Month: January 2017

Forget football—dog lovers know that Sunday, February 5, is all about the Puppy Bowl. For the uninitiated, the annual television event airs on Animal Planet on the day of the Super Bowl, and features dozens of adorable shelter dogs tussling and tearing their way through a model stadium. This year, USA Today reports, the show’s producers were looking to add a little diversity to the mix, and recruited three canines with disabilities to compete on the field.

Lucky is a rangy, dark-furred Terrier mix with an amputated leg. Doobert, an English Pointer, is hearing-impaired, so caretakers trained him to understand hand signals on the turf. And Winston is a fluffy Australian Shepherd with both vision and hearing impairments. He requires special monitoring, but officials say he relies on his keen sense of smell.

In total, 78 puppies—including Lucky, Doobert, and Winston—participated in this year’s Puppy Bowl, which was filmed in October. According to USA Today, the game features the largest representation of canines with disabilities to ever “compete” in the event.

This year’s lineup of pups came from 34 rescue organizations from across the U.S., and all of them were in need of forever homes. Several of them have already been adopted.

Dogs with disabilities are “just like any other dogs—they just have certain aspects of them that are special,” Tiffany Gaylon, founder of the Tennessee-based nonprofit Operation Education Animal Rescue and Lucky’s Puppy Bowl caretaker, told USA Today.

Animal Planet’s 13th annual Puppy Bowl airs on February 5 at 3 p.m. ET. Watch a sneak peek of the action below, courtesy of Buzz60. To get a glimpse of the full lineup, visit Animal Planet’s website.

[h/t USA Today]

As more and more kids grow up with technology so readily available (and addictive), the risk of obesity is an ongoing concern. With eyes locked on screens most of the day, it’s easy for a child to spend too much time on a couch and not enough time exercising. That’s why the Fisher-Price Think & Learn Smart Cycle is not only a seemingly perfect solution—it’s also a sign of the times.

The Think & Learn Smart Cycle is basically an exercise bike designed to hold a tablet or smartphone in place while a child pedals and pedals, controlling educational apps as they burn calories. So far, Fisher-Price has at least four apps prepped for the fall 2017 launch of the product, focusing on literacy, STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math), and social studies, according to Digital Trends. All of the apps are played depending on the speed of the child’s pedaling, so there is a “game” element to each one. More apps will be released for the bike in 2018.

The app’s dashboard allows parents to monitor their child’s progress; the apps will also work on televisions through Bluetooth connectivity. The Think & Learn Smart Cycle will retail for $150, and the apps will sell for $5 when the product launches in the fall.

[h/t Digital Trends]

LEGO bricks and minifigs are more than just toys—they’re also an art medium that can be used to illustrate the real world when a photograph isn’t freely available, a fictional world when an artist prefers not to draw one, or just for the fun of it. Here are a few LEGO-centric sites and social media feeds to check out.

1. AN ANONYMOUS GRAD STUDENT // LEGO GRAD STUDENT

Borrowing the department credit card to buy supplies for an event, the grad student fleetingly considers running away and never coming back.

LEGO Grad Student is a Tumblr—cross-posted to other sites like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook—that follows a LEGO minifig graduate student through the trials and tribulations of earning a higher degree. The anonymous creator—a sixth-year social sciences grad student—told InsideHigherEd.com that his creations are inspired by his personal experiences but are “exaggerated through my admittedly darker sense of humor.” LEGOs, he says, are “just a nice way to spend an hour or two to decompress and to exercise my creative side … I’ve always felt better during the more stressful moments of graduate school when I knew that I was not alone in feeling a certain way or having a particular experience. I hope that these posts, in their own absurd way, provide that sort of reassurance to others.”

2. SEAN ROMERO // THE SHORT NEWS

The Short News is a real news site that posts real stories from other sources, all illustrated in LEGO scenes. Sean Romero, a tax lawyer in Australia, founded the site in 2014. “I wanted to recreate the news but for legal reasons I can’t use real photos,” he told 7News. “I was having a laugh with my wife and thought if I can’t use someone else’s photos, I’ll make my own using toys.” The news items tend toward the offbeat and entertaining—”I pick a few stories each day that interest me and I think will interest others”—but some news events are off-limits: “While a plane crash is huge news, it would be doing a huge discredit to the story to look like I am making light of a tragic event using toys,” Romero said. The scene above was created to illustrate the story about a GoFundMe account created to protect Betty White through the rest of 2016.

3. DONNA YATES // LEGO ACADEMICS

Interim report to funder: …project progressing as expected. pic.twitter.com/1BoFaLP7FH

— Lego Academics (@LegoAcademics) October 17, 2016

In 2014, LEGO released a new building set called the Research Institute featuring a science lab staffed by women. Donna Yates, an archaeologist who works at the University of Glasgow’s Trafficking Culture Project, immediately bought one and was inspired to create scenes from her own life in academia. She posts pictures of those scenes in her Twitter feed LEGO Academics, which became an instant hit among women in STEM fields. “I got a few extra heads (I wanted some with no makeup), a few extra bodies (I wanted some without the pinched in waist), and some more hair (I wanted some short hair and grey hair),” she told The Washington Post, which added “a bit more variety for the academic women rather than just the long hair/make-up scene.”

4. CRAIG MCCARTNEY AND LINDSEY HAGGERTY // LEGO TRAVELLERS

The LEGO Travellers are Craig McCartney and Lindsey Haggerty, a Scottish couple who are constantly exploring different parts of the world—and share their adventures by setting up their LEGO minifigs everywhere they go. The idea came about after McCartney’s mom found some of his old LEGOs in her home. “I started having a go at building some of the LEGO and I found LEGO figures which kind of looked like us,” he told Gold Coast Bulletin. “We were in Paris for Lindsey’s birthday and took a few pictures of them with the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre in the background for a bit of fun. I joked I would make a Facebook page out of it and Lindsey said it was a bit silly, but the more we did it the more she got into it and it’s become quite popular now.” McCartney and Haggerty spent the holidays in Perth, Australia, and took the above picture at Wave Rock in Hyden. You can follow their footsteps at Facebook and Instagram.

5. HARRY HEATON // LEGO ALBUMS

legoalbums:David Bowie – Aladdin Sane http://t.co/bK36t2nmzl pic.twitter.com/bsENxEiHfI

— James Bamkin (@j4mbamkin) April 11, 2015

LEGO bricks are great for rendering new versions of existing art in two dimensions, too. The Tumblr blog LEGO Albums is a project by Harry Heaton recreating iconic album covers using LEGO bricks. The finished products resemble low-resolution pixelated versions of album art. Check through the archives to see if your favorite album cover is there.

6. DAVE // BRICKS OF THE DEAD

Bricks of the Dead Episode 708 – #LEGO #Zombie #Survival #Comic – https://t.co/RUn4Phobpo

— Bricks of the Dead (@bricksofthedead) October 17, 2016

Bricks of the Dead is a webcomic about a zombie apocalypse that began in 2010. Creator Dave says on the site that he wanted to “create a zombie comic book to entertain and inform the public of exactly what they should do when the zombies show up at their doors.” But with “zero artistic ability,” he was at a loss for how to achieve his goal—until he saw the LEGO comic Adventures of S-Team. “After this epiphany I ran to my parents’ basement (after a lengthy drive to their house) and unearthed my lost bin full of LEGO® and started concocting a story.” Click here to start at the beginning.

7. ANTHONY VALENTINO // BALLINABRICKY

Broken Dreams – Ep. 35 https://t.co/lgMpApC8kv pic.twitter.com/JPQHQ2QGes https://t.co/6MUECusR0D

— Lego Oscar Wilde (@Ballinabricky) December 30, 2016

Another webcomic illustrated in LEGO, Ballinabricky is set in Ireland in 1936. The action takes place in a fictional town (whose name is a play on the town Ballinabrackey) that, in the comic, is home to many of Ireland’s most famous literary figures, including William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Bram Stoker, Maud Gonne, and Peig Sayers. The comic was created by Dr. Anthony Valentino, an assistant professor at the County College of Morris in New Jersey. The series starts here, or you can catch up on completed stories here.

8. ELBE SPURLING // THE BRICK BIBLE

LEGO artist Elbe Spurling began bringing us Bible stories recreated with LEGO sets in The Brick Testament back in 2001 and these days goes by the name The Brick Bible. Spurling has also created a book series called The Brick Bible for Kids, and The Brick Book of Mormon is coming soon. You might also be interested in Spurling’s account of the French Revolution illustrated in LEGO.

9. MORGAN SPENCE // MORGSPENNY PRODUCTIONS

There are many brick artists who make stop-motion LEGO videos, but Morgan Spence stands out among them. The Scottish teenager has such a knack for storytelling that he makes commissioned LEGO videos through his company Morgspenny Productions. The teen told Jimmy Kimmel that last summer, Spence made the proposal video above. Check out his other videos here.

10. JEFF FRIESEN // 50 STATES OF LEGO

Canadian photographer Jeff Friesen and his daughter did a series that depicted each state in America in a scene made of construction paper and LEGO minifigs. They’re more comedic than accurate, but they do give us an idea of what outsiders think when they hear a state’s name. (If you couldn’t guess, the state pictured here is New Mexico.) See all the 50 States Of LEGO at Bitrebels, and check out more of Friesen’s whimsical LEGO works at the Instagram gallery Stories for Toys.

It wasn’t too long ago that loud-talkers and seat-kickers were the biggest annoyances moviegoers encountered at the cinema. Today they also have glowing blue smartphone screens to deal with. If you’re of the opinion that movie-goers shouldn’t be checking their Facebook likes during the show, you may not like this latest rumor surrounding the iPhone: As AppleInsider reports, the first beta release of iOS 10.3 may feature a “Theater mode.”

The rumor was recently shared on Twitter by a regular Apple tipster named Sonny Dickson. According to his tweets, the setting will be available through a “popcorn-shaped” icon in the Control Center when the software update is supposedly released on January 10.

Beyond that small detail, Dickson doesn’t specify what exactly theater mode entails. According to The Guardian people are speculating that it might be a quick way to silence notifications and dim the screen. But even if the setting is able to keep surrounding viewers from being disturbed, some theater purists still aren’t happy about the message it sends. Empire editor Terri White told The Guardian, “I find it absolute madness that anybody would want to do anything other than turn their phone off. You can’t fully give yourself over to a film and lose yourself in the moment, which is the amazing thing about cinema, if your phone’s buzzing on your thigh.”

Some patrons may want to keep their phones on in case of emergencies. But as Tom Philip of GQ points out, there are few scenarios that can’t wait 90 minutes to be taken care of. “Unless you are a high-ranking government official keeping track of a foreign coup or have a loved one in absolute, imminent danger, turn your phone off at the movies,” he writes. And even in those rare situations when checking a text can’t wait, nothing’s stopping theatergoers from stepping outside to do so.

If the rumors are true, Apple won’t be the only big name who’s picked a side in the phone off-or-on debate. Last April AMC Entertainment’s CEO floated the idea of allowing phone-friendly screenings for Millennials. The proposal was met with immediate backlash, and AMC dropped it soon after. As you can see from the tweets below, the reactions surrounding the new rumor aren’t any more positive this time around:

#TheaterMode
Um….mute and dim the screen? Yeah, I can do that on my Galaxy already…….Apple’s got a very low bar I guess. …

— Chickenbone (@chickenbonewatt) January 4, 2017

#TheaterMode is a big decline! We go to a theater to be immersed in a movie & escape reality. I don’t need Joe Schmuck on Tinder next to me!

— Joshua Gannon (@blueyedguy86) January 4, 2017

The @Apple theatre mode is basically the latest sign of the end of days. Next up, cats and dogs living together, etc etc #theatermode

— Chris Hunneysett (@ChrisHunneysett) January 4, 2017

[h/t AppleInsider]

Why did the chicken cross the road? We don’t know, but it probably had its reasons. A new paper published in the journal Animal Cognition reports that the barnyard birds’ intelligence and social skills are far more complex than we thought.

Lori Marino is senior scientist for The Someone Project, which aims to challenge popular misconceptions about chickens, cows, pigs, and other farm animals. Her report, which was partially funded by the ASPCA, describes experiment after experiment showing that chickens are, in fact, very complex animals with rich inner and outer lives.

Last year was a big year for bird intelligence research. in 2016, scientists reported that some birds are at least as smart as apes. They found tool-making crows and clever pigeons and puzzle-solving bullfinches. The phrase “birdbrain” began to lose its meaning.

But amid the myth-shattering, some birds got more attention than others. “There’s not a lot of scientific work being done on chicken cognition,” Marino tells mental_floss, “because if you assume an animal doesn’t have a given trait, you aren’t going to study it. But what research there has been is very, very compelling.”

For example: Studies have found that chickens have object permanence—that is, they understand that when you cover something, it does not go away—a skill humans develop around age one. They’re also capable of counting and basic arithmetic, even as chicks. They understand logic and simple reasoning, including some concepts we don’t understand until we’re six or seven years old. They have some sense of time and complex social relationships. They have distinct personalities and show one another empathy.

“Chickens have a mind. They have a life,” Marino says. “They’re not just these dumb, inert objects scratching in the dust. It is like something to be a chicken.”

Why is that so hard for us to believe? “It’s a perfect storm,” Marino explains. The first problem is our longstanding skepticism of avian cognitive ability—the “birdbrain” idea. We’re getting over that, but “the history is there,” she says. “The other thing is that, well, we eat them.”

People have a vested interest in thinking of farm animals as inanimate commodities, Marino says, because otherwise we’d start feeling bad about killing and eating them. Instead, we focus on turning them into better meat—a strategy that she believes dulls our scientific rigor and robs us of the chance to learn more about our fellow organisms. 

“Most of the work that’s done on chickens, fish, and cows tends to involve trying to figure out how to make them lay more eggs or grow faster or not peck each other,” she said. “It’s all very applied, and it misses the whole point. These are animals who have an evolutionary and adaptive history just like a chimpanzee or a dog or a human being. They’re animals. And at the very least, we need to approach them as animals in their own right.”

LEGO never puts a limit on imagination, and at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the buildable block giant announced a new innovation that will put kids more in charge of their toys than ever: the LEGO BOOST. Aimed at children ages 7 and up, the BOOST is designed to teach kids (and anyone else who wants to learn) about the basics of coding and programming through the use of a building kit and a free app.

After downloading the app and syncing it to their BOOST building kit, users can add movement and sound (like voice recordings) to their latest LEGO creation, allowing them the creativity to customize their toys. The BOOST is powered by a Move Hub, which the company describes as “a LEGO stud-covered brick with built-in tilt sensor upon which children can add LEGO elements, motors, and a sensor that combines color and distance detection.” In the video below, you can see some of the movements a BOOST creation is capable of:

Each BOOST set includes directions to create five standard models: Vernie the Robot, Frankie the Cat, the Guitar 4000, the Multi-Tool Rover 4 (M.T.R.4), and the Autobuilder. But you won’t be shackled to just those creations; the BOOST app also has what LEGO calls a “creative canvas” that includes instructions for three creation bases: “a walking base for making animals like a dragon or a pony; a driving base for building vehicles like a dune buggy or rover; and an entrance base so that children can make their own castle, fort, or even a futuristic space station.” This allows you to cobble together preexisting LEGO kits to try your hand at something more original, such as a DIY Star Trek ship or a Batman BOOST creation.

“We know that children dream of bringing their LEGO creations to life, and our chief ambition for LEGO BOOST is to fulfill that wish,” Simon Kent, design lead for the LEGO Group, said. “Once children build a LEGO creation, we give them simple coding tools to ‘boost’ their models by adding personality. We want children to first and foremost have a fun and limitless play experience, adding the coding opportunity is the means to get there.”

Each LEGO BOOST kit comes with the Move Hub, a color and distance sensor, and an interactive motor, as well as 843 LEGO pieces for building and a playmat that works with the app. The BOOST will retail for $159.99 when it is released in the second half of 2017.

[h/t LEGO]

Nintendo is having a major moment, which sort of feels like déjà vu. After debuting what was perhaps the hardest gift to find this holiday season with its pint-sized NES Classic console in November, the custom kicks-makers at Freaker Sneaks are now paying tribute to the gaming giant with a pair of Super Nintendo-styled Air Jordan IVs.

It’s hardly the first time video games have inspired a footwear company; last spring, Vans and Nintendo collaborated on a retro sneaker line. And in December, Kotaku reports, a design student crafted a pair of Legend of Zelda Adidas, though that was just a mock-up. Freaker Sneaks’s creation, on the other hand, will go on sale to the general public later this year—albeit in a very limited quantity (which means you’re as likely to get your hands on them as you were to find an NES Classic at Target in December).

While other Nintendo-branded sneakers have been all about the graphics, Freaker Sneaks’s Jordans are actually pretty subtle, and very wearable. Modeled after a game controller, the only indication that they’re Nintendo-themed at all is the logo on the tongue and the pressable buttons on the back of the shoes. Unfortunately, there’s no cheat code that will guarantee you’ll get a pair, but keep checking Freaker Sneaks’s website and Facebook page.

[h/t: Kotaku]

Hayao Miyazaki may be known for his animated films, but his outlook on life is hardly G-rated (neither are most of his films). To celebrate the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s 76th birthday, here are 30 straightforward quotes about life, movies, and beyond.

ON INSPIRATION

“I get inspiration from my everyday life.”

ON CHILDREN

“We get strength and encouragement from watching children.”

“I don’t like games. You’re robbing the precious time of children to be children. They need to be in touch with the real world more.”

ON HUMAN NATURE

“Humans have both the urge to create and destroy.”

“In the past, humans hesitated when they took lives, even non-human lives. But society had changed, and they no longer felt that way. As humans grew stronger, I think that we became quite arrogant, losing the sorrow of ‘we have no other choice.’ I think that in the essence of human civilization, we have the desire to become rich without limit, by taking the lives of other creatures.”

ON DECISION-MAKING

“Sometimes I test myself saying, ‘If I get a death sentence if I don’t make this movie, would I still make this movie?’”

ON RELATIONSHIPS

“I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live—if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.”

“Once you have met someone, you never really forget them.”

ON WOMEN

“Many of my movies have strong female leads—brave, self-sufficient girls that don’t think twice about fighting for what they believe with all their heart. They’ll need a friend, or a supporter, but never a savior. Any woman is just as capable of being a hero as any man.”

ON MOVIEMAKING

“All my films are all my children.”

“I can’t stand modern movies. The images are too weird and eccentric for me.”

“I would like to make a film to tell children ‘it’s good to be alive.’”

“In order to grow your audience, you must betray their expectations.”

ON ART

“If [hand-drawn animation] is a dying craft, we can’t do anything about it. Civilization moves on. Where are all the fresco painters now? Where are the landscape artists? What are they doing now? The world is changing. I have been very fortunate to be able to do the same job for 40 years. That’s rare in any era.”

ON THE CREATIVE PROCESS

“The creation of a single world comes from a huge number of fragments and chaos.”

“My process is thinking, thinking and thinking—thinking about my stories for a long time.”

“I do believe in the power of story. I believe that stories have an important role to play in the formation of human beings, that they can stimulate, amaze, and inspire their listeners.”

“Animators can only draw from their own experiences of pain and shock and emotions.”

ON BELIEVING IN ONESELF

“Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.”

ON TECHNOLOGY

“It seems like everything that we see perceived in the brain before we actually use our own eyes, that everything we see is coming through computers or machines and then is being input in our brain cells. So that really worries me.”

“Do everything by hand, even when using the computer.”

ON CRITICS

“I never read reviews. I’m not interested. But I value a lot the reactions of the spectators.”

ON LIFE

“Life is a winking light in the darkness.”

“Yet, even amidst the hatred and carnage, life is still worth living. It is possible for wonderful encounters and beautiful things to exist.”

ON GOOD VERSUS EVIL

“You must see with eyes unclouded by hate. See the good in that which is evil, and the evil in that which is good. Pledge yourself to neither side, but vow instead to preserve the balance that exists between the two.”

“The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it—I know this is considered mainstream, but I think it is rotten. This idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it, in life and in politics is hopeless.”

ON RETIREMENT

“If you’re going to retire, retire early.”

ON THE FUTURE

“The future is clear. It’s going to fall apart. What’s the use in worrying? It’s inevitable.”

“You may not like what’s happening, but just accept it, and let’s try to live together. Even if you feel angry, let’s be patient and endure, let’s try to live together. I’ve realized that this is the only way forward.”

ON AGING

“Is someone different at age 18 or 60? I believe one stays the same.”

Whether viewers prefer gritty crime documentaries or upbeat sitcoms, there’s something for everyone on Netflix. To see which TV shows subscribers are binge-watching in your part of the country, check out the map above, courtesy of HighSpeedInternet.com, which broke down the streaming service’s most popular programs by state by looking at the site’s top 75 shows in 2016. Because Netflix doesn’t publish data on ratings, the list was cross-referenced with information from Google Trends to arrive at the results.

Some takeaways, like Oregon’s love of Portlandia and Indiana’s attachment to Parks and Recreation, aren’t too surprising. There are also several repeats: Scandal is highly watched throughout the South and Midwest while Orange Is the New Black is popular from New Mexico to Alaska.

If you’ve yet to hop on the streaming bandwagon, you can see a map of the most beloved shows across platforms here.

Image courtesy of HighSpeedInternet.com.

Everyone remembers at least one family member who had a little bowl of decorative soap in the bathroom that you absolutely could not use. At the time, it seemed pretty strange to have soap “just for show,” but after you see some of these amazing and geeky soaps we dug up, you might be swayed to do the same. 

1. POKEMON CARTRIDGES; $10

When Pokemon Red and Blue hit the shelves, a whole generation suddenly found themselves glued to their Game Boys. Pay homage to those classic video games with these tiny bars of soap, which look just like the original Game Boy cartridges. Each of the citrus-y smelling soaps comes in a plastic case, just like the real game. 

Find It: Amazon

2. TARDIS ON A ROPE; $20

This soap will transport you to a time when you’re more clean. The blue rectangular soap looks like the TARDIS from Doctor Who and comes with a handy rope to prevent the time machine from slipping out of your hands. It even comes in a special polyester carrying case for cleaning on the go.

Find It: ThinkGeek

3. DRAGON EGGS; $13

Now you can pretend to be like Game of Thrones‘s Daenerys Targaryen and hatch three of your own baby dragons. Instead of walking through flames, you just need to walk into the shower. This set comes with three scaly eggs and three sleeping dragons. Unfortunately, there are no dragons inside the eggs, but at least you can have the dragon soap immediately.

Find It: Etsy

4. GAME CONTROLLERS; $13

Unfortunately for addicted gamers, you can’t take an actual controller into the bath, but at least you can take these soapy replicas. You can now wash yourself with a citrus smelling Sega Mega Drive that’s made to scale. 

Find it: Firebox

5. CAFFEINATED SOAP; $7-$15

Showers are about to get a lot more energizing—no freezing cold water needed. This vegetable-based glycerine soap is made with caffeine to give you a morning jumpstart, even before your first cup of coffee. Each bar has about 200 milligrams of caffeine per serving/shower. It also has a refreshing peppermint smell—but no, it’s not edible.

Find It: ThinkGeek

6. NINTENDO 64 CARTRIDGES; $16

Who knew nostalgia could be so cleansing? These bars of soap are life-sized replicas of Nintendo 64 games. You can decide to play/bathe with Super Smash Brothers, GoldenEye 007, or The Legend of Zelda. You don’t even have to blow into these citrus-scented soaps to get them to work.

Find it: Firebox

7. UNICORN POOP; $12

Unicorns are magical and mysterious creatures that provide endlessly useful products for humans. Unicorn blood apparently lets you extend your life, so it makes sense that their poop can get you clean. Is there anything these sparkly ponies can’t do?

Find It: Amazon

8. MAKE YOUR OWN GEMS; $40

Still can’t find the right soap? Take matters into your own hands and make your own. This DIY kit lets you create soaps that look like crystals and gemstones. Each kit comes with enough materials to create two colorful, full-sized gemstones. The box comes with clear and white soap base, food coloring, and molds. Once you’re finished crafting, you can hop right into the shower with your new creation. 

Find It: ModCloth

9. POKEBALL; $6

This Pokeball soap is the perfect motivation for getting into the shower. Once you use it enough, a mystery Pokemon figurine will begin to emerge. The bi-colored balls of soap are made with a goat’s milk soap base, glycerin, and essential oils. The six-ounce soaps smell like “oran berries” fresh from Palett Town.

Find It: Etsy

10. NUCLEAR ELEMENT SOAP; $20

This radioactive (looking) soap lets you wash your hands even in the dark. The set comes with three glow-in-the dark soaps: uranium, plutonium, and fallout shelter. Each one smells like fresh rainwater. 

Find It: ThinkGeek

11. ADMIRAL ACKBAR; $5

This surprisingly elaborate bar of soap looks like Star Wars‘s Admiral Ackbar. The figure comes in any color or scent you would like. It’ll have your guests yelling “it’s a trap!” from the bathroom as you lock them in.

Find It: Etsy