There are no hard and fast rules regarding when it's appropriate to dispose of your Christmas tree and when it's too late, so our trees often end up hanging around our homes well into January.
Some people figure out a mischievous way to dispose of their tree, others toss it to the curb and hope somebody hauls it away.
But nobody tosses their Christmas tree into the ocean, or rather, nobody should toss their tree into the ocean, because it's a dumb idea.
Disney's Adventureland has been overshadowed by flashier theme park areas like Toon Town or Tomorrowland, but back in the early days of Disneyland it was considered the most exotic and exciting part of the park.
Adventureland has it all- a boat cruise that takes visitors down the wildest rivers in the world, a Hawaiian-themed show where the birds all sing and the flowers croon, and a thrilling yet bumpy ride starring Indiana Jones.
But Adventureland was really different on paper- the Jungle Cruise didn't have any witty banter, there was supposed to be an Indiana Jones mine cart roller coaster in addition to the Jeep Ride, and the Enchanted Tiki Room was originally supposed to be a restaurant.
The singing plants in the Tiki Room may be fake, but the plants seen on the Jungle Cruise are the real deal- and really beautiful:
Morgan “Bill” Evans, Disneyland’s establishing horticulturist, turned the orange groves of Anaheim into a lush, low-key arboretum that includes a $100,000 palm tree, species of ficus he himself brought into California and even Queen palms native to Brazil that were rescued from the Santa Ana Freeway. The trees have reached up to 70 feet tall, creating a canopy—and plant life that thrives in the shade below—that’s truly reminiscent of its territories.
Architecture doesn't really factor into fairy tales much, and even though stories like Hansel & Gretel, the Three Little Pigs and Baba Yaga feature a building as a main part of the tale that's about as architectural as these stories get.
But that didn't stop Barcelona-based architect Federico Babina from imagining what fairy tales would look like as houses, and his imaginative interpretations are bringing a fresh look to the make believe neighborhood.
Federico has turned all kinds of different stuff into real estate properties, from bands to movies to famous artists, but his dreamy series Architale really makes me want to sign the lease!
Outside of the war, the entire plot of Star Wars: The Force Awakens led to Luke Skywalker being reunited with his personal lightsaber that was lost when Darth Vader cut his hand off in The Empire Strikes Back (yeah, his hand was lost, too, but we don't want to see that after all this time). I hope that doesn't count as a spoiler. But that reunion happened in real life, too, as Mark Hamill is shown what happened to the lightsaber he used while filming Return of the Jedi.
J.K. Rowling paid far more attention to minor details while writing the Harry Potter series than most children's authors do while creating their world, because they assume kids won't even notice these missing details.
From the type of clothing worn by each character to the significance of each color and animal used to represent the four main houses at Hogwarts to the shape of and material used to make each wand, there is no small detail left unaccounted for in the Harry Potter series.
The rich details included in the books gave the propmakers who worked on the Harry Potter films a clear idea of what each character's signature wand should look like, and their creations exceeded expectations.
Lucius's Wand might be the most spectacular looking of the bunch, with its shiny silver snake pommel, but the fun details included in Slughorn's Wand and the simplistic elegance of Luna's Wand give it a run for its money.
But the most famous of all is Dumbledore's Wand (aka the Elder Wand), which was crafted out of elder wood with a Thestral tail-hair core.
It has the fantastic look fantasy fans expect from a magic wand, with the pedigree and firepower to prove it wasn't made to be all style and no substance.
Those fudging cock-a-roaches! How could they possibly stop a child's dream of playing Scarface? Seriously, this absurdly adorable Scarface reanactment was actually performed as a school play. It's hard to believe until you see the parents applauding at the end. But as to why this was performed at school or who thought this was a good idea, these are the things that will continue to haunt you long after watching this video.
Update: Thank you Uncleblob for pointing out that this wasn't actually a real school play but was actually created by professional director Marc Klasfeld. Even so, the people in the audience are actually the parents of the children on stage, so that sense of paternal pride is certainly real.
Back in 1977, no one knew if George Lucas' space opera Star Wars would be a hit, or be remembered years later. Especially Lucas. Then he had to come up with a continuing story, which ended up being full of plot holes. Rabid Star Wars fans know this, and cannot stop talking about them. After seven movies in the saga, we get Rogue One, which was shoehorned into the time slot just before the first film (now called A New Hope) and patches up a big plot hole. There are plenty more where that one came from.
3. Leia’s Mother
Leia stated in Episode VI that her mother was “beautiful,” “kind,” and “sad,” which suggests personal knowledge. From Episode III, we know that this is impossible because Padme died not long after childbirth of a broken heart, which sounds over-dramatic but is indeed a real thing that can happen.
4. Skywalker Family Connection
There seems to be some sort of special connection between the Skywalkers, as shown by how the twins were able to sense one another as well as how Darth Vader was able to communicate with Luke via telepathy. However, this makes it strange that Darth Vader never noticed that he was torturing his own daughter in Episode IV, which must’ve made for a crushing surprise when he found out.
You'd think that if Lucas really wanted to tinker with his finished films, he would have changed the plot holes instead of adding CGI to the "special editions." Read the rest of this list of Star Wars plot holes at Unreality. On the other hand, if Disney decided to make a movie to fill each plot hole, they might end up being worth it.
Parents should always encourage kids to use their imaginations, and they can help foster a child's imagination by providing them with props and costumes so the kid can really get into the role.
But as this comic from Jim Benton shows parents should also protect their vital bits when a kid's imagination is in full swing, because poster tube lightsabers really sting!
The same group of cosplayers who did the Slave Leia Disney Princess Squad are back with a new Star Wars-Disney Princess cosplay group, featuring even more friends! The Jedi Princess Squad includes most of the Princesses, plus Chewbacca as The Beast and Peter Pan thrown in for good measure. Each of the participants has their own Instagram account with more. See each of the coplayer's portraits and links to their other photos at Geeks Are Sexy.
The Seinfeld theme song is like no other TV theme song, with a funky synth bass sound that set it apart from the rest of the poppy-singy 90s theme songs.
It also succeeds in getting stuck in your head for days, if not weeks, at a time, which either makes you want to watch more or never watch the show again, depending on how you feel about the theme.
But love it or hate it the Seinfeld theme song is an iconic part of TV history and a major highlight in composer Jonathan Wolff's career- which was completely improvised.
This video by Great Big Story discusses the origin of the Seinfeld theme song and the man behind Seinfeld's iconic sound, Jonathan Wolff. He's even got the jacket to prove it!
Romantic comedies are (arguably) the most formulaic of all movies, and studios use that rom-com formula to make a bunch of money with very little effort.
Many fans enjoy the predictable nature of rom-coms, and will actually get upset if a film strays too far from the norm, so it's no wonder filmmakers don't even try to do anything different with the genre.
In fact, romantic comedies are kept predictable right down to their poster layouts, of which there are exactly around five types.
There's the Back to Back, the Two Guys One Girl, the Pick-Me-Up, the Men Are Inept and the Well, Here's Everyone!!, five poster types used to advertise the less than five types of romantic comedy plots.
Once upon a time, particularly during the comics code days, comic book superheroes were written to be role models for kids, upholding "truth, justice, and the American way." Over time, that got pretty boring. As comic book writers made their characters more realistic, they struggled with the moral ambiguities of fighting super villains and dealing with modern life. And sometimes those superheroes could be plain assholes.
DC superheroes in particular have been saddled with the many ethical qualities that once made them so popular, but in recent decades have been shown to be much less wholesome than they were originally portrayed. Even the poster boy for DC, Superman, has been taken through a host of changes that have marked him as something less than the ideal superhero he was touted as in the beginning. As far as lying and cheating however, Superman is still a boy scout when compared to the five heroes listed below.
Companies like Amazon, Apple and Google would love to put one of their AI assistant units in every home, preferably with the owner's credit card info on file and one word payment enabled.
But they still have a lot of bugs to work out before those little voices in the speaker are of any actual use to people as a whole, and until then AI assistants will be seen largely as a source of entertainment.
Recently two Google Home units named Vladamir and Estragon have been arguing for all the world to see via their Twitch stream @seebotschat, and the argument has gone on for days.
If you're wondering what an argument between two AI assistants sounds like it's pretty much as vapid, ridiculous and nonsensical as you'd imagine
One of the many things I liked about Rogue One was that it occasionally drew attention to things that weren't explained -just like real life. Overexplaining every McGuffin or expanded universe detail tends to drag one's suspension of disbelief down, like the endless political discussions in the prequels. Some of these unexplained shots were easter eggs for well-read Star Wars fans. For the rest of us casual but still excited fans, we can catch up with a rundown from Adrián Maldonado, who did the research so we could just enjoy the film, maybe even more next time.
While The Force Awakens had plenty of ruins, and featured one iconic artefact from the original trilogy, there was no real sense that history extended beyond the events of Episodes IV-VI. Yet with Rogue One, turn any stone and you’ll see the remnants of a past so deep that even its creators have only glimpsed it. The film also draws from the prehistory of George Lucas’ own writing, going back to his early journals from 1973. As if you needed another excuse to re-watch Rogue One, here is a handy guide to the archaeological items and motifs you may have missed. And do I really need to warn about spoilers? I’m surprised I haven’t spoiled anything already. Valar morghulis.
Drawing pictures of a skeleton hanging out with a sad girl may not seem like a great way to battle depression, but it's better to work out your issues through your art rather than letting them fester.
