Friday, February 07, 2025
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Teaser Trailer
No comic book franchise has ever had so many failed attempts at jumping to the silver screen than The Fantastic Four. Will The Fantastic Four: First Steps break that curse? With a cast led by Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic, gorgeous visuals, a '60s vibe, and a bit of humor, it might just be a hit. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is, of course, an origin story, and is the 37th movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It will also be the first of the MCU's "phase six," in case anyone is keeping up with that. The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens on July 25th, 2025. (via Nag on the Lake)
House of Dan
Dan's house was blanketed with several feet of snow. So was his "yard," if that's what you can call it living in the woods. Dan took advantage of the situation and turned it into a snowboarder's dream run. Sweet! The only way extreme sports videographer Scott Barber could keep up with him was to snowboard along with him to catch the action in this video. (via Digg)
Squirrel
(Thanks, WTM!)Your chance of being attacked by a squirrel is low, but never zero. pic.twitter.com/S8USqF7k6l
— Planet Of Memes (@PlanetOfMemes) February 3, 2025
Thursday, February 06, 2025
Jim Carrey in Star Wars
There have been around a dozen Star Wars movies and a few TV series, too. Jim Carrey has appeared in 45 feature films over the past 40 years. How hard would it be to find places where Carrey's nonsense would fit in the Star Wars universe perfectly? If you've ever tried this kind of work, you know that the idea is simple, but the execution is a lot of work. It appears that YouTuber Your_Kryptonite7 knows what he's doing here and has a deft hand at editing. I, for one, would go see every Star Wars movie in the theater once again if they were remade to be comedies. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
When It's Just The Dudes At Home
Fathers and babies left unsupervised will find something weird and fun to do. Adam Ballard and his infant son Miles show off some killer dance moves to the Michael Jackson song "Beat It." Miles does the Moonwalk made famous in "Billie Jean" and the impossible lean from "Smooth Criminal." He also does air guitar to Eddie Van Halen's solo. There's some nice shuffling and other fancy footwork going on here, too. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Wednesday, February 05, 2025
LEGO Adventure in the City
This LEGO stop-motion story is exactly the kind of thing you could make yourself, if you had enough LEGO bricks, with a story your child might have written, if you have one. It was made for LEGO China, and I bet it was an effective ad. (via Nag on the Lake)
An Honest Trailer for Gladiator II
The movie Gladiator II came 24 years after the original, and may as well have been called Gladiator: The Next Generation. It lacked both the originality of the first movie and Russell Crowe. But audiences loved it, which proves that after 24 years, you can release the same movie again because no one cares about the first one. They introduced novelty by making some characters and scenarios extra bizarre, whether that's historically accurate or not, because who cares. Besides all that, the highlight of Gladiator II was the villain, played by Denzel Washington, who stole the show for himself. And it has plenty of the violence that audiences crave. Screen Junkies pulls apart Gladiator II so you can decide after all this time whether it's something you might want to watch.
Calendar of February Anxieties
Everybody and the Sunshine Band
KC and the Sunshine Band was big in the disco era because their music, while not exactly profound, was infinitely danceable. Their 1975 song "That's the Way (I Like It)" topped the Billboard chart twice and became an international hit. It would be easy to mash it up with another hit song, but which one?
DJ Cummerbund went on tour with KC and the Sunshine Band a couple of years ago (yes, they are still working) and had plenty of time to contemplate this mashup. He didn't want to decide between the many songs that could be set to that classic disco beat, so he used all of them. That's why this mashup is credited to Everybody and the Sunshine Band. The singing comes from such diverse musicians as Aerosmith, Dolly Parton, Nine Inch Nails, Hall and Oates, System of a Down, Bon Jovi, Coolio, and a few other artists who might really surprise you. (via Laughing Squid)
Miss Cellania's Links
Trump Golf Track. In case you want to keep up. (via Everlasting Blort)
When you see a face where there is no face, you'd prefer it to look a little more cheerful, wouldn't you?
The Cure-Everything Suppository for Women.
How to fight back against what the federal government is doing, and they are doing a lot. (via Fark)
Did You Know Sweden Has Its Own Version Of ‘Taco Tuesday’?
Rad or Bad? 55 Of The Wildest 80s Fashion Moments That Define an Era.
Mia Wins Hearts at the Agility Course
Mia knows the agility course, and she's got plenty of speed and agility. But Mia is a beagle, and is therefore both happy and distractible. She delighted the audience at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show a few years ago.
Don't be a beagle, don't be a beagle!That's a good dog. (via Metafilter)
Me and My Camel
(via Everlasting Blort)Mongolian Girl Has a Laugh with her Camel. The little girl’s name is Butedmaa and she was just 5 when this picture was taken in 2003 by photographer Han Chengli, who titled it “Inner Mongolian Child”. #photooftheday
— Natacha Horn (@natachahorn.bsky.social) January 12, 2025 at 5:48 AM
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Tuesday, February 04, 2025
Xtremesylvania
Taylor and J.T. are middle school students, the age when boys are flooded with testosterone yet still easily impressed by what they see on TV and the internet. When the screen says "Don't try this at home," that registers as a challenge instead of plain English words. Their attempts to recreate a stunt they saw in a video land them in Xtremesylvania, a place that belongs only to those who take insane risks. But is Xtremesylvania a version of the afterlife, or a dream, or is it a hallucination spurred by a concussion? Is it real or imaginary, or maybe just a plot device?
Charlie Hankin brings us the short film Xtremesylvania to explain why they have to say "don't try this at home." (via the Awesomer)
Leap Into the Canary Islands’ Epic Folk Sport
In the Canary Islands. the Shepherd's Leap is both a method of transportation and a competitive sport. (via Everlasting Blort)
A Bad Lip Reading of the Presidential Inauguration
This redub by the folks at Bad Lip Reading is shorter and easier to take than the original, but as far as bizarreness goes, it's about on par with the real thing. (via Boing Boing)
How Cats Show Their Love
Simon Tofield of Simon's Cat fame illustrates the many ways cats show affection to humans. And the humorously unintended consequences of that affection. Suddenly, I realize that none of my four cats feel any affection at all toward me. Ungrateful beasts. (via Laughing Squid)
Monday, February 03, 2025
Moose Rescued from Frozen Lake
If you saw a large and sometimes dangerous animal fall through the ice into a freezing lake, would you know what to do? Lucky for this moose, a group of loggers who saw her fall into the lake knew exactly what to do. They couldn't lift her, because that would require a crane. Even a relatively small moose will weigh several hundred pounds. Their marvelous moose maneuver saved the day, and the moose cow walked away with the advice to make a fire a get warmed up. There's no report of whether that happened, but the campfire story she would have brought to such an event would surely impress the other moose.
Miss Cellania's Links
Grading the groundhogs. In honor of Groundhog Day and in the spirit of fun, we pitted groundhogs from all over the United States against each other — and data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information — to see who’s the most accurate. (via Metafilter)
Stricter abortion laws may cause increased infant deaths − 2 maternal and child health researchers explain the data.
Just outside a cemetery in Hachioji, Japan, there's a phone booth. But it's no ordinary phone booth; some say that… ODD things can happen if you attempt to use it at night. (via Strange Company)
Australian Iron Man: Ned Kelly’s Final Standoff.
Trump's executive order ending radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling. This is so obtuse that teachers will be afraid to teach anything. (via Fark)
Carbon Dioxide Geysers Erupt in Spring on Mars. (via Real Clear Science)
21 Short-Lived But Perfect TV Shows. There are video clips.
Television series canceled after one episode. Metafilter has links to some trailers and clips, plus suggestions for others to include.
Squirrel Attacks Burglar
Adam Pearl of Meridian, Idaho, came home to find evidence that his home had been burglarized- footprints in the snow, missing items, etc. His pet squirrel Joey was okay, though. As events unfolded, it turns out that Joey had acted as a guard dog, and repeatedly bit the suspect! He should get a "Beware of Squirrel" sign to warn off any future intruders. Joey is now regarded as a hero. (via Uproxx)
Comfort
(Thanks, WTM!)Awwww the cat comforts its best friend. pic.twitter.com/Qx0FK9BGpN
— The Figen (@TheFigen_) January 22, 2025
Sunday, February 02, 2025
An 1897 Snowball Fight
It may be hard to believe, but these people put on this snowball fight 128 years ago while being filmed in Lyon, France. The action was captured by the Lumière brothers, pioneers in the new art of motion pictures. It looks as if Hollywood made a period movie and the latest technology captured it as if we were right there with them. But don't be fooled. While the snowball fight was in 1897, the one-minute film titled Bataille de neige shot by the Lumière brothers didn't look like this at all. It was in black-and-white, with high contrast, with the quick stuttering movements typical of the time. Of course, it didn't have music, either. You can see the original here, although there has surely been some deterioration from what audiences in France saw in 1897.
The footage from the Lumière brothers was reprocessed by "a Russian amateur film restorer" in 2020 using artificial intelligence to make it seem more modern. The motion was smoothed out, gaps were filled in, and color was added. Yet it's still people from 1897 throwing those snowballs. These were actors putting on a show for the movies. We can imagine that people in the Victorian era might have had fun like this, but they would have been suspicious of a motion picture camera. (via Mental Floss)
A Special Occasion
Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband, "I bet you don't know what day this is."
"Of course I do," he indignantly answered, going out the door to the office. At 10 AM, the doorbell rang and when the woman opened the door, she was handed a box containing a dozen long stemmed red roses. At 1 PM, a foil wrapped, two pound box of her favorite chocolates arrived. Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress. The woman couldn't wait for her husband to come home.
"First the flowers, then the chocolates and then the dress!" she exclaimed. "I've never had a more wonderful Groundhog Day in my life!"
How Do Fish Get Into Isolated Mountain Lakes?
Mammals walk, birds fly, and fish swim. But fish are restricted to living where there's water to live in. How did fish ever get to lake high up on mountainsides? Lake Titicaca is 12,507 feet above sea level, and it has fish. The water comes from glacial runoff and rain, but where did the fish come from? Even small mountain lakes have fish, and there have even been cases of fish living in lakes that dry up every year.
MinuteEarth gives us three possible scenarios in which fish from far away can end up living in isolated lakes, and the most likely scenario for a random mountain lake is also the most bizarre. I guess life finds a way. This video is only 2:40; the rest is an ad.
Dr. Strangelove Remix
Stanley Kubrick's Cold war satire Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was a masterpiece of filmmaking that stands the test of time. If you don't have the time to re-watch the whole thing, enjoy the best lines of the movie (often rhyming, no less) in this musical remix by Eclectic Method with Martin Ware.
Martyn Ware, founder of Human League, Heaven 17, legendary producer of Tina Turner and Erasure, Multimedia artist and professor has teamed up with Eclectic Method to remix Dr. Strangelove. With relations between East and West at such an ambiguous point and the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight then it's been since the Cuban Missile Crisis what better time to revisit the Stanley Kubrick Classic. "Gentlemen, You can't fight in here this is war room!"
(via Laughing Squid)
Saturday, February 01, 2025
The Scientific Importance of Groundhogs
Tomorrow we have the only holiday dedicated to a rodent. Groundhog Day is actually about the weather, which we are more interested in than rodents this time of year, but in the United States, we have designated the groundhog as the animal most likely to forecast the weather for the rest of the winter.
The species Marmota monax goes by many names, but they are mostly called groundhogs these days, especially since that 1993 movie made the creature world famous. Groundhogs have been important in science, but not so much in meteorology. Groundhogs aren't all that great at weather forecasting. However, they have made a name in archaeology, since they are experts at digging, and in medical research, where they shine as research subjects. Savannah Geary of SciShow explains how valuable groundhogs really are. There's a 40-second ad at 3:33. The video actually ends at 8:32, but you'll be glad you continued watching after that. It will eventually make sense, except for that part where she takes a swig of what appears to be pickle juice.
Fireproof Pineapple Shoes
Did you know that pineapple skins are fireproof? I didn't, either, until I saw this video. Connor Creates had to test this assertion, along with other fruits, to see if it was true. Pineapple held up pretty well to fire, so his next idea was to make a pair of shows out of pineapple skins and test them by walking over a bed of burning embers. Is this a really stupid idea? Yes it is, for several reasons. How do you make shoes out of pineapple skin? And if you could do it, just imagine your feet pressed against the delicious but acidic pineapple fruit. Not only is pineapple so acidic that your dentist will warn you about it, just imagine how slippery those shoes would be. But Connor pressed on, because a stupid idea is what the internet is for. (via Nag on the Lake)
Custom LEGO Roller Coaster Dinosaur Amusement Park
James Burrows built a working LEGO roller coaster and set it in an amusement park filled with dinosaurs. Right there you have a hit: LEGO, roller coaster, and dinosaurs. This construction, seen at BrickFair Alabama 2017, uses around 125,000 LEGO pieces. But wait! There's more! This amusement park has secrets and extra features you would only find if you look closely, or if you listen to the interview. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Suddenly, Mobility!
(Thanks, WTM!)This dog's human made him a wheelchair, and his smiles say it all pic.twitter.com/bM3ZuGEqfX
— B&S (@_B___S) December 6, 2024
Friday, January 31, 2025
The Ancient Origins of Words for Body Parts
The words we use for body parts may be among the oldest words of all, because our bodies are very close to us, common among us, and important to us. Linguist Dr. Erica Brozovsky tells us about some of those early words for body parts and how they know where they came from. The second part of that sentence is the more interesting part.
See, the spread and evolution of spoken language is like a historic timeline of its own that runs in parallel to the history of the written word or the artifacts of human civilization. If we can make an accurate map and timeline of how language was adapted to different cultures (and we've made a lot of progress), we can fill in many of the blanks in the historical record. "For example, since several languages as disparate as Sanskrit, Greek, and Dutch have similar words for wheel, it stands to reason that the Proto Indo European people had wheeled vehicles." That's mind-blowing, and raises my already-high regard for the study of linguistics even higher. There's way more to the study of languages than just the ancient roots of words.
The Joy of Mayonnaise
The most memorable scene in the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally took place in Katz's Delicatessen in Manhattan. In this ad, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunite more than 35 years later to have lunch, which accidentally ends up recreating that scene when Ryan adds an obscene amount of Hellman's mayonnaise to her sandwich. The fact that a Jewish deli would not have mayonnaise available on the tables is an extra layer of absurdity. Sydney Sweeney appears to deliver the punch line this time.
As you might have guessed, this is a Super Bowl ad. The game is still ten days away, but in recent years advertisers feel they have invested too much money into their Super Bowl ads to keep them under wraps until kickoff. Get ready for a tsunami of high-priced ads coming in the next few days. (via Metafilter)
Miss Cellania's Links
Gavin Smythe, of Chagrin Falls, USA, won't believe his lying eyes. The latest from Tom the Dancing Bug.
This Is the One SNL Sketch With 100 Million YouTube Views. It's the clickbait title.
Officials Are Offering $1 Million to Anyone Who Can Decode This Ancient Script. It won't be easy.
To Pay for Trump Tax Cuts, House GOP Floats Plan to Slash Benefits for the Poor and Working Class. You knew they were gonna. (via Fark)
The secret to eliminating artificial intelligence slop from Google search results is easy but NSFW. (via Metafilter)
Another tribute to xoxoxoBruce.
An Honest Trailer for Space Jam
Space Jam is a movie about neither space nor jam that combined Warner Brothers cartoon characters with the NBA stars of the '90s, so it was destined to become a classic among a certain age group. That cohort holds the 1996 film on a sacred pedestal. But here comes Screen Junkies to take it down a notch with an Honest Trailer. There's plenty to mock here, and this Honest Trailer makes it clear that to love Space Jam, you pretty much have to be a kid in the '90s. If you were, it was perfect. (via Uproxx)
Coincidence?
Yet some are blaming the crash on Pete Buttigieg or DEI. (via Fark)➡️ January 20: FAA director fired ➡️ January 21: Air Traffic Controller hiring frozen ➡️ January 22: Aviation Safety Advisory Committee disbanded ➡️ January 28: Buyout/retirement demand sent to existing employees ➡️ January 29: First American mid-air collision in 16 years Making America Great Again!
— T. Greg Doucette (@gregdoucette.bsky.social) January 30, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Thursday, January 30, 2025
The Jacksons at the 30th Anniversary Concert
The Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration was a two-concert event at Madison Square Garden in 2001. In this clip, The Jacksons perform "Can You Feel It," "ABC," and "The Love You Save." I love Jermaine's coat! If you want to see more of the concert, a substantial part is on YouTube.
Mastering the Bagpipes
How does one become a bagpiper? Apparently it's not as easy as just being Scottish, because Stuart Smillie of Great Big Story is of Scottish descent, although he lives in London now. His boss sent him to Edinburgh to learn how to play the bagpipes, which shouldn't take long, seeing as he's already Scottish, but it turns out that didn't help a bit. Neither did having his own kilt. Smillie contacted Andrew Coulter at Killberry Bagpipes, Edinburgh's last custom bagpipe maker. Did Smillie learn to play the bagpipes that day? That might depend on your definition of "playing," but he did learn a lot about bagpipes, pipers, and the kilts they wear. (via Laughing Squid)
Barnaby Dixon's Raptor Puppet
Barnaby Dixon is the young puppet designer who showed us his delightful Aztec warrior finger puppet last year. Now he's got a new one that evokes the real feel of a prehistoric raptor! The puppet is a rather complicated construction, but as before, his skills in operating it make it something special. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Giggles
(Thanks, WTM!)If you're having a bad day, watch this video, please ❤️❤️😂 pic.twitter.com/amuktGKB42
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) January 25, 2025
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Canadian Road Rage
Rob and Brandon were driving to work when another car cut them off. In the US, this might escalate into murder, but this is Canada, where people are famous for handling their anger in a different way. Rob is upset that the other driver is clearly laboring under a handicap, so he exits the truck and fixes the problem himself. There, let that be a lesson to you! (via Laughing Squid)
The Real Logic Behind ZIP Codes
Most countries use postal codes, but they use a variety of systems to assign those codes and make them work. Americans have a vague notion that our ZIP codes are geographic, but that's only part of the story. The Postal Service has their own geography that no one outside the industry understands. It works, but it's a system that was launched in 1963 designed for mail that was hand-sorted. Halfway through this video, we switch from the US system to the Irish postal system, which is designed for machine-sorting and will blow your mind. It's totally ingenious and has a lot of benefits, up until the moment the power goes out.
Toxic Comments
Every year, the company Meat & Livestock Australia puts their heart and soul into an ad campaign to get people eating local lamb meat. The 2025 ad is a live-action recreation of the internet, complete with comment sections represented by people in bleachers enjoying the show. Everyone's got something to say, but no one has anything to say that you haven't already heard. First, people disagree about whether the thing they've just seen is any good. Then they disagree about whether it's even real. Then they fight with each other. It's obvious that if real life were like the internet, we'd have to invent some alternate world to get away from it. The point is that no one agrees on anything, except the wonderful allure of grilled Australian lamb.
Miss Cellania's Links
When Russian Radar Mistook a Norwegian Scientific Rocket for a U.S. Missile, the World Narrowly Avoided Nuclear War.
CNN’s Jim Acosta Rips Trump In Defiant On-Air Announcement He’s Leaving: ‘No Time To Bow Down To A Tyrant.’
The 8 Dirtiest Jokes on Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
Almost one in 10 people use the same four-digit PIN. Find out if you’re one of them. (via Damn Interesting)
Man with perfect vision surprised when doctors discover a chopstick lodged behind his eye.
Life in Another Light: Infrared Photography Contest 2024 Winners. (via Everlasting Blort)
The Beautiful, Weird World of Japan’s Answer to David Lynch.
Getting Power During a Power Outage
The electricity in your home goes out. What to do? Well, if you knew what you were doing, you could use a flashlight to find the available batteries in your home to generate juice to run your most valuable gadgets. Mehdi Sadaghdar of ElectroBOOM gives us a demonstration of why we really don't want to do what he's doing. Ever. But we appreciate the pain he goes through to warn us. (via Laughing Squid)
How'd He Do That?
(Thanks, WTM!)The cat's gaze. 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/wt3K8MLNH3
— The Figen (@TheFigen_) January 25, 2025
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Hot Wheels POV Ride
The bigger the boy, the bigger the toy -or at least more of them. YouTuber Brutal Menace has plenty of Hot Wheels tracks, and he makes good use of them. He's turned his entire house into a track, complete with speed boosters! What's even better, he rigged a car with a camera so we can get a thrill from the point of view of the tiny driver. The effect is like watching a roller coaster POV video, but it also makes you want to try something like this yourself, which a roller coaster video doesn't do, for me at least. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
A Strangely Readable Jumble
The Dark Side Of Star-Lord You Never Hear About
For many of us, the Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy was the first time we encountered Star-Lord, the leader of the Guardians and an all-around relatable hero with a sense of humor. But the character has a history in Marvel Comics that you might be surprised to know. Character creator Steve Englehart had a long-term vision for Star-Lord that went by the wayside when he left the company. Then things got weird as other writers took over, and Star-Lord moved to TV, video games, and movies. Your vision of Star-Lord might be changed by this video from Looper, but you can can look at him any way you want to. After all, it's fiction! (via TVOM)
Monday, January 27, 2025
Farewell to a Dedicated Reader
I just found out from Minnesotastan that xoxoxoBruce has died. Very sad news. Bruce was a regular contributor to the comments section here, sent me links, and was a regular correspondent. I just received his Christmas card the other day, postmarked December 11th but for some reason it took more than a month to get here. Bruce was always ready with a joke, ready to be friends, and quite generous. Bruce helped keep me afloat a few years ago when I got laid off from Mental Floss and times were tough. I couldn't be more grateful.
You'll find tributes to Bruce at TYWKIWDBI and Nag on the Lake. You can read more about him at the Chevy SSR Forum. Godspeed, you wonderful old fart.
Grandma Learning Use Voice-to-Text
The lesson seems to go swimmingly until grandma starts to read -aloud- what is on the screen. (via Boing Boing)
The Long Courtship of a Feral Cat
You know those movies where a relationship is on a slow simmer for years and years? The one that comes to mind is When Harry Met Sally. That's sort of the way that Marmy came into Ariel Harris' life. Marmy is short for Orange Marmalade, and it's hard to believe that this fluffy cat was feral. Maybe he would be better described as a long term stray, since he wanted to be her cat from the very start. Marmy was shy but persistent, waiting six years for just the right moment to make that step inside and become a house cat. That moment finally came when Marmy was suffering and wasn't able to avoid contact with Ariel and her husband. But he adjusted well to domestic life, and is devoted to his humans. You can follow Marmy's adventures at Instagram.