The cat would not rest until he got a dog treat out of the canister. Then he found out there is no honor among thieves. -via The Awesomer
Miss Cellania's Blog Posts
What happens when the Dark Lord of the Sith goes to the Happiest Place on Earth? Disney, after purchasing Lucafilm, welcomes him with open arms. The galaxy will never be the same. -via The Daily What
Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a wonderful show with a great premise: a guy and his two robot buddies watched awful movies and made fun of them. And it went on for ten years! But not just any bad movie would do. They had to be available, full of joke opportunities, containing enough pauses to insert the jokes, and be watchable in their own way. It wasn't easy finding those films.
Frank Conniff, who joined the show as a writer late in the first season and then joined the cast as TV’s Frank in the second season was given the job to select these movies. During his tenure (through the sixth season) they made fun of movies like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Teenagers from Outer Space, and most memorably Manos: The Hands of Fate. “I think I was given the job because everybody else was busy with other stuff.” Conniff recalls. The job was particularly difficult because for every one movie that made the show, he had to watch approximately twenty duds. He couldn’t skim either. During the second season of MST3K they got the rights to a film that they had only skimmed a part of. When they sat down to write the show, they discovered that there was a violent rape scene towards the end. The movie, Sidehackers, stayed in, and the cast just had to explain to the audience why the female lead suddenly disappeared.
You might think that watching movies all day would be a pretty good job, but to me it sounds like surfing through hundreds of awful links every day to find the ones worth sharing, except far more time-consuming. Read more about the process of movie-sifting at Splitsider. Link -via mental_floss
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Owen Lars discuss the biggest holes in the plot of the Star Wars saga. It just goes to show that George Lucas never had an overarching story to tell; he just made it up as he went along. And besides, Owen and Anakin weren't even half-brothers, they were step-brothers. -via Geeks Are Sexy
Happy Anniversary to the Bathroom Reader Institute! It's hard to believe that Uncle John has been giving us something to read in the comfort station for 25 years. They've just released the new book Uncle John's Fully Loaded 25th Anniversary Bathroom Reader. And Uncle John's holiday sale starts today, with 30% off the entire store, and free shipping on orders of $35 or more for those who know the holiday code (hint: it's right there at the store site). And what's more, Uncle John is going to award five copies of the new Bathroom Reader edition to Neatoramanauts, in a giveaway coming soon! Link
Once again, it's time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog! Do you know what the object in this picture is? You can win even if you don't know!
Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will each win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop.
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 the What Is It? Blog for more pictures of this item. Good luck!
Update: the object in question is a machine for making rope from binder twine or other cord. You can see a video of it being used at the What Is It? blog. The first commenter who knew that was Craig Clayton, who wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The funniest answer came from Alan...yes THAT Alan, who said "After 4 years, the professor built this to keep Gilligan entertained. It doesn't do much, but it kept Gilligan occupied while the rest of the castaways simply fixed the hole in the boat." This intriguing idea deserves a t-shirt, too! Thanks to everyone who played this week, and thanks to the What Is It blog, too!
One of the benefits of having pumpkins is the fun you can have getting rid of them. However, I would not recommend that you try the methods shown in this slow-motion video. Especially #3. Do not attempt that ever, anytime, anywhere. -via The Daily What
Redditor katto's son wanted to be a bowl of spaghetti for Halloween. She made it happen.
The bowl is an old lampshade, the meatballs are styrofoam covered with fluffy socks and painted, the spag is knitting wool, the hat is a sieve and the pieces of sauce are the socks leftovers :)
This infectious song by Stephanie Mabey tells of a zombie in love. Warning: it will be stuck in your head all day. -Thanks, Steven!
Whether they come with ghosts or are just creepy abandoned communities, we love ghost towns -and there are plenty of them you can visit! National Geographic's Intelligent Travel blog has a list from the National Geographic book Secret Journeys of a Lifetime of ten famous ghost towns, with instructions for visiting and links to local information. From Colorado to Namibia, each of these empty towns has a story behind it. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
(Image credit: Joan McDaniel/My Shot)
Shaun Usher is delighted to have a copy of the new book Kurt Vonnegut: Letters, which is available for purchase today. He has published two of the letters at Letters of Note, in which the author's fatherly side is evident. One concerns his son Mark, who received his draft notice in 1967. Here's the first part of it:
To Draft Board #1,
Selective Service,
Hyannis, Mass.
Gentlemen:
My son Mark Vonnegut is registered with you. He is now in the process of requesting classification as a conscientious objector. I thoroughly approve of what he is doing. It is in keeping with the way I have raised him. All his life he has learned hatred for killing from me.
I was a volunteer in the Second World War. I was an infantry scout, saw plenty of action, was finally captured and served about six months as a prisoner of war in Germany. I have a Purple Heart. I was honorably discharged. I am entitled, it seems to me, to pass on to my son my opinion of killing. I don't even hunt or fish any more. I have some guns which I inherited, but they are covered with rust.
This attitude toward killing is a matter between my God and me. I do not participate much in organized religion. I have read the Bible a lot. I preach, after a fashion. I write books which express my disgust for people who find it easy and reasonable to kill.
The second letter is to a school that had banned one of Vonnegut's books. Both are straight to the point and well worth reading. Link
Aliens invade Austin, Texas, in the music video for "Better Daze" by the band The Boxing Lesson. Animator Eric Power used cut paper laid over live-action video to create a weird yet funny sequence. -via Laughing Squid
The Hear Heres is a sculpture installation by Studio Weave on the grounds of Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, England. It consists of four giant ear trumpets that you can listen to! Each amplifies the sounds of nature around it, whether it's the wind, wildlife in a tree, or the gentle sounds of a lake. One has two receiving ends, so that people can talk to each other through it. Link -via Laughing Squid
The coffee shop at Debenhams, a department store on High Street in London, determined that 70% of their customers found American-style coffee shop terms confusing. So they did what any smart business would do -they decided to use more English terms such as "small coffee with milk" instead of “venti skinny latte.”
Instead of an Americano, coffee mocha or cappuccino, shoppers will now be offered a black coffee, a chocolate flavour or a frothy one.
Debenhams will also replace grande and venti for the more straightforward cup and mug sizes.
The store said: “We’re testing a redesign of the menu so shoppers spend less time playing coffee Cluedo and more time enjoying their favourite drink.”
That only makes sense. Despite what the menu says, I always order a small black coffee at Starbucks and never have a problem getting what I want. Link -via Arbroath
Hey, what are you going to do with those pumpkins after Halloween? Might as well have some real fun destroying them -or maybe just watch how other people do it. You can throw them, drop them, launch them, burn them, and people sometimes get organized and make a competition out of such destructiveness. Read more at Environmental Graffiti. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Angelique Eeek)
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