A Mormon missionary came across this Michael Jackson impersonator in the streets of Barcelona, Spain, and decided to have a friendly dance off. The result was entertaining, and the Mormon's missionary colleague Gus Garcia caught the exchange on video. -Via Tastefully Offensive
Lisa Marcus's Blog Posts
A blogger named Jason Willis tracked down this 1977 Halloween safety video in which he appeared at age seven. The video, a Centron educational film, pretty much takes issue with every aspect of children's rituals for the holiday. Don't wear black. Don't wear a mask. Stay away from your razor-spiked, dangerfest of a candy sack. Perhaps this film is what started the descent into shopping mall trick-or-treats and parking lot trunk parties. "Remember, there are a few people who will do things to hurt kids." Particularly if the kids are dressed in white robes and white, pointy hats, with reflective accents to make sure their getup is seen far and wide! -Via Dangerous Minds
Film editor Ben Snyder and his partner Jacqueline Shu created this clever Wes Anderson parody to serve as their pregnancy announcement. The parody, which they call “The Pretentious Presentation Of The Uterine Inhabitant,” is set to the same Paul Simon song and uses similar character introductions as in Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. "Baby Shu's" pre-birth public debut is a standout, even in these days of increasingly elaborate pregnancy announcements. -Via Uproxx
In a production that will put an abrupt end to me patting myself on the back for adding a little string of lights and a few decorations to my front porch, Nick Thomas and his friend Steve Jandick spent a year in preparation for this amazing light show, painstakingly orchestrated to music. As you can imagine, the show draws crowds from all over, reportedly 4,000 per weekend last year. Jandick said,
"I do the light portion of it and Nick does all the decorations, so it’s the best of both worlds. The house is actually Nick’s, but my parents live next door,” he said. “I’ve been helping Nick do it for 15 years.”
Just after Halloween of 2013, the men begin planning. Lights and decorations are installed beginning in September. In addition to the two songs shown here, Jandick and Thomas have shows set to “Hells Bells” by AC/DC, and “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, among others. Bravo, gentlemen!
In a story that seems nearly incomprehensible, actress Tippi Hedren decided back in the early 1970s that it was a good idea to move a bunch of lions into her Sherman Oaks, California home. Neil, the lion shown here, and a number of other cubs and juveniles napped on the sofa, slept in beds with the family and essentially lounged around the house at their leisure. Also living with the lions was Hedren's husband Noel Marshall, her daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, and two sons of Marshall's.
After a 1969 trip to Africa, Hedren, best known for her leading roles in Hitchcock's Marnie and The Birds, and husband Marshall decided they wanted to make a movie about lions. Hedren followed the advice of a man named Ron Oxley who owned an "animal rental business" (surely a "stellar" organization) in Soledad Canyon, California, who told her that in order to develop a rapport with lions, she needed to live with them. When her neighbors in Sherman Oaks complained about the family pets, Hedren and her husband moved the family to live at the remote reserve in Soledad Canyon, where filming of their movie Roar began in earnest.
Over seventeen million dollars and eleven years later, Roar wrapped, only grossing two million after its release. The carnage wasn't just financial. Two film crews walked off the set, reportedly after losing fingers to the lions. A lion pulled the skin clean off the director of photography's scalp, necessitating surgical reattachment. Young Melanie Griffith, who acted in the film, had her face gashed by a lioness, an injury for which she required fifty stitches. Hedren and her husband divorced not long afterward, and Tippi stated in an interview that she had changed her mind about lions; people shouldn't keep them as pets, she said.
Nice epiphany, Tippi. After all, they aint birds.
-Via Bored Panda | Images: Life Magazine
<!--more-->
Lampreys are eel-like water creatures that can grow up to 40 inches in length. While only 18 out of the 38 lamprey species actually suck blood, both the non-blood sucker and vampire lampreys (scientific name: vamp lamps) have a menacing appearance, with tooth-lined, suction cup mouths.
Lampreys inhabit both fresh and salt waters and are considered invasive. In fact, a number of bodies of water in the U.S. are strictly controlled with regard to the lamprey populations, using barriers and a chemical solution called "lampricide."
When the Great Lakes were first connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Erie Canal, lampreys invaded and rendered several native species of lake fish extinct. In rare cases, lampreys have been known to attack humans as well.
Read about other blood-sucking animals here.
Image: Flickr
These sculptures skillfully crafted out of scrap metal are the work of a metal workshop in Thailand called Ban Hun Lek. Their work runs the gamut from the pop cultural (beloved movie and other characters), to the industrial (various vehicles) to the natural (wildlife). The form and texture of the metal parts adds to the interest of these pieces. The company makes the sculptures to order.
It's always nice to see people transform refuse into art.
See more of their metal sculptures here or at the Ban Hun Lek website.
These amusing signs are part of a collection by Doug Lansky (previously on Neatorama), whose new book is called Ultimate Signspotting: Absurd & Amusing Signs from Around the World. Amazon lists the book as becoming available in paperback on October 15.
Lansky has a website called Signspotting, a collection of signs in the same vein as those seen here. Aside from the signs that are obviously the result of bad translations from people for whom English isn't their first language, these beg the question as to whether the responsible parties were in on the joke or not.
See all 29 signs at 22 Words.
Killer Klowns from Outer Space | Artiwork: Jason Edmiston
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment partnered with Skuzzles, a company that bills themselves as specializing in "cult décor," to develop limited edition artwork for 13 cult classic horror movies. These rich, colorful designs are the work of selected artists worldwide. The art is included in re-released blu-ray and dvd versions now available at most retail outlets.
Visit this link to see all 13 designs.
Silence of the Lambs | Artwork by Randy Ortiz
The Return of the Living Dead | Artwork: Joshua Budich
If you find yourself wanting to stay indoors, make popcorn or other snacks and treat yourself to a movie binge in the coming weeks, here is a nice list of creepy flicks available via Netflix streaming. There are some gems on this list, both old and new, including one of my favorite classics, Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. There's nothing like a coven in the Dakota to get one in the mood for Halloween.
See the rest of the films on the list here.
Elementary school art teacher Amanda Brewer shot this amazing photo with a GoPro off the coast of Seal Island in Mossel Bay, South Africa. Brewer caught this once-in-a-lifetime closeup while she was an intern at White Shark Africa, a conservation organization. Her photo was featured as GoPro’s Photo of the Day.
Via Twisted Sifter | Image: Amanda Brewer
Recep Alçamlı is a Turkish chemical engineering student in his final year of studies. A hobby of his is making these great sculptures on pencil tips. Perhaps taking cues from other noted pencil graphite sculptors like Dalton Ghetti (previously on Neatorama), Alçamlı has the utmost patience and steady hands.
Visit Alçamlı's Facebook page to follow his work.
-Via Bored Panda | Images: Recep Alçamlı
I just watched one minute and forty-one seconds of a corgi puppy named Maya being introduced to her first pumpkin and subsequently playing with it in the manner that a pup would. While nothing really happens in this video, surprisingly I don't wish I had the last minute and forty-one seconds of my life back, because... roly poly corgi puppy. -Via Tastefully Offensive
Retailer Personal Creations provides the proverbial blast from the past with this look at what they deem the popular Halloween costumes by year for the last 25 years. Their infographic is a fun flashback to the years in which characters that today are long out of fashion once captured the imagination of trick-or-treaters and costume partiers everywhere. -Via Presurfer
Debbie Goard of Oakland, California (previously at Neatorama) has been making cakes for over twenty years. In that time, her skills have risen to the point that now she regularly makes cakes resembling anything imaginable — except cakes. As illustrated by these photographs, the appearance of Goard's cakes belie their sweet insides.
“There have been stories about my cakes being on full display for hours before anyone realized it was edible. That’s pretty gratifying,” Goard said.
Goard says that even the most basic designs take her eight hours to make; intricate designs can take her a week or more. Her favorite cakes are food and animals, although she fulfills customer requests at her business Debbie Does Cakes. Check out her website to see more of her artistry.
-Via Buzzfeed | Images: Debbie Goard
Email This Post to a Friend