Kuriositas

Ukraine's Tunnel of Love: Nature's Romantic Railway

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 07:42:51 +0000

Hidden in the forests of north-western Ukraine lies a place that seems less like a real location and more like a setting from a fairy tale (at least at first sight). Near the small town of Klevan, in Rivne Oblast, a leafy green corridor stretches into the distance, its walls and ceiling formed entirely by living trees. It is known simply as the Tunnel of Love - "Тунель кохання" (Tunel Kokhannia). Ask anyone in Kievan for The Green Mile Tunnel as it is sometimes referred to on the internet, and they will look at you blankly. Ask for The Tunnel of Love and a local will immediately know where you want to go. They might even give you a knowing wink if you are with your loved one. Image

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At first glance, you can see exactly why the place acquired the name. The word кохання (kokhannia) means romantic love, rather than the broader word for affection or liking. So, the name carries a distinctly romantic meaning, and you might assume the tunnel was deliberately designed as a romantic attraction. If I was a filmmaker, I would want to shoot my happy ending here.

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The reality is rather different. The site is in north-western Ukraine, and it is hundreds of kilometres from the main front lines. So, one might assume it was created as a place of romantic getaway, a secret green sanctuary hidden among the forests of Rivne Oblast. The truth, however, is considerably less poetic, even though the result might inspire a few lines of verse.

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The tunnel owes its existence to a railway line built during the Soviet era to serve nearby industry. For decades, trains travelled along the track – and still irregularly do - carrying supplies to factories in the region. As the years passed, trees and shrubs grew alongside the railway. Whenever a train passed (and they are tall), it trimmed the vegetation back, shaping the branches into a perfectly arched corridor.

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The result is one of those rare times when nature and industry intersect to create something wonderful. During spring and summer, the track disappears beneath a canopy of green leaves. Sunlight filters through tiny gaps in the foliage, creating shifting patterns of light and shadow on the ground. (As an aside, the Japanese have a word for that - komorebi - referring to the sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees, creating dappled patterns of light and shadow on the ground. This is full komorebi.)

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In autumn, the tunnel transforms into a golden passageway, while winter reveals a skeletal archway often dusted with frost and snow.

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Visitors often tie ribbons to the trees. Over time, these fragments of cloth have accumulated into a quiet visual archive of human emotion, woven into the landscape. These are informal “wish tokens”, left by couples and travellers as symbols of love, hope, memory, or simply to mark the moment that they were there. People like me left something here.

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Although the tunnel’s origins are strictly twentieth century, folklore – like nature – never needs long to spring up. As such, the tunnel's beauty has inspired regional legends. Local folklore claims that couples who walk through the tunnel hand in hand may make a wish, and if their love is genuine, the wish will come true. Whether anyone's wishes have been granted is impossible to say (and one in particular is taking its time coming true), but the legend has certainly helped turn the site into a popular destination for romantics.

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Unlike many famous attractions, however, the Tunnel of Love was not created by architects, landscape designers or artists. It emerged naturally from the interaction between machinery and vegetation. In a sense, it is an accidental masterpiece – a case of delightful serendipity - shaped by decades of routine industrial activity and nature’s sheer obstinacy.

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Despite its dreamlike appearance, the tunnel is still used by trains three or four times a day. Young lovers who don’t wish to be squished need to listen for the sounds of any oncoming locomotive behemoth (these are not small trains). The experience could turn into something considerably less romantic if the senses are completely diverted by love. It may be blind, but should never be deaf.

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The Tunnel of Love has also become a symbol of resilience. Ukraine has endured immense challenges during its war with Russia, yet this remarkable green corridor continues to attract visitors from around the country and beyond. Its enduring appeal lies not only in its serene beauty but also in what it represents: the ability of nature to create wonder in the most unexpected places.

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Part railway, part forest, and part fairy tale, the Tunnel of Love is, in my mind, one of Europe’s most unusual landmarks. The tracks endure beneath their canopy, neither fully reclaimed nor fully abandoned, but suspended in a long, quiet negotiation between what was built and what continues to grow.

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Timelapse of the Universe – A Spectacular Journey Through the History of Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 15:54:59 +0000

As you may know, we feature a lot of timelapses (and sometimes even hyperlapses) here on Kuriositas. They all have one thing in common – they are all earthbound, very much the representation of people and places under the Earth’s atmosphere. Plus, of course, they represent a certain time – quite recent! This timelapse is slightly different – it covers the entire history of the universe from its big bang beginnings 13 billion years ago, right up to the present day.

So, obviously, this is a peculiar hobby of a particular Timelord – one who found Gallifrey a little boring and decided that instead of fighting monsters (on a weekly basis) that they would simply record what happened in time and space. Ah, well not quite. This is the work of Melodysheep, ala John D. Boswell, a Washington State based musician and filmmaker. I suppose he could still be a Timelord in disguise, but unfortunately, he admits that his own timelapse of the universe was created by his imagination (and some software). It is narrated by his friend Toby, aka EpicSpaceMan

Every second in this video represents 23 million years and so I am not exaggerating when I say that the scale is epic. In the first minute, you’re watching the first stars being born (great to see them twinkle into existence), and before you know it we’re watching proto-galaxies form and then spectacularly collide with each other. All of that happens in the first two minutes. So, although you may feel you have enough time to put the kettle on and have a cuppa in the middle of the ten minutes below, you will have missed so much of the universe’s history in that time, that it would be difficult to pick it all up again. At least there’s a timeline at the bottom of the screen so you can see how much you have missed. However, go and make that coffee, tea or other hot beverage now, sit down and enjoy the timelapse of the universe which, in its last nanosecond includes the history of you, me and everyone else ever born on Earth.

From supermassive black holes to supernovas, everything about this video is… super. It’s no wonder that it is soon to become a planetarium show.

Gondar: The Camelot of Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 07:28:12 +0000

When pre-twentieth century Africa is studied in schools it is the slave trade, its awful consequences and the later colonial Scramble for Africa of the nineteenth century which tend to attract the focus of both teachers and students.

Often overlooked is the only country which successfully resisted European incursion and retained its own sovereignty: perhaps its late twentieth century tragedies of famine and attendant local and civil wars do little to persuade the casual historian to look further in to its past.

Image Credit 10b Travelling

Yet Ethiopia’s history stretches back thousands of years: it was the second ever nation, after Armenia, to adopt Christianity as its state religion, around 324 AD. During the fifteenth century it initiated contact with Europe (not, as many would assume, the other way around) with diplomatic messages sent to King Henry V of England and emissaries sent to Spain. Then, in the early seventeenth century the city of Gondar was founded: it would eventually become known as the Camelot of Africa. Its complex of imperial palaces and associated buildings stand to this day.

Image Credit Gustav Jeronimo

Image Credit rabbit.hole
It was contact with a third European power which would prove fateful for Ethiopia. Swayed by Portuguese missionaries in 1624, Emperor Susenyos I converted to the Roman Catholic faith, a move which precipitated years of rebellion. This culminated in his son, Fasilides, usurping his rule and immediately restoring the traditional Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Six years after his proclamation as emperor, legend has it that the 33 year old Fasilides found himself beside a lake next to the river Angereb in the north of the country.

Image Credit Al and Marie

Image Credit Al and Marie
There he met an old and venerable hermit who told the Emperor to build his capital there. Fasilides duly did so, draining the pool and founding the city. The place became known as Gondar and its castles and fortifications Fasil Ghebbi. The distinction between the two is important: the castles served effectively as a walled city within a city – the name itself translates as the royal enclosure.

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Image Credit Al and Marie
This was a great departure for Ethiopian royalty. Until this point Emperors and their huge retinues would make continual, if slow and steady, progress throughout the country. They would live in colossal, magnificent tents and live off produce farmed by the local populations. This, however, was the first time that the decision had been made to settle, as it were, the capital in a single place. It proved to be a decision which persevered. Over the centuries that followed the complex of castles, churches (an astonishing 44 were built) and other buildings would be added to the complex and surrounding city by succeeding emperors.

Image Credit Gordontour

Image Credit Al and Marie
Although today it is a public park, Faisl Ghebbi covers over 70,000 square meters with the main hall at its northern end. The wall which surrounds it is punctuated by twelve gates, each with its own name and history. Within a century the population of the city exceeded 60,000 and was seen by many Ethiopians as both a focus of national pride and an embodiment of traditional values. Yet during its time as the capital the country became more insular and inward-looking.

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Image Credit Alan
Nonetheless, the remaining architecture, taking in Nubian, Arabic and baroque styles, indicates that this was a place which must have contained vast wealth, both material and cultural. The trappings which went with such constructions and fortifications must have been exquisite to say the very least: Faisl Ghebbi was famed for its affluence and its impact on the Ethiopian nation was immense.

Image Credit Al and Marie

Image Credit hhesterr

Image Credit Martijn.Munneke
At a time when many European monarchs shunned bathing, Fasilides had his own swimming pool (pictured above) housed in its own magnificent building. He must have lived in the height of luxury. Perhaps it is not so difficult to imagine why he made the decision to cease being an itinerant ruler, throwing off centuries of tradition.

Image Credit Alan

Image Credit Alan
Not that he or the denizens of Gondar were exempt from strife. In 1666, the same year as the Great Fire of London, the heir to the throne, Dawit, rebelled against Fasilides. Like father, like son perhaps but this time the incumbent Emperor won out. He had Dawit incarcerated in a royal prison on top of the distant Amba Geshen Mountain. This was a resumption of an ancient practice whereby male relatives of the emperor would be imprisoned until they either died or were declared emperor themselves. This revived practice would go on for another century.

Image Credit 10b Travelling

Image Credit Marta Semu
Fasilides died just a year later. His body was interred in a monastery built on an island in Lake Tana, the landlocked country’s largest body of water. Another son, Isur, was buried with him. At only seven he had been smothered in a crush by a crowd paying homage to the new king, his older brother Yohannes (the fourth son of Fasilides). Perhaps that was a kind of escape for the boy: all of Fasilides’ other sons went to join their rebellious sibling Dawit in his mountain prison.

Image Credit Al and Marie

Image Credit Martijn.Munneke
Gondar was Ethiopia’s capital city until 1855, a period of over two centuries. It marked a time of huge strife for the city. Just over a decade later it was bombarded and sacked by a Sudanese Islamic khalifa (ruler), Adballahi ibn Muhammad. Almost all of its 44 ancient churches were set alight in an act of religious vandalism which resonates in to our own modern era. Just fifty years later the entire country was conquered by the Italian forces of Benito Mussolini. Gondar was first developed by the occupying Italians who then later used it as a guerrilla base against British forces until it was liberated in the summer of 1943.

Image Credit Al and Marie

Image Credit Al and Marie
Although the complex gained UNESCO World Heritage Status in 1979 many of the interiors are dilapidated and without roofs.

Image Credit Alan

Image Credit Alan
However, there are plans to fully restore Fasil Ghebbi if not to its former glory then to at least a point at which it can be preserved for the future,

Image Credit Manogamos

Image Credit manogamos
Fasil Ghebbi somehow managed to survive the ravages of centuries, perhaps not intact but with its original splendor still evident nonetheless. The emperors are long dead, their power and wealth can now be discovered only in books. Yet the voices of the courtiers going about their business through the banqueting halls, libraries and stables of the castle complex can, perhaps, still be heard if you listen closely enough.

Image Credit Martijn.Munneke

Image Credit Alan Johnston

Image Credit Matthew Goulding
First Image Credit Achilles Family

The Nymph: Greenpeace's Enchanting and Heartbreaking Eco-Fable

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 07:06:52 +0000

If you like an extended visual metaphor, then you will love The Nymph, written and directed by Vanessa Stachel at Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of the internationally most acclaimed film and media schools. Together with a team of producers, editors, VFX creators – basically a whole film crew made up of fellow students, she has created a branded short for Greenpeace Germany – and a tale of love and woe it is indeed.

The story is deceptively simple. A young knight, defeated and injured, flees the battlefield. Nicholas (played with equal charm and menace by Jacob Haw-Wells) finds himself by a beautiful pool in secluded woodland. There he encounters the nymph Ilo (played subtly by Peter Todd, who also narrates the story) who heals his wounds. Yet this healing comes at a price – part of the natural world around them dies with this act of generosity. Sir Nicholas can rejoin the fight and claim victory. Yet he returns to his healer and a friendship, then a romance blossoms.

Combining animation and live action is always something of a risk, but this short film segues beautifully between the two. The direction is absolutely spot on throughout and the leads are both compelling and charming (well, one is remarkably like a Disney prince!). The fact that this is, essentially, a student film is astonishing - this is very high-quality film-making.

So, you can probably see where this is going in terms of the visual metaphor - it's about the environment, conservation and sustainability. As the relationship between human and nymph (well, nature effectively) develops, Sir Nicholas begins to demand more and ore from Ilo (the name means joy in both Finnish and Igbo!). Before long the natural world is laid waste as Nicholas’ demands stretch Ilo to his very limits. Can Nicholas see sense before his Ilo and his world are destroyed forever? You will have to watch this short film to find out, but as a fitting end to this particular fairy tale, there is a message directed at us saying “Nature deserves a happily ever after. It’s up to us.” Of course, Nicholas has been us from the very beginning, taking what we want when we want from the natural world – and Ilo represents nature. The message – unless we work together, disaster is inevitable. And although there is some optimism at the end of this remarkable short film, what a price tag it has come with…

Roger Taylor and Ndlovu Youth Choir - Come On Summer (It’s Party Time) Video - This Year's Feel-Good Summer Anthem

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:05:59 +0000

I probably don’t keep up with things properly, but the last thing I expected to see today was a new single by Queen’s Roger Taylor. And featured on Come On Summer (It’s Party Time) is none other than the Ndlovu Youth Choir from South Africa who did such a brilliant job on their cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, which we featured on Kuriositas last August. This song is not as complex (by something of a margin) but restricts itself to simple lyrics yet gloriously summery rhythms.

There is something of a contrast to the performances on Come On Summer, too. While the youth choir seem intent on celebrating the warmth of the sun as it beats down on them, Roger Taylor seems to be stuck in a rainy field somewhere in the UK, muttering Come On Summer under his breath every now and again. It’s quite a neat juxtaposition – and I do hope it was purposeful because otherwise I’m getting the wrong end of completely the wrong stick.

Regardless, this song is a wonderful preview of what Taylor has in store for us when his new album, Violence Insane In A Beautiful World, comes out on September 18th, just ahead of Taylor’s UK tour which kicks off three days later. In the meantime, I imagine that this song will do very well on the radio – we only have a lyric video at the moment (even thought it’s gorgeous – a lot of time and pennies have been spent on it) – its very upbeat mood is infectious – and I have already caught myself singing bits of it a few times. So, come on, summer, do your best or your worst – we don’t care. We have the track of the season anyway!

2001: A Tap Odyssey – Swinging Through the Greatest Sci-Fi Soundtracks

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 06:08:03 +0000

Ask anyone and they will tell you that two things that are featured heavily on Kuriositas are science fiction and dance – and never the twain shall meet. However, it is with unspeakable joy that I can feature a combination of the two. World-renowned tap dancer Demi Remick in cahoots with Postmodern Jukebox have created this wonderful dance feature where we can watch Remick go through her paces to the tune of ten of our favorite sci-fi themes – all to a jazzy swing beat. Starting with Spielberg’s Close Encounters, we move quickly on to Doctor Who and next to Battlestar Galactica. Next to The X-Files (and Demi knows the truth is out there somewhere).

Did I mention that she does this all in a shiny space suit tap dancing outfit? I have now. We then get to Star Wars, with the (now not so menacing) Imperial March, swifty followed by the theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The dance climaxes with a section dedicated to – what else – Star Trek. Both the Original Series and The Next Generation are represented here – I a wonderful medley that may well have you tapping your feet to the beat. All the way through Demi looks like she’s having the time of your life – and I must say this is some performance is fantastic. Sshe doesn’t look even vaguely out of breath at the end and this attempting this would kill a few people, including me.

It’s the sci-fi tap-dance video we didn’t know we wanted until it was put before our eyes. Go on, dance along!

Shibuya Meltdown - 渋谷メルトダウン

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:58:56 +0000

We have all had them – those interminably dull, incredibly long and impossibly tedious days at the office. And so has the hero of this animated short – Shibuya Meltdown. However, he has an imagination – at first a creature he draws on his notepad comes to life. However, his boss soon presents him with enough work to keep his imagination at bay. Yet eventually the working day comes to an end and as he plods home, crushed after what seems like the millionth day in a row at the office, he is drawn to a magical food stand, and soon he sets his mind – and everything in it – free, to roam the city in ways he only ever dreamed. If he is having a meltdown, it’s my kind of meltdown!

Shibuya Meltdown is a wonderful animated short – heartfelt and joyful at its core. It is so lovely to see a graduation project that isn’t full of blood and guts (of course, as you know, they have their place on Kuriositas!) but instead opts for something so vibrantly optimistic (even though it may be an extended metaphor for a complete nervous breakdown). I hope its creators never experience the boredom that their young protagonist did. It was created by the master’s students in Animation Cinema at ECV Lille as their final-year graduation project. The film was directed by Marine Dufosse, Manon Casmarec, Marius Faraci and Victor Paris.

Wherefore art thou Ro-meow? Cat Upstages the Star-Crossed Lovers

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:14:34 +0000

Romeo, Juliet and Ginger? Somehow it doesn’t have the same ring to it, but theatre-goers in Turkey were offered the chance to witness a quick feline rewrite of possibly the most famous death scene of all time. Romeo and Juliet may be the tale of star-crossed lovers, but on this occasion the stars were eclipsed by a four-legged scene-stealer - perhaps we could even call him Shakespurr. Regardless, there is Romeo, prone on the floor, having killed himself believing that Juliet was already dead. Juliet, too, is in position - seemingly dead but soon to awake. Then a ginger cat wanders on to the stage and decides that he (most likely, most ginger cats are) is going to change Shakespeare’s most famous play to suit himself. To paraphrase the Bard, “Though this be madness, yet there is meowthod in’t.”

Walking nonchalantly from the wings, he headed straight towards Romeo. Perhaps there was something in Romeo’s hair that fascinated him, but the cat settled to play with Romeo’s mop as if he had discovered a new toy. It was a case of paws before cause, and the feline seemed determined that all the world’s a stage - and all the men and women merely cat toys. Juliet felt obliged to intervene, but each time Romeo was moved, the cat duly followed. Like a furry Mercutio, he refused to exit, proving that discretion is not always the better part of valour.

How the actor playing Romeo kept a straight face, I do not know, let alone stay “dead” on the floor of the Capulet tomb. One can only imagine him thinking, “To purr, or not to purr, that is the question.” Meanwhile, Ginger appeared convinced that “a plague o’ both your cathouses” was less important than investigating a particularly interesting hairstyle. Had Shakespeare foreseen such a moment, perhaps he would have written, “Parting is such sweet sorrow - but not as sweet as chasing a dangling lock of hair.”

At least they saw the funny side of it all - the cat was carried on to the stage afterwards to greet his audience. He received a warmer reception than many leading actors, proving that some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust a-paw them. I do not know the exact whereabouts in Turkey of this particular performance, but I suspect it was Istanbul. The city has so many cats that live on the streets that it is sometimes called Catstanbul. Perhaps Ginger heard that there was going to be fish for supper. Or perhaps, like Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he simply wanted a larger role. Either way, while Romeo and Juliet may have been doomed by fate, this particular performance was delightfully interrupted by a cat who clearly believed that brevity is the soul of wit - and that every tragedy deserves a little comic relief. After all, what's in a meow? That which we call a cat would steal the show by any other name. I'm really sorry for all the poor cat puns. Watch below.

Images have been enhanced for clarity.

The Lupine Invasion of Iceland

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 15:21:17 +0000

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time… In 1945, the Icelandic Forest Service took seeds of the Nootka Lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis) from its Alaskan home and introduced it to the island’s most eroded areas in the hope it would help to replenish the soil. Seen as a bridging tool to hold back erosion until trees could be re-established, the lupine had other ideas. It quickly spread, and is now classified by Iceland’s environment agency as an invasive species. Soon, it could cover up to ten percent of the country. On the upside, it is very, very pretty. Image Credit

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This story began over a thousand years ago. Iceland was first permanently settled in 874 AD and for many centuries, life was hard for its inhabitants. Dense birchwood forest covered about a quarter of the island – and being stuck on the North-Atlantic Ridge, the settlers did the obvious thing – they cut the forest down. It was cleared to graze sheep, to build houses, to warm the growing population through. After three centuries of human activity, the island was bare, the forest cover effectively gone except in a few isolated places. 95% of its forests had vanished. Perhaps the settlers can be forgiven for their lack of foresight – how were they to know that Iceland’s soil takes longer to form but erodes much more quickly than European soil?

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After the forests were cleared, erosion took hold - an irony written into the landscape itself. Without tree roots to keep it in place, the island’s soil began to move and when the winds blew in, huge dust storms removed the destabilised andosol (fertile soils formed in volcanic tephra and ash) that the forest had spent thousands of years forming. Into the sea it went. These dust storms were not mild, either – they could go on for weeks. This issue led to the first reforestation projects, starting in 1882. However, this led to little success. At the start of the 20^th century, Iceland had 1% forest coverage. It has approximately 2% today. It wasn’t happening quickly enough so the search for a new solution began – one which would culminate in the introduction of the nootka lupine.

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The mistake that the tree planters made was, in hindsight, an obvious one. Plant more trees, get more trees, right? Unfortunately, the soil has changed since the settlers cleared the forests – the top layer was gone. The andosol was gone and what remained wasn’t much good for growing trees in. What was needed was something that would stop the soil being eroded, fix nitrogen into the soil on a huge scale and build up its overall chemistry.

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The nootka lupine ticks all those boxes. The idea was that if you plough under the lupines, the nitrogen they have collected goes back into the soil. Revegetation of Icelandic flora would quickly follow. But how was it, of all plants, selected for the job?

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At the end of the Second World War a committee was set up and a representative dispatched to Alaska to research and collect plants that might fare well in the Icelandic environment. Hákon Bjarnason (the representative and the country’s chief forester) returned with a suitcase full of seeds, including lupins. The summer of 1946 would see the first blue spikes on the Icelandic landscape.

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Up to the 1970s, the lupines kept to areas close to the capital Reykjavík. Then, after this initial success, seeds were collected and planted elsewhere. Packets of seeds were made available at gas stations so people could choose to plant them wherever they wished. And they did. The spread became haphazard and uncontrolled, made worse by the lupine’s own natural fecundity.

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After 1976, the lupines diffused across the island very, very quickly – they went on something of a rampage. An American invader was about to conquer a Viking land. Now, this could look at first sight as a win-win situation – extremely low cost and the hope of enriched soil coming true as each year the spread of purple flowers became more evident across the country. However, its spread has been so fast (tempted to say “and so furious”) that it now grows in areas where it directly competes with native plants and grasses. And guess what’s currently winning?

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Some argue that the lupins will naturally fall back as trees grow and shade increases – and there is some limited evidence for this. Yet, determined to stop the purple invader from marching into the barren heart of Iceland, conservationists have established new lines of defence across the central highlands. The irony is that the plant has become one of Iceland's most photographed attractions. Drawn by vast swathes of violet stretching across the landscape, some tourists have even begun timing their visits for June and July, when the lupins are at their most spectacular. And many Icelanders - who call it lúpína - love this new(ish) addition to their landscape, too.

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So, while the lupine continues its advance, an equally persistent conflict rages among humans. The plant has become the focus of a deeply divided debate about invasive species and ecological intervention. Decades of scientific research have shed light on the problem, but not settled the argument. What does the future hold for the lupins of Iceland? Only time will tell.

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Emmy Noether's Theorem Discovered? A Beautiful Animated Short Explores the Legend

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 15:21:05 +0000

After her death in 1935, Einstein wrote that Emmy Noether (left) was "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began." This delightful animated short tells the story of a train journey she took, usually told as a moment when she suddenly realised the connection between symmetries and conservation laws while travelling, even though - alas - historians have found little contemporary evidence for the story.

Like the tales of Newton and the apple or Archimedes and the bath, it may contain a some truth but has probably been embellished over time. Or perhaps not - maybe it really happened as we see in the animation below. Let’s just say that the story is not as firmly established as her actual mathematical achievements. What is definitely true is that her theorem had enormous consequences for modern physics.

Emmy Noether discovered a hidden rule of the universe: whenever nature treats different situations as equivalent, something must be conserved. If the laws of physics don't change over time, energy cannot simply disappear. If they don't change from place to place, momentum is preserved. Her insight revealed that the universe's most important conservation laws are not arbitrary rules - they are consequences of symmetry.

The film was created by Laura Carpentier, Emma Bouchon, Soline Augris and Mila Mersch as a Pivaut School graduation film – and thank you very much for creating this. The story is skillfully told - I particularly enjoyed the moments when we saw Emmy work out her theorem - such a wonderful visual metaphor for her discovery. I honestly never thought I would be writing about an animated Emmy Noether film on Kuriositas! Yet, in a nod to Noether herself - while some things appear to be conserved, my ability to be pleasantly surprised remains intact.

Sea of Leaves: A Stunning Animated Pirate Tale of Regret, Revenge and Redemption

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 16:42:08 +0000

A tale of regret and revenge – two great staples of a pirate adventure. So, Sea of Leaves is not unusual in that respect. What does make it different, however, is the setting. The pirate ship, with the remnants of its crew = the captain Viktor and his first-mate Bill, glides through the air towards a huge, forested area – in which lurks their destiny. For they have been there before and the captain, wracked with guilt because his avarice cost so many lives, is determined to get his revenge on the one thing he blames. What that is and whether Victor gets his revenge is up to you to discover…

This hugely enjoyable animated short was created by students at ESMA in France as their graduation project. It was directed by Vincent Bohnert, Margaux Bontron, Anaë Duquenne, Juliette Gilles-Payart, Veronika Nikulina, Romain Paillet, Yoann Paquet, Quentin Thisse and Maxime Verclytte. The music was composed by Matei Pouzet, while the sound design was created by Mickaël Merrheim, José Vicente and Yoann Poncet. The voice cast features Mark Kaczmarek, Robert Laborde, Vincent Bohnert and Quentin Thisse. Bravo to everyone involved in the making of this beautifully crafted short.

The Boy Jones – The Kid Who Stalked Queen Victoria

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 10:21:16 +0000

Stalkers are never fun – but they are nothing new, either. Even Queen Victoria was stalked a number of times during her long reign, most notably by Edward Jones – who became known in the nineteenth century media as The Boy Jones. And he has something of a strange story, to say the least.

Jones became infamous (much to his family’s chagrin) for breaking into Buckingham Palace when he was just 14 years old. That was in 1838 and despite being discovered with various stolen items on him, he was acquitted at trial. He decided to do it again in1840, just ten days after the queen had given birth to Princess Vicoria. This time, he was given to months hard labour but never one to allow a punishment to act as a deterrent, he broke in once more, two weeks after his release from prison. This time he was found in the larders of the palace, stealing food. He was given a further three months for that. On all occasions, he would not give away his route into the palace. Here's a contemporary cartoon (Old Harry is a common Victorian nickname used in humor or caricature.

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Now, three strikes and you’re out didn’t exist back in Victorian times, and these punishments were lenient for the time. In a desperate attempt to ensure he wouldn’t break into Buckingham Palace again, the authorities persuaded him to become a sailor, and he made a journey to Brazil – and back. Although he never again bothered the queen, he deserted the navy twice and was arrested for burglary in Lewisham (now a borough in South East London). He was transported to Australia in 1849, came back to the UK in 1855 to rob a few more houses, and then went back to Australia (apparently of his own accord). He died there at some point between 1893 and 1896 – records are sketchy. Below, he is pictured as a sailor - taken from an edition of Punch.

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Although we would probably not consider him a stalker in the modern sense, his Victorian exploits ensured his infamy at the time, with numerous reports of his exploits reported in the press. Not only that, songs, ballads, poems and cartoons were created celebrating his exploits. So he was, I suppose, generally looked upon a harmless nuisance, although there are reports that his parents were at their wit’s end with his exploits. Even in modern times, his infamy ensured a fictionalised appearance in the TV series Victoria played with great charm by Tommy Roger.

Below you can find another fictionalised account of his life – this time animated – created by Haimeric Pays at Ecole Emile Cohl. It does get the year wrong by about fifty years, but my guess is the animator wished to show Queen Victoria as most people think of her – short, old and very, very plump. Jones almost certainly never formally (or informally over a cake or two) met Queen Victoria, but he got alarmingly close to her private apartments and may have caught glimpses of her during his palace intrusions. Regardless, this is a very well done graduation project and as such the historical liberties it takes can be forgiven!

Obelisking - It's a Thing (for Dragonflies at least)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 16:49:44 +0000

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This is not a sunbathing dragonfly. In fact, it's quite the opposite. This is obelisking - otherwise known as the obelisk position - and is something that dragonflies and damselflies do for thermoregulation. Our sibling site, the Ark in Space has a new article about this behavior, with some great photos as well. I won't go much into the whys and wherefores of this here, because the article on the Ark is not long - but it's just another reminder that the animal kingdom is simply amazing! By the way, the picture above is of the Halloween pennant dragonfly, a species of which I was blissfully unaware of until today - but now it's in my Top Ten Insect Names list for sure! The picture shows it Obeliskmaxxing - which is a very new term coined in the last ten minutes...

GENER8ION - Love & Tears featuring Yannis Phillipakis and starring Charlize Theron (Review)

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:28:10 +0000

As his follow-up to his collaboration with Yung Lean on Storm, French musician and producer Benoit Heitz (as GENER8ION - aka Surkin and collaborating with filmmaker Romain Gavras) brings us something completely different. Love & Tears, the title track from GENER8ION’s new album features Yannis Phillipakis (Greek-born English singer, songwriter and guitarist and lead singer of the band Foals). It stars very famous movie actor Charlize Theron in her first music video since “Crossfire” by Brandon Flowers back in 2010 when she played a dramatic action-role character who rescues him in a stylised, film-like sequence). That’s certainly not what she’s doing here…

I was lucky enough to be free to watch the premiere on YouTube (a great animated countdown!) where the song and video garnered a multitude of instant reactions. One commenter said: “a song with Foals legend Yannis – I couldn’t be happier”, while another simply stated “love” in praise of the video. Another early reviewer said: "One of the most captivating videos. We have the Artist's face as our canvas and the emotions and expressions changing while the music flows. An incredible performance and marriage of sound, light and edit. Unique video". indeed.

Personally, I felt… knocked out. It's intriguing, mysterious, complex - and Theron is wonderful to watch.

We’re enigmatically told it’s Mumbai 2034 (the same year as Yung Lean’s school graduation in Storm, so something of a dual narrative emerging?) and then given a shot of some kind of contraption - a kinetic mechanical sculpture or a robotics test rig. The rest of the video is entirely and simply Theron’s head and shoulders as she reacts to something off screen which we cannot see. It’s disturbing watching her go through the gamut of emotions – especially because at one moment she is full of joy but then gradually – like a dawning realisation of something terrible, her face changes to one of increasing horror and bewilderment. It’s quite the performance given that all we see is her head and shoulders – what is happening is (currently) at least left to our imagination. The lyrics explore themes of longing and emotional intensity, with recurring motifs of "looking down from the wall" and "heat".

My own take is that she is perhaps a robot realising the nature of her being... yeah, maybe not.

With a beautifully languid beat and lyrics superbly delivered by Phillipakis, this haunting video is not just a great follow up to Storm but, I hope the continuation of some kind of emerging story. Will this thread continue? I do hope so!* Watch Love & Tears below:

*In fact – and apologies for being slow on the uptake – 180 Studios in London has just opened an audiovisual exhibition called Visions of 2034, it is a collaboration between filmmaker Roman Gavras (who directed Love & Tears) and Gener8ion. On display are ten multimedia works exploring what 2034 might bring. 180 Studios (based in the heart of London, in the United Kingdom) have underground spaces that have been turned into this alternative world and there ae seven new short films included in the exhibition, as well as a sound installation. You can read more about it at the 180 Studios’website. So, now we know!

Bilak Brothers as Mario & Luigi: Incredible Park Gymnastics Performance

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 08:43:52 +0000

We have featured the amazing gymnastic twins, the Bilak Brothers, on Kuriositas before, but this new video of theirs tempted me to include the Ukrainian performers Andrii and Misha again. In it, they cosplay as Nintendo's Super Mario Bros and take to their local park to astonish and entertain. It takes a while to get the attention of their audience apparently – this looks like it was done completely unannounced – they simply turned up and did their thing. Some of their moves are pretty astonishing, something that fans have grown to expect from these remarkably talented acrobat/gymnasts. As they have performed together for over ten years, perhaps it's unsurprising that this kind of planned spontaneity seems so effortless.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Bilak Brothers video without them shedding a few clothes before long and flexing their very toned muscles (something that their fans hate, I’m sure). I have a Shazam style theory about Andrii and Misha. I suspect that they are only 14 years old and with the help of a magical word they transform into their stage personas… this is the only way I can explain the gleeful gusto that they exhibit each time they go through a routine – it’s like they have just discovered their superhero powers for the first time each time. As entertaining as ever, watch Mario and Luigi – sorry, Andrii and Misha, perfectly performing in the park. Super Mario will never be the same again…

Why Paying 15p for a Plastic Bag Still Annoys British Shoppers: A Hilarious Mister Winner Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 07:52:47 +0000

I can’t quite remember when supermarkets and other shops started charging for their plastic bags, for the rather scurrilous reason that they were helping to save the planet and demanding payment for their bags would encourage people to bring their own. Well, I can only speak for myself – it has. I must add, of course, that sometimes I forget to take my “bag for life” with me in the morning and so I do end up acquiring a new one. Yet I resent that – because I know that the markup on my new carrier bag is huge and that the place I am buying it from is making more than a tidy profit from my forgetfulness. So, the situation is far from perfect from this consumer’s perspective.

Not that I would stoop to this extreme. In this scene from the BBC’s sitcom Mister Winner, Leslie Winner (Spencer Jones) – who always finds himself in disastrous situations – finds it impossible to part with 15 pence (about 20 US cents) for a plastic bag for his groceries and so decides to use his various pockets (and other articles of clothing) to carry his shopping home. This doesn’t impress anyone, particularly the shop assistant at the till who remains poker faced throughout (I imagine that there were a few outtakes during the filming of this scene!). If only Leslie had thought of an obvious solution. In the UK, there are so many self-service checkouts that most people feel obliged to use them (the till lady is a dying breed). According to a straw poll I conducted at work, when customers use them and need a new bag, they will rarely scan it. They just pile the shopping in, and whistle nonchalantly as they leave the store with their (paid for) groceries in their new (stolen) bag. Sorted.

Watch the sketch below:

Why Do Animated Short Films Feel So Much More Personal Than Features?

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 20:40:22 +0000

There's something quietly remarkable about a five-minute animated film that makes a grown adult cry on a Tuesday afternoon. Features have bigger budgets, longer runtimes, and entire studios behind them — yet a single short can land harder than ninety minutes of carefully orchestrated spectacle. The question worth asking is why.

The answer has less to do with craft quality than with structure and intention. Short films operate under conditions that naturally push their makers toward emotional directness. When you have almost no time, you can't afford detours.

The Constraint That Forces Emotional Honesty

Feature films carry a certain institutional pressure. Studios, investors, and market research all pull narratives toward the broadly palatable, smoothing out edges that might alienate segments of a paying audience. Short films largely escape that system. A solo animator with a ten-minute concept and access to free software isn't pitching to a committee — they're making something because they need to make it.

This changes the emotional temperature of the work considerably. Brevity demands a kind of ruthless precision. Every scene has to carry real weight because there are no filler sequences, no establishing subplots, no room for the story to breathe its way toward meaning. The emotional core gets placed front and center almost immediately, which means viewers are dropped straight into feeling before they've had time to intellectualize what they're watching.

How Solo Animators Shape Distinct Visual Voices

Independent animators working alone or in tiny teams develop visual languages that feel genuinely idiosyncratic. When one person controls every design decision — character proportions, color palettes, movement style — the result reflects a coherent sensibility rather than a committee consensus. Audiences sense that coherence intuitively, even without knowing anything about the production process. It reads as personality.

This same principle explains why specialist curation tends to outperform generic aggregation across almost every content category.

In digital industries such as e‑commerce, streaming services, fintech apps, and gaming and iGaming platforms—including the best crypto casinos—tailor‑made animation and design consistently attract more users by creating immersive, differentiated experiences. Custom visuals also drive engagement in crypto trading dashboards, educational tech platforms, and entertainment hubs, where personalized design elements make complex interactions feel intuitive and appealing.

According to a 2026 Deloitte media report, 33% of US consumers now feel a stronger personal connection to social media creators than to TV personalities — a shift that reflects audiences increasingly rewarding directness and specificity over polished scale.

Where Short Films Find Their Unexpected Audiences

Short animated films have historically struggled with visibility — not because audiences don't want them, but because the distribution infrastructure was built around features. That's been shifting steadily. Festival touring programs, online curation platforms, and awards-qualifying theatrical runs have created new pipelines that didn't exist twenty years ago.

The Sundance Institute's short film ecosystem is a clear example. As the Sundance short film program describes, shorts are explicitly positioned as a significant and popular way artists connect directly with audiences — limited only by runtime, not ambition. That framing matters. It signals to audiences that they're watching something made with the same intentionality as any prestige feature, just compressed. The compact format also creates what might be called a complete emotional event — no long-term commitment required, but a full arc delivered.

The Formats Keeping Short Animation Alive

The continued health of short animation isn't accidental. Dedicated touring programs bring Oscar-qualifying shorts into theaters, giving them cultural visibility that purely online distribution wouldn't achieve on its own. The awards circuit plays a meaningful role here too — the 2026 Academy Awards continued to spotlight animated and live-action shorts, keeping the form legible to mainstream audiences who might otherwise overlook it entirely.

Research also suggests the form has real communicative power beyond entertainment. A study published in Nature on animated storytelling found that short animated films are effective for emotionally resonant communication precisely because they can cross language and cultural barriers while distilling a message into something simple and immediate. That quality — the ability to land a feeling without requiring extensive shared context — is arguably what makes short animation feel personal rather than universal in a diluted sense. Personal and universal aren't opposites here. A short film made by one person, from one specific experience, often turns out to be the thing that speaks most directly to strangers who thought their experience was entirely their own.

Too Good Short Film: A Heavenly Comedy Starring Jean Smart and Lil Rel Howery

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:36:05 +0000

Sometimes the final page of one’s book turns unexpectedly and it’s… the end. Such a fate befalls the hero of Too Good, who finds himself outside the pearly gates with hardly a by your leave. No problem, though – he’s lived a good life and God seems a fair kind of deity… or does she?

Starring Jean Smart as God and Lil Rel Howery as the hapless mortal whose life has been rather surprisingly curtailed, Too Good is a five minute slice of heavenly fun. As it is so short, too much chat about what happens would only provide you with spoilers, so just sit back and enjoy this. It was written and directed by Meron Alon and produced by Arjun Yadav. If you are wondering where you have seen God before (that sounds like a truly metaphysical question, but I am talking about the actor!), Jean Smart has been around for a while. Quite a while (though not as long as the celestial being she plays with great relish).

She has enjoyed one of the most versatile careers in American acting. Smart first gained widespread recognition as Charlene Frazier on the television sitcom Designing Women and then went on to earn critical acclaim in dramatic roles in series such as 24, Watchmen, Mare of Easttown, and Hacks, (multiple major awards along the away). She has maintained a strong commitment to serious stage work, too, appearing in Broadway and regional theatre productions including The Man Who Came to Dinner and a revival of Piaf. Her career is notable for the range of roles she has played, moving effortlessly between comedy, drama, and theatre over more than four decades.

Lil Rel Howery you will probably remember from his “breakout” role in the acclaimed horror film Get Out. Since then, he has become a familiar face in both comedy and mainstream cinema, appearing in films such as Free Guy and Judas and the Black Messiah while continuing to build a successful career as a stand-up comedian and actor. So Too Good has a great combination of acting talent (the kid and the nun are funny in their own way too) – enjoy!

Giorgi Potskhishvili: The Rising Ballet Star Wowing Audiences in Don Quixote

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:06:02 +0000

For me, one of the standout young male dancers in Europe right now (if not the standout) is Giorgi Potskhishvili. He is exceptionally strong technically (especially in classical roles like Swan Lake) and considered a rising international star, still relatively early in his peak career. These excerpts from the Dutch National Ballet’s Don Quixote, performed with Prima Ballerina Anna Tsygankova, show off his exemplary talents perfectly. The first round of applause is one of delighted spontaneity – and the rest is a series of explosive jumps, precision, and stage energy that has been engaging audiences since he started his professional career in around 2018 (if my memory served me well).

The young Georgian is widely praised for his outrageously high-flying jumps, fast and precise turns, and an unusual sense of power and attack in his movement that makes him stand out on stage. Critics often highlight how he combines athletic virtuosity with control, so even his most daring steps remain clean and secure rather than messy or overextended. This could be in part down to his childhood - his early training in Georgian folk dance seems to have given him a grounded, energetic quality and exceptional stamina compared to many classically trained dancers. As a result, he is especially effective in bravura classical roles that demand showmanship and technical fireworks, where his strength, speed, and stage presence can really come to the fore.

Take a look and prepare for your jaw to meet the floor.

Edmund the Magnificent: David Bradley and Ian McKellen Bring a Pig's Tale to Life

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:32:49 +0000

There are a number of popular stories about pigs, most notably Charlotte’s Web, The Tale of Pigling Bland and Babe (we could throw in Animal Farm for good measure, but maybe that would spoil the mood). There’s even the Three Little Pigs, if you want to explore the murkier depths of your childhood. So, here’s another one for your collection - Edmund the Magnificent.

This short film (rather gleefully narrated by Sir Ian McKellan) stars David Bradley (Argus Filch in the Harry Potter, Walder Frey in Game of Thrones not to mention The Doctor in Adventures in Time and Space) as a farmer who wants to revitalise his failing farm. He buys a piglet from a local breeder (Mark Bonnar - Doctor Who, Shetland, Line of Duty, Guilt) and rears him to become the saviour of the farm – a new champion boar.

This pig gets spoiled in a way that Charlotte's Web's Wilbur could only dream of. When Edmund reaches maturity, he is introduced to a lady pig but there is no Discovery Channel action between the two of them. Almost by chance, the farmer discovers that Edmund is in fact a card-carrying member of the rainbow club. With no chance of piglets, the farmer falls into despair and must not only confront his farm’s imminent closure, but events from the past that ha has kept buried for years. If this all sounds a little depressing, fear not. This story has a happy ending – but I will leave you to discover how it resolves for yourself. Needless to say, I hope it leaves you with a smile on your face.

Watch Edmund the Magnificent below:

Where Did the Elements in the Periodic Table Come From? The Amazing Story of the Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:23:18 +0000

We all have to learn about the Periodic Table of the Elements at school, but have you ever wondered where they actually came from? I have to say, I wish that there had been videos like this when I was younger, because although it may have been explained, it certainly didn’t stay in my head between then and now. So, courtesy of the Royal Observatory Greenwich we have a short, but perfectly formed.

To cut a long story short, 13.9 billion years ago the whole universe was squashed into a space the size of your head – and it was unimaginably hotter. Then, the universe began to rapidly expand in what we know as The Big Bang. But we didn’t have elements, just yet. Particles came along – electrons being among the first. Quarks also appeared, and soon they started binding together to form protons and neutrons. Protons of course (!) are the basis of the smallest element in the universe – hydrogen. I’m going to leave the rest up to you to discover!

Doggles – Dogs in Sunglasses

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:08:55 +0000

Image Credit Flickr User mphoenix

You have probably seen them, those cool dogs chilling with their sunglasses on. Over at our sibling site the Ark in Space there is a whole gallery of dogs in shades. Seeing is believing! I am not sure that I can ever remember seeing a dog in sunglasses before, but I have to say these pampered pooches seem very happy to have these vital accessories - perhaps they're all social media influencers trying to nab a juicy client? Whatever the reason, they certainly look very cool.

A New Generation: How Jewish Culture in the U.S. Is Evolving

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 18:53:23 +0000

Jewish Life Is Changing in Plain Sight

Jewish culture in the United States is not disappearing. It is widening. The old assumption that Jewish life must pass through a single institutional lane no longer fits how many people actually live: through family ritual, food, language, art, politics, memory, digital communities, and selective religious practice. Pew estimated in 2020 that 2.4% of U.S. adults are Jewish, including 1.7% who identify with the Jewish religion and 0.6% who are Jews of no religion, which already points to a community broader than a single religious category.

The center has shifted, not vanished

Synagogues, schools, camps, federations, and holiday tables still matter. They remain part of the structure. But they no longer define the full map of belonging, especially for younger adults who move more freely between communal life and personal identity than earlier generations did.

That shift is not just anecdotal. Pew found that three-quarters of Jewish Americans say being Jewish is at least somewhat important in their lives, even though many describe Jewishness as a matter of ancestry, culture, or some blend of culture and religion rather than religion alone. The point is easy to miss: weaker formal observance does not automatically mean weaker identity.

Culture now carries more of the continuity

This is where the most visible change sits. Jewishness increasingly lives in the everyday texture of life: Friday dinner without strict observance, inherited humor, family argument, community volunteering, fragments of Hebrew or Yiddish, historical memory, and the habit of treating learning as part of identity rather than a separate activity.

Pew’s 2025 Religious Landscape Study sharpened that picture. It found that 3% of U.S. adults identify as Jewish aside from religion, meaning through culture, ethnicity, or family background rather than formal religious affiliation. That does not blur Jewish identity into nothing. It shows that the category has become more layered, and more openly so.

Mixed households changed the transmission model

The American Jewish story now includes far more negotiation inside families than older institutional narratives once admitted. Mixed households do not automatically produce erasure. More often, they produce editing, translation, compromise, and new forms of continuity that look less rigid but can still be durable.

What stands out in the data is that family remains central even as the form changes. Pew reported that about six-in-ten U.S. Jewish adults are married, with another 7% living with a partner. The structure of Jewish life may be looser than it once was, but it still revolves around relationships, household routines, and the choices families make about what to keep.

Denominations still matter, just less predictably

The big branches of American Jewish life have not vanished either. Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and secular or unaffiliated identities still shape institutions, schools, and community language. But denominational loyalty is less fixed than it used to be, and the old assumption that people stay where they were raised is weaker than before.

Pew noted that denominational switching has helped Reform Judaism gain modestly while Conservative Judaism has seen net losses. That does not mean collapse. It means mobility. Jewish identity in the United States now behaves more like a living ecosystem than a neat inheritance chart.

The phone is now part of Jewish community life

A younger generation does not always enter Jewish culture through the front door of an institution. Sometimes it arrives through a podcast, a group chat, a text chain about Shabbat dinner, a short video on Jewish history, a neighborhood event page, or a digital reading group. Community is no longer only a place to go. It is also something encountered in fragments and then assembled into a life.

That wider pattern also explains why daily attention feels more mixed than it once did. A person can move from a synagogue newsletter to music, sports, or an online betting site in the same evening without feeling that these belong to separate worlds. What ties them together is not ideology but interface: short sessions, quick access, and a rhythm built around the phone rather than the building.

Identity now competes on usability too

This is the part many institutions still underestimate. Younger adults do not only compare beliefs or messages. They compare friction. A community platform, a ticketing page, a donation flow, or a class sign-up is now judged by the same standards people apply to everything else they use regularly.

That is why a clean mobile path matters so much. Something built for speed and simple re-entry, whether it is a community calendar or a melbet app for ios, matches the broader expectation people now bring to digital life. Jewish organizations do not need to imitate entertainment platforms, but they do need to understand that clarity, navigation, and ease now shape trust almost as much as the message itself.

What is really changing

The deepest change is not that Jewish culture has become weaker. It is that it has become less centralized, less uniform, and more openly assembled from multiple sources at once. Religion remains part of the story. Family remains part of the story. Culture, memory, and digital belonging now carry more weight in public view than they once did.

That makes Jewish life in the United States harder to summarize in one sentence. It also makes it more recognizable as modern American life: hybrid, mobile, negotiated, and still stubbornly attached to continuity.

Spider-Noir Was Not Nicolas Cage’s First TV Show – This Was…

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 09:16:04 +0000

Having just finished Spider-Noir (and thoroughly enjoyed it), I felt the need to read a few reviews of the show to see if my opinion matched with those of the critics. It did – Spider-Noir is widely considered an entertaining and visually unique show, with a distinct and very stylish noir aesthetic. However, several of the reviews stated that this was Nicolas Cage’s first TV show – something that isn’t quite correct…

In fact, Cage has dipped his toe in to TV waters once or twice over the years, most notably taking a co-starring role in 1981’s The Best of Times. At that time, he was billed as Nicolas Coppola (his real name). It was broadcast by ABC on July 13, 1981 – and as it was a TV Pilot, it was most likely shot a few months earlier. As Nicolas Cage was born on January 7, 1964, this means he was 17 years old at the time of broadcast and was probably 17 during filming as well (assuming filming took place in spring 1981).

The show chronicles the everyday adventures and mishaps of a group of teenagers, with each actor playing a character bearing their own first name. As such, the young Nicolas Coppola played Nick, the sporty one. Whenever there is an opportunity to appear shirtless, the young Nicolas takes it (to be fair to him, that was probably a director’s decision).

An early scene shows him air-boxing and referencing Sylvester Stallone’s famous scene in Rocky, where Balboa trains by punching sides of beef hanging in a meat locker (perhaps surprisingly, they never appeared together in a movie, although there has been occasional fan speculation about Cage appearing in later Expendables films). However, he also gets to try out his acting chops in a more serious monologue, where he talks about “this here El Salvador thing” and worries about being drafted.

Here's the "Best of Nicolas Cage" from the TV pilot, including his monologue.

Tonally, the inclusion of this scene makes this TV pilot a bit more of a mess than it already was. It is no wonder that it was not picked up for a full series, as it is little more than a variety show with a vague attempt to weave in a plot between the musical numbers and various painfully unfunny teenage antics. Cage does stand out though; his dramatic comedy-beefcake entrance doing one-armed push-ups at the beach is a lot of fun. He's obviously ecstatic to be in front of a camera. Yet seeing his character abruptly pivot away from this fun to the serious monologue about the state of the world really, really jars. What is evident throughout is Cage’s natural enthusiasm and commitment to giving his best to the role – something that we have seen ever since, even when he is chewing the scenery into oblivion. His performance here does show a lot of promise. The script, alas, does not. Cage's character's advice about how to pick up girls, for example, would probably have got you arrested in 1981, let alone today.

In The Best of Times, Cage shares a lot of screen time with Crispin Glover (also 17 in 1981), who serves as the protagonist and has the unenviable task of trying to bring this hotch-potch together into a meaningful whole. This was also Glover’s TV acting debut, and he displays a goofy charm that quite possibly led to him being cast as George McFly in 1985’s Back to the Future. It also marked the TV debut of future scream queen Jill Schoelen who would go on to make numerous appearances in horror movies.

Also appearing, but very much going through the motions, is legendary stand-up comedian and actor Jackie Mason, playing a local shopkeeper who has to put up with the kids’ antics whenever they visit his store (which is once).

If you feel you can sit through the whole show, here it is... I was consoled by one thing at least . If this pilot, with its almost dizzying scene sequencing speed, can be used as a measure of the attention span of 1981 teens, then we have little or nothing to worry about today's equivalent.

The Best of Times was directed by Don Mischer – who won multiple Emmys over his career. If you were around for 2004’s Democratic National Convention, you will have heard his voice. He was the producer of the event in Boston and after John Kerry’s acceptance speech, balloons were timed to fall to the floor in spectacular, celebratory fashion. They didn’t and Mischer lost his temper – to say the least. Unfortunately, CNN accidentally broadcast his profanity-laden tirade to the watching nation.

Back to Cage – or Coppola as he was known then. He would move on the following year to his first (albeit uncredited) movie role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). As the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, Cage had to deal with a lot of teasing (we call it bullying now) about his last name during the filming of Fast Times. Fellow actors would quote lines from his uncle’s films in implicit accusations of nepotism. This prompted young Nick to adapt a stage name, partly inspired by the Marvel character Luke Cage. The result was successful enough that many people were unaware of his connection to the Coppola family until after he had already become famous in his own right.

What If He-Man Worked at a Grocery Store? Prince Adam’s Funniest Career Move

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 16:33:28 +0000

Prince Adam of Eternia, the alter-ego of He-Man, has lost everything to his sworn enemy Skeletor. He has even had to sleep on his friend Ram Man’s couch. Now down at heel, he needs to find himself a job. Where else would he go but to the Job Centre for Cartoon Characters, which puts him to work at a supermarket immediately… In this case it is Asda (if you live in America, think Walmart – which did own Asda till 2021, but that’s another story).

Unfortunately, poor old Adam is in for something of a shock when he meets the supermarket manager… but never mind, he has the perfect job for our young prince. Created by British comedian Leigh Francis, this sketch is well-timed in some ways, with the He-Man movie just having hit cinemas. At least it gives us a good idea what could happen if the movie bombs…