Cool Shit 11/26

Watching the clock? Counting the minutes until you get out for your Thanksgiving break? Let The Popcorn Trick's Cool Shit take you home...

Another one of those pictorials designed to show you just how vast space really is. Much bigger than we can even comprehend, since this scale only works within the confines of our universe, which if we are to believe is just one of an infinite amount.

Monday night Odell Beckham of the New York Giants had what may be the greatest catch in the history of the NFL. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but it's not...



Here's a look at some other amazing catches receivers have made, but they don't hold up to what Odell Beckham did.

Trailer for the new Jurassic World movie...



Quick thoughts about it: They definitely reached back to the original and pulled some themes and plot structure which is ok...but I see this movie going one of two ways. It can either harken back to the 70s disaster pictures and show dinosaurs just getting crazy with crowds of people which would be awesome, or it's a mission to rescue two kids from one mean dinosaur which would be boring repetitive and a missed opportunity. Watching the trailer it seems both those narratives are in play.
Regardless I'm obviously going to see it of course.

Most likely what the syllabus would be for a Hunter S. Thompson writing course.

Based on this article about tennis and betting, I would say, if you can get action on the Challenger tour, bet against favorited Russians.

I'm a sucker for a good mountain climbing story, and this one involves a missing climber, Noah's Ark and Turkey (the country)!

If you're into apocalyptic novels, here's a decent list of books to get you going, thought I did not enjoy Cronin's The Passage at all. It really skips around and his pedigree seemingly gives him the freedom to try something that fails in my opinion (specifically spending 200 pages on developing a main character and then tossing him aside and jumping 200 years or so into the future to start telling the story he wanted to tell).

In my head, I believe I can outrun a fire; while that may be a naive and uneducated thought, I do think having the belief that I can will help me that much more should I ever be in a situation where I have to outrun a fire.

Cool Shit 11/25

Nick Offerman. The Decemberists. A fake German public access show. Enjoy:



This may be the greatest Christmas gift you could ever give to someone. Someone like myself. After all, you should always protect your neck.

Cats spend every waking moment of their lives figuring out how they can steal your baby's breath; dogs travel 430+ miles with rescue adventure teams through the difficult jungle terrain. Point, dogs.

Space heist movie in the Star Wars universe? Involving bounty hunters? Yeah, I'd be into that.

Weirdest theories about the JFK assassination? Nope. You've heard most of these. Most.

Drone footage over Chernobyl...



A breakdown of Pearl Jam's album Vitalogy, honestly one of my favorites of theirs. Though I always thought Spin the Black Circle was an ode to heroin.

Cool Shit 11/24

I don't know...I guess some of these inventions are cool, but the best?

Darth Vader could have been completely different. (This article goes to show that a good movie is the sum of many different people's visions; and bad movies usually are created because one person has complete control and will listen to no criticism. Trying to figure out the analogy in the Star Wars universe...)

Proof of the afterlife coming at you through metaphysics. And it has to be true because it has the scientific word "physics" in it.

So this thing apparently lives in the ocean. Have fun swimming ever again.



Traveling through space is not feasible for us because of the enormity of it, and the fact that we don't have a feasible engine that can make us go fast enough to make the travel worth it. But that doesn't mean we're not working on the concept of an engine that will allow us to someday make it all feasible.

Homesteading out in the desert. Part of me is befuddled by this lifestyle; part of me is intrigued.

Cool Shit 11/21

Pitch Perfect 2 anyone?



More pics from the crazy snow in Buffalo.

The most recent rumor is that The Stand, Stephen King's epic novel that is coming to the big screen, will be turned into 4 movies. Not sure if it can sustain that much, but whatever.

Some quick grammar rules that will help you keep up with proper writing. Because there's really no excuse for bad grammar.

Awesome time lapse of the Earth from space:



Interview with Stephen Merchant.

If the term "zipline roller coaster" doesn't get you excited, then you're most likely dead inside.

Cool Shit 11/20

Buffalo snow storm. This is insane. Remember: weather will always win. Have we learned nothing from the Avengers movie (the Fiennes/Thurman/Connery one)?

Get your Thanksgiving table ready - enjoy these 50 regional recipes from the 50 states of the US.

Football not your bag on Thanksgiving? Why not try a run of food-related documentaries with your turkey?

Paper airplanes...I love paper airplanes!



Yesterday we had to read about the stupid American Luther remake; today we at least get the good news that he'll be back in a miniseries for the British version.

Would you have liked The Shawshank Redemption had it ended like this?

A great primer for the movies you should see from 2014.

Horror stories about Uber. Two things I want to bring up before/after you read this. 1. I assume that while all of these incidents are reprehensible, traditional cabbies/companies have their share of horror stories that don't get the same reporting because they are not national companies; and 2. the person who put together this article seemingly  continues using the service, despite the stories she has collected about it.

Cool Shit 11/19

In today's news of the stupid, the British television show is getting an American remake. Here's an idea: just watch the British version. And FOX: why not just air the original series?

11 places you can't fly a plane over.

More stuff about the second season of True Detective. I think there's one thing we can all agree on - there's going to be a tremendous amount of backlash against this show when it comes out.

Things about Lorne Michaels you might not know. Though there isn't much here that really reveals the guy.

No movie should be considered "easy" to make, but these ten had a particularly hard time making it to the screen.

Michael Caine, as usual is awesome. Just for his real estate tip alone!

Thanksgiving is coming, and if you're like me you want to know what alcohol to pair with your food, because you're an alcoholic. Well this handy chart definitely helps.

Cool Shit 11/18

I mean, it's a pretty big boast to say a band is the best you've never heard of, but it is on the internet so I'll give it the credence it deserves.

I take no shame in the fact that I've repeatedly slept in my car. I only wish I had had this handy tutorial to point out some helpful tips.

Ok, so I know there's a body farm in Tennessee, now I find out there's one in Texas. Just how many body farms do we need? (also - be warned; some of the imagery is what you'd expect from doing a report at a body farm.)

Neil Peart (drummer of Rush), breaks down his drum kit. Spoiler alert: it's large.



I want to go to a monkey park! And not that silly excuse for a park at Six Flags Great Adventure that my dad wouldn't drive through because he had a soft top on his car. A real monkey park!

Cool Shit 11/15

A new version of Band Aid's "Do They Know it's Christmas Time?" With proceeds going to fight Ebola? With updated lyrics almost as absurd as the original? Yes please.



It's easy to simply rank special forces all willy nilly and say who is the best, but was there any sort of criteria or fight to the death to make these rankings legitimate?

Glen A. Larson probably had more to do with my upbringing than my parents. Rest in peace you magnificent bastard.

Ugh, it seems all my childhood idols are dying! Et Tu, R.A. Montgomery, creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure series?

Take a tour of antique roller coasters across America!

A story of hijackings, dirty bombs and Mexico.

Cool Shit 11/14

New York has some skyscraper projects on the docket - here's what the city could look like in 2018.

Note to self: never get into a prank war with Woody Harrelson or Sean Pean.

Classic outdoor adventures for the free spirit to put on his/her bucket list.

Huh. Well I guess the one good thing that can come out of a report stating our nuclear weapons program is in bad shape is that at least someone had the foresight to order a report like that to be done.

Have some cash lying around? A message you're dying to get out to the masses? Why not buy all the advertising of an average NFL game?

Ok, if the idea of buying advertising during an NFL game sounds kinda "whatever" to you, but you still have lots of cash lying around and have thought about moving to Sweden, I found the house for you.

Used to be a girl in my high school with the name Strip Club Cuisine. Also - if that's not the name of a band in the next six months, we're all doing something wrong.



Cool article that goes a little inside the Hollywood machine: 2014: It all goes back to Jack Reacher.

Cool Shit 11/13

Youtube begins its journey into the paid streaming music service world.

That big red spot on Jupiter: What is it? Well, while scientists can't be certain without traveling there, they do have some theories (also, not a storm).

I love Weird Al Yankovic's movie UHF. So this oral history of it is right up my alley.

You had me at "secret libraries of Paris."

I love the Pinball Count song (no idea what else to call it) from Sesame Street. So this too scratched me right where I itched.

It's not everyday you read a story about finding a dead, sex-crazed porpoise in a British city alleyway.

Cool Shit 11/12

Pumped for Black Friday, the one holiday that pretty much represents us all more than any other? Enjoy this site that aggregates all the deals it can find to give it to you in one neat little package.

Silk Road 2.0 seems to have been taken down by the FBI, and the guy who allegedly took up the reins after the downfall of Silk Road 1.0 is not the kind of guy you would expect to run a black market drug marketplace. Can't wait to see Silk Road 3.0 pop up.

Science things that you believe that you really shouldn't believe.

There are two types of people in this world...people who like Peter Gabriel era Genesis, and stupid people.



So it appears that science fiction is the next genre television is going to attempt after the success of fantasy. The Foundation series is being adapted for television.

Himalayan bus ride. I would do this in a heartbeat. Once.



Donald Sutherland is the man.

Cool Shit 11/11

David Bowie has a new song out...



This is a pretty deep dive into William Gibson, how he writes his books, and his new novel, The Peripheral.

I love Michael Mann's The Insider. And I think it's message is prescient now more than ever.

Maps that show where the popular fast food chains are in the United States.

Finally! We now have an architect's advice on how to make a good pillow fort.

If you enjoy watching the encroaching clouds of a storm wash over the landscape, this video was made for you.



I know we've been giving a lot of love to Serial here (the last episode, 7, was the shining ray in the grayness of the story up to that point), so if reading is more your thing, enjoy these three real life mysteries.

Cool Shit 11/10

Understanding the nuances of violence in prison. Prison sounds like so much fun!

Stories of extreme survival. Maybe after reading this one you won't complain about that extra long commute this morning?

I'm going to assume when you woke up today you didn't think you'd be watching a movie trailer with Hitler riding a dinosaur...



If you want to be a better "googler" take a look at these helpful tips.

The top 10 archaeological discoveries...and none of them were found by Indiana Jones.

Why was there no Led Zeppelin V? Jimmy Page kind of explains.

The Ol' Dirty Bastard you think you know is not the man you thought he was.

Cool Shit 11/7

Oh good, it seems you'll need a degree in astrophysics in order to fully enjoy Interstellar.

While science fiction is on everyone's minds, here's a list of sci fi movies you should check out (though I'm not sure why the list is labeled as something "guys" should watch).

Before the politics and the pontificating, there was Sports Night.

The cast for Quentin Tarantino's Hateful Eight is out.

This is deliciously weird...a send up of television show credits and yet that doesn't even come close to describing what you're about to watch. Adult Swim is the best network on television right now:



For the Phish fans out there. A look at what it took to put together their Halloween show.

Cool Shit 11/6

Stephen King's top 10 favorite books.

So by now you're either a fan of the podcast Serial, or you're so sick of hearing about it that you are actively ignoring it (I don't blame you if you are, spite is a powerful drug and I succumb to it a lot; it's still a great podcast worth listening to). However, as we keep going with episodes, and wind down the curvy road of this murder, it's getting pretty obvious that the end will not satisfy the common listener like an episode of Law & Order will. Is this going to hurt the popularity of the podcast?

I haven't seen Birdman yet, but I would like to...it's shot to appear as though it's one take (though obviously it isn't one take) - and apparently, this is how they did that.

The 20 greatest opening scenes of movies. Not sure I understand why they excluded Raiders of the Lost Ark (something about it not being part of the story; but then why would Reservoir Dogs be included) but it's cool to see how an opening scene establishes the rest of a movie.

Huh. Good to hear that time travel is apparently possible.

When I first read the headline about the Discovery Channel's plans to show a man being eaten by an
anaconda, I thought they had procured some footage from someplace and were just going to air it, as basically a wildlife snuff film...something I really wasn't interested in. But then the headline kept popping up, so I dove into the article and got something much more glorious...a wildlife expert has some sort of snake-proof suit that will allow him to be eaten by an anaconda and presumably, survive the experience (though I assume he will kill the snake to get out? Details are scarce.

Cool Shit 11/5

New Wu-Tang album dropping soon means new Wu-Tang songs being released! Enjoy:







There has to be a better way to save ourselves (and everything else on Earth) than simply only living on one half of the planet, no?

With the elections being over, we are finally rid of the silly campaign ads. But here's a look back at some of the more unusual ones this campaign season. Of course none of them come close to the greatest campaign ad of all time:



Speaking of the elections, this article about how the Republicans "won" the night last night is basically everything wrong with the current state of American politics. It's a shame that we have lost the idea that a government should work together, instead of treating everything as a competition. It seems no one has figured out that even though they might hold a majority somewhere, without working together, we just fall into the same cycle of trying to break the other party's grip on something. I assume we are going to continue to be at a stalemate for the next two years. So hooray Republicans and Democrats! Thanks for continually shitting on us so you could just do it all over again next election cycle!

Space is big.

Listening to the Serial podcast? (If not, you should be!) I am, and though there are obviously a lot of resources out there on the internet to supplement your experience, I'm remaining pure and just sticking to the broadcast. But if you want to wade into some of the more out there theories about the case, it's worth skimming the surface (just for the Sarah Koenig conspiracy theory alone).

Cool Shit 11/4

Every so often an article about a numbers station will pop up, and in Pavlovian response I will link to it. I think I'm intrigued by the facts that A. it's so incredibly low tech in our high tech society, and B. we still are not 100% sure what they're broadcasting, and they've been broadcasting for a long time. A long time that people the people responsible still have to be maintaining some level of interest, which adds a level of relevance to their significance after all these years.

I like to think that people that needed numbers stations to communicate have turned to the internet, using old message board posts and whatnot to leave coded messages that the normal person would have no idea about.

Continuing on with the sad state of affairs that is Olive Garden.

Speaking of chains, it seems like Red Lobster is going to attempt to clean up its reputation too.

Need to know who makes the best pizza in your state? Check out this completely accurate list on the internet!

The people behind pop music from the last 50 years are probably not the people you think they are.

In defense of milk chocolate, against that awful, commie stinkin' dark chocolate.

To get through this article, you have to be able to comprehend that time is both an actual thing that is affected by the forces around us all (specifically gravity) and also simply a concept that we may have made up. Once you get past that paradox, it really is quite simple to comprehend that two different clocks held at different heights record time differently.

Cool Shit 11/3

Hot air balloons...



Most of these are obviously staged, though the Detroit one is legitimately creepy. Not sure I would classify it as a threat, but still...

Time to find out how they're going to skirt around Paul Walker's death in the new Furious movie!



I can't think of a better way to waste your day than by playing old arcade video games on the internet!

Go to Ikea, hack your floor plan with these nifty ideas.

Sexy PhD costume on Amazon gets reviewed by female PhDs.

The 20 best beers in the world? Not sure I agree (especially with Stanford computer scientists), but there are definitely some good ones on this list.v