Salon writer Sarah Hepola moved to tiny apartment in Manhattan and found the lack of space severely affected her cat Bubba. Should she take him outside on a leash? Have you ever been able to leash-train a cat?
I know, I know, a cat leash is a ridiculous idea. Cats are too prickly, too willful to endure such pampered indignity. I might as well suggest my cat learn to make a delicious veal parmigiana, or play Bob Dylan songs on the harmonica. In five years of living in New York -- a city that prides itself on its vast parade of human experience -- I've only seen one cat on a leash. (Putting the ratio of strangers' penises to leashed cats at 2:1.) The New York Times wrote about a real estate broker on the Upper West Side who leash trained his cat, which suggests just how remarkable the feat is. Even the phrase "cat on a leash" has a campy spark of the impossible, like something you'd see in a Farrelly brothers movie, or hear about in a novelty song: "Cat on a leash! He don't eat quiche!" But if you start digging a bit into the world of cats on leashes, what you will discover is just how many people have already tried it.
After much angst, Hepola tried a leash on her cat and was surprised by how the adventure turned out. You might not be so surprised. Link
If you look hard enough, even the most outlandish legends have a grain of truth somewhere. Reports from antiquity of sea monsters may be fantastic, but they describe what someone at least thought they saw at one time. Consider the sea monk, described in 1546 (left). It sure looks like someone drew it from their imagination. But then look at the sea creature called a Jenny Haniver (right). Read about this and other monsters that may now be explained scientifically. Link -via Gorilla Mask
The new caption contest is up at NeatoGeek! This week, the featured picture is a comic by cartoonist Joel Watson (what you see here is only a detail). The best caption will win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop, so look around and pick one out to include with your entry. http://www.neatorama.com/neatogeek/2010/07/27/caption-contest-4/
The movie Caddyshack was released on July 25th, 1980. My, has that really been 30 years? What better to celebrate than a Lunchtime Quiz from mental_floss! Test your recall of this now-classic film. I only scored 50%; you will do better. Link
Kyle Merriman recently visited Nara Dreamland, the abandoned Disneyland knockoff theme park in Nara, Japan that was built in 1961 and closed in 2006. He found it to be fairly intact, except for the fact that there are no people there and the weeds have grown everywhere. See the state of the park in a gallery of 56 photographs. http://www.brandknewme.com/?p=845
Previously at Neatorama: Nara Dreamland, an Alternate Universe Disneyland
This video of a lightning bolt was filmed at 9,000 frames per second. The entire minute-and-a-half video covers less than two seconds of real time. Is this cool or what? -via Dr. Isis
Geeks Are Sexy proves that some are indeed in this collection of costumed participants at Comic-Con 2010, last week in San Diego. In addition to these, they are asking for your cosplay photographs to be published in another post. Link
The term Flugtag is German for "flight day". The Red Bull Flugtag in St. Paul, Minnesota, was Saturday and the homemade flying machine competition took place on the Mississippi River. As many as 90,000 people turned out to see entry after entry plunge into the river. A new world record for these events was set by a team called Major Trouble and the Dirty Dixies, whose glider flew 207 feet! After seeing the other nine top finishers in the video at the link, you will be even more impressed by that 207-foot flight. http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/99177024.html -via TYWKIWDBI
Johnny Cat pointed out that Stephen King's latest movie novel Under the Dome may cause you to recall the 2007 film The Simpsons, as both involve a city suddenly isolated under a glass dome.
Fans seem less convinced that the novel's conceit – a town discovers that it is encased in a giant dome, put there by an unknown force – is so terrific. Many took to the internet to point out that a similar plot was the basis for The Simpsons Movie. King took to his website to respond that he had never seen the movie and that the similarity came as a complete surprise. Fans reacted with incredulity, pointing out that not only is King a pop- culture omnivore, but has played on stage with The Simpsons creator Matt Groening in his Rock Bottom Remainders band. King then gave a different account of the book's origins, this time saying he started it in 1978 or thereabouts, and wrote a second, unpublished version called The Cannibals in 1985. In order to silence any accusations of plagiarism, he published the first 60 pages on his website (in the original IBM typescript to prove its age).
But the problem is not who had the idea first. King may argue that "stories can be no more alike than snowflakes" as "no two human imaginations are exactly alike", but Stephen King novels and Simpsons movies are similar in that they are big pop-culture events aimed at roughly the same sort of audience – and with such events, the concept is as important as the execution. Also, both film and novel use their conceit to give dramatic focus to tales of the interconnected lives of a large cast of everyday small-town Americans. It doesn't matter whether King has seen the film; his readers have, and this takes some of the shine off his novel.
If you've seen the movies and read the book, let us know what you think. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/under-the-dome-by-stephen-king-1818801.html -via The Litter Box
You've seen these men in black everywhere, usually in a group, threatening a movie hero. But how much do you really know about the dark warriors of feudal Japan? It's time to separate the men from the myth.
1. The ninja were a clan of evil assassins for hire.
Myth! In the movies, ninja are portrayed as evil mercenaries crawling out of the woodwork to make sashimi out of the good guy. In reality, they were mountain people of Japan who were systematically harassed by the samurai ruling class 400 years ago. Mostly they farmed. For self-defense when outnumbered, the ninja created a fighting system call Ninjutsu, "the art of stealth". When money got tight the occasional ninja would sell his skills. These few renegades created the stereotype of ninja as the warrior killer.
2. One ninja could sometimes defeat five soldiers.
Fact! Ninja specifically trained to fight more than one opponent. But they considered escape a victory. Their big-city oppressors outnumbered them, so training involved "dirty" fighting tactics that would scare or injure adversaries just long enough for ninja to get away. The samurai were trained in one-on-one fighting against an opponent who actively engages, not a slippery man in black who kicks you in the toe and disappears. Ninja learned to get the job done quickly. A ninja boxing match wouldn't make a good spectator sport: one pokes the other in the eye and climbs a tree.
(Image from the film Sengoku Yaro. Source: Vintage Ninjas)
3. All ninja were male.
Myth! Lady ninja were called kunoichi. Occasionally, some wielded swords like the men, but most often, they were trained as spies and messengers to help gather information that would help their clan. Kunoichi used the illusion of helplessness to their advantage, wielding secret weapons like sashes, fans, combs, and umbrellas when forced to fight. n occasion, they assassinated unsuspecting "suitors". They even carried a bag of little, bladed finger gloves that gave them the equivalent of iron press-on nails of death!
(Image from the film Kaze no Bushi. Source: Vintage Ninjas)
4. Ninja practiced black magic and had supernatural powers.
Myth! While ninja may have appeared magical, they put their pajamas on one leg at a time, just like everybody else. In battle, though, they used this legend to frighten their enemies. The height of ninja activities was during the 1600s; but by the 1800s, most ninja action involved farming or looking for work. Yet ninja buzz kept growing through art, theater, and word of mouth. By the 1900s, ninja were portrayed as practically superhuman.
Myth! In real life, ninja dressed for the job at hand; they usually looked like everyone else. When sneaking into an enemy lair, they wore the uniforms of their adversaries to trick them. By the Edo Period (1603-1867), their exploits were famous enough to hit the Kabuki theater. Taking the stealthy reputation of the ninja into consideration, Kabuki troupes decided to portray ninja the same as stagehands-dressed all in black so as not to be seen by the audience. Henceforth, all ninja were portrayed in black.
6. Ninja in training walked through fire, stood under freezing waterfalls, and dangled themelves over cliffs.
Fact! As Japan's Edo Period wore on, the ninja became less secretive. There were no more feudal wars left to fight. Ninja masters wrote books, opened schools to teach others, and became scholars. And their fighting became world famous. In the 1980s, the American film Enter the Ninja set off a brief ninja craze in the United States, and lots of schools opened (some more authentic than others). There are thousands of practicing ninja in the United States today.
The book is a compendium of entertaining information chock-full of facts on a plethora of history topics. Uncle John's first plunge into history was a smash hit - over half a million copies sold! And this sequel gives you more colorful characters, cultural milestones, historical hindsight, groundbreaking events, and scintillating sagas.
What's 36 feet tall, made of straw, and peers over the Nantwich horizon? A meerkat, of course! Snugburys Ice Cream Farm of Hurleston in England erects a big straw statue every summer.
The concept started in 1998 with a huge Millennium Dome sculpture and has also seen a straw replica of the Lovell telescope, London Eye as well as last year’s Big Ben standing beside the A51 near Chester.
Director Chris Sadler and his wife Cheryl come up with the ideas and the creations are made by Mike Harper, who builds a steel skeleton which is then stuffed with hay.
Speaking about this year’s design, Mr Harper, 57, said: ‘Everyone loves meerkats, especially my wife, so we thought it would be a good idea.
The colossal meerkat has eyes that light up. Link -via Arbroath
Several original posts this past week at Neatorama had to do with the Disney company in one way or another. Stacy Conradt stepped back in from her maternity leave and wrote Toy Story Movie Trivia. Jill Harness went to Disneyland and then gave us Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion. Then Alex posted some vintage photographs from The Early Days of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
The Museum of Possibilities has a couple of new exhibits with If I Were an Architect and Possibilities for Mutation in Necktie Design.
You'll want to check out three new artists at the Art Blog: printmaker Julia Wolfson, sillkscreen printer Byung Kim, and illustrator Laura Barnard.
T-shirts from the NeatoShop are up for grabs in the What is it? game. As soon as I get the winners' names, I'll add them here. Congratulations to cynric, who won a t-shirt in NeatoGeek's weekly Caption Contest -his caption is now in the post. Also, stay tuned for a special announcement in the GTFO competition!
Don't forget, there's more fun and nonsense happening every day on our Facebook page, and you'll certainly want to follow your favorite site on Twitter.
Police in Larkspur, Colorado investigated a complaint of a car with the horn blaring for 45 minutes in the middle of the night. They found the car, with a bear inside it. What's more, the bear had taken the car where the police found it! Ben Story had parked his car the night before and did not lock it. What's more, there was a sandwich inside, which bears find hard to resist.
Ben's father, Ralph, said the bear hit the shifter and the car rolled backward about 125 feet, off the driveway, down an embankment and into some trees on Eagle Road near Tenderfoot Drive.
"So this bear opened the door on his own. Somehow the door closed behind him. He panicked and started thrashing around, hit the shifter and put the car, took it out of park," Ralph said. "It rolled back, down over the hill, and down into here, and stopped. The four way flashers were on. It's like he knew what was going on, and kept hitting the horn."
Police declined to open the car door, and finally freed the bear by tying a rope to the door handle so they could open it from further away. The bear wandered off, leaving the vehicle's interior shredded. http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24364913/detail.html#
If you decide to be cremated when the time comes, your choice of final resting places will be much greater than if you were to be buried. Mental_floss takes a look at some of the more, hmm ...imaginative ways people have stored, scattered, reused, or disposed of their ashes.
The name Fredric Baur may not ring any bells, but you know his most famous creation. In 1966 Baur invented the Pringles can so Procter & Gamble could ship its new chips without using bags. Baur was so proud of the achievement that he told his children he wanted to be buried in the iconic can. When he died in 2008 at 89, they honored his wishes by placing his ashes in a Pringles can before burying them. According to his son Larry, Baur’s children briefly debated what flavor canister to use before settling on original.
