Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí was no stranger to pop culture, even appearing on a TV game show. So, it's not a complete surprise to find out he created an entire 78-card tarot deck. Originally conceived as a prop for the for the 1973 James Bond film, Live and Let Die, his tarot cards didn't end up in the movie but were issued later as a set.

Hyperallergic:

Albert R. Broccoli, a producer for the 18th James Bond spy thriller, approached Dalí with an offer to create the tarot deck for a scene in the film. The cards were needed as props for the character of Solitaire, played by Seymour, a psychic who works for a menacing drug lord. As Bond films typically go, the psychic changes sides to become the spy’s collaborator and love interest.

Dalí accepted the offer and started working on the cards, possibly encouraged by his mystically inclined wife Gala, but it was rumored that the contract fell through when the artist demanded an astronomical fee that was too high even for the film’s $7 million budget.

But, even though the deal fell through, Dalí did complete the deck. He worked on its art for 10 years before it was issued to the public in 1984. Now, for the first time since then, Taschen is making the deck, and its instructional booklet, available.

Dalí. Tarot has a a release date of November 15 but is now available for pre-order ($54).

(Colossal) Read the rest

Koko the gorilla (RIP) amazed the world when she learned to communicate with humans, but now there's a dog whose learned to "talk." Not with sign language, but with a soundboard. According to her speech-language pathologist person, Christina Hunger, Stella the dog has already learned 29 words and several phrases. By pressing her paw on the pre-programmed buttons, she has learned to say what's on her mind.

People:

One day, the [18-month-old] pup was whining at the front door and started pacing back and forth. Hunger assumed that she needed to go outside. Instead, Stella walked to her device and tapped out, “Want,” “Jake” “Come” then stood in front of the door until Hunger’s fiancé, Jake, came home a few minutes later and then Stella immediately pressed “Happy” and rolled over for a belly rub.

Here are a few videos of Stella doing her thing:

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Hello there everyone!! 🤗 Welcome to the Hunger for Words community! I’m THRILLED you’re here! I feel completely honored by this outpouring of enthusiasm and inspiration ✨✨ Here is a fun Stella series to kick off this new chapter! • Jake and I were discussing taking Stella to Petco. She was certainly listening...! • Video 1: Stella said “Goodbye outside.” This is the third time in the past few weeks that Stella has combined “good” and “bye” to say “Goodbye” instead of just “bye”! • Video 2: Jake said he wanted to hang our spice racks first, started the project, and Stella told him, “Later Jake” 😂😂 (Translation: Do that later, I want to go!) • Video 3: Stella came full circle with her message and told us she was REALLY ready to leave by saying, “Bye bye bye good bye!” (Looks like we have ourselves a little @nsync fan 😜) • I hope you all have a great day!

"Who bought this? Who wanted this?"

Seattle-based novelty company Archie McPhee is bringing out the weird with a new web series that is reminiscent of the low-budget cable shows of yore, and I mean that in the best way possible. The Archie McPhee Archives with Mr. Q premiere starts with a guy in a leopard-print fez and a black sweatshirt emblazoned with a big white question mark ("Mr. Q") digging through cryptically-marked banker boxes in the company's warehouse. We're then shown each of the bizarro items he chose, one by one. Of course, he saves the best for last. Two words: Mutant. Farm.

As someone who has toured that very warehouse and has dreamt about rifling around in each one of those boxes, I really appreciate this new show. Can't wait to see what they showcase next.

The series was inspired by the items they share in their "too weird" for their "main [Instagram] account," Cult of Bibo. Here's a taste:

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Inspiration for 2020

A post shared by Bibo Weirdmaker (@cultofbibo) on Sep 1, 2019 at 10:12am PDT

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Usually everything is better with googly eyes. Usually. #thrifthorror

A post shared by Bibo Weirdmaker (@cultofbibo) on Nov 7, 2019 at 8:59am PST

Long live, Archie McPhee! Read the rest

In this video, Disney shows what it takes to deck the Disneyland Resort's halls by bringing us inside the warehouse where they store all of their holiday decorations. Mark Apepe, the lead of this impressive production, hosts this behind-the-scenes peep and shares that they use an estimated 2,000 feet of garland and 80,000 ornaments for the "Main Street package" alone.

The Disney Parks Blog adds to his numbers:

The exterior of Main Street, U.S.A., features approximately 220 garlands that measure more than four miles long, with approximately 80 wreaths and 120 bows bringing the season to life on this charming street.

It takes nearly three dozen cast members 35 days to install the glittering façade of “it’s a small world” Holiday and nearly 18 days to decorate the holiday attraction’s dazzling interior.

The Disneyland Christmas tree stands 60-feet tall on Main Street, U.S.A. and features 1,500 Victorian-inspired ornaments with 100 oversized faux candles.

Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle shimmers during the day and is illuminated each night with more than 126,000 twinkling LED lights, sparkling “icicles” and shimmering snow-capped turrets.

A 50-foot Christmas tree adorns Carthay Circle to help guests get in the holiday spirit. The tree and surrounding buildings are decorated with vintage-style ornaments in keeping with the theme of Buena Vista Street, inspired by Los Angeles as it appeared when Walt Disney arrived in the 1920s.

Like I said, impressive.

(Hey wait, are those rubber chickens dressed in Santa suits at the 1:18 mark?) Read the rest

Ever wonder what the song "Let it go" from Disney's hit movie Frozen would sound like in Klingon? Me neither but then again, something like that would never even occur to me. But it did occur to Jen Usellis, who performs as the Klingon Pop Warrior.

Listen as she belts out her Klingonese version, called "yIbuSQo'":

Nerdist:

After Reddit user staq16 posted the song to Reddit’s Star Trek subreddit earlier this month, the track quickly earned mad parmaq from the forum’s community. However, while most users thought the song was on point, some took issue with the fact that Klingons are known for not enjoying the cold—nor letting things go. They also apparently don’t do a lot of other things.

(Geekologie) Read the rest

Never have I wanted to learn about creating music for film more than before watching the trailer for Danny Elfman's new MasterClass ($90). In it, he talks about being "constantly insecure" despite having over 100 film scores under his belt. But quickly follows up with, "It's okay to fail." I mean, that's just solid advice for anyone pursuing creative activities. I appreciate that he goes beyond the "how-to" of composing a film score and goes into what it means to be a working artist -- being filled with doubts and insecurities and doing it anyway.

And I think all artists that are worth their anything are filled with doubt all the time. And the few that just don't have any doubt, I think they're destined become-- they could be very successful. They could be good workmen. They could be good craftsmen.

But they're not gonna be the really great artists. Because I think doubt and art are kind of combined. They're just-- it's almost impossible to pull them apart doubt.

Doubting yourself and then finding confidence and moving forward and then doubting what you've just done and then working through that, I think this is the life of a composer, and I think it's the life of an artist in general. And it's OK to feel that way.

The class is 21 online sessions, including one that's a Nightmare Before Christmas case study. The single class costs $90 or you can get an "all-access pass" for $15/month that allows you to watch other MasterClass classes (David Lynch, Penn & Teller, etc.). Read the rest

This Bob Ross "painted" happy little trees onto their partner's face all evening.

I've lived in Alameda, California going on 10 years now and I'm always surprised by what I see on Halloween night — it's a real circus! Each year, thousands of revelers head to my neighborhood in the Fernside district to trick or treat. And my neighbors go all out with decorations, costumes and candy. I've heard from friends in the busier parts of the neighborhood that it's easy to hand out over 1,000 pieces of candy in that one night.

This year I decided to document the madness. Here's what I captured.

This giant faux spider dropped down from a tree to frighten folks.

I didn't end up making it to this "Haunted Cave" but I sure do love its sign.

There was a line of people with kids waiting to get photo opps with this pretend Goofy.

I saw many Jack O'Lanterns, including this toothy one.

Two years ago was when I first spotted a couple of vendors selling light-up toys. Now, they're everywhere and they've graduated from small push carts to actual tables.

This was the first year I saw vendors selling hot dogs and sausages. Business was brisk. (A neighborhood friend reports that he's seen them in other parts of our 'hood in past years._

This family must dig Shakespeare.

Every year, this family truly brings it. This year their display contained a fire element in the pirate ship's cannon.

This skeletal pirate and his gold were on the other side of the lawn, behind the ship. Read the rest

There are near misses and then there's this guy in Oakland, California who got saved just before a subway train creamed him. Wow!

BART's humble hero saves a passenger from fast approaching train. On Sunday, November 3, 2019, transportation supervisor, John O'Connor was working crowd control at the Coliseum Station after the Raiders game when an intoxicated passengers miss-stepped and fell into the trackway. John sprang into action and pulled him to safety.

Tonight we are thankful for John. He’s a former Train Operator who was promoted to Transportation Supervisor. He was working the Coliseum Station for the Raiders game and saw someone on the platform who needed help. He saved a life tonight. Thank you John. Show him some love. https://t.co/BIb5NMdZFj

— SFBART (@SFBART) November 4, 2019

(KQED) Read the rest

It's hard to find someone who doesn't love Dolly Parton. Now, a recently-launched podcast goes deep into the beloved country legend's life and times to examine why she appeals to the masses. Dolly Parton's America follows her journey through her early scrappy days surviving on mustard-and-ketchup "soup," to being discovered, to creating Dollywood and that's just in the first three episodes (there will be a total of nine). Good stuff!

It's hosted by Jad Abumrad, creator of Radiolab and More Perfect, who interviews Dolly herself.

Everything's coming up Dolly: This podcast isn't the only thing happening in the Dollyverse. Over on Netflix, a new series called Dolly Parton's Heartstrings begins airing November 22. Plus, she's got a new Christmas ornament. Read the rest

When one man's screen cracked, our pal Doctor Popular saw an opportunity:

After a cat knocked knocked over his tv, Timothy Ryan Mulroney took a photo of the cracked screen and shared it on the Glitch Artists Collective on Facebook.

I thought it would make a great iPhone wallpaper… so I made it into one. You can download it here.

Fun!

Broken LCD screen mobile wallpaper Read the rest

This Halloween safety video from 1985 starts with puffs of dry ice smoke set to funky music. It then cuts to floating disembodied masks, and it just gets better from there. Read the rest

Forgot to take out the trash, the Halloween costume.

"Too embarrassed" to wear glitzy, showy Halloween costumes, a group of folks in Japan decided to start wearing "mundane" ones starting in 2014. These hilarious "jimi Halloween" costumes feature people in ordinary, everyday types of situations.

Like, here's a lady who is playing a "camera assistant for children's photo studio":

こども専用写真スタジオのカメラアシスタント #地味ハロウィン #DPZ pic.twitter.com/AI1WoPOYiq

— デイリーポータルZ (@dailyportalz) October 27, 2019

And this guy is about to win at Old Maid:

ババ抜きで勝ちが確定した人の仮装#地味ハロウィン pic.twitter.com/54pwx1IU4s

— 野田せいぞ (@nodanosei) October 27, 2019

This lady is a YouTuber testing lipstick colors:

｢めっちゃ可愛くないですか!!??｣を甲高い声で繰り返し言うと美容系YouTuberになれます会場で｢本当にYouTubeやってるんですか！？｣って色んな方に言われました腕の細工も見て〜💄#地味ハロウィン #DPZ pic.twitter.com/jsUT1hbCb5

— れちゅ🥬ぴなふぉあ (@laitue_pina) October 27, 2019

Mundane? Sure. Boring? Never. Clever? Yes, my god, yes!

Search the hashtag #DPZ or head to Spoon & Tomago to see more.

(Kottke)

screenshot via @oni_red Read the rest

Bow down before the one you serve... breakfast to!

There's never been a doubt that the folks at Archie McPhee have a weird sense of humor. In fact, we count on it. Case in point, their latest offering: the Pagan Breakfast God Mask ($17.95). Bacon, check. Eggs, check. Toast with butter, check. Weird as all get out, CHECK.

Yours truly, this past summer when I was at the Archie McPhee HQ recording a podcast (and rocking the Pagan Breakfast God-dess Mask which I've had to keep hush-hush until now!).

photos by Archie McPhee and David Wahl Read the rest

The queen of polka dots, the a-mazing Yayoi Kusama, is making her mark on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a three-story-tall balloon float. "Love Flies Up to the Sky" will be included as part of the Blue Sky Gallery, the parade's contemporary art series started in 2005. Previous artists have included Tim Burton, KAWS, and others. Kusama is the first woman to participate in the series.

ARTnet News:

“Her work lends itself to that playful whimsy that we like to see in the sky,” Susan Tercero, the parade’s executive producer... "What’s fantastic about her art, and why I think she’s so world-renowned, is that it is so accessible. Everyone can look at her art and appreciate it, understand it, and feel something from it, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

As wide as six taxi cabs, Kusama's balloon will require 40 handlers to march it through Manhattan on the morning of Thursday, November 28.

The ninety-year-old Japanese artist also has a new NYC gallery show. Every Day I Pray For Love includes one of her popular Infinity Rooms and will be exhibited at David Zwirner in Chelsea from November 9 to December 14, 2019.

(ARTnews)

images via ARTnet News and Macy's Read the rest

Disney is making it very tempting to join Disney+, their new entertainment streaming service, by offering a docuseries that puts a spotlight on its Imagineers.

Entertainment Weekly:

The Imagineering Story, a docuseries from The Pixar Story filmmaker Leslie Iwerks, pulls back the curtain on the work of the brilliant artist-engineers who have made real-life magic at the Disney Parks for decades. Narrated by Angela Bassett, the six-hour series chronicles the history of the Imagineers, beginning with the inception of Disneyland and tracing the development of all the of the Disney parks and all of the fantastical lands within them (yes, including Galaxy’s Edge) to the present day.

The trailer for it promises a look behind the scenes of the Matterhorn and other restricted areas of Disney parks:

The Imagineering Story will premiere November 12, the same day the new service launches. To be clear: the series will only be available on Disney+, which is $6.99/month or $69.99/year. I'm personally thinking it might be worth checking out.

image via EW Read the rest

"Heard you say I'm not the saddest clown, you lied"

You haven't heard Lizzo's "Juice" until you've heard a sad 6'8"-tall clown sing it. Puddles does this one "Quiet Storm Style."

Our friend, Rebekah Del Rio, asked me how I would feel about doing Lizzo's song. I said I'd give it a go. I like saying yes first. This is how it turned out. I don't understand some of the references in it but I love me some Lizzo. Jonathan Burns helped me transcribe the lyrics. I especially like the David Copperfield lyric. And yes, that's really my voice. I didn't know I could do that before.

Tiffany's little blue box just got bigger as the luxury brand has just introduced a four-foot-tall advent calendar.

Town&Country:

[It] features a stylish screen-printed rendering of the façade of the brand's New York Flagship store, but as the saying goes, "it's what's on the inside that counts." That's because each one of the calendar's compartments is filled with a blue box: There's a full-size sterling silver "paper" cup, an 18k gold Tiffany T True bracelet, an 18k rose gold Tiffany Smile pendant with diamonds, and 21 other treats.

Want one? Contact veryverytiffany@Tiffany.com and be prepared to pony up at least $122,000.

Me? I'll take that advent calendar for cats and pocket the roughly $111992.01 extra instead, thanks.

(Town&Country) Read the rest