The Island of Doctor Moreau | Image: New Line Cinema
Sometimes "movie magic" can only be considered so because the onscreen action belies horrible conditions behind the scenes. Whether the director and actors are at each others' throats, one or more members of the cast are making diva/divo demands, environmental conditions are unbearable or other difficult circumstances are present, things on the set can turn miserable on a dime.
Take, for example, the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau. Add together the following: warlocks, puma pee, treehouse demands, jungle escapes, and that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Get the full story, and that of five other films that were hell behind the scenes, at Cracked.
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Spanish photographer Guido Gutiérrez Ruiz posts to his Instagram account images that are so arresting it's hard to believe that they are captured with his phone. A true testament to the saying "It's not the camera but the person behind it," Ruiz and his work might make some rethink their plans to get that expensive camera in order to produce interesting vacation photos.
See more landscapes, travel documentary and architectural shots by Ruiz on his Instagram account.
Via Design Taxi | Images: Guido Gutiérrez Ruiz
In this "keep a Kleenex box on standby" video, social media darling Manny the Frenchie, a very vocal French bulldog whose human is no stranger to philanthropic gestures, visits a fan of his in New Orleans. Joycelun, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, recently underwent a double lung transplant. Her stepsister contacted Manny's owner to let him know about Joycelun and her love of the canine celebrity.
In this video footage, under the guise of an interview about her disease, Joycelun is surprised and thrilled by a visit from Manny and is presented with other surprise gifts as well. Via Uproxx
Home Alone cast | Image: Twentieth Century Fox
It's been 25 years since audiences were introduced to Kevin McCallister. Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, was the mischievous boy on punishment who was left behind by a large group of his immediate and extended family when they were in a rush to get to the airport for a Christmas vacation. What have Culkin and the members of his screen family been doing in the interim? The linked article provides a roundup.
One unusual development is in the life of bullying McCallister brother Buzz. Actor Kevin Ratray made a documentary about his love for Condoleezza Rice, entitled Courting Condi.
See the trailer for that beauty and the rest of the updates on the Home Alone gang here.
This group of glamour shots from the 1950s may create a nostalgia in viewers for times when beauty standards for women allowed for slightly heavier, curvier models. These bodies have no sharp angles; they are soft and roundly shaped. Their poses and particularly their facial expressions seem attempts to convey innocence and a sort of sweet naiveté not found in modern photography of this type.
See a collection of glamour photos circa the 1950s at Vintage Everyday.
Images via Glamour Daze
If you haven't yet seen this hilarious viral footage of an Irishman touring Las Vegas who had his GoPro camera focused on himself instead of outward for the duration of his trip, don't miss it. Joseph Griffin went with his wife to Las Vegas, and prior to his departure, his son Evan presented him with a GoPro camera with which to record his adventures. He recorded them all right... and the viewer gets to see exactly the way he reacts to every sight. So much for the luck of the Irish (unless one interprets the saying as meaning bad luck). Via Viral Viral Videos
This video provides ten handy keyboard shortcuts for Windows. I think most readers who use Windows will find one or more tips in here that they find useful. In the video are shortcuts including reopening a closed tab in your web browser, pasting text without formatting, quickly snapping windows to the side, instantly screenshot to a file and more.
For Mac users, the makers of the video also have a similar one for Macs on their YouTube channel, HouseholdHacker. Via Laughing Squid
Image: Dtom
Envision the last time a fellow passenger on an airline flight you took annoyed you. What was their infraction of your personal airline passenger code of conduct? Prior to reading the linked list of Expedia's picks for most annoying people on the plane, I thought of a few behaviors I can't stand seeing from airline travelers. Not all made it on this list, but the majority did.
Yet by the time I read to the end of their list, I was still looking for the jerk who clips his fingernails/toenails during the flight and, worse yet, without any concern for where they land. But where do you stand on the following item? Let me know — and add any rude behaviors you think should be added to the list — in the comment section below.
9. SEATBACK GUY
To recline or not to recline: Emotions run high around this question, and 32 percent of those surveyed can’t stand the ones who do. Nearly one-third (32 percent) of Americans say they would either prefer to have reclining seats banned entirely or at least restricted to set times during short-haul flights. Yet only 31 percent refuse to recline their own seats. Among the larger percentage who do lean back, 30 percent do so when they plan to sleep, 28 percent recline if the flight exceeds three hours, and 13 percent do so immediately after takeoff. Thirteen percent recline when the passenger in front of them does, domino-style, and 26 percent would recline their seat punitively if the passenger behind them was aggressive or rude. Twelve percent would still recline if the passenger behind them was tall, and 10 percent would recline even if the passenger behind them was noticeably pregnant.
Read about nine other types of annoying flyers at mental_floss.
Cristian Marianciuc loves origami, so much so that his contribution to the craft has become an everyday affair, one which is well received by the Instagram community. Marianciuc offers up an origami crane creation daily on his Instagram account, and the result is a series that's fanciful and aesthetically pleasing.
Each crane has a mood or theme. Some are sparse and austere, some glittery and bright. In the daily feed, everything in between those two extremes can be discovered and enjoyed as well. Marianciuc says that every design serves as a visual representation of each day that he lives.
Follow Marianciuc on Instagram to see his varied and artful creations. Via Design Taxi
A photo posted by Cristian Marianciuc (@icarus.mid.air) on Nov 2, 2015 at 4:01am PST
St. Louis, Missouri-based artist Cayce Zavaglia (featured previously at Neatorama), working out of her home studio, creates these unique and intricate embroideries that from a distance look like fine art paintings. That Zavaglia works out of her home is appropos, considering her portraits are exclusively of her friends and family.
The former painter takes approximately 100 photos before embarking on a portrait project, in order to select a facial expression she wants to capture. After she chooses the image, Zavaglia uses one-ply embroidery thread on Belgian linen as her media.
The artist has a New York exhibition of her work that's currently showing at Lyons Wier Gallery from November 5th until December 6th, 2015. Watch a video interviewing Zavaglia about her process above, and follow her work on social media via Instagram. Via Beautiful Decay
Miller's "winning photo" in her fight for FSM religious rights
Image: American Humanist Association
Lindsay Miller of Lowell, Massachusetts, a self-described Pastafarian, has won her fight to wear a pasta strainer on her head in her driver's license photo. Arguing that her chosen headgear was part of her right to freely express and practice her religion, Miller was granted permission by the state of Massachusetts motor vehicles division on appeal, after their initial refusal.
The Massachusetts RMV's website writes that drivers may not wear hats or head coverings in their drivers' license photos unless the clothing items are “for medical or religious reasons.”
Miller says she wore the strainer to show her devotion to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The French illustrator working under the name "Catsass" originally drew these comical images of cat sleeping positions in French, for website Topito. Shown here are the images with the captions translated into English, and the humor isn't lost in translation.
Which of these drawings is most representative of your overall napping-with-cat experience?
See the entire series of illustrations at the artists' website.
Via Laughing Squid
Dale Kerstetter | Image: Unsolved Mysteries via Wikia
The public has spent collective millions on surveillance cameras in private homes, public areas, retail establishments and the like. The goal is to have video footage as backup in case of accident, theft or other emergency. Sometimes these videos pay off, perpetrators are apprehended and once unclear circumstances are understood. Yet occasionally the video footage not only doesn't clarify things, it deepens the mystery. Such is the case with the following story.
"In 1987, 50-year-old Dale Kerstetter was employed as a security guard at the Corning Glassworks plant in Bradford, Pennsylvania. On the evening of September 12, Dale arrived at the plant to work the graveyard shift. The following morning when another security guard showed up to relieve Dale, he was inexplicably missing.
Dale’s truck was still in the parking lot, and his keys and other personal items were left behind. It was soon discovered that $250,000 of platinum pipe had been stolen from the plant. The situation became even more perplexing when investigators checked the plant’s security tapes.
Surveillance footage showed that an unidentified masked man had entered the plant sometime during the night. At one point, Dale was seen leading this man through the building and staring directly at the camera. Upon first glance, it seemed like the intruder was forcing Dale to take him to the area where the platinum was stored, but the footage made it impossible to determine whether Dale was under duress or working in conjunction with the thief.
Dale was in debt at the time, so there was speculation that he may have been involved in the heist and skipped town with his share. The plant’s management seemed to think that Dale stared directly at the camera to taunt them. However, Dale’s family never believed that he was involved and suspected that he was an innocent murder victim.
Indeed, the surveillance footage also showed the masked intruder wheeling a large bag out of the plant, which could have contained Dale’s body. Whatever the truth, Dale Kerstetter has not been seen in nearly 30 years."
Read more mysteries involving creepy surveillance footage here.
Teton Gravity Research, described on their website as "an action sports media company committed to fueling progression through its films and website," was filming pro skier Ian McIntosh in the Neacola mountain range of Alaska when disaster struck.
McIntosh, 24, set off from his perch at the top of a mountain with an incredibly steep drop. All was well until he fell into a five-foot trench during one of his turns, which led to a 1,600-foot long tumble down the mountain, during which he was unable to stop. According to TGR,
"TGR Co Founder, Todd Jones, says [the accident] “was the most terrifying crash I’ve ever seen.” While filming for Paradise Waits up in the Neacola range of AK, Mac dropped into a line he thought he had studied thoroughly enough, only to fall into an unseen five foot deep trench on one of his first turns.
'From there, my slough took over and their was no way to stop, I pulled my airbag to help prevent against any possible trauma injuries as I tumbled to the bottom,' he said. While attempting to regain his footing, Mac lost a ski and cartwheeled over 1,600 feet in under a minute."
Via Gizmodo
This is Spinal Tap | Image: MGM
The Writer's Guild of America, both western and eastern divisions, recently created events centering around member voting for the 101 funniest screenplays of all time. The resulting list, though heavy on titles from the 80s, names films young and old. How many of these comedies have you seen and what belongs or doesn't belong on the list, in your opinion?
Check out the full list and opine in the comments section below.
Via Uproxx
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