(via Bad Newspaper)
Thursday, February 29, 2024
The People Who Bought Italy's €1 Homes
Some years ago, the idea of buying a home in Italy for €1 went viral on the internet. The program was started in 2017 because so many small towns in that country had more houses than people, and they needed new residents. If you've ever dreamed of living in a historic home near the Mediterranean where life is slow and the food is Italian, it sounded like a great idea. But if you read the small print, the offer came with the stipulation that you had to renovate the house to bring it up to code, which scared off a lot of prospective buyers, because the €1 houses were wrecks. But those who took the plunge found that the necessary renovations were much more affordable than they would be in the United States. Yeah, there's the question of leaving your job, but some buyers were retired, some had connections in Italy already, and some went there to start businesses.
And these small towns saw many benefits. Renovations created many jobs, new entrepreneurs revitalized the towns, and people from all over the world settled in Italy. Some people who went to check out the program found other homes that weren't as cheap, but were in better shape and still a bargain. One man bought a four story house with two bathrooms for $15K that needed relatively few repairs. It's not for everyone (it helps if you speak Italian), but some people saw their dreams come true. (via Digg)
A Tall Korean Man Visits Netherlands
Korean YouTuber 아픈 니가 청춘 is 193 centimeters tall, or 6' 4". All his life, he's been the odd man out, with people staring at him and asking if he plays basketball. In this video, he goes to Netherlands, where the average man's height is the tallest on earth, just over six feet. Suddenly, for the first time in his life, he is surrounded by men taller than he is. Many are two meters tall, which is 6' 6". He also discovers what normal accommodations for tall people are like. For example, he doesn't have to bend over to use a sink, and he can see his face in a bathroom mirror. He can stand up straight on a bus! For contrast, he talks to an average-sized Korean women who is also visiting Netherlands, and how she struggles with a world built for tall people. Those of us who are fairly average don't realize how much difference that makes. (via reddit)
Miss Cellania's Links
Leap Day is February 29, not December 32 due to a Roman calendar quirk – and fastidious medieval monks. (via Damn Interesting)
A widow unexpectedly received $1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock. Now, she's covering Bronx med students' tuition forever. (via Fark)
The Boston Typewriter Orchestra Tries Electric Typewriters.
How the sauerkraut ball, a fixture of Ohio holiday parties, introduced me to my new Midwestern family and became a tradition all my own. Recipes linked at Metafilter.
What Ever Happened to Mad Cow? The discovery of mad cow disease almost 40 years ago forever changed our understanding of biology.
Man Gives Skeleton a Good Chiropractic Cracking.
10 Bizarre Royal Conspiracy Theories.
What Is the Dominant Emotion in 400 Years of Women’s Diaries? Women will guess this right.
The game magazine that spent two years taunting a Final Fantasy VIII hater. The final trick was just genius. (via Metafilter)
And now for something completely different.
February 29, Leap Day, only comes once every four years. I will never forget this day four years ago. Gothgrrl found my mother on the floor, unable to move. A broken hip. Over the next couple of weeks sitting in her hospital room, the TV was full of news about a disease that was killing people in China and it was spreading to other countries. I was arranging for Mom's transfer from the hospital to a rehab unit when my kids were told the school was closing down. The family spent the next year caring for Mom at home, then she was in a nursing home for almost a year, then there was a year spent dispersing her possessions and settling her estate. Then a year spent processing all of that.
Mom's time in rehab was horrible. The lockdown began the day she arrived there, and no visitors could come in, to our surprise. She would call me when she needed help, and I couldn't effectively tell her where the help button was because I'd never been in her room. I was constantly calling the front desk. It was a relief to take her home, but the future was a big question.
Looking back at the spring of 2020, my kids were going through a lot, and I didn't have the bandwidth to properly help them. They brought home their graduation gowns, only used once for backyard pictures. Where would they live? What would they do? Gothgrrl was afraid she wouldn't get into vet school and made contingency plans to flee to Europe. Meanwhile, she got a job at a nursing home of all places, and was afraid to be near me or Mom for months. Princess moved here and there and took a variety of jobs that were a string of disasters. I gained and lost a couple of online jobs that year, too, but that seemed trivial. And we had another college refugee living here, but I was gone so much that I never really knew what was going on. I can reconstruct the timeline with Mom, but not so much with my daughters. They both eventually ended up in a good place, because they were always self-sufficient. But because of the date, I can't help but think of what happened four years ago.
Candide Thovex: One of Those Days 3
French professional skier Candide Thovex returns to give us a POV thrill as he does impossible, or at least illegal, things while sliding on snow at terrifying speeds.
Watch out for that tree! And the pond! And the helicopter! Thovex really went out of his way to raise the wow factor from the previous installment in this series. The overall effect is that of a human Rube Goldberg device on snow. You have to wonder how many broken bones must one endure on the way to becoming this good. (via Digg)
Tweet of the Day
A bit of #Caturday history: Salty, mascot of the San Diego Coast Guard Air Station. In 1945, she was the first cat to participate in an air rescue mission when she and her kitten stowed away on a plane just before it took off to rescue a pilot who had gone down at sea. pic.twitter.com/EubfpAoe91
— Undine (@HorribleSanity) February 24, 2024
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
Dora the Beagle Finds New life Outside the Lab
Dora was "retired" as a subject from a medical research facility. It might be better to say that she was "rescued." Dora didn't know anything about living in a family or even how to climb stairs. She'd spent her life in a cage, and was terrified by all the new and scary things the world presented. But then she was taken into care by the organization One Tail at a Time in Chicago. They placed her with a foster family, where she was taught how to trust people, how to deal with the outdoors, and all the things a good dog should know. Now she's with her forever family, and has turned into a happy, well-adjusted beagle. It's amazing what love and patience can do!
GuiGe's Simple Life
Wholesome
byu/int9r infunny
This guy goes way too hard to make his life simple. Pure nonsense, well done. His white pants stay clean while everything around him is dirty. He can't be bothered to brush his own teeth, but builds a stove with a hammer and chisel. And what's the deal with the toilet? But the parts you'll really remember are the video effects involving the chicken and the fish. This is Hong Kong YouTuber GuiGe doing a parody of all those "rural life in China" videos. The sequence above is an excerpt from a much longer video called Mama Rong's Rural Life, featuring his mother. The weirdness of contrasting primitive and technical elements, the special effects, and the complete absurdity of it all will keep you watching. (via reddit)
When the Evil Smiles
When the bad guy smiles, that’s bad news for everyone else in the movie. This supercut of evil smiles from Semih Okmn will give you chills when you’ve seen the movie the clip is from, and feel nothing when it’s a villain you aren’t familiar with. Strange how that works. (via mental_floss)
Tweet of the Day
— Marti Lawrence (@Marti_L) February 25, 2024The bad news: this grocery store is playing a song that is too "new" for me to know.
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
The Victim
Now he has the best words
byu/HeIsNotGhandi inDonaldandHobbes
Yesterday, gwdMaine reminded me that Donald and Hobbs is still publishing. You can see the collection in the Donald and Hobbs subreddit.
Miss Cellania's Links
‘Scandals and secrets’: On board the world’s most exclusive private residential ship. Buying an apartment aboard will cost you millions. (via Fark)
How rubber bands are made. (via Everlasting Blort)
What kids lose without snow days.
Zillow Reveals 10 Cities Where Your Dream Home Is Still Affordable.
Tales of the Catfish God: Earthquakes in Japanese Woodblock Prints (1855). (via Nag on the Lake)
Where Did Humans Evolve? (Probably Not Where You’re Thinking)
Center of the Universe. A guy recounts his run-in with a serial killer, which reveals how the guy got so close to so many victims. (via Damn Interesting)
The Killer Whales of Eden. Once upon a time, men and orcas cooperated to hunt whales.
Guess the Actor
The video above is from the TV show The King of Kensington. You haven't heard of it? It was a Canadian sitcom that ran from 1975 to 1980. The clip is from an episode called "Scout's Honour" that aired on December 18, 1975. Can you recognize who played the "boy scout"?
Yes, this was Mike Myers when he was only 12 years old. He had already appeared in quite a few TV commercials, which he'd been doing since the age of two. This was his first role in a TV series. Myers later joined The Second City Canadian touring company right out of high school, and from there the sky was the limit. By the time he joined Saturday Night Live in 1989, he'd already been working in show biz for 23 years.
A Proper Chase Scene
A ridiculous chase scene should always feature Boots Randolph’s “Yakety Sax.” Immediately after this scene appeared in an episode of The Walking Dead in 2016, someone on The Talking Dead mentioned that the song would have made a better soundtrack. The very next morning, this was on YouTube. As expected. (via Uproxx)
Tweet of the Day
Read about this painting and the animation at Artogonaut.This animation of ‘Terrace of a Café at Night’ is made by @ andrey.zakirzyanov Thank you for using Vincent’s work to inspire your creativity 👏🤩
— Sadie 🖼️ 🕊 (@Sadie2901) February 18, 2024
🎶 by @ a_surotdinov pic.twitter.com/qkLomD8x2k
Monday, February 26, 2024
Pakistani Sweet Child o' Mine
Cats Are Jerks
Cat owners know it's true. Non-cat owners can watch this and tell themselves they made the right decision, but they are all such charming jerks that you really want one, don't you? (via Nag on the Lake)
Mr. Bean in Hitman 3
YouTuber eli_handle_b․wav is not only an excellent remixer, he is a big fan of Mr. Bean. He's dropped the character into Half-Life 2 (twice). Maybe that's because Mr. Bean accidentally causes chaos everywhere he goes just by being his own incompetent self. Here he invades the video game Hitman 3 as the hit man, even though he's not at all aware of his role. Mr. Bean wouldn't harm a hair on these guy's heads if he could help himself! Yet his run through the universe failed successfully. The pinned comment at YouTube gives us a breakdown of each mission, as ridiculous as they all are. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Sweet Story of Condensed Milk. (via Strange Company)
A Calvinesque and Hobbesian look at crime and punishment. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
Cezanne seascape mural discovered at artist's father's home. It was buried under layers of wallpaper and paint.
Plov: Uzbekistan's rice dish with 'sexual power.' (via Digg)
Scripps Research Team Develops Potential Universal Antivenom for Snakebites. (via Damn Interesting)
The Real Reasons You Should Always Book an Early Morning Flight.
I meet the proposition with unutterable scorn and contempt. 26 years after escaping slavery, Jermain Loguen responds to a surprising letter. (via Nag on the Lake)
Many Trucks Died So the Super-Stretched Ford Bronco Could Live.
Which Way Did He Go? Lateral Character Movement in Film
In another example of things you never thought about before, we find out about the importance of lateral movement in film. We feel more natural when the action moves from left to right on the screen instead of the converse, even when we don’t notice or can’t articulate the difference. Filmmakers know that, even before research that confirmed it. And it’s not just movement, either. There’s a reason that the devil sits on a character’s shoulder to our left, while the angel sits on the shoulder to our right. This explanation comes to us from Now You See It.
Tweet of the Day
Family pic.twitter.com/9Oa3bbPx2y
— Why you should have a cat (@ShouldHaveCat) February 25, 2024
Sunday, February 25, 2024
The Simon's Cat Awards 2024
The Academy Awards will be given out on March 10, and that's only a couple of weeks away. That's as good a reason as any for Simon Tofield to present his Simon's Cat Awards. These are most of the same categories as the Oscars, but the competitors are all characters from the world of Simon's Cat. What we get are vignettes from the many cartoons, around one to two minutes each, that illustrate the acting chops of the cats that create non-stop chaos and the surprising peripheral characters. However, I don't believe all of them are from the past year. My favorite is the visual effects award.
If Harry Potter Was Southern
One of the charms of the Harry Potter series, at least for Americans, was how very British everything was. We Americans find it amazing that children can pull of those lovely accents when we can't do it top save ourselves. But the whole series would have been quite different if that owl had delivered an acceptance letter from Hogwarts to some guy named Harry from, say, Alabama instead. Putting a southern boy into that wizarding world would have caused great confusion, and not only for him.
Matt Mitchell steps into that role to show us just how different those worlds are. His potion is "shine of the moon." He can't wait for the opening of Patronus season. He's baffled by a lot of things, but figures butterbeer must be good because beer is good, and butter is good. I can't agree more.
Those Wacky Senators
A group of Republican senators celebrate Trump's victory in the South Carolina primary over plates of pigs in a blanket. It's a bit awkward, like a scene out of 1984 or possibly Stalin's cabinet. The bullied victims justify their own humiliation for the sake of their survival. Anyone who's been in an abusive relationship will recognize it. This was the opening skit for last night's Saturday Night Live, although it was too true-to-life to be funny. It was a laugh riot compared to the monologue.
The Martian as a Musical Comedy
The science fiction film The Martian won a Golden Globe Award for Best Drama: Musical or Comedy. Even though it was neither a musical or a comedy. We still haven’t heard a convincing explanation for that one. But Mashable saw an opportunity. See, all you need to do is lift every clip of someone smiling, falling, or messing up something, to make it look like a comedy. Then add a comedy voiceover narration, some cheesy background music, and a comedy font. Oh yeah, and people singing. You can use the existing footage for that. There you have it, The Martian as a musical comedy! Or at least a trailer for one. The feel good hit of 2015. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Tweet of the Day
Chances that a cow steals your shoes are slim, but never zero pic.twitter.com/usKtag95C6
— All things interesting (@interesting_aIl) February 21, 2024
Saturday, February 24, 2024
A Knight's Tale
Heath Ledger starred in the 2001 action comedy A Knight's Tale. It is loosely based on "The Knight's Tale" from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Ledger is a 14th-century jouster who encounters Chaucer and some of the characters from his tales. The film is notable for its anachronisms and 1970s songs.
Which Is Worse: Underpopulation Or Overpopulation?
Fifty years ago, when Baby Boomers were starting families, demographers looked at the statistics and started to panic. World population was growing exponentially, meaning that eventually there would be more people than the world could sustain, and it would happen fast. But, like what happened in China, statistics and extrapolations don't tell the entire story. The exponential growth went awry, and population growth slowed. It hasn't gone down globally, but it isn't growing the way it used to. There are many reasons for that, as MinuteEarth explains.
However, fertility rate and density varies widely by location, and so do demographics. Some countries are already lopsided, with more older people than young people, while other places have plenty of children. While we shouldn't worry about a population explosion, there are challenges in places that go to the extreme in any of those parameters.
All the Amendments to the US Constitution Explained
The US Constitution provides a framework of laws for how the country is run. Its flexibility gives us the ability to add amendments when needed, although the process is anything but easy, requiring a vote of two-thirds of congress plus ratification by three-quarters of the states. So far, we've added 27 of them. The first ten are referred to as the Bill of Rights, and you probably know most of them. The ones you don't recall are the ones that only come up when there's a problem in the country that is covered by them (which is why we forget what the Third Amendment is- it never comes up). The rest read like a timeline of American history, marking the Civil War and its aftermath, women's suffrage, Prohibition, the Vietnam draft, etc. The Paint Explainer goes over every amendment with a short explanation for each in only eight minutes. There's a one-minute skippable ad at 4:05. (via Laughing Squid)
Remembering You
Remember the closing theme to the TV show All in the Family? Carroll O’Conner wrote lyrics for it! Here he is, performing the song on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. (via Eddie Deezen)
Tweet of the Day
(via Everlasting Blort)Outstanding. pic.twitter.com/XJoTxK45LO
— jamie (@gnuman1979) February 14, 2024
Friday, February 23, 2024
Rasputin: Dark Servant Of Destiny
Rasputin: Dark Servant Of Destiny was a 1996 made-for-TV movie starring Alan Rickman and Sir Ian McKellan. It's about, you know, Rasputin. It won three Golden Globe awards and two Emmys. Alan Rickman won both for his performance as Rasputin, plus a SAG award.
Coke Keeps You Thin!
This vintage ad stars Connie Clausen. The shocking revelation that Coke contains as many calories as half a grapefruit was due to the fact that Coke came in 6-ounce bottles at the time. A standard can of Coke is 12 ounces today. A medium Coke at McDonald's today contains 21 ounces. That's a lot of grapefruit!
The History of Amsterdam's Red Light District
Amsterdam's famous Red Light District doesn't call itself that. To the Dutch, it's De Wallen, or the Wall. The term "red light district" is mainly to tell you what's going on there, and that's sex work (called "pleasure work" here), which has only been legal in the Netherlands since 2000, and only between consenting adults. But the history of the area goes back hundreds of years. Everyone knew about it, but police turned a blind eye because it was considered a necessary evil and there was a lot of money to be made, you know, like in the rest of the world. Now that pleasure work is legal there, the De Wallen is globally famous, and even more money is made from tourists who just want to be there and see it. The pleasure workers are regulated, pay taxes, and belong to a union, but there are still underground businesses that operate under the radar illegally. And the neighborhood's history has plenty of seedy episodes. This video is not explicit, but it's probably not safe for your workplace.
Miss Cellania's Links
The Most Iconic Nose Injuries in the History of (Crime) Film. (via Everlasting Blort)
How Final Fantasy Changed RPGs Forever.
Should I Give My Cat A Bath? A Veterinarian Explains Why Cats Can Skip Them.
Hometown hero? Valdez may soon get a life-sized statue of a Star Trek icon. It's Will Riker, doing his Riker Maneuver. (via Gizmodo)
If Johnny Cash Did "Hotel California."
It's not your imagination; Last Week Tonight is going to be delayed for days on YouTube for the foreseeable future. (via Tedium)
Sleep tight: A curious history of beds through the centuries. (via Everlasting Blort)
Will the Latest Video Game Movie Borderlands Be Any Good?
The Riches of Mansa Musa
Who was the richest person in history? That’s difficult to determine without financial records, and even if they were available, there are different measures of wealth. How would you compare the size of a realm to number of slaves to gold in the coffers to global power, especially in different historical eras? However, there is evidence that the richest person in history may have been King Musa Keita I, who had all those things in abundance.
Jessica Smith presents a TED-Ed lesson on Mansa Musa, animated by Sandro Katamashvili. See pictures from the era of Mansa Musa at Business Insider.
Tweet of the Day
(via Nag on the Lake)Did you know snails could do this?pic.twitter.com/B0w1UtXRA7
— Tree of Knowledge (@ToK_ScienceTree) February 9, 2024
Thursday, February 22, 2024
What Happens After Nuclear War?
We all know that the only way to win a nuclear war is to avoid having one. That's the idea behind mutually assured destruction, or MAD. That acronym sounds more like you'd have to be a complete madman to use modern nuclear bombs (much larger than those used in World War II) against anyone. While it might make you feel better to be far away from potential targets, or even in a country that no one pays attention to, that doesn't mean that you'll be safe. Even if you avoid radioactive fallout, the changes in earth's atmosphere would lead to nuclear winter, drought, and famine for the entire planet, not to mention more wars over resources when that happens. Kurzgesagt lays out several scenarios and the possible death tolls, which are staggering. The good news is that the earth will recover in a decade or now, with or without us. This video is only 9:40; the rest is an ad.
Blarn and Her Security Blanket
Caitlin got a rescue cat and named her Blarn, but we don't get the story behind the name in this video. What we get is a profile of Blarn, who is devoted to her favorite blanket, and carries it all around the house. Blarn and her buddy Edna have a great life.
The Super Mario Theme in the Styles of 6 Classical Composers
The best known music composers of history all had their own styles, but unless you are an avid classical music fan, you might not know those styles all that well because they are all expressed in different songs. We just know the songs. Pianist Nahre Sol knows the particulars of the great composers of the past. She illustrates their differences by playing the same song, the Super Marios Bros. Theme, which we all know well, in the distinctive styles of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and George Gershwin. Sol adjusted the song somewhat to fit into each style, but if you listen closely, it's all the same basic tune. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
That time the Morgan Motor Company designed a modern coupe, the Aeromax. A college student showed the car company the value of automotive design.
The 38 All-Time Best Food Movies. What to add to your Netflix queue when you want to feel really hungry.
The Cryptic Case of Ambrose Small, Missing Millionaire.
27 Unethical or Just Plain Weird Science Experiments.
Blob Jumping Comes Inside to Terrify Us All.
Paul McCartney Reunited With Bass Guitar That Disappeared 50 Years Ago—With a Little Help From His Fans.
The Many Ballet Versions of Dracula.
Air Canada must honor refund policy
invented by airline’s chatbot. The airline maintains that AI is an
employee when it works well, and a contractor when it doesn't.
LOLcats Go to the Movies
What makes a movie better? When it's recreated by cats! Continue reading for lots more.
Where is Venice?
They got the Wheel of Fortune puzzle right and won a trip to Venice. It’s a good thing that David didn’t have to find his way there on his own. Keri is not surprised, although she can’t help but be embarrassed. She’ll be okay, as the couple went on to win $60,432. (via Viral Viral Videos)
Tweet of the Day
(via Everlasting Blort)🦆🥹
— Jessi 💫 (@its_jessi_grace) February 13, 2024
🎥 rowdy.pets pic.twitter.com/3y7Hmm8343
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
The Pixel Painter
Hal Lasko was a graphic designer and typographer by trade, and a painter for pleasure in his spare time. Art was his life. He eventually retired and, for his 85th birthday, his family got him a computer with Microsoft Paint. Now, we can make fun of the simplistic ways people used Microsoft Paint, but that's all in how you use it. For Lasko, it was a game-changer, especially as his eyesight faded. He could enlarge his digital canvas to see and manipulate his work at the pixel level. He was extremely patient and perfectionistic, taking months if necessary to get his art just the way he wanted it. In his later years, he became known as the Pixel Painter. Lasko painted on computer up until his death at age 98 in 2014, and got to see his art exhibited.
Lasko's story highlights the importance of computer technology to the disabled, and the importance of making this technology accessible to everyone. (via Kottke)
The Laser Umbrella
Do you recall that old joke about NASA spending millions to come up with a pen that wold write in space, while the Soviets used a pencil? That's what I thought of when Zach Wheeler suggested using lasers to protect us from rainfall because "an umbrella is boring." A laser would be so much cooler! It's the kind of stupid question nine-year-olds come up with, yet so many of us revert to our nine-year-old selves in our free time. But no question is stupid when you love to geek out on math and science, so Randall Munroe tackled this one in his "What If?" series.
The opening sequence addresses the stupidity of the very idea, but then Munroe explains exactly what would be involved in zapping every raindrop with a laser before it falls on your head. While we should stick to umbrellas for the time being, the explanation of this stupid theoretical idea is pretty cool indeed. (via Damn Interesting)
Deere John
Choreographer and filmmaker Mitchell Rose and the Body Vox Dance Company present a lovely pas de deux between a man and a 22-ton excavator. (via Neatorama)
Tweet of the Day
Fine. You're not invited https://t.co/oTPtZwM5s2
— Republic of Kiribati (@KiribatiGov) February 19, 2024
This is an account worth following. (via Neatorama)While ultimately entertaining, you need to understand that we're the ones that now have to explain to our boss memes like this, why everyone is talking about a fruit, what Minions are, and what the word phallic means. https://t.co/LfVP8VgUj6
— Republic of Kiribati (@KiribatiGov) February 20, 2024
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Packing Luggage with a Hydraulic Press
Since airlines are charging for every bit of checked luggage these days, people are flying with carry-on luggage only. Finnish maniac Lauri Vuohensilta has cracked the code for getting everything you need in a small suitcase you can stash in an overhead bin. With the compression power of a 150-ton hydraulic press, Lauri packs everything he needs for the trip- clothing, electronics, and snacks- with room left over. Might as well take a whole bunch of socks, too.
There's still room left in the suitcase, but it's getting heavy now. You have to wonder what airport security is going to think about this. Lauri is going to need an iron when he tries to unpack all this stuff. Who knows? Maybe he packed one, along with the flashlight and hair dryer. (via The Awesomer)
The Good Dogs of the Crufts Dog Show
We love to see champion dogs strut their stuff, but the most entertaining part of any dog show are those dogs who do not fit the standard of their sport or even of their breed. Watch a compilation of dogs from the annual Crufts Dog Show charm the crowd by going their own way, when they are supposed to be racing down a track or following an agility course. They are certainly not supposed to be peeing on the judges!
The 2024 Crufts Dog Show will be held March 7-10 in Birmingham, UK. We will see an avalanche of videos featuring the most beautiful, well-behaved champions, the fastest race dogs, and the fearlessly adept agility competitors. And if we are lucky, we'll see the dogs who don't do so well, and we'll enjoy them all the more. They are all good dogs. (via Fark)
Gilbert and Sullivan's Dracula
Imagine, if you will, songs in the light operetta style of Gilbert and Sullivan used to tell the story of Dracula. Nothing connotes a gory death better than an oom-pah beat. Yeah, it's hilarious, especially the song that accompanies the voyage of the Demeter, as the crew gradually disappears. The rhymes in each song are genius, yet utterly ridiculous for the tone of the original story. It lacks the full backing chorus of a real Gilbert and Sullivan opera, but we can assume that creator Mitch Benn didn't think a large crew was necessary for this video. The point is that a terrifying classic horror story gets turned into a comedy with cheesy poetry and an accordion. The video clips that accompany the soundtrack are from Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula, which couldn't be more incongruent to the music. (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
USDA Approves Sale Of Glowing Bioluminescent ‘Firefly’ Petunias Infused With Mushroom DNA.
An Ancient Human Story About The Seven Sisters May Have Survived From 100000 BCE. (via Strange Company)
Late Night with the Devil Goes Back to Halloween 1977.
The 10 Biggest Threats to the World in 2024. In a 33-minute video. (via Nag on the Lake)
For Hundreds of Years, People Thought California Was an Island. The post has 18 maps made between the 16th and 19th centuries, 17 of which show California as an island.
A Tiny Glass Apartment in Tokyo is Cute But Terrifying.
The Best and Worst Fictional Presidents in Film and TV
Leap Year Marriage Proposals that Turned Tradition on Its Head. (via Strange Company)
How To Lose Weight In 4 Easy Steps
Don’t be put off by the title of this video! If you don’t want to lose weight, or you don’t need tips on losing weight, you should be told that it’s way more than that. It’s a story. Contains NSFW language.
The story is from Aaron Bleyaert, based on a blog post he wrote. He’s one of Conan O’Brien’s staff writers, which is why you might spot Conan in a small role. The lead character Chris is played by Beck Bennett from Saturday Night Live all the way through, despite his weight loss over the course of the story. (via reddit)
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