I don't know about you guys, but this bike path in Ireland does not look like a place I'd want to take a trek. Oddee has even more outrageous paths for your viewing enjoyment and fear-inducing travel inspiration.
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Jill Harness's Blog Posts
I don't know about you guys, but this bike path in Ireland does not look like a place I'd want to take a trek. Oddee has even more outrageous paths for your viewing enjoyment and fear-inducing travel inspiration.
Link
I don’t know about you guys, but I have loved The Muppets since I was in diapers and I can’t wait to see the new Muppet movie that's coming out today. But as long as we’re celebrating The Muppets’ return to the big screen, we may as well celebrate their original rise to the small screen. So for all the fans out there, here’s a little history and general trivia info on the greatest puppet team ever created.
We’ve talked about Jim Henson’s show Sam and Friends, where Kermit originated, before, but that wasn’t Jim Henson’s first experience working with puppets. It actually started all the way back in 1954 when Henson was still attending high school. He was quite ambitious because before he graduated, he already was creating puppets for a Saturday morning kid’s show called The Junior Morning Show featured on WTOP-TV.
Interestingly, Jim didn’t really intend to work on puppets for a career. He actually originally went to the University of Maryland, College Park, to become a commercial artist. But when he was only a freshman, he was asked to create a five-minute long puppet show for WRC-TV named Sam and Friends. The show ended up playing a huge role in the inspiration for The Muppets and featured a prototype version of Kermit the Frog.
Image Via zhurnaly [Flickr]
Well, Sam was a puppet that looked like a human and his friends were a variety of other human puppets, a few weird monstery creatures, a snake and a lizard that eventually morphed into the world’s most famous frog. The show started out just featuring the puppets lip-synching to popular songs, but as the show started gaining popularity, they started writing real sketches, many of which involved featured spoofs of popular TV shows.
One of the best-known sketches involved Kermit nibbling on something that looked like a worm, but eventually turned into the tongue or nose of the character Big V, a giant monster, who would eventually eat him. Near the end of the show’s run, Esskay Meats started showing ads at the end of the show, which would feature characters from Sam and Friends.
While the show was best known for introducing Kermit to the world, it also played a huge role in letting Henson perfect his puppetry techniques that would eventually change the way puppets were shown on television forever. One of his biggest innovations was setting up the camera shots so the people operating the puppets would not be seen on screen. He also made the puppets more flexible than puppets previously seen on television so they could express a wider array of emotions on screen.
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Inspiring the Classics
We’ve talked about Jim Henson’s show Sam and Friends, where Kermit originated, before, but that wasn’t Jim Henson’s first experience working with puppets. It actually started all the way back in 1954 when Henson was still attending high school. He was quite ambitious because before he graduated, he already was creating puppets for a Saturday morning kid’s show called The Junior Morning Show featured on WTOP-TV.
Interestingly, Jim didn’t really intend to work on puppets for a career. He actually originally went to the University of Maryland, College Park, to become a commercial artist. But when he was only a freshman, he was asked to create a five-minute long puppet show for WRC-TV named Sam and Friends. The show ended up playing a huge role in the inspiration for The Muppets and featured a prototype version of Kermit the Frog.
Image Via zhurnaly [Flickr]
So Who Was Sam and What's Up With His Friends?
Well, Sam was a puppet that looked like a human and his friends were a variety of other human puppets, a few weird monstery creatures, a snake and a lizard that eventually morphed into the world’s most famous frog. The show started out just featuring the puppets lip-synching to popular songs, but as the show started gaining popularity, they started writing real sketches, many of which involved featured spoofs of popular TV shows.
One of the best-known sketches involved Kermit nibbling on something that looked like a worm, but eventually turned into the tongue or nose of the character Big V, a giant monster, who would eventually eat him. Near the end of the show’s run, Esskay Meats started showing ads at the end of the show, which would feature characters from Sam and Friends.
While the show was best known for introducing Kermit to the world, it also played a huge role in letting Henson perfect his puppetry techniques that would eventually change the way puppets were shown on television forever. One of his biggest innovations was setting up the camera shots so the people operating the puppets would not be seen on screen. He also made the puppets more flexible than puppets previously seen on television so they could express a wider array of emotions on screen.
Making It Big
Princess Leia, say it ain't so -he may be hardcore, but he's not only evil, he's also your father! Well, it still looks pretty darn awesome either way.
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No word on where this super bear happens to have originated from, but one thing's for sure: criminals better not mess with him.
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Meet Koun Samang. When he was only three months old, his father found a python curled up in his crib. The dad removed the snake from the house, but it showed up again. It was released back in the jungle and then it came back again. It happened a total of three times before the Koun's dad finally gave up and just let the snake hang out with his baby. Seven years later, the kid and the snake (now over 20 feet long) are best friends.
Of course, that's not the only bizarre animal/human story friendship story. Cracked has five more and they are all equally fascinating.
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Of course, that's not the only bizarre animal/human story friendship story. Cracked has five more and they are all equally fascinating.
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Most people find typewriters to be a little outdated these days, but Keira Rathbone has found an all new artistic use for the machine. With a little clever spacing, she is able to create great drawings with nothing more than letters. Don't miss the full gallery over at Mole Empire.
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I don't know about you guys, but I'm still uncertain about whether or not I would want my body to be buried or cremated after I die. That being said, I certainly would love to be a part of any of these unique and cool cemeteries located around the world.
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Sure these might not be the most amazing artistic displays in the world, but Oddee's collection of cute finger drawings are still clever and fun to look at.
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Looking at some of the most beautiful libraries in the world, like the Wiblingen Monastery Library in Ulm, Germany seen above, is truly fascinating. But if you're like me, it might also make you feel depressed about the sad state of your town's library.
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Even if you've never been to New York, you've certainly seen enough movies and tv shows filmed there to get an idea of what it looks like these days. If you want to see what it looked like around the early half of the last century though, you might want to head to The Jewish Museum New York's website and enjoy some of their featured photos taken by The New York Photo League. Of course, if you're in the city, you really should head to the museum itself to enjoy the full gallery in person.
Link Via BuzzFeed
Japan takes its subcultures very seriously and while many of them, like rockabilly, goth and lolita, have some sort of equivalent in the U.S., Dekotora (the lavish decoration of a semi) doesn't. You can find out more about this culture and see some amazing pictures of these blinged out trucks over on Flavorwire.
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Most old tires end up in landfills, but these amazing artists, philanthropists and creators have gone out of their way to ensure that these old tires are turned into something better. WebEcoist has 25 cool items made from these useful, but no longer needed car accessories.
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If you're a huge fan of The Doctor, then you'd better get your plane tickets to Cardiff because next year will be the first ever Doctor Who convention. So far the only confirmed guests are Stephen Moffat and Matt Smith, along with Nerdist extraordinaire, Chris Hardwick. Personally, I'm not convinced it's worth the trip unless David Tennant and John Barrowman are coming.
Would any of you head to Cardiff for the convention?
Link Via The Mary Sue
Would any of you head to Cardiff for the convention?
Link Via The Mary Sue
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