About brainpicker

brainpicker

A curious mind at large

Location:

Philly (19130, United States)

Joined on:

10/01/07

Occupation:

Cultural Brain Picker

• 1 vote

  Culture

  The New Hoax King: Penguins?

  What is it about penguins that seems to invite all sorts of spoofs and hoaxes, and still remaining utterly endearing? As if the spotlight time with "Happy Feet" and "March of the Penguins" wasn't enough, now the tuxedo chubbies are on a whole other attention spree -- but how and where did the penguin spoof trend really begin?

  We saw the rather hilarious penguin-driven BBC video player promo. But as original as the BBC can get (c'mon, "The Office" is all the funnier in its original Brit-accent-laden iteration), this particular commercial is eerily similar to an award-winning one for French film channel Canal+.

  <object height='260' width='320'><param></param><param></param><embed src='http://www.youtube.com/v/fZ_mlwnAmr0' height='260' width='320'></embed></object>

  Alas, the French can't claim credit for this particular brand of penguin humor, either. It turns out that in 1995, Discover Magazine pulled a rather believable penguin-centric April fools prank: the mag informed its readers of a newly discovered sort Antarctic of mole, the hotheaded naked ice borer, which lurks beneath the ice, slowly melting it and eating befuddled penguins as they sink. The magazine reportedly received more mail in response to that "article" than it ever had for anything else.

  So there you have it -- proof that every great cultural trend has its roots in science. Or, in this case, "science."

  Comments (0)

  Posted on May 2, 2008 by - brainpicker

• Vanity Fair Recycles Convoluted Celebrity Cover, Not Paper

  Authored by Patrick James - 1 vote

• 1 vote

  Culture

  response to  Jaime Wolf's post The Biggest Dick

  There's More

  Resisting a lame pun oh-so-very hard right now. Anyway, I was actually in Indonesia last summer and noticed they have a lot of penis-centric elements, many sold as souvenirs. Got my friend a life-sized wooden penis bottle-opener. Makes me not even wanna think about its additional uses once that beer buzz kicks in...

  Comments (0)

  Commented on April 18, 2008 by - brainpicker

• 1 vote

  Environment

  response to  andrewprice's post Bush's Words On The Climate

  Politics Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

  The sad thing is that while we've kind of reluctantly accepted the utter environmental inefficiency of the Bush administration as a catalog of fluff-lined phrases and empty promises, we have to remember we live in a capitalist society. And, in capitalism, politics go hand in hand with The Money, which is largely driven by marketing. What are most major marketers doing? The exact same thing -- empty promises and "green" bandaids on environmental open sores, hoping to score some publicity points for their cosmetic green initiatives.

  With all the downsides of this debacle, it would make a great Al Jaffee fold-in.

  Comments (0)

  Commented on April 18, 2008 by - brainpicker

• not yet rated

  Art & Design

  response to  andrewprice's post Intermission

  neat approach

  Pretty cool: very Happy Feet meets Kill Bill vol. 1. The sound design is just the cherry on top -- turns out the tune is Young Men Dead by The Black Angels. Too bad the Zune itself will never transcend its status as a parrot product.

  Comments (0)

  Commented on April 10, 2008 by - brainpicker