Change directions, tiny dancer

Is the dancer in this optical illusion turning clockwise or counter-clockwise?

At first I refused to believe this even was an optical illusion. I mean, she's obviously turning clockwise! I mean, just look at her fer cryin' out loud!

I tried to make myself see her spinning the other way but I got nothing. Then, suddenly, after looking for something like a full minute, she finally switched direction. Then it became obvious that she was spinning counter-clockwise! (Tip: if you're having trouble getting her to switch directions, try staring at a point a couple of inches below her feet.)

If you mostly see her spinning clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa for counter-clockwise. (via Kottke)




Very nice video of some 3-D optical illusions. That "Bending Tube" illusion in the middle there really freaks me out for some reason.




Cool Face Illusion

Technorati tags: optical illusion

A Pre-'ween Post

Is it too early for one of these posts?




Gallery of homemade Halloween costumes, jack-o-lanterns, scary food and more over at Make.




10 Epic Halloween Costumes, according to Mental_Floss



Found at Flickr: My Li'l Green Army Man Costume

Technorati tags: Halloween, costumes

Werewolves of Hollywood

I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's
His hair was perfect
Warren Zevon - "Werewolves of London"

Hmm... something seems to be happening to our most beloved actors, and Celebrity Fury seems to have caught it on film.

Technorati tags: celebrity, photoshop

Slightly better than the usual bottle caps and roofing nails

Man finds early-16th century sword while out metal-detecting. (via Spluch)

Technorati tags: history, metal detector

Mister Tee

Not all advertising is soulless and vapid. Sometimes it even has teh funny, like in this ad for some sub shop I hadn't heard of called Erbert & Gerbert, and their Human Flipbook, which involved one model, 150 T-shirts, and a whole lotta ironing (see the adjacent "The Making of the Commercial" video). You win this time, advertising. (via In4mador!)



This t-shirt made me laugh. I wear an XL. I'm just sayin'.

Technorati tags: advertising, human, flipbook, tshirt

"Harp" Vader

Also found at the fine Monkeys For Helping is this rescued-from-the-cutting-room-floor Star Wars clip. I guess George Lucas decided to go a different direction instead...

Darth Vader Feels Blue


Technorati tags: Darth, Vader, parody

Adventures In Facial Hair

Click either the pic or the link for the full-on facial hair experience. Come to think of it, that's not a bad band name: The Facial Hair Experience!



The Swedish Muttonball
(pic from this glorious Swedish(?) album cover found over at Monkeys For Helping)




Don't Look Back




List of types of facial hair, including The Hulihee, The Doorknocker and The Lemmy.




Winners of The World Beard & Moustache Championships 2007

Technorati tags: facial hair

The name's Larceny. Grand Larceny.

So many big scores from so many different movies. Who can keep track of them all? Well, maybe you can. See how well you can match the big payoff to its corresponding film. (via Mental Floss)




How much do you know about 007 a/k/a James Bond? Yes, this quiz is almost a year old, but since Miss Moneypenny recently died, I thought it would fit in here.

Technorati tags: heist, quiz, James Bond, 007

In space, no one can hear Wilhelm

The Wilhelm Scream is a stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the movie Distant Drums. Actor-singer Sheb Wooley is considered to be the most likely voice actor for the scream, having appeared on a memo as a voice extra for the movie. It became something of an inside joke among movie sound editors, who would often add it not only into the expected action and horror genres, but movies such as A Star Is Born (1954), Toy Story (1995) and, in what has to be some sort of record, every single Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie to date.

A list of the 136 (and counting) films in which The Wilhelm Scream has been used.


A compilation of just some of the Wilhelm spottings.



A little more in-depth background on the history of the Wilhelm Scream.



Another type of screaming from the Jim Jarmusch classic "Down By Law".

A shout-out scream-out to Steve at The Full Circle for Wilhelm tipoff.

Technorati tags: Wilhelm, Scream

Leave 'em laughing

Death by robot? Death by cactus? Killer lambs? Read on...

Strange Deaths Part One

Strange Deaths Part Two


If you're going to have a strange death, you might as well have a strange headstone to match. Really odd gravestones.

Technorati tags: strange, death, gravestones

Have a Penney, Leave a Penney

Awesomosity, thy name is the 1975 J.C. Penney Catalog. Infant leisure suits, fuzzy black toilet seats and more! Jancee Dunn has two great pages (here and here) worth of scans. Let the pimp hat/banana pants fashion revolution begin! (via Boing Boing)

Technorati tags: retro, fashion, yikes

Kickin' and scratchin'

DJ Sara (age 8) and DJ Ryusei (who's 5), scratchin' the vinyl and looking pretty cute, too.



The French turntable team called C2C is pretty amazing, and have won the DMC Team World DJ Championships every year since 2003 (the 2007 Finals will be held in London in October). Check 'em out!


C2C winning DMC 2003




C2C winning DMC 2004




C2C winning DMC 2005




C2C winning DMC 2006

Technorati tags: turntablism, tagname, DJ Sara, DJ Ryusei, C2C, DMC

Off the beaten path

Australia's only unusualist, Raymond Crowe offers a captivating combination of visual comedy, ventriloquism, shadow puppetry and magic. (via Constant Ravings)

Technorati tags: shadow puppets

"I will gladly pay you Tuesday for some manliness today."

The 25 Biggest Wusses In Music Ever, according to Blender.




When Badasses Go Soft: The 10 Weakest Songs by Badass Bands




AOL Music's The 111 Wussiest Songs of All Time.




Moviedom's Wimpiest Heroes




Quite possibly the wussiest guy in the history of television weathermen in the history of television in the history of men (or maybe of weather) in general.

Technorati tags: wuss, wussies, wimpy, weatherman

Design, etc.

To reduce the risk of me losing my privileges as a card-carrying member of The Guy Club, let me first mention this: I can't say that I'd buy much of the stuff for sale on Etsy, (which specializes in selling handmade crafty-type items) but their web site design is not only beautiful and mind-bogglingly inventive, but really fun to explore.

Start out at either Colors (where you can click and match any color off the onscreen palette to a like-colored item in their inventory. Click on the item and the box expands to display a description, price, link to the seller's/artist's home page so you can see more items from just them, etc. You can also click and drag these little windows, resizing them and moving them where you need them. Here's a screengrab I took from some random items. Click the image below to play around in Colors a bit.




Another really nifty way to present newly posted items is their Time Machine, which has a crazy backwards-running clock and a hypnotic never-ending(?) spiral of... well, you just need to check it out. Click the screengrab below or the following link to get to Time Machine.


Technorati tags: Etsy, design