Cats know so many things. They definitely know the meaning of life. They are wiser than you, they are more intelligent than you, and they are generally better than you in everything. You must accept it – you’ll never be as good as your cat. But can you imagine what would happen if your cat could speak? That’s right – it would judge you. Every step of the way.
My cat always watches me with a look which says, “You’re stupid.” So this is an illustrated story about the things my cat (I presume) would say if he could speak. And it makes me think I am lucky that he can’t…
Many people consider cross-stitching to be something their grandma would do, but Eva Krbdk, a tattoo artist based in Ankara, Turkey, seems to think otherwise. Her cross-stitch tattoo designs look like a cross between pixel art and the popular folk art they’re named for.
Many of her pieces are simple and cute, but with a large-enough canvas, they can become truly impressive, utilizing a wide array of colors that blend to form beautiful images. She’s not a one-trick pony, either – check out her Instagram for other cool tattoos!
Gene Wilder began his movie career in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde, but he became famous as a favorite of writer/director Mel Brooks. His wacky roles in films such as Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory made him an unforgettable comedy icon. In his later years, Wilder has become a serious novelist, writing a memoir and several novels.
Early Life
Gene Wilder was born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June 11, 1933, to a Jewish family. His father, William, had emigrated from Russia. His mother, Jeanne, was often ill from complications from rheumatic heart disease, and a doctor warned the 8-year-old Jerome, "Don't ever argue with your mother... you might kill her. Try to make her laugh." These circumstances began Wilder's lifelong calling to acting, as he made his mother laugh by putting on different accents. After a brief stint in a California military academy, Wilder moved back to Milwaukee and became involved with the local theater scene, making his stage debut as Balthasar in a production of Romeo and Juliet.
After graduating from high school, Wilder studied communication and theater arts at the University of Iowa, following that with a year studying theater and fencing at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, United Kingdom. He returned to the United States to study the Stanislavski method of acting but was promptly drafted into the U.S. Army for two years, during which time he worked as a medic in Pennsylvania. Next, Wilder moved to New York City, where he took a variety of odd jobs, including a position as a fencing teacher, to support himself while he studied acting.
Early Career
At age 26, Wilder decided that he "couldn't quite see a marquee reading 'Jerry Silberman as Macbeth'" and took the stage name Gene Wilder. He took his new first name from a character in a Thomas Wolfe novel, and his last from the playwright Thornton Wilder. He started appearing with some regularity in off-Broadway and Broadway shows. In a 1963 production ofMother Courage and Her Children, he met Anne Bancroft, who introduced him to her boyfriend, Mel Brooks. Wilder and Brooks became fast friends, and Brooks decided he wanted to cast Wilder in a production of the screenplay he was writing, The Producers.
Film Career
Wilder made his film debut with a minor role in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde. He took on his first major role in The Producers, playing Leo Bloom against Zero Mostel's Max Bialystock. The film was a box office flop and received mixed reviews, but Wilder earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He quickly became an in-demand commodity in Hollywood, taking parts in several comedies, including the idiosyncratic title character inWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
Willy Wonka brought to life the weird and wild Roald Dahl book of the same name, and it thoroughly established Gene Wilder as a leading man who could hold his own in any comedic situation. As the enigmatic Wonka, Wilder chewed the scenery right into a Golden Glove nomination for best actor and became known to a legion of young film-goers.
Despite Wilder's personal success, though, none of his films of this period met with much commercial success. He finally broke that streak with a role in Woody Allen's 1972 film Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). He then took a last-minute role in Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles, a decision that would help define his career.
Blazing Saddles was a western like no other, and it set out to offend every viewer equally. Now a cult classic, the movie set Wilder on a path through his other classic films, including four with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Another You (1991).
Stir Crazy, in which Wilder and Pryor played prison inmates, was a notable hit, and like Blazing Saddles before it, the film helped to cement Wilder's reputation as a comedy legend.
Wilder began writing and starring in more films in 1974, starting with Young Frankenstein (in which he played Dr. Frederick Frankenstein). Like Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein set out to turn an established genre, this time horror, on its head. Starring Wilder as the infamous Dr. Frankenstein's grandson, the movie is unrelenting in its jokes and sight gags, and audiences have been connecting with it since the day it hit theaters.
Wilder also wrote, directed and starred in 1975's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and 1977's The World's Greatest Lover. WhileYoung Frankenstein was a hit and achieved a huge cult following, the others failed to gain positive critical response and were commercially unsuccessful.
Foo Fighters star Dave Grohl 'breaks leg' in stage fall
Foo Fighters star Dave Grohl is thought to have broken his leg after falling off the stage during a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The band were two songs into their set at the Ullevi stadium when the singer went to jump on a ramp but missed and fell into the security area.
"I think I just broke my leg," Grohl told the crowd as he lay on the ground.
"I'm going to go to hospital. I'm going to fix my leg. And then I'm going to come back."
He added: "You have my promise right now that the Foo Fighters - we're going to come back and finish the show."
Surreal
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the band continued the concert, playing cover versions whilst Grohl sought medical attention.
Keiron Brennan 43, from London, filmed the moments just after the 46-year-old frontman toppled from the stage.
He said: "We were only around 200 yards away and at first we thought it was a prank but then it became apparent that it was quite serious. The drummer went ashen and jumped down to see where he was. Everyone was worried as we were only two songs into the gig and we couldn't see what had happened to him.
"He reappeared after an hour to continue the concert, sitting in a chair with his leg bandaged.
"It was surreal to see him perform on stage with a medic holding his leg. The crowd was just amazed that he was carrying on. He was just phenomenal. I can't see how he will make the next gig in Holland but then he's more of a man than I am so I wouldn't put it past him," he added.
Grohl fell at 21:00 local time (20:00 BST) and went on to perform for another two-and-a-half hours.
His band later tweeted a picture of what appears to be an x-ray of his leg.
The Foo Fighters are due to play their next concert on Sunday at the Pinkpop festival in the Netherlands, followed by Wembley Stadium in London next weekend and then a headline set at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK on 26 June.
This year has seen several musicians injured on stage.
Madonna also fell off stage during a live performance at the Brit Awards. The pop star continued her performance, but said she suffered "a little bit of whiplash".
Tim Curry makes rare public appearance after suffering stroke as he accepts Lifetime Achievement Award at Tony Awards party
Nearly three years ago actor Tim Curry suffered a stroke that continues to affect his speech.
But despite the health woes, the 69-year-old was in good spirits as he was honored with The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday at the Tony Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles.
Speaking to Los Angeles magazine, he said that he has been 'doing well' and was 'looking forward' to receiving the honor.
Honored: Tim Curry made a rare public appearance as he was honored with The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday at the Tony Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles
'I’ve done a few benefits for the Actors Fund and I think it’s a marvelous organization. I hope not to have to use it,' the acclaimed character actor quipped.
The Actors Fund provides assistance with the cost and arrangements of funerals and burials.
And it is the Legend star's sense of humor that has helped helped him to remain optimistic since his July 2012 stroke when he collapsed at his Los Angeles home.
Acclaim: The character actor received a Tony nomination in 1981 for his role as Mozart in Amadeus
Rare: In December, he made a rare appearance for a Christmas Eve dinner at Ago restaurant in Los Angeles with a friend, who pushed the It actor in a wheelchair
'It’s not tough to maintain,' he explained. 'It is just part of my DNA.'
The magazine noted that his 'speech is slowed a bit.'
In December last year, he made an appearance for a Christmas Eve dinner at Ago restaurant in Los Angeles with a friend, who pushed the It actor in a wheelchair.
Tim is best known for his role as the brilliantly mad transvestite scientist Dr Frank N Furter in the The Rocky Horror Show.
Tim Curry stars in 1975's The Rocky Horror Picture Show
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Health woes: In July 2012 he collapsed at his Los Angeles home after suffering a stroke
He first starred in the original 1973 London production, and continued to play the part on Broadway before playing the same character in the 1975 film.
On the role that catapulted him to stardom, he told Los Angeles magazine that he looks at the film's success 'with a sort of bemused tolerance.'
He continued: 'It’s neither a blessing nor a curse. I was lucky to get it.'
For many years he rarely discussed the movie, fearing he would be typecast.
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Good humor: The Home Alone 2 star cited his humor for helping him through his health crisis
Tim recalled opening night during his Broadway debut in The Rocky Horror Picture Show as 'very exciting' but found its critics to be far too harsh.
'I had to go on the Today Show the next day and they read the reviews - which were appalling,' he explained. 'That brought me down. It was very cruel.'
The reviews described his performance as ‘a mixture of Joan Crawford and Burt Lancaster’ and ‘Mick Jagger, David Bowie and Marc Bolan all in one.'
Stage legend: Between 2004 and 2007 he played King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on stage in Chicago, Broadway and the West End
However, he won over the Broadway community in 1981 when he was nominated for a Tony Award for the lead role in the play Amadeus.
'It was a brilliant play and a terrific production. And a wonderful part,' he said of portraying Mozart.
'The big problem is not to make him as loony as he is, but to make him sympathetic as well.'
Between 2004 and 2007 he played King Arthur in the Monty Python musical Spamalot on stage in Chicago, Broadway and the West End.
Cult classic: Tim is best known for his unhinged role as mad transvestite scientist Dr Frank N Furter in the The Rocky Horror Show
Some of his stage credits include What About Dick? My Favorite Year and Travesties, among others.
In 2011 he was scheduled to appear in Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, however he withdrew from the production at the last minute citing ill health.
Meanwhile, at the viewing party, the veteran actor arrived in a black suit and was seated in a wheelchair.
He joins Theodore Bikel, Alfred Molina and Joe Morton as recipients of the same lifetime achievement award.
Time Wrap! He first starred in the original 1973 London production, and continued to play the part on Broadway before playing the same character in the 1975 film
'It means that it just sort of solidifies the kind of work the American acting community has given me for years now,' he said of the honor.
'It’s very gracious of them, I think. I was thrilled when they told me and I am thrilled now.'
When asked what life would be like for him if it reflected the theater, he said: 'Scary. Well the theater is scary. And the longer the time in between the periods in the theater, the scarier it gets.
Adding: 'Life isn’t meant to be scary. It’s to be celebratory. In which case, it would be like the theater. I think of that as a celebration of life.'
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD MY LITTLE PONY BECAUSE OF COURSE
Even if the movie wasn’t the biggest smash hit of the year, the way it should have been, Mad Max: Fury Road has certainly taken the prize for the film with the largest permeation on the internet. The number of essays and articles written about George Miller’s post-apocalyptic, people-driving-in-a-straight-line action film became a must-see for fans of cinema and discourse about gender roles, internal politics, and blind devotion. It’s also precipitated all sorts of awesome DIY projects, par exemplesome Mad Max Power Wheels.
The newest and, we admit, most absurdly awesome of these projects are custom-made (and totally unofficial, via artist Kelsey Wailes) Mad Max: Fury Road My Little Pony figurines. That’s right, two weird worlds that are even weirder together. The artist used the older variety of My Little Pony dolls, from prior to the Brony days, and Polymer clay, acrylics, leather, and faux fur to create highly-accurate equestrian representations of Max Rockatansky, Imperator Furiosa, Nux, and Immortan Joe.
They look so happy together, don’t they?
Both the Nux and the Max figures had heads that could rotate, but all four figures have the ability to drive cars (not true). I don’t know which is more impressive — Joe’s toothy face mask/breathing apparatus or Furiosa’s mechanical artificial hoof. They somehow even managed to get the look of pure chrome-fueled martyrdom in Nux’s eyes, although I seem to recall that’s just how My Little Ponies looked anyway.
The figures were available for sale at last weekend’s Awesome Con in Washington, D.C., so unfortunately that’s over, but you can still witness them in their full glory in the gallery below.
Mad Max Fury Road Ponies: Because I am a monster.
They were super fun to make and super horrifying (I’m looking at you, Immortan Joe)
Made with My Little Pony toys, Polymer clay, acrylics, leather, and faux fur.
The long-awaited continuation of the series based on the novel written by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan come on FX channel on Sunday, July 12. This information appeared on the website IMDB and official confirmed.
The second season of this bloody show promises to be very exciting – ancient vampire The Master begins a full-scale invasion of New York. More and more people infected with the worm, and thus become slaves to the will of Jusef Sardu. To stop the spread of the “Strigoi worm” CDC employees Nora Martinez and Eph Goodweather come up with a plan.
Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain had a fantastic first season that I enjoyed watching. FX has announced that vampire series will return with its second season on July 12th. From then on out you’ll be able to watch the show on Sundays at 10pm.
The series is based on the horror thriller from del Toro and Chuck Hogan, and it was apparently the most-watched new cable drama of 2014. That's not really surprising, because of how good the show was.
The first episode of the second season will begin at 22:00 on channel FX. Wait is quite a bit!
The Strain TV series
FX announced the most terrible TV show of summer 2015. They release it on July 12
Rate TV series:
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Famous Mexican producer Guillermo del Toro in 2009-2012 wrote a book trilogy: "The Strain", "The Falling", "The Night Eternal". Their story was inspired by the famous novel by Bram Stoker's "Dracula". Books were written in Spanish and Chuck Hogan helped with the translation of these books into English. In America, they had enormous popularity. On this wave of success Del Toro decided to film the first part of the trilogy. TV Show script made by Carlton Cuse.
About "The Strain":
TV series is based on the 2009 novel by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan named "The Strain". FX announced 12 episodes in first season of TV show starting from July 12. Forget about ordinary vampires - FX fearless show you true face of evil this summer.
First episode starting in New York. Transatlantic liner landing to airport with dead passengers on the board. After some time they all become alive, it is not only people, but fiends, ruthless vampires... From this moment the terrible strain begins, which triggered the epidemic. All of America is flooded with ruthless vampires. To protect humanity are seemingly not the right people: Ephraim Goodweather epidemiologist, Professor Abraham Setrakian, exterminator Vasiliy Fet and doctor Nora Martinez. Only together they can stop pandemic before it goes woldwide.
The Belgian non-governmental (NGO), non-profit organization APOPO has made it their incredibly admirable mission to train the highly intelligent African giant pouched rats aka HeroRATS to use their noses for such humanitarian purposes as expediently detecting bombs in post-conflict countries and detecting tuberculosis in developing countries, thus potentially saving the lives of thousands of people. The rats are trained from a young age and are rewarded through positive motivation.
APOPO trains the rats through operant conditioning, using a combination of a click sound and food rewarding. Training starts at the age of 4-5 weeks, with socialization. The young rats are weaned from their mothers and APOPO’s trainers begin socializing them to the sights, sounds, and textures of the human world. Once our rats are six weeks old, click training begins, where we teach the rats to associate a click sound with a food reward – usually banana or peanuts. After two weeks at this stage, the rats learn that click means food, and are now ready to be trained on a target scent. After these steps, our rats specialize in a target scent in either TNT for detecting landmines or TB for detecting TB in human sputum samples. After odor imprint, the complexity of their tasks gradually increases until they reach the final training stage where they have to do a blind test in order to be accredited.
As of this date, none of the HeroRATS have died in the line of duty and the trainers take special care to apply sunscreen to the rodents’ ears when they are working outside. Anyone wishing to contribute to APOPO can either donate directly or “adopt” a HeroRAT with an ongoing subscription.
There are few places more dazzling in the Robot Restaurant located in Shinjuku, Japan. We use the term 'restaurant' very loosely because it's more like a variety show, that you just happen to be dining at.
A visual feast for the senses, where the every which way you look is a kaleidoscope of colourful lights and relentless noise, where drummers are armed with glow sticks, cyber strippers fling themselves around neon poles and life-sizes robots go head-to-head in boxing matches.
But the fun doesn't end there, we haven't even mentioned the flying Terrordactyls, giant sharks, bigger Anacondas and the dance off between robots starring a bevy of scantily clad women, naturally.
So if you're in Japan and literally want to have your brain overloaded to the point where it's nearly melting, make sure you head to the Robot Restaurant, it's an experience you won't forget anytime soon.
It’s hard to imagine an experience more perfectly suited to Tokyo, and one less likely to exist anywhere else, than Shinjuku’s Robot Restaurant. With a stage show that stretches the definition of terms like “elaborate” and “bizarre,” the restaurant has quickly become one of the city’s most popular venues.
We were dazzled by the Robot Restaurant from the moment we spotted it. The entire facade was illuminated in blinding LED lights, and towering lady robots with giant bouncing breasts were roving about the foyer. A band inspired by Daft Punk was rocking out behind the robots, and everything was flashing and loud and over-the-top. Sensory overload? Definitely. And we hadn’t even picked up our tickets yet. I suspected that the performance was going to be more like sensory assault.
Having arrived well in advance of the evening show, we passed the extra time in the restaurant’s upstairs lounge. You’ll want to do the same, because the lounge is unbelievable. It’s as though the world’s most outrageous interior designers were given crayons, glue sticks, glitter and mescalin, and told to go crazy. Everything is mirrored and shining. On every table, there’s a robot dinosaur. On the stage, a lady-band clad in metallic bikinis and angel wings is playing soft lounge music. The drinks are cheap and the vibe couldn’t be better. You and the people around you are in a place unlike anywhere any of you have ever been, and you’re all excited and giddy and talkative. It’s a bonding experience.
Now, however, it’s showtime. You and your new friends head into the underground theater, take your seats, and await the spectacle. Soon, the lights go out, the speakers switch on, and giant vehicles appear on either side of the narrow stage, ridden by ladies dressed as Amazonian war princesses from the year 3000. They’re pounding on drums, rotating around the stage, screaming and dancing to the music, and you’re just… confused. What the hell is happening? It’s hilarious, pointless, impressive and overwhelming in equal measure.
And that’s just Act One! By the end of the show, which stretches out across seven or eight acts, you’ll have perhaps seen boxing robots. Women riding huge mechanical cows. An alien-eating shark robot. Huge motorcycles and airplanes with pole-dancing lady passengers. A tank, I think. There was definitely a freedom-fighting panda. The shows change frequently, so you might see other things entirely, things which no sane human would ever be able to predict.
We had fun from the moment we entered the Robot Restaurant, and I’m not sure my brain has yet been able to process everything we saw. Almost as much as the show, we enjoyed watching the spectators sitting across from us. Without exception, they had their eyes wide open and huge smiles plastered across their faces. I’m sure it’s how we looked, too.
Whether you’re in the group that loves or in the group that hates the Hobbitmovies, there’s no denying that these were pretty big films that made A LOT of money! Even though the movie was called The Hobbit, most of the attention was focused on the dwarves and their epic quest to retake the Lonely Mountain from the dragon, Smaug. We spent three movies watching these dwarves fight for what was rightfully theirs, so it’s hard not to get attached to some of them.
But have you ever wondered what happened to the dwarves after all was said and done? Dwarves live for a while, so where were these characters during The Lord of the Rings trilogy? The answers for some of them might not be exactly what you wanted to hear!
Let’s dig in!
The Fate Of The Dwarves
Oin
Forty-eight years after being settled in the Lonely Mountain, Oin made his way back to Moria to reclaim the realm for the Dwarves. It was five years later that the orcs attacked, and when he could not escape over the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Oin tried to exit through the Hollin Gate. It was there he was killed by the Watcher in the Water, a creature that Frodo and the rest of the Fellowship would later encounter.
Gloin
Ah yes! Gimli’s father. His life was much longer and more peaceful than his brother’s. He remained at the kingdom under the mountain and was also sent at the Council of Elrond when the Fellowship was formed. He would later die naturally at the age of 253.
Dwalin
Dwalin was a smart one. He decided to stay at the Lonely Mountain where he lived out the rest of his life, dying at the ripe, old age of 340. He lived through the war of the ring, but it was never revealed if he or Gloin ever took part in it.
Balin
Good ol' Balin. In the Hobbitmovies he was always one of the most liked Dwarves. In fact, he ended up leading an expedition to Moria where he later became The Lord of Moria for some time – until the orcs attacked and he was killed by one of their archers. Remember that Tomb in Fellowship of the Ring? Yup. That was Balin’s tomb.
Bifur & Bofur
Bifur has an axe in his skull, I think he’s had to deal with enough stuff in his life to be bothered with anymore violence. He also stayed back in the Lonely Mountain and lived out his life. His age at death is unknown. Ditto for Bofur. He also lived out his life in the mountain.
You know, for a place called the Lonely Mountain, it doesn’t seem quite so lonely there, does it?
Bombur
Bombur, like many of the others stay behind in the Lonely Mountain and enjoyed the rest of his life…a little too much. Bombur had grown SO FAT that it eventually took the strength of six dwarves to lift him to the dinner table.
Dori & Nori
Dori and Nori also stayed in the mountain where they grew their wealth and lived rich, and happy, for the rest of their lives.
Ori
Like Dori and Nori, Ori – the lovable idiot – also stayed in the mountain where he lived out his life peacefully with a wife and children.
EXCEPT THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN!
Ori actually joined the expedition to Moria and after burying Balin he was killed by the onslaught of orcs that attacked. Remember that morbid diary entry Gandalf read in the Fellowship of the ring? That was Ori’s diary.
BONUS ROUND
Bard Bowman
Bard rebuilt his ancestral town of Dale at the foot of the Lonely Mountain. He eventually became its king, establishing and maintaining good relations with the dwarves, where he lived peacefully and his son Bain succeeded him after his death.
Tauriel
I should save this for when I do my Hobbit 'Based On' video eventually, but I need to vent it here. Kili never fell in love with an Elf, much less meet Tauriel because she wasn’t even a character in the book. Peter Jackson created her just for the movie so he could force in an awful dwarf/elf forbidden relationship to emotionally manipulate the audience (it didn't work). Evangeline Lily was great in her role, but her character felt unnecessary and only weakened the story in my opinion.
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So there you have it, the fate of the dwarves! The adventures that happened inThe Hobbit definitely impacted what would eventually take place in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, mainly due to it being how Bilbo found the ring of power. While, at times, there were unnecessary moments in the films, there were also moments that captured the magic of Middle-Earth and made you want to be part of it!