Cool

When it comes to tourism, many countries highlight their unique landmarks (Sydney Opera House in Australia, The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy) or cultural celebrations (or the Rio Carnival in Brazil & Running Of The Bulls in Spain) as a reason to visit. But Nantes, the 6th largest city in France has an entirely different proposition to lure tourists to their region. Tucked inside several warehouses that were formerly used as shipyards, sits an exhibition titled ‘Machines of the Isle‘ (or if you’re a local Les Machines de l’Île de Nantes) that will genuinely blow your mind. Since it’s inception in 2007 it has captured the imagination of thousands of tourists visiting the area. But what is it exactly?

For 10 days, California firefighters have been hard at work battling the largest ever forest fire in Yosemite National Park. Here are some of the action shots from the scene.

Many of us must be familiar with the feeling when our parents tried giving us dating advice, and would make every single person in the room feel awkward. Besides, how many of those did you actually ever find useful? Well here’s a dating guide that might seem ridiculously outdated at first – given that the Parade Magazine published it back in 1938- but don’t be too quick to judge! Sure, some of the advice might sound a bit sexist at times, but most of them could actually be regarded as universally acknowledged guidelines of good behavior.

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the Walled City became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. In 1987, the Walled City contained 33,000 residents within its 6.5-acre (0.026 km2; 0.0102 sq mi) borders. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by Triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug use. In January 1987, the Hong Kong government announced plans to demolish the Walled City. After an arduous eviction process, demolition began in March 1993 and was completed in April 1994. Kowloon Walled City Park opened in December 1995 and occupies the area of the former Walled City. Some historical artifacts from the Walled City, including its yamen building and remnants of its South Gate, have been preserved there.

This is what it looked like in Reading, England, after 90,000 music fans had gathered together for a festival.

Jón Gnarr is the current mayor of Iceland's capital city Reykjavík and there is a lot about him that makes him different from normal politicians.

The relationship between words and their meaning is a fascinating one, and linguists have spent countless years deconstructing it, taking it apart letter by letter, and trying to figure out why there are so many feelings and ideas that we cannot even put words to, and that our languages cannot identify. The idea that words cannot always say everything has been written about extensively - as Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon the absolute truth.

Photographer Jill Peters presents a unique phenomenon of “burneshas” – Albanian women, who swear themselves, or are sworn into virginity by their families and assume the roles of men for the rest of their lives. What used to be a commonplace tradition back in the 15th century, is still around in the some rural areas in Northern Albania. Jill explains:

The tunnels of Cu Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Cu Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968.

n yesterday’s next day Breaking Bad discussion a lot of you voiced your confusion and calls of bullsh*t as to how and when the light finally turned on for Jesse with regards to the ricin theft/Brock poisoning/Huell’s delicate hot dog fingers. Even Anderson Cooper didn’t know what the hell was going on. I personally felt like the groundwork had been sufficiently laid down and it made for a better reveal that they didn’t hold our hand through it. But, you know, I’m cursed with ridiculous perception skills and high cheek bones. We can agree to disagree if you feel differently, but we should also agree that given some perspective as to how it probably would have been handled by other, much hack-ier writing teams, Breaking Bad’s version of divisive writing is still superior to everything else on its best day. To really hammer this home one Redditor created the below graphic to remind us all why we’re so damn lucky.

Okay, good news and bad news. GOOD NEWS: Walton Goggins — the man behind the well-read, meth-slinging, gun-toting, evangelizing, lightning-strike-hair-having, ex-sister-in-law-marrying, Harlan County felony aficionado Boyd Crowder — is currently developing a new cop drama for Fox titled “Gringo” that will “revolve around an American cop who moves south of the border with his Mexican wife and ends up caught in the middle of the cartel wars.” BAD NEWS: Despite “an American cop who moves south of the border with his Mexican wife and ends up caught in the middle of the cartel wars” sounding like a terrific role for Walton Goggins, there is no word yet whether he will be playing the titular gringo. All we know so far is that he and Adam Fierro (a former executive producer on The Shield) will be teaming up to executive produce, and that the two of them co-wrote the story. BUT: If he does end up starring in a big network drama like this, it would probably cut significantly into his availability for Justified, and we just can’t have that at all. BUUUUUUUT: SHERIFF BOYD CROWDER PATROLLING THE STREETS OF JUAREZ??????? I have no idea how to feel about this.

I suppose, in the interest of being as accurate and responsible as possible, I should point out a couple things. First, this supercut of crashes from Thomas the Tank Engine set to “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” was posted on YouTube over two years ago, and it already has close to 150,000 views, so it’s not exactly the hippest, freshest thing we’ve ever posted here. But I just saw it for the first time a few minutes ago on Laughing Squid and it cracked me up a little, so here we are. Second, technically speaking, the title of the show is actually Thomas & Friends, not Thomas the Tank Engine, and the title of the Drowning Pool song in question is just “Bodies,” which makes my headline inaccurate at best and willfully ignorant at worst. But anyway, with all that out of the way, I’d like to get to my real point here, which is LET THE ENGINES HIT THE FLOOR LET THE ENGINES HIT THE FLOOR. LET THE ENGINES HIT THE FLOOR LET THE ENGINES HIT THE FLOOR.

HAPPY MADDEN RELEASE DAY EVERYONE. It's a big event for the video game and sports industries alike, as well as for people who own $250 DeShaun Foster jerseys and aren't above going to Walmart at midnight to pick up a copy (guilty). Our own Dan Seitz already wrote his defense of Madden NFL 25, but I want to take a look and listen to something that's much tougher to defend: the first Madden EA Trax soundtrack. It came back in 2002, when Marshall Faulk graced the cover of Madden 2003, and I'm already sorry for all future Audiovent references. For everyone who hasn't Eternal Sunshine'd Audiovent, though, let's go the tape.

Did you think The Dark Knight Rises could have used more romance, and perhaps some voiceover by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams? Maybe not, but can we agree The Notebook could have used more punching? This mashup video, The Dark Notebook Rises, gives us exactly that. Sure. Why not? At least we can understand what Bane’s saying.

Rarely do our interests intersect with those of Good Morning America‘s (we hate good things and despise mornings), but this is too good, too dare-I-say heartwarming to not pass along. In 2008, while serving in Afghanistan with the Marines, Jesse Cottle stepped on an IED and lost both of his legs. After returning to the States, Cottle spent months painfully recovering in a hospital and was eventually given prosthetic legs. Then love came a-calling: "After [time] in the hospital, Jesse met his future wife Kelly, 24, in San Diego at a swim meet during one of his first outings with his new prosthetic legs. “His personality and who he is just outweighs his injuries by so much that you forget about it after a while,” Kelly explained." They got married in August of last year. To celebrate, Jesse and Kelly recently visited her family in Boise, Idaho, where they took a series of family portraits, some of which show Jesse carrying her happy husband on her back. One photo, taken by ShutterHappy’s Sarah Ledford, has nearly 11,000 Likes on Facebook because Jesse Cottle is the opposite of mornings, in that: people like him.

‘Eastbound & Down’ season 4 premieres September 29th on HBO. Are we excited? Most definitely. Are we crying about it? No. Those aren’t tears, Dustin. It’s just this stupid pollen. It’s in my eyes and making them water. Just go away from me, Dustin. To celebrate season 4 of ‘Eastbound & Down’ and the awesomeness that is Kenny Powers, we’ve collected some of our favorite moments from the past three season.

Besides being the Web’s funniest downer, Grumpy Cat has also been a source of artistic inspiration ever since he claimed fame. How Tarter Sauce so effortlessly gains a huge fanbase, we have no idea, nor are we questioning. The famous kitty just has some sort of magical ‘oomph’ to him, which is why these Disney-meets-Grumpy-Cat pictures are so fitting. User TsaoShin on DeviantArt created what could be one of the most genius varieties of fan art to date. Basically, the grump master replaces key Disney characters in famous movie scenes, and the result is hilariously depressing. Honestly, who even wants to be the Lion King or ride on a magic carpet? BORING. Check ‘em out below:

Would you be brave enough to trek a pathway called The Bridge of Immortals? Situated in Huangshan (aka Yellow Mountain), a mountain range in the southern Anhui province of eastern China, the bridge, above, is located at a vertigo-inducing height between two giant, jagged granite peaks that dares adventures to cross its path. It is not the only risky walkway along the mountain range, though.

I’m still pretty hesitant to believe that this is really and isn’t part of some grand viral marketing scheme for another film, but apparently director Timur Bekmambetov has been hard at work trying to produce the film Squirrels, which is about – you guessed it – squirrels. Except these aren’t just any squirrels, because just like Alfred Hitchcock’s Birds and James Nguyen’s Birdemic, Squirrels is the story of what happens when nature’s nut hoarders get fed up with humans and decide to fight back. A pre-production sales trailer for Squirrels hit the YouTubes over the weekend, and I assume that wherever Bekmambetov showed this clip, people just started throwing money and bank account numbers at him, because I can’t even count how many times I’ve thought, “If only someone had the balls to make a movie about a squirrel biting a little girl’s face off.”

TV hasn’t been the same since that one moment people on the Internet still get mad about when it’s spoiled, even though the episode aired nearly a year ago and really, if you don’t already know that Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad was a victim of Walter White’s full measures by now, you’re doing something…Oops. Anyway, I’ve missed Jonathan Banks’s dead-eyed scowl, so I’m eating this news up like a particularly hungry hippo. Jonathan Banks will appear in 11 episodes of Community‘s fifth season, EW has learned. Banks will tackle the role of Pat Nichols, an intense criminology professor with a mysterious background in military and police work. The Wiseguy alum makes his first appearance in the second episode of the season when Annie (Alison Brie) enrolls in his class. (Via) I have a note for anyone who’s not excited about Mike at Greendale.

Today brings us the first official image (not including all the viral stuff and Comic-Con pictures) from Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, a title that’s little by little turning me into a Vietnamese spam bot every time I type it. Obviously, it’s a big deal for anyone who’s a fan of Earth tones. A movie that shows us what the characters looked like in the seventies! Can you imagine? Has this ever been done in a movie before? Maybe it will explain how Professor X went bald as a cueball. He’s like 30 in this and his hairline doesn’t even have power alleys. If a person can go bald that fast, I have something new to worry about. Also, didn’t Nicholas Hoult already turn blue in the last one? Don’t explain it, I want this to be a surprise. X-Men opens May 23, 2014, and the plot will include time travel, Bolivar Trask, Sentinels, and Peter Dinklage’s sweet porn ‘stache. No word on whether we’ll hear from some of the lesser-known mutants, like the guy who has super strength, but only when he’s standing in a puddle of his own pee, the guy who turns water into mustard, or Close Caption, whose special power is lip-reading.

The Koopas are fighting. Why aren’t you? That’s the questioned posed by these WWII-style Mario propaganda posters by Fro Design. These posters envision a world where Bowser has to drum up support for his endless war against Mario, the red menace. The posters reimagine Piranha Plants as part of every victory garden and the coin blocks as donation boxes for the war effort. Even the ghosts of Koopas are caught in this battered landscape, still fighting for a nebulous cause. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, y’all.

Apparently I need to move to Belgium. They’ve got French Fry Vending Machines there! Here’s one in Chaussee de Gand-Steenweg op Gent in Brussels. For €2.50 the machine will make you fresh, crispy fries in less than 90 seconds. It also dispenses BONUS ketchup or mayo. Why can’t I have both?! Jk jk, this is no time to get greedy. This is a time to plan my move to Belgium. I can figure out the ketchup/mayo conundrum later. BRT Europe!

The folks at Torafu Architects realized that art appreciation is just too boring for today’s youth, so they decided to make it more interesting. Did I say interesting because I meant terrifying. They created a haunted art gallery exhibit for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. The exhibit features replicas of fine art that are not quite right. Like the eyes in some paintings move and Mona Lisa’s got hands coming out of her face. Scary stuff. Although slightly less scary when you enter a secret passageway that lets you manipulate the artwork yourself from behind.

New York City is constantly evolving and growing, making it difficult to document every change that has occurred, but NYC Grid is taking a stab at it. Run by Paul Sahner the ambitious website seeks to map the entire city "street by street and block by block" through photos. In addition to simply capturing present-day neighborhoods, though, the site also gives a peek of what specific areas looked like in the past, comparing the two in its "Before & After" section.

Everybody’s got a butt. Except Assless Steve who lost his in a horrific accident. Though some say it was not an accident — dun dun dun! But (BUTT!) conpiracy theories aside, Japan Trend Shop is selling Shiridashi Butt Reveal Underwear. They’re little shorts that make it look like your ass cannot be contained and it’s busted out of your drawls. Or that you busted ass and it completely destroyed the back of your drawls. Either way, you’re showing off dat booty. And why shouldn’t you? It’s so nice! Jk, put that thing away, have you no decency? There are children present!