Robert E. Jackson found and compiled a collection of Easter bunnies from back when you expected them to look weird and creepy -and we liked it! Yeah, back in the day, we didn't have any of these 3D printed bespoke furry costumes. We just had papier-mâché heads from someone's kitchen and recycled pajamas.
Or people just put on bunny ears and did the Bunny Hop. Or we skipped all that nonsense and put our kids on ten-foot rabbits and took their picture. See all 16 images at Flashbak. -via Boing Boing
Surreal animated shorts are often too bizarre and too obscure for most viewers to sink their teeth into, but Hen, His Wife is easily accessible to all- even if not everyone understands the symbolist subtexts.
Hen, His Wife is a bizarre short created by Pilot animation studio back in 1989 about a guy who ignores his wife, who is an anthropomorphic chicken, but there's a lot more going on beneath the absurdist surface story:
Igor Kovalyov, one of the studio’s founders, directed a tale so densely symbolic that it's tough to interpret. In terms of narrative, the film is about a family couple in which the husband, dressed in prison-like garments, ignores his dutiful wife – an anthropomorphic hen – until a stranger arrives and jolts them from their absurd coexistence. The plot itself, however, makes little sense without interpreting the abundant symbols of impotence, autoeroticism, and sexuality. Kovalyov’s wordless, surreal drama easily captures one’s attention, leaving a lingering unease in its wake, even without Freudian analysis.
Before YouTube, before websites, and even before computer graphics made advertising as in-your-face as it is now, movies at your local theater were advertised in newspapers. Newspapers were printed with hand-set type, and graphics required their own custom-made print blocks. KB Typesetting was one of the companies that made new print blocks for movie advertising images, which were send out to newspapers around the country, and then usually thrown away after the run of the movie was over locally. As movies became immortal and advertising became ephemeral, the rare print blocks that survived became highly collectible.
That quaint little world of finite supply and demand was blown to smithereens—as thoroughly as the planet Alderaan—in November 1998, when DJ Ginsberg and Marilyn Wagner of Omaha were invited into the back room of a local store called Franx Antiques and Art. That’s where they first encountered a cache of 400-plus cardboard boxes filled with more than 50,000 assorted-sized print blocks, plus another 8,000 or so printing plates, all featuring advertisements for movies produced from 1932 to the early 1980s. It was literally tons of stuff, and it had been sitting in that back room, undisturbed, for roughly two decades, when Franx purchased it for several thousand dollars from its Omaha neighbor KB Typesetting.
Naturally, Ginsberg and Wagner had to have it all. So, they scraped together the money to purchase the collection from Franx and find a place to store it, and proceeded to load all those boxes, albeit a few at a time, into Ginsberg’s car.
“My poor Corsica got beat to death,” Ginsberg tells me when we spoke over the phone recently. But the Corsica was the least of Ginsberg and Wagner’s worries: Like the proverbial dog chasing the milk truck, the bigger question confronting the two friends was what to do with their prize now that they had caught it.
The collection included print blocks for everything from The Mummy through Star Wars. Appraisers were astonished, and their estimates of the collection's value have grown over the years. It's even had a documentary made about it. The story of how the collection of movie history came to be and what will happen to it is told at Collectors Weekly.
There are lots of people out there who would like to tour the country in an RV but simply can't afford the fuel costs, and as the cost of gas continues to rise this dream of RVing the nation slips further away.
So the German RV company Dethleffs has come up with a great invention to make our RV dreams come true- a solar powered motorhome.
The "e.home" is covered in solar panels so it can soak up all the solar energy it needs to keep its 107-horsepower electric motor and all the components inside the RV running for as long as you need to make new memories on the road.
And just for fun Dethleffs even included a starlight projection system over the alcove bed, so you can space out in style before bed.
As The Last Jedi rolls out on home video, it's not a moment too soon for an Honest Trailer! Screen Junkies repeats a technique they used for The Force Awakens, in using both the current announcer Jon Bailey and their original Honest Trailer voice, Gannon Nickell. Why? Because any Star Wars movie can only be discussed by arguing whether the old ones or the new ones are better.
If you've just ordered The Last Jedi for your first viewing, save this trailer for afterward. Not only does it spoil every plot point, it explores why this movie is the most divisive Star Wars movie since the last one. Or the one before that. I got a real giggle out of the cast names, especially Short Round as BB-8. In case you want to take a deep dive into the making of this Honest Trailer, there's a commentary video to accompany this one.
Galactus is a massive dude with an even bigger appetite, and throughout the universe people live in fear of Galactus setting his sights on their planet when he's feeling a bit peckish.
But there's one place where they not only don't know his name they refuse to get it right even if he spells it out for them- his local Starbucks.
There he's often known as Gale, Cactus, Garfield, Garakkus or simply G, and as this Pictures In Boxes comic shows their baristas are the only people in the universe who can make Galactus feel small!
Garfield, the fat cat of comics and movie fame, always craved lasagna. Andrew Rea shows us why that lasagna was so delicious in the latest episode of Binging With Babish. The good news is that Garfield doesn't have to appear in this cooking video, so he doesn't.
All the parts of this lasagna are hand-made before they are assembled. J. Kenji López-Alt's recipe for Ragu Bolognese is at Serious Eats. To see Brad Leone make the ricotta cheese, see his video. The instructions for homemade pasta is in a previous video by Andrew Rea. I can guarantee that after going through all this for a pan of lasagna, the cat is not getting it. -via reddit
Hedgehogs are magical little creatures, and even though they're very tiny critters they have big hearts and wonderful personalities, which is why humans are so enamored with those little insect-munching lurkers in the hedgerow. The humans who have brought hedgehogs home to live with them have said they're gentle, playful and a bit shy, but quite sweet when they get to know you well- and quite happy to eat the bugs in your backyard!
Show some love for the cutest little critter on the planet with this Hedgehog t-shirt by Bongonation, it's a fun and magical way to take the spirit of the hedgehog with you wherever you go!
Are you a professional illustrator or T-shirt designer? Let's chat! Sell your designs on the NeatoShop and get featured in front of tons of potential new fans on Neatorama!
Swimsuits have gotten a whole lot skimpier and sexier since the 1920s, but the variety of styles and cuts available have also increased, so beachgoers can choose to go with a modest one piece or a suit that leaves little to the imagination and still look stylish.
And now the swimsuit has officially gone full circle with the release of the genderless swimsuits with a decidedly 20s vibe released by the Portland, Oregon based company Beefcake Swimwear.
Owner Mel Wells is a self-professed tomboy who wanted to create a swimsuit that both men and women could wear to the beach without looking like a loon, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign by jove she's done it!
Her "Beefcakes" are stylish yet functional, and as she told PopSugar they help beachgoers avoid body shaming too:
"If you look at old photos of people on the beach, [body shame] didn't used to be a part of our culture," she said. "The main excitement [I've heard from people is] 'I've been looking for a swimsuit like this for years.' . . . I think a lot of people are looking for swimwear that is more function than fashion, but not ugly. A lot of performance swimwear is not very fashionable — it's all about performance. And I think there's a lot of people who want something kind of in between."
In Japanese Folklore, the Ashiarai Yashiki is a giant filthy foot that crashes through the ceiling at night and demands to be washed. If you don't wash it, it will rampage through your house pic.twitter.com/MBwalGWFDZ
Japanese monster stories are so bizarre that it's hard to know whether they are old or were made up for some modern manga, but Ashiarai Yashiki is apparently a real legend. According to the Villains Wiki,
The Ashiarai Yashiki is an extremely bizarre Japanese spirit that takes the form of a disembodied leg and foot, many times larger than a normal human and often covered in mud or blood - this frightening being was believed to literally smash its way into the homes of terrified humans and demand them to wash it.
The reason behind this attack was unknown and most likely could never really be understood as spirits such as the Ashiarai Yashiki were believed to be governed by laws far beyond human understanding, yet even by Japanese mythology standards the Ashiarai Yashiki stands out as one of the more unique monsters of folklore and despite being little more than a giant foot it was capable of human speech.
The only way I can picture this happening is in a Terry Gilliam animation. You have to wonder if he was familiar with the legend of Ashiarai Yashiki. -via madamjujujive
Cats and dogs don't care how much we spend on the pet toys and accessories we buy for them, and even if they sneak a peek at the tag they have no idea what they're looking at because they can't read and don't understand how money works.
So those who spend a fortune on their pets are spending that money to make themselves feel good, not their pets, and should probably find a pet charity to donate to instead of throwing away all that money.
HouseholdHacker put together these clever cat and dog "hack" videos for the frugal pet owner who also likes to do a bit of DIY, presenting simple yet smart ideas that work like a charm including:
Turn your mismatched socks into cat toys by filling them with paper and tying them off on the top, or a dog toy by putting an empty water bottle inside the sock instead
Use a muffin tin to slow down dogs who eat too fast, and cover each bowl with half a tennis ball to give them an added challenge
Mix water, Dawn dish soap and white vinegar to make a cheap flea shampoo
Add pumpkin to cat food to help with their hairballs
I knew something was off about this scene from the less-than-symmetrical eyes on the left person's face. Then the robotic word selection in the second panel confirmed it. But it can't be a robot, because a robot would never say "returning back." That's redundant. I thought all this before reaching the second row, which took a totally unexpected turn, but it fits the setup perfectly. Those birds didn't have the greatest disguise, but our victim was too busy on his phone to even notice. This comic is from Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble, who thinks through all the details.
Chess is typically thought of as being too strategic, difficult and slow for little kids to handle, especially considering many kids play games on their own smartphone or tablet these days.
But six-year-old Annabelle and four-year-old Eloise clearly didn't get the memo about chess being too slow for kids, so they absolutely adore the game and are quite good at it.
They're not chess prodigy Misha good, but their enthusiasm for chess will give you hope for the future of analog gaming.
Ernest Cline's first novel is a science fiction story called Ready Player One. Steven Spielberg made a movie from it, in theaters this weekend. But Cline's earlier fan fiction, in the form of screenplays, introduced him to Hollywood in a spectacular way. He was the original writer behind the 2009 movie Fanboys. It started when he was grieving the loss of his mother to cancer in the late '90s.
That was right when Lucasfilm announced that they were making more Star Wars – that first clip of George working on the script? StarWars.com would release videos that they were entering pre-production. It was like hearing that a new chapter of the Bible had just been discovered. It became my way to distract myself over losing my mom. I was working tech support and doing web design, so I was in front of the internet all day looking at prequel websites. Then one day it occurred to me: What if I was in my mom's position and I knew I was dying and wasn't going to live to see this movie?
As soon as I had the idea, it occurred to me that's the stupidest thought ever to pass through my head.
But it resonated with Star Wars fans, and the script he wrote circulated for years. The eventual producer and director were in college when they fell in love with the story. Over time, more people got involved and George Lucas even signed off on the project. Fans followed the film's progress online. Harvey Weinstein would be the distributor. Only after a successful preview for fans at the first European Star Wars Celebration in 2007 did Weinstein begin to throw his weight around. He wanted the movie changed.
[Director] Kyle Newman: They owned it. I mean, they paid for it. I respect that's part of the filmmaking culture. I paint, I draw, and I own that stuff. But I made a commitment to the folks at Lucasfilm, to the Star Wars fan community and to my cast and crew about the tone of the film.
Ernie Cline: Weinstein pitched them the idea of taking out the whole plot of the dying friend. They strategically shot scenes that made it so the fanboys were just going on the trip because they wanted to see the movie early. No one's dying. They all are just going because they want to trespass. It robs the movie of its whole call to adventure, and the whole heart of the picture. We actually saw that cut of the movie. They screened that cut with the original cut two nights in a row in Reseda or something, and that was going to be the version that they would have released.
Reshoots and negotiations took another couple of years, and Fanboys was ultimately released in only ten theaters, with almost no promotion. Cline learned his lesson and wrote Ready Player One as a novel instead of a screenplay. Read the story of what happened to Fanboys from the folks who made it at Thrillist.
You don't have to be a comic reader to think it would be cool to have superpowers, as humans have dreamt of having the power of flight, indestructibility and super strength long before comic books even existed.
But with so many superheroes populating the pages of comic books some characters are bound to get stuck with some incredibly useless powers.
Glob Herman is a mutant with see-thru skin made of a paraffin-wax-like substance, which makes him useless unless you're looking for a giant living candle who will also scream in pain while he melts away.
Kite Man has the astounding ability to be an "excellent hang-glider pilot", and if that weren't enough his name is Charlie Brown, named after the Peanuts character who had absolutely no luck with kites.
This Looper video counts down some of the most useless superpowers in comic book history, and makes you wonder what the creators were inhaling when they came up with such ridiculous characters. Maybe the fumes given off by a melting Glob Herman?
