Slackstory explores another movie trope by making it into a supercut. How many times have you seen two people almost kiss but don't quite make it? In real life: never. In movies: all the time! -via Tastefully Offensive
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
This unnamed man was arrested for an undisclosed crime in Idaho. His appearance earned him a spot on The Smoking Gun's weekly mugshot roundup. Now you know, some guys get face tattoos to make a statement. Others consider it art. This guy, well, I think he just likes getting tattooed. Link -via Arbroath
A few years ago we told you about Männerspielplatz, a theme park in Germany where visitors can operate heavy equipment and use power tools. Now you can do that here in America! Dig This is a "heavy equipment playground" in Las Vegas, where you can control a full-size bulldozer or excavator.
No experience necessary. All you have to do is be 14 years or older, and not drunk. A 90 minute session runs for $249, a group session for up to 10 people runs for $1100. The company also offers a Dig & Destroy package which combines the excitement of operating construction equipment in an adult-sized sandbox with the exhilaration of firing semi-automatic and fully-automatic weapons.
Link -via the Presurfer
One of my favorite adages is "An uncluttered desk is the sign of an uncluttered mind." It appears to be true that a messy desk fosters creativity. Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota cites three experiments in which a neat or messy setting influenced a person's thinking process. In one experiment, 48 subjects were placed in either a neat or a messy room, and told to come up with creative uses for ping pong balls.
Two assistants rated each idea on a one-to-three scale (from not at all creative to very creative). After adding the scores, the researchers found that those who worked in the messy room were more creative overall, and came up with more highly creative ideas, than those who performed the same task in the neat room. On average, those working in the pristine environment came up with as many suggestions as those in the messy one; their ideas just weren’t as innovative.
“Being creative is aided by breaking away from tradition, order and convention,” Vohs and her colleagues conclude, “and a disorderly environment seems to help people do just that.”
An interesting observation here is that the subjects did not select whether their experimental environment was neat or messy, so a person's natural messiness or creativity did not come into play. And a neat desk has its advantages, too. Vohs tells us of other experiments in which people working in a neater environment tended to be more generous and to select more nutritious foods afterward. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Ali West)
Singer Sunny Ozell shares a snippet of conversation with her fiancé, Sir Patrick Stewart. How awesome could it be to get personal acting lessons from a master thespian! Next lesson: how to hold the camera horizontally. Let's all say it together: "Her buns are the best!" -via Digg
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.
Viva Las Vegas (1964) is generally regarded as the quintessential Elvis Presley film of the 1960s: Colorful, splashy, and filled with pretty girls, fast cars, and Elvis (of course) getting into a fistfight as he courts the lovely Ann-Margret. Elvis sings a dozen songs, both solo and in duet with Ann, and there are actually a few good ones, including "Come On Everybody" and the Ray Charles classic "What'd I Say."
Movie trivia: watch Viva Las Vegas closely and you will spot a young Teri Garr as a showgirl. Garr actually appeared as an extra in nine Elvis films.
Elvis sings the title song with his trademark panache and the story is at least somewhat believable. Elvis plays Lucky Jackson, a race car driver and mechanic who courts the beautiful Rusty Martin, played by Ann-Margret. Rusty, sexy but unresponsive in the beginning, eventually ends up falling for Lucky (surprise surprise). The onscreen chemistry between Elvis and Ann-Margret was clear and undeniable.
And, in a rare instance for the lowly-regarded Elvis films, Viva Las Vegas was actually given a grade-A director. George Sidney, a Hollywood directing legend, had an impressive track record at the time, having been at the helm of such musical classics as Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Pal Joey (1957), Anchors Aweigh (1945), and Show Boat (1951).
By 1963, at the time of filming, Elvis was already getting bored, tired, and wary of his alway money-making formula films. Elvis, without a doubt the biggest star in show business, still aspired to be a great actor like his idols James Dean and Marlon Brando. But his manager, the irrepressible Colonel Tom Parker, made sure his boy continued churning out the puerile musicals that were inevitably box office bonanzas. Viva Las Vegas was filmed on a a one million dollar budget and grossed almost ten million dollars globally -an astronomical figure for early '60s cinema.
Elvis met Ann-Margret on the set at rehearsals and greeted her with "I hear you're the female me." (Ann was being touted as "the Female Elvis Presley" at the time.) By all accounts, the incredible chemistry between the two superstars existed offscreen as well as on. It became apparent to all of Elvis' closest friends that he had fallen head over heels in love with his beautiful, sexy, young co-star.
Imagine suddenly finding yourself in a monster movie! A Japanese TV show pranked unsuspecting passers-by with a puppeteer in an awesome Allosaurus costume. Here's the next clip from the same show:
-via Viral Viral Videos
Ron Gordon is the man behind some of the weird "calendar holidays" you've seen on Neatorama, such as Square Root Day and Odd Day. We've had a lot of fun with those, and I've even won a couple of his contests. However, I received a notice that the next Odd Day is cancelled. Not the day, just the celebration.
Odd Day has brought many smiles since our first celebration on 1/3/5. But we unfortunately cannot change our dates, and the next is 9/11/13. Hence, the very respectful silence for the day. We will emerge in 2 years for 11/13/15, the final Odd Day of the century.
We do, however, have some spectacular news on the math holidays front. The new guy?? On 2/2/22 we celebrate Trumpet Day---just say it aloud---“to to to toooo!!” Yes, it’s simple and funky, but folks really love it---see www.trumpetday.net People are as happy to hear about it today as if it were on the calendar next month!
We’ve also made significant progress on our trek toward the next Square Root Day—we’re now a bit closer to the next one (4/4/16) than to the last (3/3/9). Be patient, we’ll get there!
Odd Day for most of the world is November 9th (“hey diddle diddle, the month’s in the middle”). We will change the website next month and, of course, will sponsor our contest (their final Odd Day---for 11/13/15 doesn’t work without a 13th month.) thanks for your interest, see you in a couple years!! Regards, ron :)
I'm glad he can keep up with all this, because I would totally miss those numbers. Link -Thanks, Ron!
Last week we got the news that Ben Affleck will play Batman in the sequel to The Man of Steel. Then we learned that Bryan Cranston has been cast as Lex Luthor. And already, we have a fan-made trailer for the film, starring Affleck, Cranston, and Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, edited together from many sources by solyentbrak1. -via Uproxx
A hundred years ago, there were thousands of carousels in operation in the U.S. Today, there are fewer than 150 of those old carousels featuring hand-carved wooden horses. Those horses (and other animals) are works of art, and the more modern factory-made fiberglass carousel steeds cannot compare. But even in the carousel's golden age, there were two tiers of quality: the exquisite artworks that were made for permanent installation in parks, and the plainer horses designed for traveling carnivals. Collectors Weekly tells the history of carousel horses, from the development of the ride through the immigration of master woodcarvers to America to modern preservation and restoration efforts. Link
(Image credit: © Aaron Shepard, via The National Carousel Foundation)
Now this looks like a fun wedding reception! I don't know what they are saying, but my guess is that it's something like:
Guy one: Anything you can do, I can do better!
Guy two: Hold my vodka and watch this!
-via Daily Picks and Flicks
Now it's time for our collaboration with the awesome What Is It? Blog! What is this thing? You don't have to know to win!
Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. You might know the true answer, but we're going to select two winners who come up with the funniest, most outlandish guesses to win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop. However...
Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?
Check out more pictures of this thing at the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!
Update: the mystery object is a tool for binding corn shocks. Read more about it at the What Is It? blog. But we were looking for funny answers this week. Ewach said it was obviously a narwhal prosthesis. Ladybugs said they are "whatsits and dinglehoppers from Ariel's collection. Or at least that's what she tells Flounder, Sebastian, & Scuttle. Ariel doesn't want them to know those are actually spear guns." Ha! Those are both worth a t-shirt from the NeatoShop. Congratulations! Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to the What Is It? blog.
The Verge has an extensive article on the rise of broadcast censorship. Despite the devotion to freedom of speech, broadcasters have always been terrified of audience response, and did what they could to avoid offending anyone. The first incidence of broadcast censorship occurred in 1921, when Vaudeville performer Olga Petrova visited one of the earliest radio stations. Petrova was known to be opinionated, and a friend of birth control advocate Margaret sanger.
One night in 1921, Petrova, then engaged at a Newark theater, went to the local radio station WJZ to perform. The Great War had just ended, during the course of which the government had forbidden the use of private radio equipment. After the armistice the Navy tried to retain monopoly control of radio, but Congress put a stop to their power grab. Wartime restrictions were lifted, but the pioneers of broadcasting such as those at WJZ were mindful of potential government interference, and Petrova had a reputation as a firebrand. She disarmed her hosts by announcing that she would be performing her own versions of Mother Goose rhymes, and then proceeded to read the following:
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, She had so many children because she didn’t know what to do.The 1873 Comstock laws, which banned the distribution of “obscene” materials, including information about contraception, were still in force; Petrova had, arguably, kind of broken the law.
"The means for censoring broadcast content came years before the emergence of the first national broadcast network"
“The staff was terrified,” Barnouw relates. “They were certain there would be trouble from Washington. Westinghouse [then owner of WJZ] executives were already nervous about possibilities of this sort, and had wondered what to do if a 'red' got on the air. An emergency switch was provided for the engineer in the shack.” Thus, he could switch to that “phonograph beside him — on his own judgment or on a signal from the studio.”
Petrova marveled at how broadcasters had to take control over the possibility of offending, as if listeners at home could not control their own radios. That was just the beginning of a system that evolved to protect the delicate sensibilities of the general public. Link -via Digg
Have you ever seen baby ostrich chicks? Apparently they like to spin around in circles. Or maybe they just don't know which way to turn! -via Tastefully Offensive
An American has won the 2013 Air Guitar World Championships, which took place in Oulu, Finland, over the weekend. Eric "Mean Melin" Melin bested the competition, including fellow American Doug "The Thunder" Stroock in the final matchup.
Air Guitar World Championships 2013 was a tight twist to two Dark Horses. Thursday's victorious Eric "Mean Melin" Melin (US) also nailed both of his performances in the Friday's World Final - after being challenged by his countryman, Doug "The Thunder" Stroock. As a result, The Thunder's oozingly sexual air guitar moves couldn't compete with Mean Melin's straight-forward rock charisma: the Kansas-based Dave Grohl lookalike is inevidably going home with the World Title of Air Guitar and hand-made Flying Finn electric guitar.
Americans took four of the top give final rankings, but many other nations are represented in the finalists. Link -via Laughing Squid
(Image credit: Maiju Torvinen)
Continue reading to see a video of Melin's winning performance.
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