Spaghetti alla Carbonizzata

I was making lunch, Mark didn't want to eat, we played hide and seek, Mark really didn't want to eat, I agreed he could eat later, I totally forgot the pasta was cooking...

The prettiest meal I ever cooked!

When was the last time you hung your lunch on the kitchen wall?

... alla Damien Hirst?

The Voice of God, AKA Thunder Throat

In a world where movie trailers require voiceovers, Don LaFontaine was secretly a superstar. One man against all the odds, he – or rather, his voice – appeared in the promotional spots for more than 5,000 movies. You don't know his name, but you'll recognise his dulcet tones. He was the guy who could say, "In a world..." or "One man against all the odds" more deeply, richly and gravelly than anybody else.
On Monday, LaFontaine, also known as "Thunder Throat", "King of Trailers" and "The Voice of God", died aged 68 at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles. At his creative peak, he is said to have recorded as many as 35 voiceovers – for film trailers, television commercials and video games – in a single day. He has been the announcer for the Oscars and the Screen Actors Guild awards and, based on the number of contracts signed, is the most employed actor in the guild's 75-year history.
More in Don LaFontaine: The king of the trailers, The Independent

Don LaFontaine (LaFontaine at wiki)

Don LaFontaine, The Voice. 750,000 television spots, 5,000 movie trailers, 1 voice, Don LaFontaine has the most recognizable voice in the game right now. Here is the legend's story told by none other than the legend himself:

5 Guys in a Limo. In a world where a select group of men use their unique voiceover talents comes the short film that brought a nation to its feet. Starring Don LaFontaine, John Leader, Al Chalk, Mark Elliot, and Nick Tate:

He would have been perfect to narrate the Great Egg Saga:

In a world ruled by hens... one man dares to be different... against all odds... he lays his own eggs!

The Egg Saga can be found in: post1, post2, post3, post4, post5, post6, post7, post8 and this very own post9!

Shaun the Sheep

Shaun the Sheep, just what the Cerne Abbas giant needed to restore it to its full naked glory.

He’s Shaun the sheep
He’s Shaun the sheep
He even mucks about with those who cannot bleat

Keep it in mind,
He’s one of a kind
Oh...Life’s a treat with Shaun the Sheep

He’s Shaun the sheep
He’s Shaun the sheep
He doesn’t miss a trick or ever lose a beat

Perhaps one day, You’ll find a way
To... Come and meet with Shaun the sheep
Oh... Come and bleat with Shaun the Sheep!

The series will follow the adventures of Shaun and the rest of his flock as they join in his latest madcap schemes, from synchronised swimming in the sheep-dip to disguising themselves in the scarecrow's clothes.
More in Shaun the Sheep gets own show in CBBC's first animation commission, BBC, 2004.

Hide 'n Sheep is a great game and there are other games too.

More:
Shaun the Sheep at wiki
Aardman

Doc Hudson - In Memoriam

Paul Newman (1925-2008) on his Cars Doc Hudson character:

Cerne Abbas Giant news

Photo from the Cerne Abbas village website

From Cerne Abbas Giant at wiki: The Cerne Abbas giant, also referred to as the Rude Man or the Rude Giant, is a hill figure of a giant naked man on a hillside near the village of Cerne Abbas, to the north of Dorchester, in Dorset, England. The 180 ft (55 m) high, 167 ft (51 m) wide figure is carved into the side of a steep hill, and is best viewed from the opposite side of the valley or from the air. The carving is formed by a trench 12 in (30 cm) wide, and about the same depth, which has been cut through grass and earth into the underlying chalk. In his right hand the giant holds a knobbed club 120 ft (37 m) in length.

View Larger Map

Cerne's most famous resident has loomed large above the village for hundreds of years but in recent times has begun to look shabby and faint, his six-metre (20ft) appendage not obvious enough to dispel doubts over his gender.
A series of wet summers, together with a shortage of sheep in this corner of the south-west, has caused the giant's outline to be covered in lichen, algae and weeds. The steady flow of courting couples heading to the spot where Rolf was sitting has also caused the steep hillside to erode.
So yesterday National Trust wardens, together with a hardy bunch of volunteers, marched up the slope to try to spruce up the 55m (180ft) high figure.
More in Volunteers restore historic giant of Cerne Abbas to his former glory, Fresh chalk and a trim for Dorset landmark after wet summers, The Guardian.

More news:
Fading giant brought back to life and Volunteers help in giant makeover, BBC

More on the Cerne Abbas Giant:
Cerne Abbas Giant at the National Trust
Cerne Abbas giant at Mysterious Britain

2007 photo, still very funny

See Homer Simpson's Giant Donut, from simpsonsmoviechannel.

A giant outline of Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was enough to make even pagans go "D'oh".
Painted opposite famous fertility symbol, the Cerne Abbas giant, the idea had been to plug the new Simpsons movie due out later this month.
But instead the image has incited the wrath of British pagans who have now pledged to perform "rain magic" to rid their sacred site of its unwelcome guest.
More in Giant Homer Simpson prompts pagan backlash, The Daily Mail.

Photos of Homer Simpson on a hill, BBC

Teaser for The Simpsons Movie.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Just because they are twins and there is a Dylan song, Tweedledum and Tweedledee:

Illustration by John Tenniel

They were standing under a tree, each with an arm round the other's neck, and Alice knew which was which in a moment, because one of them had 'DUM' embroidered on his collar, and the other 'DEE.' 'I suppose they've each got "TWEEDLE" round at the back of the collar,' she said to herself.

They stood so still that she quite forgot they were alive, and she was just looking round to see if the word "TWEEDLE" was written at the back of each collar, when she was startled by a voice coming from the one marked 'DUM.'

'If you think we're wax-works,' he said, 'you ought to pay, you know. Wax-works weren't made to be looked at for nothing, nohow!'

'Contrariwise,' added the one marked 'DEE,' 'if you think we're alive, you ought to speak.'

'I'm sure I'm very sorry,' was all Alice could say; for the words of the old song kept ringing through her head like the ticking of a clock, and she could hardly help saying them out loud:—

'Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle;
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel;
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.'

'I know what you're thinking about,' said Tweedledum: 'but it isn't so, nohow.'

'Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, 'if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'

Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll

Disney's Alice:

Tweedle-dee Dum and Tweedle-dee Dee
They're throwing knives into the tree
Two big bags of dead man's bones
Got their noses to the grindstones

Living in the Land of Nod
Trustin' their fate to the Hands of God
They pass by so silently
Tweedle-dee Dum and Tweedle-dee Dee

Well, they're going to the country, they're gonna retire
They're taking a streetcar named Desire
Looking in the window at the pecan pie
Lot of things they'd like they would never buy

Neither one gonna turn and run
They're making a voyage to the sun
"His Master's voice is calling me,"
Says Tweedle-dee Dum to Tweedle-dee Dee

Tweedle-dee Dee and Tweedle-dee Dum
All that and more and then some
They walk among the stately trees
They know the secrets of the breeze

Tweedle-dee Dum said to Tweedle-dee Dee
"Your presence is obnoxious to me."
They're like babies sittin' on a woman's knee
Tweedle-dee Dum and Tweedle-dee Dee

Well, the rain beating down on my windowpane
I got love for you and it's all in vain
Brains in the pot, they're beginning to boil
They're dripping with garlic and olive oil

Tweedle-dee Dee - he's on his hands and his knees
Saying, "Throw me somethin', Mister, please."
"What's good for you is good for me,"
Says Tweedle-dee Dum to Tweedle-dee Dee

Well, they're living in a happy harmony
Tweedle-dee Dum and Tweedle-dee Dee
They're one day older and a dollar short
They've got a parade permit and a police escort

They're lying low and they're makin' hay
They seem determined to go all the way
They run a brick and tile company
Tweedle-dee Dum and Tweedle-dee Dee

Well a childish dream is a deathless need
And a noble truth is a sacred creed
My pretty baby, she's lookin' around
She's wearin' a multi-thousand dollar gown

Tweedle-dee Dee is a lowdown, sorry old man
Tweedle-dee Dum, he'll stab you where you stand
"I've had too much of your company,"
Says, Tweedle-dee Dum to Tweedle-dee Dee

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, by Bob Dylan

Humpty Dumpty

After all this egg yolk... I mean, talk... here's Humpty Dumpty, a very well-known English riddle:

Illustration from the wonderful Denslow's Mother Goose

HUMPTY-DUMPTY was a smooth, round little chap, with a winning smile, and a great golden heart in his broad breast.

Only one thing troubled Humpty, and that was, that he might fall and crack his thin, white skin; he wished to be hard, all the way through, for he felt his heart wabble when he walked, or ran about, so off he went to the Black Hen for advice.

This Hen was kind and wise, so she was just the one, for him to go to with his trouble.

“Your father, Old Humpty,” said the Hen, “was very foolish, and would take warning from no one; you know what the poet said of him:

‘Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king’s horses, and all the king’s men
Cannot put Humpty-Dumpty together again.’

“So you see, he came to a very bad end, just because he was reckless, and would not take a hint from any one, he was much worse than a scrambled egg; the king, his horses and his men, did all they could for him, but his case was hopeless,” and the Hen shook her head sadly.

Denslow's Humpty Dumpty, by W. W. Denslow

Illustration by John Tenniel

'Why do you sit out here all alone?' said Alice, not wishing to begin an argument.

'Why, because there's nobody with me!' cried Humpty Dumpty. 'Did you think I didn't know the answer to THAT? Ask another.'

'Don't you think you'd be safer down on the ground?' Alice went on, not with any idea of making another riddle, but simply in her good-natured anxiety for the queer creature. 'That wall is so VERY narrow!'

'What tremendously easy riddles you ask!' Humpty Dumpty growled out. 'Of course I don't think so! Why, if ever I DID fall off — which there's no chance of — but IF I did —' Here he pursed his lips and looked so solemn and grand that Alice could hardly help laughing. 'IF I did fall,' he went on, 'THE KING HAS PROMISED ME — WITH HIS VERY OWN MOUTH — to — to —'

'To send all his horses and all his men,' Alice interrupted, rather unwisely.

Through the Looking-Glass, by Charles Dodgson, AKA Lewis Carroll
(there's the great The Annotated Alice, by Martin Gardner)

Humpty Dumpty's Magazine

Of the travels of Humpty-Dumpty much could be said; he went East, West, North and South; he sailed the seas, he walked and rode on the land through all the Countries of the Earth, and all his life long he was happy and content.
Also from Denslow's Humpty Dumpty.

Yes, Humpty Dumpty has travelled far, from films and animation to music (see the animation by Music Factory), from comedy to cartoons (here and here, for example, and here for more), etc, etc.

W. C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty - Alice in Wonderland (1933):

Ricky Gervais on Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty, as if by Edgar Allan Poe, by Paperhand:

Humpty Dumpty by FlippyCat:

Travis - The Humpty Dumpty Love Song:

All of the king's horses
And all of the king's men
Couldn't pull my heart
Back together again

All of the physicians
And mathematicians too
Failed to stop my heart
From breaking in two

'Cause all I need is you
I just need you
Yeah, you got the glue
So I'm gonna give my heart to you

I had a premonition
A movie in my mind
Confirming my suspicions
Of what I would find

It followed me to L.A.
Down to Mexico
Came in through the back door
At the start of the show

Still all I need is you
I just need you
Yeah, you got the glue
So I'm gonna give my heart to you

It was a perfect day
In a perfect way
You know, something had to go
You left me high, you left me low

Now, as I lie in pieces
I wait for your return
The sun upon my forehead
It burns, baby, burns, baby, burns

An eye on all my horses
You've slept with all my men
I'm never gonna get it
Together again

Still all I need is you
I just need you
Yeah, you got the glue
So I'm gonna give my heart to you

Yeah, you got the glue
There's nothing I can do
Yeah, you got the glue
So I'm gonna give my heart to you

Travis, The Humpty Dumpty Love Song

Happy Birthday Google!

Ten years and counting

How to Stand an Egg on End

How to Stand an Egg on End, by Phil Plait, from Bad Astronomy:

If anyone wants to cheat (I didn't do that), here are A Dozen Egg Tricks.

In the same site, see also Stuff for Kids, from jokes to the Eggspress Newsletter.

Boomerang V

Batman's Boomerang, from Research Support Technologies

What goes around comes back around

Mark: Não posso comer smarties agora. Estou a trabalhar! (I can't eat smarties right now. I'm working!)

The Great Balancing Act of 2008

Scrambled eggs - the true story:

It all started when MMP was in Ecuador, in Latitude 0º 0' 0", desperate to go to the loo (sorry, this has to be said, as it explains a lot). There were none around, so it took her a while to get her business done and come back for "the equatorial experience". So, she took this wonderful photo:

but had no time to try to balance the egg herself and was baffled by the "science" of it all - is it easier to balance an egg on the equatorial line? Not all is revealed here.

Having read her post, I googled the thing and came up with:
The Great Egg-Balancing Mystery
Martin Gardner
Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 20, No. 3, May/June 1996
(by the way, these two interviews:
A Mind at Play, An Interview with Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer
Interview with Martin Gardner, Notices of the AMS
are very interesting).

This article by Gardner is about the myth of balancing eggs on the equinox, as opposed to the equator, but it demystifies a similar hoax.

Meanwhile, MMP asked Carlos Fiolhais for help and got this post in De Rerum Natura, followed by her own post. Ah, all is well that ends well!

It's very nice to have the theory completely clarified, so we know it is as easy (or as hard...) to balance an egg on any given day of the year, or in any given latitude. It is a matter of attitude, not latitude!

But, is it easy?? Did any of these people actually try balancing eggs?

I decided to try it myself, on my own latitude, and a few days after the equinox, but that was just chance. And I managed this:

It took me a while, but there it was! My latitude is not too bad to balance at least 3 eggs (I have to be careful with my conclusions...).

Now, my question is: did anyone bother thinking how long the eggs stay balanced? We balance them and then what? They stay balanced forever? No sir!! I know for a fact that this is not the case:

Argh! I've got egg in my camera!!! Lucky me I didn't decide to try this:

Mister PP's much harder balancing act

The Naming of Cats

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

The Naming Of Cats, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, by T. S. Eliot (full text here)

Cats, the musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, was based on this book.

Frank the Tortoise

Frank the Tortoise, from Creature Comforts, reminded me of a little photo I took in Brazil in 2000...

Boomerang IV

Boomerang from Tortuga, Santo Tirso

What goes around comes back around

Luke: Thank you, Mark. You are very helpful.

Note: Neil tends to be sarcastic when he says this - for instance, when he is trying to pick toys up and one of the kids jumps on his back...

I need a space!

The brilliant Creature Comforts by Nick Park (1989):

I didn't know there was a more or less recent TV series - Creature Comforts. The third DVD will be out soon. Here's old news: Return of the Creature Comforts, BBC, 2002. See also Aardman.

Grossology

We went quite a few times to the exhibition Knojo! at Pavilhão do Conhecimento, right after playing at Casa Inacabada. Great fun! The book Knojo! was recently translated to Portuguese.

KNojo! - A Ciência Indiscreta do Corpo Humano:

Of course these are all translations of Sylvia Branzei and Jack Keely's famous:

Grossology - The Science of Really Gross Things
Sometimes it's stinky. Sometimes it's crusty. Sometimes it's slimy. But hey, it's your body!

The Random Gross is quite edifying and there are exams to be taken. Finish off with a tour to the Grossology Museum.

Nigel Nose-It-All - Happy Snot Day:

Bogey

Neil put a nasal spray in Mark's nose and... tears galore! It was hard to understand what was happening, until I managed to get:

Mãe, o Pai estragou o macaco!!

Neil had just ruined a bogey...

Image by Jack Keely, the artist of Grossology. Here's a Fake Snot Recipe, just in case it is needed.

Definition
bogey (NOSE) UK
noun (US booger) SLANG
a piece of dried mucus from inside the nose
(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

Autumn

Oh, no! It can't be Autumn already!

PS: This post is appearing at the exact minute of the equinox...

Lucy is in

Ok, Hugo, Lucy is in. And, Pedro, she inspires other people too, like the Savage Chickens.

The Alien is still out... at home with a sick kid.

What happened to my door

Thank you!

Boomerang III

Boomerang from the Boomerang Association of Australia

What goes around comes back around

Luke: Papa, what about you going to get it?

Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls

Chocolate Salty Balls - Tribute to Isaac Hayes (recently deceased):

the Chef of South Park:

South Park at wiki

Sitemeter II

I was so busy this week that I didn't realize Sitemeter had gone back to the classic version (see the apologies) and the old counter is available again. All is well that ends well!

A Sight for Sore Eyes

hey sight for sore eyes it's a long time no see
workin hard hardly workin hey man you know me
water under the bridge didya see my new car
well it's bought and it's payed for parked outside of the bar

and hey barkeeper what's keepin you keep pourin drinks
for all these palookas hey you know what i thinks
that we toast to the old days and dimagio too
and old drysdale and mantle whitey ford and to you

no the old gang ain't around everyone has left town
'cept for thumm and giardina said they just might be down
oh half drunk all the time and i'm all drunk the resty
ea monk's till the champion but i'm the best

i guess you heard about nash he was killed in a crash
hell that must of been two or three years ago now
yea he spun out and he rolled he hit a telephone pole
and he died with the radio on
no she's married and with a kid finally split up with sid
he's up north for a nickle's worth for armed robbery

hey i'll play you some pin ball hell you ain't got a chance
well then go on over and ask her to dance

A sight for sore eyes, by Tom Waits

This song starts with the Auld Lang Syne tune. I couldn't find it anywhere, so here is God's Away On Business:

To promote his latest tour, Waits offered the media an extended print interview — one he conducted with himself — and a taped press conference, featuring Waits seated at a table of microphones, answering questions amid bursts of flashbulbs and murmurs. Only at the end, as Waits donned a bowler hat and exited, did viewers see that the room was empty and the sound of the press corps was merely a record playing. More at npr music.

Tom Waits Press Conference:

Auld Lang Syne

Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an nivir brocht ti mynd?
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an ald lang syn?

CHORUS:
Fir ald lang syn, ma deer,
fir ald lang syn,
Wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.

An sheerly yil bee yur pynt-staup!
an sheerly al bee myn!
An will tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.

CHORUS

We twa hay rin aboot the braes,
an pood the gowans fyn;
Bit weev wandert monae a weery fet,
sin ald lang syn.

CHORUS

We twa hay pedilt in the burn,
fray mornin sun til dyn;
But seas between us bred hay roard
sin ald lang syn.

CHORUS

An thers a han, my trustee feer!
an gees a han o thyn!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
fir ald lang syn.

CHORUS

This is wikipedia's Scots pronunciation guide to the famous poem by Robert Burns. See Auld Lang Syne for Burns' original verse and an English translation. And a midi file for the tune.

Aretha Franklin & Billy Preston sing it here.

Magnetic personalities

Musical chairs

Capacity of the lecture room = 70
Conference participants = 71
The one left standing has to give a talk...

Musical Chairs

Second Day of School, the Attack of the Wasps

Second day of school and the kids upset a wasp nest...

Images from the Micropolitan Museum of microscopic art forms, proudly presented by The Institute for the Promotion of the Less than One Millimetre.

Too busy to write

Full moon

Hurrah!

Victoria Regia

Illustration by Walter Fitch

A beautiful Indian girl grew up listening to stories told by her father, the chief of her tribe, about the native legend of the Warrior of the Moon. The Warrior of the Moon was a powerful god who was frightful, but beautiful, and lived in the Moon. During her childhood she always watched the Moon, remembering the stories her father told her. Eventually she fell deeply in love with the Warrior-God. Her devotion was so great that when she became of age she resisted the advances of potential husbands. Despite encouragement from her father and family she refused to marry, insisting that one day she would meet her true love, the Warrior of the Moon. When the moon was full, she would remain awake watching the sky, trying to see the face of her fantasy lover. Frequently she would run through the jungle, with her arms outstretched, attempting to catch the rays from the Moon in order to hold her Warrior-God. However, she was never able to capture the lunar rays, and the great love of her life persisted being an impossible dream.

Her friends and family attempted with all their might to convince her that her Warrior-God was merely an illusion. The years passed but she continued searching for her lover in the rays of the Moon, but always failed. However one clear night in which the full Moon shined like never before, the young Indian maiden entered the jungle, this time determined to hold the Warrior of the Moon and to keep him for eternity. She arrived at a lake and she saw the reflection of the Moon in it. She believed that finally her lover had descended to Earth to bathe in the lake. Convinced she had finally encountered the Warrior-God, she entered the water to find her lover. Unfortunately, the reflection of the Moon was only an illusion and she drowned in the lake searching for her imaginary lover.

The Warrior of the Moon, according to the native legend, really did exist, and he grieved for the beautiful Indian girl who had devoted her life to loving him and gave up her life in an attempt to be with him. Without the power to bring her back to life he decided to reincarnate her into an earth-bound star. The Warrior-God changed her into a star of the Amazon waters. This star is the giant flower of the plant that reigns as the queen of all aquatic plant life. In other words, the young Indian girl was transformed into an enormous floating plant, the Victoria Regia, whose large blossoms only open during the night. The native legend says that the Victoria Regia will only fully open her gigantic flowers in all their splendor during a full Moon and when the sky is cloudless allowing her to see her true love, the Warrior of the Moon.

A native legend as told by Charito Ushiñahua at Amazon-Indians

Wiki: here and here.