Raise your hand if you’ve had a wedding cake before. Yeah, I have too. The one I tried was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too sweet and I didn’t care for the icing either. I’m a pretty simple cake guy. Thanks to my mother, there is one cake above all others that I love.
Chris Banner is a fan of Batman. That’s actually an understatement. ‘Obsessed with Batman’ is a better description of him (and I don’t mean this in a bad way; obsessions are not inherently bad, and Banner is harming no one with his).
You could call Chris Banner’s love of Batman a true passion. Well, it’s actually more of an obsession.
“I’ve got a problem,” he confessed. “Everything I have is a bat. All my tractors have bats; my trucks, bats. Socks, underwear, you name it. I’m bat.
From the boots to the bat-cave and a custom-built Batmobile, Banner has made his being Batman his third job. He even patrols his hometown of Valley Center, San Diego, as the Caped Crusader.
His ride, he built from scratch, stripping down a 1947 Ford Galaxy and rearranging its engine and radiator. The work took about a year to complete, and it includes a camera to help him back up, a custom-made dashboard, lights and a smoke machine.
“It’s all made of fiber glass,” Banner told NBC 7 Wednesday. “It’s 22-feet long, and it’s one heck of a machine to drive, especially when you’re Batman.”
The batty fanatic started collecting his favorite superhero’s gear after he got his first Robin costume at age 7. Now, he’s turned his love toward a good cause. He produces live Batman shows about 40 times a year, sometimes for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“You know some of these kids only have so much time left, and to put a smile on their face, it makes them happy. It’s worth it to me,” he said. “Makes that whole day better so hopefully I got to a good place.”
Bringing light to the lives of children? That’s a really awesome thing for him to do. I tip my hat to you good sir.
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By way of This is Colossal, here are some images of some amazingly beautiful hand-made resin bangles infused with bark, leaves, flowers, plants and shells. These bangles and more are available for purchase at Faerie and Etsy.
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Oooh, a new album from Florence and the Machine will be available on June 2. Here’s a video of the first single, ‘What Kind of Man’ (warning, the video is NSFW):
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You may have been miffed by the palpable lack of a juicy Sophia-based plot in the second season of Orange Is the New Black, but fear not: OITNB is no longer the only TV series on which actress/trans activist Laverne Cox will appear. It’s just been announced that she’ll be co-starring as Cameron Wirth, a transgender attorney, in CBS’ next legal drama, Doubt (no relation to nuns). The role was allegedly written specifically for her. Wirth is described in The Hollywood Reporter as being as “competitive as she is compassionate. She’s fierce, funny and the fact that she’s experienced injustice first hand makes her fight all the harder for her clients.” Cox will appear alongside a yet-unannounced star, who’ll lead the show with her title-influencing doubts: this main character is another attorney who’s romantically involved with a client being charged for an act of brutality. The script will be penned by Grey’s Anatomy writers Tony Phelan and Joan Rater.
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How the hell did Patrick Bertoletti consume 444 wings in 30 minutes?! Seriously, where did he put all that food? I love wings as much as the next guy, but after about 15 wings, I’m full. Does he have a few extra stomachs?
If your planning on serving wings at your Super Bowl party on Sunday, don’t invite Patrick Bertoletti. We have a feeling he won’t be craving wings anytime soon. The Chicagoan, known by his competitive eating stage name as “Deep Dish” gobbled up 444 chicken wings in 30 minutes this afternoon at the 23rd annual Wing Bowl in Philadelphia. By doing so Bertoletti smashed the previous record of 363 wings set last year and barely edged out his rival (and prior record-holder) Molly Schuyler, who came in with 440 wings.
About 20,000 people gathered at Wells Fargo Arena to watch contestants duke it out in the grand battle to be the one true supreme wing champion. “I have the sweats but I feel a lot better because I know I don’t have to eat any more chicken wings,” Bertoletti exclaimed after his victory. In the last two minutes alone, Bertoletti consumed 50 wings by ripping apart the wings and stuffing the meat into his mouth. Bertoletti was still chewing for two minutes after the contest ended.
For that matter, how did Schulyer consume 440 wings?
Daaaaaaaaaamn!
The Legend of Korra’s specific brand of action has made its way to the realm of video games. As revealed in a behind-the-scenes video posted on the show’s Facebook page, the “epic adventure” will allow players to utilize all four elements in strategic combinations as they play their way through this beat-’em-up-style game from PlatinumGames and Activision
The game, fittingly titled The Legend of Korra, is set between books two and three of the series and deals with the fallout of the Avatar’s decision to merge the spirit world with the real world. The video, which contains interviews with Activision producer Robert Conkey and producer Atsushi Kurooka, shows off the game’s visuals, including intense combo demonstrations. Mako, Bolin and Naga are all name-dropped in the video and appear in the game as well.
The Legend of Korra video game is out now for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. It drops Wednesday for Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Video game based on awesome animated tv series with a bad ass female lead character? Sign me up. I can haz game now?
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You’re going to be Cyborg, buddy. You’ll be the second African-American DC Comics hero with their own film (after Shaq’s STEEL movie; the less said about that, the better). I hope you get a good script and a good director.
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FIRST OFF, I’d like to say I think it’s stupid that they’re spelling ‘genesis’ that way. Secondly…WHY Hollywood? Why? I know you’re big on remakes and reboots and retellings and shit, but damn, Terminator and Terminator 2 are both really good movies that don’t need to be remade. There’s an entire Terminator universe to explore, and you guys want to go retell the first two movies? Take a leaf out of the Star Trek tv franchise. Explore other aspects of the Terminator world. Tell stories of other people. Show other battles. You don’t need every installment to be “main characters fight to prevent the end of the world”. Anyways, here’s a peek at the characters:
I see that this effort to ” save a billion-dollar franchise” doesn’t involve anything other than white faces, but that’s a subject for another time.
The beginning of Terminator: Genisys, the first of three planned films that Paramount hopes will relaunch the beloved sci-fi franchise, is set in 2029, when the Future War is raging and a group of human rebels has the evil artificial-intelligence system Skynet on the ropes. John Connor (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance, and Kyle Reese (Divergent‘s Jai Courtney) is his loyal soldier, raised in the ruins of post apocalyptic California. As in the original film, Connor sends Reese back to 1984 to save Connor’s mother, Sarah (Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator programmed to kill her so that she won’t ever give birth to John. But what Reese finds on the other side is nothing like he expected.
There’s a twist of course. Because they didn’t want to make the remake exactly like the original. They had to change Sarah Conner (and they just had to have Arnold):
Twist No. 1? Sarah Connor isn’t the innocent she was when Linda Hamilton first sported feathered hair and acid-washed jeans in the role. Nor is she Hamilton’s steely zero body-fat warrior in 1991’s T2. Rather, the mother of humanity’s messiah was orphaned by a Terminator at age 9. Since then, she’s been raised by (brace yourself) Schwarzenegger’s Terminator—an older T-800 she calls “Pops”—who is programmed to guard rather than to kill. As a result, Sarah is a highly trained antisocial recluse who’s great with a sniper rifle but not so skilled at the nuances of human emotion.
Doesn’t ‘Twist No. 1’ imply there are more twists? Why you jerk me around like that EW? Dat not nice!
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I wonder how long it will last ( there is a perception that FOX cancels shows too quickly).
FOX has agreed to a script commitment for the mystery drama League of Pan, a gritty mystery spin on the classic Peter Pan story.
Deadline reports that League of Pan will follow the Lost Boys fifteen years after they’ve left Neverland and moved to Los Angeles. They’ve grown up and grown apart, but they’re forced back together when someone begins targeting them for murder.
The script is being handled by Andrew Miller, who developed CW’s The Secret Circle. He’ll also be serving as executive producer, along with Imagine Television’s Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo. Miller will be writing a new script, rather than using the one from Brian McCauley when 20th TV attempted this idea two years ago.
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“Are we copying a specific bakery in New York? The answer is no,” John Costello, president of global marketing and innovation for the company, told the Associated Press.
Costello says bakers all over the country have been experimenting with the croissant donut mixture for the past two decades and that Dunkin’ is constantly tracking these trends. Right. And Dunkin’ apparently already has a hybrid version in South Korea called the New York Pie Donut.
At any rate, the cronut-like pastry will be available for $2.49 in Dunkin’s roughly 8,000 locations for a limited time. Oh, and it’ll be topped with the same sugary goo that’s used for the shop’s glazed donut, but don’t expect any creme filling. At least, not yet.
Just in time for the spooky season, the city of Fort Collins, CO had a crunchy mystery on its hands: Someone had bought up all the boxes of Count Chocula cereal from two local grocery stores, prompting confusion and hunger in at least a few shoppers. Enough of a mystery to make the news, at least.
A puzzled shopper who says she usually eats vegetarian and organic food for most of the year wrote to The Coloradoan saying she splurges around Halloween on her favorite cereal.
“Every year I greatly look forward to the month of October when I can purchase a few boxes of this delicious chococlatey (sic) goodness,” she wrote, an effort that was stymied when both Albertson’s stores she went to were completely out of the stuff.
As it turns out, the general manager of Black Bottle, a craft brewing company, had plundered shelves in order to brew beer for the brewery’s Cerealiously beer series. Previous variations include Golden Grahams, Reese’s Puffs and Cinnamon Toast Crunch moonlighting as milk stouts, and this time it’s the Count’s turn.
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As of Wednesday, Arx Pax — the start-up that says it has made the “world’s first real hoverboard” — has raised nearly all of its $250,000 goal on Kickstarter. It’s raised more than $225,000 in barely two days of listing the Hendo Hoverboard on the crowdfunding site, well ahead of the Dec. 15 closing date.
The company has a patent on a technology that creates a magnetic field beneath the board that pushes against itself, creating lift — similar to the system used inMaglev trains. It claims that compared with those other magnetic-levitation systems, its technology is “inexpensive” and “sustainable”. But there’s a hitch: The board will only hover over a surface made of a non-ferromagnetic conductor.
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Warner Bros. is seeking a female director for “Wonder Woman,”The Hollywood Reporter contends, meaning not one but two milestones for the film: It stands to be the first solo feature of the current wave of superhero films to star a woman, and only the second ever to be directed by one.
Lexi Alexander (“Green Street Hooligans”) was the first, with the relatively low-budget 2008 reboot “Punisher: War Zone,” an experience she talked about earlier this year withSPINOFF ONLINE. Patty Jenkins (“Monster”) was poised to be the second, when she was hired in 2011 by Marvel Studios to helm “Thor: The Dark World.” However, she left the sequel within two months, citing creative differences, to be replaced by “Game of Thrones” director Alan Taylor
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It might not have much of a ring to it, but the name of a new cookie being sold by Melbourne, Australia’s Organic Food & Wine Deli is pure gold in terms of its ability to go viral — for whatever that’s worth.
The following image of the Aussie bakery’s “Organic genderless gingerbread figures” (which just so also happen to be vegan) has been circulating the web since Tuesday when it was posted to Reddit with the caption “So this is what the world is coming to…“
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We tend to think that Hollywood stars make the mondo $$. While we’re right in many cases, things apparently aren’t the way they used to be in the industry.
FILM STAR
How bad is the decline in actor salaries over the past decade? Despite the huge sums still being raked in by such superstars as Robert Downey Jr. (his $75 million comes from his 7 percent, first-dollar slice of Iron Man 3, as well as his $12 million HTC endorsement deal) and Sandra Bullock (a 15 percent, first-dollar deal onGravity and about $10 million more for her summer hit The Heat), most actors are feeling a definite squeeze, especially those in the middle.
“If you’re [a big star], you’re getting well paid,” says one top agent, “but the middle level has been cut out.” Sometimes with a hacksaw. Leonardo DiCaprio made $25 million (including bonuses) for The Wolf of Wall Street, while co-star Jonah Hill got paid $60,000. Granted, that’s an extreme example — Hill offered to do the part for scale (and got an Oscar nomination for his trouble).
But studio cost-cutting has meant that mid-level stars are being nickel-and-dimed in ways that would have been unheard of in the gilded ’90s (i.e., Marvel Studios’ reportedly offering Mickey Rourke a mere $250,000 to star opposite Downey inIron Man 2). Before breaking out the violins, though, remember that even mid-level stars are far better off than most other actors. According to the most recent SAG statistics, the average member earns $52,000 a year, while the vast majority take home less than $1,000 a year from acting jobs.
AGENT $200K-$10M
Like everyone in Hollywood, the talent agencies have been tightening their belts. “Your biggest concern used to be, ‘Would I get a $100,000 bonus or a $200,000 bonus?’ ” recalls one veteran agent wistfully. “Ha! Things have changed.” Those bonuses still happen, they just require a hot client (or five). CAA generally pays more than WME, UTA, Gersh, ICM and Paradigm, yet salaries increasingly are tied to what an agent brings in. And an agency will overpay to lure a top agent (and his clients). Generally speaking, though, starting agents can expect to earn $50,000 to $65,000; more senior agents make around $200,000; partners make $400,000 to $700,000; and board members — like CAA’s Bryan Lourd and WME’s Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emanuel — can earn as much as $10 million. In rare circumstances, bonuses based on client earnings can turn mid-level agents into $1 million-a-year employees. In short, top talent breeds top salaries. Tracey Jacobs at UTA is said to be earning upward of $9 million — and she reps Johnny Depp.
Click the link to learn the salaries of tv stars, stuntpeople, and more. Prepare to be depressed by the massive sums of money these people make. Even those who don’t make the millions of dollars still do damn well.
There are not a lot of women who hold head chef positions at independent restaurants in the United States. In fact, only 10 out of 160 positions are held by women (6.3%). Just like every other industry, as you near the top, you see fewer and fewer women. That’s not due to a lack of talent-nor desire-on the part of women (there’s a mild degree of irony in the fact that women aren’t present in great numbers as head chefs, yet the classic gender essentialist roles of women have them raising children, cleaning, and…cooking). Perhaps it’s because restaurant owners aren’t aware of the existence of female chefs. I hear they are very difficult to find. I had to scour the internet for all of 20 seconds before I found one: Top Chef alum Nyesha Arrington:
The aptly named “Aquaman Crystal” uses cobalt to work its magic, and it doesn’t need a lot — just a few grains provides enough oxygen for the first breath. As the research team notes, because the material can continually absorb oxygen from the water, a diver would only need to bring a tiny amount underwater in order to breathe without a tank.
“It is also interesting that the material can absorb and release oxygen many times without losing the ability,” said Christine McKenzie, one of the scientists involved with the project. “It is like dipping a sponge in water, squeezing the water out of it and repeating the process over and over again.”
It has uses beyond diving, too. The scientists note that the material can also be used to help lung patients who breathe with the help of an oxygen tank.
“When the substance is saturated with oxygen, it can be compared to an oxygen tank containing pure oxygen under pressure — the difference is that this material can hold three times as much oxygen,” McKenzie said.
(via Mic)
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With the help of her classmates, the 19-year-old freshman at Strathmore University in Nairobi City, Kenya developed a sensor to let park rangers know when poachers have entered a wildlife preserve. The result was shown at the United Nations Social Good Summit last month.
[…]
She and her class received support from Innovate Kenya, a program that awards funding to students who pitch solutions to local problems. This particular solution involves Arduinos, which are little sensors that detect nearby movement. By placing enough of them around park borders, authorities will know if someone sneaks in (and alert them to the presence of wildfire, another issue).
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Epic eruption of volcano in Iceland captured on video by drone
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But now I do, thanks to this article. I even know the answer to a question I never thought to ask (and am still shaking my head over): Can you make cheese out of human breast milk?
Other questions that are answered-
There’s a final question, but I won’t include it, bc it’s too cheesy.
Denny’s is a restaurant chain based in the United States. It is similar to Huddle House, Waffle House, and IHOP, in that it is a breakfast house/fast casual/coffee shop style restaurant. It’s open 24 hours a day, all year long (unless closing is required by law and I’ve no idea what law would cause a restaurant to close, but I guess there’s one somewhere). It’s the place you go when it’s 3 am and you’re drunk and leaving the bar/club and are in dire need of food, yet realize you’re too drunk (or hopefully you realize this) to go home and cook.
Those that are familiar with Denny’s might be confuzzled (portmanteau of confused and puzzled) by this image:
*sigh* hi, welcome to goth denny's. i'm your server, raven, you can like, sit down or something *sigh* pic.twitter.com/lnr63ShRWJ
— Denny's (@DennysDiner) September 20, 2014
I know I am. It’s probably a marketing thing…hold on, BRB (be right back)…*
…yup, it’s a marketing thing. Apparently it’s working for them:
When you think of Denny’s, what comes to mind? The famed Grand Slam breakfast? Or maybe a family road trip? Or are you one of the thousands of followers who know, and love, Denny’s irreverent Twitter posts?
If it’s the latter, there’s a good reason. Last July, the brand tapped Erwin Penland to run its social channels, and since then, engagement has increased over 200 percent. By commenting on current events, usually with its now-signature snarky tone, or posting relatable complaints, the brand has endeared itself to its followers.
Social Media Profile (as of 9/22/14)
Facebook Likes: 851,360
Twitter Followers: 110,208
Instagram Followers: 1,187
yes, I realize this isn’t a meatspace (term for ‘not online’; works better than IRL-in real life-because online is *part of real life…it’s not some bizarre alternate reality unconnected to the rest of our lives), but I was told by a good friend that when she reads my comments, they feel like conversational pieces, as if I were sitting next to her having a conversation, which made me realize that I don’t need to adhere to strict writing rules. Thanks Iris!
Denny’s is a restaurant chain based in the United States. It is similar to Huddle House, Waffle House, and IHOP, in that it is a breakfast house/fast casual/coffee shop style restaurant. It’s open 24 hours a day, all year long (unless closing is required by law and I’ve no idea what law would cause a restaurant to close, but I guess there’s one somewhere). It’s the place you go when it’s 3 am and you’re drunk and leaving the bar/club and are in dire need of food, yet realize you’re too drunk (or hopefully you realize this) to go home and cook.
Those that are familiar with Denny’s might be confuzzled (portmanteau of confused and puzzled) by this image:
*sigh* hi, welcome to goth denny's. i'm your server, raven, you can like, sit down or something *sigh* pic.twitter.com/lnr63ShRWJ
— Denny's (@DennysDiner) September 20, 2014
I know I am. It’s probably a marketing thing…hold on, BRB (be right back)…*
…yup, it’s a marketing thing. Apparently it’s working for them:
When you think of Denny’s, what comes to mind? The famed Grand Slam breakfast? Or maybe a family road trip? Or are you one of the thousands of followers who know, and love, Denny’s irreverent Twitter posts?
If it’s the latter, there’s a good reason. Last July, the brand tapped Erwin Penland to run its social channels, and since then, engagement has increased over 200 percent. By commenting on current events, usually with its now-signature snarky tone, or posting relatable complaints, the brand has endeared itself to its followers.
Social Media Profile (as of 9/22/14)
Facebook Likes: 851,360
Twitter Followers: 110,208
Instagram Followers: 1,187
yes, I realize this isn’t a meatspace (term for ‘not online’; works better than IRL-in real life-because online is *part of real life…it’s not some bizarre alternate reality unconnected to the rest of our lives), but I was told by a good friend that when she reads my comments, they feel like conversational pieces, as if I were sitting next to her having a conversation, which made me realize that I don’t need to adhere to strict writing rules. Thanks Iris!
Hungry? Want to get stoned? Why not do both at the same time?
Stoned Oven Gourmet Pizza in Los Angeles can help you with that.
LA Weekly reported that the mastermind behind the pizzas, 24-year-old Henry Mark, has been increasing production of his pizza pies ever since he opened shop earlier this year. He developed his recipes for his different pizzas with his former partner and Soho House chef, using a THC concentrate from Mendocino. And since it’s always tricky with edibles on how they can affect people differently, Mark suggests eating a quarter of the pizza, washing it down with some water, and waiting 30 minutes before going at it again.
