Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1816

SPIDER RAIN May Require More Than an Umbrella

It’s a beautiful day outside, so you decide to go take a walk. The sun is shining. The neighborhood kids are outside playing (in this scenario all their phones are inside charging). Suddenly, a spider falls onto your arm. You brush it off and continue on with your walk. Then suddenly another lands on your arm. Then another. Soon you look up to see the sky is filled with tiny spiders falling right on top of you. Are you dreaming? Have you been transported into one of Dan Slott’s Spidey tales? It’s none of those things. You’ve just encountered the phenomenon known as Spider Rain, as this video from Today I Found Out explains.

Spider Rain is actually caused in part by the act of “ballooning,” in which a spider releases a strand of webbing which is caught by the wind, and can carry the spider for, in some instances, thousands of miles. The rain-like form is created when this ballooning is done by millions of spiders at one time. For those of you who can’t stand to be within 100 yards of a spider, fear not. Spider Rain mostly occurs in specific parts of Australia. And even though it sounds like something created for a movie, it does have its positive aspects. After a large flood or fire, ballooning spiders are usually the first to return to the area, helping to rebuild the ecosystem.

If you either watched or read Charlotte’s Web when you were little, it’s pretty cool to know the ending where Charlotte’s children are whisked away was based on science, and not fantasy.

You can check out more videos from Today I Found Out on their YouTube channel here.

So what do you think? Is Spider Rain a cool phenomenon, or is it your worst nightmare come to life? Let me know on Twitter @donnielederer or sound off in the comments below.

Image: Today I Found Out

Need more friendly neighborhood spider-stories?

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BLACK PANTHER’s Goofy Uncle Is Revealed in SNL “Deleted Scene” Spoof

In Black Panther, the ancestral plane is where prospective panthers go after they consume the heart-shaped herb and have a near-death experience. It’s a gateway to the afterlife, where all your ancestors are (if you’re open to them, like T’Challa), but at the very least, your father can speak to you (as the more tunnel-visioned Killmonger found). However, if you’ve ever actually been to a family reunion, and most of us have, you know full well that not every relative is one you want to spend eternity with.

Enter T’Challa’s goofy uncle M’Buntu, played by Kenan Thompson. We all have one in our family: the goofy bald guy who likes to grill meat and be the center of attention with terrible dad-jokes. But he doesn’t necessarily have the poise that a royal family gathering requires. Also, he keeps forgetting that he’s dead.

When Sterling K. Brown was announced as Saturday Night Live host, most of us expected a Black Panther parody of some kind. Yet rather than spoofing his costars or playing his movie role of N’Jobu, Brown played T’Challa’s great grandfather, with Chris Redd as the current Wakandan monarch. He doesn’t look a lot like Chadwick Boseman, but he does sound like him.

Brown impressed with his many acting talents on the show, like his ability to get tearful on cue, but his resistance to cracking up here as Thompson keeps trying to force-feed him lion-meat burgers may be the biggest skill of all. And after Thor’s roommate Darryl appeared on all those extras, Uncle M’Buntu isn’t the huge stretch for the Marvel Universe that he might initially seem.

Was this Wakanda spoof worthy? Give us your thoughts below.

Plenty more Black Panther stories to see:

Black Panther 2 might be the way to introduce Doctor Doom.
The Black Panther cast do karaoke.
How to make Vibranium Pie.

The Creepy Way “Grandfather Clocks” Got Their Name

Most of us probably assume that grandfather clocks got their name because we most often see them in our grandparents’ houses. Clever though that assumption may be, it’s not the true origin. In reality, the clocks got their name from a sad, sort-of creepy story that was turned into a famous song.

On a new episode of Today I Found Out, an information and history based YouTube channel, host Simon Whistler tells the story of Henry Clay Work, an American songwriter who was visiting England and checked into the George Hotel in North Yorkshire.

Work spotted a large pendulum clock in the hotel lobby and asked the proprietors about its history. They told him the clock had belonged to the inn’s previous owners, the Jenkins brothers, who had since passed away. Rumor had it that the clock was perfectly functional until the first brother died, when it suddenly started to become less accurate. When the second brother died, it stopped working entirely.

Kind of spooky, no? The story might have just been a made up tale to explain why the current owners hadn’t repaired the clock, but it had an effect on Work. He wrote a song called “My Grandfather’s Clock” about the story, which was released in 1876. The song became a massive hit, selling over 1 million copies in sheet music. It was so popular, that the name caught on, and the clocks that were previously known as “longcase clocks” became grandfather clocks.



The song is still a hit; it was recorded multiple times in the 20th century, and, in 2004, was even released as a Boys II Men track.

That’s a pretty neat little history if you ask us. Have you ever heard the song “My Grandfather’s Clock”? Let us know in the comments!

Image: Today I Found Out

Need some more grandfatherly talk?

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Terrifying Solar-Powered Robot Wolves Are Guarding Crops in Japan

For as long as there have been crops, farmers have tried to protect their harvest from opportunistic wildlife. Scarecrows have had some success over the centuries, but scientists in Japan are looking to hand over the responsibilities to a new generation of robot Scarewolves. (And let’s be happy these Scarecrows don’t have a brain…yet.)

Via The New York Post, the Super Monster Wolf robot has a face only Freddy Krueger could love, but it seems to be getting the job done. According to the Japan Agricultural Cooperative, the trial runs in the rice and chestnut fields near Kisarazu City have significantly reduced the number of crops that were lost to wild boars. The Super Monster Wolf is going to be mass produced starting next month, and farmers will be able to buy these robotic beasts for about $5,000, or they can lease it on a per month agreement.

Along with their sinister visage and glowing red eyes, the robot wolves have a variety of sounds that they use to scare off any hungry animals. That includes different howls, gunfire, and even human screams. The robots only activate when their sensors detect movement, and they are solar powered. If the Super Monster Wolf continues to be successful, then they may potentially be exported to other countries as well. The future is here, and it definitely has a scary face.

What do you think about the new Japanese robot scarewolves? And how long do you think it will take before solar flares bring them to life and they star in their own horror film? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: YouTube/Sputnik

Hey kids, do you like stories about scarecrows?

Here’s a scarecrow that romances a robot.
How to become an evil clown scarecrow.
If Michael Bay made The Wizard of Oz.

Hasbro’s DON’T STEP IN IT Game Is “Blindfolded, Poop-Dodging Fun”

Do you enjoy stepping in dog poop? If so, then Hasbro’s got the perfect game for you, and you’ll even get to play it barefoot! It may sound like a joke, but Don’t Step In It is not only a real game, it was also one of Hasbro’s most memorable items at this year’s Toy Fair. Don’t take our word for it; check out these actors pulling off performances of a lifetime in the official ad for the game.



Via Laughing Squid, this allegedly hilarious game asks “who can avoid the number twos to be number one to win?” Prior to the game, players are instructed to create their own dog doodies using the included compound and mold. From there, each piece of fake poop is placed on a mat, which must then be walked upon by a player wearing a blindfold. The spinner determines how many steps the player should take, and the goal is to step in as few turds as possible. Players can also play by themselves, if they choose to. You can even buy the game directly from Hasbro, if that’s the direction your life is going in.

 

Obviously, the most important question is about how Don’t Step In It will fit into the Hasbro Cinematic Universe. Should the inevitable movie adaptation be made before Chutes and Ladders or after Candyland? We demand to know!

What do you think about Don’t Step In It? Is it the *bleep* or simply *bleep*? Cut the crap in the comment section below!

Images: Hasbro

Do-doo you want more stories on this topic?

A look at how you “go” in space.
The challenge of bowel movements in space suits.
How THAT emoji accidentally gave us Get Out.

STAR WARS Themes Get Covered With Melodicas

John Williams may be done with Star Wars after Episode IX, but Star Wars fans are far from finished with him. Williams’ music for the franchise has taken on a life of its own, and his iconic themes have been covered countless times within the last four decades. It takes a lot for a new Star Wars cover to stand out, but this might do the trick. The Melodica Men, Tristan Clarke and Joe Buono, have released a Star Wars medley on their signature instruments.



We first came across this video at Laughing Squid, but that probably wasn’t your first question. Melodicas have musical keyboards that are played while blowing air through a mouthpiece. If someone wanted to fuse a harmonica and a keyboard together, the melodica would probably be the result. It has a unique sound, but Williams’ music lends itself well to many different instruments and styles.

Clarke and Buono also went the extra mile and covered more than just the main title theme. They also shared their spin on Williams’ Imperial March and Rey’s theme from The Force Awakens. It was a nice touch to hear some of Williams’ modern work included with this piece. To close out the cover, Clarke and Buono decided to have some fun by revisiting the music from the original Cantina scene.

For more melodica covers, check Clarke and Buono’s YouTube channel.

What did you think about the Star Wars melodica medley? Compose your thoughts across the stars and in the comment section below!

Images: The Melodica Men/Lucasfilm

Further Star Wars happenings are afoot!

A new Jabba toy is more plastic wealth than you can imagine.
See how Disneyland’s Star Wars construction is coming along.
Watch Captain Phasma’s alternate fate.

Captain Phasma Didn’t Die in THE LAST JEDI

When she was first revealed prior to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, most people thought Captain Phasma, the silver-armored, super-badass head of the First Order’s stormtroopers, would be a major force (haha) in the film. And then, she sort of wasn’t. But when she returned in The Last Jedi, we thought “Yes! Now she’s gonna take charge.” And then she kind of didn’t. So that was fairly disappointing, but we have a theory, based on context clues and a deleted scene, that we might not have actually seen the end of Captain Phasma after all, on this week’s Nerdist News Edition!

The deleted scene in question–one of 14 tied to the home release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi–has a very different version of the confrontation between Phasma (played by Gwendoline Christie) and Finn (played by John Boyega), in which Phasma surrounds Finn with some First Order troopers before Finn lets the cat out of the bag that it was Phasma, with a gun to her head, who put in the codes that lowered Starkiller Base’s shields, allowing the Resistance’s fighters to eventually blow it up. Thinking quickly, she turns on her own men before engaging with Finn in a duel.

If we’re being totally honest, this would have been a much cooler scene. There’s a lot of context for it in Star Wars‘ canonical ancillary material, which also makes us think she’s not actually dead, despite us seeing her fall through fiery machinery after Holdo did her lightspeed battering ram thing. For starters, Rian Johnson called Phasma the “Kenny of the Star Wars universe,” for how much she doesn’t die when she should. And then in Delilah S. Dawson’s novel Phasma, she betrayed her own brother and helped Hux’s dad destroy her people, and later helped Hux kill his father to rise through the ranks of the First Order.

In Kelly Thompson and Marco Checchetto’s prequel comic before The Last Jedi, we find out how she escaped from Starkiller Base before it exploded, erasing the record of her treachery in the process. She even tracked down the one First Order officer who knew about it, and sacrificed an entire alien race to take him out. She’s ice cold. Her whole ethos boils down to one speech bubble, where she says “I’m a survivor. No matter what the cost.” I mean, if there’s anybody who could come back yet again, it’d have to be her, right?

But what do you think? Could Phasma be back for Episode IX, or was her less-than-stellar appearance in The Last Jedi her real for real end?

Images: Lucasfilm, Del Rey, Marvel Comics

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

More from a galaxy far, far away!

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SUPERNATURAL Gets Animated In the New ‘ScoobyNatural’ Episode Trailer

If you’re a Supernatural fan, there seems to be an episode once every season that makes you say, “This is by far the weirdest episode they’ve ever done.” This season, that episode is, without a doubt, the Scooby-Doo crossover episode (aptly titled “ScoobyNatural“). In the episode, Sam and Dean are zapped into an old television and transported into the bizarre world of Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Gang.

The Supernatural fandom has been curious (and just like we are before every bizarre episode, a bit nervous) about this episode since it was first announced. A few images from the “ScoobyNatural” have already been circulating the Internet, and while they were awesome, they didn’t give us a feel for the episode. Thankfully, The CW has just released a  trailer, and things are most definitely about to get a bit nutty for Sam and Dean.

Obviously, this isn’t the first time the boys have been sucked into the world of television. Back in season 5 in the episode “Changing Channels”, the boys traveled all over popular television, visiting a Grey’s Anatomy parody, a CSI: Miami parody, and more. However, Andrew Dabb told Entertainment Weekly that unlike that episode, “ScoobyNatural” won’t be the work of the Archangel Gabriel, AKA the Trickster. We don’t know who is actually to blame for the animated shenanigans, but Dabb said things will get a bit dark, so it can’t be the work of anyone very nice.

And while we know the Winchesters have to get serious and fight monsters, this trailer has got us excited. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good, goof-filled episode. Really, we haven’t had an episode like this since the musical-ish episode 200, “Fan Fiction”. Judging by the trailer, “ScoobyNatural” will have a lighthearted energy that we haven’t gotten to see from Team Free Will in quite some time. Plus, as we’ve seen with Dean and his interactions with Dr. Sexy and the Old West, nothing is more fun than an episode filled with Dean fanboying over people (or cartoons, in this case).

This episode is shaping up to be one of those bizarre, fun ones that are absolutely impossible to describe to someone outside the fandom, and we just can’t wait. “ScoobyNatural” will air on The CW on March 29, so get your DVRs ready, Supernatural Family!

What do you think of the “ScoobyNatural” trailer? Are you excited for this episode? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

Images: The CW

Zoinks! Like here’s more of Scoob!

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Does this mean Batman and Supernatural are now connected too?

This Cat Trying to Catch Fish Under Ice Is As Funny as it Is Sad

We love animals, but we’re certainly not above laughing at them. It’s fun to dress up dogs! Birds are a bunch of weirdos! Cats are totally ridiculous! But we can’t help but feel badly for one little feline friend we came across, because there’s something very sad about watching a poor kitten futilely running around on a frozen pond chasing after a group of fish trapped below the ice.

This short clip comes from the YouTube channel RM Videos, and it does as good a job as anything capturing how we feel most of the time these days. Since nothing quite captures the frustration of life in 2018 as a cat who can’t quite figure out that no matter how fast it runs, no matter how much it tries, it will never grab on to the fish who look to be on the verge of finally getting theirs, only for them to safely swim away while we scream, “I thought we had them this time!”

Arthur Miller himself couldn’t write a more poignant modern day tragedy as what we just watched this poor little guy go through–even though it’s really freaking funny. What? We love animals, but this isn’t all that different from watching our own silly cat chase a red laser dot for an hour. Only this time we get the added bonus of watching it slip on ice. If you set this video to the old Benny Hill music this would be the funniest film of 2018.

Because it’s a fine line between tragedy and comedy, even when it comes to cats.

What other animal situation could be sadder than a cat chasing fish trapped under ice? Give us your best ideas in the comments below.

Featured Image: RM Videos

Cats! And more cats!

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Google Maps Will Turn into MARIO KART for Mario Day

Hey, thisa week itsa March 10th, better known as Mario Day (MAR10). And even though we don’t know what all of this year’s festivities and tributes will be, we’re pretty sure we can declare a winner for the best homage to the most famous red hat-wearing plumber ever–all of us. Because Google Maps will be transforming into a real-life (though much safer) version of Mario Kart, because they’re going to let Super Mario guide us on our way.

Happy Mar10 Day!

Navigate and share a screenshot of your #MarioMaps with us this week. https://t.co/IutHDz5C14 pic.twitter.com/MlaiLWeseG

— Google Maps (@googlemaps) March 9, 2018

 

In news we first heard at Uproxx, Google’s blog announced they’ve teamed up with Nintendo to let users “celebrate our favorite mustachioed plumber-turned-racer on his special day,” by having him replace the arrow on your Google Maps app with him zipping around in a kart. Starting now you can update your app at either Google Play or the App Store, then all you have to do is click on the yellow “?” icon in the bottom right, and then enable Mario Time when prompted. Once you’ve done that you’ll have Mario directing you wherever you go for the next week.

But as Google says, “just remember to practice safe driving on the road—we don’t encourage throwing bananas or red shells at other drivers in real life!” For the record, that’s excellent advice anytime you drive. Or do anything really.

That’s for the best anyway, because this way we’ll get to enjoy a stress-free Mario Day. Imagine if someone hit us with a blue shell? That would ruin the whole holiday.

If you got to choose any Mario Kart character to guide you who would you select? Tell us in the comments below.

Featured Image: Google

More from the Nintendo world!

Someone built a portable Wii for Super Smash Bros. Melee
70 musicians create a  Super Mario Bros. medley
We’re getting a  Super Mario encyclopedia !