When the first Star Wars film came out in 1977, George Lucas said there were nine chapters in all -and hinted there would be nine films. As the other movies arrived, it became apparent that he was making them up as he went along. After Revenge of the Sith, Lucas said there would be no more Star Wars films. So how should the existing films be presented to young people who didn't grow up seeing them in theaters? You could see them in the order in which they were released, or watch the three prequels first to stay in the chronological order in which they occurred in the fantasy universe. But there's a better idea. Rod Hilton calls it Machete Order.
I recently discovered my college-aged brother-in-law’s girlfriend had never seen any Star Wars films and wanted to watch them all over winter break. Armed with the new Blu-Rays, we all went about watching them, and I showed them in Machete Order. It actually works even better than I originally anticipated – it’s almost as if this is somehow the intented order. There’s a great pattern here, taking the viewer on a series of emotional ups and downs. IV ends with a victory that seems to have some sinister undertones, then V is dark and unresolved, II ends with victory with sinister undertones, then III is dark and unresolved again. It works incredibly well, and when III ended everyone demanded we immediately watch VI to see how everything gets resolved.
Read about the reasoning behind this idea. Link -via Metafilter
YouTube member Beekalmer added sticks and stones to her backyard birdbath to make it easier for honeybees to get water. Parts of this video are in slow motion so you can get a good look at how honeybees drink.
You've seen a lot of hype about the Oscars this past week, but it's much more fun to follow the Golden Raspberry Awards. The Razzies are given to the worst films of the year, and there are plenty of stinkers in contention for 2011. Nominations were announced this weekend, and Adam Sandler's film Jack and Jill received twelve nominations, despite the fact that it was only eligible in ten categories. Sandler himself is nominated for both Worst Actor and Worst Actress for his roles in the film. The awards will be bestowed on April Fool's Day. See all the nominees at Time. Link
In a breakthrough that will affect cosplay and furry cultures, researchers in Tokyo have developed a cat mask that can be controlled by the wearer’s facial movements. So far, only the eyes and mouth are controllable, they are working on the ears and eyebrows. -via The Daily What Geek
Gatonovela is a soap opera starring the cats from Kitten Massage Therapy, Kagonekoshiro, and other viral cat videos. In this episode, a drug cartel throws its weight around. Other episodes are available at YouTube. Link -via Buzzfeed
Techno Viking, the character from a 12-year-old video, is a meme that just won't quit. Now he's an action figure! There's no verifiable information, but I gather that this is one of those custom-made action figures that can look like anyone if you pay the premium price. But I don't know who it belongs to. Link
More and more people every day find themselves working a real job from home, but that is still a novel idea for most of the folks around them. Actually, my home office looks like this. And when I tell people I work from home, they assume I am a housewife and have plenty of time to drive them somewhere or volunteer for their community project. Link
Even if you're not a history buff and know very little about World War II, there is one thing about it that you do know: how it ended. But here's a part of the story that you may not know.
INCOMING
Shortly after 8:00AM on the morning of August 6, 1945, lookouts in the mountains east of Hiroshima, Japan, spotted two American B-29 bombers flying in close formation, followed by a third B-29, a few miles back. They weren't overly concerned. The aircraft were flying at an altitude of more than 31,000 feet, unusually high for a bombing run. The firebombing raids that had devastated more than 60 Japanese cities since March of 1945 operated at a much lower altitude and involved huge numbers of B-29s, sometimes 500 or more. The only bombers that had flown as high as these three had been on reconnaissance missions, not bombing runs.
Even when the three aircraft altered course and headed straight for Hiroshima, officials weren't alarmed. It was common for B-29s to rendezvous near the city before heading off to bomb other targets. At this late stage of the war, fuel, ammunition, airplanes, and pilots were in desperately short supply in Japan; the military couldn't afford to waste resources chasing just a handful of planes. The B-29s approached Hiroshima unmolested by fighter planes and anti-aircraft fire.
Two of the three planes were indeed carrying only scientific and reconnaissance equipment. But the last plane, the Enola Gay, was on one of the deadliest missions of the war. It was carrying an atomic bomb, one with an explosive power equivalent to 18,000 tons of TNT -more than 1,500 times as powerful as the British Grand Slam, the largest bomb that had ever been used in warfare. At 8:15 AM, the Enola Gay released the bomb over the city. It dropped to an altitude of 2,000 feet, and then exploded, destroying much of Hiroshima and killing an estimated 70,000 people, or 30 percent of the population. Another 70,000 would die within weeks.
Shigeyoshi Morimoto
BEARING WITNESS
Shigeyoshi Morimoto was luckier than many people in the city. The master kitemaker was in town for a secret meeting to study whether kites could be used to protect the Japanese fleet from attack by American fighter planes, and was visiting his cousin's home about a half a mile from ground zero when the bomb went off. Ninety-five percent of the people who were that close to the bomb were killed, but Morimoto, his cousin, and his cousin's son all survived.
"There was something like a lightning flash, and along with the flash the house collapsed and we were pinned beneath the fallen ceiling and roof," Morimoto told interviewer Robert Trumbull in 1956. "All three of us were alive -unhurt, in fact, except for bruises from the fallen roof and ceiling of the ruined house, which kept us from being exposed to the horrible blast." When the three dug themselves out of the rubble, they were stunned by the vastness of the destruction. Like a lot of survivors, they assumed that the blast had been nearby, perhaps caused by an exploding fuel tank or a bomb falling a few blocks away. But when they saw how widespread the damage was, they realized this was no ordinary bomb. Every building within a one-mile radius of the blast was flattened, and every building within a 4.5 square mile area was or would soon be destroyed by fire. (Many of the fires were caused by cooking stoves knocked over by the explosion.)
WHAT NEXT?
Morimoto returned to the hotel where he had been staying, to see if he could salvage any of his belongings. The hotel was badly damaged but still standing. There he found that three of his colleagues had also survived: Tsuitaro Doi, Shinji Kinoshita, and Masao Komatsu. The four men spent the night in the ruins of the hotel, and the following morning they discussed what to do next.
Tsuitaro Doi, Shinji Kinoshita, and Masao Komatsu.
By now the news of the destruction of Hiroshima had spread to the rest of Japan, but there was no way for survivors to get word out to their families that they were still alive. The bomb had knocked all telephone and telegraph lines, as well as the radio stations. The four men decided to return home, and after obtaining permission to leave the city, on the afternoon of August 8 they walked out of Hiroshima and found a train to their home city: Nagasaki.
You know what would make the best feature films of 2011 even better? If Maru starred in them! The Cheezburger Network has a collection dedicated to both the Academy Awards and the internet's favorite cat. See the movie posters as they would be with Maru in the leading role. Or directing. Or just looking good on the poster. Link -via Buzzfeed
Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
March 2, 1962, was one of the most unbelievable, unforgettable nights in professional sports history. This was the night Wilton Norman "Wilt the Stilt" Chamberlain scored 100 points in a professional basketball game.
The 7'1" star center of the Philadelphia Warriors was then in his third season of complete NBA domination, leaving opposing centers in the dust in the face of his awe-inspiring presence. Chamberlain had already set several scoring records in his first two seasons, including averaging 37.6 and 38.4 points a game respectively. Wilt had also set the single game scoring record less than three months previously, pouring in a record 78 points in an overtime game on December 8, 1961.
When Lakers star Elgin Baylor, whose record of 73 points Wilt had broken, was asked if he was upset, Baylor answered as if he had a crystal ball. "Someday that guy's going to score 100," he prophesied, almost eerily.
Wilt had already broken several records, but the 1961-62 season was to be his crowning glory, a season in which he would average a jaw-dropping 50.4 points per game.
The night before Wilt's historic game, he was in New York, having spent the night (not unusually) in the company of a female companion. At 6 AM on the morning of March 2nd, Wilt dropped his lady friend off at her home. He hadn't slept a wink and was suffering from a hangover. He boarded the train to Philadelphia at 8 AM.
After meeting several friends at the Philly train station, he had a long lunch with them and almost missed the team bus to Hershey. The night's scheduled game at the Hershey Sports Arena was an unimportant one. Wilt's Warriors had a record of 46 wins and 29 losses and were entrenched in second place, a full 11 games behind the champion Boston Celtics. The game promised a dull time for all. Wilt's teammate, York Larese, commented, "There was nothing exciting about the Knicks playing the Warriors in Hershey. Chocolate was more exciting."
On that cold, rainy night only 4,124 fans showed up (the Hershey Arena seated 8,000). The game was so unimportant, only two photographers showed up to cover it. The Knicks' starting center, Phil Jordan, was out sick and was replaced by second-stringer Darrall Imhoff. Also, tellingly, the third-string center was Cleveland Buckner, who had "defended" Wilt just two days earlier and was smoked for a record 28 points in one quarter.
The game began and Wilt got out of the gate quickly, scoring 23 points in the game's first quarter. Even stranger, he was nine for nine at the free throw line. A notoriously poor free throw shooter, Wilt's first thoughts that night were of possibly setting some kind of free throw record.
Look at this -it's got everything you need in a piece of art: a robot, a cat, music, and a smile. Is that rain or snow? This work by DeviantART member Goro Fujita is available in a print if you like it. Link -via reddit
We've arrived at the last week of February, and I mistakenly thought that we'd gone through all the many holidays of the month, but no. Coming up Wednesday we have Leap Day, which takes on a holiday atmosphere just because the date is so rare. But first, the 84th Academy Awards ceremony is tomorrow night! Those who care about movies are waiting to see who will win the Oscars. Those who care about having a little fun this weekend are here at Neatorama! If you're catching up on the past week, we'll help you out with some links to our exclusive articles.
Over at the Neatorama Art Blog, we welcomed a new gallery this week from Philadelphia artist and illustrator Josean Rivera. Go check out his stuff!
In the What Is It? game this week, the objects are long-knives for use in cockfights; they were attached to the legs of battle cocks. Craig Clayton was the first with the correct answer, and wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! The prize for the funniest answer goes to Steve Pauk, who declared they are Edward Scissorhands’ nail clippings!Find out what all this week’s mystery items are at the What Is It? blog. And thanks for playing along!
Here's a usability tip in case you want to find related subjects at Neatorama. When you click on a post title, you go to that post's individual page. Here, I went to the post Tabasco: Secret Sauce of Space Travel. At the end of the post, you'll see this:
Now, you know that "Link" takes you to the original story, where you can read all the information. Then you have the social networking buttons you can click to tell your friends about this post. And under that are "tags": astronaut, space, Tabasco, taste. You can click any of those words and get a list of Neatorama posts that are also tagged with those words. If you click "Tabasco," you'll get only two posts, including this one. I think we need to write more about the sauce. Or if you click "astronaut," you'll see quite a few Neatorama posts about astronauts. That's an easy way to find more posts on something you're interested in reading about.
Remember, you'll find extra content and discussions at our Facebook page, and make sure you are following Neatorama on Twitter, too -and now Neatorama is available G+ goodness!
Well, how did you expect a snoring hummingbird to sound? This female Amethyst-throated Sunangel (Heliangelus amethysticollis) at a research facility in Peru is sleeping inside a device that measures its oxygen use. The machine is probably not really all that loud, but the sound was cranked up so we could hear the snoring. -via The Daily What
Mental_floss has a continuing series on people that most of us would term "disabled," but still manage to do the very things they aren't supposed to be "able" to. Several have made headlines just recently. You'll meet nine of them in the latest installment, such as Dergin Tokmak (pictured), who walks on his hands or with crutches, but is a dancer with Cirque du Soleil. Link
Cooking Light published a list of cooking mistakes that seems to be a powerful resource for novice cooks. The first few are exactly the mistakes my young daughters make.
1. You don’t taste as you go. 2. You don’t read the entire recipe before you start cooking. 3. You make unwise substitutions in baking. 4. You boil when you should simmer.
There are 41 mistakes in all, and many of them are very specific. Each has advice for the right way to do it. Link -via Metafilter
