The slate operator is crucial to filmmaking. They make sure each piece of film is labeled with the scene and take number, plus codes for different camera angles. The loud clap is a marker to synchronize sound. A good slate operator will make each take easy to find for editing. A great one will make it memorable.
Argentinian slate operator Geraldine Brezca has worked with Quentin Tarantino many times, and this compilation shows how she made each snippet of the raw film on Inglourious Basterds memorable. Notice how she uses a word to correspond with the board information. Some of those words are NSFW. -via Kottke
Helene Stapinski knew her father as a quiet man. If she had to count, she’d say that her father only spoke about 20 paragraphs to her in his whole life. Helene’s father died at age 59 (she was 22, then). Now, at age 54, she realizes that her father died young, with many things left unsaid.
We knew Daddy loved us, but not by his words...
Since her father did not talk that much, she did not really know who her father was, until her mother mentioned the love letters he wrote to her mother during his time in the Marine Corps. There Helene found a “verbose and expressive” teenager.
More about this story over at The New York Times.
(Image Credit: Bru-nO/ Pixabay)
This Youtuber had two trucks filled with 50,000 roses each, so that they can be delivered in time to surprise his girlfriend for Valentines Day. That’s right, 100,000 roses in total, all for his special someone. Don’t worry about how wasteful this gesture is, as he shares that all the flowers will be recycled and will be turned into compost afterward. Watch MrBeast share the logistics behind making the grand gesture possible.
Elodie Antoine creates anatomical forms from felt, lycra, and a lot of zippers. The different tissues in the human body are seen in the textiles she uses. Antoine believes that textiles are sensual and transformable, making them the perfect material for creating anatomical sculptures. Colossal has the details:
From a young age, Antoine remembers a fondness for textiles, saying, “using it was obvious for me as both my parents were very interested in knitting and sewing—it was all around me.” She familiarized herself with classic sewing techniques, mastering them to create contemporary forms that transcend technique and fiber. Particularly interesting are her felt sculptures that take on the form of teeth, lower limbs, bones, and other peculiar organic forms. Antoine uses a kitchen knife to slice through the unassuming masses to reveal vibrant anatomical-like cross-sections.
image via Colossal
Now that Valentines Day is over and done, we can talk about rejection and breaking up. A hundred years ago, "handing someone a lemon" was a slang term for just that. There were greeting cards and postcards that would convey the message in an obvious way. Of course that message isn't at all obvious now, and Chantel Tattoli thought it was very nice idea to hand someone a lemon until she researched the history of the gesture. Lemons figured in all sorts of metaphors over time, and idea of using it for romantic rejection in the first part of the 20th century was one of those things everyone understood at the time, but seems rather obscure now. Read about the sour business of handing someone a lemon at The Paris Review. -via Nag on the Lake
In their first six months, babies start babbling, and then speak their first words by their first year. Their minds develop at such a rapid pace so they can learn and interact with their world. How babies learn and develop their speaking ability is called language comprehension. The process isn’t comparable to how adults try to learn a new language, the process hardly needs the duolingo owl to (scarily) remind you that you need to answer new exercises. Psycholinguist Evann Kidd explores this elusive process, and shares his insights with Knowable Magazine:
How do you know that infants can recognize words if they’re too young to speak?
We put electrodes on their head to record electrical activity from the scalp. And then we just play them sentences. These are really simple sentences, such as, “The eagle is in the nest.” And 300 milliseconds later, we play “eagle.” And then we compare the response from the electrodes to “eagle” to the response to another word that they haven’t heard. If we get a deviation in the brain activity in response to the new word compared to the replayed word, we infer that they recognize the replayed word.
image via wikimedia commons
The Knuckle Huck is an unofficial snowboarding event at the XGames. There's somewhat of an explanation here, but it boils down to snowboarders showing off the weirdest and most dangerous stunts they can come up with. No one dies in this video. -via Digg
NASA confirmed that an asteroid is travelling towards Earth at 34,000 miles per hour. The “potentially hazardous” asteroid is larger than the tallest man-made structure in the world, and could come close to intersecting with our planet’s path. IGN has the details:
"Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid's potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth," NASA said in a statement.
The colossal space rock, which is expected to pass over our planet from a distance of around 3.6 million miles, is estimated to have a diameter of around 3,250 feet, making it large enough to potentially "trigger a nuclear winter and mass extinction events" should it collide with Earth.
image via wikimedia commons
Don't try to drive on a flooded road; it can endanger your life. Even if you own a vehicle that is relatively higher than a regular SUV, it isn’t recommended that you try to cross a road clearly not open for crossing. A driver in South Carolina, however, tried to cross a clearly flooded underpass with their red pickup truck. To no one’s surprise, it didn’t work out. The Huffington Post has more details:
The unnamed bystander who recorded the footage told video licensor ViralHog that the driver escaped the sinking vehicle via the back window.
Weather officials use the phrase “turn around, don’t drown” for drivers approaching flooded roads as water levels can be deceptive ― and in some cases, vehicles can sink or get swept away.
The National Weather Service says more than half of all flood-related deaths take place in vehicles. The agency said as little as six inches of water could cause loss of control. Cars can float in just one foot of water, while two feet can carry off even many SUVs.
In addition, water damage can total a vehicle by ruining its electrical systems and flooding the engine.
Even if repaired, these vehicles can have problems with mildew, mold and rust, among other issues.
image screenshot via The Huffington Post
A holistic wellness center aims to make people younger with its programs and services. Altus Health gives its clients the skills that they need to correct unwanted behaviors,and instill muscle memory for positive habits. By analyzing a client’s biometrics, they set the client’s workouts and diets. While these services are great and can help one with instilling positive habits for their health and wellness, it doesn’t come cheap. One can avail Altus Health’s service for a whopping twenty-five thousand dollars. InsideHook has more details:
After the assessment plan is set, the program starts with 60% chiropractic work and 40% exercise. Over time that flips. They also schedule one-on-one yoga sessions and massage therapy, all done within their facilities, which is housed in an industrial block in Santa Monica but has a very zen-like vibe. The gym is simple but feature state-of-the-art equipment. They have ice baths and showers. Sessions are roughly an hour, so your schedule isn’t taxed.
I enter Altus Health wondering if they are one of these predatory places, but to me, their mission seems different. Altus helps folks looking for radical improvement, whether it’s from injuries caused by burnout or accidents, or from being too sedentary (80% of Americans), as well as athletes looking to excel. Their practice is part of a broader trend toward a more holistic approach to wellness, a strategy that may be too nascent to have any clinical efficacy but does merit consideration.
“We were realizing that everyone was running into the same patterns in terms of forcing themselves into a program for a while, having some success, but then reverting back to their old ways,” says Paul Vincent, co-owner of Altus. He started the business several years ago with his brother, Chris, a sports chiropractor who has been working with professional athletes and actors for over 20 years. “We started looking a little more deeply into that, and realized that there are these patterns that most people have around health and a lot of things in their life.”
image via InsideHook
Kaoru Hasegawa left two kitchen knives on the desk of Japan’s Prince Hisahito. Hasegawa was arrested in April on the suspicion of illegally entering the school that the prince attends. The prince, thankfully, was not at school when the man placed the knives on his desk. Hasegawa has been sentenced for his crimes, as Yahoo News detailed:
The man was handed an 18-month sentence, suspended for four years, a Tokyo district court spokesman told AFP.
He was also accused of violating Japan's firearms law.
Hisahito, 13, is the son of Emperor Naruhito's younger brother Akishino, who is first in line to the throne.
The presiding judge said Friday that Hasegawa "carried out the crime because of selfish thoughts that he wanted to get attention," according to public broadcaster NHK.
"There's no room for leniency," the judge said.
image via Yahoo News
Of all the students who had applied to study at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, one of the top medical schools in the US, 364 made it to the final round of applicants being considered for 50 slots. On Thursday, acceptance emails were sent out. To all 364 applicants. Oops. Three hours later, a correction was sent.
"... Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine erroneously emailed 364 letters of acceptance to talented, engaging individuals seeking an appointment to the medical school. Soon after the emails were sent, a technical error was discovered and the letters of acceptance were withdrawn by e-mail," wrote Mayo Clinic Spokeswoman Heather Carlson Kehren in a statement late Thursday night. "All affected applicants have been contacted by phone. We deeply regret having caused disappointment to these applicants, and we are continuing to investigate the issue."
A later email was sent to 315 applicants, withdrawing the offer of acceptance. By then some students had already withdrawn their applications to other medical schools. Some shared their disappointment online.
"I literally ran down the halls of this prestigious academic institution yelling to everyone that I got into Mayo. I burst into my mentor's office and told him the news and he hugged me. I called other mentors and they immediately spread the news, resulting in me getting several texts congratulating me," wrote one poster. "The worst part about it was telling my mentor in person. He looked at me like how I'd imagine you'd look at a puppy who just got hit by a car ... It'll take me a while to get over this."
Read the details of the story at the Post Bulletin. -via reddit
(Image credit: Christo and Melissa Philips)
Jane Britton was a knowledgeable and well-liked graduate student in anthropology at Harvard. After she missed an important test, her boyfriend and a neighbor went into her apartment and found her bludgeoned to death. Who could have killed her? Was it a member of her anthropology team? One of the hippies she'd been known to hang around with? A criminal who knew that the locks on those apartments didn't work?
With a bone-dry suspect pool, police focused instead on evidence from the crime scene. Though they had managed to find traces of semen left behind by the killer during the sexual assault, the existing technology wasn't advanced enough for them to use that DNA to locate a match. They also discovered that a sharp stone—perhaps sharp enough to kill— Britton had received as an archaeological souvenir from the Mitchells had gone missing from her residence.
Then, just two days after Britton’s body was found, Cambridge Chief of Police James F. Reagan announced a black-out on any further news of the investigation until he himself decided to release more information, citing inaccuracies in media coverage of the crime. He wouldn’t elaborate, but he did give one last parting update: They had located the sharp stone.
As for any other details—where they found it, for example, or if it happened to be smeared with blood—Reagan didn’t say. The public was left to assume that the potential murder weapon was yet another dead end.
That was in 1969. Nothing else was publicized about the case until public requests spurred the investigators to reopen the case in 2017. Read how time and modern technology made all the difference in a murder mystery at Mental Floss. -via Strange Company
(Image source: Middlesex District Attorney)
Ten movie critics from Indiewire have constructed another movie list we can all argue over. What makes a great romantic comedy is a matter of opinion, as some feel the laughs matter more than the romance, or vice versa. Some of the movies really stretch the definition of "romantic comedy." It includes Bend It Like Beckham, which is a sports buddy movie, contains hardly any comedy, and just barely features a romance. Conversely, Coming to America, a hilarious movie centered around a romance, is not on the list, but is dismissed as an "urban fantasy." I might have more quibbles, but I haven't seen many of these movies. Check out the ranked list of 50 romantic comedies and feel your blood boil at Indiewire.
Steve Irwin (1962-2006) was a famous wildlife expert, conservationist, TV show host, and daredevil known as the "Crocodile Hunter" for his dangerously close encounters with wild animals. His son, Robert Irwin, now 16 years old, is walking his father's path, even hosting his own animal encounters show.
On Twitter and Instagram, Robert occasionally recreates iconic photos of his father, such feeding Murray the crocodile. You can see a curated list of other photo remakes at My Modern Met.
