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In Prison For Criminally Bad Writers, Cons Try To Rewrite Their Script

When a gang of feloniously poor writers get a hold of the script to their lives, they hatch a plan to rewrite it and bust out. But can they navigate all of the various plot twists thrown their way? Tom Gran and Martin Woolley wrote and directed Writer’s Block, a funny piece of metafiction. It’s…

The drones and cameras in this dystopian animation are horrifying

The dystopia created in this animation by Simon Russell is a world I hope to never be a part of: drones littered across the sky, surveillance cameras pointing every which way and for some reason, dubstep. It doesn’t all make sense but Russell’s imaginative take on the look of futuristic drones and cameras are perfectly…

This folded aircraft looks like an awesome spaceship

From this perspective and in their fully folded stow position, the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey looks like a some weird spaceship concept. It’s amazing how these things fold. It’s fully automatic too. Here’s a video showing the process: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christopher Lindahl SPLOID is a new blog about…

Stunning Anime Collection Short Peace Hits US Theaters April 18

ELEVEN ARTS and Sentai Filmworks has just announced that Short Peace, an animated collection of short films compiled by Katsuhrio Otomo, will be released in approximately 45 theaters across the US starting April 18. Plans for a Canadian release are aiming for May 2014. Short Peace is an anthology of four animated films from Japan’s…

“Where’s Servo?” Is The Greatest MST3K Poster Of All Time

And I say this having owned every Mystery Science Theater 3000 poster produced. Created by artist Steve Seck, it combines the greatest characters, monsters, aliens and Puma Men from the movies the show mocked into one gigantic group. The picture contains one character from every single movie MST3K riffed, including the legendary KTMA episodes (back…

Venice frozen solid looks like a fun place to be

Imagine Venice with all its channels frozen solid. That’s what art director Robert Jahns did, using Photoshop with pretty neat results. I’d like to explore the city skating. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

At Long Last, We’re Getting An Ayn Rand Musical

Why did this take so long? There’s an all-singing, all-dancing Ayn Rand off-Broadway production coming to New York in May. The Anthem is inspired by Rand’s novella “Anthem,” set in a world where individuality is illegal. Including the cowboy from the Village People! The Anthem starts performances on May 20 at the Lynn Redgrave Theater,…

British architect David Chipperfield was chosen to build Stockholm’s Nobelhuset today, more than a year after a competition to design it got underway. This 275,000-square-foot complex will house a museum and administrative center for the Nobel Prize, along with a cafe and a library. Wonder how long before TED will build a museum dedicated to…

10 Most Bad-Ass Signature Moves In Anime

One of the coolest things about anime (including western animation!) is that the characters are capable of amazing things. Not only that, but they’re capable of amazing things that no one else can do. What’s more, most of those things are so powerful that the show’s world and the people in it can barely handle…

SeaWorld Succeeds In Delaying Orca Welfare Bill “For Further Study”

Last month, we reported on a bill introduced to the California State Legislature by Assemblymember Richard Bloom, which would end killer whale performances in the state and begin to phase out their captivity more generally. Today, Bloom’s office announced that the vote was delayed for further study. To recap: AB 2140, which is informally called…

Dropbox Carousel Hands On: So Many Swipes, So Little Time

Today Dropbox announced a new app just for viewing and sharing photos. It’s called Carousel, and it allows and your friends to seamlessly share images between your Dropbox folders. But you might not want to give it a spin. There are plenty of camera roll replacements out there for both iOS and Android, but unlike…

The Roof of This Sloped Library Doubles as an Awesome Slide

Imagine how much easier it would be to get kids excited about going to the library if the library itself doubled as a playground. That’s exactly what’s happened in an earthquake-ravaged village in China’s Yunnan Province. The town’s new library doubles as a community center with a slide on top. And it’s beautiful. With the…

Some of the Worst Failed Tech Predictions Ever

From Edison saying that AC electricity was going nowhere to the thousands of journalists claiming that the iPad was going to be a disaster (not me!) the technology world is full of failed predictions. The Week’s Bad Opinion Generator has loads of funny ones, along with other non-tech oriented ones.

Skip the Nail Holes In Your Wall With This Sticker Clock

Not keen on the idea of creating a nail hole in your drywall just so you can hang a wall clock? Designer Jamie Wolfund’s found a better way—kind of—as long as you don’t mind repainting when it’s time to take it down. Instead of nails or screws, the Sticker Clock uses two nine-inch pieces of…

Buy These Seeds From Space and Make Yourself an Intergalactic Salad

It’s not quite spring yet, but it’s nice enough that you’re probably tentatively peering out the window of your garbage-lined apartment for your first glimmer of sunshine in five months. Maybe you’re even prepping your garden—in which case I invite you to consider investing in space basil. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Though $27…

The Science Behind Jack White’s Amazing New Music Video

The music video for “High Ball Stepper” – the first cut from Jack White’s forthcoming solo album “Lazaretto” – is basically four minutes of blazing guitar riffs set to visuals of two notoriously trippy scientific phenomena. The first: A non-newtonian fluid that leaps, freezes, pools and thickens in a vibrating speaker cone. The second: a…

Hilarious foot-in-mouth quotes

I’ve been lost for an hour clicking next on the The Week’s Bad Opinion Generator, a wonderful trove of feet in mouth. Such fun. It’s like watching Twitter in action since the 19th century. Here are some of the best, starting with Hitler, of course. × × Got any favorite? Go to The Week’s Bad…

Force A Unicorn To Fight A Swarm Of Bees In Triptych

A few months ago we had the pleasure of playing upcoming card game Triptych—and we had a freaking blast. Why was it such a delight? Because you can play just about anything. We fought Benjamin Franklin with bees! It was so great. So let’s help this game become a reality! Here’s a basic rundown from…

No, That’s Not the Oldest Message In a Bottle. This Is.

Recently a 101-year-old message in a bottle was found off the coast of Germany. The bottle was tossed into the Baltic Sea back in 1913 and was discovered this year by fishermen (pictured above) who then donated it to a local museum. Just about every news outlet is saying that it’s the oldest message in…

Could Google Glass Really Help People with Parkinson’s?

While the world has been squabbling about Glassholes, doctors have quietly been testing the potential of Google Glass in medicine. Features that may seem silly to use in a cafe or on the subway have real advantages in the doctor’s office. Hand-free control? Remote diagnosis? On-demand medical records? Check check check. Now researchers are testing…