Laughing Squid

In 1995, actor and director Jordan Peele took part in a nationwide consortium of student advocates who were seeking to make the United States a smoke-free country by the year 2000. In order to promote this ambitious quest, Peele along with fellow actors William Hernandez, Ola Creston and two others created a four minute public...The post A Young Jordan Peele Advocates Against Smoking in Unaired 1995 PSA for ‘Smoke Free Class of 2000’ first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Cuddle Clones in Lexington, Kentucky creates original plush toys in the image of beloved pets, also creates adorable plush slippers. Each pair is completely custom and hand made using photos submitted by their adoring humans. The company will happily create these wearable replicas of cats, dogs, birds, horses and even two different animals for each...The post Custom Slippers Created From Photos of Beloved Pets first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Artist Ben Avlis creates very clever illustrations that pull out to show another side. When animated, these illustrations open and close mouths, explode heads and reveal hidden monsters. Prints and T-shirts are available through Avlis’ Etsy store. via Eyes on Cinema Related Laughing Squid PostsNew York Public Library Offers Access to Classic Tales Through Instagram...The post Cleverly Animated Pull Out Illustrations first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Filmmaker Falaah Nasser has created an absolutely stunning timelapse that tours around Oman. In making this, Nasser stated that wanted to share with others the beauty of the country. The timelapse encompasses over 15,000 photos of 64 locations taken over the course of two years. This a time lapse video that I have recently made....The post A Stunning 4K Timelapse Tour Around Oman first appeared on Laughing Squid.

In 2016, we wrote about “Toki”, an amazing 3D printed zoetrope by Japanese artist Akinori Goto. Since that time Goto has further explored how light interacts with movement. In “Rediscovery of Anima”, Goto takes a look at the more “primitive methods using sunlight”. At the same time as exploring how society might have interacted with...The post Creating the Illusion of Movement by ‘Primitive Means’ first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Canadian animal photographer Jess Bell has created a gorgeous photo series that features the playful side of agile dogs as they gleefully leap through pillowy clouds of brightly colored (non-toxic) powder. Bell stated that she was inspired by the work of equine photographer Andrea Zachrau. This photo and the rest of my coloured powder series...The post A Gorgeous Photo Series Featuring Agile Dogs Leaping Through Pillowy Clouds of Colored Powder first appeared on Laughing Squid.

In March 2018, Jason Kingsley OBE of Modern History TV invited food historian Chris Carr in the preparation of what would a typical meal prepared by peasants, farmers and innkeepers during the medieval times. The menu consisted of a barley/rye flour brown bread, salmon steaks with sorrel sauce and pottage (mushy) peas, all served with...The post Preparing a Typical Peasant Meal From Medieval Times first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Diver, conservationist and marine biologist Ocean Ramsey who seems to have quite an amazing way with sharks, whales and other large sea dwelling creatures, swam alongside an enormous female great white shark who was in into the waters of Oahu, Hawaii. Ramsey was doubly pleased to learn that not only was this the same shark...The post Diver Ocean Ramsey Swims With an Enormous Pregnant Great White Shark She Had Met Before first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Dr. Justin Lin of Rehab and Revive Physical Therapy in Tustin, California addressed the importance of kneecaps with a very basic model. Using two planks of perpendicularly joined planks of wood (knee), a small ball (kneecap) and a long piece of elastic (tendon), Dr. Lin demonstrated how the joint works both with the ball and...The post The Important Role Kneecaps Play in Active Mobility first appeared on Laughing Squid.

While a cat and chickens ran around behind him, musician Ösgur Baba performed a quietly gorgeous rendition of the classic Turkish folk song “Dertli Dolap” by poet and Sufi mystic Yunus Emre on a traditional cura, a three stringed instrument with a beautifully expressive high pitch. On the first year of Elif’in Hecesi; Özgür Baba...The post A Gorgeous Performance of the Traditional Turkish Folk Song ‘Dertli Dolap’ Played on a Cura first appeared on Laughing Squid.

In footage from the first season of the PBS series 3-2-1 Contact recorded at the Taylor County Coliseum in Abilene, Texas, the roadies on the 1979 KISS Dynasty Tour described what they needed to do in order to build the incredibly elaborate set and ensure the instruments were ready and in-tune. The the then larger-than-life...The post Roadies Describe How to Put on KISS Show in 1979 first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Artist Ed Seeman posted the award-winning 1967 television ad for Luden’s Cough Drops, which featured his own brilliant animation and a unique soundtrack created by a young Frank Zappa. Seeman had hired Zappa to do the work and the two became friends. In 1967 I hired frank zappa for $2,000 to do the soundtrack for...The post A 1967 Animated Luden’s Cough Drops Television Ad Featuring a Unique Soundtrack Created by Frank Zappa first appeared on Laughing Squid.

Multi-instrumentalist Ollie Longz aka Banjo Guy Ollie (previously) performed a couple of amazing television covers. The first was the original, iconic Magnum P.I. theme that he played during Movember. It’s Moustache month!! And while it’s highly unlikely I will sport the handlebar look myself, I am bringing you the most moustache power a man can...The post Multi-Instrumental Covers of the Theme From Original ‘Magnum P.I.’ and ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared on Laughing Squid.

The aptly named CandleHand creates candles in the shape of incredibly realistic looking hands making a variety of recognizable gestures. The candles are made in Vilnius, Lithuania, are 100% natural, has a wick in each finger and come in a variety of primary colors. Among the hand gestures available are “Victory”, “Crossed Fingers”, “Gun Fingers”,...The post Incredibly Realistic Hand Gesture Candles first appeared on Laughing Squid.

The short film “My Paintbrush Bites” by Joel Pincosy and Joe Egender tells the story about a horse named Metro Meteor, a retired rescued racehorse that nobody wanted who found a second career as an artist. With the encouragement of his very supportive human Ron Krajewski, an artist himself, Metro began to flourish once again....The post A Rescued Retired Racehorse Finds a Creative Second Career as a Highly Successful World Famous Artist appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a nostalgic video essay, Debra Minoff and Susannah McCullough of The Take offer insight into the “Pixar Moment” that makes everyone cry. This technique essentially reflects the way Pixar creates ideological obstacles that lead to pivotal junctions of self-realization, which frees them once the challenge is conquered. To further discuss the point, Minoff and...The post How Pixar Creates Emotional Obstacles That Lead to Pivotal Moments of Character Self-Realization appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Video essayist Thomas Flight talks about spoilers, specifically whether or not these unexpected revelations actually ruin the story in film, television shows, books or podcasts. He first starts off with an excellent point about self-spoilers that occur when people re-watch, re-read and re-listen to the same stories. He also turns to experiments with results that...The post Why Spoilers May Not Actually Spoil a Story appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the short documentary “Mountain Monks”, filmmaker Fritz Schumann (previously) has captured the quiet beauty of the Yamabushi and the monks who climb mountains and traverse waterfalls without shoes on their feet in a meaningful ritual that symbolizes death and rebirth. This ancient faith they follow is a combination of Shinto, Buddhism, Animism, Daoism and...The post A Beautiful Documentary About the Yamabushi Monks in Japan Who Immerse Themselves In Nature appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The machinist behind Latherman’s Crazy Machines shares a really perplexing screw he made that only turns clockwise within its turret. When he removes the turret, however, he reveals that this seemingly single screw is actually two different screws cut and fitted together in such a way that it can only go one way. Latherman demonstrated...The post An Impossible Screw That Will Only Turn Clockwise appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Chuck and Beans explain the difference between a geek, nerd and dork on Shoebox. via Miss Cellania Related Laughing Squid Postsxkcd Venn Diagram on Geeks & NerdsNerd Venn Diagram: Geek, Dork or Dweeb?Dork, Nerd, & Geek LollipopsThe post Geek vs Nerd vs Dork appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A curled up dog, who’s part dingo, was given a very comforting massage from the pair of boxing robots that the children had received for Christmas in at their home in Darley, Victoria, Australia. The blue robot took the dog’s head, while the red robot got the other end. The kids massaging our part dingo...The post Dog Receives a Massage From a Pair of Boxing Robots appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In 2017, the Irish comedy trio Foil Arms and Hog put together a hilarious scenario in which countries from all over the world, represented in the form of actual people, play a rousing game of “Risk”. The thing about this particular game, however, is that the players decided to employ real world war tactics rather...The post Countries Represented in the Form of People Play a Hilarious Game of Risk Using Real World War Tactics appeared first on Laughing Squid.

While building a comb off the branch of a tree, a colony of honey bees in Vietnam engaged in a defensive wave, a process that sends murmuring ripples down the line in order to keep predators away. While this wave function is purely utilitarian, the resulting audio-visual effect is absolutely fascinating. This ‘wave’ is utilized...The post Defensive Waves Ripple Through Honey Bee Colony appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Steve Bage has just released his intense documentary on the incredible Survival Research Laboratories show that took place at the Extreme Futurist Fest in Los Angeles on December 22, 2012. This is the public YouTube debut of this documentary, four years in the making. It chronicles the planning, pre-production, and performance of a full Survival...The post Documentary on 2012 Survival Research Laboratories Show at the Extreme Futurist Fest in Los Angeles appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment‘s wonderful ongoing series about unusual and classic instruments, musician Antony Pay performs a bit on a 5-key basset clarinet. He then explains that this unique woodwind instrument creates the rich, beautiful sound for which Mozart was writing. This is the clarinet that Mozart would have expected to...The post Musician Performs on a Beautiful Five-Key Basset Clarinet With a Rich Sound Perfect for Mozart appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Actor Steve Carell, showrunner Greg Daniels and producer Howard Klein, all of whom are co-creators of the US version of The Office, have reunited for Space Force. This new show with yet undetermined release date, is in direct response to Trump’s announcement of Space Force as the 6th branch of the Air Force and imagines...The post Steve Carell Reunites With ‘The Office’ Co-Creators for ‘Space Force’ Workplace Comedy Series on Netflix appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco have created a really beautiful animation that travels down into the molecular layer of a leaf from a redwood tree where the inner workings of active scientifically accurate photosynthesis come into view. Take a journey inside a leaf of a redwood tree. Enter the stoma and view...The post A Beautifully Animated Journey Inside a Redwood Leaf appeared first on Laughing Squid.

David Goldenberg of MinuteEarth explains how fingerprints are formed. These singular identifiers first start out as volar pads that form in utero. These pads soon give way to the ensuing chaos of development, which causes each pad to form a unique pattern of ridges, whorls and arches that are unlike anyone else’s. Because of the...The post The In Utero Chaos That Makes Fingerprints So Unique appeared first on Laughing Squid.

“Directions to Johnny B. Goode’s Place” by John Atkinson on Wrong Hands via Naked Music Score, Duck Soup, Nag on the Lake Related Laughing Squid PostsA Powerful Mashup of Black and White Scenes From ‘Logan’ Set to the Johnny Cash Cover of ‘Hurt’Michael J. Fox Joins Coldplay Onstage to Recreate His ‘Johnny B. Goode’ Solo...The post Directions to Johnny B. Goode’s Place appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a fascinating study, researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have reverse engineered the movement of the Orobates pabsti, an extinct prehistoric reptilian creature that lived over 260 million years ago and is the early ancestor of modern day reptiles and birds. In order to achieve this, the team studied a recovered skeletal fossil,...The post An Interactive Simulator That Reconstructs Movement of a Prehistoric Reptile Using Reverse Engineering appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The Netflix documentary series Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, offers a peek into the twisted mind of the serial “Campus Killer” Ted Bundy. The use of death row recordings reflect Bundy’s point-of-view while interview footage shows how Bundy’s outward charm and good looks eerily won him some fans who couldn’t believe he...The post Serial Killer Ted Bundy Opens Up About His Heinous Crimes in the Netflix Series ‘Conversations With a Killer’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In November 2018, the human behind the YouTube channel The Secret Life of My Hamster built a very clever maze with five different levels to conquer. In the first round, the big blonde hamster ran the course from start (top) to finish (bottom). Next up was a smaller gray hamster, who ran it backwards from...The post Two Hamsters Run a Very Clever Maze Created by Their Human With Five Different Levels To Conquer appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Music mixer Joh Ph posted an amazing clip highlighting the exquisitely haunting beauty of Siouxsie Sioux‘s voice as captured in isolated vocal tracks from the recording of “The Killing Jar” for the album Peepshow by Siouxsie and the Banshees. Here’s the song in its fully recorded form. via Dangerous Minds Related Laughing Squid PostsThe Incredible...The post The Haunting Beauty of Siouxsie Sioux’s Voice Captured in Isolated Vocal Tracks For ‘The Killing Jar’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In an eerily predictive BBC clip from December 28, 1966, British school children offered their wisdom about what the year 2000 looks like to them. Most responded with legitimate concerns that are still at hand 19 years past that date in the future. We are still talking about the threat of nuclear war, climate change,...The post British Children in 1966 Voice Their Concerns Predicting What the World Might Look Like in the Year 2000 appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Todd McKee, founder of Bulldog Aerials, former associate director at ABC News and licensed drone operator captured gorgeous, high definition overhead footage of an unusually perfect rotating ice circle that suddenly appeared in the middle of the Presumpscot River in the city of Westbrook, Maine. According to McKee, this ice floe was massive. It is...The post Gorgeous 4K Drone Footage of an Unusually Perfect Rotating Circle of Ice That Appeared in a Maine River appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the Netflix series Black Earth Rising, a young woman named Kate Ashby (Michaela Coel) who works for lawyer Michael Ennis (John Goodman) approaches her adoptive mother (Harriet Walter), who is also an attorney, in order to find out from where she came and why her history has remained hidden for so long. The effort...The post An Adopted Woman Tries to Uncover Her Hidden History in the Netflix Series ‘Black Earth Rising’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In addressing the old Henry Wadsworth Longfellow adage that says that “music is the universal language of all mankind”, the fast talking doodling music theorist and musician 12tone makes a number of valid points that gently debunk the statement. By way of explanation, he notes that instruments are tuned differently in modern times thus changing...The post Gently Debunking the Old Longfellow Adage That Says ‘Music Is the Universal Language of All Mankind’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the heartbreakingly powerful 2016 animation “Dream”, created for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival by Zombie Studio, four very different, critically endangered animals sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from the Les Misérables soundtrack. With the lyrics of the particular song, each animal – a blue whale, a brown pelican, a baby harp seal and a...The post Four Critically Endangered Animals Sing ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ From Les Misérables in a Powerful Animation appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Namibian-German artist Max Siedentopf has created “TOTO FOREVER”, an apt solar powered, six-speaker sound installation located in the middle of the Namib desert. In keeping with the theme, the system is only programmed to play one song repeatedly – “Africa” aka “the internet’s favorite song”. Set in the Namib desert, which is …the oldest desert...The post A Solar Powered Sound Installation Located in the Middle of the Desert That Only Plays Toto’s ‘Africa’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ZEKEDRONE (@zekedrone) on Nov 27, 2018 at 8:28am PST The Dronestagram International Drone Photography Contest has announced their 2018 winners. Thousands of entries were submitted from everywhere in the world by talented professional photographers and amateur drone photo enthusiasts. Here are the top three photos of...The post The Top Three Winners of the Dronestagram 2018 International Drone Photography Contest appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Gavin Free of the Slo Mo Guys decided to forego British societal norms and look partner Dan Gruchy right in the left eye. Free used a long lens to capture macro footage of Gruchy’s eye as the pupil constricted and dilated in slow motion with an extreme change of light. British people are not known...The post Fascinating Macro Footage of the Pupil of an Eye Constricting and Dilating in Slow Motion appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ginger cat & vizsla mutts (@ginger_cat_and_vizslas) on Jan 14, 2019 at 7:04am PST A sweetly affectionate orange tabby named Kelvin jones his canine buddy Joule every day on the sofa to get in a few cuddles before their humans came home. Both these animals (and some...The post Webcam Captures Cat Joining Dog on the Sofa to Snuggle Together While Their Humans Are at Work appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Aaron Muszalski aka SFSlim has created Burning Wish, a beautiful project that helps cancer patients and their families create a plan to attend and enjoy Burning Man without having to wear the label of cancer or suffer an interruption in care. The program debuted in 2018 and funds are being raised to bring it to...The post Burning Wish, A Beautiful Project That Helps Make Burning Man Accessible to Cancer Patients appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The host of The Action Lab decided to fly a drone inside an elevator that was going up eight floors just to see what would happen. Unlike his previous flight challenge inside a moving vehicle, this was rather safe but interesting experiment showing how a drone in flight positions itself to remain aloft inside an...The post What Happens When Flying a Drone Inside an Elevator appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Nike has announced the Adapt BB, their new self-lacing shoe that is fully enabled with the Nike app for a fine tuned, custom fit. They also announced that while the previous version of their self-lacer was over $720, this newer, sleeker version will be sold at $350 – half the price of the original. The...The post Nike Announces Adapt BB, Self-Lacing Basketball Shoes That Pair With Nike App for a Finely Tuned Fit appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In her wonderfully enabling series “How DOES She Do It?”, a smiling Amy Brooks shows how she performs certain tasks despite not having arms or legs. Brooks was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, which is a congenital disorder that affects limb development in utero. Despite this condition, Brooks is an artist, author, motivational speaker and now...The post Woman Without Arms or Legs Shows How She Folds Laundry and Performs Other Household Tasks appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a video report for Le Temps, musician Pierre Audétat visited the Swiss Museum for Electronic Music (SMEM) in Fribourg, Switzerland, which houses the world’s largest collection of synthesizers. Collection coordinator Vincent Borcard gave Audétat a tour of the place and shared with him some of the rarest and most interesting pieces in the museum....The post A Tour of the World’s Largest Collection of Synthesizers appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A forthright essay written by Jim Can’t Swim offers a spot on analysis of narcissism. He explains that the narcissistic individual lives in a constant state of insecurity, is a master manipulator and their perception of the world is through the lens of how other people see them. While admiring one’s own selfies on social...The post A Spot On Analysis of Narcissism appeared first on Laughing Squid.

For her graduation, film student Hanna Rybak wrote and directed a wonderful animation that illustrates the very witty Sir Winston Churchill quote entitled “If You Can”. If you can start your day without caffeine, If you can always be cheerful and ignore aches and pains, If you can resist the claims and not to bore...The post If You Can, An Amusing Animation Illustrating a Very Witty Quote by Winston Churchill appeared first on Laughing Squid.