Mashable put together a recreation of the Netflix show Stranger Things, using hamsters instead of people. How adorable!
Hamsters are natural actors. All you need are the perfect tiny backdrops and a good supply of hamster chow. -via Buzzfeed
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If you watched the Discovery channel mini-series Harley and the Davidsons, you saw how cool those early Harleys were and how daringly cool the guys who raced them were. Here’s your chance to see the real thing -a gallery of motorcycle racers from the first three decades of the 20th century sporting their Harley Davidson jerseys. Today, those sweaters would be valuable antiques too warm and itchy to wear. See 15 of them at Vintage Everyday. -via the Presurfer
While millions of people have fled the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, Lane Pittman greeted the winds of hurricane Matthew like a real man -a Florida man, that is. You have to wonder why he used music from Slayer when the Scorpion’s “Rock You Like a Hurricane” would have been perfect. Was it worth the risk for a viral video? We don’t know how far inland he is. If you are in the path of Matthew, better heed the advice of your local authorities. -via reddit
Zimbio commissioned artist Isaiah Stephens to mash up character from classic Disney animated movies with the Star Wars saga. He did that by placing the Disney characters into Star Wars roles, and did quite a fine job at matching them up. Here you see Malificent as Darth Vader, with the Evil Queen in her guise as an old crone in the robes of Emperor Palpatine. Check out the gallery to see what he did with Lilo and Stitch, the Seven Dwarfs, and the Disney Princesses. -via Geeks Are Sexy
And check out our previous posts featuring Isaiah Stephens’ art.
The 1979 movie Alien and its 1986 sequel Aliens are both masterpieces followed by other, lesser sequels. People have been arguing for decades over which one was the better movie. It’s really not a competition, because they are completely different types of movies. Despite following the same main character, despite the sequel following chronologically in the same universe, and despite the same monster species in both, they are movies that occupy different categories. Alien was a horror film, and Aliens was an action movie. And for the story they told, it works.
Because Aliens is so transparently an action movie, you will come across people who will tell you that it’s bullshit, that it’s a violation of everything that made Alien great. Do not trust these people. They are wrong. Aliens is about as perfect as a sequel can be, in part because it’s so distinct from the original Alien. The two movies share a central hero (though Ripley doesn’t really emerge as the hero of Alien until more than halfway through), and a central creeping terror (the incredible H.R. Giger-designed xenomorph drooling-bug monster). They’re both built on the inherent, body-level revulsion at the idea that there’s something unknown in the dark, something that means you harm. But Aliens does what sequels, ideally, are supposed to do. It never retells the original story. Instead, it expands on that story, introduces new characters and new wrinkles, and uses that original basis to tell an entirely different kind of story.
The A.V. Club gives us a thorough breakdown of what made Aliens so good, despite being a sequel. It’s a part of their ongoing series on the history of (cinematic) violence.
We’ve been exposed to the old bait-and-switch on TV a few times now, particularly in the genre of reality TV, so that many viewers don’t believe a thing they see. TV audiences as a whole were more trusting 24 years ago. On Halloween night in 1992, the BBC aired an early version of what we’ve now come to know as the “mockumentary.” Ghostwatch was billed as a drama in the TV listings, but it came across more as a live news report, particularly due to the presence of popular BBC presenters Sarah Greene and Craig Charles right on the scene as a poltergeist tormented the Early family. But Ghostwatch had been completely recorded earlier, using actors.
The finale laid it on a little thick, but not everyone made it that far in. By the time Ghostwatch signed off, a not-insignificant portion of the show’s 11 million viewers were either convinced ghosts were real, extremely upset at the BBC for traumatizing their children, or both.
The broadcaster had just five operators standing by its phones [PDF] once the show went off air, a number that was quickly overcome by the thousands of calls that flooded in. One woman reportedly went into labor due to the stress caused by watching the program; another reported her husband had soiled himself. Within hours, the BBC aired a brief segment that reminded viewers the show was fictional. It was a little too late.
Those who watched were either terrified or else angry at the BBC for causing such terror. Ghostwatch was blamed for several cases of PTSD and at least one suicide. Read the story of Ghostwatch and its fallout at mental_floss.
(Image credit: BFI)
Spotted at Comic Con New York today: Marvel’s mutant Mystique in the middle of morphing. I believe this costume is a full blue bodysuit with a partial uniform sewn on top. The blue sequins hide the joining seams really well, including the face paint and wig. Do you know who this is? She’s awesome: not just a good designer and cosplayer, but she’s also figured out how to be a woman comic book superhero at a convention without having to display the entire outline of her body. This picture was posted by redditor radicalheadphone.
Uodate: Her name is Rebecca Lindsay. She posted a selfie for a closer view of her face.
Police can use a mechanical boot clamped to a wheel to prevent a parking scofflaw from moving a vehicle until he pays the fine, but it’s a hassle. Boots are heavy, difficult to install and remove, and time consuming. But now meter maids have a new weapon in their arsenal: the Barnacle! This is a large “parking ticket,” so to speak, that adheres to the vehicle’s windshield and covers it completely. It sticks there by 700 pounds of suction, and is wired to tell the cops where you are if you drive off anyway. Read about the advantages of the Barnacle at Wired. Advantages to the government, that is, because it would suck to find one on your car. However, it may prove to be easier to deal with than the boot for drivers, too. -Thanks, hearsetrax!
Every year, we get a glimpse into the unseen world around us with the Nikon Small World awards, which honors the best in microphotography, both still photos and video. The winners will be announced later this month, but you can already see some of the great microphotographs in contention. One of the awards is the Popular Vote award, kind of like a “people’s choice” award, and you can vote right now! Browse through the gallery here, enlarge them to see them in all their glory with a description, and cast your vote. You can vote once a day through October 25th. Neatorama will unveil the winners of the competition as soon as they are announced. Read more about the competition at the Nikon Small World website.
Shown above is the eye of a honeybee, taken by Ralph Claus Grimm, which won first place in 2015.
The folks at Bad Lip Reading ridicule both of the presidential candidates by putting words in their mouths. Words that exactly match their lips! In this instance, they make the first presidential debate into a game show, which also ridicules the process itself.
And the best part about this re-do of the debate is, it’s only a few minutes long. The next real presidential debate is Sunday night. -via Uproxx
You can believe it, just check the sources! This artwork was spotted on the door of an English teacher’s office. -via Laughing Squid
(Image credit: reaptherekt)
The CW has a TV show called The Flash, which I did not even know. Screen Junkies found it to be low-hanging fruit for their Honest Trailer series. They don’t so TV shows very often, but this was too tempting.
I might even have to check out the show now. It seems like something you can follow without having to pay close attention. -via Viral Viral Videos
This is nice: a “year you were born” timeline that actually goes that far back. Look at how Halloween was celebrated from 1916 to 2016, with an image and a blurb about each year. There are costumes, customs, decorations, games, movies, world events, and more. The magazine shown here is from 1924, when Halloween parties kept children from mischief, before the rise of trick-or-treating as we know it. Check out a century of Halloween at Flipboard. -via Everlasting Blort
If you haven’t checked in with Liz Climo lately, you’ve missed out on comics that will give you a smile just when you need it, and all of October will be Halloween-themed. The punchline under this spooky comic is “I ain’t afraid of no goat.”
Tell me about it. I updated to macOS Sierra last night. I knew it would probably take at least an hour, so I started it and went to bed. Five hours later, I couldn’t get my computer to respond to anything. I ended up unplugging it and rebooting. When it finally opened up, it was still in the process, just waiting for my password. Again. Then another 15 minutes to finish. I can’t imagine how long that would have taken for an IOS, but since I don’t ever go anywhere, I don’t need a mobile device. This is the latest from MegaCynics.
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