danipretto

Typing on screens is, as we know, pretty boring to watch . But Hollywood has lately gotten a lot smarter about depicting this ubiquitous technology on screen. A radically new film convention, what we might call the "beyond screen text message," is emerging right before our eyes.

Read more...

The Clinton Foundation pulled some of its Hollywood strings and got Frank Underwood (aka Kevin Spacey) to do his Bill Clinton impression for Bill's 68th birthday. In the video, Frank/Bill/Kevin calls Hillary at her rectangular office to ask about his birthday gift. She replies, "I told you, this is a very personal decision that I will make when I'm ready." Clever! The will-she-or-won't-she speculation continues! At the very least, Hillary has stepped up her pop-culture game since that rough-looking video spoof of The Sopranos' final scene she released during her 2008 presidential bid.

Read more posts by E. Alex Jung

Filed Under: happy birthday to you ,hillary clinton ,bill clinton ,kevin spacey ,frank underwood ,parody ,candy

FXX is set to air the longest marathon in TV history when it runs all 552 episodes of "The Simpsons" back to back, starting Aug. 21.

Sadly, Canadians have been shut out of the fun, as FXX is only available to viewers in the U.S.

Since people won't be able to enjoy all their favourite Springfield hijinx north of the border, we here at The Huffington Post Canada wanted to give them a chance to have some fun anyway.

Or, if you're in the U.S., it's a chance to mock your northern neighbours.

Here are some of the best references to Canada on "The Simpsons."

The CFL Draft



It didn't hold Homer's attention. But then, it doesn't entertain all Canadians, either.

(From "When Flanders Failed," season three, episode three)

Robert Goulet!





(From "$pringfield (or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)," season five, episode 10)

"Anyone can miss Canada."



(From "The PTA Disbands," season six, episode 21)

"That's It! Back to Winnipeg!"



This wouldn't be the first time that the birthplace of Burton Cummings would be referenced on the show.

(From "Bart on the Road," season seven, episode 20)

"Naked Lunch"



"I can think of two things wrong with that title."

(From "Bart on the Road," season seven, episode 20)

"I moved here from Canada."



(From "You Only Move Twice," season eight, episode two)

Cigarette Smoking Man from "The X-Files"



The "X-Files" villain was brought to life on the paranormal mystery show by Toronto-born actor William B. Davis.

(From "The Springfield Files," season eight, episode 10)

Ralph Wiggum: "O Canada"



Ralph Wiggum probably could make it into the RCMP.

(From "Das Bus," season nine, episode 14)

"It's so clean and bland, I'm home!"



(From "The Bart Wants What It Wants," season 13, episode 11)

"Birthplace of Paul Shaffer"



This episode took place in Toronto, but Paul Shaffer was actually born in Thunder Bay.

(From "The Bart Wants What It Wants," season 13, episode 11)

Canadian graffiti



(From "The Bart Wants What It Wants," season 13, episode 11)

The Spell-lympics in Calgary



Lisa made it all the way to the finals. Sadly, she lost to adorable Alex in a rigged contest.

(From "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can," season 14, episode 12)

"Now entering Winnipeg."



(From "Midnight Rx," season 16, episode six)

When Bart's class watches a movie ...



They're so excited, and then they see this.

(From "The Italian Bob," season 17, episode eight)

Elvis Stojko



Moe: "Don't you hags know that all male figure skaters are twinkly in the lutz?"
Elvis: "That's a common misconception. I have a girlfriend in Vancouver!"
Moe: "Made up girlfriend, made up city."

(From "Kill Gil, Volumes I and II," season 18, episode nine)

The Simpsons go to Vancouver



(From "Boy Meets Curl," season 21, episode 12)

"The Harvard of Canada"



(From "MoneyBart," season 22, episode three)

Like Us On Facebook
Follow Us On Twitter

Filled with rice, finely chopped sauteed vegetables and black sesame seeds, these bok choi-wrapped parcels are a great way to make healthy meals fun. The great part is, the filling can easily be modified to fit whatever’s in season–or happens to be in your fridge at the time! Follow the link below for a step-by-step guide for making these vegan treats tonight!

READ MORE>

---

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: finger foods, healthy food for kids, healthy meals, kid-friendly meals, kid-friendly vegan recipes, vegan kids, vegan recipes

The photos in Tyler Orehek‘s series The Vintage Project might seem like fun pictures of his kids that he puts together on free weekends, but that’s just not the case. These images, whimsical and fun though they certainly are, are a testament to attention to detail and accuracy, taking anywhere between one and six months to complete from start to finish!

Orehek — who, as it so happens, is a big fan of the site — sent us his series a couple of weeks ago when he finally decided to make this two-and-a-half-year-old project public. And we were blown away.

Since the project began in 2012, his goal has been to shoot “the most accurate vintage photographs possible.” And so, in addition to enlisting the modeling talents of his now 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, he treats each image as a labor of vintage love.

All the background locations are real (no backdrops), all the props are authentic antiques that at times take him months and thousands of dollars to acquire, and he prides himself on coming up with each photo on his own, never recreating existing vintage photographs.

To give you an idea of the time and effort that goes into these shots, Orehek told us what all went into the Traveling Sideshow photos above — his most difficult shoot to date and the one he’s most proud of:

The “Traveling Sideshow” shoot was my most ambitious to date and was taken in July of 2013. Over a 6 month period, I searched for and bought well over 50 very old props from dozens of different antique shops from all over the US…investing over $2000 for just the Traveling Sideshow shoot alone. Little Tyler had just turned 5 years old a month earlier and my daughter Lauren was only 2 at the time. It was also her first shoot.

Adding to the magic of the series is that we get to watch little Tyler and Lauren grow up even as they traverse the 20th century in photos. The images in this post and in Orehek’s gallery are, therefore, ordered by decade — starting in the 1900s with the Traveling Sideshow and moving on up to the 1970s with the final Roller Skates image.

Seven decades traversed by the same little boy and girl, even as they age two and a half years in the process. It’s a fun journey made all the more enjoyable by the sheer authenticity of each image:

In his artist statement, Orehek explains what he was going for when he began this vintage project, and why he feels his children make for the perfect models:

My intent was not and is not to replicate existing vintage photographs but to capture the mood, feel and the visceral emotion of that period. Having a child in lieu of an adult in my work allows the viewer to focus on the “essence” of those past environments and professions with greater clarity through juxtaposition. Children, having no preconceptions of the roles I place them in, can more truly embody the individuals they’re endeavoring to be within my compositions.

To see more of the images in the series, learn more, or follow along as Orehek and his children continue to journey through time, head over to the his website and definitely give him a follow on Facebook. These images really need to be seen in higher resolution for the attention to detail to be appreciated.

---

Image credits: Photographs by Tyler Orehek and used with permission

A few days ago, UK industrial designer and jeweler Mat Brown shared with the Reddit community his ingenious idea for a set of resin inlaid chestnut shelves. Starting with a cracked piece of chestnut wood he mixed standard resin with some mysterious glow-in-the-dark powder he bought on Ebay which he used to fill in the gaps. And voilà, instant glowing furniture with unknown side effects. Seriously though, they look amazing, and you can see his fully detailed tutorial over on his blog. Brown also makes lots of funky jewelry which he sells over on Etsy.

Hell hath no fury like the wave of mental and physical changes a new mother adjusts to in the first year of her baby’s life.

So to celebrate moms everywhere, Pampers Japan decided to do something special.

They surprised unsuspecting women – with help from their husbands – with personalized photo galleries of flitting mother-and-child moments taken during “the most trying year of their life.”

Outside the hospital, their husbands waited with adorable cakes to surprise their wives all over again.

After all, “a baby’s first birthday is also a mom’s first birthday,” read the video’s description.

Excuse us, we have to go find some tissues. There's something in our eyes.

Like Us On Facebook
Follow Us On Twitter

by Lisa Giroday, Sandra Lopuch and Sam Philips | While we realize that it’s been mostly gloriously sunny and hot outside of late and that you’ve been battling aphids, watering, harvesting, and scoring from the market, we have something extremely important to tell you: The time is now for getting seeds and starts in the ground for Fall/Winter and early Spring harvests. We are in the thick of it right now, and the planting windows are starting to close!

But what to plant for winter? Well, though it might be too late for parsnips and carrots, there’s still plenty of stuff that you can get into the ground. While crops like beets, carrots, peas, onions, broccoli, lettuce, and bush beans are being harvested and are finished their life cycles, there are now empty spots emerging in the garden for hardy winter greens such as mustards, spinach, arugula, mizuna and others. Get your Fall lettuce in the ground as well – last chance! While they will turn to mush by frost, you can still reap the benefits until then. And if you feel you might need more chard and kale over the winter, put some transplants in the ground (it’s too late to seed). One of our favourite starts for this transitional time of year is purple sprouting broccoli. It stays dormant in the garden until January and then resumes growth for a February-April harvest. You’ll be happy you planted some after consuming all of those root veggies all winter!

And speaking of root veggies, if you missed the beet-planting window and still need to fulfill your root veggie quota, it’s not too late to seed some radishes and turnips. It’s still fair game to also seed Fall peas and transplant Winter cabbage. And finally, cool-loving herbs like cilantro, parsley, and chervil can be seeded now, too. They’ll overwinter if we don’t get a harsh one. Just remember, it’s a good idea to add some compost before planting, and ensure the soil is moist enough for seed germination. Happy growing, gang!

THE VICTORY GARDENS ARCHIVE

Singer J Cole has released a song entitled "Be Free" in honour of the late Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri last Saturday.

Cole released the song on Friday via Soundcloud and sent it to his publicist Kathryn Frazier who forwarded the song's link.

"Rest in Peace to Michael Brown and to every young black man murdered in America, whether by the hands of white or black," Cole wrote. "I pray that one day the world will be filled with peace and rid of injustice. Only then will we all Be Free - Cole."



The song, which runs just over four minutes, has been listened to over 100,000 times in the seven hours since its release. "And I'm in denial, and it don't take no x-ray to see right through my smile," Cole sings with a keyboard accompanying him. "All we wanna do is take the chains off, all we wanna do is be free... can you tell me why every time I step outside I see my n***ers die, I'm letting you know that there ain't no gun they can make that can kill my soul."

The song also includes the audio from an interview Dorian Johnson, 22, gave regarding what he saw when Brown, 18, was killed.

"There was a time in my life when I gave a f**k," Cole wrote in a blog post with a photo of Brown lying on the ground shot.

Every chance I got was screaming about it. I was younger. It's so easy to try to save the world when you're in college. You got nothing but time and no responsibility. But soon life hits you. No more dorms, no more meal plan, no more refund check. N***a need a job. N***a got rent. Got car note. Cable bill. Girlfriend moves in and becomes wife. Baby on the way. Career advances. Instagram is poppin. Lebron leaves Miami. LIFE HITS. We become distracted. We become numb. I became numb. But not anymore. That coulda been me, easily. It could have been my best friend. I'm tired of being desensitized to the murder of black men. I don't give a f**k if it's by police or peers. This sh** is not normal. I made a song. This is how we feel.

Cole's song already has caught the attention of many on Twitter. Here are some of the reactions:

Listen: @JColeNC's Michael Brown Tribute 'Be Free' Might Be His Most Emotional Song Ever http://t.co/5v9Lg9eIjl

— VibeMagazine (@VibeMagazine) August 15, 2014

Hip hop stepping up. Listen to @JColeNC Be Free http://t.co/HP6fgs7a7M dedicated to #MikeBrown #Ferguson

— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 15, 2014

Super proud of the homie @JColeNC where these other MCs at tho? Listen to Be Free http://t.co/qGnviGlqoF #MikeBrown

— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) August 15, 2014

The "Strange Fruit" of today. beautiful gut-wrenching song by J-Cole in honor of Mike Brown, called "Be Free" https://t.co/chgMle3Lbu

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 15, 2014

EVERYONE needs to listen to Be Free by @JColeNC. The most realist thing out there and it will hit your heart.

— Ashley Houma (@Ashleyyhouma) August 15, 2014

I'm glad Cole put this out. Very important. #BeFree

— Justin Credible (@J_Credible) August 15, 2014

Listened to @JColeNC "Be Free" several times. What a powerful & fitting song for the time we live in. http://t.co/d4HgeJHGVq

— SOURDTV (@sourdtv) August 15, 2014

Cole's song comes at a time of rapid developments in the St. Louis suburb.

On Friday, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson identified Darren Wilson as the officer who shot and killed Brown. This was following the call for Missouri State Highway Patrol to take over security in the area by state governor Jay Nixon.

Pets Who Are Terrible at Hide and Seek [via]

Previously: Kids Who Are Terrible at Hide and Seek

French paper artist Junior Fritz Jacquet created this fantastic series of weird masks made from toilet paper rolls. Inspired by the craft of origami, each mask is made from a single paper roll which is folded and squished into an expressive face. The pieces are then finished with a coat of shellac and different pigments. These masks are just one small facet of Jacquet’s artwork, you can see more of his functional paper lights and other paper creations over on Facebook. Photos here by Matthieu Gauchet. (via Brain Pickings, Lost at E Minor)

[@vernetroyer]

girlwhowasonfire:

deans-avenging-angel:

girlwhowasonfire:

Found a better use for the wine glasses.

That’s a martini glass.

I’m literally using it for milk and cookies does it look like I care about the finer points of debauchery.

[via]

Robo-cuteness overload! Born without front legs, the ridiculously adorable teeny tiny Chihuahua named TurboRoo has been given a second chance at mobility, thanks to 3D printing! Mark Deadrick of 3D design company 3dyn saw little Roo online, and used his 3D design mastery to create “new legs” for the sweet boy. The incredible wheeled cart, printed on a Makerbot 3D printer, has given TurboRoo independence, and a cool new way to scoot around the dog park.

Read the rest of Cuteness Alert! 3D-Printed Wheel Cart Gives Chihuahua Pup a New ‘Leash’ on Life

---

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3d printed prosthetics, 3D printing, 3D-printed wheelchair, 3dyn, animal welfare, Animals, chihuahua on wheels, eco design, green design, Makerbot 3d, Mark Deadrick, social design, sustainable design, TurboRoo

Claire Wyckoff (pretty please be pronounced wackoff) uses the Nike+ run-tracking app to run in penis shapes, which she then posts to her Tumblr 'Running Drawing'. She doesn't JUST do penises though, just a LOT of penises (she's also done a unicorn, middle finger, Slimer from Ghostbusters, and a space invader). Clearly, Claire knows how to make cardio fun. Because if there was a giant penis waiting at the finish line every time I went for a run I'd be a lot more inclined to exercise. Wait, that came out wrong. I meant a giant vagina. No, that's not quite right either. I'll settle for a hotdog and a beer. Keep going for more of Claire's exercise art.

The office of California Governor Jerry Brown has revealed it is considering legislation to ease environmental compliance laws for Tesla Motors in an effort to woo the company to build its first Gigafactory in the state. Despite the electric vehicle manufacturer’s headquarters and assembly line already being based in California, the state lags behind the other four contenders in the competition to secure the Gigafactory development. However, given the green fanfare surrounding the Tesla end product, is making an exception to existing environmental legislation for the company really sending the right message?

Read the rest of California Considers Waiving Environmental Laws to Win Tesla Gigafactory

---

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: California, California to waive environmental rules for Tesla, ceqa, electric cars, electric vehicle, elon musk, ev, Gigafactory, jerry brown, lithium ion battery, Tesla Motors

Note: Larger shot of the game board right HERE. So apparently a $40 Legend of Zelda edition Monopoly game is coming out next month (September 15th). GameStop (who only gave me $4 in trade for my copy of Dead Island 2) will be selling a special edition of the game that includes a bonus Ocarina of Time game token, as well as 6 'power play' cards (Goddess Harp, Wind Walker, Minish Cap, Spirit Flute, Phantom Hourglass, Ocarina of Time) that add a new twist to gameplay. Obviously, I just pre-ordered my copy and you're all invited to come over and play September 15th (that's a Monday -- bring snacks and beer). I get to be the banker though. Plus in charge of handing out all the property cards and houses and hotels. "So you can cheat?" No, I just like making extra work for myself. YES SO I CAN F***ING CHEAT. Now you're uninvited. Keep going for closeups of the box and board.

According to their recently published earnings report, 2.3-million people still pay for AOL internet access. For reference, that is 2.3-million people too many. But presumably they're all going to die soon and the problem will right itself.

...every quarter the company reports its remaining subscription service suckers, a delightful yet depressing nugget of intel. AOL took home $143 million of operating income from that division--more than the rest of the company combined did--meaning those unfortunates pay out, on average, $20.86 per month for a service that's at best redundant and at worst utterly useless. That's up over a dollar from a few years ago. There's some good news, though; the rate of decline in subscribers appears to be strong, down about a third since the beginning of 2011.

As someone in the Gizmodo comments pointed out, there are still some places in the US where dial-up service is the only option. Those places are what most people refer to as "shitholes". We get it, you're stockpiling weapons and trying to start a militia. Luckily for you, the Anarchist Cookbook is a quick download, even on dial-up. Thanks to BBQ, who misses the hissing and screeching of a dial-up modem connecting.

What the -- are you blowing a seagull?! This is the $135 Facial Fitness Pao from Japan. It allegedly firms and tightens your face. I've got the feeling it doesn't work that well. Plus for some reason famed Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is the spokesperson. Pfft, like that dreamboat needs any face exercising! You know, I often daydream about being a hunk. Then I wake up and look in the mirror and just cry, cry, cry. Lately I've even been kicking around the idea of getting plastic surgery. "Nose job?" BOOBS. Keep going for the whole bird-in-your-mouth commercial.

Everyone's favourite frowning cat is headed to Vancouver to film a Christmas movie.

"Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever" will follow the feline as she lives a lonely life in a mall pet shop. That is, until a 12-year-old girl falls in love with her and they develop a unique friendship when they realize they can communicate, according to cable network Lifetime.



Grumpy Cat (real name Tardar Sauce) became an Internet sensation in 2012 after her photo was posted on Reddit.

The movie is set to film in Vancouver from August 16 to Sept. 9, reports Global News.

The production will feature appearances by other Internet memes, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Will you go see it?

EARLIER ON HUFFPOST:


Like Us On Facebook
Follow Us On Twitter

3D-printing just officially went mainstream as Amazon announced the launch of an online store for 3D-printed items. With more than 250 products (including pendants, toys, nylon wallets, cookie cutters and bobbleheads), the new store aims to shift online retail towards a more dynamic and personalized selection of items.

Read the rest of Amazon Launches Online Store for 3D-Printed Items

---

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 3D printing, 3d printing technology, 3d-printed objects, Amazon 3d printed store, Amazon online store, Amazon store, green technology, Mixee Labs, Sculpteo

This is a video of 6-year old Gagan Satish from Bagalore, India, rollerskating under 39 consecutive cars. That is a new record (previously: a video of the old champion from 2008). The clearance under the cars is only 20cm (7.9-inches). For reference, I always knock the pole down during rollerskate limbo on the first pass. Plus refuse to leave the rink during couple's skate even though I don't have a partner. Keep going for the video, but prepare to scratch your eyeballs in disbelief.