by Amy Breen
This was shot in New Jersey over 20 hours. It’s no wonder why over 2,000 flights have been cancelled!
by Amy Breen
In honour of Caturday, here’s a video made by the folks at Friskies, to see what a day in the life of a cat was like. They referred to the kitties as rePURRters (how cute is that!) and attached little cameras around their necks to see what they were up to.
It is SO adorable.
by Amy Breen
Here’s some helpful advice on how to behave, ladies!
The video is part of an ongoing project from the comedy group The Second City. You can see more of the videos (like Ariel and Belle!) at their youtube channel.
by Amy Breen
With the popularity of Mad Men, I thought people might enjoy this video. It’s an in-house joke made by an unknown ad agency, describing all the various cliches of commercials. Isn’t it nice to know that some things never change?
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by Amy Breen
This is Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon doing their impressions of Michael Caine on their show The Trip, which apparently revolves around the two of them going to different restaurants to do reviews. I want to watch more!
Also, I think Rob Brydon (the first guy) does a much better job.
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by Amy Breen
A little while ago, Grant posted about an experiment being conducted by artist Sally Davies. She left a Happy Meal out, and took a picture of it every day. And, somewhat alarmingly, it didn’t decay.
Well, another intrepid soul decided to take it upon himself to conduct a little experiment of his own. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats figured there was probably an entirely rational (and scientific!) reason for the Happy Meal not turning into a pile of smelly, moldy grossness.
What he decided to do was make his own burgers, and leave all of them out. Here are the variations he experimented with:
He found that the burgers roughly the same size as the Happy Meals did not rot. The larger Quarter Pounder-sized ones, however, did.
Why? Because mold needs moisture to grow. And the tiny burgers just didn’t have any. From Lopez-Alt’s conclusion:
So there we have it! Pretty strong evidence in favor of Theory 3: the burger doesn’t rot because it’s small size and relatively large surface area help it to lose moisture very fast. Without moisture, there’s no mold or bacterial growth. Of course, that the meat is pretty much sterile to begin with due to the high cooking temperature helps things along as well. It’s not really surprising. Humans have known about this phenomenon for thousands of years. After all, how do you think beef jerky is made?
Now don’t get me wrong—I don’t have a dog in this fight either way. I really couldn’t care less whether or not the McDonald’s burger rotted or didn’t. I don’t often eat their burgers, and will continue to not often eat their burgers. My problem is not with McDonald’s. My problem is with bad science.
For all of you McDonald’s haters out there: Don’t worry. There are still plenty of reasons to dislike the company! But for now, I hope you’ll have it my way and put aside your beef with their beef.
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by Amy Breen
I’ve never really understood people who dress up their pets in little coats and booties. Dressing them up for a laugh is one thing, but buying little sweaters and hats as a serious endeavour is something completely different.
Enter a line of doggy clothes called Rover, who really go above and beyond in terms of puppy fashion. Here is the description from the about section:
Taking a refreshing departure from pink ruffles and glittered decals, Rover introduces the new approach to dressing your dog. Classically tailored garments paired with fresh detailing epitomize the Rover style.
Which looks a little something like this:
Little Skipper here has a nicer coat than I do. I don’t know how I feel about that.
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by Amy Breen
Grant and I are avid stove-top popcorn poppers (with peanut oil!) and it is so neat to see what happens every single time. It looks like a flower blooming!
The video was slowed down to 6200 fps. And the science behind it is neat, too. Modernist Cuisine originally posted the video, saying:
The key to why popcorn pops is its unusual moisture-proof hull. As the kernel is heated beyond the boiling point, the water inside begins to turn into steam and expand. Since the hull will not let steam out, the pressure inside the kernel begins to rise. The hull can handle a pressure of around 135 psi before bursting open. At this point, the pressure inside the kernel is released very rapidly, expanding the starch and proteins into a dense foam that sets quickly.
Cooool.
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by Amy Breen
Obviously one of the best parts of Halloween is the pumpkin carving. But what to do with it after your done? Here’s some ideas!
Click for larger image! Making a vase and candle holder are a little … different, but roasting the seeds is one of my favourite things to do!
(The Pure Bar via Buzzfeed)
by Amy Breen
The Black Keys are on the way up. Six albums, two EPs, and nearly ten years later, the blues-rock due from Ohio are starting to get a lot of attention in a lot of different places.
Maybe it’s because their newest album Brothers, is fricken fantastic. I haven’t been able to stop listening to it!
A few years ago Grant downloaded a couple of their songs for a mix CD to give me, but I was apparently at a point in my life where I didn’t want to bother with albums. Too bad, because I may have been spouting about their greatness before the curve!
The Black Keys sound is reminiscent of 60s and 70s rock, with a modern twist. Singer Dan Auerbach’s voice is often really soulful, and they have a definite groove happening at times.
My current favourite song is “Tighten Up.” You may recognize it from the car commerical where the guy drives through puddles. It really seems to be everywhere these days, including the local rock radio station. You definitely know it’s hit the mainstream when good ol’ KX96 starts playing it.
by Amy Breen
Gravity’s Rainbow is probably Thomas Pynchon‘s most famous and recognizable book. It’s currently sitting on one of my bookshelves, in the queue of “books I need to read at some point in my life.”
So I probably can’t appreciate (as much) The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book:
Thomas Pynchon is one of the great unheard lyricists. His award-winning novel, Gravity’s Rainbow, is full of song lyrics. Depending on how you count, there are around 100 in the book. Over the course of a year, the Thomas Pynchon Fake Book managed to set twenty-eight of them to music. A limited run CD the group put out also featured two bonus instrumentals inspired by the work, “The White Visitation” and “The Lonely Rocketman.”
The project doubled as an experiment in online music collaboration. Thirty seven people and three animals across four states contributed tracks. In June of 2009 the group held a CD release party in Portland, OR. Check back later for footage from that event.
It’s a pretty interesting project, and just one more reason to read Gravity’s Rainbow.
by Amy Breen
Has Sesame Street always been this in touch with pop culture? I honestly can’t remember, but they’ve been pretty awesome lately.
by Amy Breen
Dun dun dun!
Remember this awesome video from Chatroulette? A guy named Merton taped himself doing piano improv, and the internet went all a-flutter saying it was Ben Folds.
Then Ben Folds did a Chatroulette session during a concert.
But people weren’t convinced.
Well, here is definite proof that they are not the same person!
Except … something is off! There seems to be cuts in the video, and they don’t appear in the same frame (until the end, and then only kind of). I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but something seems strange. Maybe Merton is just Ben Fold’s equally talented brother.
What say you, readers?
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by Amy Breen
For those of you out there who are enamoured with Trudy from Mad Men, or maybe Annie from Community — or both! — you can rejoice in the fact that you could win a date with Alison Brie, the amazing actress that plays both characters.
All proceeds go to the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, which supports women in film. Bidding has already reached $2,000, and you should probably live in Los Angeles, but it’s for a good cause, so if there are any southern Cali readers out there who have lots of disposable income, you should go for it!
