Sploid: Where awesome, wild, and breathtaking tech moments burst into view.
It started out as Anakin’s lightsaber, of course. And then Obi-Wan held onto it before he gave it to Luke. And then new characters carried it in The Force Awakens. And then who knows where it will go. This video, expertly edited by Christopher Sherwood, tracks the journey that the lightsaber has taken in a…
It’s simple. Long takes in movies are gorgeous shots that make the movie watcher feel as if they are almost a part of the world inside the film. They’re beautiful and awesome and everybody loves them. Done. We all agree. Well, not quite. They’re not perfect. They’re really limiting, for one. And they can’t always…
At the start, the knife looks to be in pretty bad shape. It’s spotted and stained and totally rusted but with a little tender, love, and care, the steel is shining and sharp and beautiful once again. The high carbon steel used in Japanese chef knives can be susceptible to rust when used with things…
Here is how subsidence craters are formed: an underground nuclear explosion gets set off and creates a hole underneath the ground. The ground collapses because nothing is supporting it anymore and then boom, giant crater. It is so gnarly to see because the ground looks like its melting into the core of the Earth. SPLOID…
Here’s a lovely view of a salmon run in Lake Iliamna, Alaska. Just being able to see the rivers filled with salmon from up above is incredible, it’s just packed to the brim with fish. It’s also pretty cool to be able to track all the different areas the salmon are in, from the mouth…
Even the most dedicated of method actors usually aren’t keen on having half their face blown off for a role. So where do they turn to when they need to look battle-worn and bloody? A very talented props department. In this video, YouTubers Freakmo and Powdah team up to make a super gross infected knee…
Alton Brown has been the world’s preeminent food science wizard since the early days of the Food Network, and he’s about to embark on his second tour. What better way to celebrate than with a big vat of ice cream? The Jet Cream is essentially three water cooler bottles duct taped together. On one end…
The Superman cartoons from the 1940s were animated with a beauty and fluidity not seen before, but they were also hugely influential outside the world of animation. In order to achieve realistic movement, the series’ animator Max Fleischer—who also created Popeye and Betty Boop—used a technique he invented called rotoscoping. The process involved animating on…
Why do pizza pockets exist? No one knows. But everyone secretly enjoys them. Not on the same level as a pizza obviously (I mean, what does anyone enjoy more than pizza) but there’s definitely a nostalgia kick to eating a vaguely pizza-flavored, mini-calzone hot pocket of sorts. Here’s how one brand puts them together. I…
Brain, why aren’t you getting along with eyes. Eyes, what the hell are you doing to ears. Ears, why are you confusing your feelings. It’s so unsettling to see a carrot get unpeeled because your eyes are seeing something they don’t ever get to see while your ears are hearing the satisfaction of peeling while…
The new Star Wars and the original Star Wars are pretty much the same movie. Everyone can agree on that right? That’s not a bad thing! When you’ve got a formula that works, you don’t have to add in a Jar Jar. Here’s a side-by-side visual comparison from Zachary Antell that shows the similarities between…
When Vimeo user Justgoscha became disillusioned with his life as a front-end developer, he decided to rekindle something that made him happy in his younger years—animation. So every day for 100 days, he resolved to draw what those in the game call a walk cycle—a short loop of a character simply moving—and the results are…
Say goodbye to London, because it’s about to become Earth’s second moon. Using some clever video stitching and a 360 rig, RavenCourt Films was able to to turn locations in London into its own Mario Galaxy levels, ensconced by an endless skyline. The city’s features are warped but just barely recognizable as each scene spins…
Sometimes there are just no words. Sometimes there is just a tree and a setting Sun and a sky that turns from a bright yellow to a deep orange. The Film Artist made this video, Be Sunset Tree, and it’s just majestic. How the Sun crosses the tree, how the tree seemingly cradles the light,…
I now know that there are two acceptable things to do with a glass of wine. The first one, obviously, is to drink it so you can get another glass of wine. The second, even more obviously, is to chop smash the hell out of it with an axe. The shattering effect is spectacular in…
Who do you think of as Superman? Christopher Reeves. Iron Man? Robert Downey Jr. Wolverine? Hugh Jackman. Some comic book superheroes will always be associated with one actor. But others? Like who’s your Batman or the Human Torch, and is Ben Affleck even a superhero even though he’s been one twice? Those questions will endure…
Last week the internet watched in amazement as Leo Weston solved three Rubik’s cubes while juggling them. Now he’s back to show us how he faked the entire thing, and its just as impressive. The footage was captured by juggling solved cubes and then digitally removing them—so that element at least wasn’t faked. Leo and…
What you’re seeing is the engine of a 2017 Nissan GT-R—that is, the 3.8-liter V6 24-valve twin-turbocharged engine—being hand assembled. It’s like the world’s hardest 3D puzzle that gets bigger as you’re going through it with more complicated pieces to mess up the process. The final product is a machine of beauty, 565 horsepower with…
This cute little styrofoam cup is meeting its gruesome end with a brave face. Seriously though, the way acetone eats through styrofoam cups is mind-boggling, both in how fast it works, and because the cup seems to just disappear as if it’s slipping through some weird chemical portal. How’s it doing that? The short answer…
Remember jumping in your seat the first time you saw Jurassic Park? That was just a movie, and you were probably sitting in a comfy theater chair. Imagine finding yourself coming face to face with what looks like a real dinosaur in a deserted parking garage. If you don’t have a heart attack, you’ll still…
