Who is your favorite movie villain? Or, more to the point, who do you think everyone else's favorite movie villain is? Empire magazine asked its readers to rank movie villains with their votes, and the results are in. There isn't one on this list that doesn't deserve to be there. In reading the list, it becomes clear that a truly great villain is more than evil -he (or she) is complicated and has some kind of charm that gives you the willies, because good and evil aren't as simple as we'd like to think. Incidentally, Alan Rickman famously played three of the most iconic villains in cinema, but only two made this top twenty list. Find out which ones are there in the list of The Greatest Villains Of All Time. -via BroBible
80s kids who didn't have Kenner's original Millennium Falcon toy often tried to build one out of LEGOs, but they never looked quite right until LEGO released the Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon set in 2007.
However, the Ultimate Falcon set cost $500 when it came out and skyrocketed in price after going out of print, so no matter how bad LEGO fan Mike Marrocco of Bethesda, Maryland wanted the set he couldn't justify paying the price.
So back in 2015 Mike put together his own far more colorful version of the ship for about the same cost ($500), only he went out of his way to make his version the brightest LEGO ship in the toybox.
Here's how he put his psychedelic reboot Millennium Falcon together:
“The process went something like this,” Marrocco told us via email. “First I found the parts list online and counted up how many of each piece I’d need. Then I went on bricklink.com and bought everything while trying to select the brightest colors I could (cost permitting). I needed to buy from five or six sellers to get everything. Then I sorted all the pieces into containers and started building based off of the official instructions.”
So Marrocco got to work, and after the two months spent tracking all the pieces down, the build itself took him 25 hours.
“I just did my best to buy the cheapest bright colors,” he said. “Some people online have suggested painting it.” (He joked, “That’s out of the question” about that last bit of advice.)
-Via io9
Pangaea was a "supercontinent" of all the world's landmass before the shifting tectonic plates moved the continents around hundreds of millions of years ago. To visualize where those plates went, Italian digital artist Massimo Pietrobon created a map he calls Pangea Politica. The landmass is Pangaea, but the modern countries are labeled as we know them. Pietrobon said, in Italian,
The world is one.
Humanity is one
Long live the political Pangea!
While most of humanity could walk (or take a train) to each other in this map, some parts don't fit together the way you'd think. You might notice that India is nowhere near Asia. When the Indian landmass moved north and crashed into Asia, the force over time formed the Himalayan Mountains. -via Laughing Squid
I'm sure you've seen all kinds of symbols and logos drawn for the various houses of Hogwarts, and some of them probably looked like something you'd be proud to wear, but house sigils have never looked as mighty as this fierce Gryffindor crest created by Firebeard. It's got the ferocity, it's got the magical edge, and it's got the ribbon banner with the house's motto scrolling majestically along the bottom for all to read. It's the best thing that has happened to Potterheads since the Magical World opened at Universal!
Show some pride in your chosen house with this Gryffindor t-shirt by Firebeard, featuring a bold design that's sure to make your fellow HP fans roar with delight!
Visit Firebeard's Facebook fan page, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more mighty cool designs:
| The Amazing Vader | "I Bring You Love!" | Hakuna Walkerata | The Moes on Abbey Road |
View more designs by Firebeard | More Fantasy 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!
A kindergarten class incubated a few eggs, and one day got to witness the miracle of life as a baby chick forced his way out of the egg and into the world during class time. The kids couldn't contain themselves! What happens on the day you are born? You get to sing Happy Birthday!
my moms kindergarten class watching a chick hatch and then singing happy birthday to it pic.twitter.com/8YYS6OdajH
— megfo (@meaghan_fogarty) January 26, 2018
Say it with me, now... "Awwww!" -via Metafilter
Most of us are fine with the fact that IKEA furniture is made of pine or particle board, especially because you can hack their stuff together in lots of cool new ways and the price is unbeatable.
But writer James L. Sutter made a disillusioning discovery while doing some design hacking on a desk that might put some people off- IKEA's "particle board" furniture is made with cardboard.
I always knew that Ikea furniture was fake wood—particle board with a veneer on top. Fine, whatever. But last night I sawed into my desk and discovered the particle board *itself* is a lie.
— James L. Sutter (@jameslsutter) January 23, 2018
FOLKS IKEA WOOD IS LITERALLY CARDBOARD. pic.twitter.com/0vFYaBu5J8
James made it clear he didn't really have a problem with the cardboard content in IKEA furniture, he was just surprised to find it in there, and one Twitter user explained why using cardboard in particle board is actually a good thing:
My dad is a structural engineer. That honeycomb structure is actually stronger than particle board (unless you cut it in half.) Its also far more eco friendly. They use the particle board for the parts that need to hold screws.
— Crux Crusher Cates (@pengraffe) January 24, 2018
-Via DesignTAXI
Watching stars up in the mountains away from light pollution is wonderful -while you're doing it. But then you start to realize that it was daylight when you climbed up that mountain. Now it's dark, and the path was kind of winding, wasn't it? Maybe we could just stay here until daylight, but it's now quite cool and the ground is starting to get damp. That night was a long time ago, and now I try to stay where there's a fair amount of light pollution, and even better, internet access. This is the newest comic from Randall Monroe at xkcd.
Don't let the title fool you. While this cartoon stars many kinds of ice cream treats, the world does not treat them well. The juxtaposition of retro-style animated ice cream cones with their cruel fates may be quite jarring.
Hey, if you were an ice cream cone that lived in the desert, you might lose your will to live, too. Steve Cutts (previously at Neatorama) brings us all the technicolor carnage. -via Everlasting Blort
Ben has a tortoiseshell cat named Baloo. Baloo loves Ben and wants to give him things, but Ben did not really appreciate the mice and birds that Baloo brought him. He would release the critters back outside.
Seeing how unappreciative Ben seemed to be about her hard-earned gifts, Baloo was perplexed.
“She always looked so confused and sad, which made me feel pretty bad,” Ben said.
But Baloo is a resourceful cat. She tried a whole new tactic, and brought Ben a large leaf. He loved that idea, and he played with the leaf, so she started bringing a new leaf in every morning- the biggest, prettiest leaf she could find. You can read the story of Baloo and her leaves in its entirety, and see plenty of pictures at The Dodo. -via Nag on the Lake
(Images credit: mostlyjustpicturesofmycats)
Have you ever found yourself eating dessert and thought, "What this needs is more ketchup and mustard"? Me, neither. But if you're looking for something really different that you might serve as stunt, the Ketchup and Mustard Cake will do it. Honestly, if you want people to stop coming to your home just in time for dessert, it's worth a try. This is a real cake, with sugar, flour, butter, eggs, and spices, plus a half cup of ketchup. Well, okay, maybe it's like carrot cake, in that the spices overwhelm the vegetables. But then there's the frosting, made of butter, powdered sugar, and mustard. Really. Find the complete recipe at Shared, along with a video showing how it's made. -via Boing Boing
Once you get past the small talk period with a complete stranger, whether they're an acquaintance co-worker or love interest, it's time to find out more about this person who has piqued your interest.
So you move from the small talk to the icebreaker questions, which help you learn a bit about the person and make both parties feel more at ease in each other's company.
#2: Have you ever met anyone famous?
This question is a fun one, as it taps into the people that your coworkers admire. Folks bond over a mutual love for Jude Law, or have a laugh when a manager shares her story about meeting LeBron James at a gas station.
But before you start in with tired old questions like "what do you do for a living?" or "what's your favorite color?" you should consult the research done by Know Your Company and ask icebreaker questions with appeal.
#24: Do you collect anything?
Skip the boring question, “What are your hobbies?” and ask this instead. You might find that someone is unexpectedly avid butterfly collector (my uncle does this), or enjoys finding a new postcard every time she travels (my mom does this). Regardless, it’s a more unique way to learn about a person’s interest.
#20: How do you like your eggs?
Our customers who ask this question are always shocked by how popular the answers to it are. They discover that colleagues are immensely passionate about scrambled eggs or are sunny-side-up diehards.
Their list is designed for team-building at work but if you ask me these questions work just as well on a date or a new friend, because they get to the heart of a person in a hurry and reveal a lot about their character.
#12: What’s your favorite family tradition?
Cooking Korean dumplings together around the holidays is one of mine. When you ask this question, you get an inside look into your coworkers family’s heritage and the things that bring their family together.
#13: Who had the most influence on you growing up?
A mother, a sports hero, a grandparent, an elementary school teacher… This question is touching to hear the answer to. You’ll gain a sense of respect about who has shaped your coworkers.
See The 25 Most Popular Icebreaker Questions Based On Four Years Of Data here
The Herero people originated in Namibia, which was once called Southwest Africa under German colonial rule. A dozen Herero descendants who live in the U.S. met with officials at the American Museum of Natural History in New York last fall to see and discuss the remains of eight skeletons that had been in the museum's possession since 1924. They were Herero bones, a legacy of a dark time in history.
A little more than a hundred years ago, German colonists stole these bones from what they called German Southwest Africa, following a Herero rebellion, in 1904. General Lothar von Trotha had moved quickly and brutally to put down the uprising. “Within the German boundaries, every Herero, with or without firearms, with or without cattle, will be shot,” he wrote in his Vernichtungsbefehl, or extermination order. “I won’t accommodate women and children anymore.” In what has been called the first genocide of the twentieth century, colonists pushed Herero into the desert and forced others into concentration camps. Sixty-five thousand Herero died. Similar tactics killed ten thousand Nama men and women. (Both groups have called on Germany to pay reparations, and will appear in U.S. federal court on January 25th in an attempt to force the country to do so.)
The story of how the skeletons came to be in museum's collection is gruesome, but it's only one example of the many human remains that were collected during an age when museums, universities, and other institutions gathered human bones from anywhere and everywhere for their anthropology studies and exhibitions. Read about the Herero bones, and what's being done about human remains now, at The New Yorker. -via Metafilter
Blues bar in Chicago’s South Side, 1962
Life in the United States seemed quite black and white in the 50s and 60s, as segregation and racial tension turned to violence, the divide between rich and poor widened, and non-conformists were cast as criminals by the media.
Brooklyn gang, NYC, 1959
There was an excitement and energy in the air, and yet everyday life was quieter and far simpler, making for perfectly simple portraits without all the background noise you see nowadays in places like Los Angeles, Chicago or New York City.
New York City, 1962
The static of the digital age was still a long way off, and Magnum Photos agency photographer Bruce Davidson was out shooting warm and wonderful portraits that capture the vibe of the era by focusing on the people at the heart of it all.
Yves Montand, his wife Simone Signoret, Marilyn Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller at the Beverly Hills Hotel, California, 1960
Bruce traveled all over the country shooting pics of all kinds of different people, from famous folks like Marilyn Monroe and Diana Ross to everyday folks experiencing all the joy and pain from the front line.
Man dragged away by his feet during a CORE demonstration, NYC, 1964
See more fascinating photos from the 1950s and 1960s by Bruce Davidson here
Gavin Free and Dan Gruchy, known as the Slow Mo Guys, now have a regular series called The Super Slow Show. The first episode is about Hollywood stunts. In this segment from that show, we look at how movie characters run through a pane of glass. In slow motion, of course.
In slow motion, you get to see the details you miss in the movies, although it can be, shall we say, "unglamorous." That's what they said. Well, they're technically stunt men, but not Hollywood stunt men, after all. The entire first episode of The Super Slow Show is available in four parts (plus and intro) at YouTube. -via Tastefully Offensive
A Little Taste of Home by Rocky Davies
Ariel always said she wanted to go where the people are and swore she wanted to do what the people do, so as soon as her tail turned into legs Ariel hit the town hard with Eric so she could make up for lost time. They went out shopping, sightseeing, riding, dancing and drinking, but Ariel's favorite part of the day was when they sat down at a sushi bar and ate some fresh and fantastic tasting food. Ariel loved all the colors and the flavors, and as much as she loved human food she had been missing fish, but there was something really familiar about those rolls, something about the color she couldn't put her finger on until she heard Sebastian's voice in her head...
Show the world you have great taste in geeky clothing with this A Little Taste Of Home t-shirt by Rocky Davies, it's the darkly funny way to update the story of Ariel and Prince Eric and make people smile wherever you go!
Visit Rocky Davies's Facebook fan page, official website, Instagram and Tumblr, then head on over to his NeatoShop for more tasteful designs:
| Tenderloin Meat Juicy Burgers | You Gotta Fight | Fantastic Swords | A Knight to Remember |
View more designs by Rocky Davies | More Funny 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!
