And now for something a bit different: Woodworker and musician Ross McSweeney designs and builds kinetic sculptures that are glorious in both their complexity and their beauty. Perhaps his best work is this serene scene of a boat bobbing endlessly on the waves as playful fish leap around it. Makes you want to grab your fishing pole and just drift away… (via fkaWaldenPond)
Other Stuff
Stories based on non-animal photos, as well as “Dear Spambot,” my ongoing attempt to ridicule spammers into leaving me alone, which works as well as you’d expect.
Match Wits With Inspector Lefarge!
“And you say nobody else went in or out while you were here?” asked Lefarge as he toured the quaint downstairs kitchen of Schmucksley Manor.
“That’s right, sir,” said Mrs. Plotts. “I was cooking the master’s breakfast, and I only turned my back for a moment. The next thing I knew, the sausages were gone!”
As Lefarge’s keen eye raked the cluttered counter top and shelves for clues, he stopped at the frying pan Mrs. Plotts has been using, which bore a strange symbol drawn in a layer of grease. “There’s a traveling circus performing at the outskirts of town,” he declared. “Our mysterious thief is hiding there even now!”
How did Lefarge crack the case? (answer below)
(Answer: Lefarge recognized at once the symbol of the elusive Ninja Clown Gang, whose calling card is a smiley emoticon featuring a disfigured clown nose.)
Poor Unfortunate Extra
Catching up with the cast of The Little Mermaid
With the remake of Disney’s 1989 The Little Mermaid about to set sail, we sat down with cast member Myron Needlenoodle, who played “Poor Unfortunate Soul #17” to share some backstage memories. Mr. Needlenoodle, welcome to the show.
Myron: Nice to be here. Actually, none of us got screen credit but yeah, I’m seventeenth from the left. You may have to freeze-frame to see me.
Cutetropolis: Good to know. So what have you been doing lately?
M: Well, work kind of dried up after the movie wrapped. I’m not leading man material, as you can imagine. Most of the guys quit the business and took regular jobs, but I kept my hand in, so to speak. Because I don’t, y’know, have hands. Anyway, I do some dinner theater and teach improv on the weekends.
C: So is there anything about the movie that might surprise us?
M: You’d think Ariel would be the sweet one, right? Actually, it was Ursula. Real friendly, remembered all our names. Some of us ran a poker game between takes, and she sat in all the time. Just a kind, down-to-earth person, not like that Ariel. Soon as they yell “cut” she swims to her dressing room, nobody sees her for hours.
The things this seed pod has seen, Elizabeth G.
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Egg Farm of Insane Chicken Man
Like many of you, we members of the flock have grown increasingly concerned about the behavior of our leader, Insane Chicken Man. His rantings have become increasingly volatile, something we could not have foreseen when we went to work for someone named “Insane Chicken Man.”
We believe it is our duty to the farm and society at large to frustrate the impulses of Insane Chicken Man at every turn. Towards that end we have engaged in acts of resistance, such as hiding our eggs in random locations and sending him on an Easter egg hunt; crowing at sunset instead of sunrise to disrupt his sleep cycle, and drawing a line in front of his beak, which can hypnotize him for up to an hour.
We beg the public’s patience as we heroically deal with this situation as we struggle to maintain order until — one way or the other — this cuckoo flies the coop.
Inset photo: Ursula, by BruceTurner, licensed under CC BY 2.0