Christopher Lantz

CONAN Highlight: This holiday season, let Andy Richter and friends out you to your family.

Eclectic Method's awesome montage of the future as seen in film. (Thanks, Jason Tester!)

Internet puppets Fafa the Groundhog and Mario of Glove and Boots both question and sing about the upcoming end of the world in their latest episode titled “It’s Okay! It’s Just Doomsday!”.

Hang in there! Only two more days ’til doomsday!

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

In October 2012, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft was perfectly placed in Saturn’s shadow and was able to capture this fantastic image, which has been titled “In Saturn’s Shadow.”

The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. (The sun is behind the planet, which is shielding the cameras from direct sunlight.) In addition to the visual splendor, this special, very-high-phase viewing geometry lets scientists study ring and atmosphere phenomena not easily seen at a lower phase.

Since images like this can only be taken while the sun is behind the planet, this beautiful view is all the more precious for its rarity. The last time Cassini captured a view like this was in Sept. 2006, when it captured a mosaic processed to look like natural color, entitled “In Saturn’s Shadow.” In that mosaic, planet Earth put in a special appearance, making “In Saturn’s Shadow” one of the most popular Cassini images to date. Earth does not appear in this mosaic as it is hidden behind the planet.

image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Check out the results from our “Best Meme of 2012” community poll!

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“24×360″ is an incredible 360 degree light painting video that was created with a 24 camera “bullet time” rig. The video is a collaboration by Patrick Rochon, Timecode Lab, and Eric Paré.

via SLR Lounge & PetaPixel

The End by Sluggomatic, from a “Breaking News 5″ photo effects contest on Worth 1000 in 2005.

via W.J. Walton, John Hell

This French weather report has predicted that Friday’s gonna be a hot one.

Presenting the Know Your Meme mods’ favorite memes!

Entry moderator Triple Z says: “This song reached number one in 13 countries, appeared in a sketch on Saturday Night Live and inspired the creation of a fad on YTMND.”

Frustrating for gamers, traumatizing for the characters.

LoL by: Unknown

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At Chicago O’Hare International Airport, David Macdonald (aka “aSongScout”) shot footage of a pianist playing viral internet songs like “Never Gonna Give You Up,” the Nyan Cat theme (slow version), and more.

via Viral Viral Videos

Nintendo Sixty-Four is a great animated clip by Florida animator Jeremey Chinshue (aka “TerminalMontage“) that reimagines and uses audio from the 2006 “Nintendo 64 Kids” home video meme. That video shows two children losing their minds on Christmas morning when they are gifted a Nintendo 64 console.

via reddit, Blame It On The Voices

YouTube takes a look back at 2012 with Rewind YouTube Style 2012, featuring many of YouTube’s biggest stars.

We invited some YouTubers to star in a mash-up of culturally defining moments of 2012. Can you spot all the references?

directed by Peter Furia

“And a cat in a Christmas tree…”

The folks at Mashable have created “The 12 Memes of Christmas,” a cute holiday music video that celebrates internet memes like Tard the Grumpy Cat, Chuck Testa, Nyan Cat, Scumbag Steve, and more. Watch out for the rick-roll!

Christmas is that special time of year when we gather ’round the fire with loved ones to demonstrate our shared affections with gifts. As for the other 364 days of the year, we normally show our fondness through the web with GIFs and memes.

Consider this music video our gift to you. “The 12 Memes of Christmas” combines all of our favorite things about the Internet, jam-packed with holiday cheer. (Seriously, there’s more Christmas spirit crammed into this video than chopped nuts in a fruit cake.)

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Berkeley, California composer and sound designer Rich Vreeland (aka “Disasterpeace“) has created the awesome flash based music generator and game titled January. It allows you to walk a character around by using the keyboard while catching musical snowflakes on your tongue that fall from the sky. A series of different keystrokes will allow you to change everything from the speed that you walk to the sound that each snowflake makes once it is caught. Rich has also created music for the popular indie video game FEZ.

January is a generative music tool. You walk around and lick snowflakes with your tongue, and the tool uses a set of rules to make choices about what the next note (or notes) will be. It also gives the player freedom to play various types of chords, and choose when and how notes will be played. There are a bunch of advanced features, which you can explore. It was made with Flixel and Flash/AS3.

via Boing Boing

Roger Ebert's review of the 2003 Van Sant movie "Elephant" contains some of the most coherent criticism of the way the media reports mass killings I've yet read:

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. "Wouldn't you say," she asked, "that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?" No, I said, I wouldn't say that. "But what about 'Basketball Diaries'?" she asked. "Doesn't that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?" The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it's unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.

The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. "Events like this," I said, "if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn't have messed with me. I'll go out in a blaze of glory."

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of "explaining" them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.

Elephant (via Kottke)

Another piece of excellent analysis from Charlie Booker, in a 2009 installment of Newswipe, showing how the 24-hour news-cycle is part of the system that gives rise to mass shootings.

Charlie Brooker's Newswipe 25/03/09 (via Kottke)

(Video link) Usually this time of year, a different Frank Capra movie starring Jimmy Stewart is the topic of conversation. But since filibuster reform is still hiding in the news, here is an alternate ending to Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington -- featuring Jimmy Stewart impersonator and New York-based comedian Matthew Robert Gehring and directed by Zach Goldbaum -- that contains oodles of NSFW language, courtesy of the songwriting talents of Cee Lo Green. Teacher says, "Every time fake-Jimmy Stewart drops the f-bomb, an angel gets its wings!" (via YouTube)

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Filed under: Art, Culture

J.R.R. Tolkien first discovered Pauline Baynes, one of his favorite illustrators, after she sent some of her clever reinterpretations of marginalia from the Luttrell Psalter, a medieval illuminated manuscript. So charmed was Tolkien by Baynes' ... Read more

 

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Gif your butt (!) over to Animal Gifs for MOAR cyoot and funneh on loop!

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THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Sean Tidy was unsatisfied with the same old Christmas cards he saw in shops, so he decided to make his own. He said, "They are a fun twist on classic Christmas themes, with a little black metal, church burning sprinkled on top." These are definitely not your average Christmas cards. They have skulls, skeletons, and some dark occult elements that remind me of other culture's Christmas stories. Sean wants to share his unusual Occult Christmas cards with you all. He's giving away a set of 5 cards to one lucky Skull-A-Day fan!





PRIZE INFO: One set of five Occult Christmas cards (one of each design). Each card comes with a brown, ribbed envelope, and they are individually wrapped in cellophane.

HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment below telling us what unusual Winter holiday traditions you do. For example, my family opens all their presents on Christmas Eve vs. Christmas morning. "Santa" brings the kids more presents the following morning.

CONTACT INFO: If you win, we need to contact you. With your comment, please include your email, or make sure your Blogger profile has a working email link for you on it. Entries are only valid with this information.

WHERE TO ENTER: All entries must be made on this blog post, on Skull-A-Day.com. You CANNOT enter this contest by commenting on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

CONTEST CLOSES: 11:59:59 PM Eastern Time Saturday, December 22nd.

NUMBER OF WINNERS: One

PRIZE SHIPS: This contest is open to all skull lovers around the world.

IF YOU DON'T WIN: Don't fret. Sean's Occult Christmas cards are available for purchase in his store. The are available in sets of 5 and 10, or sold individually. Also, you can see more of Sean's artwork on his Website and Facebook page.

via http://www.tumblr.com/dashboard

Rev. Al Ridenour of the Art of Bleeding has just returned from Austria and Germany where he attended some Krampus processions. He has posted some images of the devil-like beasts (and their entourages) on his Facebook page.

Hurrah for St. Nick’s traditional henchman! Finally got to experience Krampus firsthand — three times, in fact, twice in its most traditional form in Bad Gastein, Austria, then again in a more urban setting (Munich) where different versions of the figure from different regions made their way through the city square.

Rhett and Link teamed up with YouTubers Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart to make this festive sweatsuit-sharing holiday jam.

Get into the holiday spirits with all things awful and awesome on Sketchy Santas!

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