Laughing Squid

Writer Marina Benjamin, who has lived with the frustrating condition of lifelong insomnia, shares a highly descriptive passage from her new, aptly-titled book Insomnia. Accompanying this passage is a beautifully disconcerting visual meditation by the New York Magazine series The Cut, which selectively employs related images to represent Benjamin’s words. For memoirist Marina Benjamin, sleep...The post A Beautifully Disconcerting Visual Meditation About the Frustration of Living With Lifelong Insomnia appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Dylan Dubeau of the video series Not Exactly Normal traveled from Toronto, Ontario to Denver, Colorado in order to go to the Flat Earth Society Conference 2018. Dubeau spoke with attendees and vendors, trying to learn more about why they believe the Earth is flat, despite empirical scientific evidence stating otherwise. The answers most commonly...The post What It’s Like Inside the Flat Earth Society Conference appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by pilot (@pilotbacon) on Dec 27, 2018 at 11:38am PST Freelance television writer Pirot Viruet tweeted that she received an amazing Christmas gift from her mother – a giant hand crocheted Monopoly game board blanket. The design is fully set to scale, so the blanket will not...The post Thoughtful Mom Crochets a Giant Playable Monopoly Game Board Blanket for Her Beloved Daughter appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Texas artist Michelle Nirumandrad of Captured Sky created gorgeous interpretations of the sky using different colors of paint that blow across the canvases strapped onto her body while she’s skydiving. The painting takes place during the freefall portion of her jump before she’s engaged her parachute and even after she’s safely being carried to the...The post Artist Uses Wind From Skydiving Freefall to Blow Paint Across Canvas Creating Beautiful Paintings of the Sky appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a promontory episode of Half As Interesting, fast talking narrator Sam from Wendover explains how the shortest international border in the world is an 85 meter (278 feet) long sandy strip created by a storm that connects the rocky Spanish peninsula Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera to Morocco in mainland Africa. This connection...The post How a Narrow Strip of Sand Connecting a Spanish Island to Africa Became the World’s Shortest Border appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Stranger Things (@strangerthingstv) on Dec 31, 2018 at 9:01pm PST Netflix has just announced that Stranger Things will return for Season 3 on July 4, 2019, with the show kicking off 34 years earlier on July 4, 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana. One summer can change everything....The post Stranger Things Returns For Season 3 on July 4, 2019 appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Toscano Bricks takes a look back at some of the biggest and best movies of 2018, recreated in LEGO. Related Laughing Squid PostsHow Fan Films Helped Shape The LEGO MovieA LEGO Tribute To the Biggest Movies of 2015LEGO Movie Posters for Best Picture Oscar NomineesThe post The Top Movies of 2018 Recreated in LEGO appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Domino artist Lily Hevesh a.k.a. “Hevesh5” sent out a very thoughtful wish for a Happy New Year through 6,000 colorful toppling dominoes. The dominoes, which had been precisely laid out over the course of four days, went down in minutes, but not without brilliant “fireworks” at the end . The first few go rounds of...The post Thoughtful Wishes For a Happy New Year Expressed in 6,000 Toppling Dominoes With Fireworks at the End appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A tourist visiting Gatorland in Orlando, Florida captured amusing footage of a great egret who calmly caught a ride on the tail of a surprisingly cooperative alligator, amongst a swamp full of other alligators. I was at Gatorland hanging out with friends and I saw this bird surfing on a gator. Related Laughing Squid PostsBeautiful...The post A Stately Great Egret Calmly Catches a Convenient Ride on the Tail of a Cooperative Alligator appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Caroline Eriksson (@caroline.d.eriksson) on Dec 29, 2018 at 7:09am PST Norwegian cake designer Carolina Eriksson built a truly impressive giant Alien Xenomorph sculpture. In order to make this, Eriksson took homemade gingerbread, which was toughened up for durability, formed it around an iron frame while it...The post A Giant Alien Xenomorph Made Out of Gingerbread appeared first on Laughing Squid.

“Quis est vir bonus puer? Quis est vir bonus puer? Quis est vir bonus puer?” Related Laughing Squid PostsDavid Letterman NBC Years and EarlierA Minimalist Single-Line Illustration of Four Iconic Batman CharactersA Series of Musicians Audition for a Part in the Mos Eisley Cantina Band From ‘Star Wars’ for May the FourthThe post Satanic Ritual to Summon the Goodest Boy Ever appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a very timely Vox video essay, Laura Bult and Mallory Branagan rather helpfully explain the history and the meaning of the original lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne” – the iconic song that most in the United States sing to greet the incoming new year. The song has been adapted for American ears, but the...The post A Helpful Explanation About ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and Its Historical Meaning Outside of Greeting the New Year appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ??????????? Masayo (@kiriesousakukamasayo) on Dec 30, 2018 at 7:28pm PST Japanese kirie artist Masayo Fukuda has created a gorgeous, highly realistic octopus that she delicately cut and textured from a single piece of paper. This piece is so incredible that the artist herself sees it as...The post A Beautiful Highly Realistic Japanese Kirie Octopus Delicately Cut From a Single Piece of Paper appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Game developer and designer Rich Whitehouse has created DOOMBA, a script that converts Roomba cleaning maps into level maps for the classic 1993 FPS video game DOOM. The script runs on Whitehouse’s game development tool Noesis and donations are encouraged to fund his various projects. I soon realized that there was a clear opportunity to...The post DOOMBA, A Roomba That Creates DOOM Level Maps appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a fascinating clip from the BBC show Spy in the Snow, a trio of teenage polar bears kick a snowball shaped camera around in between playful bouts of fighting. The snowball cam was purposely left behind by the larger and much faster blizzard cam as a decoy. Can Blizzard Cam save itself from the...The post Trio of Teenage Polar Bears Kick a Snowball Shaped Camera Around In Between Playful Bouts of Fighting appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Dr. James O’Donoghue, a Planetary Scientist at NASA Goddard had some spare time over the holidays, during which he created a brilliant animation of the eight largest planets in our solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). Using NASA imagery or each planet, O’Donoghue plotted the exact rotation periods (in hours...The post A Brilliant Animation Showing How Fast and at What Angle the Largest Planets in Our Solar System Rotate appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In what appears to be another ongoing online illusion along the lines of “Yanny v. Laurel?” or the “Blue Dress”, redditor Thomas Schroder posted a clip from Sesame Street showing the ever-cheerful Grover talking with Rosita about camera angles. When Rosita suggests that they move the camera, Grover utters a statement that can be heard...The post A Fascinating Audio Illusion That Tricks the Mind Into Thinking Grover Said a Swear Word on Sesame Street appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The great John Malkovich joins the list of actors who have played Agatha Christie‘s iconic Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in an Amazon Prime serial adaptation of Christie’s The ABC Murders. Malkovich wears his Poirot like a well-made suit as he attempts to unravel a particularly gruesome series of murders that follow a particular alphabetical pattern....The post John Malkovich is Detective Hercule Poirot in a Serial Adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ‘The ABC Murders’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Itchy Feet Comic (@itchyfeetcomic) on Dec 30, 2018 at 8:00am PST Itchy Feet takes a look at some of the unique ways that countries celebrate New Year’s around the world. Related Laughing Squid PostsRecord Store Day Celebrates Independently Owned Record Stores & Their Unique CultureXOXO, A...The post The Unique Ways That Countries Celebrate New Year’s appeared first on Laughing Squid.

On October 13 2018, newly-married bride Olivia Spark, her groom Cal Spark and their entire wedding party were taking pictures at Akron Falls Park in western New York when a little girl in pink glasses caught sight of Spark’s gown and adorably mistook the bride for Cinderella. Sparks happily played the role, telling the girl...The post Five Year Old Autistic Girl Adorably Mistakes a Bride in a Flowing White Dress For Cinderella in Real Life appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Florida Boxer Rescue shared this adorable photo of three wireless doorbells on their charging pads. via Florida Boxer Rescue Related Laughing Squid PostsFlatulence Deodorizer Pads for the Inside of Your UnderwearAn Escaped Puppy Repeatedly Rings a (Knocking) Doorbell In Order to Get Back Inside the HouseDuncan Lou Who, A Two Legged Boxer Puppy, Learns to...The post Three Wireless Doorbells on Their Charging Pads appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Hune Bromin brilliantly images what Seinfeld would have been like if it used interactive decision making points similar to what was featured in “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”. How much do you want the soup? Related Laughing Squid PostsBlack Mirror: Bandersnatch, An Interactive Episode That Lets Viewers Decide How the Story ProgressesWhat a Seinfeld Reboot Would Look...The post What It Would Be Like If Seinfeld Had ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’ Style Interactive Decision Making appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Zeus, the very stubborn Husky who vociferously refused to give up the front Seat of his human’s car, let out a long and loud whine towards his human when she refused to fill the bathtub for him. Per Zeus’s human, he loves to play in water, but it was time for his walk and his...The post Stubborn Siberian Husky Whines for His Human to Fill the Bathtub When He’s Supposed to Go Outside appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Seven20 of Underground Toys LLC has created an official Marvel Thor Mjolnir meat tenderizer. This little hammer is a very clever visual pun that wields traditional meat pounding features on either side along with a silicon grip and a handy wrist strap to keep the hammer from flying across the room at a sworn enemy...The post A Meat Tenderizer Mallet Based on Thor’s Hammer appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Tokyo musician Sami Elu played for Kuma Films, an original song “The Accountant” on an Ear Pick Piano, an instrument of his own design made out of recycled materials. This stringed percussion instrument appears to be a variation on the Chopsticks Piano he previously built and played. What does an ear pick piano sound like?...The post Musician Performs a Beautiful Song Played on an ‘Ear Pick Piano’ Built Out of Found and Recycled Items appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Southern Guild (@southernguildgallery) on Jun 13, 2018 at 2:40am PDT South African designer Porky Hefer in collaboration with Schiff Fine Art in New York and Southern Guild in Cape Town, created “Endangered” a snuggly series of hand crafted, tactile seating sculptures that depict an orangutan, a...The post Hand Crafted, Comfy Looking Seating Sculptures Depicting Endangered Species by Designer Porky Hefer appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The surviving members of Queen have a released a brilliant 43 minute highlight video of the band in concert during the 1970s, just as they were getting started. Included in this video reel are the songs “Liar”, “Killer Queen”, “Keep Yourself Alive”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “White Queen”, “Somebody to Love” and (of course) “Bohemian...The post A Brilliant 43 Minute Highlight Video of Queen in Concert at Various Shows During the 1970s appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Actor Danny DeVito is starring in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller‘s 1968 play The Price. DeVito plays a used furniture dealer who haggles with a grieving son Franz (Mark Ruffalo) over the price of the furniture left behind by his deceased parents. In this role, DeVito is required to peel and eat a hard...The post Danny DeVito Shows How to Peel and Eat a Hard Boiled Egg on Stage While Delivering Lines Clearly appeared first on Laughing Squid.

While filming the 2013 BBC nature series The Polar Bear Family and Me, the adventurous wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan found that a very hungry and very persistent polar bear really wanted bring him home for lunch. The nosy ursine tried every trick she knew in order to try to get in to the reinforced cage...The post A Hungry Polar Bear Repeatedly Tries to Break Into the Reinforced Box Protecting BBC Wildlife Filmmaker appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In August 2018, traveler LIFE You Only Live Once posted a fascinating video of what appeared to be a dead, dried up leaf suddenly turning into a brilliantly colored butterfly. This butterfly, known as kallima inachus or more familiarly as the dead leaf nymphalid, uses this brilliant form of camouflage to hide in plain sight....The post A Beautiful Butterfly Brilliantly Disguised as a Dead Leaf appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Vancouver, B.C. engineer David Kronstein aka Tesla500 decided to put his beautiful $3,000 Chronos high-speed camera to the test. After building a secure mount that would completely protect the camera, Kronstein then mounted it onto the blade of a modified lawn mower and put it into motion. This experiment showed Kronstein how well the camera...The post Engineer Mounts High-Speed Camera on Rotating Lawn Mower Blade to Capture It Destroying Objects appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Researchers Chung-Yi Weng, Brian Curless and Ira Kemelmacher-Shlizerman from the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington have created “Photo Wake Up”, a very clever interface that creates the ability for a single 2D human subject within a photo to become 3D animated with an ability to stand, walk and...The post A Clever Interface That Transforms 2D Photo Subjects Into 3D Animations That Can Walk Off the Image appeared first on Laughing Squid.

“Anatomy of New Year’s” by John Atkinson on Wrong Hands Related Laughing Squid PostsAnatomy of the Holidays, Breaking Down the Basic Elements of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New YearsAnatomy of Even More Songs, An Insightful Comic That Gets to the Core of Specific Musical GenresThe Anatomy of Going OutThe post Anatomy of New Year’s appeared first on Laughing Squid.

An adorable little Corgi named Pepper Potts aka Peppa quite happily laid across his human’s ankles and rode up and down as his human flexed his legs in the same direction. If that wasn’t fun enough, the petite canine kept himself occupied by chewing on his human’s shoe. View this post on Instagram My favorite...The post A Little Corgi Dog Happily Rides Up and Down on His Human’s Flexing Legs While Chewing on His Shoe appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the animated short “Drawn & Recorded: Teen Spirit” by Drew Christie of Kalakala Animation, narrator T-Bone Burnett tells the story behind the famous 1991 Nirvana song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and how it all stemmed from a drunken night of antics shared by Kurt Cobain and Bikini Kill lead singer Kathleen Hanna. Burnett pulls...The post A Brilliant Animation of the Story Behind Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ Narrated by T-Bone Burnett appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A very curious trio of dogs reacted to a rather realistic cat head pillow that was given to their human by her husband at Christmas. Each of the dogs barked at the pillow, but one was especially transfixed by the strangely spooky lifelike feline face. A dog gets scared of a cat pillow…so last year...The post A Trio of Curious Dogs Are Completely Spooked by a Very Realistic Cat Head Pillow on the Sofa appeared first on Laughing Squid.

On December 21, 2018, a very rare and beautiful five year old albino orangutan named Alba was released into the forest by the wonderful people at Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, after being treated over the course of one year and eight months for severe stress, dehydration, and a parasite infection that nearly killed her. While...The post The World’s Only Albino Orangutan Who Was Rescued From the Brink of Death Is Returned Again to the Forest appeared first on Laughing Squid.

FoxInaKettle compiled five different videos from Johnny Rucker and other sources, each containing audio of some hilarious in-studio bloopers made by The Beatles over the course of many albums. They then very cleverly added in very accurate text over the static video to describe exactly what was happening. featuring classics such as Thas Boy, Paul...The post A Hilarious Compilation of The Beatles’ Studio Bloopers appeared first on Laughing Squid.

?????? pic.twitter.com/QHvGnqpgCV — ???CAZ??? (@HAZMATCAZZ) December 22, 2018 Baltimore rapper and music producer Hazmatcaz is also a talented impressionist, particularly when it comes to automated voices. One such voice is that of Siri, the very accommodating Apple voice assistant, which Caz vehemently assures is 100% real. for everyone saying that i’m faking the siri you...The post Baltimore Rapper Does a Pitch Perfect Siri Impression appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a pileous video essay for Vox, correspondent Phil Edwards takes a look at the history of the distinct, religious haircut worn by monks, which is called a tonsure. Helping Edwards speak to this point is Daniel McCarthy, Fellow Emeritus at Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland, who is very much an expert on this subject...The post How Changing the Tonsure Hairstyle for Monks Led to Great Discord in the Early Years of the Catholic Church appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In their seemingly hopeful quest to find reasonable alternatives to Earth, the ever-philosophical design house Kurzgesagt explains in a nutshell how life could possibly form, evolve and sustain itself in oceans far beneath the thick frozen surface of rogue planets, provided that the conditions are amenable to such life. …So how could life sustain itself...The post How Life Could Form and Sustain Itself In Water Deep Below the Frozen Surface of a Rogue Planet appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a kaleidoscopic episode of the New York Magazine series The Cut, a San Diego artist Concetta Antico talks about being a tetrachromat, a rare person who possesses an extra photoreceptor in the retina of each eye. Most people only have three photoreceptors, Antico has four, which allows her to see far more colors (up...The post Tetrachromatic Artist Describes How She Can See 100 Million Colors With an Extra Photoreceptor in Each Eye appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Netflix has released a very provocative trailer for the Black Mirror film Bandersnatch featuring a young programmer named Stefan (Fionn Whitehead) who in 1984 begins to lose touch with reality as he embarks upon the enormous project of adapting a a fantasy novel written by a murderer into a cohesive video adventure game. The further...The post Programmer Adapting Novel Into Video Game Loses Touch With Reality in ‘Black Mirror’ Film ‘Bandersnatch’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Sometimes cats can be creative problem solvers, other times… via Miss CellaniaThe post Creative Solutions to a Simple Problem appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a rather befitting mashup, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rap the classic Beastie Boys song “Get It Together” with each character taking on a different verse. The cast of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as The Beastie Boys, Q-Tip, and DJ Hurricane, rapping the classic “Get It Together”. Video by Mylo the Cat aka...The post The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Rap the Classic Beastie Boys Song ‘Get It Together’ in Clever Mashup appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the brilliant animation “Shine” by Johannes Flick and Alexander Dietrich, two very competitive males of an uncertain species compete for the affection of an attractive female by wrapping their tails around hanging light bulbs to see who can glow the brightest. The larger male had the clear advantage at first, but he overplayed his...The post Two Male Creatures Fighting for the Affection of Female Compete to See Who Can Glow the Brightest in ‘Shine’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Actress Amy Sedaris welcomed the cameras of the New York Magazine series The Cut into her quirky Greenwich Village, New York City apartment for a tour. On hand for the tour was Sedaris’ longtime friend, designer Todd Oldham and Tina, Sedaris’ very cute and very destructive rabbit whom she thought was female for a long...The post Actress Amy Sedaris Gives a Tour of Her Wonderfully Quirky Greenwich Village NYC Apartment appeared first on Laughing Squid.

MyIdentityDoctor has created a handy “Delete My Browser History” medical alert bracelet to help make sure your questionable browsing habits are erased in case something unfortunate happens. Related Laughing Squid PostsDelete My Browser History Medical BraceletA Color-Customizable Bracelet That Pairs With a Smartphone to Send Notifications Through Vibration, Sound, and LightLittle Outliner, A Browser-Based Outlining...The post Delete My Browser History Medical Alert Bracelet appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the wonderful Dreamworks animated short “Bilby” by Liron Topaz, Pierre Perifel and JP Sans an anxious big-eared macrotis finds himself to be an unwitting guardian of tiny baby bird who had been abandoned in the Australian Outback. Knowing from his own experience that the Outback was a very dangerous place for the both of...The post A Cynical Marsupial in the Australian Outback Becomes a Fierce Protector of an Abandoned Baby Bird in ‘Bilby’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a stylish video essay, Daniel Netzel of Film Radar takes a look behind the scenes at how costume designers work to make the clothing a natural part the storyline. Netzel lists four habits of successful costume designers who make it look easy, when it’s not. This includes understanding and analyzing the script, speaking with...The post How Costume Designers Embrace Characters In Order to Make Their Clothing a Natural Part of the Storyline appeared first on Laughing Squid.