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Friday, June 10, 2011

12 Incredible Fan Catches At Baseball Games

From: http://clutch.mtv.com/

Sometimes it's the folks in the stands who make the greatest catches at a baseball game. And that's more impressive because many of the greatest fan grabs were made by people with a beer or a baby in the other hand. We'll be massively impressed, though concerned for the child, if we ever see a parent pull down a foul ball holding both at the same time.


As the dog days of summer get ready to seize professional ballplayers and turn them into overheated zombies, fans need to ready themselves too. A foul ball is not just a souvenir but a threat. Just ask the dude from the Astros game last year who dodged a ball and let it hit his girlfriend, who rightfully dumped him. Some fans have made incredible barehanded catches on line drives; others have snagged sharp grounders that reached the walls; and one fella who we truly admire scooped a ball while returning to his seat with a tray of food (above, left). Baseball really is America's pastime. Enjoy these videos.

1. Phillies fan catches one while returning to his seat with a tray of food (and doesn't spill anything)

2. Guy catches a homer with his hat

3. Nonchalant barehanded catch by a Giants fan

4. Supermom made this amazing grab with her baby in her arm

5. Young girl snags one over the rail

6. Great barehanded catch on a home-run ball

7. Another outstanding catch by a Phillies fan, with baby in hand

8. Woman at a Rays game gets drilled in the chin, then snags not one but two foul balls in the same inning

9. '80s dude nearly falls over the rail and incredibly catches himself from disaster below


10. Impressive home-run ball catch by a fan over the rail

11. Guy uses a bucket of popcorn

12. Fan nearly crushes woman at a spring training game in pursuit

And last, for illustrative purposes, we had to include:

Dodgers fan who dropped his kid to try for a ball but didn't even make the grab

Photos: YouTube; MLB.com; Photo: Mark Gormus / Times-Dispatch (Supermom)

Bad Movies We Love: Steven Spielberg’s Hook


from: http://www.movieline.com/


hookmain630.jpgBy now, Super 8 has either rekindled your fondness for Steven Spielberg’s whimsy or — well, it hasn’t. Either you embrace nostalgia and the comforts of epic, innocent fantasy, or you’re purposely done with them until another Toy Story comes out. I sympathize with the latter option, especially if you think the keywords “Steven Spielberg” and “innocence” call to mind Hook, the 1991 kiddie blockbuster that asks, “What if we took the story of Peter Pan, threw it out, and invented an unrelated story about a grumpy man who begrudgingly saves his kidnapped children?” Tah-dah! Yuck. And yet, I found a few reasons to love this troubling movie. Chortle with me as I rank them!


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Let’s start with some gentle hatred: Hook is way too mopey and 1991-riffic (synonyms) to be considered a sequel to or variation on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Not even close. That’s like if Katy Perry released a squawky, gawky cover of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” and credited Emily Bronte as an active co-writer. My god, please! No literary cred for you, Katy! Similarly, we’re bearing witness as Spielberg straps a cupcake bra to a children’s classic and plunges roman candles thereon to guarantee a nine-figure explosion at the box office. Taste flies right out the window with the frosting.

Hook is based on an idea Barrie had to write a story about Peter Pan’s adulthood. It never came to fruition for undisclosed reasons, but I imagine one of them is that the story of Peter Pan is just too timeless for a foray into middle age. You don’t need to update something that’s chronically relevant (or chronically chronic). I forgive Spielberg for the error in judgment because there are five giant reasons this 140-minute movie is worthy of love in 2011, and I’m prepared to recite them like wee ole Smee.


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5. Strange, unnecessary, excellent cameos

Hook gives us Robin Williams as a grown Peter Pan who has officially mutated into a corporate schmuck. When he takes his family to visit his childhood orphanage run by the now-80-year-old Wendy (played by 56-year-old Maggie Smith), a hook-handed vandal kidnaps the children and whisks them off to what appears to be a well-embellished miniature golf course called Neverland. Peter must reconcile his long-buried past, venture to Neverland with the just-arrived Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts), and save his spawn from Captain Hook’s (Dustin Hoffman) grasp. Do we need more characters? Spielberg insists we need not just an Emerald City’s worth of walk-ons, but enough celebrity appearances for a few seasons of ABC’s Hotel (‘83-‘88). Phil Collins plays a police inspector; sci-fi vet Nick Tate turns up as a dueling pirate; George Lucas and Carrie Fisher appear as a canoodling couple; Spielberg godchild Gwyneth Paltrow debuts as young Wendy; David Crosby and Jimmy Buffett join Hook’s crew and wear their everyday clothes to blend in. And before you can wonder whether one of the Lost Boys is a growth-stunted Goonie, you see Glenn Close playing a male pirate (pictured) who Hook jettisons in the first 45 minutes. Patty Hewes would’ve argued her way out of that phony beard.





4. Aw, the delightful torture of children

You have to wonder why Spielberg sensed mass audience appeal in a movie that repeatedly shows Peter’s kids getting kidnapped, hauled off, suspended in a pirate net, or begging for mercy. Ah, juvenile torture. Reminds me of other kiddie classics like Ransom or Halloween III: Season of the Witch.


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3. Julia Roberts as Marsha Mason as Zac Efron as Tinker Bell

Reportedly, Spielberg found Julia Roberts difficult to direct because she’d just broken up with her Steel Magnolias paramour Dylan McDermott. Factually, I find Julia Roberts difficult to resist because her spin on Tinker Bell is a boyish coquette in a shag wig. Look at her! The Goodbye Girl subsumes Charlie St. Cloud. Ashton Kutcher mates with Laura Prepon and delivers Topher Grace! Tatum O’Neal gives birth to Kristy McNichol, who is pregnant with Tatum O’Neal! Something! You (shouldn’t) understand.


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2. The skateboarding, Happy Meal-consuming Lost Boys

Kudos must go to Leonard Maltin, who once said of the ’90s-updated Lost Boys in Hook, “[They] look as if they’d be at home in a McDonald’s commercial.” Indeed, these leather-togged, feather-banded scamps are the most annoying, camera-ready freaks at the skate park. First of all, they really skateboard. There’s a ramp and everything, like they’re hanging out in the weird kid underground from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Second, the Lost Boys community is a wildly depressing refuge, a Newsies bunkhouse without the songs, dances, or general productivity, let alone commitment to journalism. I give the producers credit for chasing the zeitgeist of ‘91, but in a better film, some of these kids would wear Zubaz and listen to C+C Music Factory.


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1. The peerless Dustin Hoffman

While Robin Williams saunters through Hook as the maddened misanthrope Peter, Dustin Hoffman absolutely relishes his role as the original drag king of pirate culture. Take note, Gore Verbinski: Hoffman’s flair and flamboyance imbue the last half of this film with enough magic to compensate for the overly ornate, underwritten fairy tale and comprise his best single performance outside of his Oscar-nominated roles. He is better here than he is in All the President’s Men and Marathon Man, easily. And he crows “Good form!” and “Bad form!” like a maniacal gymnastics coach throughout, which at least deserves a Saturn Award nomination and a club sandwich. Though Bob Hoskins is also enjoyable as the henchman Smee, he merely contributes to Hoffman’s gusto with straight-man setups. Enjoy below; if you haven’t seen the movie in 20 years, you’ll be shocked to see how well this performance has aged. Unlike Zubaz. :(

Get Blown Away By This Architectural Music Light Show

From: http://gizmodo.com/

I love what happens when you put technology in the hands of very creative people like André Chocron. Using only time-lapse photography, the Norwegian director created one of the best music light shows I've seen.

Chorcon filmed old apartment buildings in Oslo, Norway and used the lights in each room as the medium for his light show. He captured each building using time-lapse photography taken at night. Using this technique, he was able to get pictures of each room with the lights on and off. He then used a computer to map the lights in a pattern to the tune "Time is of the essence" by Cold Mailman. If you have no idea what this means, watch the video and it will all make sense. The results are simply amazing. [Fast Company]

Cold mailman - Time is of the essence from André Chocron on Vimeo.


Official music video for Cold Mailman - "Time is of the essence". This is a shortened version of the song. The original song is available on their critically acclaimed second album "Relax; the mountain will come to you" . For more info about Cold Mailman, visit coldmailman.com/​

-

Director and animator: André Chocron
Director of photography: Audun Magnæs
Colorist: Camilla Holst Vea at Storyline Studios
Conform: Raymond Gangstad

Cast:

Haugenstua brl
Vestlitoppen brl
Tveita brl
Solfjellet brl
Ammerudlia brl

Supported by Groruddalssatsningen:
prosjekt-groruddalen.oslo.kommune.no/​

Thank you:

Roy Tjomsland, Hallvar Witzø, Raymond Gangstad, Johannes Dahl, Kari Andresen, Jon Erik Berger, Gunnar Paulsen, Veronica Skaret

Apple’s Spaceship Office Complex to Land in Cupertino

Cupertino City Council is likely to approve Apple's plans to build a new four-story spaceship-like HQ in the city, which would house around 12,000 staff. In response to Apple CEO Steve Jobs' presentation to the council, Cupertino Mayor Gilbert Wong said: "There is no chance that we're saying no [to Apple]. The Mothership has landed in Cupertino."

Apple’s Spaceship Office Complex to Land in Cupertino

Jobs on Tuesday unveiled plans to build a new campus near Apple's existing headquarters in Cupertino, in a circular shape that looks like a spaceship. The new space would be used to accommodate Apple's growing staff numbers. "Apple's grown like a weed and as you know, Apple's always been in Cupertino," Jobs said in his presentation. "The campus we'd like to build there is one building that holds 12,000 people."

Cupertino City Council reacted positively to Apple's plans for a new HQ. Wong said: "Every time that we have a large company that has a large sales tax produced we are very accommodating to that company."

Apple’s Spaceship Office Complex to Land in Cupertino

The four-story Apple mothership is expected to be completed in 2015, and would use self-generate energy, with the grid only used for backup power. In his presentation, Jobs empasized the green credentials of the upcoming campus, which will be built on land Apple originally bought from Hewlett-Packard while downsizing.

Parking at the Apple spaceship HQ will be underground, and 80 percent of the area currently used for parking will be landscaped, from currently 3700 trees to around 6000. A new research and development center will also be built, along with a new auditorium, so that Apple won't have to go to San Francisco for big k eynote events.

Follow Daniel Ionescu and Today @ PCWorld on Twitter

Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' (First Look)

The Paramount Pictures project is loosely based on the novel "Zabibah and the King" - by Saddam Hussein.


The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen
Paramount

Paramount Pictures has released the first images of Sacha Baron Cohen as The Dictator.

The film, due out May 11, 2012, tells the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed, the studio said earlier this year.

It is inspired by the novel Zabibah and The King by Saddam Hussein.

Producing alongside Baron Cohen are Scott Rudin, Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel.

Movie Theater Kicks Customer Out for Texting, Turns Her Angry Voicemail Into PSA (Video)

The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, now airs her expletive-filled rant before all R-rated movies that it shows.


You might want to think twice before texting the next time you are at the movies.

A movie theater in Austin, Texas, has gotten its revenge on a customer who insisted on doing that very thing.

In a blog post on the Alamo Drafthouse's website, the theater claims it has a strict no-talking policy that was adopted in 1997.

"Recently, we had a situation where a customer persisted in texting in the theater despite two warnings to stop," the blog post reads. "Our policy at that point is to eject the customer without a refund, which is exactly what went down that night. Luckily, this former patron was so incensed at being kicked out, she quickly called the office and left us the raw ingredients for our latest 'Don't Talk or Text' PSA."

That's right: The customer not only got kicked out of the movie without her money, but her angry, expletive-filled voicemail is now being played as part of a video airing before all the R-rated movies shown at the theater.

Watch the video -- and listen to her rant -- below.

Woman gets 152 Facebook friends tattooed on herself

By Ysolt Usigan
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/



(CBS) - This woman gives Facebook friendships a whole new meaning - the permanent kind that you can't delete because someone's constant, stupid status updates are annoying you.

She gets her 152 friends' Facebook default profile pics inked on her arm.

"After months of work I want to show you all my social Tattoo. Pretty amazing right?" says YouTube user susyj87. "I'm really proud of it. Hope you like it too!"

We do! The idea is really cool. Just one question: What happens if someone unfriends you?

Scare Tactics Babysitter Prank is Amazing


Hilarious! I don’t know why Scare Tactics isn’t the number one show in television. This one is a close second to the Rat Boy clip. That might be one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Where do they find these dudes.

Chinese GM Cows Make Human Breast Milk

Holly Williams, Beijing correspondent

Dairy cows

Chinese scientists say human breast milk produced by cows is more nutritious than normal milk. Picture: AFP


Chinese scientists have genetically modified dairy cows to produce human breast milk, and hope to be selling it in supermarkets within three years.



The milk produced by the transgenic cows is identical to the human variety and has the same immune-boosting and antibacterial qualities as breast milk, scientists at China's Agricultural University in Beijing say.

The transgenic herd of 300 was bred by inserting human genes into cloned cow embryos which were then implanted into surrogate cows.

The technology was similar to that used to produce Dolly the sheep.

The milk is still undergoing safety tests but with government permission it will be sold to consumers as a more nutritious dairy drink than cow's milk.

Workers at the university's dairy farm have already tasted the milk, and say it is sweeter and stronger than the usual bovine variety.

There are 1.5 billion people in the world who don't get enough to eat. It's our duty to develop science and technology, not to hold it back. We need to feed people first, before we consider ideals and convictions.

Professor Li Ning, director of the research project

"It's good," said worker Jiang Yao. "It's better for you because it's genetically modified."

The scientists have also produced animals that are resistant to mad cow disease, as well as beef cattle that are genetically modified to produce more nutritious meat.

The director of the research project, Professor Li Ning, says Western concerns about the ethics of genetic modification are misplaced.

"There are 1.5 billion people in the world who don't get enough to eat," he said. "It's our duty to develop science and technology, not to hold it back.

"We need to feed people first, before we consider ideals and convictions."

In contrast to Europe, China has eagerly embraced genetically modified food.

GM cooking oil, papayas, tomatoes and potatoes are already widely available.

Insect-resistant rice and corn modified to help pigs absorb more nutrients were both recently approved by the government.

New Captain America: The First Avenger Teaser Features Plenty of Shield Play

From: http://www.movieline.com/
By:

On the heels of the Captain America: The First Avenger character posters unveiled last week, Paramount Pictures has debuted the first TV spot for the Marvel film. And unlike the Nazi-hating trailer, the new 30-second clip teases plenty of shield play.

Watch Chris Evans leap through the air with his shield, knock out Hitler’s henchmen with his shield, throw his shield, catch his shield, ride his custom motorcycle with his shield and ask for your feedback on his shield. Be warned though: You may have to sit through 30 seconds of ads for the 30 second clip. Apologies!

Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger hits theaters July 22.

A bug's life: Photographer captures flies in exquisite detail by snapping each one 687 times through a microscope

By Daily Mail Reporter
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

If you are scared of creepy crawlies you might want to look away now.

These are the remarkable close-up photographs of flies composed by stitching together up to 687 separate images taken through a microscope.

Tomas Rak photographs a tiny area of the fly under a microscope before moving it a mere five hundredth of a millimetre and taking another snap.

It can take a staggering 687 movements and 'micro-photographs' to capture every part of the fly in such stunning detail.


Close up: The head of Anoplotrupes Stercorosus. It's entire body is only 10mm long
Brilliant lustre: Astonishing colours gleam on the head of a dung beetle, Anoplotrupes Stercorosus. Its entire body is only 10mm long

Flying head-on: The photos are the result of an ingenious photography technique using a microscope. Pictured is the head of a Vespula Vulgaris
Fuzzy-face: The whiskery head of a Vespula Vulgaris, the common wasp. The photographs are the result of an ingenious photography technique using a microscope

Are you looking at me? The Ichneumon wasp which is just 3mm long. Most of it appears to be made of bulging eyes
Are you looking at me? The Ichneumon wasp which is just 3mm long. Most of it appears to be made of bulging eyes
He then uploads the images to a computer and 'stitches' them together to create a larger whole.
They show the furry insects' bizarre facial expressions, bright colours and bulging eyes in an extraordinary new way.

Mr Rak, from Wandsworth, south-west London, said: 'I put the flies on a special microslider which can be moved as little as one five hundredth of a millimetre.

'I then place this under a camera and microscope and take a photo.

'I get a really sharp picture but over a small area so I move the microslider across a tiny bit and take another shot.

Golden glow: The delicate hairs and amber-like pincer of a sawfly which also has a body size of just 3mm
Golden glow: The delicate hairs and amber-like pincer of the tiny sawfly which is just 3mm long

Zoom in: A metallic wasp, measuring just 2mm. The insect can be seen in exquisite detail in the close up shot
Jewel-like: The shimmering and exquisite head of a wasp, measuring just 2mm. Even the hairs on its antennae are clear

High definition: Drosophilia Melanogaster showing it's actual size. The ruler is in millimetres, so this tiny insect measures just three mm in lengthThe Athalia Rosae to show it's actual size....beside a normal match head.
In miniature: A common fruit fly, left, showing its actual size, just three mm in length. Right, a tiny sawfly beside a normal match head

'This has to be repeated many times before I have photographed the whole fly. My record is 687 shots to make up a single insect.

'I look for insects everywhere, I always have a pot with me in case I see something interesting.

'Most of my insect are not larger than 3mm so I have to look very carefully for small black "dots" on walls.'


Mr Rak, 29, added: 'Microphotography can teach other people what these insects really look like.

'My photos are pretty artistic. I particularly like to take shots of insects because I like their shape and they have so many invisible details which you don't usually see.


'I have had a very positive reaction to these images. People who see them keep asking me how photos on a scale such as this could even be possible!'


The vivid backgrounds in the images are real flowers which are then carefully boosted by the editing software.

Mr Rak has only been practising microphotography for eight months.

He had previously become a dab hand at macrophotography, a technique which also examines the smallest of objects, but not to a microscopic level.


He said: 'Microphotography is more difficult and more time consuming than macrophotography because with such huge magnifications, the depth of field has to be very small.


'It is actually the computer editing which is the most time consuming part.'




Side view: The Drosophilia Melanogaster. Photographer Tomas Rak uploads the images to a computer and 'stitches' them together to create a larger whole
Bad case of red eye: The Drosophilia Melanogaster, or common fuit fly. Photographer Tomas Rak uploads the images to a computer and 'stitches' them together to create a whole


Wide eyed: A front view of the fruit fly. Mr Rak said it can take 687 movements and 'microphotographs' to capture every part of the fly in such stunning detail
Wide eyed: A front view of the fruit fly. Mr Rak said it can take 687 movements and 'microphotographs' to capture every part of the fly in such stunning detail

Van Damme Friday - Pics from the Set of Universal Solider IV