An Honest Trailer for Troy

As the Odyssey may be considered a sequel to the Iliad, the new film opening this weekend The Odyssey may be considered a sequel to the 2004 film Troy, at least by certain fans of the genre, even though the two movies are separated by more than 20 years and completely different casts and crews. At least the poems were written by the same author. So in honor of the occasion, Screen Junkies goes back in the vault and gives us an Honest Trailer for Troy. 

Of course, they quickly focus on the beefcake that the movie was so derided over. Give the audience what they want. There's plenty of bloodshed, too. When you've got this much sex and violence, you don't need much historical accuracy- or even literary accuracy. That said, you might want to go back and rewatch Troy before seeing The Odyssey this weekend. And then let us know how they compare. 

Miss Cellania's Links

The Cinnamon Bachelors and Pepper Bachelors of Denmark. 

How to get a snapping turtle off the road without losing your fingers. 

Randall Munroe has posted a chart comparing the earth's holes at xkcd. There's a lot of information, so you will want to see the full-size version here. Information and links for each of them are at Explain xkcd. (via kottke) 

Magic: how it's done. (via Everlasting Blort)

The promise and peril of childhood in the age of AI. (via Fark) 

Photos From the Wedding of Anna Nicole Smith and Billionaire Oil Tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994. (via Memo of the Air) 

The tech of Terminator 2 – an oral history. They had no motion capture, no 4K, but the VFX team amazed us anyway. (via Metafilter) 

How Did Two Wolves End Up on This Remote Island Thousands of Years Ago? Researchers Think Humans Brought Them There, Then Cared for Them. 

Here’s what happens when you put politicians in charge of science. The Soviets did it, and it didn’t end well. (via Damn Interesting) 

Alilen Invader

(via Fark)

Smudge the Cat and Missy the Bunny

Smudge the cat had a bit of adjusting to do when the family's daughter brought home a bunny named Missy. But the feisty cat immediately adjusted his method of playing to be oh so gentle with Missy, and they became best friends. The odd couple are adorable together. And even though Missy went off to college with her human, she gets to visit Smudge often. You can see more of Missy (and Smudge) at her Instagram page.  (via Metafilter)

Are You Feeling Okay?

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Chicago

From 1909. (via Undine)

Redwood Saga

Thus is a 1946 documentary about the logging industry in California. On the one hand, you may be saddened at the very idea of cutting down a thousand-year-old redwood, but on the other hand, the people of 1946 didn't have much in the way of plastic to make everything out of. Moving to plastic and other artificial materials may have saved some trees, but the long-term consequences of creating materials that last forever are pretty dire. I'm glad we managed to save a few redwoods; they may flourish again after mankind is gone. (via Memo of the Air) 

Banging and Problematic

(via Give Me a Sign)

Mind-Boggling Facts About America

Laurence Brown tells us about some things he's learned about America that really surprised him. None of us Yanks are surprised, because these are just everyday things to us. We know our country is strange. There's an ad from 3:24 to 4:29.  

Wine Connoisseurs

From Married to the Sea.

Jet Powered Pirate Ship

Robert Maddox, the Crazy Rocketman is in his 70s and feels the need for speed. He also sells rocket engines. Maddox is living his best life now as a pirate. 

Maddox figured out how to repurpose an old cannon to direct a 240 pound thrust pulsejet engine to rocket power his boat. As he tested how fast he could use it to get away from shore, he almost killed the guy helping him launch in the process (twice). Max got away, though, and managed to operate the drone camera filming this nonsense, augmented with a selfie stick. 

The next step was to make Captain Bob's 12-foot aluminum boat into a pirate ship, complete with flame effects and Jolly Roger flag, although not enough room for a plank to walk nor anyone to walk it. It's hard to mutiny on a solo voyage. (via Born in Space) 

Chill Out

(via Fark)

The World's Strangest Time Zones

The logical way to divide a spinning planet into time zones would be to draw 24 latitudinal lines on the globe, leaving equal areas for each time zone. But that doesn't work for people who live with real life geography, national borders, and human nature. Countries did not adopt standard time all at once, and politics plays a part. So we have some extra time zones that set their clocks a half-hour different from their neighbors, and some places that could use more time zones. RealLifeLore explains some of the weirder anomalies in global time. (via Digg)

How to Summon a Demon

It's possible you do it every day. This comic is from Cheddarbacon Studios. (via Geeks Are Sexy) 

Engagement Ring

(via Bad Newspaper)

Let's Be Ominous!

The best use ever for John Williams' Jaws theme. From the BBC series Walk on the Wild Side. (via Everlasting Blort) 

Lost Dog

(via Give Me a Sign)

Long Legged Larry

Long Legged Larry is a bullfrog with a talent for jumping high. Follow along with this song from Aesop Rock as Larry saves the day over and over. (via Laughing Squid) 

Sudden Cognitive Dissonance

(via Pleated-Jeans)

The Trojan Horse

You know the story of the Trojan Horse, of course, because you've read Homer's Iliad, the epic poem about the Trojan War, right? No, because you haven't read it, and also because the Trojan Horse isn't in the Iliad. But you know the story of how the Greeks won the war against the city of Troy after ten years by leaving a gift of a massive wooden horse behind, which the Trojans accepted and brought into the city gates, not realizing it was full of Greek soldiers. It only makes sense the Trojans would do that, despite the horse's odd weight, without looking to see what was inside. 

Is there any truth at all to the story? We once thought that the city of Troy was itself fictional, until Heinrich Schliemann found it in Turkey (and dug right through the layer that would have existed at the relevant time). But that doesn't mean there was a ten-year war. And while the tale of the Trojan Horse was layered with supernatural deeds by Greek gods, that was normal for both historical and fictional accounts in ancient Greece. Weird History looks at the story of the Trojan Horse, and reveals some theories about how it could have happened, whether it did or not.