Since you pay for Netflix by the month, how low can you bring the price-per-movie down by watching as many as you can? Mark Malkoff tried to find out, by devoting a month to the experiment. I don't see how he did it, because I couldn't find anywhere near that many movies I'd care to watch. There's a list of the films he saw at My Damn Channel. Link -Thanks, Mark!
Where's the best place to mount a camera? On a remote-control airplane, of course! How else are you going to get these gorgeous POV shots? This video is part of a series called "Team BlackSheep USA Road Trip," in which the same technique is used for various awesome locations. Link -via I Am Bored
The Charlotte Bobcats don't win many basketball games, and they didn't get much attention nationally until they won the first round draft pick in the NBA lottery. Now a lot of people are looking to find out more about the team, and it's paying off for Austin Saya and Rickey Kim, the absurdist comedy video team that runs the website CharlotteBobcats.com. Back in 2003, Saya and his father guessed which name the city's basketball team (formed to replace the Hornets) would select, and registered the domain. It took eight years for Saya to do something with the domain. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with basketball.
In 2011, after finishing his master's at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Saya and Kim finally met in downtown Los Angeles. They shared an experimental approach toward art and a love for pranks and absurdity. By April, they began making films together. Saya had already flirted with the idea of putting content on CharlotteBobcats.com; he saw the amount of traffic it received, even in its neglected state, and began to consider the possibilities. In early 2011, he filmed a man in an empty room attempting to open a suitcase. There was just one camera angle, and no dialogue, and it lasted 25 minutes.
"We put that video on loop on the website, and it got like 15,000 hits in a few days," he said. "And later on we discovered on a bunch of sports blogs that people were talking about it, and they were wondering, 'What's going on with the Charlotte Bobcats website?' And it was awesome, because eventually as you went down on the message boards, you'd see they were actually talking about the video, and some of the people would watch it all the way through. All 25 minutes. And the guy doesn't do anything!"
As Rickey and Austin began making experimental films, they put them on the site. They even designed a logo, a white windowless monolith in a black box. There was an appealing practical aspect to using the site, which was the instant, unwitting audience that came to the site every day in large numbers. But Saya and Kim are pranksters at heart, and they delighted in the artistic absurdity of the situation.
CharlotteBobcats.com is getting a lot of recognition, but the site still makes no money. Saya and Kim are happy with the exposure. Read the rest of the story at Grantland. Link -via Metafilter
Are you ready for a little trip down memory lane with some catchy background music? This video is a lot more "game" than "history!" It was remixed from video, music, and sounds from games with no outside material added, by Reverse Enginears featuring P. Sus for Polygon. Link -via The Daily What Geek
Five actors who played the captain in five different Star Trek television series were all together on the same stage at the Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con this past weekend. That has never happened before! Pictured from left to right are William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula. Link-Thanks, Duke!
Daleks-of-the-Day is a site that brings you a new dalek every day. Today's edition is special for the Queen's diamond jubilee, complete with crown, scepter, and ...whatever that round thing is. Link-Thanks, Darkfynne!
Garfield recently came to live at the North Shore Animal League shelter in Long Island, New York, when his elderly owner died. Shelter staff have him on a carefully restricted diet now. How did a cat get to forty pounds? Maybe Garfield was eating lasagna like his namesake! Buzzfeed has lots more pictures of the fat feline. Link
A total of 32 actresses tried out for the role of Scarlet O'Hara, and many others who auditioned for the other principle parts in the 1939 film Gone With The Wind. Hindsight tells us the final casting was perfect, but it's interesting to think about some of these other folks in those roles. -via Laughing Squid
Did you know that June is National candy Month? In honor of the occasion, today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss challenges you to name the 13 biggest-selling candies in the Unites States. Gum and mints are excluded from this list, which may make it easier or harder, who knows. You have three minutes. Me? I got eight of them, kicked myself about three I missed, and would have never guessed the two others. Link
As I mentioned in a previous post, everyone is good at something, even if that something is not what would normally go viral. This Twaggies was illustrated from a Tweet by @joe_hill. See a new Tweet illustrated every day at Twaggies! Link
P.S. Oh yeah, @joe_hill is the son of author Stephen King.
Redditor medic23 received an awesome invitation and posted it to his Facebook page (although someone else beat him in posting to reddit). What remains to be seen is whether any medical emergencies will result from the tater tot eating contest, and what kind of workplace has this kind of awesome event anyway? Link
The world is full of talented people. At the YouTube link, you can find a printed list of them with their websites linked. The music is "Somebody That I Used to Know" performed by Walk Off the Earth. Don't feel bad; I'm sure there's something you can do very well, too. -Thanks, Mikel Torres!
Some items that are advertised a "the perfect gift" really fall short of that mark -in fact, while giving no gift at all looks like you just forgot, giving some of these gifts would be like a slap in the face. Then again, it depends on your situation, because a really lame Father's Day gift might be a great "gag gift" for a Dad who has a sense of humor -especially if you shower him with respect and affection otherwise. So shop with caution. InventorSpot shows us some items that just might send an awful message. Shown here is a golf club that doubles as a drink dispenser. Just don't get that club mixed up with the one you use as a urinal! Oh yeah, Father's Day is June 17th. Link
When you hooked that 600-pound marlin, you didn't realize you were just baiting the hook for even bigger fish. Sharks don’t care how much you paid for that deep-sea fishing excursion! -via I Am Bored
