Which TV dog is your favorite? This supercut tries to cover the most beloved of them, whether they talk, daydream, do tricks, wreak havoc, or just get made fun of. You have to admit that any show is improved with the addition of a dog to the cast. -via Tastefully Offensive
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An artist in Tasmania is altering discarded Bratz dolls. He/she gets them from second hand shops, repaints their faces with more realistic features and no makeup, and gives them new molded feet and new (often knitted or crocheted) clothing. The end result is a completely different doll on the same body. Whether this is an improvement or not depends on how you feel about Bratz dolls, but you have to admit, the work is well done.
Tree Change Dolls will soon be sold through Etsy, but for now, you can see them at the Tree Change Dolls blog. -via Metafilter
The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research.
by Harold P. Dowd (with a "w," not a “u“)
Centerville, USA of America
The consignment came by phone, without warming, under the cubbard of Knight: "Write something
inciteful, something refluxive, about the British ack-SEN-triks (sp?) movement," said a voice belong
ing to the polisher of a distinguished nonsense magazine, if I heard the mission correctly before my
telephone self-destructed in exactly 10 seconds. I was told that this movement, if I chose to write about it, roughly coin-sided with the "Tern of the Century." But the tip proved an unread herring, at best, as I knew nothing about that bird (the afermented tern), which must have been a standout in the Avian halls of omthidontistry, nor the century in which it made its fleeting apparence. Nor had I heard anything about the ill-legged ack-SEN-triks movement, British or otherwise, of any spelling or denomination. I was not, in truth, particularly well-traversed in this subject and was man enough to deny it to the hilt. My strategy was to do what any professional generalist - including well-known calumnists formerly on the parole of the Boston Globe - would have done in my place: I got proactive and procreative.
Eccentric Possibilities
There were, as best I could palpipate, only a hamful of possibilities. In the interests of thoroughbrededness, I decided to dissect them all- both one at a time and individually - to explode the various options until the correct interpretation became oblivious. Who were these forgotten men of science (not to be a sextant), and what remarkable contributions did they make to the evincement of knowledge and ineffectual marsh of progress?
They Talk Funny in the UK
So many movie details get changed in the journey between concept, book, screenplay, revisions, and final product. Although we are sometimes appalled at how many characters die in movies, in many films it could have been more. Certain characters who were initially supposed to die were rewritten to survive for many reasons: the audience liked the character too much, their death made the ending too depressing, we can’t sell action figures of dead heroes, and the most important reason of all: we might make a sequel. Consider Sylvester Stallone’s biggest characters.
4. Rambo // First Blood
In the novel First Blood, Rambo commits suicide at the end of a long battle with Sheriff Teasle. Rambo's death scene was filmed, but Sylvester Stallone saw the potential for a new franchise, so Rambo lived to fight another day in the final version.
5. Rocky Balboa // Rocky V
Rocky V was supposed to be the last movie in the franchise, and Stallone ended its screenplay accordingly, with Rocky Balboa dying at the hands of rival Tommy Gunn during a street fight. But during production, director John Avildsen got a call from executives telling him, "'Oh by the way, Rocky’s not going to die,'" he recalled in 2014. "'Batman doesn’t die, Superman, James Bond, these people don’t die." Stallone wrote a new ending featuring Rocky and his son Robert Balboa jogging to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and looking over the city's skyline.
So in the case of Rocky, producers were looking for more movies even after Stallone. And there are plenty more stories of characters who escaped cinematic death, for all kinds of reasons, in a list at mental_floss. Some of them will surely surprise you.
Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, which is now 206 years ago. We once looked forward to reports of the Poe Toaster, who used to delivered flowers to Poe’s grave early in the morning on his birthday every year, and drink a glass of cognac in his honor. No one ever know who the toaster was. The folks at Atlas Obscura pay their respects with a strange little tribute video to Poe and the Poe Toaster. -Thanks, Dylan!
Chris at Lunarbaboon has the right attitude. So do his fans, half of whom obligingly left plenty of comments under his latest comic that said, “I hate your comic... You should kill yourself because your comic sucks so bad.” They said that because they want to make him feel good.
Others praised his comic …because they also want to make him feel good.
French professional skier Candide Thovex (previously) gives us his point of view as he jumps, flips, and schusses down Le Clusaz mountain at terrifying speeds. Do NOT try this, at home or anywhere else. The video shoot was meticulously planned, staged, and edited. A normal skier trying this would at least be banned from the slope, if he didn’t die or break every bone in his body. If you’re wondering about the title, the previous video is here. -via Metafilter
The AquaDuck waterside on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship is not like the waterside at your local park. It’s not as vertical or fast, and there’s no big splash at the bottom. But boy, what a view! You can enjoy the scenery and get a real feel for how high you are. And the tunnels are partially lighted for a sci-fi effect. They run it at night, too, where you can get the full Space Odyssey treatment.
Disney has four cruise ships; the Disney Dream also has an AquaDuck slide. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
The following is a list from the book Uncle John's Bathroom Reader History's Lists.
Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s first prime minister) once said, “All my major works have been written in prison. I would recommend prison not only to aspiring writers, but to aspiring politicians, too.” Here are some other notable jailhouse jotters who seem to agree with that advice.
1. SIR THOMAS MALLORY (1405-71)
LE MORTE D’ARTHUR
The English legends of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Guinevere, and the Knights of the Round Table have been around for centuries, and no one knows for sure who actually invented the tales. But we do know that Sir Thomas Mallory wrote the legends down, added some of his own flair, and published them in a collection that is today’s best-known telling of the Arthurian legend. Mallory was a soldier and Member of Parliament, but went on to a life of crime and was in and out of prison. Ironically, many scholars believe that Mallory wrote the tales of knights and chivalry while awaiting trial for theft, extortion, home invasion, banditry, and rape.
2. NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527)
THE PRINCE
Niccolò Machiavelli lived during a time of great plotting and political upheaval in Italy. Initially, he aligned himself with a government that expelled the ruthless and powerful Medici family, which had ruled Florence for 60 years. But when that government fell apart and the Medicis came back with a vengeance, Michiavelli was tossed into prison and tortured. Behind the bars, he wrote The Prince, a philosophical treatise on politics that said leaders should rule by force instead of by law. In The Prince, Machiavelli wrote, “Anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved.” It was from this book that the term “Machiavellian” came into use to describe a ruthless, deceitful, and cunning leader. Reportedly, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was a fan of The Prince and kept a copy next to his bed.
3. SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1552-1618)
HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Sir Walter Raleigh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I and made two trips to the New World to try to colonize Virginia. Although those settlements failed, they paved the way for future colonies. He alienated the queen, though, by secretly marrying one of her ladies-in-waiting, and in 1591 Elizabeth had Raleigh imprisoned in the Tower of London for about a year.
After Elizabeth died in 1603, her successor, King James, tried Raleigh for treason and sent him back to the Tower of London for 13 years. It was there that he wrote the first volume of his History of the World, which recounted the histories of ancient Greece and Rome. In 1616, James granted Raleigh a release from prison in order to search for El Dorado, the legendary city of gold, in Venezuela. Instead, Raleigh looted a Spanish settlement there. To keep the peace with Spain, James had the explorer beheaded. Ever the writer, Raleigh left the world with a quotable quip- after inspecting the executioner’s axe, he remarked, “This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physciian for all diseases and miseries.”
4. DANIEL DEFOE (1660-1731)
When two sci-fi geeks wed, they have a common interest that will give them plenty to talk about for the rest of their lives. And they might want to show their love with a Doctor Who-themed wedding ring set! Not only is this set beautiful, it bears the inscription “Together forever through space and time.” Get more details on the rings at Fashionably Geek. -via the Neatorama Facebook page.
The Foo Fighters played a concert in Chile on Thursday. The crowd was excited and wanted to sing. Dave Grohl went with it, and gave everyone in attendance a moment to remember. Contains NSFW language.
This was posted to reddit, where the comment pile-on was stopped in its tracks when 8v9 delivered the ultimate pun/burn:
And the driver is fine. Despite his Chevy Silverado being crushed to the size of a go-cart, Kaleb Whitby only received a few cuts and bruises in the I-84 accident near Baker City, Oregon.
More than 100 people were involved in the Saturday morning pileup on Interstate 84, about 33 miles east of Baker City. At least three separate collisions involving more than 20 vehicles, most of them semi-trucks, injured a dozen people.
Black ice conditions led to the multiple accidents. In Whitby’s collision, a tractor-trailer jackknifed across the highway. Whitby slid into the truck. Another tractor-trailer saw the first truck and slid sideways into it, crushing Whitby’s pickup. After ascertaining that Whitby was alive and not seriously injured, the second truck driver, Sergi Karplyuk, asked if he could take a picture. Emergency services freed Whitby a half-hour later. He and Karplyuk joined other bystanders to help other injured people. Whitby was checked out at a hospital later and came home with two band-aids on his finger. You can read the details, and see more pictures, at Oregon Live. -via reddit
(Image credit: Sergi Karplyuk)
The Stock Photobomber (he doesn’t use his name) is an advertising art director with twenty years experience. His hobby is Photoshopping himself into stock images to give them a totally different meaning. Whereas a model was initially triumphant in her ascent to the top of the mountain, after she gets the Stock Photobomber treatment, she’s guilty of murder. A romantic moment gets creepy when a third person is watching. And some are just too strange to describe. See the rest of the images, both before and other the photobombing, at The Stock Photobomber. -via Uproxx
You know how some people brag about how well they multitask? Steve will keep paying and paying and will never admit that he can’t keep up with a movie and surf the ‘net at the same time. My youngest has been seen watching something on the TV, the desktop computer, and her phone all at the same time. I wonder what fragmented comprehension she has of those movies. Then again, it’s probably just a ploy to keep control of the TV and the computer away from her sister. This comic is the latest from Megacynics.
And lastly for today, The Lady magazine 1977 rejects an advertisement for language reasons: pic.twitter.com/KF44WxPiC2
— Kate Long (@volewriter) January 15, 2015In 1977, The Lady magazine accepted payment for an ad to be placed, but wanted to edit the copy to conform it to their normal style. After all, “Friendly, motherly” is a perfectly analogous substitute for “Socialist feminist.” We should start interchanging those terms every chance we can; everyone will understand. I believe this may have been a personal ad, and I would love to see exactly how the original ad was worded. It was found and posted by British author Kate Long, who often delivers sexist tidbits from old magazines in her Twitter feed. -via Buzzfeed
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