Back when playthroughs and guides for games weren’t available on the Internet, people would seek guidance from a friend, sibling, or a manual of the game. If you didn’t have a knowledgeable person to consult or a manual, you can get stuck in a dungeon or level for days. The Legend of Zelda for the NES is a game that is full of cryptic puzzles and riddles that can take you a while to figure out. Philip Summers is an artist who is known for sketching his own walkthroughs for classic games like the first Legend of Zelda game: 

True to its name, every single sketch of Link, every item, enemy, and map is hand-drawn and every string of words is handwritten. Philip's drawings and words give new life to the game and the land that encompasses it. To be able to see it through this new lens is a pretty magical experience.

The first few pages cover the characters, enemies, items, and a brief rundown on how to play the game. The rest of the guide then covers the overworld and its dungeons. Each dungeon spread features a map of the dungeon and shows off a few of the monsters you’ll find, along with an extremely detailed sketch of the dungeon boss. Seeing these originally 8-bit bosses in this sorta detail is really something to behold. Each dungeon section is also bridged together with story segments and tips on where you or Link should travel next. At times it feels like you’re reading a storybook, the way that Philip has managed to connect together the sections of the game. The book also comes with a useful fold-out map of Hyrule, complete with a key on the side detailing locations, heart containers, and other secrets.

image via nintendolife

A group of people riding on their boat spotted a bear struggling to get a plastic container off its head. Watch how these people were able to help the bear remove the container with precision and care! They did it on the spot too! 

image screenshot via Reddit

Actress and comedian Kristina Wong formed a team of volunteers to make masks during the pandemic. Wong launched a Facebook group called the “Auntie Sewing Squad.” The squad has more than 800 members, and they have distributed more than 55,000 masks to communities in need. CNN has more details: 

Wong is proud of the group. But she is also frustrated.

"I do refer to our group as a 'sweatshop' because I don't want to romanticize it. While we are enjoying each other's company in this very strange time in history, we shouldn't have to be doing this work. This is absolutely the government's job. We should not have had to turn our homes upside down into sweatshops and pull the sheets off our beds to make masks."

image via CNN

Liam introduced his girlfriend Jessie to Star Wars and shared her recap with us. Then they went on to the next movie, The Empire Strikes Back. Months later, she retells what she recalls of the story. While the details are funny, her memory of the plot and storytelling sequence is amazing. I couldn't retell scenes with that much detail of a movie I'd seen yesterday, much less months later. There must have been quite a bit of discussion during the screening; otherwise, how would she ever retain the name Bossk? They've also now seen Return of the Jedi together, so expect an animated recap of that one in a few months. -via Digg

I will always admire the Japanese people for their great attention to detail, their faithfulness to the source material, and their ability to breathe life into fictional characters and places. Check out Japan’s Super Nintendo World, which is Nintendo and Universal’s upcoming Mario-themed area for Universal Studios Japan.

There’s just a stunning attention to detail. Coins rotating in sync! Hidden pipes! A menacing Pirhana Plant! A stack of Goombas! An angry Thwomp! Yoshi!! Every time I watch the video, I see some clever new feature that I had missed before.

[...]

And to give you a better idea of how Super Nintendo World compares to other attractions in the park, here’s a zoomed-out photo showing the Harry Potter-themed park nearby:

Now that right there is just pure dedication.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Attractions Magazine/ The Verge)

6/29
パークフロントホテルから見たSUPER NINTENDO WORLD
3/31にも見ましたがかなり出来上がっている
オブジェクトもいろいろ動いていたし点検も行っている様子
オープン延期にはなったけどエリアに入れる日まで気長に待ってます#USJ#USJファン #SUPERNINTENDOWORLD pic.twitter.com/GMPGxa48sr

— 29Qu (@29QuP2) July 1, 2020

Two years ago, Weird Al Yankovic released his "Hamilton Polka." Now the song has a video, made from the relevant clips in the Hamilton movie now streaming on Disney+! Of course, the speed had to be altered to keep up the accordion's polka beat. And before you ask, Yankovic always gets permission. He even asks permission when it isn't required. -via reddit

In the year 1475, the city of Trent in what is now northern Italy was ruled by prince-bishop Johannes Hinderbach. He was approached by the father of a two-year-old boy named Simon who had gone missing on the evening of Good Friday.

Searches ensued and by Easter Saturday suspicion had lighted on the small Jewish community in the city. The chief magistrate, Giovanni de Salis, had the households of the three main Jewish families searched, but Simon was not to be found. Then on Easter Sunday Seligman, a cook in the household of Samuel (a moneylender), discovered Simon’s body in a water cellar on Samuel’s extensive property. As all historians agree, the body had clearly been planted there. Samuel could have fled but had, up until this point, enjoyed an amicable relationship with the city’s authorities. So, instead, he “trusted the system” and reported the discovery. He also insisted that all members of the community stay put, including visitors who just happened to be in town for the Jewish Passover. That Samuel came forward and complied with the authorities was never mentioned in the ensuing trials.

That didn't matter, and eventually all of Trent's Jewish men were burned at the stake, all the women were imprisoned for years, and locals went on a campaign to make Simon a saint. Even the pope got involved, too late for the Jewish community of Trent, and too late to stop a deceased toddler from becoming a symbol of antisemitism for centuries. Read the story of Simon of Trent at The Daily Beast.

For almost 70 years, it has been accepted that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Now there is speculation about whether another expedition in 1924 was the first. If so, it would not negate Hillary and Norgay's achievement; it would just lengthen their title to the first expedition to reach the summit and return alive.    

Around 1pm on 8 June 1924, George Mallory, one of the era’s leading climbers, and his young companion Andrew Irvine, were spotted as tiny black specks clinging to Everest’s towering Northeast Ridge, just a few hundred metres from the summit. And then the clouds closed in. Irvine has never been seen since, while Mallory’s frozen corpse was finally found in 1999.

Their unfinished story is mountaineering’s greatest mystery. That they died on the mountain over 90 years ago isn’t in doubt, but what exactly happened up there, on the roof of the world, has been argued about endlessly by alpinists and armchair observers for decades.

Did they reach the top of Everest – 29 years earlier than Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay’s accepted first ascent of the planet’s highest peak – before tragedy struck?

When Mallory’s perfectly preserved body was discovered, the photo of his wife that he had sworn to leave on the summit was the only thing missing. That and a Kodak camera carried by the climbers, which remains lost – presumably buried in the ice with the as yet undiscovered remains of Irvine. That camera is the Holy Grail of the adventure world.

Read about Mallory and Irvine and that 1924 expedition, from the reports of the survivors and what we've learned since then, at HistoryExtra. (via Damn Interesting)

(Image credit: Nationaal Archief)

The 1920s were a decadent time, as the world recovered from World War I and the flu pandemic. There was great wealth to flaunt (which disappeared in 1929), newly-empowered women, a thriving movie industry, and beautiful weddings that reflected all of that. Those of high society, royalty, and Hollywood stars were the most elaborate and sell-documented, but weddings among everyday people were also fancy and fashionable. The picture above is of bride Diana Mitford (previously at Neatorama) and her bridesmaids, five of whom were her sisters. See a collection of wedding pictures of the famous and not-so-famous from the Roaring Twenties at Messy Nessy Chic.

While many Independence Day festivities were cancelled this year, the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest went on, albeit without a live audience. To discourage onlookers, the location of the competition was kept under wraps. But the outcome was no surprise: Joey Chestnut won, and set a world record ...again.

Joey Chestnut gobbled down 75 weiners and buns in 10 minutes to win his 13th title. Somewhere around the 8-minute mark, Chestnut made history by eating his 1,000th career dog.

The Coney Island tradition allowed betting this year. The coronavirus crisis forced some changes, too. Spectators weren't allowed to watch in person. Competitors were separated by clear barriers. And the people bringing them fresh supplies wore masks.

Miki Sudo won her seventh title in the women's division, downing 48.5 hot dogs, also a world record. Will anyone ever out-eat these two champions? Chestnut's most serious rival, Matt Stonie, who won the title in 2015, couldn't attend due to coronavirus travel restrictions in California. The lopsided competition affected the betting odds, with Chestnut going in as a -1000 favorite, and Sudo's odds were at -500.

Just when you thought that this year couldn’t get any crazier, here comes a fashion trend this summer that would surely drive you nuts and make you feel disappointed, frustrated, and angry: fish sandals… and people are loving it!

Are these even comfortable to wear?

I got to give it to the person who thought of this, however. He or she is… creative.

Check out the photos of people wearing it over at Sad And Useless.

(Image Credit: Sad And Useless)

You may feel that mowing your lawn is a chore, and let’s face it: it really is a chore. But maybe there’s a way to not make lawn mowing feel like a chore, but instead something to look forward to. This guy may just have found a way to do just that.

Using his carpentry skills, Jason Hibbs from Bourbon Moth Woodworking transformed his dull lawn mower into a cool tank. And now, not only can this mower-turned-panzer cut grass, it can also shoot potatoes from its potato cannon!

Lawn mowing has never been this exciting!

You can watch his full video on how he created this over at his YouTube channel. He also has a short version if you can’t watch the whole thing.

Via Gizmodo

(Image Credit: Bourbon Moth Woodworking/ YouTube)

A woman named Angie Remsen has found a T-Shirt in Thailand that states its love for the United States of America. The design drawn inside the heart, however, does not bear the likeness of the American flag. But maybe the shirt wants to tell us something else, like “The United Kingdom loves the USA”, or something of the sort, but what are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Angie Remsen/ Engrish.com)

Fight scenes are one of the major elements in action films, and they just might be one of the most difficult things to get right in the movie. Everyone on the set should cooperate — the actors, the directors, the cameramen, the crew, and the stuntmen. The result of these people working in harmony is a beautiful fight choreography.

Actor and martial artist Scott Adkins breaks down fight scenes from different films (some of which he had participated in). Which of these scenes hurt a lot? And which of these hurt a little? Which actors hold back their punches and kicks, and which do not? 

Answers on this YouTube video made by GQ Sports.

(Image Credit: GQ Sports/ YouTube)

Softwares and apps are by no means perfect, and so it wouldn’t be surprising if, at some point in time, they fail to deliver what they promised. At other times, however, they deliver more than what you expect them to do. They unintentionally hurt your feelings sometimes as well.

Bored Panda compiles photos of all of these instances. Check them out over at the site.

(Image Credit: Bored Panda)