Using tea candles for pixels, YouTube member brusspup lit and relit for two weeks to create this video game sequence. It's all worth it if you enjoy watching it! -via the Presurfer
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
Here on land, we undertake great engineering projects to get rid of biological waste from cities and livestock farms. What about the sea, where huge animals produce a lot of it? It turns out that whales have the ability to offset greenhouse gasses with their poop!
You can read all about it at Discovery News. Link -via Digg
(Image credit: Flickr user Erwin Winkelman)
Sperm whales in the Southern Ocean release 220,462 tons of carbon when they exhale carbon dioxide at the water's surface, but their poo stimulates the drawdown of 440,925 tons of carbon, according to the research, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
These ocean giants and certain other marine mammals may therefore be among the most environmentally beneficial animals on the planet.
"If Southern Ocean sperm whales were at their historic levels, meaning their population size before whaling, we would have an extra 2 million tons (2,204,623 tons) of carbon being removed from our atmosphere each and every year," lead author Trisha Lavery Told Discovery News.
Lavery, a marine biologist at Flinders University of South Australia, and her colleagues explained how the cleaning process works.
You can read all about it at Discovery News. Link -via Digg
(Image credit: Flickr user Erwin Winkelman)
On June 16th, 1960 -fifty years ago today- moviegoers were treated to a new Alfred Hitchcock film that would change the idea of horror films forever. It was the release date for Psycho, the psychological thriller that introduced us to Norman Bates and The Bates Motel. The simple act of taking a shower become a frightening experience for those who saw the movie. Open Road Media selected this anniversary date to release an ebook version of the nonfiction masterpiece Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello, which takes a deeper look at Hitchcock's masterpiece.
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a behind-the-scenes look inside the classic suspense shocker—and the creative genius who revolutionized filmmaking.
Author Stephen Rebello explores the creation of one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, from the story of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein, the real-life inspiration for the character of Norman Bates, to Hitchcock’s groundbreaking achievements in cinematography, sound, editing, and promotion. Filled with insights from the film’s stars, writers, and crewmembers, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a riveting and definitive history of a signature Hitchcock cinematic masterpiece.
The ebook (available now) covers every step of the story of Psycho, from the crime that inspired the novel and then the movie, financing, casting, filming, special effects, trivia, to the reception the public gave the film. Read about the many versions of the story Hitchcock rejected and the writers tweaked, the careful planning that allowed shooting to be completed in just a month, and the trademark suspense Hitchcock used to hype the unveiling of the finished product.
Reprinted here with permission is the very first chapter, the story of murderer Ed Gein, which inspired novelist Robert Bloch to write the story that became the movie Psycho.
THE AWFUL TRUTH
There was a young man named Ed
Who would not take a woman to bed
When he wanted to diddle,
He cut out the middle
And hung the rest in a shed.
ANONYMOUS, 1957
In late November 1957, no one would have marked Plainfield as unlike any other hardscrabble, rawboned Wisconsin farm hamlet. That winter was especially raw. Ask any of the friendly townies of third- and fourth-generation German and French stock. In flat, laconic tones, they recite litanies of burst water mains and permafrost; of nights spent hunkering down against slashing winds and rains that blew east along Canada’s border. But that November also saw Plainfield mentioned in newspapers across the country. Remind these dairyland types about that little bit of business and their open faces wall up. They begin to study their shoes or make excuses before they beg off. That month, in 1957, Plainfield police smoked out an oafish fifty-one-year-old, odd-job-and-errands-man named Ed Gein (rhymes with mean) as one of the grisliest mass murderers America ever spawned.
Long before the headlines were to brand Gein as a bogeyman, his rural, God-fearing community of seven hundred had chalked him off as a crank. A perpetually grinning, unmarried recluse, Gein rambled over 160 ruined acres once farmed by his parents and brother. Even locals who never gave a second thought to hiring Gein for errands or baby-sitting had wearied of his harebrained theories. He liked to rag on the whys and wherefores of criminals who fouled up, or yammer endlessly, and pitifully, about women. Plainfield-ers recall his clinical obsession with anatomy and with the sex-change operation of Christine Jorgensen. But there was more to Gein than loony talk. That came home with a vengeance with the discovery of bloodstains on the floor of Bernice Worden’s general store on November 16.
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Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a behind-the-scenes look inside the classic suspense shocker—and the creative genius who revolutionized filmmaking.
Author Stephen Rebello explores the creation of one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, from the story of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein, the real-life inspiration for the character of Norman Bates, to Hitchcock’s groundbreaking achievements in cinematography, sound, editing, and promotion. Filled with insights from the film’s stars, writers, and crewmembers, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a riveting and definitive history of a signature Hitchcock cinematic masterpiece.
The ebook (available now) covers every step of the story of Psycho, from the crime that inspired the novel and then the movie, financing, casting, filming, special effects, trivia, to the reception the public gave the film. Read about the many versions of the story Hitchcock rejected and the writers tweaked, the careful planning that allowed shooting to be completed in just a month, and the trademark suspense Hitchcock used to hype the unveiling of the finished product.
Reprinted here with permission is the very first chapter, the story of murderer Ed Gein, which inspired novelist Robert Bloch to write the story that became the movie Psycho.
THE AWFUL TRUTH
There was a young man named Ed
Who would not take a woman to bed
When he wanted to diddle,
He cut out the middle
And hung the rest in a shed.
ANONYMOUS, 1957
In late November 1957, no one would have marked Plainfield as unlike any other hardscrabble, rawboned Wisconsin farm hamlet. That winter was especially raw. Ask any of the friendly townies of third- and fourth-generation German and French stock. In flat, laconic tones, they recite litanies of burst water mains and permafrost; of nights spent hunkering down against slashing winds and rains that blew east along Canada’s border. But that November also saw Plainfield mentioned in newspapers across the country. Remind these dairyland types about that little bit of business and their open faces wall up. They begin to study their shoes or make excuses before they beg off. That month, in 1957, Plainfield police smoked out an oafish fifty-one-year-old, odd-job-and-errands-man named Ed Gein (rhymes with mean) as one of the grisliest mass murderers America ever spawned.
Long before the headlines were to brand Gein as a bogeyman, his rural, God-fearing community of seven hundred had chalked him off as a crank. A perpetually grinning, unmarried recluse, Gein rambled over 160 ruined acres once farmed by his parents and brother. Even locals who never gave a second thought to hiring Gein for errands or baby-sitting had wearied of his harebrained theories. He liked to rag on the whys and wherefores of criminals who fouled up, or yammer endlessly, and pitifully, about women. Plainfield-ers recall his clinical obsession with anatomy and with the sex-change operation of Christine Jorgensen. But there was more to Gein than loony talk. That came home with a vengeance with the discovery of bloodstains on the floor of Bernice Worden’s general store on November 16.
Champion skier and author Josh Sundquist {wiki} busts some rhymes about his handy crutches, his expensive prosthesis, and his great parking space. -via Unique Daily
TV survivalist Bear Grylls can live off the land, and just about anything that is even remotely edible. But can you recall exactly what he's eaten on television? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss will test your recall -or did you block out those unpleasant memories? Believe it or not, I scored 90%, even though I haven't watched any of his shows. I'm not psychic; I just have an idea of what would make good television. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/58257
Get the insulin ready, this cute is strong with this one. -via Buzzfeed
They are everywhere at the World Cup games in South Africa: vuvuzelas! The plastic horns sound like a swarm of hornets when thousands of people play them at once. The sound can reach up to 140 decibels, which can damage hearing, and hundreds of thousands of vuvuzelas have been sold this year.
Read about how the vuvuzela came to be such an integral part of the World Cup games at Smithsonian magazine. Link
(Image credit: Jon Hrusa /epa/Corbis)
The horns, FIFA officials said, were too much a part of the South African tradition to silence them. “It’s a local sound, and I don’t know how it is possible to stop it,” Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA’s president, told reporters. “I always said that when we go to South Africa, it is Africa. It’s not Western Europe. It’s noisy, it’s energy, rhythm, music, dance, drums. This is Africa. We have to adapt a little.”
Read about how the vuvuzela came to be such an integral part of the World Cup games at Smithsonian magazine. Link
(Image credit: Jon Hrusa /epa/Corbis)
Admit it, there have been times when you got up and left a movie theater as the credit started to roll, and days later someone told you the credit roll was the funniest part of the film. You can catch a peek at just those credits in this list of video credit rolls featuring outtakes, additional scenes, or other creative reasons to stick around to the very end. Link
(YouTube link)
Zach Anner came back from a weekend trip surprised to find that his audition for a television contest had over two million votes! So he made a video to express his appreciation. -via reddit
Update: John Mayer posted a response to the above video. Link
This weekend will mark 35 years since the movie Jaws made us all afraid to get in the water. Johnny Cat takes a look back at what a groundbreaking movie it was.
Bruce wasn't the easiest of actors to work with, either. Link
Much like Alfred Hitchcock’s shower scene, this movie made audiences rethink potential sources of Things to Watch Out For. The sophomore effort of one of filmmaking’s living legends, Steven Spielberg, it still ranks as one of the world’s best-loved movies, with a commanding 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
My personal favorite element of this classic flick is the way the shark was represented; yes, I loved the acting performances of each and every human character, but the character of the shark upstaged everyone. And that shark’s name is Bruce. It’s hilarious to note that the name was attached to the mechanical shark(s) in honor of Spielberg’s lawyer, also named Bruce.
Bruce wasn't the easiest of actors to work with, either. Link
In 1993, when he was 58 years old, John Basinger (JB) decided he would memorize the 10,565 line poem Paradise Lost by John Milton. By age 74, he could recite books one and two from memory. After seeing JB perform, psychologist John Seamon was fascinated and arranged to test the man's memory.
JB is no savant; his accomplishments apparently came from hard work and dedication to the task. Link -via Nag on the Lake
Seamon and his team asked JB to take part in tests regarding the epic work where they cued him with two lines selected from anywhere in the poem and asked him to recall the following 10 lines. In one part they picked out lines as they went through the books in order, in another they just chose books at random.
He seemed to stumble on a couple of books when they were tackled sequentially, but generally his verbatim recall was generally above 90% and seemed more consistent when the books were picked out randomly. The team also video-taped one of his live performances and found his average accuracy was between 97% and 98%.
JB is no savant; his accomplishments apparently came from hard work and dedication to the task. Link -via Nag on the Lake
Nellie Bly walked in to the office of a major newspaper and became an undercover journalist overnight. It was her idea to feign insanity and get herself committed to an asylum in order to write about conditions in the institution. From Wikipedia:
The caper brought Bly overnight fame and led to reforms in the system. She wrote a book about her experiences, Ten Days in a Mad-House, which you can read online. Bly went on to other adventures, as you can read at TYWKIWDBI. Link
After a night of practicing deranged expressions in front of a mirror, she checked into a working-class boardinghouse. She refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked crazy. They soon decided that she was crazy, and the next morning summoned the police. Taken to a courtroom, she pretended to have amnesia. The judge concluded she had been drugged.
She was then examined by several doctors, who all declared her to be insane. "Positively demented," said one, "I consider it a hopeless case. She needs to be put where someone will take care of her."
The caper brought Bly overnight fame and led to reforms in the system. She wrote a book about her experiences, Ten Days in a Mad-House, which you can read online. Bly went on to other adventures, as you can read at TYWKIWDBI. Link
Whooping Cranes began to die out in the 1800s when Americans settled in their nesting grounds. By 1940, there were as few as 22 cranes left. Since then, a major effort has made some progress in saving the whoopers from extinction.
However, the cranes are still under great risk. Jennifer S. Holland at National Geographic tells the story of how science and wildlife management brought the birds back from the brink of extinction. Link
(Image credit: Klaus Nigge)
The bird has become the emblematic endangered species, thanks in part to its fierce charisma. Standing nearly five feet tall, it can spy a wolf—or a biologist—lurking in the reeds. It dances with springing leaps and flaps of its mighty wings to win a mate. Beak to the sky, it fills the air with whooping cries. The sole wild flock, listed under the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1967, has slowly expanded. At the same time, conservationists have hatched and bred the birds in captivity and reintroduced them to their former habitat, boosting the total—including captive stock—to more than 500.
However, the cranes are still under great risk. Jennifer S. Holland at National Geographic tells the story of how science and wildlife management brought the birds back from the brink of extinction. Link
(Image credit: Klaus Nigge)
The following is an article from the book from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Wonderful World of Odd. Do you have a nagging, gnawing feeling that ...well, just a nagging, gnawing feeling? You should-odds are you're being slowly devoured by one of these tiny, vicious parasites right this very second.
EATIN' YOU: Fleas
BIO: Fleas are tiny insects that just can't live without blood. They eat more than 15 times their body weight in blood in a single day. That includes the blood of dogs, cats, rats, rabbits, and any other mammal that's handy, including you. They're also "Super Bugs": Fleas can pull 160,000 times their own weight (the equivalent of a human pulling 24 million pounds) and can jump over 150 times their own size (the equivalent of a human jumping about 1,000 feet).
DANGER! In the right-or wrong-conditions, fleas are disease machines. They can transmit tapeworm to pets or humans, and can carry a number of diseases, including the blood parasite babesia, and the dreaded bubonic plague.Thankfully, they're not nearly as bad as they were in the days before the vacuum cleaner. (Most eggs hatch in your carpet.) Image credit: Flickr user Dr. Hemmert.
EATIN' YOU: Bedbugs
BIO: Tiny, painful, smelly, and disgusting, bedbugs are nocturnal, spending the day in walls, furniture, or in your bed. At night they crawl out of the mattress and suck your blood. And they can wait up to a year in that mattress between feedings.
DANGER! Their bites are often painful, but, thankfully, bedbugs are not known to transmit any diseases. Image credit: Flickr user PeterEdin (Tag Man).
EATIN' YOU: Ticks
BIO: Ticks are arachnids-not insects-and are related to spiders. There are no ticks that live solely on humans, but if there are no deer, cattle, birdsd, or reptiles handy, you'll do. They have three life stages after hatching-larva, pupa, and adult-and each stage needs a "blood meal" before morphing into the next stage. Ticks use a hunting technique known as "questing". That means that since they can't hop or fly or run after prey, they wait around on grass or twigs for a host to come to them. How long will they wait? Years, possibly decades. And despite all that sitting they can leap into action the instant they sense a host coming by. One female tick can increase its body weight 200 times in a six-day feeding. Human equivalent: going from 170 pounds to 34,000 pounds in a week.
DANGER! Only mosquitoes transmit more diseases to humans than ticks do. Image credit: Flickr user Micah Taylor.
EATIN' YOU: Chiggers
BIO: Chiggers are the blood-sucking, infant larva of mites, but before they can grow up, they must eat. They prefer rodents and lizards, but they'll happily dine on you. These ravenous babies digest skin cells by spitting up powerful enzymes. Irritated skin cells react by building a hard mound around the tiny hole created by the enzymes, forming a "straw" (called a stylostome) through which the chigger continues to suck your mushed skin.
DANGER! Chigger bites are possibly the most irritating and itchy bites in the world-and the sores can itch for weeks-but they're not known to carry any diseases. Old wives' tale: Putting nail polish over the hole will suffocate the submerged parasite. Wrong! Chigger do not burrow underneath the skin. If you have sores, you probably already scratched the chiggers off. Image credit: Flickr user Cabezalana.
EATIN' YOU: Face mites BIO: What's that on your eyelid? It might be one of those microscopic mites. They live in the pores and the hair follicles of the face, especially around the nose and eyelashes. They plant themselves head-down on a pore or follicle, and happily live there feeding on sebaceous secretions and dead skin debris.
DANGER! Usually you wouldn't notice them, but bad infestations can cause the face to become polluted by the excrement and and corpses of these invisible bugs. That and their eating of hair roots and oil glands may cause hair loss, rashes, and rough skin. They are not known to transmit diseases.
EATIN' YOU: Head lice
BIO: These bloodsuckers live their entire lives on the human scalp and hair. They puncture your skin with special piercing/sucking mouthparts and feed two to six times a day. They're particularly prevalent among children, who can spread them easily by sharing hats and combs, and by playing games such as "I'm gonna rub my lice-infested head against your head ...because its fun!" (But personal hygiene is irrelevant-they'll live on anybody.)
DANGER! The bites may itch, but head lice aren't dangerous. Image credit: Flickr user Eran Finkle.
EATIN' YOU: Crab lice
BIO: Also permanent human residents, these larger lice live in the warmer, moister climes of pubic and armpit hair. They're sluggish: If not disturbed, one can live its entire life within a half-inch of where it was born, but, like all lice, can be passed to other people through close contact. Not gross enough? Crab lice can also live in beards, moustaches, eyebrows, and eyelashes.
DANGER! Like head lice, you're only in danger of embarrassment from crab lice.
EATIN' YOU: Human liver fluke
BIO: This flatworm is contracted from eating infected fish, and primarily targets humans. They live in your bile ducts and liver tissue, as well as blood, and can grow up to an inch long and can live inside you for ten years.
DANGER! Symptoms can range from none ...to death, for heavy infestations. (There have been cases where one person housed more than 20,000 of the parasites.) They are most prevalent in Asia, where raw and pickled fish are dietary staples. Image credit: Wikimedia user Flukeman.
BIO: Contrary to popular myth, mosquitoes do not live on blood. They survive on nectar and other fluids sucked out of flowers. But females take a "blood meal"-they need protein to develop their eggs. You can't hide: Mosquitos home in on their prey using specialized organs that can sense heat, carbon dioxide-which you just exhaled-and other gasses from up to 100 feet away. DANGER! Mosquitoes traveling between hosts can transmit several diseases to humans, including malaria, sleeping sickness, and elephantiasis. Mosquitoes are the most deadly animal to humans on earth, causing more than 1,000,000 deaths a year. Image credit: Flickr user bogdog Dan.
____________________________________
The article above is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Wonderful World of Odd. This book focuses on the odd-side of life and features articles like the strangest TV shows never made, the creepiest insect on Earth, odd medical conditions, and many, many more.
Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute
Oprah Winfrey is having a competition in which people pitch ideas for their own show. Actor and filmmaker Zach Anner of Austin, Texas is a shoe-in to get his own show, whether he wins the contest or not. However, you can vote for him at the contest website. Link -via reddit See more of Zach's projects on his YouTube channel. Link
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