Filmmaker Animates German Aviation Pioneer Otto “Glider King” Lilienthal’s Historic Flights

•February 26, 2016 • Leave a Comment

What a sight it would have been to behold at the time; a man flying in the air. Naturally his exploits drew a lot of attention, and as mentioned in the video below, plenty of photographs had been taken from every angle of Otto Lilienthal’s experimental flights.

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Lilienthal, dubbed the “Glider King”, was the first man to fly in the 1890s. The aviator made his own wings and frequently tested his inventions in Berlin, Germany. His flight attempt at Lichterfelde, Berlin was regularly visited by crowds and well-documented.

Dutch filmmaker Johannes Hogebrink made this unique animation using 145 original photographs of Otto Lilienthal’s historic flights (between 1893 and 1896):

“I quickly gathered all the photographs that I could find and cut them out,” says Hogebrink in his video. “I realized that if you put them in the right sequence, and then take a picture, they would become a movie.”

5’5″ Melvin Lee’s Unreal Slam Dunk

•February 25, 2016 • Leave a Comment

This kid got some serious air. In-game, in traffic, 5-foot-5 junior guard Melvin Lee of Riverside Marshall dunks over two Morse Marshall defenders, and the crowd goes wild:

“HOW’D HE DO THAT?!” MaxPreps shares this video of high school basketball player Melvin Lee, who is supposedly only 5’5″ tall. Melvin literally shut a game down, at least for a moment, when he leapt practically his height to posterize two defenders.

What a leap. I think this kid discovered a wonder from the 90s — Pump up & Air out:

Either that, or Melvin has just got game.

Winter is Trumping — Game Of Thrones / Politics Parody

•February 24, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Make Westeros Great Again. Donald Trump in Westeros actually makes a disturbing amount of sense — see for yourself:

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Armed with a Valyrian steel sword named Deal-Maker, Donald Trump embarks on a quest through Westeros to take care its border policies.

Ooo that smirk at the end is rather telling, no, and I also heard a rumor that he has a moon door in one of his buildings. Donald Trump has had a meteoric rise to be the clear cut leader for GOP presidential candidacy. He has done so by making some controversial statements. Some would go so far as to say that Trump’s ideologies are out of this world. However, it turns out that Trump’s rhetoric fits perfect in the Seven Kingdoms of Game of Thrones — returning April 24. It will not feature Donald Trump.

Shattering Lake Ice captured by Drew LaPointe

•February 21, 2016 • Leave a Comment

The surface of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota is a frozen ice sheet but the water underneath still flows, faster than it freezes, creating this phenomenal effect with sheets of ice cracking and stacking along the shore:

“The seemingly endless ice sheets broke into large plates and stacked on shore, sounding much like breaking glass. The ice thickness ranged from about 1/4″ to about 3″ thick. The sights and sounds were incredible! As the water became exposed, the sea smoke was whisked across the surface by the breeze. The sparkles visible in some segments were from the sun gilding the frost flowers that had formed on top of the new ice overnight — icing on the cake!”

Wasp Nest Excavation in New Zealand #Nope

•February 20, 2016 • Leave a Comment

wasp nest

Holy Moses! This man is excavating a large nest of invasive German Wasps (Vespula germanica) somewhere in New Zealand, and it looks terrifying:

[…] for my research on biological control wasps at Landcare Research in NZ. I’m not removing the nest to kill it. I need to keep the nest alive for my survey for parasites (like mites, fungus, etc.). Some nests will be re-housed into nest boxes for use in behaviour assays. I have many years of experience and use specialized equipment to do this and still get the odd sting, so please don’t try to dig an active nest yourself! As you can see from the copious amount of venom on the camera lens, these wasps meant business.

…Nope.

I’m no exterminator, but honestly speaking here, if wasps grow any bigger (and somehow learn to breath fire?), yo, we humans are done for man!, as this prophetic and highly-underrated *cough cough* movie trailer shows:

Written by fast-becoming genre connoisseur Mark Atkins (Sand Sharks), the film stars Corin Nemec (Stargate SG-1; Smallville; Supernatural), Dominika Juillet (Dark Angel), Benjamin Easterday (Stargate SG1; Fast & Furious 5) and Nikolette Noel who’s set to star in the 2012 Summer Blockbuster “The Expendables 2”.

Gymnast Sophina DeJesus UCLA Floor 2016 9.925

•February 19, 2016 • Leave a Comment

In their PAC-12 meet against the University of Utah, UCLA gymnast Sophina DeJesus competed floor and pumped up her fellow teammates and their home crowd with her trendy floor routine, where in between her flips she pulled off sensational dance moves like the nae nae, the Quan and the dab:

DeJesus scored a 9.925 and She truly captivated the crowd, helping lead UCLA to a win over Utah 197.1 to 197.075. Her floor routine went viral on Facebook after the meet.

I can do that. Hold my beer.

OK Go — “Upside Down & Inside Out” [music video]

•February 17, 2016 • Leave a Comment

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OK Go, in association with Russia’s S7 Airlines, have released an impressive music video set aboard a zero gravity airplane. Parabolic flights are used to train astronauts in zero-g maneuvers, giving about 25 seconds of weightlessness out of 65 seconds of flight in each parabola. So expect to see the usual meticulous choreography, but delight in the level of genuine fun they are obviously having throughout their experience:

How is OK Go ever going to one-up themselves now? The group have continually made music videos that follow the trend of their original six treadmills one-take wonder, “Here It Goes Again”, and because it doesn’t really cost anything to mention said videos; here:

There is a good interview with OK Go band members Damian Kulash and Tim Nordwind about how they shot the video for “Upside Down & Inside Out” over @ Nerdist.com >>http://nerdist.com/ok-gos-frontman-explains-their-anti-gravity-video/<<

Continue reading ‘OK Go — “Upside Down & Inside Out” [music video]’

The Simpsons’ Most Memorable* Movie References [cameos & easter eggs]

•February 16, 2016 • Leave a Comment

*according to one, Celia Gómez.

The Simpsons’ tribute to Film industry Another reason why old skool episodes of The Simpsons are superior to whatever the hell, damn, fart it is today. Here are 27 side-by-side comparisons that show just how much detail went into these homages:

Music: Sing Sing Sing (With a Swing) The Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Films that appear:
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) [S5 E5]
A Clockwork Orange (1971) [S3 E19]
Pulp Fiction (1994) [S7 E21]
Requiem for a dream (2000) [S14 E12]
The Gold Rush (1925) [S5 E21]
Full Metal Jacket (1987) [S19 E5]
The Fugitive (1993) [S6 E2]
Terminator 2 (1991) [S5 E16]
Reservoir Dogs (1992) [S8 E13]
The Birds (1963) [S4 E2]
Risky Business (1983) [S4 E3]
Citizen Kane (1941) [S5 E4]
Psycho (1960) [S2 E9]
The silence of the lambs (1991) [S4 E12]
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) [S3 E23]
Basic Instinct (1992) [S6 E1]
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) [S1 E9]
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest (1975)
2001: A space Odyssey (1968) [S3 E24]
Trainspotting (1996) [S15 E4]
Thelma and Louise (1991) [S5 E6]
The Godfather (1972) [S4 E9]
Taxi Driver (1976) [S5 E18]
The Shining (1980) [S6 E6]
Spiderman (2002) [S15 E19]
ET the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) [S06 E18]
Dr. Strange Love (1964) [S5 E11]

Cool video, but 27 is honestly not nearly comprehensive enough an homage to the show’s original writers and animators who brought them to life and to audiences around the world. Love the enthusiasm Celia, but you totes missed some of the best (sorry I am being such a comic book guy right now). Classic Simpsons is not only hilarious but filled with many overlooked gems, like so:

End Of The World — Feb 14, 2016. Bummer.

•February 14, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Happy Alentines Ay ♥ For those who won’t be getting the V or the D on February 14th. 😜

•February 14, 2016 • Leave a Comment

Tyrannosaurus Rexes Endorse Japanese Condoms

•February 14, 2016 • Leave a Comment

However prophylactics were sold before we had the technology to depict hot dino-on-dino action, I can’t even remember, but after seeing this, I will never forget — consider yourself warned:

When it comes to condoms you can’t really make a commercial that shows the user having the time of his life while actually using the product being pushed. So Japanese condom maker Okamoto decided to do the next best thing, and create a CG video of two Tyrannosauruses getting it on.

I can’t imagine a man who prefers the feel of wearing a condom to not, but they definitely serve an invaluable purpose no matter how you look at them.

You tell it, Gandalf (out of context). Learn them kids.

STAR KART [mashup/fan film]

•February 13, 2016 • Leave a Comment

star-kart.0.0

STAR WARS and MARIO KART collide for one incredibly realized fan made mashup — so incredible in fact that it is actually hurting a few people by them knowing this is not a real game that they will ever get to play (lol), as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Yes, it is that good:

Created by Casen Sperry, Mike Brown and Landon Sperry using 3ds Max, vray, and FumeFX!

The Kart Awakens! This video took us much longer to complete than we initially thought it would, but we learned a HECK of a lot along the way! Mario Kart and Star Wars just go together so perfectly now! We didn’t even realize it before, but now we can’t live without it. This game needs to be made! Super Mario Star Wars is an absolute necessity!