In late 2016, Sam Garland (Poem_for_your_sprog) wrote a funny poem that spawned an entirely new genre of poetry, now called bredlik. You can see many examples in the subreddit /r/ilikthebred or at Twitter. For World Poetry Day last week, O. Westin had the wild idea of fusing bredlik with the iambic pentameter of a classic sonnet. The result is a poem about poetry.

My naym is pome / and lo my form is fix’d
Tho peepel say / that structure is a jail
I am my best / when formats are not mix’d
Wen poits play / subversions often fail

Notice you can read the left side by itself and get a completely different poem. You can also read the right side alone, but the real effect comes by reciting it as a whole. There are four stanzas with a twist at the end. You can read the poem, and the thinking behind it, at Micro SF/F.  -via Metafilter

PS: In researching this post, I came across a delightful song.

(Image credit: Flickr user Tiocfaidh ár lá 1916)

There's something about the name "floppy diskette" that has always sounded a bit crude, and I couldn't help but crack a smile at the mention even when people shortened it to "floppy".

Does that mean I have a perverted mind?

Perhaps, but no matter how pure your mind is you'll agree that "floppy diskette" is an unfortunate name for a product after hearing this woman repeat it over and over again in this video tutorial edit from back in the good ol' days of computing.

(YouTube Link)

-Via Geekologie

(Image credit: Consumers Union)

Neatorama is proud to bring you a guest post from Ernie Smith, the editor of Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail. In another life, he ran ShortFormBlog.

From literary advocacy to union battles to communism claims, the origin story of the organization that publishes Consumer Reports kind of has it all.

Last year, a consumer advocate showed up in the most unlikely place: On YouTube, the home of the no-questions-asked unboxing channel. Cody Crouch, aka iTwe4kz, reviewed a set of earbuds from a company called Kanoa. In a Nike hat and a Puma sleeveless shirt, Crouch (who was clearly frustrated) trashed the earbuds at length and questioned the behavior of the company that was banking on him to give a good review. The company, blaming Crouch’s bad review for spooking investors, shut down, with thousands of paying consumers left in the lurch. However, it’s now widely believed that the company was running a scam, only made a few pairs of headphones, and used Crouch’s review as an out. Now, there’s talk of class-action lawsuits. This might sound like a crazy story, but it’s nothing compared to the tale that gave us the modern consumer advocacy movement. Strap in and we’ll get to testing.

The standards nerds who formed the basis of the consumer rights’ movement

The thing about watching a video from a guy like iTwe4kz is that you’re watching, really, for his opinion, which is likely to be loud, brash, opinionated, and not entirely impartial. That’s not a knock on him. That’s just the way YouTube works—we watch videos for the opinions shared.

But the problem, of course, is that biases swing in all directions, and in a world where you’re getting marketing at every single second. A lot of people read this in their inboxes. And a lot of the messages surrounding it are often promotional or marketing in nature.

And the problem, over the years, has gotten worse. How do you rein it all in?

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.

(YouTube Link)

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.

A post shared by stranddeko (@stranddeko) on Aug 29, 2017 at 9:37pm PDT

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.

Read more about This Solar-Powered RV Runs Without Fuel Or Charging Stations here

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.

(YouTube link)

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!

-Via Geeks Are Sexy

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.

(YouTube link)

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

Hedgehog by Bongonation 

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!

Visit Bongonation's Facebook fan page, official website and Instagram, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more delightful designs:

View more designs by Bongonation | More Artistic T-shirts | New T-Shirts

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."

-Via Boing Boing

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

— 41 Strange (@41Strange) March 26, 2018

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.

(YouTube Link)

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

(YouTube Link)

-Via Laughing Squid

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.