In the 21st century, we have what seems like dozens of new superhero movies every year. That doesn't mean the superhero movie is a new phenomena. In between the movies Superman and Batman in the 1980s, there was Supergirl in 1984, starring Helen Slater. The movie was not well-received, although Slater's performance was. She just couldn't hold up the film alone while everything else about it fell apart.  

Peter O’Toole and Faye Dunaway Were Not So Well-Received

In contrast to Slater, Peter O’Toole and Faye Dunaway’s performances as Zaltar and Selena were not so well-received. This can be seen in how the two managed to win nominations for the Golden Raspberry Awards for the Worst Actor and the Worst Actress.

Christopher Reeve Failed to Make an Appearance

Initially, Christopher Reeve was supposed to make an appearance in Supergirl in his role as Superman. However, he bowed out, with the result that his absence had to be explained by a newscast within the movie announcing that Superman was visiting another galaxy.

Read more about what went into the movie Supergirl at TVOM.

Today is the official opening day for the new Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway that connects Inuvik, Northwest Territories, with Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean. Tuktoyaktuk, commonly called Tuk, has a population of around 900 Inuvialuit people and was previously only accessible by an ice road, which was closed in the summer. You will feel invested in this new road once you've read the story of Mangilaluk Bernard Andreason. Bernard was born in Tuk, but was sent off to a residential school where he spent three years. In June of 1972, 11-year-old Bernard and his friends Dennis and Jack ran away from the school in Inuvik and decided to walk home to Tuk -a distance of 120 kilometers through the wilderness.

On the third day, the wind was still unrelenting and the sky darker. As they ate berries that morning, Jack begged Dennis and Bernard to return to Inuvik with him. But Dennis objected. Bernard suggested to Jack that if they started walking back to Inuvik, Dennis would get spooked and come running after them.

Jack and Bernard turned back, but Dennis didn’t follow. Bernard couldn’t stop thinking about him. Bernard told Jack to wait for him as he went to find their friend and talk some sense into him. When he reached the river where he’d last seen Dennis, he was gone. Bernard yelled his cousin’s name, but only the wind howled back. He looked for footprints, but there was no trace of him. He returned to Jack and they found some bushes that offered a little cover from the hard rain and slept.

Jack’s crying woke Bernard up the next morning. Jack was too sick to find food. Bernard picked some berries and fetched water in the pop can. Jack had lost a lot of weight. Bernard knew they were in trouble and needed help, but didn’t know if he should continue on to Inuvik, or head for Tuk, where he hoped Dennis might already be.

‘I really want you to come with me,’ Bernard said. But Jack wouldn’t get up. Bernard told him that if he came to Tuk, they could slide down the big hill together in the wintertime, and that he could see the pingos. ‘Dennis might even be there waiting for us,’ Bernard said. But Jack was too weak. ‘Go without me,’ he said. Bernard didn’t want to leave him, but knew if they remained together, they would die together.

The story tells the plight of the Inuit as they dealt with the invasion of the oil industry, alcohol, and government aid, which included taking their children away to residential schools. The schools themselves were often nightmares, as the Sir Alexander Mackenzie School was for Bernard. Read Bernard's story at Granta. Forty-five years later, the residents of Tuk have high hopes for the new $300 million gravel road that will connect them with the rest of Canada. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Adam Jones, Ph.D.)

Spirit is one of the ultra-cheap airlines that will take you somewhere for a really low price, as long as you don't make any changes, don't take any luggage, and don't expect legroom or amenities. Comedian Brent Pella told about his experience with Spirit Airlines in a show and the audio was later animated to make this video.

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This was posted to reddit, where Europeans said it couldn't be as bad as Ryanair. Ryanair is world famous for their bare bones flight service and the crew's surprise at every successful landing.

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

Russell Johnson Jr. was born on November 10, 1924 to Russell and Minnie Johnson in Ashley, Pennsylvania. Russell was the second oldest of six children (three brothers and two sisters). His father, Russell Johnson Sr., died in December of 1932, when Russell was just eight. Sadly, his little brother, Paul Wesley Johnson, died shortly thereafter. Minnie was to re-marry, to a man named Thomas L. Lewis.

As a teenager, Russell attended Girard College, a private school for fatherless boys in Philadelphia. After graduating, Russell enlisted in the US Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet. After finishing his training, Russell was commissioned a second lieutenant.

Russell flew 44 combat missions in the Pacific theater during World War II, as a combat bombardier in B-25 twin-engined medium bombers. On March 4, 1945, while flying with the 100th bombardment squadron, his B-25 and two others were shot down during a low-level bombing and strafing run against Japanese military targets in the Philippine Islands. Russell broke both ankles in the landing and one of his fellow pilots was killed.

He received a Purple Heart for his injuries, as well as an air medal, the Atlantic-Pacific medal with 3 campaign stars, the Philippine Celebration Medal with one campaign star, and the World War II victory medal. After Japan's surrender, he was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant in November 1945. He joined the Air Force Reserves and used the G.I. Bill to study acting at the actor's lab in Hollywood.

He met his second wife, Kay Cousins, there and married her in 1949. (He had previously been married to Edith Cahoon for five years, 1943-1948.)

Russell began his diverse and eclectic career as a young actor with an appearance on a short-lived TV series called Fireside Theater in 1950, playing the role of a sailor. He made his first "notable" appearance on TV in The Adventures of Superman (filmed in 1951, broadcast in January 1953) in an episode called "The Runaway Robot," playing a gangster called "Chopper."

We Americans know that the rest of the world sees us as rich, obese, and armed. There are quite a few other aspects of life that we take for granted but seem weird to Europeans. While food and gas are relatively cheap in the US, our healthcare and education are frighteningly expensive to Europeans. Guess what- they are frighteningly expensive to us, too. And there are a lot more things that make Americans exceptional.

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Of course, this is just a general overview and does contain some stereotypes that aren't true (for example, Brits actually have better teeth than Americans). And they didn't even touch on the weird way Americans wear shoes inside the house, use the Imperial system of measurements, and play football. -via Digg

Last year, Tye Lombardi made a Chestburster Turkey for Thanksgiving, and was told to never do that again. She said okay, and then developed a recipe for Facehugger Roasted Chicken. Behold the horror.

Made from a full-sized roasting chicken, snow crab legs, and a homemade chicken sausage tail, this sweet slab of petrifying poultry is smokey, succulent, and has just enough bite from a secret ingredient to make you cautiously come back for more.

In short, it’s damn good.

Lombardi would have used a turkey for this recipe, but she didn't have enough oven room. She assures us it can be done if your turkey isn't too big. The recipe is a bit involved, but if you are determined to make a real impression with your holiday bird, the complete instructions are at the Necro Nom-Nom-Nomicon. I can't wait to see the full-size xenomorph turkey she'll come up with next year. -Thanks, Tye!

PS: Lombardi has reconsidered the crab legs. For maximum edibility, they should be cooked separately and attached afterward, since the chicken should cook much longer than crab legs.

In just four panels, this comic shifts gears several times, but tells a coherent tale. By the end, you realize that it never had anything to do with a genie in a lamp, except for the idea of asking for your wish. How many times has this exact scenario played out in real life? This is the latest from Chris Hallbeck at Maximumble.

Austin McConnell tells you very quickly what you should do if your parachute fails, apparently because you Googled this video when it happened. Yeah, it would have been better if you paid attention before you jumped out of the plane, but whatever.

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Your chances of survival are slim, but not zero, so you may as well do what you can to raise those odds on your way down. If you survive the impact, there's plenty more to do to keep from dying. Good luck. -via Rusty Blazenhoff

Chef Jun Yoshizuki and his wife Rachel (previously at Neatorama) give us westerners some tips about confronting squat toilets, which are found all over Asia. Watch as Rachel suffers from STSD- Squat Toilet Stress Disorder. This does not have to be you! A little knowledge ahead of time will help you avoid falling in, losing your phone and money in the toilet, peeing all over the floor, or injuring yourself.

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Learning to squat properly is good for your health, too, and will undo a lot of the damage to our bodies from sitting all day. With a little practice, we'll all be able to do away with chairs altogether (yeah, right). -via Viral Viral Videos

There are so many different types of spiders in the world, it's no wonder that they evolved different ways to do their spider-things. Some of them have super powers! Spider-Man uses his "spidey sense" to detect danger, but some real spiders design their world to enhance their sensory perception.  

Despite lacking ears, spiders have some impressive musical talents. They treat the strands of their webs like the strings of a guitar, tuning them just right so they can detect certain vibrations. For their study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, researchers from the University of Oxford and Charles III University of Madrid observed garden cross spiders maintaining their webs. They learned that adjusting the tension and stiffness of the silk allows the spiders to sense frequencies they can recognize. One signal might mean that prey is near, while another could be connected to structural issues with the web.

You may know some of the weird and wonderful things spiders can do, but its impressive to see so many of them compiled in a list at Mental Floss.  

(Image credit: Christine Matthews)

How many pop culture logos would you recognize? Are you more familiar with logos and symbols from TV, movies, comic books, or video games? Signs.com did a survey of over a thousand people to see which of 181 pop culture symbols they recognized. We don't know much more about the survey, although I would guess it was voluntary and internet-based. The results are presented in a series of charts, broken down by genre and age of participants. Unsurprisingly, older people did well with movies and TV symbols, younger people did better with comic books and video games. I am a bit surprised that more participants overall recognized Heisenberg from Breaking Bad than the Star Trek insignia. But the fact that the Transformers symbols did so well should tell you about the overall ages of the participants. See all the charts at Signs.com. -via TVOM

Monday was World Kindness Day. The Washington Post published stories from all kinds of people about a kindness they received that had a lasting impact. In response, the comments have many more such stories. And so does Metafilter. Mefite forza told about the time she was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique and the bus to her village broke down in the middle of nowhere. 

It was about 30 minutes' drive from the nearest village but there wasn't much in that village. I don't even know if it was on the map, but it basically consisted of just huts and small plots of land. I knew nobody there, there was certainly nothing in the way of hotels or campsites or any kind of place to sleep, and I had no way of getting in touch with anyone (this was before cell phones were ubiquitous). I had no idea what to do. Some people were bedding down on the side of the road and I figured I'd just have to do that. But I was pretty freaked out at the idea. For one thing, there were unexploded landmines along the road and we were constantly warned never to go off it. It was probably okay, but... landmines! Worse, most everyone else was traveling with their families or other companions, and here I was, a very young woman, alone, with pale white skin that just screamed out "I'm a rich foreigner and do not belong." I spoke Portuguese reasonably well but not any of the local dialects, which is what most people spoke, which made everything even more difficult.

While I was standing there, dismayed, trying to figure out what to do, one of the women I'd been chatting off and on with started gesturing to me impatiently. "Come with me" she said with a kind of take-charge, no-nonsense air that I admired. I don't remember what I said or did, but the long and the short of it is that she overrode any feeble objections I had and in short order I was hustled into the next chapa (a local taxi truck thingy) and taken to the nearby village, where she lived. She and her large family hosted me that night. We had chips and matapa, a delicious Mozambican dish that I loved but had never perfected making myself. Her kids laughed and circled around and were fascinated to have a visit from a real mulungu (white person). I held her baby, an adorably alert little girl with huge black eyes. For some reason I still remember the baby's name: Carlotta. I couldn't follow a lot of the conversation, because only the woman spoke Portuguese, but I felt so welcomed despite my foreignness. I remember nodding off to sleep in my corner after that meal, thinking how safe and full I felt, knowing it was only this woman's sheer kindness that lay between that and a night spent shivering in fear and hunger by the side of the road.

You'll notice in the stories that the giver receives a great boost in happiness.

This! I had a friend who had been broke as all get out post divorce, but then married a very wealthy man. She loved to give - to friends, to strangers, big gifts, small gifts, it was all good. Recipients would try to refuse her gifts, "Oh no, no, I couldn't possibly accept something this generous!" They didn't realize how much pleasure she got from giving. Heck, I didn't realize at first, until I watched her face. I've learned to accept generosity and kindness as its own gift.

Reading the stories in all these links can be a gift for yourself, and an inspiration to do something kind for someone today.

(Inrelated image credit: Leandro Neumann Ciuffo)

In an unassuming red barn in Litchfield, Connecticut, you'll find the Space Age Museum, with a collection of mid-20th-century toys and artifacts that celebrate the exploration of space and the bright future envisioned at the time. There are aliens, robots, rockets, spaceships, and lots of photographs that you'll only see online, as the museum is not open to the public. It's a family affair, the work of John Kleeman and his son Peter. The collection began as a project the two could enjoy together. 

One of the key aspects of many of the sci-fi artifacts they’ve collected is their interactivity. “You could send away for Tom Corbett space goggles, or space helmets. You could participate with some of the shows, like Captain Video with decoders,” says Peter. For John and Peter, it’s this element of participation that turns the objects they collect into symbols of changing attitudes about space exploration. By picking up the ray gun of someone like Buck Rogers, kids were able to engage with the (then) ephemeral dream of the Space Age. “A lot of people talk about the Space Age beginning on October 4, 1957, when Sputnik was launched,” says Peter. “But we see the space age vision in popular culture growing for several decades before that. Where we really see it come into pop culture in more of a visual form is with the comic strips and toys of Buck Rogers in the late ’20s and early ’30s.”

Read more about the Space Age Museum, and get a peek inside, at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Samir S. Patel)

The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research, now in all-pdf form. Get a subscription now for only $25 a year!

General Research About Lachrymal Fluids
compiled by Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Improbable Research staff

Tears and crying are not fully understood, despite the efforts documented in these four studies.

The Art of Crying
Pictures and Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings, James Elkins, London, Routledge, 2001.

Does a Herdsman-Jilted Llama Shed Tears?
“Tear Apparatus of Animals: Do They Weep?” Juan Murube del Castillo, The Ocular Surface, vol. 7, no. 3, July 2009, pp. 121-127. The author, at the University of Acalà, Madrid, Spain, explains:

Sexual relations between shepherds and the members of their flocks have existed for millennia, leading to the development of a certain type of love between them. The female llama, a ruminant related to the camel, is said by the local people in the Andean high plateau to weep with tears of jealousy when the herdsman replaces her with another female llama. The abandoned llama circles around the new couple, shedding tears of jealousy and sadness. I have had the opportunity to ask several shepherds about this. They told me that a replaced llama may gaze sadly at the new couple, but they had never seen one weep.

Hymenoptera: Apidae That Drink Human Tears

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Who says cats can't speak English? Jason Ybarbo comes home from work and says hello to his cat. Recently, the cat started saying hello back to him. It's no Don Piano, but it is certainly a human greeting. It will be time to panic when he comes home and the cat asks why he's so late. -via reddit