Cool

Kick-Ass 2 opens August 16th, so Universal is releasing red band Comic-Con trailers and two new clips (below). The first clip is a spin on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, in which Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) is trying to get home before her legal guardian (Morris Chestnut) gets there. I really wish they would have used “March of the Swivelheads” by The English Beat in this scene. Just own it.

It’s among the most-desired unheard recordings in pop music history, right up there with Chinese Democracy before there were 17 layers of guitars added to the mix: it’s the duets of Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury. The two singers hooked up at Jackson’s mansion in California in 1983, and over a six-hour session, they laid down three songs together: “There Must Be More to Life Than This,” “State of Shock,” and “Victory.” If those titles sound familiar, that’s because you’ve heard versions of them before (“There Must Be More To Life Than This” appeared on Mercury’s Mr. Bad Guy solo album, while “State of Shock” is a single from The Jacksons’ Victory, with special guest Mick Jagger), though never the original demos. GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY. A number of duets recorded by Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson are to be released for the first time later this year. The Times reports that around three tracks the pair recorded in 1983 will be made available to fans with Queen guitarist Brian May quoted as saying there will be, “something for folks to hear” in two months time. Mercury and Jackson worked together 30 years ago in California but failed to release anything substantial as they could not secure time to record further tracks. Revealing some tension between Jackson and Mercury, Jim “Miami” Beach, a lawyer who became Queen’s manager, said that the pair fell out when Jackson brought a llama into the studio: “Mercury rang me and said: ‘Miami, dear, can you get over here? You’ve got to get me out of here, I’m recording with a llama.’” Rumor has it, if you play the songs backward, you can hear Prince’s Camille.

Using NASA's latest high-resolution satellite imagery of Earth, datavisualization expert John Nelson has created a pair of captivating animations that track seasonal transformations on the blue marble we call home. "I downloaded the 12 cloud-free satellite imagery mosaics of Earth at each month of the year," he explains, "wrapped them into some fun projections, then stitched them together into a couple animated gifs." The end result is a pulsing visualization he calls "A Breathing Earth":

We never get tired of reading stories about pure-hearted underdogs rebelling against a vast, evil empire. Except when we start to suspect that the rebels are just too dumb and incompetent to let them be in charge. Here are 10 evil tyrants who are actually better rulers than the rebels trying to replace them would be. A lot of the items on this list go into deep detail about the successes and failures of various heroes and villains. As a result, huge spoiler warning right here in advance.

Seeing as how it’s an unbreakable metal, the adamantium that laces Wolverine’s bones is probably hella expensive. But, cripes, it costs a whole hell of a lot more now. Mashable put together a set of infographics that postulates how much various Marvel and DC superheroes need to shell out in their crime-fighting lifestyles. It’s a fun group of images but, c’mon, no way are batarangs six dollars each. And could Wayne Manor ever have been as cheap as $3,800? Even in 1938? And how many zoning laws do you think the batcave violated? You know none of that construction had a permit, either. You’ve gotta account for the palm-greasing graft, uh, campaign donations, Mashable. And Clark Kent taking the subway? What if his super-hearing catches wind of an emergency? Is he just gonna bust through the F train tunnel to get there in time? Next, you’ll tell us that Matt Murdock buys new designer shades every three months. Can someone run that through an inflation calculator and see what the results is? Be sure to imagine a totally unreasonable price for blind ninja lawyer sunglasses first! Yoga retreat for the Hulk is pretty funny, though.

One of the most important film innovations in the last twenty years was the DVD. Before DVDs, it was really hard to find a movie in the proper aspect ratio: Most VHS transfers cut the movie in half, essentially, because it was cheaper, and much of the movie was lost. So the fact that everything is in widescreen now means Netflix is just streaming the proper image when you fire up a movie, right? Nope. Not at all. In fact they are going out of their way not to. The recently launched blog What Netflix Does offers some examples of what amounts to some truly awful cropping. Here are just two examples:

Generally underworld murder attempts are sordid, unpleasant affairs; people get stabbed in the neck, or shot, or blown up, usually by some guy who looks like your dad’s accountant. But apparently somebody in Johannesburg decided one hit needed a little panache. So they hid a bunch of guns behind a car license plate, and waited to trigger them remotely when the target walked in front of it. Alas for the hitman, life is not like a Bond movie. Here’s the target describing what happened:

Hollywood.com published an interesting article today that links the televised worlds of Community, Orange Is the New Black, Homicide: Life on the Street, and St. Elsewhere that maybe isn’t so much “interesting” as it is “WTF.” Still, there’s some good stuff in there, including the connection between Community and Orange: Let’s Potato Chips, the preferred salt-based snack of none other than Leonard Rodriguez and Poussey Washington. According to Community‘s Wiki, Let’s, an obvious parody of Lay’s, right down to the similar design, have actually appeared in more than a dozen TV series, including Arrested Development, New Girl, Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls, and The Middle. Lest you think the distinctive bag only appears in good shows, though, there’s also 2 Broke Girls. There’s no accounting for taste…except for Let’s. You can count on them being good for the family!

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Blog Critics: “The world may never know.” Wiki Answers: “Large licks: 423. Small licks: 752.” Askville: “As the popular commercial explained…The world may NEVER know. If Mr. Owl couldn’t make it past THREE, we probably will not ever find out. Cute question. lol.” Yahoo! Answers: “Technically speaking, if you weren’t planning on actually eating it, you could smash it in with a hammer or some sort of blunt or sharp object. You’d still get to the center, and in this case it would take zero licks.” Point is, there is no ONE answer to this most important question once asked by a dumb kid talking to a kid. That didn’t stop Mark Holland from daring to dream, though, in the name of SCIENCE. His findings:

We’ve all been there, especially if we’ve ever waited tables. “What’s her name?” “Mark” “Mark? Mark! Looking good…OK!” Here, oft-failing Texas Rangers reporter Jim Knox learns a valuable lesson about The Pronoun Game. You can never assume the sexual identity of a baby, especially not in 2013, even if they’re wearing a bright pink onesie that says I’M A GIRL across the front of it. “What’s the little one’s name” would’ve worked well. Also, NOT INTERVIEWING BABIES. That poor dad. Look at him! Or … uh, I guess maybe “that poor mom?” I don’t want to assume. That poor person holding that non-specific child-shaped happening looks so sad.

A woman is somewhat distraught about going to Redskins camp in Richmond and coming away without a single autograph. Laugh if you want, but I’d be pretty upset if Robert Griffin The Duck wouldn’t sign for me either.

Back in December, John Travolta teamed up with Grease co-star Olivia Newton John to cover ‘This Christmas,’ instantly ruining music, holiday fun and the way we comfortably view peoples’ faces forever. “This is as bad as it gets,” you might’ve thought to yourself. “At least I can still get drunk and enjoy warm weather.” Now, thanks to his heart-stopping appearance in a Brazilian liquor commercial, John Travolta has ruined drinking and warm weather. Also sports, friendship, handshakes and hats. Here’s the clip, in its original (I’m assuming) 240p glory.

During friend of the blog Scott Aukerman’s live chat with us earlier this week, I forgot to ask him one very important question: Anna Kendrick perfect. OK, maybe that’s not so much a question as it is a FACT, one that anyone who watched last night’s series best episode of Comedy Bang! Bang! on IFC knows is true. Kendrick’s the Batdance of people, and in “Anna Kendrick Wears a Patterned Blouse & Burgundy Pants,” the Pitch Perfect star answered questions about singing, Chinese vampires, and the terrible things she did when she time traveled to the past. (Apparently, Jesus was a carpenter.) But my favorite bit of hers, minus her explanation of why she’s not racist, it was just a misunderstanding, was when she showed Blog Gawkerman her “Oscar loser faces.”

While it’s obviously no secret that men have been fighting for the entertainment of others for thousands of years, it’s always pretty interesting to see the differences between the pugilists of yesteryear and our trained fighters of today. For instance, while today’s UFC stars are busy worrying about contracts and bonuses, I’m sure the fighters of Ancient Rome were more likely concerned with other trivial things like waking up tomorrow and not being slaves. Basically, it’s tomato and tomahto. One thing that seems to be a constant for fighters throughout time, though, seems to be the treatment of cauliflower ear, as Manhattan’s Dr. Jeffrey Levine has discovered evidence of cauliflower ear treatment on the Ancient Roman statue, “Boxer at Rest.”

Yew sound loik yow from Lawndawn! Yesterday brought us the latest (NSFW) still from Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, and today we have a teaser clip from the same “chapter,” which is called “Jerome.” It details young Joe – Charlotte Gainsbourg’s character, the younger version of whom is played by Stacy Martin – and her sexual encounter with dopey oaf Shia Labeouf and his weird combover. In this clip, he gets to try out his English accent! (I think?) Doing sex scenes, speaking in a British accent… Shia’s really making a play for “serious actor” status here. I heard he also wanted to wear Holocaust pajamas and play the cello but was overruled. “So Lars, I was really thinking my character should speak in iambic pentameter–no wait, hear me out….”

SH*T JUST GOT REAL. The study, published in the upcoming issue of the journal Psychological Science, finds that the ritual of singing before eating a slice of cake, or any other dessert, increases one’s appreciation of the treat. The result is that the food ends up tasting better, at least in our minds. The “Happy Birthday to You” song hasn’t even been around for 100 years, though the Guinness World Records does call it the most recognizable song in the English language. So, is it the song itself or the ritual? University of Minnesota psychologist Kathleen Vohs found that this ritual even extends beyond singing to include such practices as how one opens a candy bar wrapper. (via The Sideshow) Yes, folks, somebody used science to prove, “if you want food, you’ll like having the food.” Hey Psychological Science, I used my bathroom this morning to prove that taking a dump is a more satisfying experience when your ass is full of sh*t, and you aren’t trying to squeeze out air bubbles. Put me in your magazine! If that’s not good enough, I’ve compiled a second study: cake tastes better when it’s free. Proof:

If Parks and Recreation is ending after its next season, the show’s sixth, then it’s sure as hell going to use as much of NBC’s money as possible. Just this week alone, creator Michael Schur announced that a nice, little chunk of the budget will be spent on guest stars Heidi Klum, as a small-town Denmark mayor, and Henry Winkler, who will play Jean-Ralphio’s dad. And before that, Leslie Knope’s new Eagleton rival, Kristen Bell. This news is (not) the WOOOOOOOORST. Don’t stop now, Ken Tremendous, continue with your casting revelations. After the jump, we have suggestions for who should play two of Parks‘ occasionally mentioned, but never seen characters, as well as other similar ideas from eight different shows.

The Wolverine opens tomorrow, and one thing we’re certain to see is plenty of Hugh Jackman screaming. Over the past 13 years, Hugh Jackman has scowled and screamed and SNIKT’d his way through seven movies as Wolverine if you include the not-yet-released X-Men: Days Of Future Past and The Wolverine. Six movies if you pretend X-Men Origins: Wolverine never happened. Yeah. Six movies. Let’s stick with that. Now Abraham Riesman at Vulture has compiled a supercut which documents the full extent of Hugh Jackman’s frequent screaming as the Wolverine. Check out Vulture’s evidence below, with a welcome surprise at the end.

A Lana Del Ray song from four years ago leaked this week, and the track takes aim at Lady Gaga — but Mother Monster is too busy dying her hair black and being fierce and makeup free to notice. The song, titled ‘So Legit,’ throws serious shade at Gaga (real name: Stefani Germanotta) for going mainstream, with lyrics like, “You’re looking like a man / You’re talking like a baby / How the f– is your song in a coke commercial, crazy? / I don’t get it / Your taste once exquisite” If anyone was confused about who the song was talking about, Gaga’s fellow New York native then croons, “Stefani, you suck I know you’re selling 20 million / Wish they could have seen you when we booed you off in Williamsburg” / “Oh girl, I see you walking round in your pearls / Thinking that you’re number one / You’re so funny / Cause honey you’re not” And just to drive the point home, she finishes with, “What happened to Brooklyn? / What happened to the scene / Baby, have we all gone Gaga crazy?” But if Gaga is feeling the burn, you’d never know. She seems pretty preoccupied gearing up for the release of her album ARTPOP, being the highest paid celeb under 30, posing nude for V Magazine, and — as you can see above — going fresh-faced for photos (rocking newly dark hair, to boot). Take a Listen:

There’s a great little romantic comedy that you might have heard people buzzing about — it’s called ‘I Give it a Year,’ and while the entire cast is simply aces, we’ve got to hand it to the leading cutie pie Rafe Spall, who delivers some extra swoon-factor. In ‘I Give it a Year,’ Spall portrays a playful guy married to a more serious, career-driven wife. No one thinks it will last, especially when both of them wind up meeting people who are perfect for them. It’s a fun, unexpected twist on the romantic comedy genre, and Spall proves he can play the swoony leading man, no problem. And damn, guys, he’s really cute. You can catch ‘I Give it a Year’ via most cable OnDemand services or rent it on iTunes. You won’t regret it. Spall has also appeared in ‘The Life of Pi’ and ‘Prometheus,’ and appears with Rachel Weisz in the upcoming stage play ‘Betrayal.’ He’s not quite a big deal in the acting world just yet, but his star is definitely on the rise, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of this guy pretty soon.

There are literally three signs you’re into math, and here they are. Literal Listicles is a new Tumblr quickly gaining popularity — over 2,500 followers in two days. It’s not hard to understand why; we are inundated with listicles, and the world is hungry for a send-up. The Tumblr was created by comedian Scott Eckert (the genius behind Sandy Kenyon Reviews the World, which you should really check out if you missed that boat), and is exactly what is promised in the name — literal listicles. Here are a few of our favorites, but be sure to go to Literal Listicles and check out the rest, because they are so, so good.

West Australian producer and remix artist Nick Bertke aka Pogo has stunned us with his ability to take snippets of films and craft them into lush audio soundscapes with amazing visuals to match. His artworks which he modestly describes as mashups span everything from Pixar to Pulp Fiction. His creations take weeks of meticulous planning and editing and as you can see, the results are a sight (and sound) to behold. I’ve seen many agencies now try to copy what it is we do, but their failure is always in the assumption that it’s a formula to be mimicked and not an artwork that in fact took many weeks of craft and musical composition. The result of that assumption is generally nothing more than a messy, meaningless edit with neither soul nor sense that was probably formulated by 20 board members in an afternoon. Proof that you really do get out what you put in. See him rework Lord Of The Rings & turn Pulp Fiction into a sonic melting pot of gloriousness.

India, home to some 1,200,000,000 people is a true melting pot of the world. Rich and poor, educated and illiterate, pristine penthouses and expansive slums it is a country that sums up the best and worst of ourselves in many ways. One of the great wonders of the world The Taj Mahal serves as a stunning example of beauty and art colliding in unison. Yet amongst India’s crowded suburbs in some of the poorest areas in the country, art still thrives breathing vitality, life and colour into the community. Here’s 19 artworks and street murals from around India that highlight that art isn’t solely about what your see on a tourist map, sometimes the best way to experience a country’s culture is to go off the beaten track and find a few gems of your own.

If asked to describe the London Underground, the majority of commuters would use words like “dirty” “cramped” “sweaty” and “usually late” to summaries one of the institutions of British culture. But there’s more to London’s dark tunnels of congestion and dust than meets the eye – you can thank documentary photographer Bob Mazzer for that. During the 1970′s and into the 1980′s, like many he spent virtually every day traversing the train lines and ‘minding the gap’. But unlike most commuters who were solely focused on getting from A to B, he used his time to photograph and document a side of British culture rarely seen or celebrated. “You don’t think you are starting a project, but one day you look back over your recent pictures and there are a dozen connected images, and you realise it is the beginning of a project – and then you fall in love with it. For a while in the eighties, I lived with my father in Manor House and worked as a protectionist at a porn cinema in Kings Cross. It was called The Office Cinema, so guys could call their wives and say, ‘I’m still at the office.’” Every day, I travelled to Kings Cross and back. Coming home late at night, it was like a party and I felt the tube was mine and I was there to take pictures.” His evocative images showcase a society brimming with all manner of unique individuals, from punks to drunks, models to housewives, blue-collar workers to religious zealots, from chain smokers craving that nicotine fix, to lovers craving each other and pretty much everything in between. See Bob’s latest adventures over on his Flickr profile.

‘Graphology’ is known as ‘the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting’, forensic scientists & supporters of this method use it to decipher the personality and psychotic state of individuals. The basic premise is that your central nervous system is responsible for the way your muscles move and react when writing. Graphologists seek to evaluate the moment, form, consistency, quality and pattern generated by your stroke and then use that as a basis for psychological interpretation. In theory it can provide a snapshot into the mind of individuals who many have written suicide notes or death threats – to serve as validation of their genuineness. But is it scientifically accurate? Or down to the wild interpretations of a few? There’s 3 unique interpretations of graphology, they are known as the holistic approach, the integrative approach and finally the symbolic approach. But what is the difference between each? Integrative Graphology is less interpretative and more analytical. It looks for common themes such as a cluster of stroke formations, how close the words are spaced, how tall the capital letters are etc to score a specific personality trait. Holistic Graphology is a little more free-flowing, it looks at individual traits, such as legibility but doesn’t assigned specific meanings to them. Instead the traits of someones handwriting are taken into account based on the overall context of the page. And finally, Symbolic Analysis takes a metaphorical view of handwriting – it’s probably the most vague of all, assigning the shape and form of words to some kind of trauma or event. For example John Wayne’s autograph highlights a darkened area that has been interpreted as representing his lung cancer. Who is to say whether that is right or wrong? Whether you believe the ‘science’ or not, it is still unquestionable a fascinating area to explore. It turns out when it comes to your own handwriting, whilst its distinct to you, there are universal traits hidden inside the written word that define who you are. Here’s a few examples, have a look and tell us if you agree…

Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it – Edmund Burke In an era where every product is disposable, where the news cycle operates in 30 sec sound bytes and where your status update is instantly forgotten as quickly as it was to posted, it’s easy to forget the past. But by ignoring history, our capacity to understand who we are and how to avoid our previous mistakes is diminished. That’s why we’re posting these images for you today, 30 unique moments from around the world that powerfully (and sometimes playfully) define our actions, values & thoughts over the past 100 years.