The 1987 movie Raising Arizona was the Coen Brothers’ second movie and first comedy. And it was a riot. Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter can’t produce children, so they kidnap one from a set of quintuplets because “They got more than they can handle.” While you no doubt enjoyed the movie, you might not know some of what went into it.  

7. NICOLAS CAGE'S HAIR REACTED TO H.I.'S STRESS LEVEL.

Ethan claimed that Cage was "crazy about his Woody Woodpecker haircut. The more difficulties his character got in, the bigger the wave in his hair got. There was a strange connection between the character and his hair."

10. THE MAYOR OF SCOTTSDALE WAS NOT HAPPY WITH THE MOVIE.

Mayor Herb Drinkwater proclaimed that the film had "no redeeming social value" and that it "certainly isn't the image Arizona wants to project." The low-budget movie made over $29.1 million worldwide.

Not bad for a movie that was produced for only $2 million. Read the rest of the trivia about Raising Arizona at mental_floss.

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People who have both mail slots in their doors and cats need to have a camera ready, because the combination is hilarious! This compilation of several such cats had my sides hurting. (via Tastefully Offensive)

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The robot Big Dog was the first robot from Boston Dynamics we featured on Neatorama years ago. The model has been improved since then. This one is the only Big Dog in civilian hands, and as he was put through his paces, a real dog noticed and did not like it a bit. The standoff lasted as long as it took until one of them backed down. -via Viral Viral Videos

In this video, people in Ireland try to identify states in the U.S. on a map. This should be funny, right? After all, they’re not even Americans, and there are a lot of states on that map. And this is from the same production company that brought us Irish People Taste Test American Beers.

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Well, it is funny, but they know the states! How do they do that? I understand how people in other countries can be familiar with the different state names from movies and songs, but to identify them on a map, when it’s not even your own country… that’s impressive. We have plenty of Americans who can’t do that. -via Tastefully Offensive

Isn’t this a lovely frog? Such a lovely shade of blue! This is the blue poison dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorius), which needs no camouflage because its skin exudes a toxin that not only tastes bad, but can be lethal to predators. Animals in the rainforest learn quickly that odd colored frogs aren’t the best things to eat. That’s not the only things that’s weird about this frog -it doesn’t have webbed feet and doesn’t swim well, so it usually stays on land. However, its young must have water, so when the blue poison dart frog’s eggs hatch, the parents must transfer the tadpoles to a nearby body of water. Learn more about the blue poison dart frog at the National Aquarium. -via the Presurfer

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The reason for her mystery illness came to light six months after the fact. Five-year-old Khloe Russell of Hemet, California, developed a runny nose that smelled awful. Her mother Katelyn Powell took her to three different doctors who diagnosed a sinus infection and gave her antibiotics, which didn’t help. The family even consulted a dentist. The reason for her problems was revealed last week when her uncle had her blow her nose again.    

"My brother was like, 'Your nose, it's disgusting. Blow your nose, blow your nose.' And she blows it and out comes the safety pin," said Powell.

Black and disintegrating -- the safety pin was measured about 1.5 inches long.

"It was a huge object. It was bigger than her nose," said Powell. "We were horrified. I was like, 'Did you put this up there?' She did, but she forgot to tell me."

Katelyn Powell clarified the story in a comment at another news story.

Hey guys I'm the mom of this little girl and just so everyone knows, we did blow her nose constantly! She also wasn't building a castle out of safety pins that part of the story was added! She found a safety pin and being a kid wanted to stick it up there to see how far it would go and thought she dropped it not realizing it had lodged itself in her nose.

Khloe is feeling much better now that the source of her trouble has been eliminated. -via reddit

Some characters in TV shows are written to be annoying, either to introduce conflict or as comic relief. Over time, though, these characters can become quite popular. Either they become standouts, and the show must ride on them to survive, or sheer longevity softens their rough edges. Or writers bow to viewers’ demands and make them more human over time. An example from long ago is Major Charles Emerson Winchester III on M*A*S*H, who was brought in to replace the annoying Frank Burns, but eventually showed a depth of character we could all respect. Can you think of characters from newer series that fit the bill? Read about seven of them at TVOM. With video evidence.

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Who knew there was so much scientific research about friendship? Real friendship, not just the number of Facebook friends you have. The results we have so far are pretty interesting. You already know having close friends is good for you, but now we know some specific benefits. John Green tells us about it, on this week’s mental_floss List Show.

NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly is back on earth along with with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko after they both spent 340 consecutive days in space on the ISS. Now Kelly will undergo tests to see how a year in space affected his physiology as compared to his identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. Cosmonauts Sergey Volkov also returned, after a shorter mission. The landing was early morning March 2 in Kazakhstan.  

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It’s a long video, so you might want to skip ahead. The undocking occurs at 4:30, the view from earth begins at 7:30, and they emerge from the capsule at about 9:30. Kelly fought the forces of gravity he isn’t used to in order to give a thumbs up. -via Digg

Martin Molin of the Swedish band Wintergatan built a delightfully complex machine that uses over 2,000 metal balls to play a vibraphone, drum, and a bass guitar, while he provides the power by crank. You might notice that one ball is black, in order to show the progression of the balls. If this reminds you of “Pipe Dreams” by Animusic, you’re not alone. Except this one isn’t animated! 

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It took about 14 months to design and build the machine -he says much of that time was spent picking balls up off the floor. There are quite a few videos showing the build process, but not many words. You’ll find more discussion on Facebook, such as the plans to automate the machine in order to use it in the band’s live performances. -via reddit

Look at this cat, throwing her hands run the air like she just don’t care! Her name is Keys, and she belongs to Peter Mares, who noticed her odd habit of stretching straight up. He took some pictures, and then encouraged Keys to keep it up, as it were, by rewarding her poses.

You can see a half-dozen pictures of Keys, who’s become known as GoalKitty, in an imgur gallery. And since that’s been posted, now there’s also an Instagram account specifically for Photoshopped images of GoalKitty put into various ridiculous scenes. -via HuffPo

Even if mental illness isn’t contagious, sometimes the symptoms are, as people start to believe that something is happening to them because it is happening to others. Throughout history, we find accounts of bizarre beliefs or behavior that grew out of hand when more and more people joined in. Sometimes the “epidemic” would spread from town to town, or even through mass media. Such was the case for the Meowing Nuns.

During the Middle Ages, many nuns were forced into convents by their parents and often stressed by a lifestyle not of their own choosing — one that demanded celibacy, poverty and hard manual labor. Two especially bizarre cases of mass hysteria involved meowing and biting nuns.

In the first case, a nun in a large French convent began meowing one day. Soon others joined in, and eventually every nun in the convent was meowing. The noise became structured; all of the nuns would meow together for several hours at the same time every day. The neighbors could hear the collective caterwauling and were understandably annoyed. Eventually the nuns quieted down after being threatened with a beating by soldiers.    

Mass hysterias are not limited to isolated groups, though, or even people under stress. And it can happen anywhere, at any time. The newest of the ten cases at How Stuff Works is from 2006! And it probably won’t be the last.

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

1) In the refrigerator: Timothy Hutton won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1981 for his performance in Ordinary People. He recently said that he and his sister were having a party at his house a few years ago and decided to stick his Oscar in the fridge. They wanted people who went to grab a beer to be entertained and have kept it in the icebox ever since.

2) In his underwear drawer: Kevin Costner won his Oscar for Best Director for 1991's Dances with Wolves. He admits he stashed the Oscar away for a few years in his underwear drawer. He has since had a trophy case built and keeps the statue there.

3) As a doorstop: Charlie Chaplin won the very first "special Oscar" at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. Chaplin's affinity and reverence for the award was clearly displayed when he kept it as a doorstop in his mansion for several years.

4) At home, dressed in Barbie clothes: John Lassiter of Pixar has two Oscars under his belt: Best Animated Short for 1989's Tin Toy and a Special Achievement Award for Toy Story in 1996. “We discovered that Barbie's clothes actually fit pretty well,” he once commented. “Oscar's shoulders are a little broader, so we let them out a little.”

5) As a hat stand: When you are as incredibly talented as the great Jack Nicholson and have won three Academy Awards, you have to find creative uses for them. It is rumored that Jack keeps one of his Academy Awards on top of his dresser and uses it as a hat rack.

With this price structure, the choice is yours. You can try to “stick it to the man” and get the most expensive food items for your dollar. Or you can enjoy a nice salad. There was one particular breakfast buffet where other people loaded up on bacon and sausage, while I mostly concentrated on biscuits and gravy and hash brown potatoes. Why? Because those were things that I enjoyed, but didn’t have time to make at home. It might not have been the most bang for the buck, but it was a treat for me. I don’t do buffets anymore, but the metaphor stands. Getting what makes you happy is more important than getting more than someone else. This is the latest comic from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

The hit Broadway show Hamilton features a catchy rap song called “My Shot” (hear it here). Jackson Lanzing took the tune and made it all about Star Trek’s Mr. Spock instead of Alexander Hamilton. Shields up!

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Well, the other characters of Star Trek mentions, too. Altogether it’s as geeky as a Broadway rap tune can get. Contains NSFW language. -via Metafilter