Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 172

RIP Roger Ebert

Aw, rotten news:

Roger Ebert, the popular film critic and television co-host who along with his fellow reviewer and sometime sparring partner Gene Siskel could lift or sink the fortunes of a movie with their trademark thumbs up or thumbs down, died on Thursday in Chicago. He was 70.

His death was announced by The Chicago Sun-Times, where he had worked for many years.

Mr. Ebert’s struggle with cancer, starting in 2002, gave him an altogether different public image — as someone who refused to surrender to illness. Though he had operations for cancer of the thyroid, salivary glands and chin, lost his ability to eat, drink and speak (a prosthesis partly obscured the loss of much of his chin, and he was fed through a tube) and became a gaunter version of his once-portly self, he continued to write reviews and commentary and published a cookbook he had started, on meals that could be made with a rice cooker.

Much more at the paper he wrote for for decades, The Chicago Sun-Times.

And he had a very funny and wise FaceBook presence, and the same on Twitter - where he was posting up until very recently.

Oh – just saw this: just two days ago Ebert announced that his cancer had returned – and that he was taking a “A Leave of Presence“:

Of course, there will be some changes. The immediate reason for my “leave of presence” is my health. The “painful fracture” that made it difficult for me to walk has recently been revealed to be a cancer. It is being treated with radiation, which has made it impossible for me to attend as many movies as I used to. I have been watching more of them on screener copies that the studios have been kind enough to send to me. My friend and colleague Richard Roeper and other critics have stepped up and kept the newspaper and website current with reviews of all the major releases. So we have and will continue to go on.

At this point in my life, in addition to writing about movies, I may write about what it’s like to cope with health challenges and the limitations they can force upon you. It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital. So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness. On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness.

Oof.

RIP, Roger Ebert, and our condolences to his family and friends.

Stall of Fame: Abandoned London Public Toilet Turned Into Coffee Shop

So awesome:

On Foley and Great Titchfield Streets in London, there was an underground public men’s restroom built in the 1890′s accessible via its own caged entrance in the middle of the sidewalk. There were quite a few of these facilities built at the time which were used until the 1960′s, when they were locked up and left in disuse for the next 50 years.

A few years ago, the city sold off these odd spaces to various enterprises. In the case of the underground toilet on Foley Street, some restaurateurs took it over and have turned the abandoned urban outhouse into a remarkably pleasant little espresso cafe.

It’s called “The Attendant.” Just another public toilet turned into coffee shop. Here are some pics. The first one we snagged from Google Street View. It’s the green cage on the sidewalk! (And never mind that Google Street View thinks that parking sign in the coffee shop.)

Now from The Attendant’s FaceBook page, with their notes:

12 layers of paint dating back to 1890 were painstakingly removed over an 8 month period!

 

 

The battered stairwell has been transformed!

 

We knocked down just one wall. Otherwise it was a big clean and polish job!

 

Original Doulton & Paisley urinals made in Lambeth around 1890…. Mr Doulton went on to become quite famous!

 

Urinal bank seating with vintage mercury lighting from Napa Valley, CA.

 

Converted 1890s Victorian gentlemans toilet.

Too dang nice. Can’t wait to go! (Not that kind of “go”…hrrm.)

• Some architectural history behind similar public toilets in Aberdeen, Scotland.

• An a London Underground Toilet Map (pdf). Just in case you need it.

Sea Lion Trained to Bob Head to Back Street Boys Song

They calling this the “first non-human mammal shown to be able to keep a beat”:

Researchers at the University of California in Santa Cruz have successfully trained a sea lion to bob its head in time to music, in a study that may change our understanding of how rhythm is acquired. Previously, report the team in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, it was thought that only animals capable of vocal mimicry — such as cockatoos and budgerigars — could be taught rhythm.

And she is right on it:

Question: How do we know that sea lions aren’t vocal mimics? Their might be an entire pod of sea lions mimicking a singer we’ve all heard of right this instant! Are we right or are we right?

• The Pinniped Cognition & Sensory Systems Laboratory at the University of Santa Cruz

• Ronan the sea lion (awww):

Ronan is a female, born off the coast of California in the summer of 2008. She was rescued by the Marine Mammal Center while walking down Highway 1 in October 2009, her third stranding incident, and was deemed unreleasable. She originally joined our lab in January 2010 as a control subject for our domoic acid poisoning study, and joined the permanent research program in February of the same year. She currently participates in both acoustic and cognition experiments.

• Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo. (And it’s the Back Street Boys again. Weird.)

Weird Inventions Goes to Print (Sneak Peek)

Here at Bathroom Reader HQ we just finished up another book—look for Weird Inventions on bookstore shelves in May. It’s a silly, mind-boggling collection of strange gizmos and bizarre products you can’t possibly live without. Here’s a little preview.

About Weird Inventions:
The writers behind Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader present this totally true treasury of amazing gizmos—devilish devices you never knew existed, created by people who thought the world absolutely needed what they had to offer and sell.
Read all about…


The one-man tank, which shoots 15 paintballs per second
The stretch-Mini Cooper, complete with a Jacuzzi in the backseat
Deodorant-dispensing T-shirts and leg-massaging tights
The toaster that inscribes messages on toast
And hundreds more!

The Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy

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This goes back a few years, but it is just too good to pass up. Because if there actually is a way to laugh yourself to death—this video should come with a warning label:

Proceed at your own risk:

The siren as as the soundtrack for this too perfect. (Pretty sure they’re coming for her…)

The Skeptical Teacher says:

I really hope this is a joke or a spoof, because if not, this is one of the most whacked out displays of scientific ignorance & conspiracy mongering that I’ve ever seen. My favorite line: “This cannot be natural.”

Best comment on this video (found at SwallowingTheCamel.com):

Confession: When I first saw this vid, a couple of weeks ago, I found it so funny that I actually woke up in the middle of the night laughing.

Bonus you may have seen coming: Double-Rainbow Man. (Because he never gets old…)

Steve Martin, Edie Brickell Make Album

This could be real good:

Steve Martin and singer-songwriter Edie Brickell are set to release their first collaborative LP, Love Has Come for You, on April 23rd through Rounder Records. Comprising 13 new songs that combine Martin’s banjo work with Brickell’s lyrics and vocals, you can now get a taste of the record’s unique sound and take an exclusive look at this interview in which the duo discuss the making of the LP.

If you don’t recognize the name, Edie Brickell became famous in 1988 with her, “What I am is what I am is what you are or what?” song. (Then she married Paul Simon and got lost in the attic of one of his Manhattan mansions, we’re pretty sure.)

P.S. Is it just us or…

Some Not So Egg-cellent Easter Products

It’s the hoppiest day of the year! Here are four egg-citing Easter products.

1. Funny Bunny. This wind-up toy rabbit distributed by a candy company called Treat Street dispenses jelly beans as it waddles across any flat surface…by pooping them out. As the packaging notes, “Wind him up and watch him GO!”

2. Bad Easter Bunny. The naughty rabbit in “The Easter Bunny” by Isabel Atherton may not be as brutish as Bad Santa, but you may want to think twice about sticking a copy in your kid’s basket. The plot centers around a depressed Easter Bunny who goes on a rampage after a group of bratty kids knock him over.

3. The Paas Mini-Monsters Egg Kit. Because nothing says Easter quite like blood thirsty freaks of nature.

4. Warheads Giant Candy Filled Egg. Oversized plastic eggs stuffed with candy are all the rage these days. While enormous eggs filled with M&Ms and jelly beans are understandably popular, this egg is packed with enough extra-sour treats to make a kindergartner’s head explode, just like the cartoon character on the packaging. (Best to stick with the jelly beans.)

BONUS: Here are some terrifying Easter Bunny pictures. There are pages and pages of these. Disclaimer: we are not responsible for any bunny-related nightmares these may cause.

Video: Incredible Rat Tricks

Nami and Pepper

The New York Post:

Oh, rats!

Abby Roeser rejected an “America’s Got Talent” invite to perform with her clever pets, citing their skittish behavior around new people and unfamiliar places. But that hasn’t stopped her or her rodents from scoring thousands of audience members online.

Roeser garnered more than 125,000 pageviews on her self-produced YouTube video of Nami (the white rat) and Pepper (the black rat) since uploading their special tricks in early March. The Philadelphia native’s wild success has prompted her to get two more rats. And she shows no signs of slowing her training down.

Abby is just 16 years old. And…we got ahold of her and asked if we could use pics from her rat-FaceBook page – and she said, “Absolutely!” (Thank you, Abby!). And she even sent us some extra pictures of her rats. Too nice.

On her rat training (from the Post story):

I’ve always trained my dog. Starting in fourth grade, I taught him tricks like paw and rollover. Eventually, his tricks progressed into more advanced things such as agility courses. When I bought my rats I knew that they were intelligent, so I wondered if they could learn tricks the same way my dog did. I was shocked, however, when they could learn things much faster than my dog ever did!

The rat-tastic video:

THAT is amazing. Those rats are smarter than some people we know! (The rescue from the hippo is killing us. And good video-making skills, too, Abby!)

A few more pics:

And a color version of that top pic:

Nami and Pepper

 

Thanks, again, Abby! Best of everything to you and your good critters!

• Found at A Patchy Place.

Three Other Rock Star Meltdowns

Earlier this month, Grammy-nominated singer Michelle Shocked went off on a bizarre diatribe near the end of a San Francisco performance. While her behavior may have, uh, shocked, fans, it’s not a first. Here are some other examples of rock star meltdowns.

Johnny Cash. During a show at the Grand Ole Opry in 1965, the Man in Black got upset about a faulty microphone stand. Reaction: Cash flipped out and used the faulty stand to smash all the footlights on the stage. The Grand Ole Opry banned him from performing there for decades.

Axl Rose. The Guns N’ Roses singer is a little unpredictable in concert. He’s been known to show up several hours late, for example, but the worst event happened at a St. Louis show in 1991 when he caught a fan filming the show. Rose’s response: He threw himself into the crowd, wrestled the camera away from the fan, and then stormed off stage. End of show. The audience responded by rioting. More than 60 people were hospitalized.

Fiona Apple. During a 2012 show in Houston, the singer ranted about getting busted for marijuana possession in Texas’ Hudspeth County a week before. In a strange turn of events, a representative from the county’s sheriff department responded by writing her a public letter in which he advised Apple to “just shut up and sing.”

Every Woody Allen Stammer From His Films (44 Minutes Worth)

Hee- uh, uh, well, we mean, um – larious!

Our favorite stammer came at 29:34 mark! (Okay, not really. We didn’t watch the whole thing!)

About the makers at HuffPo, via the comments on YouTube:

The 2 editors Oliver Noble and Ben Craw who worked on this, started the project a couple of months ago. But were working on it on and off as other projects popped up in the meantime. They split the movies in half – Ben started with Woody’s oldest movies and worked forward in time, Oliver started with his most recent and worked backwards and they met somewhere in the mid 80s, then refined it and polished it together. It was a very time consuming team effort.

Funny. And persistent!!

Woody Allen Bonus: “I shot a moose once.”