Whether lazy and mellow or hyperactive and playful, pets enrich our lives by providing us with unconditional love. Some animals offer their owners even more than friendship though. Here are ten incredible animals that managed to rescue their owners from certain death.

Bandit

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The DeStefanis agreed to watch the pet of some friends who were out of town. Surprisingly, this good deed ended up saving the family’s life. Because the family wasn’t sure how the pup, Bandit, would get along with their other dogs, they kept it in the master bedroom. That day, Rich, the father in the family sterilized a hairbrush by putting a hair brush in a pan with a bunch of water. Unfortunately, everyone forgot about the brush and went to bed without turning off the heat.

When the water evaporated and the plastic started burning, toxic smoke entered the air and filled the house. The family just bought new smoke detectors the day before, but not a single one went off. But Bandit was determined to save the family’s lives. He jumped on the mother’s chest and barked over and over until she woke up. When she did start to stir, she noticed the smoke smell immediately and got the rest of her family and pets out of the house.

The smoke was toxic enough to leave the family with some nasty coughs even a week later, but they if not for Bandit, they may have been a lot worse off.

Video Link

Target

It’s fairly common for U.S. soldiers stationed overseas to find new best friends when they take in stray pups from the local towns. It is uncommon, on the other hand, for those dogs to repay the favor by saving the life of a soldier. Target and two other strays staying in an army base in Afghanistan managed to save an entire unit when a suicide bomber snuck into the barracks area one night. The three animals barked and snarled at the bomber until he ended up pre-maturely detonating his bomb outside the barracks, killing himself. Everyone inside was fine, but one of the heroic dogs lost his life in the explosion.

Target was adopted by one of the soldiers who witnessed the events that night and she was even featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show when she returned to the states. Unfortunately, the story took a tragic turn when Target escaped her yard and was picked up by the pound. Her owner paid the fine online and came to pick her up on Monday morning, only to find out the shelter accidentally euthanized Target over the weekend. While the shelter claims they are launching a full investigation and putting new measures in place to ensure this never happens again, it cannot bring back the heroic animal who risked her life to save a barracks worth of soldiers.

Video Link

Lima

While most pit bulls are loving family pets and some are even downright heroic, when raised in the wrong environment, any dog can become dangerous. When Cherry Woods was attacked in her yard by two pit bulls, she tried to fight them off, but couldn’t. Her husband also tried to pull the dogs away, but they were too strong for him. Fortunately, Cherry’s cat, Lima, did know how to stop the crazed dogs. He hoped into the fray, clawing, hissing and biting, managing to distract the pit bulls while the husband and wife ran inside and closed the door. Lima was able to escape after this and Cherry made a full recovery after the incident, with Lima at her side the whole time.

Video Link

Most lawbreakers aren’t exactly geniuses, but these troublemakers cross the line between foolishness and downright ineptitude. To at least help prevent any more crimes of this level of stupidity, here are a few tips for aspiring criminals without any level of common sense.

Don’t Make Assumptions

There are a lot of situations where slang is a bad idea; and asking for “dough” at a pizza joint is certainly a good example. Funny enough though, the robbers who made off with a bagful of dough weren’t even victims of a bad pun, they were just stupid enough to point to a bag behind the counter without verifying that the bag held money instead of pizza ingredients. The moral of the story is that when holding someone up, you’re much better off asking them to hand over the cash than simply pointing to a random bag in the store. Image via Jeff Kubina [Flickr]

Don’t Make Stupid Excuses

“That’s not mine” just might be one of the oldest excuses in the book when it comes to illicit substances. While plenty of suspects have tried to say their drug stash belonged to their friends, most of them weren’t stupid enough to say it about crack in their butt crack. Even if it was his friend’s crack, it certainly was under his “control” at the time of the arrest, and that’s all that really matters. Image via HTB [Flickr]

Some Things Are Not A Police Matter

There’s a reason real drug dealers have such a vicious reputation to uphold. After all, if someone takes their supply, it’s not like they can just call the police. Amateur drug cultivators aren’t always hip to these rules, which is why it’s not entirely surprising that a small-time marijuana grower called the police when someone stole one of his prized plants. The police responded to the crime immediately –by confiscating his four remaining plants.

Don’t Complain

Robbing a store is a big gamble. Aside from the risk of getting caught, there’s also a risk that there won’t be much money in the register at the time. If you lose that gamble and end up only getting $586 in the hold up (which is actually pretty decent for a Wendy’s), you probably shouldn’t call the store to complain. One man learned this the hard way after police tracked him down when he called a second time to tell the workers they’d better have more money in the register the next time he robs them. Image via alanwhitaker [Flickr]

Most of you are familiar with American, Canadian and English Christmas customs, which are largely the same, including Santa bringing presents that sit below a lit up tree. But have you ever wondered just how Christmas is celebrated in China, or in Finland? Whether you’re just interested in learning more about other cultures or want to incorporate some new traditions into your holiday celebrations, this article is filled with all you need to know about international Christmases.

Austria:

Austrian children still get to celebrate the arrival of Ol’ Saint Nick, but they also have to brace themselves for the arrival of his evil counterpart, Krampus. Where Saint Nicholas rewards good behavior with treats and toys on December 6, the demonic Krampus arrives on December 5, looking to punish all the bad children. His weapons of choice are birch switches to beat children with and burlap sacks to kidnap them and throw them into the river. The worst part is that local men actually dress up like Krampus (just like many men dress up as Santa in America) and terrorize the streets. In some villages, kids are even made to run what is known as a Krampus-gauntlet, in an attempt to outrun the switches.

Czech Republic:

The Czech version of Saint Nick is known as Svaty Mikulas, who is said to climb down to Earth from the heavens using a golden rope. Mikulas is accompanied by an angel and a devil who help him decide which girls and boys deserve treats and toys, and which ones deserve a swatch. There are a lot of fortune-telling traditions that are associated with Christmas as well. One involves a family member cutting a branch from a cherry tree and putting it inside in water. If it blooms in time for Christmas it is good luck. It also may represent that the winter will be short, or if a single woman picked the branch, it could mean she will get married in the next year. On Christmas Eve, single woman also try to see if they will get married in the next year by standing outside with their back to their front door, removing one of their shoes and throwing it over their shoulder. If the shoe lands with the toe facing the door, then she will marry in the next year. If not, she will have to wait at least another 12 months. Image via tomu [Flickr]

Finland:

Living in Southern California tends to mean that any dreams of a white Christmas will pretty much stay that way unless you head out of town. There is one magical area though where tourists and locals alike can gather to enjoy the snow while still feeling comfortable in their shorts. Every year, Disneyland transforms into a holiday wonderland, complete with snow, reindeer, carols, and festivities.

In many ways though, the creation of this holiday magic is even more amazing than the actual displays. Here’s the details that go into transforming a park from a Halloween harvest theme to a Christmas wonderland. Image via Armidillo444 [Flickr]

The Christmas Tree:

Every year since its opening, Disneyland features a sixty foot tall Christmas tree that towers over Main Street. Up until 2008, live trees were driven in all the way from Mount Shasta, but since then the park has opted to go green and use an artificial pine that was specially designed by Disney’s Imagineering team. The tree is 65 feet tall, as 5 feet of it sits underground for support. It has over 1,200 branches with a total of 280,000 pine needles which are decorated with 2000 ornaments and 75,000 lights. The electrical cable needed to light all of the lights weighs an astonishing 5,000 pounds.

During the majority of the year, the tree is kept in a warehouse away from the park, but in October, they transport all six pieces of it to the park in the middle of the night. The tree is then put together in the back area of the park, the lights are applied and technicians test the light show. Once they are sure it’s ready to go, they take it apart into two sections. In early November, the 12 ton tree is then moved into place in Main Street using 15 cast members and two cranes. The tree isn’t the only decorative touch in Main Street though. Throughout Disneyland, the park uses more than 1.5 miles of garland and over 2,000 feet of this is used on Main Street alone. Main Street also features 812 bows, which require 1.4 miles worth of ribbon to create. Image via Andy Castro [Flickr]

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle:

The iconic castle is redone for wintertime, with a fresh layer of artificial snow and 50,000 lights, including hanging icicles that light up during the nighttime shows. The castle is the central part of a three-part show that takes place every night. The first part of the show occurs at twilight when the sound of wind blowing enters the air followed by a child wishing for snow. A motherly voice is heard to respond, “in order for your wishes to come true, you must believe.” Just then, snow machines blast out icy flurries and the castle lights up with its snow glistening. Later on, the fireworks show starts and the child is again heard wishing for snow. Then the lights on the castle get even brighter as the snow begins falling again. The fireworks then kick off and just as they approach the grand finale and White Christmas starts to play, the icicles light up and then snow falls in Main Street, New Orlean’s Square and the Small World mall. Image via Andy Castro [Flickr]

It’s A Small World:

We’ve already talked about how The Haunted Mansion is changed to a Nightmare Before Christmas theme throughout Halloween, but that’s not the only ride to be altered during Christmas time. It’s A Small World is also redone to reflect the holiday spirit. Instead of singing the classic song that provides the ride with its namesake, the children throughout the world sing ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Deck the Halls.’ The exterior of the ride is covered in 300,000 Christmas lights and the large clock in the center is decked out with a Santa hat. After dark the façade features a multi-media presentation projection every fifteen minutes. Big Thunder Ranch is also modified for the holidays, as it provides Santa and his reindeer a relaxing place to stay just before he rushes around the world to deliver toys. Image via Wikipedia user Lyght

The Parade:

Every year, the park also features “A Christmas Fantasy parade.” While certain aspects of the parade change every year, it always starts with a music box float featuring a ballerina, which is followed by toy soldiers playing snare drums and trumpets. The Winter Wonderland part of the parade features Tigger, Eeyore and Winnie the Pooh riding and pulling sleighs while Mickey and Minnie skate on an ice rink float. Clarabelle Cow, Goofy and Max all work together to bake gingerbread cookies. Cinderella and the other princesses and their respective princes dance together on a ballroom float. Next, toys of all kinds walk and roll by, led by Chip and Dale, members of Toy Story and Pinocchio. At the very end of the parade, Santa rides by in his sled, wishing Merry Christmas to all the good girls and boys. Image via Armadillo444 [Flickr]

Are you planning to visit any theme parks during the holiday season? If so, which one(s)? Do any of our Orlando-favoring readers fill us in on the details of the Magic Kingdom’s Christmas celebrations?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, About.com, WDW Info, West Ways Magazine

Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts: Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean Neatorama Facts: The Jungle Cruise Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room

Just imagine Homer Simpson's response to this brilliant tee shirt by John Sumrow, "mmm...infinite bacon."

http://www.johnsumrow.com/2010/11/16/the-infinite-bacon-shirt/ via Laughing Squid

Sock monkeys are so passe, the new hotness is sock Cthulhus. Lear to make your own with this helpful book, Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred, that can also teach you how to build your own electric guitar, kites and screen printed tee shirts. Really though, doesn't the Cthulhu sock toy make it worth it on its own?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593272596?ie=UTF8&tag=thechesguitol-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1593272596

If you're one of the many people who is already missing sleep waiting for the new Tron movie to come out finally, then you'll be happy to know that you can Tronify your life in the meantime with these awesome Tron products.

Link

Doctor Who star David Tennant is one of a handful of actors being considered for the role of Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming Hobbit film. As someone with a bit of a crush on the Doctor, I wholeheartedly support this suggestion. What do you guys think?

UPDATE: That was my bad for not looking at the date of the article. You are all right, Martin Freeman is locked down as Bilbo. But this still gives us a chance to think about the Hobbit that could have been.

Link Image via TineyHo [Flickr]

I always liked Fantasia, but since I’ve been watching it as a kid, I had no idea just how significant the movie was to both Disney and the history of motion pictures in general. Did you know that it was the first movie ever made featuring stereoscopic sound? Or that the original showings were supposed to be more like a symphony performance than a movie and that the audience was expected to wear formal wear and sit in assigned seats? It’s also the only Disney movie to extend over two hours in length. While many of us may fondly remember Fantasia as an interesting movie, the behind the scenes of this breakthrough animation are equally fascinating. So throw on your favorite classical album and enjoy this detailed look at one of Disney’s most inspired creations. Image via Lauren Javier [Flickr]

A Shared Vision

The inception of Fantasia started with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Disney wanted to do a special Silly Symphonies episode based on Goethe’s poem Der Zauberlehrling. The animation would be completely voiceless and set to the music of Paul Dukas’ L'apprenti sorcier. He wanted it to star Mickey Mouse, who was losing popularity against many other cartoon characters of the time, even Donald Duck was proving to be more profitable. Disney saw this as an opportunity for a Mickey comeback. The studio immediately set about making this a notably high budget version of Silly Symphonies. Mickey was updated with a more modern look with more weight and this is the first time he was seen to have pupils (because the creation of Fantasia took so long, four new cartoons featuring this new version of Mickey were released in the meantime). The animation was slated to run two minutes longer than most of the cartoon shorts seen at the time, running a full nine minutes.

As animators started working in the studio (basing the unnamed wizard on Walt himself and nicknaming him “Yen Sid” –Disney backwards), Disney happened to run into the second most famous conductor in America at the time, Leopold Stokowski (above), at a restaurant. He talked to Stokowski about the project and was shocked when the composer said he loved the idea and offered to conduct the music for no charge. Stokowski quickly collected over 100 musicians in Los Angeles to record the score for the animation, making it the only section of Fantasia to not feature the Philadelphia Orchestra.

On November 26, 1956, a television revolution took place. A price-bidding game allowed coupon-clipping housewives to finally feel as smart as the PHD-holding contestants seen on the many quiz shows popular at the time. And when the quiz show scandal of 1959 broke, The Price Is Right managed to maintain its integrity and take its place as a legendary show destined to become the longest running American game show in the world. But how did The Price Is Right get started and how has it ensured such eternal success? Read on  to get a full taste of the brilliance and luck that has allowed The Price Is Right to reach such incredible levels of game show domination.

Image via beITRON [Flickr]

The First Run

Did you know Drew Carey is actually the third host of the show, not the second? That’s because before Bob Barker was hired to host The New Price Is Right (the “New” was dropped from the title within the same year it premiered), the original show started Bill Cullen and was created by producer Bob Stewart, who also invented such classics as Password and The $10,000 Pyramid. Steward was inspired to create The Price is Right after watching an auctioneer in New York City.

Unlike the current show we all know and love, this was a much more basic format. There were no Showcase Showdowns or pricing games. The entire show consisted of contestants bidding on expensive products, attempting to get as close to the actual retail price without going over (similar to the first round of the current show except this would keep going for a long time and the item would be expensive rather than the dish soap and soup cans they start off with now). If a contestant worried they were getting too close to the final price, they could seal their price and stop bidding. The contestant who was closest without going over won the prize, which was usually rather big and sometimes pretty crazy.



“How big and crazy?” you might ask. Well, remember the Simpson’s episode where Bart wins an elephant? It turns out that was based on an incident that occurred during this first version of the Price Is Right. The elephant, and its “extra ivory,” was a bonus prize for a grand piano. In actuality, the show meant to give the contestant the cash equivalent of $4000, but the winner wanted a real elephant, so he was eventually given a live pet flown in all the way from Kenya.

A few other grandiose prizes included fully furnished homes in brand new subdivisions, small business franchises, business stock, a Ferris wheel, a private island, a 1926 Rolls Royce with a chauffeur, a mile of hot dogs, a live peacock to serve as a color guide to a brand new TV and a full barbecue pit with a live Angus steer.

This first version lasted until 1965, and viewers had to wait seven years before it was reworked into the modern format and added to the programming schedule again.

Image via Adam Foster [Flickr]

New And Improved

The New Price Is Right premiered on September 4, 1972. It contained some of the old elements of the show, but added a number of new elements that we still enjoy to this day. Even though the early incarnation of the show doesn’t count towards its record of aired shows, there have been over 7,300 episodes aired and the program has still managed to become second only to the Mexican television show Sabado Gigante when it comes to the longest-running game show in the world, and it is the longest-running game show in America.

The modern version starts out with a bidding game and then moves on to more games until the guests get to compete for a chance to bid on the grand prize showcase at the end of the game. During the Showcase portion of the game, the guest that comes closest to the price of their showcase without going over wins and gets to keep their showcase. If they come close enough to the price of their showcase, they not only win their grand prize, but the one offered to the other player as well.

Image via Douglas Coulter [Flickr]

Barker’s Prohibitions

You probably know that Bob Barker’s charisma played a big role in keeping the show alive so long (he has 17 Emmy awards to prove it) , but you might not know that he had such a major role in the show behind the scenes. Barker invented many of the pricing games on the show, including three baring his name that were retired after he left the show. He also put a lot of restrictions in place that stayed in effect until Drew Carrey became the host.

In 1979, Bob Barker went vegetarian and demanded the show stop giving away anything on the show made from leather or fur. He also ensured that showcases could no longer show fake meat props on the barbecues. From that point on, he also started signing off every episode by saying, "Help control the pet population—have your pets spayed or neutered." This is one tradition that Drew Carey has upheld with the utmost respect although furs and leather are now back on the prize list.

Interestingly, Barker’s first episode started out with a prize of a fur coat, but you won’t see that on any reruns or DVDs because he has kept the stations from releasing any shows showing episodes with fur coats.

Barker did more than just preach about the importance of spaying and neutering though. He even started his own foundation, the DJ&T Foundation (named for his mother and his wife), that is dedicated to controlling the dog and cat population. The organization helps support low-cost and free spay and neuter clinics around the country. Barker still funds the foundation to this day.

Animal population control isn’t the only cause Barker was dedicated to though. In 1991, he instilled another prohibition on the show banning any foreign automobiles from being given away as prizes. He did this as a patriotic measure during the first Iraq War, but once again, this rule has been lifted since his retirement and cars from all over the world have now been offered as prizes.

Image via laksge [Wikipedia]

Seeking A Successor

In June of 2006, Barker announced his intention to retire from hosting the show. His decision coincided with the show’s 35^th anniversary and his 50^th anniversary of hosting shows on TV (He previously hosted Truth Or Consequences). During that time he was named in the Guinness Book of World Records, once for being TV’s Most Durable Performer for doing 3524 consecutive performances on Truth Or Consequences and once of being the Most Generous Host in Television History for giving away over $55 million in cash and prizes, although by the time he retired that number had risen to $200 million. Obviously, his successor had some mighty big shoes to fill.

Producers looked all over the place for new hosts and Rosie O’Donnell seemed to be the top contender until she insisted that the show be moved to New York so she wouldn’t have to move. Drew Carey was hesitant to host the show at first, so CBS producers actually had to convince him that he would be good at it. Reading comments on forums about the subject, you might see a lot of people upset that Carey was replacing Bob, but they all seem to be glad that at least he’s not Rosie. And that seems alright with Drew, who never thought he could contend with the original host anyway, “You can't replace Bob Barker. I don't compare myself to anybody... It's only about what you're doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I'm supposed to be doing this.”

Barker’s last episode premiered on June 15, 2007, but reruns continued to air until Drew Carey’s first episode premiered on October 15.

Image via sexiestgeeksalive [Flickr]

Show  Records

If you read the part about crazy prizes on the earlier version and thought there is no way the current game could compete, you might be right about wackiness, but not about monetary value. While CBS used to impose a prize cap on their game shows, it was revoked in the late 1990’s. Since then, there have been some incredibly lucky winners. Vickyann Sadowski won both showcases, including two cars and ended up scoring $147,517, making her the single-day winnings record holder for daytime network game shows. But the records don’t stop there. The show once held a prime time Million Dollar Spectacular series for a few weeks in 2008. Adam Rose managed to win both showcases, a $20,000 prize during one of the challenges and a bonus $1,000,000 for getting so close to the right value on his showcase. His final winnings? $1,153,908.

While Terry Kniess may not have won as much as either of those contestants, his accomplishment is even more impressive: Terry is the only person to have ever guessed the exact price of their showcase down to the dollar. Thanks to his incredible ability to notice patterns and a little bit of luck, he guessed the approximate value of the showcase and then used his and his wife’s pin numbers to round out his bid. The guess was so perfect that behind the scenes everyone was frantically trying to find out how he cheated and when Carey announced that he was right on the money, he seems angry –something which seriously irritated home viewers.

Image via dayseraph [Flickr]

Despite his flub when announcing Terry’s incredible accuracy, Drew still seems to be doing an alright job with the show and ratings certainly aren’t suffering –the show is still one of the top daytime game shows. So what do you think, should Carey stay on or is the price wrong these days?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, Variety, JS Online, Esquire and CBS

Now that the animals are gone from most of the traveling circuses, the majority of the entertainment comes from professional entertainers who demonstrate extraordinary talents. While I don’t recommend running into your backyard and trying to do any of these techniques on your own (most of them are still pretty dangerous), it is interesting to learn just how some of these performances are achieved. If you do think one of these tricks sounds like something you’d like to do, there are plenty of circus and performance schools that will happy to teach you how to safely perfect these skills under the watchful eye of a professional.

Fire Breathing

While fire breathing is something that can be learned relatively easy, it is still a very difficult skill to master and exceptionally dangerous for both the audience members and the performer. When things do go wrong, the mistakes can often be deadly. That’s why most amateur fire breathers start practicing with water long before they ever pick up flammable materials. The basic concept of fire breathing is simple: spray fuel from your mouth over a hand held flame. The difficulty comes in the perfection of the spraying. If you don’t spray the fuel into a fine enough mist, the fire will fall to the ground and burn. If the spray is too low, it can hit the audience or performer. A high spray can shoot back down and hit the performer. When the wind starts getting in the way, things can become even more complex. Trees, stage implements and audience members can prevent further challenges. Even without the fire hazard, many performers get sick by accidentally ingesting the kerosene before or after their acts. If you are interested in seeing how good you might be at fire breathing, you can always practice spraying fine mists of water at a 60-80 angle, but if you think you’re getting pretty good, work with a professional before switching to gas. For more info on the act, check out this article. Image via jeffbalke [Flickr]

Sword Swallowing

If you have a low gag reflex, you’re already halfway on your way to swallowing swords, but there’s a lot more to it than loosening up your throat. Sword swallowing requires the performer to take a straight, hard piece of metal into the curved, soft tissue of the GI tract, all the way into the stomach. While swords used for these performances are not sharp, they are still likely to puncture and scrape the delicate tissue in the GI tract when not swallowed just right. Like fire breathing, this circus act may be a very basic trick, but it can quickly turn deadly when performed incorrectly.

Depending on how much you follow the schedule of upcoming movie releases, you may or may not know that MGM was planning to release a remake of Red Dawn on November 24, 2010 (the picture above is from the set). I say “was” because the studio is facing such major financial difficulties that the release has been postponed and the movie may be shelved indefinitely. To make matters worse, the Chinese press got a hold of the leaked script, which was based around a Chinese invasion of America (as opposed to the Soviet invasion in the first movie), and the headlines are not pretty. A few notable newspapers covered the story saying things like, "U.S. reshoots Cold War movie to demonize China" and "American movie plants hostile seeds against China." In honor of a movie that may soon join the ranks of many other films that might have been, let’s enjoy some trivia about the original 1984 version of Red Dawn. Image via g jewels [Flickr]

Shifting Focus

If you’re one of the many people who think the movie is a pathetic excuse to rally Americans against communists, then you may be surprised to know that the original story was much more intellectual and less action-oriented. Unlike the final version of Red Dawn, the original tale was more like Lord of the Flies, focusing on tensions between the group members and serving to illustrate the aggressive nature of mankind rather than the evils of communist Russia. The story, originally called Ten Soldiers, was also focused on kids who were in their early teens, rather than the older teens featured in the final version.

Getting Ready For Action

The cast and crew both had a lot of work ahead of them even before filming started. The actors, which included Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey and Charlie Sheen, were all required to go through an intensive eight-week military-styled boot camp to get them in shape and ready to fight. Meanwhile, the production crews were tasked with creating realistic weapons and vehicles for the American and Communist forces to use in the film. One of the movies T-72 tanks turned out to be such a perfect replica that the CIA actually dispatched two officers to find out where the Russian tank had come from and what it was doing in LA. What Happens In Vegas Stays In New Mexico While the movie is set in Calumet, Colorado, it was filmed mostly in Las Vegas, New Mexico. A rundown Safeway grocery store was used as a sound stage and many scenes were filmed there. Many of the buildings seen in the movie are still standing, with the exception being a 107 year-old historical building that was used for the headquarters of the invaders in the movie. Although it managed to survive being bombed by Wolverines for the purpose of production, it didn’t survive severe thunderstorms in the summer of 2006 and was torn down shortly after.

Setting A New Standard

If you ever thought there was nothing noteworthy about Red Dawn, you’re wrong. Not only did the movie represent the Charlie Sheen’s debut onto film, it also was the first PG-13 movie released in to theaters and the most violent film ever made at the time, according to Guinness. Technically The Flamingo Kid was the first movie to receive a PG-13 rating, but because its release was delayed five months, Red Dawn is largely credited with being the first PG-13 movie ever. Many parent groups protested the movie, notably The National Coalition on Television Violence, which was shocked by the Guinness Record given to the movie. According to the record, the movie had 134 acts of violence per hour, over two every minute. The Coalition claimed that 1984 had the most violent blockbusters ever released in one summer, as Indiana Jones, Gremlins and Dreamscape also hit theaters that year.

Real World Inspirations

Many critics claimed the film was a fantasyland for war hawks who wanted to use the movie as an excuse to go to war. While the Cold War ended shortly after the movie was released, critics were right in assuming that the military was inspired by the film. When a Hussein disappeared during the Iraq war, the Army set up Operation Red Dawn, and named the targets of the mission Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2. The captain who named the mission, Geoffrey McMurray, said it “was so fitting because it was a patriotic, pro-American movie.” Politics on Neatorama are pretty divided and can be very heated, so I’m sure many of you have quite different opinions on the movie. So what do you guys think? Do you like Red Dawn? Are you hoping to see the sequel when (and if) it comes out? Sources: Wikipedia, New York Times, IMDB, Slash Film

I don’t know about you guys, but I am super excited to catch the new Harry Potter movie! While critics of the series often complain that Rowling didn’t come up with most of the magical aspects of the story herself, they seem to be missing the point: rather than creating an alternate world where magic is real and wild beasts roam the countryside, she created a mythology that allows these fantasy elements to exist in our world, just out of sight of ordinary muggles like ourselves. To create this goal, it actually makes sense that she would use mythologies of cultures from around the world, as it allows the mythologies to work with the stories –muggles have seen dragons and unicorns in the past, but the wizarding community has hidden these things so well in the last centuries that muggles now accept them to be nothing more than stories.

To create this world within our world, Rowling had to do a lot of research into an array of mythologies and stories from all over the globe. She once explained, “children know that I didn't invent unicorns, but I've had to explain frequently that I didn't actually invent hippogriffs." So what are some of the mythologies incorporated into her stories? Lets take a look, starting with those hippogriffs.

Hippogriffs:

Image via Ben Dodson [Flickr]

Fans of the series are undoubtedly familiar with Buckbeak, the hippogriff that Harry and Hermoine saved from execution, but as Rowling pointed out, many people don’t realize that hippogriffs have been around much longer than the book series. The creatures entered the public consciousness in medieval times, where they were said to be a cross between a griffin and a horse. The cross breed creature was said to be even stronger, faster and more intelligent than either of its parents and could travel as fast as lightening. Fortunately, they were said to be much easier to tame than griffins, which is why Buckbeak was so willing to be ridden in the novels. Hippogriffs were exceptionally rare beasts, largely because griffins considered horses to be food. In fact, the concept was considered to be so outlandish that “to mate griffins with horses” was a similar expression to “when pigs fly.” For this reason, hippogriffs were considered a symbol not only of impossibility, but of intense love.

Grindylows:

Grindylows were one of the many dark creatures Harry had to face during his competition in the Triwizard Tournament. The nasty little creatures are known to live in the bottom of Hogwarts Lake and try to pull anyone who comes into their territory down to the bottom of the lake. These creatures originally started being talked about in the English counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, but their myth spread throughout England and Ireland, where they were used to scare children from pools, marshes and ponds in order to prevent drowning. Stories said that if a child came too close to the edge, the grindylows would grab them and pull them down to the water’s darkest depths.

Basilisks:

Image via Giovanni Dall'Orto [Wikipedia]

The basilisk that almost took down Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets was monstrously large, stretching almost 50 feet, and at least 50 years old. Rowling credits the creation of the basilisk to Herpo the Foul, who hatched a chicken egg under a toad. Classic tales of basilisks vary quite a bit from those of the Harry Potter universe. While both of the creatures can kill with a single glance and are exceptionally poisonous, Rowling’s 50 foot serpent is quite a bit larger than traditional basilisks, which were no more than five feet long (although they seemed to get longer as the stories aged). Notably, the creation of a basilisk in classic stories is through a rooster hatching a toad egg, if a toad hatched a chicken egg, a cockatrice (a similar creature with wings) would be born.

While many towns were built on corruption, greed and scandal, few are as embracing of these embarrassing roots as the residents of Seattle. Of course, it wasn’t always this way, around fifty years ago, most of the city’s residents only knew of the white-washed town history that was (and still is) retold in school history books. Fortunately, when the city threatened to tear down the city’s gorgeous Victorian and Edwardian buildings in the historical Pioneer Square area, residents rushed to save their town’s heritage. To help protect this historical area, one amateur historian and professional journalist, Bill Speidel, set out to uncover the back story of the slum-ridden district. In the end, his findings resulted in the famous Underground Tour and helped establish the neighborhood as a preservation district, ensuring the continued protection of all the historical buildings in the area. So what is so important about Pioneer Square and why should anyone outside of the city care? Read on, my friends, read on.

The First Settlements

In 1851, a troupe of pioneers known as the Denny Party established the first white settlement in the area at Alki Point. The group was led by Arthur A Denny, who soon realized that Alki Point wasn’t a good place for a settlement and then moved his party to a tide flat off of Elliot Bay, which they named Duwamps, after the local Native American tribe. Within the first few years of settlement, another leader, Doctor David Swinson Maynard moved in from Cleveland. Whereas the members of the Denny Party were dedicated teetotalism Methodists, Doc Maynard was a heavy drinker who believed vice was one of the most effective industries in a frontier town.  Maynard convinced the other townspeople to rename the city Seattle after the Duwamps Chief Seattle, who was a friend of his. He did so not only to help honor his friend, but also because he knew Seattle would be a lot easier to promote to people back East than Duwamps, which sounded like a swamp. In 1852, Maynard built his cabin, and contained a store inside of it, establishing the first shop in Seattle. He soon obtained the right to host a post office in his store, meaning everyone had to visit his store to get their mail. Throughout his life, Maynard helped build a number of important establishments in Seattle, building the first pharmacy, hotel, casino, saloon, brothel and hospital in the area. When plots of land were officially established, Denny’s property stretched north of Pioneer Square, while Maynard's extended to the south. Because each established their streets according to their piece of shoreline, the streets now have an awkward bend at what is now Yesler Way and that area of town is noticeably jumbled when it comes to driving. Maynard helped jump start the city’s industry by offering his land at exceptionally cheap prices, provided the buyer started building a business on it immediately. He attracted critical business professionals such as blacksmiths into town, along with purveyors of vice, which helped attract more frontiersmen to the city. Early real estate records show that 90% of the city’s first businesses were built on Maynard’s land or immediately adjacent to his plot.

Left Out of The History Books

While Maynard obviously did a lot to help establish the town, he was left out of history books and almost completely forgotten about until Bill Speidel’s research helped bring his contributions to light. So why would such a key figure in the town’s founding be forgotten? Mostly because he was seen to be amoral. When Maynard left Cleveland in 1850, he was married to a woman named Lydia. She eventually filed for divorce on grounds of desertion, but she never completed the divorce. Before arriving in Seattle, the good doctor circulated amongst several wagon trains, helping to fight cholera. While serving as the leader on a small wagon train that brought him to Puget Sound, he fell in love with a widow, Catherine Troutman Broshears. At first, her brother refused her permission to remarry, but after Maynard made a good deal of money in Seattle, he relented and the couple was married. Years latter, Maynard’s first wife sold off her share of property and the man who purchased it then went after Maynard, claiming he was owed everything that was Lydia’s since the couple was never officially divorced. Lydia came to Seattle to help defend her husband and Catherine and the doctor became friends with her and let her live in their home. According to Speidel, Doc Maynard was the only resident that was commonly seen with one wife on each arm.

I don’t know about you, but the Jungle Cruise is one of my favorite Disneyland rides because the silly spiels from the skippers ensure it is different every time you ride. But what else do you know about the ride that takes you through four of the best known exotic rivers in the world? Get to know the ride behind the scenes with another edition of Disneyland related Neatorama Facts.

Creating A Classic

Walt originally envisioned the attraction as an educational adventure where boats would travel by live animals from around the world. He soon realized live animals would be too much of a challenge because they would frequently be sleeping and hiding in the back of enclosures like zoo animals tend to do. Even worse, they’d have to go poo at some point, which would look gross and could be pretty stinky given the small area of space the animals would have to live in.

So instead he opted to use animatronic animals, but he worked to have the creatures look as lifelike as possible and participating in realistic behavior, like the lions eating the zebra. Silly scenes like the rhino attacking the men on the pole and the gorillas ransacking the camp weren’t added until later. The Imagineers based much of the ride on the movie The African Queen and the vessels used to ferry guests through the attraction are even based on the steamer seen in the film. Another inspiration for the ride was the footage used for the fifties Disney documentary series called True Life Stories. One of the most difficult challenges of building the attraction was finding plants that looked exotic and getting them to grow.

Imagineer Bill Evans chose to use both native and exotic plants in order to save money, but he ensured the local flora still looked in character by performing little landscaping tricks. For example, he grew orange trees in a way where their roots were exposed and then he grew vines on the roots, creating a very junglesque feel to the plants. The Jungle Cruise was one of the first rides still around that were actually in operation when the park was first opened to the public. In fact, it was one of the first rides built because Walt wanted to give the foliage time to grow before the park opened, even so, it was still pretty sparse on opening day. Because this specific ride was covered by the press so much during the construction process, it was always a popular attraction and was an E ticket ride.

Tracing Your Voyage

The Jungle Cruise starts out with a simulation of the Irrawaddy and Mekong Rivers, taking visitors through the South East Asian forest. The boat passes a Cambodian temple adorned with crocodiles, giant spiders, king cobras and a Bengal tiger. Next they enter a sacred Indian elephant bathing pool where Indian elephants play in the fountains and spray water at the guests. The boat then travels through the rivers of Africa, specifically the Nile and passes by two African bull elephants before approaching an African Veldt where giraffes, zebras, wildebeest all watch a group of lions munching on a zebra. A little past this area, there is an angry rhino trying to attack a group of safariers who are hiding up a tree. Next, the boat is surrounded by angry hippos who are only chased away by a gun shot fired by the skipper. Interestingly, the gun is real; it’s a nickel plated Smith and Wesson .38 Special that has been altered so it can’t shoot live ammo. The skippers carry two types of ammo, the regular blanks used to scare the hippos and extra loud ones in case of emergency.

Interestingly, the operators at the Magic Kingdom only carry inoperable prop guns these days, so I wonder what they do when there is an emergency. Guests then pass under the backside of Schweitzer Falls, named after Doctor Albert Schweitzer, and then enter the South America and traverse the Amazon River. Drums and chanting signal that the boat is now in headhunter country. Soon enough the headhunters are wielding spears at the visitors, who are suddenly attacked by piranhas in the water. Just before the boat returns to the dock, it passes Trader Sam, the shrunken head dealer, who offers visitors a two for one special –two of his heads for one of theirs.

Sillying Things Up

When the ride first opened, it was supposed to be serious, but within a few years, Walt realized that it would be greatly improved with a little humor to liven it up. So he decided to have animator Marc David write a script that incorporated some humorous gags. The funny bits started to be incorporated into the action in 1962. These days, the skippers are always hired with their sense of comedic timing in mind. In fact, there has been a long-running comedy show in Fullerton, California since 2006 that features only Jungle Cruise skippers.

Evolution

Video link

Disney believed in constantly updating rides to ensure they were always interesting for guests. While most people don’t notice the changes, the attraction has gone through quite a few stages to be at its current state. If you have visited the park in the last few decades, you may notice a few differences from the modern version and the one seen in the video. The first change happened in 1962, when the elephant bathing pool was added. Two years later the safari camp was installed. When the Indiana Jones Adventure was built in 1994, the Jungle Cruise queue area was redesigned and the river was slightly rerouted.

The new attraction fit in well with the setting, but the throngs of tourists that could be seen from the ride itself were a little distracting. Fortunately, the skipper script was adapted to make fun of the tourists. Another refurbishment took place in 2004, when the piranhas were added along with an explosion effect where the gorillas have taken over the camp. Even the boats on the ride were changed, as they were originally clean and beautiful replicas of the African Queen, but the 1994 refurbishments allowed the imagineers to give the boats a grungy look so they better fit in with their surroundings and the Indiana Jones Adventure next door.

Differences Between The Parks

Like most classic Disneyland rides, the attraction is also featured at other Disney parks, but each has their own tiny variations. Disneyland Paris is actually the only one to not feature the ride. This is because Imagineers worried about trying to find appropriate jungle plants that could handle the cold temperature of the area and because other theme parks in France have already adapted the ride, so it would not be a unique experience to European visitors. At the Magic Kingdom, the biggest differences are the order of the scenes and the inclusion of a downed airplane near the hippo pool. This is the back half of a Lockheed Model 12 Electrica Junior that was purchased for the Casablanca scene in the Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The other scene only required the front half of the plane, so the back half was added in the jungle setting.

Other than the plane, the Tokyo version of the ride is pretty much identical to the Magic Kingdom version, except the narration is in Japanese and the ride runs clockwise instead of counterclockwise. The biggest changes can be seen at Hong Kong Disneyland though. At this park, the river goes around Tarzan’s Treehouse and the ending has been completely redone to include a grand finale with a battle between the gods of fire and water. This park has handled language problems by having three separate lines, one of English, one for Cantonese and one for Mandarin.

Steering The Streams

The skippers on the boat do control the speed and direction you are going, but the underwater railing prevents them from having to steer. They generally use the steering wheel prop throughout the journey, but only for fun.  On the other hand, this does mean they can put you in the line of fire for the elephant sprays by adjusting their speed appropriately –as my sister learned the hard way when she was throwing a tantrum on the ride when we were kids. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen in case of a breakdown, you can relax even if you are a bad swimmer. While the canal reaches depths of up to eight feet, it is is no more than three feet deep in most areas. The water is died brown to help prevent guests from being able to see the “river” bottom. Do you guys like the ride? What’s your favorite terrible Jungle Cruise pun, or do you prefer to leave the jokes to professionals and avoid the ride?

Sources: Themed Attraction, Wikipedia, Disney Reporter, Jim Hill Media, Disneyland, Mouse Planet, Little Known Facts About Well-Known Places: Disneyland

Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts: Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room