Godawan whisky is an ecologically sustainable whisky company in India that was named after the critically-endangered godawan, or great Indian bustard. The distillery has worked for 20 years to save the species. Godawan teamed up with Studio Eeksaurus to produce a video about the bird. The song that narrates the story is in the Rajasthani dialect, so you'll want to make sure the closed captions are on and in English.
For this animation, they used 5200 separate ceramic pieces, many custom-made, inspired by the blue pottery of Jaipur. A hundred people spent 15,000 hours creating the film. At about 4:40, we get a behind the scenes look at how the film was made. You can read more about the project in an interview with the director. (via Metafilter)
Wednesday, November 04, 2026
The Godawan
How To Build a Human Tower
People will turn any activity into a competition. For hundreds of years, the people of Catalonia have built human towers by climbing onto each other's shoulders in a stunt called castell. Of course they've developed competitions for the highest tower, held during festivals. These were for men only until the 1980s, but with the addition of women, the towers can now reach nine or ten levels high.
It's a matter of strength, agility, numbers, and physics. The strongest people are arranged at the bottom in a precisely-calculated formation to build a sturdy, stable base. The middle layers rely on balance or else the tower will fall. The top climbers are lightweight and fearless, often children. BBC Earth Science brings us this clip from the TV series Forces of Nature to show us how these human towers are built. Yes, sometimes they do collapse, although the participants are trained for it, and the bottom layer serves as a cushion for falling bodies. And they are all barefoot to reduce injury. Still, these competitions have ambulances standing by in case they are needed. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
Pittsburgh’s ‘Green Man’ was a real person – why the legend outlives the facts. The article includes a video about him. (via Strange Company)
An attempted robbery at a Dollar General will have you in stitches.
A Potato That Tastes Like Roast Chicken? Chefs Say This New Variety Delivers. (via kottke)
As our car sizes grow, new evidence points to pedestrian risk. (via Metafilter)
These jokes are so bad you have to laugh.
A Blast from the Past (2014): What a Blockbuster Movie Can Do to a Small Town.
It's a short list today- I spent last night following election returns.
A Cosplay Tribute to Stan Lee
Sneaky Zebra has brought us cosplay videos from conventions for years. This one is a compilation of marvelous Marvel character cosplayers, illustrating Stan Lee's philosophy of the Marvel universe. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Protagonist
Tuesday, November 03, 2026
A Historic Home Tour in the Future
Comedian Jake Lambert has gone to the far future, in which he is a tour guide for a typical home from 2026. We don't know if it was an archaeological discovery or a recreation, but it doesn't matter. Anyone who's been on a museum tour will notice he's got the patter down pat.
A Eulogy for Sir Patrick Stewart
Fans are reeling from the death of Sir Patrick Stewart last Wednesday at age 86. Stewart was classically-trained stage actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company who made a successful leap to science fiction by portraying Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek universe and Charles Xavier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stewart could also be wickedly funny when he wanted to.
In 2015, when Stewart was 75, he appeared at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. There he gave his own eulogy, highlighting his proudest accomplishments and most cherished memories. While the language is PG, the subject matter may be NSFW and probably not something you'd want to explain to your children. Godspeed Sir Patrick Stewart, you will be missed. (via Metafilter)
PS: If you prefer a more poignant tribute, grab a hankie and watch this.
Movement
Ballet dancer Sergei Polunin stars in the music video for "Movement" by Hozier. He confronts himself, but cannot escape himself. Andrew Hozier-Byrne said Polunin's performance to his song "Take Me To Church" a couple of years ago inspired some ideas in this song. (via Metafilter)
Detective Pikachu
Monday, November 02, 2026
Wildwood Weed
Jim Stafford from 1974. I turned 16 that year, and just mentioning any line from this in school would get knowing grins from other students and frowns from administrators. My friends and I would recite "Wildwood Weed" when we got high, hoping we could remember all the lyrics.
Falling Down
Josh Johnson is great on The Daily Show, but his stand up routines are treasures. He is 36 years old. That's old enough to give up your youthful pride, but still young enough to not worry about becoming seriously injured from a fall, so it's fair grounds for a few jokes. Me, I'm now at the age that I take great care not to fall at all. My doc asked if I've fallen in the last couple of years, and I told her no, I use handrails religiously and I throw out any slippery shoes or rugs. Then she was concerned about my concern. Do I have a problem with balance? No, but I saw what a fall and a broken hip did to my mother. She understood that well.
Oh, I've had a few memorable falls. That time an aluminum ladder bent and failed while I was cleaning out the gutters. The last time I roller bladed and my daughter wanted to call 911 because I took time to assess before getting up. The one that left my left shoulder permanently weak. But those were all years ago.
