Month: April 2017

by Ryan Lambie

If there’s one designer who has shaped Nintendo into the video game juggernaut we know today, it’s Shigeru Miyamoto. His seminal 1981 game Donkey Kong gave the company its first arcade hit, establishing a light, cartoon-like tone and a pixel-perfect level of polish that later games would follow.

When Nintendo made the move from arcades to home consoles with the Family Computer (or Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1983, Miyamoto created some of its most popular games, including Super Mario Bros. and The Legend Of Zelda. That so many of his creations are still so familiar to us over 30 years later is a testament to the strength of Miyamoto’s vision.

But there’s another Nintendo employee who made a massive contribution to the company’s history: artist, animator, and character designer Yōichi Kotabe.

Unlike Miyamoto, Kotabe isn’t a name that comes up all that often—even among dedicated gamers. But even if you’ve never heard of him, you’ve certainly seen something he has designed or drawn: he is, among other things, the artist we have to thank for the look of many of the most recognizable characters in the Super Mario Bros. series. But beyond that, Kotabe was one of the most talented animators in the medium’s post-war boom in Japan. He worked on some of Japan’s most popular anime shows and feature films, and was a regular collaborator of both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Had he remained in animation, a highly successful career at Studio Ghibli might have beckoned.

Instead, fate chose a different path.

By the mid-1980s, Kotabe was growing weary of the punishingly long hours and hard work required by the animation industry. By then well into his forties, Kotabe had spent many years working at Toei Animation, where he worked as a storyboard animator. He’d served as animator on Wolf Boy Ken, Toei’s first animated television series, and the directorial debut of Isao Takahata. He worked with Takahata and Miyazaki on the 1968 film Horus: Prince Of The Sun.

When Takahata and Miyazaki left Toei in the 1970s, Kotabe followed, and continued to work as an animator on their Panda! Go Panda! short films. He also provided character designs for their TV shows Heidi, Girl Of The Alps and 3000 Leagues In Search Of Mother, and even animated a couple of key scenes in Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The success of Nausicaä led Miyazaki and Takahata to establish Studio Ghibli in 1985.

After 30 years in the animation industry, Kotabe felt that his work had begun to stagnate, so he began to search for a new artistic path. But having slaved away in high-pressure animation studios for so long, he suddenly found himself with a lot of free time—it was, he said, “a dull period.”

While sitting in a coffee shop one day, Kotabe happened to meet an old work colleague, Hiroshi Ikeda. Ikeda, who was two years older than Kotabe, was also a veteran of the animation industry. The two had worked together at Toei Animation, with Ikeda having rapidly ascended from assistant to director and later company president in the anime boom years of the 1960s and 1970s. But Ikeda had since made the move into the burgeoning video game market, joining Nintendo in 1983 as the general manager of its new games division. Ikeda had seen that games were becoming more sophisticated, and that the medium needed the skills of seasoned animators like him and Kotabe.

Though he had heard of Space Invaders, Kotabe had little interest in games. But with little else to do, he accepted Ikeda’s offer to join Nintendo, thinking he’d only remain at the company for a year or two.

It was when Kotabe arrived at Nintendo that he saw Super Mario Bros., the latest game designed by Miyamoto. “When I first saw all the movements Mario was performing in Super Mario Bros.,” Kotabe said, “I thought that video games were now doing what the original animation industry was forgetting.”

Take a look at Mario through the years. #Mar10Day pic.twitter.com/iC5MEnGmDM

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) March 10, 2017

Miyamoto had been so hands-on with Super Mario Bros. that he had even designed the game box—his image of Mario, leaping through the air with a cheerful expression, did much to cement the image of a character who’d previously amounted to a handful of pixels. But in Kotabe’s experienced hands, the characters in Super Mario Bros. began to acquire greater personality details and clarity. He gave Princess Peach more distinctive proportions. He completely overhauled Bowser, crystallizing Miyamoto’s ideas of a half-ox, half-turtle creature into something more coherent.

What’s more, Kotabe’s confident, bold early illustrations fed back into the games, as the sprites (and later 3D models) took on the personality of the animation veteran’s drawings. Kotabe’s work at Nintendo didn’t end with Super Mario Bros., either; he worked on the character designs for The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and helped to create the classic Mario Kart. He contributed extensively to the Pokemon franchise, designing the 3D models for Pokemon Stadium on the N64, and working as animation supervisor on a string of Pokemon movies throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Kotabe retired from Nintendo in 2007 after 21 years, but has still contributed to the company’s games from time to time; in 2011’s Super Mario 3D Land, Princess Peach occasionally sends you illustrated letters as you progress. Those illustrations were provided by Kotabe.

When describing the universal appeal of Nintendo’s games, they’re often compared in style to Disney or Studio Ghibli. What many don’t realize is that Nintendo understood the importance of animation and character design in its games almost from the very beginning. Without the work of artists like Yōichi Kotabe, Nintendo’s games simply wouldn’t have been the same.

The typical house cat raised on plastic toys and canned food scarcely resembles its relatives in the wild. But all cats alive today can trace their lineages back to a common ancestor that prowled the Earth 11 million years ago. In this video from the science-oriented YouTube channel MinuteEarth, Joe Hanson explains the history of the domesticated cat.

Our mutual relationship with the animal started as a way for cats to get food and humans to get rid of rodents. The food part of that equation stayed the same, but today our feline friends offer more than just pest control. They’re also loving companions (when they want to be) and the inspiration behind the internet’s best memes. You can get the full fuzzy history lesson below.

[h/t Sploid]

After a good meal, you might want to check to make sure there’s nothing stuck in your teeth. Luckily, this generous narwhal is willing to give you its own horn to help you dislodge those stubborn pieces of food. Don’t feel bad, the horn grows back: just shake this clever, porcelain toothpick holder and a new horn will appear in its place.

Called Polar Picks, the adorable toothpick holder is the perfect addition to any kitsch kitchen. We recommend pairing it with this equally charming narwhal tea infuser.

Somehow, the Polar Picks isn’t even the first novelty toothpick holder we’ve covered. Last year, we wrote about this impressive Darth Vader device that wields toothpicks like a lightsaber.

Looking for good motivation to brush and floss? Mammal experts say the infamous lions that killed dozens of rail workers in Kenya in 1898 may have been driven by dental disease. They published a report on the unfortunate beasts in the journal Scientific Reports.

There were only two of them, but the damage they did was both extensive and terrifying. “I could plainly hear them crunching the bones,” Lieutenant Colonel John Patterson wrote in his diary, “and the sound of their dreadful purring filled the air and rang in my ears afterwards.”

Patterson eventually killed the lions, and their remains were preserved for scientific study. Today, the two skulls are kept in the collection of Chicago’s Field Museum so scientists can study them.

Historians have long believed that the lions turned to human prey out of desperation when a famine eliminated their usual sources of food. If this was the case, the lions would have relished every last bite of every animal they killed, including the bones.

But when Field Museum researchers examined the Tsavo skulls, they began to suspect that the lieutenant’s “very vivid recollection” may have been at least slightly exaggerated, as the lions had clearly not been crunching anything. The microscopic signs of wear and tear that accompany regular hard use were nowhere to be found in the lions’ jaws.

They did, however, find evidence of dental problems. One lion had broken a canine tooth several years earlier, was missing three incisors, and had a periapical abscess, or pus pooled around the root of a tooth. The other had a fractured upper left carnassial (the equivalent of a molar) and exposed pulp (tissue at the center of a tooth).

Bruce Patterson (no relation) is the museum’s curator of mammals. He and his colleagues think the Kenyan lions’ suspiciously smooth teeth and dental injuries could have played a role in their attacks on humans. These types of injuries aren’t uncommon, and they can be painful.

“Lions normally use their jaws to grab prey like zebras and wildebeests and suffocate them,” he said in a statement. If you’ve got a mouthful of hurt, you’re not going to leap face-first at a kicking wildebeest. “Humans are so much easier to catch,” Patterson said.

“We humans like to think we’re at the top of the food chain, but the moment we step off our paved streets, these other animals are really on top.”

The Lost City of Z and Its Brutal Production. Director James Gray talks about the difficulties of filming in the Amazon rainforest.
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WLKY wasn’t allowed to take video of a football game, so they had to get creative for the TV broadcast. They used an “artist” to produce a reasonable facsimile of the plays.  
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Peter Flax crossed the U.S. four times in a 36-hour period for The Hollywood Reporter. That sounds like pure hell for most of us, but his assignment was to experience and compare four different airlines’ premium first-class service.
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Screenwriters Share Their Weirdest Script Notes from producers and studio executives. Many of the best stories are about “totally missing the point.” 
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Unsuspecting Woman Brings Therapy Dog to Local Furry Convention. She was invited, and figured it was about pets.
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Prince Harry reveals his mental health struggles as he was growing up. His mother died when he was only 12, and he didn’t get counseling for 16 years.   
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Got a big tax refund? Here’s what you should — and shouldn’t — do with it.
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10 Cute and Creepy Crochet Creations. Even monsters are adorable rendered in yarncraft.

Indian farmer Dashrath Manjhi is an inspiring example of how selflessness and hard work can make a massive difference in people’s lives.

California legislators are looking to put the state’s notorious car traffic to good use. State officials recently approved a plan to generate electricity from vibrations produced by cars driving down freeways, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The California Energy Commission recently voted to put $2.3 million into two piezoelectricity projects, which convert pressure into power. One pilot will test a 200-foot-long piece of asphalt on UC-Merced’s campus, while the other experiment will be built by the San Jose green technology company Pyro-E. The company’s technology is expected to generate enough power to supply 5000 homes using less than a half-mile of piezoelectric highway.

The idea is that highways could produce energy mechanically, much like a watch runs on the mechanical energy of a spring. Stacks of the inch-long devices would be installed under roads, moving slightly each time a car rolled over them. The high volume of cars passing above each day would in theory turn that little bit of movement into a significant source of energy. The same idea has been floated for wood flooring, sidewalks, and dance floors.

The technology is still in its early stages, though, and there’s no guarantee that California’s roads will be generating power anytime soon. (If it was more advanced, you would have seen a lot more electricity-generating dance floors, after all.)

If any state is likely to implement these unusual sources of power, though, it would be California, which is already a leader in sustainable energy in the U.S. In one recent milestone, California’s solar panels produced 40 percent of the state’s power on one day in March, though it was only for a few hours. The state plans to get 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030 [PDF]. If it can turn L.A. and San Francisco gridlock into power, it’ll reach that goal in a heartbeat.

[h/t San Francisco Chronicle]

Whether they harmed property or people, were in cahoots with human outlaws, or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, these critters are proof that “crime” can sometimes be cuddly.

1. THE PIGEON THAT WAS ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF ESPIONAGE.

In 2015, officials in India arrested a pigeon they suspected was a spy. The bird’s body was stamped with a message written partly in Urdu—Pakistan’s official language—and what appeared to be a Pakistani phone number. It had landed in a village close to the country’s shared border with Pakistan, near the Kashmir region that’s claimed by both countries and has been the subject of multiple wars between India and Pakistan beginning in 1947. Though there was a ceasefire in 1972 (the current situation is that India controls 45 percent of Kashmir, Pakistan 35 percent, and China 20 percent), because both countries believe they have rights to the area, it’s frequently the site of military clashes and infiltration.

So when a 14-year-old boy found the suspicious-looking pigeon so close to Kashmir, he turned it over to authorities. The officials took it to a veterinary hospital for x-rays, and though they couldn’t find any concrete evidence of foreign fowl play, they kept the bird in custody, recording it as a “suspected spy” in their police diary.

That said, not everyone took the news as seriously as the Indian police did: In the days following the bird’s arrest, Pakistani social media was flooded with memes depicting the feathered detainee as a slick 007 type, and amused internet users coined hashtags like #PigeonVsIndia and #IfIWereAPigeon.

2. THE BEAVER THAT WAS APPREHENDED FOR A DESTRUCTIVE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING SESSION.

In December 2016, a wild beaver must have decided that forest trees weren’t festive enough, because it wandered into a dollar store in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, to browse Christmas trees and decorations. Workers noticed the animal knocking items onto the floor, and called the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office.

Captain Yingling of the sheriff’s office arrived on scene to prevent the “shopping” beaver from ruining the store. “The suspect attempted to flee the area but was apprehended by Animal Control,” the sheriff’s department joked on their Facebook page.

Instead of allowing the beaver to finish up its holiday shopping, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff handed the critter over to a wildlife rehab center. As for the police, they said the quirky incident just marked another day on the job: “As a law enforcement officer, you just never know what your next call may be…” they mused on Facebook.

3. THE FOUL-MOUTHED PARROT IN INDIA THAT WAS ARRESTED FOR REPEATEDLY INSULTING HIS OWNER’S STEPMOTHER.

In 2015, police in the Indian state of Maharashtra taught a foul-mouthed parrot named Hariyal a lesson in politeness after they “arrested” it for swearing at an elderly woman named Janabai. According to locals, the pet bird had picked up the rude habit from Janabi’s stepson, Suresh Sakharkar. The two were embroiled in an ugly property dispute, and the latter had reportedly spent the prior two years training Hariyal to spout epithets whenever the estranged relation walked past his house.

The situation escalated, and Janabi, Suresh, and his bird were eventually called to the police station. “Police should investigate and seize the parrot,” the embittered stepmother told Indian news channel Zee News. That said, Hariyal must have known he was in hot water, because he kept his beak shut. “We watched the parrot carefully but it did not utter a word at the police station after being confronted by the complainant,” a police inspector told reporters.

Instead of locking Hariyal up, officials gave the parrot over to Maharashtra’s forestry department, where he can presumably fly—and curse—freely for the remainder of his life.

4. THE SQUIRREL THAT WAS ARRESTED FOR “STALKING” A GERMAN WOMAN.

While walking down the street in the West German city of Bottrop in 2015, a woman realized that she had attracted a furry stalker: a tiny red squirrel. The animal was chasing her and acting aggressively. Frightened and unable to flee the rodent, the woman called the police for help. Authorities captured the squirrel, “arrested” it, and brought it back to the station. There, they discovered that the critter was suffering from exhaustion.

Police helped nurse the squirrel back to health by feeding it honey, and a spokesman said the squirrel would be sent to a rescue center instead of languishing away in a cell for its stalkerish habits.

5. THE BAD MONKEYS IN INDIA THAT WERE IMPRISONED IN “MONKEY JAIL.”

In 2004, a rogue monkey became infamous for terrorizing residents of the city of Patiala, in India’s northern Punjab region. The monkey was guilty of multiple crimes: It stole food from homes, ripped the buttons off people’s shirts, threatened kids with bricks, and once even swiped someone’s math textbooks and calculator. To keep the marauding jungle creature off the streets, officials sentenced it to “monkey jail”—a now-defunct detainment center in Patiala that was reserved for ill-behaving primates.

The “monkey jail”—which appears to have operated from 1996 until the mid-2000s—was located in the corner of a local zoo. The 15-foot-wide barred cell was secured with chain-link fencing and wire mesh, and had a sign that read: “These monkeys have been caught from various cities of Punjab. They are notorious. Going near them is dangerous.”

Punjab is filled with countless wild Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) monkeys. Some of the animals have moved into cities and towns in search of food, as humans continue to destroy their natural jungle habitat. Others were once used as animal guards, or trained as performing monkeys, and were set loose by their owners once they turned violent. Particularly ill-treated or mischievous primates have been known to destroy property and pester—or even attack—humans. But since Hindus revere Hanuman, the monkey god, killing the creatures is verboten.

Wildlife officers in Punjab took matters into their own hands by opening the monkey jail. They responded to public complaints by capturing the creatures with trapping cages and tranquilizer guns. Once the monkeys were locked up, there was little to no chance of “parole.”

As of 2004, there were 13 jailed monkeys, all imprisoned for harassing people or committing petty crimes. Patiala’s primate penitentiary was eventually closed, and authorities announced it was going to be replaced by “reform school” that’s intended to train the monkeys to be less aggressive.

6. THE CAT WHO WAS DETAINED FOR HELPING OUT WITH A PRISON BREAK.

On New Year’s Day 2013, a cat took the heat for scheming Brazilian inmates who were likely either planning a jailbreak or attempting to communicate with outlaws on the outside. The white feline was slinking around the main gates of a medium-security prison in Arapiraca—a city in northeast Brazil—when guards noticed that its body was wrapped in tape. They apprehended the kitty, and discovered that it was carrying items including several saws and drills, an earphone, a memory card, batteries, and a phone charger.

Prison officer Luiz de Oliveira Souza told reporters that the cat had been seen entering and exiting the jail before. It had been raised by inmates, and was often in the custody of one of their families. However, officials couldn’t figure out which of the jail’s 263 prisoners had tried to use the feline for their own nefarious purposes: “It’s tough to find out who’s responsible for the action as the cat doesn’t speak,” a prison spokesperson told local newspaper Estado de S.Paulo.

Following the cat’s “arrest” and brief imprisonment, it was taken to a local animal shelter to receive medical treatment.

7. THE TOUGH PRISON PET THAT WAS ACTUALLY A VERY GOOD BOY.

Unlike some animals on this list, Pep the dog was a very good boy. But in 1924, Pennsylvania governor Gifford Pinchot allegedly sentenced the dark-haired Labrador to a life sentence without parole. Pep was taken to Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, where officials jokingly gave him his own inmate number and mug shot. Reporters nicknamed the canine “Pep The Cat-Murdering Dog,” as he was said to have killed the governor’s wife’s cat.

Thanks to all the media hype, Pep had quite the tough reputation. But a few years after the canine’s imprisonment, the governor’s wife, Cornelia Pinchot, set the story straight in an interview with The New York Times. Turns out, Pep had never murdered her pet feline; her family simply bred Labradors, and owned too many dogs. Pep, she said, was a gift to the prisoners to lift their spirits.

Today, researchers say that partisan journalists twisted the facts around, and that Pep was actually a beloved prison pet that freely wandered the hallways and was adored by all. As for the “life sentence without parole” part, the Lab was eventually moved to a newer prison; when he died, he was buried on its grounds.

8. THE FEISTY DONKEY IN MEXICO THAT WAS LOCKED UP TO SETTLE A SCORE.

In 2008, police in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas arrested a feisty donkey named Blacky after it bit a man in the chest, and kicked a second man trying to rescue him. Police apprehended the burro and locked it in the jail’s drunk tank. “Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed, no matter who they are,” said Officer Sinar Gomez.

Police said that the donkey would remain behind bars until its owner, Mauro Gutierrez, paid the injured parties’ medical bills and salary for the days they missed work. The boisterous burrow served three days in jail, and Gutierrez settled the score by paying Blacky’s victims.