Artist Junior Fritz Jacquet crumples and folds toilet paper rolls until they make faces displaying anguish, happiness, disgust and more. Once they're folded right, he adds just a bit of color to help bring out their color and then they're ready to go.

Link

If you missed Comic Con, you missed more than just the costumes of course. You also missed the array of personality types that seem to pop up at these large-scale geekfests.You may think you know about the attendees, based on the stereotypes, but really, there's a lot more too it than you thought.

The Stereo-typical Geek

These are the kids that smell like they haven’t bathed in a week and still get giddy over the concept of seeing a girl “IRL.” While revolting to everyone around them, they still think they’re total studs and try to chat up the illustrious booth girls somehow hoping their Jedi mind tricks will actually help convince the girl they are cool. Even if you don't see many of these geeks, you most certainly will smell them, as this sign helps demonstrate.

The Twilight Fans

These are the newest breed at the convention and their presence actually worried organizers. There was even talk of organizing things so the panels and booths these tweens were expected to visit would be super far away from the things the geeks were expected to be interested in. Fortunately, these fans actually blended in just fine and were largely the same as the Harry Potter fans that have become a fixture at the convention. While it's impossible to say how long these fans will stay in the scene, it will most certainly not be a problem having the around.

The Booth Babe

These are professional hotties who actually have no interest in anything geekish, particularly comic books, video games and even shows like "Heroes" or "Chuck." While they would normally never be willing to be seen with the average people visiting these conventions, they’re happy to chat with them and pose for photos as long as there is a nice check of at least $200 a day in it for them. In more recent years, the standard booth babes have been reduced, thanks in part to Suicide Girls, who tend to have far more of an interest in these type of activities. In fact Suicide Girls even had a pre-Comic Con collection of Cosplay shots just to emphasize the girls' natural geekiness.

The Cross-Over Costumer

Like Star Wars and Sherlock Holmes? Why not be Jedi Sherlock? What about cooking and Star Wars? Chef Darth Vader of course. One of the most famous crossover fans is Elvis Storm Trooper (to the left), who not only has his own website, but also travels to as many conventions as possible every year. Of course, he always makes it to the San Diego Comic Con every year.

The Star Wars Fans

Comic Con has always been a huge supporter of Star Wars, and not only because it’s a scifi classic. You see, George Lucas actually gave a preview of the movie to fans in 1977 before the movie was released and before the convention was even a big deal. The cult following was inevitable.
Of course, modern day Star Wars fans at the convention tend to be extreme. There are fans who make up their own characters as part of their own fan fiction and there are people dressed as characters who were only shown for a matter of seconds in the film.

The Trekkies

Image Via Stately English Manor

Despite the stereotypes of comic conventions loaded with Klingons, the Trekkies were actually a dying breed for the last ten or so years. But not this year. Since the newest movies are always a major inspiration for costumes (last year The Dark Knight was huge), Star Trek fans were everywhere this year. Interestingly, it was easy to spot the old-school Trekkies, who had only put their gear on the shelf for a few years, and the new-school Trekkies.

The Guy Way Too Into His Character

These guys can be more than a little scary. While a lot of people get into character and enjoy acting their roles, there always seems to be at least a few costumed villains that seem to be living out their character's lives. Unfortunately, there's no psychological test given to people dressed up as villains prior to entry.

So far no one's been severely injured, but it's only a matter of time.

The Weirdo Hippie Guy

This guy's a rare breed, but there always seems to be at least one of them at the Convention. They all seem to have taken a few too many acid hits. No one, particularly these guys themselves, actually understands why they are so interested in showing up at the convention every year, but the overall accepting attitude of the attendees makes it a welcome place for these "unique" individuals.

The Steampunks

Steampunk inventions and costumes have been featured many times on Neatorama, but the number of posts is nowhere near the number of steampunks at Comic Con. These guys have always been at the convention, but this last year they've really stepped up their numbers. If you're interested in learning more about the steampunks at Comic Con this year, there is a great article over at KPBS.

The Lolitas

I have to admit, these are some of my favorite Comic Con fans because I just can't get enough of the outfits. Just like the steampunks, lolitas have always been around at Comic Con, but their numbers really shot up this year. While many people associate the lolitas with gothic culture, the ones at the convention are more of the Japanophile sort and frequently flock to Giant Robot and other Japanese toy booths to see the newest and hottest imports from their country of choice.

If you missed out on the San Diego Comic Con this year, you weren't alone -tickets sold out months in advance, leaving a whole lot of people locked out. If you were one of the many who wanted to go and couldn't, or if you just are interested in the event, now's your chance to see one of the best parts of the con -the costumes. These pictures include my top 20 favorite costumes, but there are a whole lot more out there. If you're interested in seeing more convention pictures, be sure to use the links at the bottom of the article. There's always a lot of cross-over costumes at Comic Con and for some reason, they tend to mostly involve Star Wars. These guys were seventies Darth and Boba Fett. I missed out on the opportunity of getting a picture of another one along these lines, the storm troopper with a gold, disco-ball tiled helmet.

Here's another great Star Wars cross-over costume. While Chef Vader is good, it wouldn't have been half as good without the addition of Jar Jar's head on a platter. For some reason, it always seems even cooler when the costumed character is an older person. Here's a perfect example, and yet another Star Wars cross-over costume, this time a Jedi Holmes. Of course, Boba Fett wanted me to remind you that there are plenty of classic Star Wars costumes as well. Contrary to popular belief, there are actually a whole lot of very hot women at comic con. These evil cheerleaders are only the tip of the iceberg. Here's further proof that there are some major hotties at the con. This tailed pirate may not make sense, but I didn't hear too many complaints. This couple is here every year dressed in Alice In Wonderland gear. Next year though, there will undoubtedly be an increase in these costumes due to the upcoming Tim Burton film. This young girl designed and created this fantastic dress, which had already won her a masquerading award at an anime convention. These gentlemen showed up to represent one of the greatest things that ever came out of Mad Magazine, Spy Vs. Spy. There were a whole lot of Watchmen costumes this year, as it was one of the most recent and popular comic book movies before the convention. I think this Rorschach was one of the best at the event. If you don't recognize this guy, you won't be alone. He's dressed up to help promote his booth. A lot of people do this to get attention for their small-press comics. Another popular approach is hiring a "booth babe." Speaking of using costumes and babes to get attention for a booth, here's one combining the two. What a cute costume, what a sexy girl...you can bet they had a lot of traffic at their booth. Here's a more classic booth babe. While she's still in costume, it isn't anything nearly as off-the-wall as the cutie above. Still, I'd say she got her message across. Couple's costumes are always popular at the convention. Here's a great pair of X Men, for example. Ghostbusters always have a big presence at the convention, partially because once you make a huge proton pack, you aren't going to scrap it in the following years. This costume is actually a major rarity. While there are many Disney costumes every year, there's rarely a woman dressed up as anything besides Alice or a Disney princess. I'm a big fan of the fairies in Sleeping Beauty, so this getup was one of my favorites. If you're a big fan of the male Disney characters, you'd likely enjoy this Jack Sparrow, who not only looked the part, but played it well. You may have a problem with his drinking Full Throttle while in costume, but just try and convince me that a real Jack Sparrow wouldn't be downing this stuff like crazy if he had it. Cobra Commander is always a hip choice, but he may be overdone next year after the new GI Joe movie comes out. Personally, I always am reminded of the Cobra Commander for president campaigns when I see these guys. Lastly, not all women dressed up at Comic Con have to dress sexy and here's a perfect example of a cute and sweet Harlequin costume. They're another popular one every year. Lastly, as promised, here are a few links for other Comic Con galleries: For a few great costume galleries, here's one on Geeks Are Sexy and my other pics this year.and for 2008, here's one by Rue The Day and one on the Official Star Wars Blog. There's even a few great Flickr sets of 2008 and 2007 costumes. As far as merch goes, here's a great post on things available there at Boing Boing Gadgets, one for the giant Stitch vinyl toys on display, and one for general stuff seen at the con. And one for things last year. Lastly, if you just want to see some more cute girls at Comic Con, there's one for that too.

Long has the platypus been referred to as a “freak” or a “joke by God.” But darn it, these critters are awesome, interesting and unique. If anything, they’re really super animals and everyone else is just jealous. After all, they take a little bit of all kinds of good animals and make one excellent and one-of-a-kind family of animals.

Photo Via Urville Djasim [Flickr]

The Platypus Is Not A Fake
Many of you have likely never seen a platypus in your local zoo. In fact, because most zoos only like to take animal species that are 1)native, 2)endangered or 3)can be successfully bred in captivity, few zoos actually have these weird critters. Platypuses are only native to a small area of the world, are completely not endangered and only a few platypus babies have been born under human-induced conditions. Given its sparse appearance in zoos and its truly bizarre appearance and features, it’s not entirely uncommon to hear people jokingly refer to the platypus as an imaginary creature.

Now just imagine you’re living back in 1798, when Europeans first discovered the creature. The first things they sent to the UK to prove its existence were merely a pelt and a sketch of the animal. Is it any surprised that most British scientists believed the creature was fake? Scottish zoologist Robert Knox was so certain that the dead animal was a fake that he actually took scissors to its skin to look for stitches.

It’s Named For Its Flat Feet and Bird Snout
This is one critter that is very adequately named. Most of us know the platypus by its common name, which is Greek for “flat foot.” This title was the original name of the creature, but couldn’t be used for its genus name because it turned out that the ambrosia beetle already had the title in its Latin name.

In 1800, physiologist Johann Blumenbach described the platypus as Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, meaning “paradoxical bird snout.” His name later developed into the official title for the animal, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, or “duck-like.” This is why you so often hear the term “duck-billed platypus,” even though there is only one species of the animal.



Plural Problems
You may have noticed this article has so far only mentioned the animal in its singular form. That’s no accident, pluralizing the creature has proven to be quite a problem not for just laymen, but even to scientists. There is still no universally accepted plural to the word. Most people believe the plural form should be “platypi,” but the real Greek plural would be “platypodes.” Scientists stay away from both of those terms and prefer to use “platypuses” or just “platypus” no matter how many in question.

If you ever get in a heated debate with someone about the subject, just remember –you’ll probably be right no matter what you say.

Watch Out, They’re Poisonous
Yes, on top of being one of only five mammals to lay eggs, the platypus also had to distinguish itself by being one of the few mammals to be venomous as well.

While both male and females are born with spurs on their rear ankle, the female's will fall off within her first year. The males will begin to produce a venom mix in a kidney shaped-area behind their spur. This venom contains three proteins that are only found in the platypus and is powerful enough to kill small animals, including dogs. The venom is not lethal to humans, but may cause severe pain that lasts for weeks.

Because the males are the only ones with venom and the poison production rises during breeding season, it is believed that the main function of the venom is to help the animals assert dominance over one another.

Platypus Women Are All Funky
The males have poisonous barbs. That doesn’t make the female any less strange than the males. The platypus females are lacking teats of any kind and though they have two ovaries, only the left one is functional. In order to feed their young without any nipples, the female platypus secretes its milk through pores in its skin that are collected in grooves on her abdomen, where the babies lap it up.

How their chromosomes choose the animals sex in the first place is also strange. Whereas most mammals have only two sex chromosomes, platypuses have ten! While they are mammals in most ways, these chromosomes seem much closer to the sex chromosomes of birds. Scientists still don’t know how their sex determination system works.

Image Via ccdoh1 [Flickr]

It’s Electric!
Ok, that’s a little misleading. The platypus isn’t electric, but it does hunt using electric fields generated by the muscular contractions of its prey. These animals and echinadas are known as monotremes and are the only mammals known to hunt by electric current.

The platypus has electroreceptors in the skin of its bill that can be used to help it search for fish while underwater. When they are hunting, they close their eyes, ears and nose completely and dig in the bottom of a stream with their bill. They then load up their cheeks with food until they get back to the surface. Unlike many other semi-aquatic mammals, platypuses cannot hold their breath very long –only about 30 seconds or so.

They’re Quite Popular in the Media
The general public didn’t really know much about platypuses until 1939, when National Geographic published an article about the challenge facing scientists who were trying to raise the animal in captivity.

Since then, many people have fallen in love with the creature and its become a popular mascot for a variety of different things, including Mac OS X, the Brisbane Expo ’88 and the 2000 Sydney Olympics. It also is featured on the back side of the Australian twenty cent coin. Green Day and Mr. Bungle have songs about the animal and it is also a popular characters on children’s TV shows including Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Source #1, #2, #3

David Bowie is a great musician with a wide variety of musical talent. He also has a heck of an interesting life story, with far more interesting details than I could actually include in this post.



David Bowie at the O'Keefe Center in Toronto, Canada (1976) Photo: jlacpo [Flickr]

“Bowie” is Loaded with Alter Egos
Although he was born David Robert Hayward-Jones in 1947, he had already decided to change his name to “Davie Jones” by the sixties. Unfortunately, this caused confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkeys, so he changed it to “David Bowie” in 1966. The inspiration for the last name came from the hero of the Alamo, Jim Bowie.

By 1972, he already became someone else, taking on the androgynous personality of Ziggy Stardust. This character helped Bowie get a foothold into stardom with the revolutionary themed album, Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars.

After Ziggy’s retirement, a new persona took over, known as “The Thin White Duke.” This character was based on the character Bowie played in The Man Who Fell to Earth. Unfortunately, The Thin White Duke was a rather negative character and, when mixed with excessive cocaine use, he caused quite a bit of a stir by saying and doing things to support fascism and Nazism. Since the Thin White Duke’s retirement, Bowie has had to work rather hard to distance himself from his statements of the time, and even donated $10,000 to the NAACP.

He’s Big on Collaborations
David Bowie has worked with some of the most cutting edge artists in the music industry, as well as some of the most highly-regarded musicians in modern history. One of his closest friends since the beginning was Iggy Pop, who Bowie helped get through some of the tougher times by recording the songs they co-wrote together once he was a household name. The two also toured together on multiple occasions and even lived together in West Berlin throughout a period of the eighties.

Some of the other big names he’s worked with include John Lennon, Lou Reed, Bing Crosby, Pete Townshend, Queen, Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Frampton, Trent Reznor, Toni Basil, Annie Lennox and actress-turned-singer Scarlett Johansson.

Bowie is a British National Treasure

David has been named number 29 out of 100 Greatest Britons. He is one of the ten best-selling musicians in UK pop history. He was previously offered the chance to be named as Commander of the British Empire in 2000 and a Knight in 2003, but he declined the opportunities. In 2003, the Sunday Express named Bowie as the second richest entertainer in the UK with over £510 million, but in 2005, the Sunday Times Rich List said he actually only had £100 million.

His Eye is Permanently Dilated

At the age of 15, Bowie and his friend George Underwood fought over a girl. George was wearing a ring and hit David in the eye, which resulted in David having to stay out of school for eight months so he could get multiple operations to protect his eyesight. He almost went blind from the incident and the pupil stayed permanently dilated, resulting in David’s having faulty depth perception. People commonly think his eyes are two different colors, but it only an illusion due to the extra blackness of the injured eye.

Even after the fight, David and George stayed friends and Bowie even hired Underwood to do the artwork on some of his early albums.

He Might be Bad Luck

David appeared on a show hosted by his friend Marc Bolan of T Rex in 1977. Shortly afterward, Bolan died in a car crash. For Christmas that year, he joined Bing Crosby in a rendition of “Little Drummer Boy.” Only one month after the record was complete, Crosby died. After that, Bowie was quoted as saying he was hesitant to be a guest artist anymore because, “everyone I was going on with was kicking it.”

He Really Gets His Kicks Acting

Aside from pretending to be other people in his concerts, he actually has always showed a big interest and aptitude in acting. His first major role was in the 1976 film, The Man Who Fell to Earth. Following the critical acclaim of that role, he expanded his acting resume by playing in the 1979 movie; Just a Gigolo; the 1980 Broadway production of The Elephant Man; the 1980 BBC’s adaptation of Baal; the 1986 film, Absolute Beginners; and his most famous role as the Goblin King in the Labyrinth. He’s since played in a number of movies including: The Last Temptation of Christ; The Linguini Incident; Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me; Basquiat; Gunslinger’s Revenge; Mr. Rice’s Secret; and The Prestige. He even received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1997.

He’s Got A Revolving Door On His Closet

A common question people ask about David Bowie is “Is he gay or bi or not?” Unfortunately, this answer isn’t so clear. He seems to shed his sexuality as much as he changes his egos around.

In 1972, David outed himself in an interview with Melody Maker newspaper. Around this time, he also frequently fed on rumors that he and Iggy Pop were fooling around together. He repeated these rumors in a 1976 interview with Playboy, saying, “It’s true –I am a bisexual…I suppose it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

But then, he changed his tune. In a 1983 interview with Rolling Stone, he said, it was “the biggest mistake I ever made.” By 1993, he decided that he was always a “closet heterosexual” and that “it wasn’t something I was comfortable with at all.”

By 2002, he seemed to decide that being bisexual had more to do with where he was trying to sell records, saying “I don’t think it was a mistake in Europe, but it was a lot tougher in America. I had no problem with people knowing I was bisexual…I felt that [bisexuality] became my headline over here for so long. America is a very puritanical place, and I think it stood in the way of so much I wanted to do.”

The Life Aquatic With David Bowie

The soundtrack for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou featured cast member Seu Jorge singing a number of David Bowie songs with tracks slightly altered lyrics to fit the movie’s plot. Bowie later remarked, “Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs acoustically in Portuguese I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with"

Sources #1, #2, #3

Web Urbanist has a great post featuring 15 spectacular suitcases. While the one above has a distinct political message about human trafficking, not all of them do. Some of the bags are just really artistic or neat looking.

Link

If you don't really know much about wombats, you aren't alone. In fact, there's not much information on them compared with other animals. Still, they're darn cute and there's no real reason for us to know more about kangaroos or koalas than wombats. With this in mind, here's your chance to educate yourself in the wide world of wombat wonder.

Just So You Know, Wombats Aren’t Badgers

Image Via Timmy Toucan [Flickr]

But they used to be confused with them by early settlers. In fact, quite a few places named with the word ‘badger’ were actually supposed to be named for wombats. A few examples include Badger Creek, Victoria and Badger Corner Tasmania.
After a while they did start getting their due credit though. Wombat, New South Wales, asteroid 6827 Wombat and more are named (correctly) after the little marsupials.

They’re Totally Square
Or at least, their poops are. Their 14 day long digestion helps aid their survival in desert conditions by allowing them to digest every nutrient possible. Interestingly, this process allows them to create some of the most uniquely shaped feces in the animal kingdom –a perfect square.

They’re All Backwards
While most marsupials have a pouch that sits upwards, wombat’s pouches face down. The reason for this is the wombat’s need to dig extensive burrows. If they had pouches like kangaroos or koalas, their pouches and babies would be loaded with dirt -that would be a long 6 or 7 months of life for the poor babies living in the pouch.

Your Wombat Friends Are A Little Slow


Wombats aren’t keen on speed. They like to take shortcuts and have been known to bite their way through plants or farmer’s fences rather than walking around them –giving them the name “bulldozers of the bush.” When they need to get out of the way of predators though, it’s a whole different story. Scared wombats can run up to 25 miles per hour for a full minute and a half –about the same top speed of human runners.

Wombats Got Back

Image Via Timmy Toucan [Flickr]

No, I’m not talking Sir Mix-a-Lot style, of course, he still might like the furry critters. But wombats really do have a big, strong butt. In fact, it’s their main form of defense. In the wild, both dingoes and Tasmanian devils prey on the creatures. Most of a wombat’s behind is made of cartilage, making it hard for the predator to bite through when attacking from the rear.
Their other main defensive move is made by diving into a tunnel, waiting for the attacker to put their head in the hole and then thrusting up with their massive legs. This smashes the predator’s head on the roof of the tunnel.

They Were Huge Back In The Day
The Giant Wombat was a common species even when the earliest humans began to inhabit Australia. In fact, it’s believed that the aborigines actually helped cause the extinction of these giants through excessive hunting and habitat alteration. These giant wombats were the size of rhinoceroses and were the largest marsupials in the history of the world.

When Wombats Aren’t Cuddly, They’re Terribly Vicious

Image Via Feverblue [Flickr]

When held in captivity, the creatures can be made somewhat tame and even may allow park and zoo visitors to pet or hold them. On the downside, this lack of fear makes them more aggressive than their wild counterparts. As a result, a lot of people have been attacked, bit and knocked over by scared or angry wombats. One naturalist, Harry Frauca, was bitten in the leg while wearing rubber boots, trousers and thick wool socks. Despite all this protection, the wombat’s strong jaws and sharp teeth managed to leave him with a wound 2 centimeters deep.

They Adapt Well To Captivity

Image Via Shami Chatterjee [Flickr]

Other than the whole attacking people for no reason thing, they seem to love being in zoos and parks. In the wild, these guys only have a life expectancy of five years. However, as captive animals, they have been known to live past 25. That’s five times as long of a life! It's surely partially due to a lack of predators, but they also live a lot more stress-free this way, which seems to have a big effect on the little guys. We should take a tip from them.

Source #1, #2

You might know beans are delicious. You may even remember all the words of the schoolyard rhyme about them, but what else do you know about the fruit? Most people take beans for granted because they seem to be such a simple side dish, but there's a whole lot more to beans than you probably realized.

A Bean By Any Other Name

Because beans are grown all throughout the world, it’s common for certain species to have multiple names. In fact, at least 11 types of beans have four names or more and certain species like the fava bean and navy bean have over 10 names. Other names for the fava bean include broad bean, butter bean, Windsor bean, horse bean, English bean, fool, foul, ful, feve, faba, haba and habas. The navy bean is also known as Yankee bean, white pea bean, pearl haricot, Boston bean, Boston navy bean, pea bean, haricot blanc bean, small white bean, haricot bean and fagioli. You may have thought you never tried a type of bean and actually just heard one of its alternate names. Source

Beans Kick It Old School These fruits are one of the longest plants to be cultivated by humans. Broad beans have been planted and grown since at least ancient Egypt and common beans were harvested over six thousand years ago in the Americas. Most of the beans we eat fresh come from the Americas and were first discovered by Christopher Columbus. Source

They Really Are Somewhat Magical

Or at least, magical enough to be involved in folklore. There are multiple folk tales that involve magical beans growing all the way into the clouds –the most famous of these is, of course, Jack and The Beanstalk. There is also a Grimm’s fairytale that describes a bean that laughs at the failure of others so hard that its sides actually split open. Source

They’re Often Considered Lucky Multiple cultures associate eating or planting beans on certain days with good luck. Certain areas of Europe consider it to be lucky to plant beans on Good Friday. In Nicaragua, newly weds eat a bowl of beans for good luck. New Year’s Day involves a number of superstitions, in the Southern U.S., Malta, Brazil and Italy eating beans or lentils is considered to bring increased prosperity in the next year. Source

Attack of the Killer Beans

Certain beans, especially those that are red in color, contain harmful toxins that can only be removed through cooking. Strangely, eating these beans when they are undercooked may be more toxic than eating the beans raw. Sometimes the undercooked beans will still taste and smell fine though. The toxicity will usually not result in death, but in severe nausea and diarrhea. Source

Ever Wonder What Makes Them So ‘Musical?’ It’s widely known that beans and cabbage can make you fart. The reason is that many beans have the same sugar molecules found in cabbage. Because a certain enzyme that humans don’t have in their body is needed to digest these molecules, bacteria in the large intestine digest the sugar. This digestion produces increased gases as a byproduct. Soaking the beans in water for a few hours can help reduce this problem, so will the induction of certain other enzymes, like those found in Beano. Source

Hold the Beans Please

The followers of Pythagoras had a lot of dietary restrictions, on top of being vegetarian, they also refused to eat beans. The reason is unclear, but many people believe it was due to flatulence, while others believe it was because they look like female genitalia. The most commonly accepted reason though is that the beans and humans were said to be created from the same material. Source

Fancy fast food takes regular old fast food and turns it into gourmet (looking) food. I'm sure it doesn't taste as good as real four star cuisine, but it sure does look delicious. Best of all, there's plenty of recipes so you can duplicate the efforts.

Link

Americans, including myself, seem to be obsessed with flappers -as evidenced with the plethora of flapper costumes seen every Halloween. They were amazingly revolutionary for the time of course and we even learn about them in school. But we don't learn much about these women in school, here are five fascinating facts about the flappers of the 1920s.

Flappers Completely Changed Social Standards For Women

While many feminists deplore flappers for throwing away all the progress made by the suffragettes, they made quite a bit of progress for women in other aspects. While most people know they were the first women to actually show off their legs, cut off their hair and even wear shorts, they did much more than that. In the Victorian era, it was unheard of for a woman to go to a bar, to drink or to smoke. Bars were places for men to escape their wives.

That all changed in the twenties – and not only because of prohibition. These young women also dated around, something that was unheard of in the past. Lastly, they were some of the first women to drive cars. (Source)

Where Flappers Got Their Name

The name was widely popularized after the release of the 1920’s movie The Flapper, but there are a whole lot of differing stories about where the word came from. My favorite story is also one of the more popular tales of the time, it claims the term came from groups of girls walking around in unbuckled galoshes that flapped around as they walked. For a humorous read on Flapper footwear, you may want to read the 1922 article by The New York Times, “Flappers Flaunt Fads in Footwear.” (Source)

Like F. Scott Fitzgerald? You May Actually Like His Wife's Writing


While F. Scott Fitzgerald was a great writer, he was not entirely original. In fact, large portions of his books were actually stolen directly from his wife’s diary. In fact, the conclusion of This Side of Paradise has a soliloquy by the protagonist Amory Blaine that is taken word for word from Zelda Fitzgerald’s journal. After their marriage, many things that Zelda said or wrote continued to find their way into Scott’s books, particularly in the Great Gatsby. In a review of The Beautiful and The Damned, she wrote:

“It seems to me that on one page I recognized a portion of an old diary of mine which mysteriously disappeared shortly after my marriage, and also scraps of letters which, though considerably edited, sound to me vaguely familiar. In fact, Mr. Fitzgerald—I believe that is how he spells his name—seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home.”

Source

Coco Chanel Single-Handedly Made Tans Fashionable
Before Coco Chanel stayed out too long one day while on vacation, fair, paper-white skin was the ideal shade for women. But she was so popular and stylish that after she accidentally received a tan on a 1923 cruise to Cannes, everyone else wanted one too. (Source)

They Weren't Just American

French flappers outside a cafe Via Vintage Lulu [Flickr]

While commonly considered an American phenomenon, due in part to the rebellion against prohibition, flappers were more of a response to the increased independence gained by women during the first World War. As a result, many countries had flappers, including Japan, Germany, England and France. Obviously these women had far different social norms to rebel against, but the effect was much the same -short skirts, increased independence and a modernized view on sexuality. (Source)

Photo Via Brennheit Bakst [Flickr]

M.J. was just found dead at the age of fifty, apparently from a cardiac arrest.He was scheduled to perform a number of comeback concerts next year.

"We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back," the entertainment website [TMZ] said.

Regardless of how you feel about his personal "issues" this is a sad day for pop music fans and weird art enthusiasts everywhere.

Link

Cyndi Lauper is one of my heroes. I saw her a few years ago and even though she was around 45 at the time, she had the energy of a teenager. Her style has changed over the years, but it is as unique as ever. If you get the chance to see Cyndi live, do it. She's an amazing performer with an excellent voice.

That being said, I was excited to write about Cyndi for the Music Tidbits today. It's in a new format that should make it a bit more fun and readable. Hope you like it!

She Keeps it Real

Or at least, her name is real. Unlike other pop stars, Cyndi Lauper was born in New York in 1953 and was named Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper.

Cyndi Does it All

Image Via danorbit. [Flickr]

While she's best known for singing, she can also play guitar, write lyrics and act. She started writing songs and playing guitar at only twelve years old. She's acted in quite a few movies and tv shows, including Mad About You, the Ron Howard movie Vibes and Life With Mikey beside Michael J. Fox. Her role in Mad About You almost turned into a spin off, but network executives thought the show concept was too out there.

She's always Been So Original



When she was only a middle-schooler, she was already dyeing her hair crazy colors and wearing her weird clothing styles she's known for. Speaking of her wardrobe, it actually became a problem during the1985 taping of "We Are the World," when a weird clacking noise showed up on the tape. Audio engineers finally tracked the noise down to her jewelry bonking against itself.

Doctors Said She'd Never Sing Again...Then She Did

In 1977, Cyndi severely damaged her vocal cords. Three different doctors told her she would never sing again. But she didn't give up and started seeing vocal coach Katir Agresta, who helped Cyndi recover by teaching her a series of vocal exercises.

She's Got High Standards



In 1978, she started a music group, Blue Angel, with saxaphonist John Turi, where they performed original music. When labels started showing interest in Cyndi's vocal abilities (she can sing in four octaves and has perfect pitch), they wanted to sign her as a solo artist. She refused to sign with any labels until Polydor Records opted to take on all of Blue Angel.

Write On!

Photo Via t_a_i_s [Flickr]

When Cyndi signed as a solo artist with Portrait Records, the label wanted her to sing all only their pre-written pop songs. Cyndi changed most of these songs to suit her personality, which also let her claim co-writer credits and royalties later on. The most well-known song she did this to was "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," which was originally written for a male singer. Cyndi thought the original lyrics were a little misogynistic, as it was all about a woman pleasing a man.

Although the label didn't trust her writing abilities, the record producer decided they needed one more song on her first album and convinced the label to let her write a song. She co-wrote Time After Time with Rob Hyman. The song ended up being the biggest single of 1985 and has since been covered by over 100 artists. The title came from a 1979 sci-fi movie starring Malcolm McDowell.

Girls Just Want to Have Trivia

Video Link

In the video for "Girls Just Want To Have Fun," Cyndi's mother was played by her actual mother. Also in the video was Cyndi's dog and pro-wrestler Lou Albano. Cyndi's famous red dress in the video was from the boutique she was working at between being signed for Blue Angel and her solo career. The video won the first ever award for Best Female Video at the MTV Music Awards. The album it was on was so popular that she became the first female artist to have four consecutive Top 5 hits from a single album.

The World Wrestling Foundation Loved Cyndi

And vice versa. Aside from having Lou Albano appear in her first video, Cyndi had frequent interactions with the stars of the WWF. Her video for the Goonies included a number of wrestling greats, including Andre The Giant and when she recieved her first Grammy Award, Hulk Hogan appeared with her, pretending to be her bodyguard. She also made quite a few appearances at WWF events, the most famous event was at the Inaugural WrestleMania event. She appeared as the manager of Wendi Richter and entered the area to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

She Hates The Goonies



Or rather, the song she wrote for the album, "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough." It doesn't have too much to do with the song itself, she was just traumatized by the physical exhaustion she suffered during the taping of the video. The director was too much of a perfectionist and ran the entire crew ragged. She left the song off of her best of album and only started singing it at concerts again back in 2003.

PeeWee's Playhouse Lied To You

Cyndi wrote and performed the theme song for PeeWee's Playhouse, but was credited as Ellen Shaw for some reason. When Cyndi was married, PeeWee (aka Paul Ruebens) was at her wedding, along with Little Richard, John Tuturo and other celebrities. Although Cyndi threatened to show up dressed as a Christmas tree, she wore a traditional white gown.

Cyndi Loves Guest Appearances

Throughout her recording career, Cyndi featured a number of guest stars on her albums, including Billy Joel, The Bangles, Rick Derringer, Bootsy Collins, Eric Clapton, Shaggy, Ani DiFranco, Jeff Beck, Paul Reubens (PeeWee Herman), Sarah McLachlan, The Hives and more. In her recent 2008 tour, she had appearances from Joan Jett, Rosie O’Donnell, The B52’s, Indigo Girls, Regina Spektor, Wanda Sykes, Sarah McLachlan and more. Lastly, although it may not count as a guest appearance, Julia Stiles, appeared as young Cyndi in the video for "Sally's Pigeons" before she was a famous actress.

She's Heterosexual, but Once Wished She Was Gay



Lauper is considered a gay icon, but she is heterosexual. Her sister and many of her close friends are gay and she has been performing at gay pride events since 1994. In fact, for a while, she thought herself to be a lesbian. She told The Times, "My sister was gay, my best friends were gay, so I figured I had to be gay. So I did everything they did. I tried kissing girls. But it didn’t feel right for me and eventually I was forced to come out as a heterosexual."

Source #1, #2

After watching a movie about beavers a few weeks ago, I became highly interested by their strange behaviors. I came to research a bit about the critters and came along some info that may be interesting to all of you readers out there. Personally, I'd like to see a Meerkat Manor-like show based on beaver's lives. Do you think it would work?

Water is music to beaver ears

Or at least, music they can't stand. The sound of running water is a beaver's main motivator in building a dam. A scientist once performed a study where they placed speakers beside a beaver dam that were continually playing the sound of running water. The beavers built up their dams by the speaker until it effectively was silenced. The noise drives them mad. Source

Those darn dams



We all know beavers love their dams. In fact, by building their dams and changing river flows, they are change the world more than any other creature besides man. They're quite good architects and take water flow into consideration when building, using straight dams on trickling waters and curved dams in raging rapids. They use these dams as protection from predators and as shelter throughout the winter. If a predator destroys part of the dam, it will be fixed overnight.

Also just like men, they won't stop building until the job is done -resulting in some massively huge dams being built along large rivers. The largest beaver dam was over 2,750 feet long. These dams are the only animal-created structures that can be seen from space. Source

It's Ok To Eat Beavers on Friday

No, that's not a naughty sex innuendo. The 17th century Catholic Church actually declared beavers to be a fish according to dietary restrictions, meaning they are ok to eat on both Fridays and throughout Lent. Beaver meat was a common dish by Native Americans and French settlers to America, so the decision was believed to be important to these people's behaviors. The church decisions are based more on an animal's environment than their physical characteristics. Source

European and American Beavers Don't Mix

Because the animals have a different number of chromosomes, they do not cross breed with one another. Russian scientists once tried to breed the two together. In 27 attempted experiments, they only had one semi-success and the baby still came out as a stillborn. Source

They're Our Only Hope and They're Terrible Pests

Beavers have an interesting role in the environment. Their dams trap sediments in the water, turning rushing rivers into peaceful wetlands. When the dams break, the sediment stays and rich meadows are formed. Some scientists claim beavers can help prevent drought and that they are our only chance and maintaining our precious wetlands. Source

On the other hand, beavers are notoriously destructive. They cause $100 million in property damage yearly and their re-working of river currents can cause massive floods on our nation's farms. They have been known to destroy whole forests and one beaver couple almost took out a world-famous cherry tree forest in Washington D.C.. Source

My, What Nice Sex Organs You Have

Beaver sex organs have been used for traditional medicines for centuries. Their testicles and vaginal follicles can actually help with a few conditions, but mostly because the sailicin from the willow trees they eat turns into an aspirin-like salicylic acid with anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. These same naughty beaver parts are still used in perfume production, you may have some beaver residue on you right now- particularly if you're wearing any of these brands: Emeraude, Coty Chanel Cuir de Russie, Magie Noire, Lancôme Caractère, Hechter Madame, Carven, Givenchy III or Shalimar. Source

Canada Loves Them...But Almost Killed Them All

Beaver is the Canadian national animal and is depicted on the Canadian five cent piece and their first pictorial stamp issued in 1849. The beavers were highly loved in part due to their fur, which was widely sought after up until the mid-19th century. It was so widely adored that the animal was almost hunted to extinction in Canada. If the fur trade hadn't stopped when it did, the Canadian national animal might be little more than a memory to its residents. Source

This week’s artist was quite a treat for me, although I’ve always loved Jane’s Addiction, I didn’t know much about their lead singer. Turns out he’s done a whole lot for the music community at large.

• Perry Farrell was born in Queens, New York on March 29, 1959. His birth name was Peretz Bernstein. His mother committed suicide when he was only three years old –later referenced in the Jane’s Addiction song “Then She Did.”


• After graduating from high school in Florida in the early 80s, Perry decided to live the surfer’s life in Los Angeles, California, living out of his car and making money by waiting tables and working construction.


• Perry’s first band was the gothic band Psi Com. The music scene the group was involved with included a lot of big name bands like X, Fishbone and Black Flag.


• When Psi Com broke up in 1985, Perry began working on Jam Sessions with Eric Avery that would help lead to the foundation of Jane’s Addiction. It was around this time period that Farrell came up with his stage name, he chose Perry Farrell because it was a fun play on “peripheral.”


• Jane’s Addiction was named after Perry’s drug addict roommate, Jane Bainter. Eric’s little sister Rebecca helped the group find its other two members, Stephen Perkins, her boyfriend, and a friend, Dave Navarro.

• The group soon started to have a big following around the LA club scene and quickly garnered interest from multiple record labels. They chose to sign with Warner Brothers Records, but insisted on releasing their first album with the independent label Triple X Records. In addition, the group received the largest signing advance ever offered at the time, around $275,000.


• In 1991, Farrell worked with Ted Gardener and Marc Geiger to create the Lollapalooza festival as a farewell tour for Jane’s Addiction. For this reason, Farrell became known as a “godfather of alternative rock music.”


• Parry Farrell and Casey Niccoli worked together on a film titled Gift that featured Jane’s Addiction. The movie is a gothic, tragic, romantic story in the LA club scene with themes of sex and drugs. The movie was released by Warner Brothers in 1993.


• After Jane’s Addiction, Perry and Stephen Perkins started a new band, Porno for Pyros.


• Around this same period, Jane’s Addition reunited with Eric Avery replaced by Flea, who had worked with Dave Navarro in The Red Hot Chili Peppers.


• A number of women dancers were hired as part of the stage show for this “relapse” tour, one of these dancers later became Farrell’s wife. He had this to say about meeting her, "Etty and I have been working together since 1997. The very first time I saw her come in and shake her... ponytail, I hired her and I fell in love with her on the spot.” She has continued to dance in every Jane’s Addiction tour since.

• In the late nineties, Perry decided to start a solo career. His first album features a number of lyrics inspired by the Kabala.


• Farrell occasionally DJs using the name DJ Peretz.


• The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival largely has Perry to thank for their continued success, as the festival was close to failure after its first incarnation in 1999. When the festival was scheduled to happen a second time there was no headlining group for a long time. Finally, Farrell volunteered to reunite Jane’s Addiction for the event, which helped bring in large crowds. Since then there has been a tradition of reuniting one major band every year. Perry has been the only artist to play every Coachella festival, occasionally as a solo artist or DJ and occasionally in a group.


• Jane’s Addiction donated all of their earnings from one show in 2001 to help negotiate the release of over 2,300 Sudanese slaves.


• In 2005, Farrell and his wife Etty began a theatrical band called "The Satellite Party." The group’s music is focused around an imaginary version of their relationship together. Their debut album had appearances by Flea, Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, New Order bassist Peter Hook and Fergie.

Satellite Party Image Via -EMR- [Flickr]

• Kidzapalooza is a kid-friendly stage at the annual Lollapalooza festival that was started by Perry and music producer Tor Hyams. This year represents the first time Kidzapalooza will be its own festival. It is planned for June at the Hollywood Bowl. Featured artists will include Farrell, Gary Oldman, Slash and Ziggy Marley.


• Perry celebrated his Jewish heritage by performing at the 2006 Purimpalooza, a music celebration of the Jewish holiday of Purim and the birthday of Rabbi Yosef Langer.


• The NME awards of 2008 saw the first reunion in 17 years of all four original Jane’s Addiction members. They were the first American group to win the award of “God Like Genius.”

Sources #1, #2, #3, #4

Joe Strummer was a highly political-minded musician with a love of music from all over the world. While many of you may only know a few of The Clash singles like "Rock the Casbah," the group had a lot of diversity and is celebrated as one of the most unique and innovative punk bands in history. Even fewer people seem to be familiar with Joe's work after The Clash, but if you're a fan of the band, I highly recomend checking it out.

• Joe was born John Graham Mellor on August 21, 1952. He was born in Turkey to a British foreign-service diplomat and a nurse. In his early years, he spent time all over the world, including Cairo, Mexico City and Bonn.

• During his school years, Joe and his brother attended a private school in London. Joe developed an interest in rock music, including Little Richard, The Beach Boys and Woody Guthrie –he even started having his friends call him “Woody” for a few years.


• At the same time, his brother became immersed in the National Front and killed himself in July 1970. Joe had to identify his body after it had laid undiscovered for three days. The event dramatically affected Joe, and would certainly play a role in his anti-National Front stance throughout his later life.


• After graduation, Joe began attending college in Surrey, where he considered becoming a professional cartoonist. In 1973, he moved to Wales to attend an art college, but dropped out. While there, he began working as a gravedigger and started playing with his first band, The Vultures.


• When The Vultures broke up, Joe returned to London where he started The 101’ers with his two squatter roommates. The name came out from their address, 101 Walterton Road. They originally played covers of American R&B and blues songs, but soon Joe began writing original material.


• Joe learned to play guitar from his friend and band mate, Tymon Dogg. Unfortunately, Tymon taught him how to play right-handed, despite the fact that he was left-handed. The result was that Joe felt he was mostly limited to strumming chords. After this, Joe dropped his “Woody” nickname and began calling himself Joe Strummer.

• In 1975, Joe married a South African woman for £100 so she could obtain British citizenship. He used the money to buy his telecaster that later became his signature instrument.


• The 101’ers played a show in London in 1976 and a group completely unknown at the time, called the Sex Pistols, opened for them. Strummer was really impressed by the group and when he was approached by Bernie Rhodes and Mick Jones to join their band, London SS, he jumped on the opportunity. Unfortunately, the group broke up right when Joe was about to join. Instead, Joe and Mick formed a new band, called The Clash, with Paul Simonon.


• Interestingly, The Clash’s first show involved them opening for the Sex Pistols on July 4, 1976.


• Within the next year, the group was signed with CBS records. Most of their songs had a highly political theme, such as racism, unemployment, police brutality and more. Joe was highly active in the Anti-Nazi League and the Rock Against Racism campaigns.


• In 1978, Strummer started dating Gaby Salter, the pair stayed together fourteen years and had two daughters. They were never married though, because Joe couldn’t find the woman he married for citizenship to get a divorce.


• While in The Clash, Joe and his other bandmates got in a series of problems with the law. In 1977, he was arrested for spray painting “The Clash” on a hotel wall. A few years later, he was arrested in Germany for hitting a violent audience member with his guitar. The incident affected him and later he remarked, “I nearly murdered somebody, and it made me realize that you can't face violence with violence. It doesn't work.”

• Before the release of Combat Rock, Joe’s manager pushed him to disappear to help sell tickets for an upcoming tour. Strummer was only supposed to hide at someone’s house in the city, but he opted to really disappear and ran off to France. During this period, no one, including the band’s managers, knew where he was.


• Around the time “Rock the Casbah” was released, the band members began to argue a lot and Joe fired Mick Jones. This left the group with only two original members.


• In 1985, the group released an album, Cut The Crap, under the band name “The Clash Mark Two.” The album was a major disappointment to fans and critics and Joe decided to disband The Clash.


• Rolling Stone chose London Calling as the top album of the 1980’s.


• After The Clash breakup, Strummer acted in a lot of movies, including Walker, Straight to Hell, Mystery Train and I Hired a Contract Killer. In the last film, he really did little more than play music in a cameo role. The songs from the movie were released on a limited edition promotional single credited as, “Joe Strummer & the Astro Physicians.”


• In the early nineties, Joe replaced Shane MacGowan as the lead singer of The Pogues. He also produced their Hell’s Ditch album.


• Around the end of the millennium, Strummer got together a lot of top-notch, yet mostly unknown musicians to form his new backing band, The Mescaleros. This group soon released a number of albums. When in concert, the group also played a number of Clash favorites.


• At one of the group’s shows, Mick Jones was in the audience and joined the band during the song “Bankrobber.” During the encore, Jones played guitar and sang “White Riot” and “London’s Burning.” This was the first time in almost twenty years that the pair performed on stage together.


• On December 22, 2002, Joe Strummer died unexpectedly at his home in Somerset, England. He became the victim of an undiagnosed heart defect.

• Before his death, Joe worked hard to help create an organization called Future Forests (now changed to The Carbon Neutral Company) that plants trees to combat global warming. He was the first musician to neutralize the carbon created in record pressing through planting trees. Since he began the practice, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Pink Floyd have all followed in his footsteps.


• To pay tribute to Strummer, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl and other musicians got together to perform “London Calling” at the Grammies.


• Additionally, many bands recorded songs paying tribute to Joe, including Stiff Little Fingers, Street Dogs, Cowboy Mouth and more.


• Even a train was named after Joe, the Class 47 locomotive 47828 was called “Joe Strummer.”


• The 2007 Sundance Festival featured a documentary about his life, called Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten.

Source #1, #2, #3