Month: September 2016

To celebrate 10 years since iTunes began renting and selling movies, Apple is offering bargains on film bundles. The tech giant is offering 10-movie bundles for just $9.99 each, The Verge reports.

You can get selections of the top 10 movies from the biggest studios—like Warner Bros., Universal, and Lionsgate—which are a mix of comedies and dramas from various years. The Sony Pictures bundle, for instance, features a combination of cinema including The Monuments Men (2014), Captain Phillips (2013), Easy A (2010), Julie & Julia (2009), and The Social Network (2010).

The other options bundle the top 10 movies of each year, giving you a cross-section of popular cinema from recent history. The packs take customers back to the days when movies like Wild Hogs (2007), 27 Dresses (2008), or Ted (2012) were some of the most downloaded movies of the year.

Check out the the film bundles for yourself on iTunes, only available today (September 12).

[h/t The Verge]

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It’s never advisable to play word games while inebriated, but if you do, you might as well stick to a theme. Bananagrams, the portable word game that’s celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, recently released a Bananagrams Beer as a licensed tie-in product.

Weird? A little. But And it has a lot to do with their geography.

According to Bananagrams CEO Rena Nathanson, the company was presented with an adult beverage opportunity as a result of being near the Rhode Island-based Narragansett Beer, which has been issuing a series of tie-in brews under their “Hi Neighbor!” label. It’s not kid-friendly, but Nanthanson told Licensing.biz that the board and analog game category is increasingly driving business from adult players at board game cafes and pubs.

“Indeed, the very notion of ‘family’ is such an evolving thing, taking on so many guises in the modern world,” Nathanson said. “While children remain at the heart of what we do, we recognize that ‘family’ for many is their extended friendship networks which may include no children at all, and that what we once saw as traditional ‘family time’ now often takes the form of get-togethers with friends at home or in restaurants and pubs.”

The 16-ounce oversized can of brew is a German variation with wheat malt and, according to Narragansett, “notes” of banana. You can find it in six-packs in and around New England, Florida, and as far as Tennessee.

[h/t Licensing.biz]

Grab the popcorn and put on your dancing shoes, because Dancing With the Stars is back for a 23rd season. Before you see whether Ryan Lochte can out-dance Marcia Brady, here are 15 facts about the beloved reality series.

1. IT’S BASED ON A BRITISH REALITY SERIES.

Though Dancing With the Stars is an American obsession, its roots are based in England. It’s based on the British series Strictly Come Dancing (known simply as Strictly to its fans), which has been airing on BBC One since 2004—a year before the U.S. version made its dancing debut.

2. ITS POPULARITY WAS A SURPRISE TO EVERYONE.

Since its debut, DWTS has been a ratings juggernaut—much to the surprise of those involved. “The thing I will always take away from this experience is how unpredictable it was,” host Tom Bergeron told Boston Magazine earlier this year. “Even those of us in the midst of getting it ready to go on the air in 2005, while we all believed we had an entertaining show, that in and of itself is no guarantee. A lot of people have entertaining shows and they get canceled. The fact that we have a celebrity ballroom competition that is now in its 11th year is something none of us could have predicted.”

3. GYMNAST SHAWN JOHNSON IS THE YOUNGEST PERSON TO TAKE HOME THE MIRROR BALL TROPHY.

In the spring of 2009, 17-year-old Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson became DWTS‘s youngest ever winner when she and partner Mark Ballas took home the competition’s Mirror Ball trophy. Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno was just 25 years old when he and Julianne Hough won in the spring of 2007 (he won the trophy on his birthday).

In terms of non-winning competitors: At 14 years old, Hunger Games star Willow Shields was the youngest competitor, while fan favorite Cloris Leachman was the oldest; she was 82 years old when she competed in 2008.

4. DONNY OSMOND IS THE OLDEST CELEBRITY TO TAKE HOME THE TOP PRIZE.

Legendary entertainer Donny Osmond was two weeks shy of his 52nd birthday when he and Kym Johnson won the competition in the fall of 2009, making him the show’s oldest champion. Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey was 50 years old when she and Derek Hough took home the top prize in the fall of 2010.

5. KATE GOSSELIN CREATED A BIT OF CONTROVERSY IN 2010.

Former reality star Kate Gosselin created some drama behind the scenes when she competed on DWTS in 2010. Though the audience was only allowed to vote a maximum five times per performance, she allegedly sent out emails asking friends and family to forward her email to another 10 people, and asked that everyone vote for her 10 times (which is a no-no).

6. GOSSELIN’S DANCING PARTNER CLAIMED HE NEEDED THERAPY AFTER THEIR PAIRING.

While appearing on Anderson in 2012, Anderson Cooper told Gosselin’s dancing partner, Tony Dovolani, that he had always felt bad for him “because you got stuck with Kate Gosselin. I remember watching her dance. I’m still traumatized by that experience.” To which Dovolani responded, “Wait, wait—Anderson, did you just call it ‘dance?’ We didn’t dance!” Dovolani also joked that there was “a lot of therapy was involved” in the wake of their pairing. Gosselin was not amused.

7. FOOTBALL PLAYERS HAVE PROVEN TO BE STIFF COMPETITION.

“We’ve had great success with NFL players on the show over the years, several of whom have won,” Bergeron told Boston Magazine. In 2013, the NFL ranked their favorite athletes-turned-dancers.

8. THE CELEBRITIES ARE WELL COMPENSATED.

Win or lose, celebrities have much to gain by appearing on the show, at least in terms of their bank account balances. More than one contestant has cited $125,000 as the base salary for appearing on the show—even if you don’t make it past episode one. The longer a contestant sticks around, the more cash he or she stands to earn.

9. BINDI IRWIN’S CONTRACT AND PAYCHECK GOT CAUGHT UP IN THE COURTS.

Because she was just 17 years old when she competed—and won—in 2015, Bindi Irwin was considered a minor, and therefore needed her parents to sign off on her contract, which stipulates they will not touch her money. While Bindi’s mom, Terri Irwin, was quick to sign on the dotted line, a court ended up rejecting Bindi’s contract because it did not have her father’s signature—even though her father, “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin, had passed away in 2006. In order to get both her contract settled and her estimated $360,000 paycheck from the show, Bindi had to go to court to prove that her father was dead.

10. KENNY MAYNE WAS THE SHOW’S WORST DANCER.

For the show’s 200th episode, the hosts presented the Dancing With the Stars Awards. ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne was honored with the title of Worst Dancer; his competition included Master P, Billy Ray Cyrus, Kate Gosselin, and Steve Wozniak.

11. MASTER P EARNED THE LOWEST EVER SCORE.

In 2006, rapper Master P earned the show’s lowest score ever when he and partner Ashly DelGrosso earned an eight (out of 30) for their Paso Doble. In Master P’s defense, he wasn’t even supposed to be there; he was a last-minute replacement for his son, Lil Romeo, who was scheduled to compete but had to drop out because of an injury. In 2011, Lil Romeo finally joined the cast.

12. THE SHOW HAS SPARKED SOME LOVE CONNECTIONS.

Over the years, the show has sparked a number of romances—some rumored, some confirmed. Karina Smirnoff dated Mario Lopez, her partner in season three, for two years and later became engaged to fellow dancer Makism Chmerkovsky (though they eventually called it off). Chmerkovsky is now engaged to fellow DWTS dancer Peta Murgatroyd. In July, Shark Tank star Robert Herjavec married his DWTS partner Kym Johnson.

13. THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT OF INJURIES, TOO.

From torn tendons to rib injuries, the contestants on DWTS have proven—time and again—that dancing can be dangerous. Among the most memorable injuries to occur (not all of them dance-related) are Misty May-Treanor’s torn Achilles tendon, Jackass star Steve-O’s back injury, stress fractures in both of former House Majority Leader’s Tom DeLay’s feet, and Bill Nye’s quad injury.

14. IT BROUGHT BACK “THE CARLTON.”

Alfonso Ribeiro won DWTS’s 19th season, with a little help from his The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air character when he and his partner, Witney Carson, broke into “The Carlton.”

15. YOU CAN LEARN THE DANCES AT HOME.

For viewers who want to get in on the dancing action, the show has released a handful of branded instructional and exercise videos with titles like Cardio Dance, Cardio Dance for Weight Loss, and Dance Off the Pounds.

The stranger couldn’t help herself. Attending the funeral of an Iraq war veteran at Arlington National Cemetery in 2006, she leaned over and gently kissed the forehead of the fallen soldier’s widow and mother.

For the woman who sensed palpable grief, it was a natural thing to do. But as an Arlington Lady, an official representative of four United States military arms dispatched to military funerals, it was a breach of policy. After the service, she was reprimanded by her supervisor. The Arlington Ladies have a very specific role. They are not there to grieve or console, but to make certain no soldier is ever buried alone.

Hoyt Vandenberg, Chief of Staff for the United States Air Force, was driving to his office in the Pentagon in 1948 when he noticed a funeral being conducted at Virginia’s Arlington National Cemetery. There was no sea of crisp uniforms or sobbing family members. Aside from the chaplain and the Honor Guard, there was no one there at all.

Vandenberg didn’t like it. Soldiers, he felt, deserved the presence of at least one civilian to bear witness to their burial. His wife, Gladys, agreed. She set about recruiting friends and wives of the enlisted to begin attending Air Force funerals, even though many of the deceased were complete strangers. They called themselves the Officers Wives Club and acted as both military representatives and as proxies for family members who might not be able to afford to travel to Arlington for services.

By 1973, the Army had formed its own version. In 1985, the Navy followed suit. And in 2006, the Coast Guard organized a group of their own. (The Marines send a Commandant representative to funerals.) Collectively, the roughly 150 women are known as the Arlington Ladies.

Participation is usually by invitation only, with the group largely made up of ex-military members or their spouses 40 years and older. If a woman is invited to join, she is first instructed to sit at funerals as an apprentice, observing the customs of the role depending on which branch of service she’s been assigned.

Naval Ladies are given a sheet that details the deceased’s biography, rank, service awards, and passing. They’re allowed to briefly introduce themselves to family prior to services; after the widow or other attendee is given the folded American flag, the Arlington representative approaches the bereaved to offer condolences and two cards—one from her, and one from the Chief of Staff. When they’re finished, they walk backwards; turning their back on the flag is prohibited.

Their duties don’t end there. If a family member is unable to attend, a Lady will write a letter offering details of the service—what was said, what the weather was like, and what she felt during the proceedings. They’ll also extend an opportunity to tend to the deceased’s grave by placing flowers on it on anniversaries or holidays.

If family members are present, the Lady is a welcome sight: although they have a dress code (no slacks or loud colors), they help ease the tension of a highly structured military funeral. If no members are present, then the Lady acts as a surrogate witness to a soldier being laid to rest.

The Ladies are expected to maintain their composure, however difficult it may be. The organization’s chair, Margaret Mensch, told The Washington Post in 2007 that she tries her best not to tear up, even when it’s a former Honor Guard escort of hers that was being buried. “You are still,” she said. “You just don’t cry. When I got there, I thought, ‘Just concentrate on that leaf on that tree over there.’ A military funeral is very dignified. Very precise. It may sound cold, but that’s the beauty of it.”

A mourner typically volunteers one day a month. With more than 30 funerals at Arlington a day, she might attend up to six during a single shift. Doreen Huylebroeck, whose late husband was a chief petty officer, has attended more than 500 since beginning work in 2009.

Getting an Arlington Lady to discuss her duties on the record can be daunting. Most are averse to publicity, wary that someone might think of them as self-congratulatory. A portion of the Army’s contingent, however, had to endure some recognition in 2015, when Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno held a reception to acknowledge the Ladies for their selfless service.

“There’s no more important time than when a family is going through the incredible grief of loss … that they understand the Army is there for them and you all make that a little easier by what you do,” he told the women. “By letting them know that we do care about them, so for me this is very important for us to have you here to thank you for helping our soldiers, past and present, as they continue to serve through difficult times.”

The Ladies were cordial, but the session was brief. Seven funerals were still scheduled for that day.

Owning a pet octopus requires a lot of upkeep. Even if you have the resources to care for one, carrying it around on your back like an eight-armed Yoda isn’t recommended. For cephalopod enthusiasts looking for an alternative, artist Olga Kotova has crafted an octopus-inspired backpack from felted wool.

The bag—covered by Laughing Squid—is large enough to transport large books and notebooks. The cargo compartment is located in the head of the octopus (who is affectionately named George). Tentacles reach around the shoulders to act as straps, with the extra arms left to dangle down the wearer’s back.

Marine life-inspired book bags aren’t Kotova’s only specialty. She also sells whimsical dolls and colorful felt blankets on her Etsy page.

[h/t Laughing Squid]

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Pringles—and other stackable chips like them—are known for their distinctive concave shape, good for making an impromptu duckbill, eating as many as you can in a single bite, or just shoveling into your mouth as is normal with all manner of endlessly snackable treats.

So just how do they get that perfect curve? Machines, of course. In the video below from the Science Channel’s How It’s Made, you can see the full journey of the stackable chip (in this case, Chip Flix), from a potato-flake-and-water mix, to a big potato sheet, to a delicious fried chip. Along the way there are cutters and a rolling mold and even a real, live human being to make sure the individual pieces are as perfect as can be. The whole process only takes about 20 minutes, and while you probably already knew that these delectable creations weren’t the most natural or organic of food products, watching this might make you think twice next time you want to pop open a can.

A bit of bonus canned-chip content: the name Pringles is sort of random. When Procter & Gamble introduced the snack in 1968, they wanted a name that started with a “P,” so a brand manager used a Cincinnati phonebook to make a list of street names that began with the letter. Pringle Drive in Finneytown, Ohio had a nice ring to it and, more importantly, was available as a trademark.

[h/t Digg]

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Hang out with a horse, hike a glacier, and watch the Northern Lights in the land of fire and ice.

There’s nothing quite like curling up and relaxing in a cozy bed. Mashable reports that RSPCA Victoria recently asked local pet owners to donate their old pet bedding to the shelter, to give the cats and dogs a soft place to sleep as they wait to be adopted. In the video above, the shelter animals receive their new beds—and they couldn’t be more overjoyed. Their reactions, which range from genuine tail-wagging excitement to mild curiosity, are sure to warm your heart—and make you want to curl up for a cat nap, yourself.

[h/t Mashable]

Banner Image Credit: RSPCA Victoria, YouTube

Though the animated series and cult hit Gravity Falls wrapped in February after just two seasons, the show’s devoted following is more dedicated than ever. Thousands of people joined in creator Alex Hirsch’s Cipher Hunt over the summer, completing an international scavenger hunt that culminated in the discovery of a statue of the show’s supervillain. And those same fans made Journal 3, a real-life manifestation of a key book in the series, a New York Times bestseller in a matter of days.

We talked to Hirsch and Rob Renzetti, co-authors of Journal 3, about the book, the show, the scavenger hunt—and where they get all of their fabulously weird ideas.

Journal 3 is packed with hidden info and ciphers to unravel—so much, in fact, that there’s no way fans have found it all yet. Can you give a hint to something no one appears to have discovered?

Alex Hirsch: The internet never ceases to impress me. For all the talk about how the upcoming generation has a short attention span, the moment you give these kids a riddle they drop everything and suddenly work together in perfect harmony like a military-level SWAT team to crack the code. It’s incredible. That being said, sometimes fans are often so focused on code-cracking they miss what’s in plain sight—the actual text of the journal! There are connections in there that even the savviest fans still have yet to notice.

Journal 3 reveals new details about most of the major characters, like Ford’s Smash Mouth tattoo and the fact that Soos glues on his chin hair. How much of that existed as character development during the series, and how much backstory did you create just for the Journal?

Rob Renzetti: Alex could probably give you a more encyclopedic answer to this question. I think a lot of Stan’s backstory was something that he had in his back pocket during the whole run of the series. Other smaller things were definitely invented for the book. The chin hair bit was something I came up with as a throwaway joke that I thought said a lot about Soos. 

AH: I’ve had the backstories for many of these characters in my head for a long time. Especially Ford and Bill, and how Bill played to Ford’s ego and almost destroyed the world in the process. Of course we still improvise and invent new things along the way. That’s the fun of writing—finding chances to surprise yourself. Ford’s tattoo was a surprise to me, too—courtesy of our awesome illustrator Andy Gonsalves.

One of the fun things about the Journal is that we get to dive deeper into some of the episodes. For example, Ford chronicles a few of the other dimensions he experienced while he was in the portal. What inspired those? In particular, the “M” dimension stood out to me as something that must have a story behind it.

AH: While writing season two, we wanted to send our characters through the portal into the multiverse but never found a way to quite make it work with our storyline. There were tons of drawings and jokes we came up with during our brainstorms—including the annoyingly pointless M dimension. We loved the idea of someone as scientific and rational as Ford having to fight his way out of what was essentially a Sesame Street segment teaching you about the letter M. It would drive him insane.

RR: The M Dimension came out of an unused story where Mabel went through the Portal and the Pines needed to go search for her. We were brainstorming ideas for alternate dimensions and the M Dimension was the most delightfully silly thing we could imagine.

Much has been made over how much creative control you were able to retain even though Disney’s Standards and Practices is presumably pickier than most. Was there anything you really had to fight for? Did you lose any of those battles?

AH: One day I’d love to release a coffee table book of all the crazy notes I got from Disney Channel’s S&P and legal department. To give you a sense of what I was up against, one time I was told, “Make sure the target that Wendy throws a dart at doesn’t resemble the target from the store Target.” To which I had to reply: “The target isn’t the target from Target. The target is a target.”

Welcome to my hell.

Was anything vetoed from the Journal?

RR: I don’t remember any idea that we came up with being vetoed or changed. Disney Publishing is particularly awesome that way.

AH: Disney Publishing has been incredible. They didn’t give me a single note on this journal. They understood the tone of the show, believed in my vision, and more importantly, trusted the intelligence of our audience. Working with them has been a dream come true. I wish the gatekeepers in kids TV were as savvy and in tune with the audience as those in Publishing.

The Cipher Hunt was such a fun, interactive way to keep fans involved. Where did you get the idea?

AH: I spent 90 percent of my childhood playing SNES and N64, and my favorite games were the ones packed with secrets. I remember spending one summer being utterly obsessed with trying to get the legendary unreachable “Ice Key” from Banjo-Kazooie. What was so brilliant about that item was that it was literally impossible to get and just was there to torture players. Or so people thought. Until years later, someone discovered a code that let you find it. I remember thinking that if I ever had a chance, I wanted to create something that gave fans the same feeling. A last mystery after the game is over. Something so hard to find it reaches legendary status. Launching the hunt and watching the fans team up all over the world to find the clues was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.

Do Mabel and Dipper’s names have any special significance?

AH: I imagine that [their] parents see themselves as slightly counter-culture and chose purposefully archaic names just so their kids would stand out among the 12 Chrises and 14 Jessicas in Dipper and Mabel’s preschool.

You’ve talked a lot about the real-life inspirations for many of the main characters, but I haven’t seen much about where McGucket came from. I thought it was interesting that Journal 3 showed that not only was he once a genius, he was actually the voice of reason before he got fed up with Ford.

RR: McGucket started as a throwaway joke character in “Gobblewonker” and just grew and grew in importance as the series went on. It just made sense to us that a character with such scientific and technological skill would be tied to the creation and the creator of the Portal.

AH: McGucket originally started out as just a wacky stereotypical hillbilly and a chance for me to scream into the microphone. (He was originally called Old Man McGuffin, which is a literary trope meaning something unimportant that sets a plot in motion.) But when our writers got deeper into the story we discovered that there was an exciting opportunity to connect him to our characters’ pasts and destinies. I’m very glad we did—giving Ford a friend humanizes him, as well as deepening the tragedy when they part ways.

What’s next for you both?

AH: Right now I’m developing a few different projects for a few different places, but it’s too early to comment on any of them. Like Grunkle Stan, I like to stay a man of mystery until the right moment to fleece rubes emerges once more.

RR: I’m serving as executive producer on a new show for Disney TV called Country Club created by the very talented Houghton brothers. It’s about a country family’s oversized adventures in the Big City.

Finally, a question from Lydia, my superfan 6-year-old: “Where do you come up with all of the weirdness?”

AH: I didn’t come up with the weirdness. I was born in it. Molded by it.

RR: There is an unlimited supply of weirdness in the weird world around you and inside your weird self. Lots of people try to ignore it and lots of people try to stamp it out. But the best people allow themselves the freedom to be weird. Be the best, weird person you can be.