YouTube user Frabjousfilms made an a cappella version of the Doctor Who theme. At least, that's the way it starts out. Then he works in signature lines like "Always bring a banana to a party" (the Tenth Doctor). Now lest you think that this video is too weird: it carries the endorsement of executive producer Steven Moffat.
Tony Ponce of Destructoid offers this photo of a well-done cosplay from Dragon*Con. That's Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Are Joel and Mike going to be female, too?
http://www.destructoid.com/the-cosplay-homestretch-from-dragon-con-2011-day-4-210684.phtml -via The Mary Sue
I really like the colored frames that Ghostpatrol, an artist who lives in Melbourne, creates by carving surfaces into pencils and then illustrating them. They give the impression that Ghostpatrol simply excavates them from the wood.
For Burning Man, artist Duane Flatmo built an enormous octopus automaton called El Pulpo Mechanico. It shoots fire from its feet. So, you know, that's just a bit different from the mechanical octopodes that you encounter normally.
Swedish engineers are working on a tank that will be able to blend into the background -- whatever that background may be. It's covered with a skin that can change its appearance:
The technology is based on sheets of hexagonal 'pixels' that are able to change temperature very quickly.
On-board cameras collect images of the vehicle's background and display that infra-red image onto the vehicle panels, making it appear to vanish.
http://news.sky.com/home/technology/article/16063257 -via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Håkan Dahlström used under Creative Commons license
Craftster member erica_tattoos made a pair of embroidery hoops depicting Princess Leia and Jabba the Hutt. My brilliant idea: the original trilogy should be re-shot with manatees.
In 1878, photographer Eadweard Muybridge settled a wager made on a widely-debated question: do all four hooves of a horse leave the ground when it runs? Muybridge set up a line of cameras, each of which was triggered when the horse ran into strings placed across its path. The resulting images settled the debate (all four hooves leave the ground) and led to the development of the zoopraxiscope, one of the earliest motion picture projection systems. To commemorate this historic event, Flickr user Ms. Cleaver knitted a cap showing the sequence of images.
Did you love playing in sandboxes when you were a kid? It was fun to move dirt around with little toy bulldozers and dump trucks. Now there's a company in Las Vegas that will let you do it for real. Dig This in Las Vegas invites ordinary, untrained people to move dirt under the supervision of skilled heavy equipment operators.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Adults-get-life-sized-sandbox-near-Las-Vegas-Strip-2152298.php -via The Presurfer
US District Judge Sam Sparks was utterly disgusted by the behavior of attorneys for both sides on a case, and so issued a formal order compelling them to attend a "kindergarten party." More likely, though, it was a stern lecture on professional courtesy and decorum. The attorneys responded by resolving their dispute, and the party was cancelled.
You could do this with three different screens, but YouTube user redstarfutbol (may his name be lauded with glory forever), has made it much easier by loading each movie into a single video. What hidden meanings can now be found?
Darren Pearson, a light painter, composes images with a light source, such as a flashlight, and a camera with a very low shutter speed. Recently, he made a set of detailed dinosaur images using this technique. Would you like to try it yourself? Check out the video tutorial and learn how to do it.
For his project entitled "Live Free or Die", artist Dan Tague folded dollar bills so that letters spell out messages. The name is the state motto of New Hampshire, as well as a line from John Stark, an American Revolutionary War general. You can view nine other folded bills from the project at the link.
http://dantaguestudio.com/index.php?/installation/live-free-or-die/ -via American Digest
The Buffalo nickel, which was released by the US Mint in 1913, had a buffalo on one side and a nameless Native American on the other. Due to the hardness of its nickel-copper alloy, it was well-suited for carving. So many Americans worked designs and images into the surface. During the Great Depression, this practiced reached its zenith as unemployed, wandering men carved their own nickels in the hope of selling them for something greater than five cents. The tradition thrived for a generation, and surviving hobo nickels are prized by collectors. Read all about this craft at Appalachian History.
When he was 18, Alan Moore played college football for a year before leaving school to serve with the US Army in Vietnam. When he got back, Moore got a job, got married, and eventually had three children and five grandchildren. But the desire to play football returned to him. Now he's back, 43 years later. Moore is now a student and a football player at Faulkner University, a small college in Montgomery, Alabama:
Eagles Head Coach Gregg Baker says Moore "got on me the first couple times we talked, because I kept calling him, 'Yes sir.' And he said, 'Coach, you're not supposed to call me "yes. I'm supposed to call you 'Yes, sir."'[...]
Says Baker, "Alan came to us back in the spring and said, 'My story is showing these kids there's no reason to give up on your dreams, and there's no reason not to continue trying to get your education."
Moore lives in the dorms, eats in the cafeteria and attends class, proving, observes "Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Russ Mitchell, he has the mind, the heart and foot to compete with players young enough to be his grandchildren.
Brass Farthing is a barbershop harmony vocal group that performs in steampunk-style costumes, including aviator goggles and copious amounts of the color brown. Here they are performing a song about a rascally trombonist who seduces the narrator's wife.
