti's unique and deadly cool martial art, revealing how the machete became an important symbol of Haitian freedom.
