Though I will refrain from mentioning what makes the Mountain character from Game of Thrones so important (in case people are still catching up on books or last season), but it is safe to say he is one of the more intimidating characters ever put into a universe like this. Just a lumbering mountain of a man (sorry, that was too good to resist) who seems like he could stomp anyone who steps in his way to death without batting an eye.
DeviantART member Paranoidvin (Marvin del Mundo) made this amazing representation of the character that really just sums him up incredibly well. He is a man named after a mountain for a reason, and this piece really seems to capture that.
The hollowed eyes in the background? Well, I wont ruin that for you, but brilliant touch.
Nicolas Cage is one of those actors who has sort of become a mockery of himself. Seemingly, post some of his later roles, people have slowly figured out that Nicolas Cage is "batpoop" crazy. But what people seem to miss out on is the fact that Nicolas Cage has always been crazy. This is not some new thing he has adopted in the 90's and 2000's to help make him memorable. No, that man has always oozed crazy into everything he has done. But in some cases, that crazy results in something kind of awesome.
Take for example, this scene from the cult classic, Vampire's Kiss. In this scene, Nic Cage is talking to his psychiatrist about filing things. What begins as a fairly simple discussion turns into a Nic Cage moment that very well may be the best thing he has ever done. From his exxagerated movements, to how over-the-top he is by the time he reaches Z, everything about it pure, foaming madness. But in the best way possible.
Honestly, on the off-chance that I have kids one day, this scene is how they are learning the alphabet.
A ghost town is, by definition, a deserted town with few or no remaining inhabitants. But the name itself strikes such ghastly imagery in our minds. The term itself invokes thoughts of old, gray, cob-webbed towns where only the spirits of the dead walk the streets (and in a few of these cases, that could be true). These places were often abandoned for very specific reasons. In some cases, they were small towns built around the time of the gold rush that just could not thrive, and in some other examples, you will see they were abandoned for very different reasons. Regardless of how or why they were abandoned, these places are undeniably creepy if you ever get to see them in real life, and a few of them even have rumors of curses associated with them for all who visit. Here are 7 of the scariest ghost towns in America.
DudleyTown in Cornwall, Connecticut
Image Credit: National Enquirer
DudleyTown in Connecticut is often also referred to as "the village of the damned" because of the strange rumors that swirl around it. Founded in the 1700's, it was a settlement for farmers, and was actually never a real town (though has since become one of the most well known "ghost towns" in the country). It was actually land owned by the Dudley family who allowed more people to come in as it grew and thrived for a small time.
Problem was, it was not ideal land for farming, so over time, people just sort of left and went to places with richer soil and better farming conditions. Thing is, the place has quite a reputation now. Rumor is (for us locals who live in the Northeast, anyway) is that if you visit this abandoned town and take something with you when you leave, you place a curse upon your family. But that is the thing that makes ghost towns so cool. The (most likely untrue) statements and rumors that seem to surround them.
Bodie in California
Perhaps one of the most well known ghost towns in all of America, Bodie was established in 1859 after William Bodie found some gold nearby. Of course, that brought in a decent amount of people who quickly seemed to figure out that William's find was not common, so just like with most ghost towns, everyone upped and left when they saw it was not going to "pan" out as planned. Get it, because they used pans to find gold? High quality wordplay right there.
What sets Bodie apart from most other ghost towns in the country is that it is the ghost town that still remains the most untouched. In other words, the old shacks people used to live in are all still there. Nothing has been reconstructed or touched. So you walk through it, they say it feels like you are walking through some haunted postcard of a time and place long forgotten.
You ever heard the varying cries and calls of the Kookaburra bird? Trust me, this is one of those questions you would know the answer to if you had. These particular birds have a call that is quite unlike any other bird you have ever heard.
Though these birds are indigenous to New Guinea and Australia, the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens got their hands on one and decided to show us just how this remarkable bird communicates.
It may not be music to your ears, but it is quite an aural spectacle.
I, myself, love a good conspiracy theory here and there. They don't just exist to rile up feathers. Conspiracy theories exist to help teach us to think outside of the box. To question the versions of stories we get from mass media and life itself. There is nothing wrong with questioning things. Yet I also know some conspiracy theories need to be taken with a grain of salt.
The conclusion you draw about The Beatles Never Broke Up site is up to you, but I feel like more of you needed to see it and hear what it claims. On the site, there is a man who says he is in possession of a Beatles tape that was never released and that proves they kept working on music together, even after they have claimed a public break up.
Truth is, I am not here to tell you the guy is crazy or tell you he isn't. I am simply here to tell you that, if you are a fan of the classic band, you'd be doing yourself a great injustice by not at least skimming the site and taking a listen to the MP3's he provides. It may very well be the ramblings of a lunatic, but if it is, they are some very interesting ramblings, regardless of what they do or do not prove.
Radiohead is one of the most beloved bands on Earth, and with good reason. The band consistently puts out enthralling and original music in a bleak landscape of bubblegum pop and hip hop bravado. Though the last couple years have left Radiohead fans drooling for new music, it is finally coming.
With Thom Yorke's new album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, already released on BitTorrent, seems there has been some word that Radiohead is working on a new album (which has been confirmed). The coolest aspect of this is the Radiohead-owned PolyFauna app that the band may be leaking some of their new tunes on.
Though the app had not been updated since the King of Limbs album many years ago, last week some new snippets of music appeared on the app that many rabid fans think may be some of the studio work the band have been doing in the last two weeks. Though we cannot be sure the music we are hearing on the app is finalized or even stuff we will hear when a new record finally does drop from this stellar band, who cares? It is new Radiohead music and it is free.
Only a fool would complain about such glorious things.
First of all, we need to point out, we do not support or condone any one type of religion or another here at Neatorama. What we do is provide the internet with links to the weirdest, funniest, and most interesting stuff we can find on the web. That having been said, have you heard about the Satanic Children's Book of Big Activities?
Well, if you live in Florida, rumor is this may be getting distributed to schools, though it is not quite what you may think it is. The Satanic Temple is a political organization that tests the limits of the First Amendment to show how our government and its supporters favor Christianity to the exclusion of other religions. It is not about Satan in so much as it is about showing that if you are going to allow the teaching of certain religions in schools, the same freedoms should be granted for all religions and not just Christianity. Yes, they do that in an unconventional way, yet here we are talking about, which means it is working.
Watching fail videos can be a very interactive experience. The reason I say this is, it is like you can almost feel the impacts in these videos. Often, whilst watching, it is hard not to let out an "OUCH" out loud and grab the respective part on your own body you see getting hurt in the video. While I know it can be somewhat cruel to laugh at other people's pain, at no point did I say you needed to laugh at any of this. I am simply pointing out that are worse ways to spend five minutes.
Keep in mind, in most instances these people were trying to flip over walls or mountain biking down extreme courses. It is not like these people just "failed" and got hurt in their living rooms. No, most of these cats were being "extreme", and if there is one thing I know about being "extreme", it often ends in broken bones.
Let me start this off by saying I am in-between camps right now when it comes to this game. The following thoughts and feelings on Destiny do not represent Neatorama's feelings about the game whatsoever. That disclaimer made, writer Dan Seitz over at Uproxx put together his thoughts on the game right here, and he has some very hefty accusations to lob at Destiny. But the truth is, going from reviews and people I have talked to, he sums up a good portion of how many gamers feel about the game that was to be Bungie's FIRST non-Halo game. One particular thing that seemed to stand out to him:
Destiny’s problems come into painfully sharp relief once you hit level 20, which the game has capped as the highest level you can earn through experience points. You can get up to level 30 by collecting gear that has “Light” as an attribute; the more light you have, the higher your level. One problem; the loot system is designed to keep you playing the same missions over and over again on the off-chance you’ll collect a Legendary or Rare engram… which has a strong chance of turning out to be complete and total vendor trash you’ll never use.
Though I will need a little more time with the game myself before I can determine my own solid thoughts, it just seems fair to represent all sides of the coin. Whether you agree or not, his piece is very well thought out, and makes some very valid points about a game that could have potentially been a game-changer, but might have just missed that mark.
I have this weird fascination with deadly kid's toys. Meaning toys for children that generally were not well thought out or were not looked into ahead of time for safety precautions. In the 50's, you could pretty much hand cancer-causing mercury to kids and tell them to play with it. But thankfully, over time, things have changed.
The cool thing, we don't forget.
A great many of these deadly and dangerous toys may not exist anymore, but our minds wont let us erase them. There is a list of 24 Dangerous Toys from Past and Present over at URLesque, and I wont lie, a few of the items on the list shocked me. We are not just talking about small objects kids could choke on. We are talking about toys that could seriously kill your child. Like the above pictured "Atomic Energy Lab" which was just chock full of things no child should ever handle without a hazmat suit.
Now you just need to sit a kid down in front of the TV with a video game controller in their hand and they are fine for hours. But in the olden days, fun often went hand-in-hand with the risk of injury or death. I mean, all I need to end this on is two words to make my point:
Art is one thing, but art in motion is on a whole different and divine level. The performers for Cirque de Soleil are some of the best in the world at what they do. It is like a Terry Gilliam film brought to life before your very eyes, with zero room for failure.
To get an idea of just how utterly staggering their work is, check out Sparked. Humans and machines, moving in unison. It is like some beautiful fable that unfolds before your eyes in ways you could never have imagined. Keep in mind, were this a scene from a film, it would be all added by computers and MADE to look perfect, but this is live. This is real. This IS perfect. No CG. Just some remote controlled drones and some brilliant minds behind it all.
It is so mesmerizing it is hard to wrap your mind around.
It is actually quite reminiscent of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" but from Fantasia, where Mickey Mouse makes the brooms come to life, and then things get a little out of hand. This is like an adult version of that, only even more amazing to watch. Make sure to check out their YouTube page for more beautiful performances like Sparked.
Sometimes, a picture just speaks for itself. I feel like I could sit here and tell you all about a thousand reasons why the above example works so well, but the people who will love it will love it right away, and the people who don't get it, wont get it no matter what I say.
So rather, I will just tell you this is a piece of street art from London street artist JPS, and his work is some of the best and funniest stuff out there right now. While many street artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairy make a lot of statements about society and politics through their art, often, JPS' work will muster a laugh first, which is nice.
So do you guys know about Line-X? Normally, I try to avoid shilling products here, but this is science at some of its most mind-blowing, and you sort of need to see it to believe it. The long and the short is, Line-X is a spray coating full of polymers that makes pretty much anything in the world indestructible (shoulda tried it on my last relationship, wokka wokka).
What really makes the product so awesome is that they willingly test it on their YouTube channel. The stuff really blows the mind, but is taken to a whole new level when they try a watermelon smash. I think it is pretty clear how this will turn out, but you need to witness it yourself so that you can walk around all day buzzed off the madness of modern science. I am refraining from quoting Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad right now, but I think you know what I am thinking.
Suffer for your art, they always say. Thing is, why do they say that? Why should someone suffer for art? Seems Radiohead's lead singer, Thom Yorke, must have believed that theory when he helped concoct the idea for the "No Surprises" video from their diamond selling O.K Computer album.
The video features Thom Yorke inside a diver's helmet as the helmet fills up with water. He then has to sing most of the song underwater, and get to the final bridge before running out of air. The trick was, there was no trick. They did film him singing slightly faster than he was on the album and slowed it down for the video so it would all sync up, but that is it.
Thing is, if you watch Meeting People is Easy, you see the behind-the-scenes of how they did this, and there were MANY times Thom had to pull the helmet off as he was just about to black out. You can actually tell how relieved he is in the video when that first pocket of oxygen hits him and you see him just breathing it in deep, in relief. Amazing stuff, really.
The end result is a mesmerizing video that works incredibly well with the stunning composition itself, and ends up leaving you as breathless as Thom himself by the time the whole thing is over.
Did you know in Georgia that chickens are not legally allowed to cross the road? It must have something to do with tht awful joke. That is one of MANY laws from various states that are inexplicably still on the books, even though they make no sense. Got another one for you.
It is illegal to sell your eyeballs in Texas. I gotta tell you, I am glad I found this out now as me and a bunch of friends were planning a trip there in October to sell our eyeballs. Man, that would have been a wasted journey, huh?
It is cool because they break the list down to different states, so it is sweet to scan the list and see what kind of weird law your own state may have. For example, I am just outside Rhode Island as I type this, and apparently, when I am there, I cannot be sold a toothbrush and toothpaste on a Sunday.
I am going to go test this law this Sunday. Will do a follow up and let you know how it went.
