WEEKEND ROUNDUP: 9/17-9/18 | London’s BT Tower recently became a giant lightsaber. (Eddie Lawrance via Kuriositas)
Was Nicolas Cage a vampire during the Civil War? This $1,000,000 photograph holds the answers
https://gizmodo.com/was-nicolas-cage-a-vampire-during-the-civil-war-this-5841112
Are you an unhinged billionaire? Are you a sucker for impulse buys? Do you sit around wondering if the fellow née Nicolas Kim Coppola is an immortal Confederate soldier who feasts on human blood? Then have I got an eBay purchase for you, pilgrim! More »
Pranksters add Conan the Barbarian to the faculty of Irish college
https://gizmodo.com/pranksters-add-conan-the-barbarian-to-the-faculty-of-ir-5841187
Last Thursday, Trinity College recruited an unexpected new professor for their English department: a one Dr. Conan T. Barbarian. Sadly, this was the work of rascals at the university and not one of Thulsa Doom’s unusually stupid spells. More »
Take a tour of the abandoned remains of The Abyss movie set
https://gizmodo.com/take-a-tour-of-the-abandoned-remains-of-the-abyss-movie-5841253
We recently saw how James Cameron built the undersea set for the 1987 filming of The Abyss at the unfinished Cherokee Nuclear Plant outside of Gaffney, South Carolina. More »
https://gizmodo.com/watch-how-the-abyss-was-filmed-at-an-abandoned-nuclear-5840307
Incredible footage of tiger sharks chowing down on a delicious whale carcass
https://gizmodo.com/incredible-footage-of-tiger-sharks-chowing-down-on-a-de-5841352
What happens when a group of hungry sharks discover a meaty hunk of whale carcass ripening in the sun? They chow down on it like a floating, all-you can-eat buffet. More »
The Planet Express crew ain’t afraid of no ghosts
https://gizmodo.com/the-planet-express-crew-aint-afraid-of-no-ghosts-5841223
The Planet Express team dons the khaki and takes up ghost hunting in a series of Futurama/Ghostbusters mashups. And Bender takes his rightful place as giant, mystical destroyer of New New York. More »
The story of the woman who discovered new species in her garden
https://gizmodo.com/the-story-of-the-woman-who-discovered-new-species-in-he-5841287
A nearly four-decade-long biology project conducted in a woman’s garden revealed four separate species of insects previously unknown to science. Seemingly, all you need to discover a new species is a bit of land, some traps, and a lot of patience. More »
At Chinese amusement parks, you can ride terrifying bootleg versions of “It’s A Small World”
https://gizmodo.com/at-chinese-amusement-parks-you-can-ride-terrifying-boo-5841386
Disneyland’s It’s A Small World ride was never the paragon of normal, what with its chirpy dead-eyed puppets and hypnotically communitarian mantra. But Chinese theme parks take the sing-songy boat ride to new frontiers of uncomfortable. More »
Does this footage from the scrapped Avengers video game spoil the movie’s exotic locales?
https://gizmodo.com/does-this-footage-from-the-scrapped-avengers-video-game-5841409
Remember that concept animation from the THQ Avengers video game that was cancelled? A trailer for this never-to-game has hit the web and it shows off the heroes’ deadly destinations, which you can spoil for yourself in the above video. More »
https://gizmodo.com/does-this-footage-from-a-scrapped-avengers-video-game-r-5835925
The Southern Lights, As Seen From The International Space Station
https://gizmodo.com/the-southern-lights-as-seen-from-the-international-spa-5841411
Astronaut Ron Garan has shared some amazing photography from the International Space Station before. Now he’s snapped the southern lights from his privileged position on the ISS. More »
https://gizmodo.com/and-now-the-perseid-shower-from-the-international-spac-5830736
https://gizmodo.com/is-this-a-scene-from-star-wars-or-a-real-image-from-the-5814955
And now, for no reason whatsoever, superheroes as fetuses
https://gizmodo.com/and-now-for-no-reason-whatsoever-superheroes-as-fetus-5841418
I’m not sure what compulsion drives some artists to reimagine pop culture stalwarts as horrifying babies, but prenatal versions of the comic book pantheon are on display at the HEY! exhibit in Paris. More »
https://gizmodo.com/baby-voldemort-toy-is-the-most-horrifying-thing-to-come-5822229
Wampa attacks, blue milk, and incestuous make-out sessions = the Star Wars deleted scenes
https://gizmodo.com/wampa-attacks-blue-milk-and-incestuous-make-out-sessi-5841422
With the advent of the Star Wars Blu-ray collection, we finally get to see those weird scenes George Lucas left at the editing bay. These nixed sequences featured Wampa attacks, Darth Vader using his brain as a telepathic CB radio, and blue milk. More »
Doctor Who: The Hero Takes A Fall
https://gizmodo.com/doctor-who-the-hero-takes-a-fall-5841387
This was the creepiest episode of Doctor Who in quite some time, despite the hilarious bits mixed in. And it appears we’re not done taking apart the myth of the Doctor as great savior. All in all, a pretty great episode. Spoilers ahead… More »
An insane time-lapse video of the International Space Station zipping over the Earth’s surface
https://gizmodo.com/an-insane-time-lapse-video-of-the-international-space-s-5841441
The International Space Station is privy to many a gorgeous view of this big blue marble we live on, but this composite video of an evening on the ISS reinvents jaw-dropping. More »
https://gizmodo.com/the-southern-lights-as-seen-from-the-international-spa-5841411
Mollusks evolved brains on four different occasions
https://gizmodo.com/mollusks-evolved-brains-on-four-different-occasions-5841445
As far as invertebrates go, you don’t get much smarter than the members of the mollusk phylum, which includes octopuses, cuttlefish, and squid. But mollusks apparently didn’t think through their evolutionary path very well, developing brains four times over. More »
Why Earth might have started out as a gas giant
https://gizmodo.com/why-earth-might-have-started-out-as-a-gas-giant-5841444
All planets are vast clumps of dust and gas packed together by gravity. If there’s lots of material, a gas giant is the result. If there isn’t much material, you get a rocky planet. At least, that’s what we thought. More »
