Laughing Squid

In an amusing unintentional optical illusion, a seemingly giant spider appeared to cross a street towards the Fulshear, Texas police officer who was outside of his car during a traffic stop. In actuality, the spider was of a normal size and was just making a way across the officer’s dashcam. Dash cam video makes it...The post A Seemingly Giant Spider Appears to Cross a Street Towards a Texas Police Officer During a Traffic Stop appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The folks at the Metropolitan Transit Authority partnered up with the Transit Unit of the NYPD to turn the Union Square subway station on the 4 line into an elaborately decorated, truly haunted Halloween experience for their riders on October 18th and 19th. Amongst the scary sights were costumed friends and family of the officers...The post MTA Partners With NYPD Transit to Give NYC Subway Riders an Elaborate Haunted Halloween Experience appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Filmmaker Austin Green of HydrogenGreen and actress Brittney Rae created a very faithful shot-by-shot recreation of Thumper‘s famous “Twitterpated” scene from the classic Disney animation Bambi, paying amusingly specific detail to the heartstruck bunny’s thumping leg. It’s a shot by shot recreation of a scene from Bambi. Here’s the original animated scene. submitted via Laughing...The post A Shot-by-Shot Recreation of Thumper’s ‘Twitterpated’ Scene From ‘Bambi’ Performed Faithfully by Humans appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Jamie Dupuis is a remarkably talented musician who performs absolutely gorgeous cover versions of classic rock songs such as “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, ‘Sounds of Silence’ by Simon and Garfunkel, “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes, “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas and “Field of Gold” by Sting....The post Gorgeous Acoustic Versions of Classic Rock Songs Performed on a Beautiful Harp Guitar appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Crochetverse (@crochetverse) on Oct 15, 2018 at 3:26pm PDT Yarn artist Stephanie Pokorny of Crochetverse, who has previously crocheted an ET costume and a Predator costume, pulled out all the stops with an amazing bright green Ghostbusters Slimer costume that glows in the dark for her...The post Talented Mother Crochets a Freehand Bright Green Ghostbusters Slimer Costume for Her Youngest Son appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Linda Bouderbala (@linda_bouderbala) on Apr 29, 2018 at 10:49am PDT French art director Linda Bouderbala has created a wonderfully whimsical illustration series featuring pop culture characters that are color coded together as teams. There’s Purple Team (Thanos, Ursula and Dino), Black Team (Darth Vader, Catwoman and...The post Incredible Illustrations of Color Coded Pop Culture Icons appeared first on Laughing Squid.

During the 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival, the very affable Brian Hare, who is canine expert and Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University, spoke with The Atlantic about what he sees as the genius of domesticated dogs. He specifically shared what he sees as their remarkable genius in garnering affection from humans that’s usually reserved...The post Canine Expert Explains the Genius Behind the Ability of Domesticated Dogs to Garner Affection From Humans appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In an amusingly informative essay, the knowledgeable music writer Polyphonic explains the unique way in which Disney uses songs to introduce the film’s antagonist to the audience. The songwriters typically employ darker minor keys in songs that are often written alongside the film to seamlessly communicate how villainous the film’s villain actually is. And these...The post The Unique Way Disney Uses Highly Memorable Songs in Minor Keys to Introduce Their Villains to the Audience appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Neil Mendoza, an artist-in-residence at Recology SF, has created “House Party”, an artistic video installation featuring a fully furnished living room made up of recycled items that come alive to collaborate on a danceable electronic music piece. Mendoza also used recycled and found electronic items to create the soundtrack. House Party is a musical installation...The post Recycled Living Room Objects in Their Native Habitat Come Alive to Create Danceable Electronic Music appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Great Big Story visited with Ross MacDonald, a talented illustrator and prop master of all things paper. For the last 25 years, MacDonald has been creating era-appropriate items such as maps, diaries, wanted posters, government reports, match/cigarette boxes and newspapers. MacDonald is extremely skilled at his craft, but remains humbled by the role he plays...The post The Fascinating Art of Making Paper Props, Maps, Posters, Reports and Newspapers for Film and TV appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Journalist Scott McCartney, who writes the Middle Seat column for the Wall Street Journal, boarded a nonstop 18 hour flight from Newark, New Jersey to Singapore aka the longest flight in the world. His purpose for taking this flight was to offer helpful tips for such a long flight such as hydrating your throat, your...The post Helpful Tips for Surviving the Longest Flight in the World appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the fourth episode of the Vox series The Goods, host Carlos Walters talks about the “Gruen Effect” which is the psychology behind using store design to encourage customer impulse buys, a concept fully embraced by the furniture giant IKEA. The company’s strategy includes a circular path that goes past fully decorated rooms, specific lighting,...The post How IKEA’s Store Design Encourages Customers to Purchase Much More Than They Originally Planned appeared first on Laughing Squid.

On October 5, 2018, Sotheby’s Auction House in London sold an original piece of Banksy artwork called “Girl With Balloon”, which fetched a cool £1,042,000 GBP ($1.4 million USD). Unbeknownst to auctioneers, however, the artist had created this piece several years ago with a built-in shredder, which was activated as soon as the gavel dropped....The post Banksy’s Original Plan Was For His Painting to Completely Self-Shred But the Frame Malfunctioned appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Great Big Story traveled to Postojna, Slovenia to explore the incredible Predjama Castle, which sits a precarious 400 feet above the ground on a rocky cliffside but is anchored into place by the ancient caves that sit below. The castle was built in the 13th century, but had to be reconstructed again in the 16th...The post A 13th Century Slovenian Castle That Sits on a Rocky Cliffside Is Anchored Into Place by Ancient Caves appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by É?nn? Cristin ? moon baby (@eanna_cristin) on Aug 28, 2018 at 3:59am PDT De Poezenboot is a wonderful sanctuary houseboat for homeless cats that floats upon the waters of the historic Herengracht canal in Amsterdam. This floating sanctuary was first started by locally renowned “cat lady”...The post De Poezenboot, A Houseboat on an Amsterdam Canal That Provides a Floating Sanctuary to Homeless Cats appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Japanese culture is known for their amazing variety of colorful characters in their midst. One such character is Nyango Star, a costumed hybrid cat-apple mascot for the city of Kuroishi in the apple growing Aomori Prefecture. Nyango Star is not only entertaining to watch because of his his adorable antics, but is also a master...The post Nyango Star, A Popular Japanese Hybrid Cat-Apple Mascot Who Plays Drums Like Namesake Ringo Starr appeared first on Laughing Squid.

British doctor and experienced diver Ben Burville, who has gotten very friendly with a colony of affectionate grey seals, sat very still while a concerned pinniped carefully inspected his face mask for any flaws. Burville, who has been doing this for a long time, loves the attention but warns against getting close to these animals...The post A Concerned Grey Seal Double Checks a Diver’s Face Mask to Make Sure It’s Securely Fastened appeared first on Laughing Squid.

AUBO Robotics, a company founded by three Phd professors from the United States and China, created the Zibo Tea Brewing Machine. This highly intelligent collaborative dual-arm robot gracefully prepares, steeps, pours and serves four perfect cups of Chinese tea. Zibo tea brewing robots can be used as display or unmanned retail machines in certain places...The post A Brilliant Dual Arm Robot That Gracefully Prepares, Pours and Serves Four Perfect Cups of Chinese Tea appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a gently consoling animation, the consistently insightful and thoughtful School of Life, explains the importance of continuing to live your life while honoring the memory of a loved one who has died. Moving forward is not moving on from that person, rather it’s something that this person would want for you, as they wanted...The post The Importance of Appreciating Life While Continuing to Honor the Memory of Someone You Love Who’s Died appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by the baptman (@the_baptman) on Oct 11, 2018 at 3:51pm PDT French illustrator Baptiste Drausin aka the baptman has created a truly thought-provoking, if not terrifying, series that imagines how beloved fictional characters from stories, comics and television shows would be affected by an ecological disaster and...The post Thought Provoking Illustrations Imaging How Beloved Fictional Characters Would Handle Ecological Disasters appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A person who was seemingly trying to capture overhead footage of their beautiful tropical surroundings, somehow lost control of their drone, which crash landed in a nearby lake. The resident fish were curious, turning themselves sideways to check out this strange invader. Their curiosity was very brief, however as the fish moved on shortly afterwards,...The post Curious Fish Turn Sideways to Check Out at a Wayward Drone That Crashed Right Into Their Underwater Path appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In a hilarious episode of “Funny or Die Presents IMDb Me“, an uncensored Jack Black dramatically explains everything that’s listed on his IMDB page, including his first television appearance with Lee Majors on The Fall Guy, his breakout film School of Rock and the surprising fun of playing a popular girl in Jumanji: Welcome to...The post An Uncensored Jack Black Hilariously Explains Everything That’s Listed on His Own IMDB Page appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In the very touching short animation “One Small Step” by Taiko Studios, a little girl named Luna dreams of becoming an astronaut when she grows up. By Luna’s side is her loving father, who always made sure that Luna ate well, fixed her torn shoes and believed in her, particularly during the hard times when...The post One Small Step, A Touching Animation About a Girl Who Dreams of Becoming an Astronaut Someday appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Talented students on the award-winning PAC dance team at Walden Grove High School in Sahuarita, Arizona performed a brilliant Harry Potter themed six-minute halftime homecoming show. The routine faithfully incorporated the story with original hip hop routines put into the mix. https://t.co/3FtHfyA0lQHere is our ‘Harry Potter’ Homecoming Dance!!!! Had a blast performing with Advanced!!! —...The post Students Perform a Brilliant ‘Harry Potter’ Themed 2018 Homecoming Show at a Southern Arizona High School appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Boston Dynamics has really been upping their game lately. First with a parkour performing Atlas and now a dancing Spot. Their talented four-legged robot showed off some fancy gyrating moves in perfect rythm with the Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars collaboration “UpTown Funk“. Related Laughing Squid PostsBoston Dynamics Introduces Spot, A Highly Mobile Four-Legged Robot the Size...The post Boston Dynamics’ Four Legged Spot Robot Gracefully Gyrates and Twerks While Dancing to ‘Uptown Funk’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Norwegian economist, marketer and history reenactor Ola Onsrud demonstrated with a friend how 14th Century knights were able to efficiently fight despite being highly encumbered by the full dressing of armor required at the time. Onsrud created this video in response to viewers questions about a previous video about dressing in 14th century armor. Onsrud...The post Norwegian History Reenactor Shows How 14th Century Knights Fought While Fully Dressed in Armor appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Barnaby Dixon, the highly creative puppeteer, has revealed another one of his ingenious designs. Calling it the “Creepy Face Puppet“, Getting his inspiration from Manu, Dixon gave the puppet a skeletal body, LED eyes and cleverly projected his own mouth onto its face in manner similar to the facade he gave to his bug puppet...The post Barnaby Dixon Reveals a Glow-in-the-Dark ‘Creepy Face Puppet’ With LED Eyes and a Projected Mouth appeared first on Laughing Squid.

In 1969, the baby-faced members of the band Chicago performed the song “Questions 67 & 68” while perched upon a scaffold in a Paris warehouse, surrounded by models sitting on and around the stage. There were also a number of beautiful people dancing on the floor. While it appears to be a live performance, according...The post An Oddly Staged But Incredible Performance of the Band Chicago Playing ‘Questions 67 & 68’ in 1969 appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Debra Minoff and Susannah McCullough of the television and film analysis site ScreenPrism took a crucial look at fan favorite Omar Little of the superb 2005 series The Wire. From the start Omar is a contradiction in so many ways, he robs, steals and kills, but the thing that makes him different from all the...The post How Omar of ‘The Wire’ Lived Honorably by His Own Code by Ensuring the Rules of the Game Were Upheld appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Leo The Little Cavapoo (@little_leo_the_cavapoo) on Oct 8, 2018 at 10:10am PDT A tiny little puppy named Leo who is part poodle, part cavalier King Charles spaniel, loves to entertain himself by knocking various shampoo bottles off the ledge of the bathtub and into the tub...The post A Tiny Puppy Entertains Himself by Knocking Bottles Off the Ledge and Into the Bathtub Just Like a Cat Would appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The brilliantly surreal, timely and highly plausible short film “Product Wars” by H1 and Stephan Zlotescu, tells the story of the founder of Newgenics James Laver), who discovered how to bring consumer products to life through genetic engineering, allowing the products to literally sell themselves. Unfortunately, as the man admits, the sponsoring humans didn’t take...The post Surreal Short Film About Consumer Products Brought to Life Turning on Their Creators When They’re Discarded appeared first on Laughing Squid.

? In the Funny or Die mashup “Pee-Wee’s Big Halloween“, the goofy and hapless behavior of Pee-Wee Herman becomes very scary when put into the context of the truly terrifying world of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her exacting need for revenge on the man who terrorized her on Halloween. It’s been 40 years...The post Pee-Wee Herman Turns Scary In a Hilariously Spooky Mashup of ‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’ With ‘Halloween’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A wonderfully thoughtful man named Chris Martin of Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland wanted to take his wife Samantha away for the weekend to celebrate their anniversary. The couple decided upon Talisker Beach on the Isle of Skye. As they were driving, Storm Callum was making its way across the British Isles. Before the storm hit, Martin...The post A Waterfall Fails to Fall Due to the Heavy Winds of Storm Callum on the Isle of Skye in Scotland appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The fast talking doodling music theorist and musician 12tone, along with friend Patrick Foote from Name Explain visually and verbally dug into the etymological roots of the term “Heavy Metal”, specifically how it came to describe a certain genre of rock music. There are various theories that explain ranging from the band Steppenwolf to William...The post How the Term ‘Heavy Metal’ Came to Quite Accurately Describe a Particular Genre of Rock Music appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The Foo Fighters are getting rather well known for bringing unexpected musicians onto the stage and their October 12, 2018 Kansas City show was no exception. A remarkable 10 year old from Shawnee named Collier Rule strapped on a big baby blue hollow body electric guitar. While Rule didn’t know any Foo Fighters songs, he...The post An Impressive 10 Year Old Guitarist Joins the Foo Fighters On the Stage to Play Some Metallica Songs appeared first on Laughing Squid.

During the 2018 New Yorker Festival, comedian, musician and television host Jimmy Fallon opened up about crossing coasts back and forth for his career, his terrifying audition for Saturday Night Live, the strength within his marriage to get through the hard times and his appreciation for what he has now. He also talked about taking...The post Jimmy Fallon Opens Up About Taking the Postal Exam as a Fall Back Career in Case Comedy Didn’t Work Out appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Ellen DeGeneres invited superstar Twitch streamer Tyler Blevins aka Ninja to teach her how to play the enormously popular online video game Fortnite Battle Royale. Side-by-side, with Ninja’s coaching, they hilariously fought to be the last person standing. Chances are good that Ellen isn’t going to give up talk show hosting anytime soon to pursue...The post Ninja Teaches Ellen How to Play Fortnite Battle Royale appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Lori and I are currently visiting Iceland and today I flew my DJI Mavic Air drone at one of our favorite locations to check out a secret waterfall that is totally inaccessible to humans. If you like waterfalls, I highly recommend visiting Iceland. There are an insane amount of them in this beautiful country. Here...The post Drone Video of a Secret Waterfall in Iceland appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Lucas the Spider, the adorably animated arachnid by Joshua Slice, scares himself silly while reading a creepy Halloween story out loud. He calms down when he reaches a line in the story about spiders, creatures Lucas knows first-hand to not be scary. Instead, he makes up his own scary story about a vacuum cleaner hose...The post Lucas the Spider Scares Himself Silly Twice While Reading a Creepy Halloween Story Out Loud appeared first on Laughing Squid.

A wonderfully tenacious little dog named Putol who was born without back legs showed off her brand new skill – running on her front paws. Because of her birth defect, Putol was left for dead by a careless human. Luckily, a compassionate young man by the name of Danilo Codilego Jr.took notices of this little...The post A Tenacious Dog Born Without Back Legs Who Was Left For Dead Learns How to Run on Her Front Paws appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Musician Nathan Mills of Beyond The Guitar who has performed amazing acoustic covers of songs from television and film, has added the legendary theme from Doctor Who to his list of remarkable stringed accomplishments. In honor of Doctor Who Season 11, this is my Doctor Who Theme classical guitar cover Doctor Who Theme On Guitar...The post A Beautiful Classical Acoustic Guitar Cover of the Iconic Opening Theme Music From ‘Doctor Who’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Eric Callero of Vinyl Rewind tells the fascinating and rather amusing story about how The Beatles got their iconic logo. Callero explains that while Paul McCartney had doodled a couple of designs, the logo actually came about through a deal made between manager Brian Epstein and Ivor Arbiter, the Ludwig dealer who was fitting Ringo...The post How the Deal Made For Ringo Starr’s New Drum Kit Ultimately Led to the Design of The Beatles’ Iconic Logo appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Nicholas Lott, a skydiving instructor in Houston, Texas captured an amazing jump, during which he and a number of other divers formed an incredible human ring in mid air for other divers to take turns passing through. Lott told Caters News that he wanted to show “multiple perspectives of a single skydive”. Related Laughing Squid...The post Daring Skydivers Take Turns Flying Through a Human Ring Formed in Mid-Air by Other Daring Skydivers appeared first on Laughing Squid.

HarvardTHUD, the group of percussively inclined undergraduate students in Cambridge, Massachusetts who previously played a knee slapping cover of the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believing”, performed their own Boomwhacker interpretation of the Toto classic “Africa” aka the internet’s favorite song. Despite getting a bit lost at the end, their rendition of the song was pretty...The post A Fabulous Boomwhacker Cover of Africa by Toto appeared first on Laughing Squid.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by OD (@owendippie) on Sep 30, 2018 at 4:01pm PDT Mural artists Owen Dippie and Jerkface put their amazing skills together to create a giant mural featuring the top half of the tragically late, great Robin Williams‘ smiling face, surrounded by multitude of laughing blue genies just...The post Two Talented Artists Create a Giant Robin Williams Mural on the Side of the Concord Music Hall in Chicago appeared first on Laughing Squid.

Upon waking from a satisfying Halloween nap, a languid Simon’s Cat deliciously stretched the sleep out of his limbs while staring at a picture on the wall behind the bed. After he was fully awake, the relaxed kitty suddenly became pensive and suspicious all the while staring at that wall. Not even Simon himself could...The post Simon’s Cat Becomes So Entranced by a Picture on the Bedroom Wall That He Refuses His Halloween Meal appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The amazing Atlas humanoid robot by Boston Dynamics can do a great many things. It can walk, run, jump, spin, do backflips and even occassionally try to escape. It can walk over uneven surfaces and balance on narrow surfaces. With all these skills already onboard and updated control software, it seems more than reasonable that...The post The Boston Dynamics Atlas Robot Does Parkour appeared first on Laughing Squid.

If you ever have trouble telling the difference between an alligator and a crocodile, this should help. Related Laughing Squid PostsThe Difference Between a Crocodile and an AlligatorInterior Crocodile AlligatorA Cleverly Designed Crocodile Bookmark That Lies in Wait When the Book Cover Is ClosedThe post A Scientifically Accurate Way to Tell the Difference Between an Alligator and a Crocodile appeared first on Laughing Squid.

The very talented trombonist Christopher Bill partnered up with equally talented and fellow horn player Seb Skelly to perform an amazing brass quintet cover of the classic Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) song “Mr. Blue Sky“. Here’s the original version of the song. The two also paired up for a rousing cover of the ABBA song...The post Fellow Horn Players Christopher Bill and Seb Skelly Pair Up to Cover the Classic ELO Song ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ appeared first on Laughing Squid.

“Weird” by Lobster Studio is a beautifully animated short that accompanies a self-affirming poem that encourages those who are considered weird, or consider themselves to be weird, to remain true to themselves. As the poem weird is just a concept without meaning, no matter what anyone else has to say. “Weird” is a monologue about...The post A Beautifully Animated Poem About Remaining True to One’s Weird Self Despite What Anyone Else Has to Say appeared first on Laughing Squid.