The year 2020 is weird for many reasons, but if you are a movie buff, you might think you're stuck in a time warp. The most-seen movie in theaters over the weekend was Jurassic Park, released in 1993. The second-biggest movie was Jaws, 45 years after it debuted. Not that they made millions; remember, only drive-in theaters are open. But with a dearth of new releases, classic blockbusters are playing at drive-ins around the country.

Over the June 19-21 weekend — as Hollywood studios offered classic catalogue titles to cinemas struggling to emerge from the coronavirus crisis — Spielberg's 1993 film Jurassic Park topped the chart with an estimated $517,642 from 230 locations in its 1,411th weekend, according to those with access to flash Comscore flash grosses.

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Jaws wasn't far behind Jurassic Park. The pic earned an estimated $516,366 from 187 locations in its 2,349th weekend (it first hit theaters in June 1975). Elsewhere, the filmmaker's 1982 blockbuster E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial pulled in $126,189 from 100 locations in its 1,985th weekend to place No. 7, while Raiders of the Lost Ark came in No. 18 with $69,047 from 109 sites in its 2,037th weekend.

It was a good weekend for Spielberg. But walk-in theaters will begin to open in July, and a few brand-new movies will be available next month. Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.  -via Uproxx

Experts call for regulation after latest botched art restoration in Spain https://t.co/kZyaIdo1sD

— The Guardian (@guardian) June 22, 2020

In 2012, the painting Ecce Homo went viral when Cecilia Giménez restored it to its not-quite-original glory. In 2020, another Spanish painting has undergone the same indignity -twice. In the 17th century, Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted a couple of dozen versions of his masterpiece The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables. One of them belongs to a private collector in València, who paid a furniture restorer €1,200 euros to clean the painting. We can only guess as to what exactly happened, but the owner was not happy with the face of the "restoration." So the worker tried again, and ended up with an image even more different from the original.

Fernando Carrera, a professor at the Galician School for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, said such cases highlighted the need for work to be carried out only by properly trained restorers.

“I don’t think this guy – or these people – should be referred to as restorers,” Carrera told the Guardian. “Let’s be honest: they’re bodgers who botch things up. They destroy things.”

Read more on this story at The Guardian. The original report in Spanish is here. -via Boing Boing

Some windows don’t have any appeal to them. The same cannot be said to these rounded-corner windows that can be found across the streets of Japan. I don’t know why but these windows really do evoke a feeling of nostalgia and peace, and are also kind of hypnotic. Maybe it’s their color, or maybe their shape. I don’t know.

The windows themselves have so much character but the interplay between window and facade is also enjoyable. Some are so unique that they almost seem to tell a story.

Check out the photos of these Japanese windows over at Spoon & Tamago.

(Image Credit: hikarudon12/ Spoon & Tamago)

Setting up a good sitting place and throwing a fishing line into a body of water can lower stress, make you smarter, and lift your mood. Some say that a bad day fishing is better than a good day at the office. Fishing is a simple, calming activity that can make you temporarily escape the woes of life. Outside lists how fishing can make you feel better here. 

image via Outside

Several of the streets in Liverpool, England, were named after slave traders. The city contemplated renaming them, including Penny Lane, the inspiration for the Beatles song. There have been rumors for a long time that the street was named after 1700s slave trader James Penny. Beatles fans want to save the name, attesting that the cultural significance of the name comes from the song. A group of historians have been looking into the origin of the street's name for ten years.

Pressure mounted to change Penny Lane’s name when Stephen Guy, a press officer for National Museums, Liverpool, suggested that it was named after the slave trader when discussing the upcoming opening of Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum. In a later press release he wrote: “I confess to helping to raise awareness about the sinister origins of perhaps Liverpool’s best-known thoroughfare. Penny Lane — immortalized by the Beatles’ song — is probably named after notorious slave trader James Penny. Like other byways named after people, Penny or his family either owned land in the area or had strong associations with it.” (Guy did not respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.)

The reaction from Beatles fans and historians was decidedly negative — due both to the area’s significance to John, Paul, Ringo and George and also the dearth of evidence that the lane was associated with the slave trade. David Bedford, author of Liddypool: Birthplace of the Beatles and Liverpool resident, is quick to interject when the media discuss the possible link. Having done extensive research on the area and its famous former residents, he extolls the significance of Penny Lane.

While the exact origin of the name Penny Lane is still a mystery, the history of the road shows evidence that it was not named for James Penny after all. Read what we know about it at Rolling Stone. -via Damn Interesting

Which wedding in a movie have you enjoyed the most? Personally, I loved the nuptials in Coming to America. Both of them, actually, since they bookend the story. I'd never want to have a wedding like that, but it was fun to watch. Maybe you prefer the drama of the wedding in Goodfellas or The Godfather. Or the pomp and ceremony of The Sound of Music. The Ringer ranked their top 20 movie weddings on criteria that may or may not be important to you. Even if you disagree with their rankings, it's fun to relive the wedding ceremonies of some great films. I am disappointed that Fiddler on the Roof wasn't in the top 20, because you can't beat the bottle dance. -via Digg

Verkhoyansk, Russia, is above the Arctic Circle, north of Yakutsk, and is known as the "Pole of Cold," meaning that's where the lowest temperature in the Northern Hemisphere was recorded. That would be −67.8°C (−90.0°F) in 1885. Verkhoyansk has now broken another record, as the first town above the Arctic Circle to ever record a temperature of 100°F.

Alarming heat scorched Siberia on Saturday as the small town of Verkhoyansk (67.5°N latitude) reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 32 degrees above the normal high temperature. If verified, this is likely the hottest temperature ever recorded in Siberia and also the hottest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle, which begins at 66.5°N.

The town is 3,000 miles east of Moscow and further north than even Fairbanks, Alaska. On Friday, the city of Caribou, Maine, tied an all-time record at 96 degrees Fahrenheit and was once again well into the 90s on Saturday. To put this into perspective, the city of Miami, Florida, has only reached 100 degrees one time since the city began keeping temperature records in 1896.

Read about the record and the Siberian heat wave at CBS News. -via Mental Floss

(Image credit: Becker0804)

You know the song “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” of course. It's been around for decades, but depending on when you were born or where you grew up, the lyrics may have been very different. Tom Scott ran a poll to see the differences, and uncovered some shockingly weird lyrics from around the world.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a strategy game that is best played with the full number of available characters, especially if the difficulty is raised. But where’s the fun in playing a game as is? In Mekkah’s 40,000-subscriber special he tries to finish the game using only the game’s main character in battles. Can he do it when the difficulty is raised to maddening? I’m sure I can’t. That mode is too difficult for me! 

14/ Glass was everywhere on the streets, people out, traffic everywhere but he made it back there...

Here's the thing, if you live in San Francisco and if you're in the commercial real estate you know my dad.

In 1989 his office was at the top of this building. The top floor. pic.twitter.com/PsL8WKqbaC

— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) June 22, 2020

On Father's Day, Twitter user Justin Hart shared the story of how his father encouraged and supported him as he tried to become an Eagle Scout.

Hart had to submit his Eagle paperwork to the Boy Scouts before he turned 18. The deadline was 5 days away. The papers were in his father's office at the top of a skyscraper in San Francisco.

Then the 1989 San Francisco earthquake struck. The city was devastated. Hart's father knew that Justin's only chance of making Eagle lay in retrieving those papers from his office. So he climbed more than 50 floors up to retrieve them, then drove back home through the shattered city.

You can read the whole thread here.

-via Scott Adams

It’s rare to see news about space launches being cancelled, but even after months of preparation, launches can get cancelled even at the last minute. For example, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch was cancelled due to bad weather. Check out other possible reasons for a launch cancellation over The Washington Post.

image via wikimedia commons

Here's disturbing news for you: bags (yes, plural) of human remains were found along the Seattle shoreline. At least one of the “several bags” was in the water according to the Seattle Police Department. Identities of the dead are unknown, along with the number of bodies involved.

image via wikimedia commons

A lot of us are seeking different ways to alleviate stress and the anxiety caused by the pandemic. Some watch movies and tv shows, while some start a new hobby. It seems that lucid dreaming is something we can also try, given the amount of time we can sleep nowadays! Lucid dreaming has its benefits, as USA Today details: 

Lucidity Institute psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge, who has spent decades researching the science behind awakening in your dreams, points to studies where the visual imagery produced during lucid dreaming could improve physical and mental health. For example, someone who solves a problem or confronts a fear while lucid dreaming can wake with a sense of empowerment and courage, according to the Lucidity Institute FAQs.

“People aren't relying on alarm clocks in order to wake them up, so there’s less interference to help them recall dreams, and recall is key to lucid dreaming,” says Kristen LaMarca, a clinical psychologist in sleep medicine and writer of a concise new dream book, “Learn to Lucid Dream”. 

And since people are more isolated and without their normal routines, she says, it gives them “more room to have more of an inward reflective focus.”

image via USA Today

Wealthy businessman Joseph Williamson built several rather eccentric houses for his family on Edge Hill in Liverpool. He then built elaborate gardens between them, and eventually took his tinkering underground, where he had a system of tunnels built. Many men worked on the tunnels, but none knew the exact purpose for them. And Williamson didn't say, either.   

The 19th century Liverpool historian James Stonehouse, who toured parts of the tunnels following Williamson's death in 1840, described the labyrinth as “a strange place” with “vaulted passages cut out of the solid rock”, and beautifully crafted arches “supporting nothing”. Stonehouse described vast cellars beneath the buildings that went several layers deep, up to six level at times. He also described the obscure caverns, immense in size, deep below the ground, the most famous being known as Williamson's 'Banqueting Hall'. The numerous cellars and caverns were linked by a complex series of tunnels which varied greatly in size and construction—ranging from small passageways hewn into the rocks just large enough for a person to squeeze through, to large vaulted tunnels.

There are several theories about why Williamson built so many tunnels and chambers, especially in the last few decades as they are being restored. Read about the tunnels below Liverpool at Amusing Planet.

(Image credit: Kyle J May) 

Kana Hashimoto (@himu1017) uploads eerily breathtaking photos of Tokyo at night during the pandemic. Hashimoto is an amateur photographer who takes nighttime photos of Tokyo as a hobby. Her photos feel like they are suspended in time, and make the viewers feel a sense of serenity and longing: 

“Five years ago, I became aware of and began doing nighttime photography,” Hashimoto told me. She added, “I like the night’s silent atmosphere and the light that floats up from the depths of the darkness. I also like the sense of longing one can feel throughout these streetscapes.”

Hashimoto, who admires the work of the contemporary Japanese photographers Miyako Ishiuchi and Seiichi Motohashi, did not begin shooting her nocturnal Tokyo scenes with the goal of producing a series. “During the state of emergency [imposed by the Japanese government, which was lifted on May 25], I tried to refrain from going out,” Hashimoto said. But even during that period, she did slip out into the darkness. “Not having contact with other people, when it came to going out at night to shoot photos, I used my best judgment.”

image via Hyperallergic