The most diverting websites and videos collected and collated each day for you by Times Online.
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In December 1976 The Sex Pistols ensured their place in Pop legend by calling veteran broadcaster Bill Grundy a rotter, among other things, during a television interview. One might be forgiven for thinking that they would never work in TV again, but no: In October 2007 they appeared on TV again, this time on Jay Leno's world-famous Tonight show,to ensure their place as the World’s pre-eminent Sex Pistols tribute band. Here is that appearance. Viewers are cautioned that it contains one mildly distressing album cover and several examples of dad-type dancing.
If you're planning to enter our Scream like Tarzan! competition, here is your homework:
The Tarzan call has a long and chequered history, including
1. The Classic Weissmuller
Swimmer Johnny Weissmuller played Tarzan in five films. He often claimed to have invented the Tarzan call, although later admitted it was created in the studio by merging together several different voices. He's seen here in a strange US advertisement for good parenting.
2. Baltimora: Tarzan Boy
Perhaps the Tarzan call's lowest point came when it was used by Italian dance producers Baltimora on their 1985 hit Tarzan Boy.
3. Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle
If you were old enough to be watching kids TV in 1976, then you'll probably remember this long-running cartoon series. The opening credits end with a classic Weissmuller.
4. Tarzan before Weissmuller
This clip from the 1929 film 'Tarzan the Tiger' has - at 4:25 - a pre-Weissmuller Tarzan cry. No yodelling, no flair, just a weird man-scream. The film was made silent, with various sound effects later dubbed on before release.
5. Who's Line is it Anyway?
This US episode of the improv comedy panel game proves that doing a convincing Tarzan call is much harder than it sounds.
6. Tarzan in Istanbul
It sounds like the punchline to a bad joke, but Tarzan Istanbul'da is a real film, made in 1952, with a very Wiessmulleresque call at 3:00.
Bonus: Tarzan my Tarzan
There's no Tarzan call, but this scene from the hugely successful Bollywood blockbuster 'Adventures of Tarzan' will change the way you think about Tarzan forever.
Neighbours can be tiresome things, as exemplified by the businessman who sent the private details of his next door neighbours’ apparent mortgage arrears to their friends and colleagues. Their bone of contention was a particularly smelly compost heap. But neighbours can also be helpful. Pick the brains of your current or soon-to-be locals on anything from shopping to schooling and even, if you dare, local waste disposal hints.
This evening, doorbells across the land will be depressed almost constantly by sugar-crazed youngsters demanding tooth decay with menaces. How better to drown out the sound of this hyperglaecemic protection racket than by watching this outstanding Bollywood take on Michael Jackson’s well-loved Thriller video? The shrill Eighties synthesizer and mysterious periodic shouts of ‘Girly Man’ will serve to mask the tintinnabulation of all but the most determined Tick or Treater.
A study commissioned by the National Lottery has revealed that more than a third of us believe in ghosts, with the most haunted dwellings thought to be castles and stately homes. Decide for yourself with Ghost Hunter’s top ten best ghost photos and Angels & Ghosts’ ghost video collection, which catalogues various videos, some fake and many claiming to be real, from throughout the web.
With the clocks having gone back last weekend, Winter is now inescapably upon us. Five whole months of being cold, having a cold, and listening to Coldplay. If only some enterprising soul on the Internet could magic up an uplifting and summery take on Coldplay’s autumnal anthem ‘Clocks’ to remind us that we will soon have another deliciously balmy Summer full of flies and hot weather to complain about.
What is love? How does nanotechnology work? And how did Darth Vader’s lightsabre manage to slice Luke Skywalker’s hand off his body in one fell swoop? The answer to this (“It’s like cutting through a banana with a machete. A lightsabre is like a sword on steroids”) and any other question that you care to think of can be found at How Stuff Works, a site that explains life’s mysteries in articles and on video.
US pop science journal Discover Magazine recently ran a competition to explain an abstruse scientific theory in two minutes or less. We’re not sure whether to be grateful that the winner is so clear, concise and easy to follow or annoyed that someone else is so ostentatiously clever. Either way, this explanation of String Theory by rubber ducks is your best chance yet of understanding how the Universe works
Scientists at New York University claim to have discovered the area of the brain devoted to positive thinking. “Understanding healthy optimism is important because it is related to mental and physical health and to success,” say the researchers. Take the optimism test to see how positive you are. There’s nothing like being reminded that pessimists have an increased chance of depression to encourage a positive attitude.
Step back in time, if you will, to the 1980s – when the theoretically illegal home recording of broadcast television was enough of an issue to prompt this phenomenally silly Johnny Carson sketch. Imagine how horrified the network executives of the day would have been to think of us watching this segment of broadcast television on the Internet. You’ll be amazed too, to see just how much the young(er)Johnny looked like Robert Stack, if you’re old enough to remember either of them.
Italian pasta manufacturers are under investigation for alleged price-fixing, after being warned that prices would rise 20 per cent due to high wheat prices. Wheat? Back in 1957, Britons would have been at a loss to understand the problem. The spaghetti tree hoax on BBC’s Panorama was one of the most famous April Fool’s hoaxes and convinced millions that pasta was harvested on “vast spaghetti plantations in the Po valley”.
The would-be counterfeiters who tried to con the Bank of England out of £28 billion with fake £500,000 notes made several rookie errors. Among other things, they called our national reserve the “England Bank” and forged a crucial signature inaccurately. They should have looked to the past for inspiration; perhaps at a page listing the greatest robberies of all time — most of them in the U.K.
Many Times readers were probably too young, too old, or just watching another channel on that fateful day in 1985 when four titans of the synthesizer met up for a special one-off medley of their hits. If you fall into one of those categories, or you’ve ever enjoyed the music of Stevie Wonder or Herbie Hancock, endured the antics of Howard Jones’ mime, or wondered what Thomas Dolby would look like wearing Brian May’s hair this video’s for you.
The US election race is heating up. The entertainment magazine Radar decided to spice things up in Washington when it put Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani on its cover — naked! The photo — a spoof of the Vanity Fair cover featuring Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johannson and Tom Ford — isn’t quite as easy on the eye as the original, but it’s nice to see Democrats and Republicans getting along for once.
We’ve all seen Robert DeNiro undergo extraordinary physical transformations in order to evoke the sprit of a washed-up boxer or a borderline psychotic taxi driver, but now at last you can see him in his most challenging roles yet as, for the edification of Sesame Street host Elmo he gives uncannily convincing impressions of a dog, a cabbage, and most chillingly the universally unpopular furball himself.
Bored with your social circle? Dinner with Friends is a grown-up social networking website that brings together couples of similar interests over dinner in chic venues. You can chat, wine and dine with like-minded people without the hassle of meeting them first or organising the event. Singles can join a similar network at Dinner Dates. The FAQ section is keen to point out that the organisation “has nothing to do with wife-swapping”.
Second Chance trees is an innovative ecology project which aims to replant areas of rainforest depleted by logging and irresponsible farming. What makes it special, though, is the fact that it’s all happening in Second Life, the online virtual world that seems to be growing as quickly as our natural one is shrinking. Plant a tree on line and a very rich corporation will plant a real one on your behalf somewhere where it’s needed. The video explains all this and also as a bonus, the music is ever so restful.
Didn’t you love children’s television years ago? It was so much fun learning how to make wacky playthings out of household objects like socks, sticky tape and your mum’s old shoes. Well, that time has returned. Video Jug (a website that advertises itself as “life explained on film”) has an adult-friendly segment called “How to make a beatbox puppet”, with some rather self-involved presenters.
VideoJug: How To Make A Beatbox Puppet
Japan, the economic powerhouse, fashion innovator and home to the world’s trippiest television does it again bringing to life Tetris: the most successful computer game in history. In yet another insane Japanese gameshow, competitors attempt to squeeze themselves into Tetris-like shapes to evade a rapidly approaching wall. If they can’t work it out, it is into the drink with the lot of them. Absolutely hilarious.
We often disregard anti-speeding campaigns. But an Australian TV advertisement (below) questioning the manhood of young male speedsters has finally grabbed people’s attention. A survey found that the ad, which shows women wagging their little fingers scornfully at racers, has caused 60 per cent of men to reconsider their driving habits since its release in June. When your gran starts mocking your masculinity, it’s definitely time for a rethink.
From a campaign that seemed headed for total disaster, to a date with destiny this weekend, England’s rugby squad would do well to avoid going for a try like this. Attempting a heroic dive across the try line, London Irish’s Juan Manuel Leguizamon fumbles the ball and skids on his face. Nice try anyway.
BBC stars such as Martha Kearney of Newsnight have expressed anger at the news that they may have to reapply for their jobs with CVs and a 200-word supporting statement, as the Beeb prepares to cull 2,000 jobs. “How can I sum up my career in 200 words?” one senior BBC journalist said. Well, presenters need look no farther than the BBC’s own CV-writing guide. “Be truthful,” it advises.
Some people have too much time on their hands, literally. Daft Punk’s catchy track Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger has its robotic refrain reinterpreted by a woman with the lyrics painted on her hands, revealing a finger here and a palm there to construct each phrase. As the lyrics speed up, so does the intricacy of the movements. Now much emulated, this is apparently the original.
The Netherlands finance ministry has denied banning white socks, after an official slated them in an interview. But, a spokesman admitted: “Everyone has to dress according to occasion.” If you want to avoid embarrassing your country with a footwear faux pas, go to My Tights to browse a wide selection of elegant hosiery. Alternatively, Lonely Socks will help you to find matches for the odd socks in your drawer.
Comedian Judson Laipply’s six minute overview of the history of popular dancing is the most watched video on YouTube with 60 million views. His whistlestop tour from Elvis through Village People and Michael Jackson to MC Hammer and finally ‘N Sync is compulsive viewing, but why so dominant? See for yourself and be part of the zeitgeist
Now that you’re an adult you’re perfectly capable of looking after yourself, right? You can remember to eat well, call relatives and to take exercise without someone else’s help, can’t you? If you’re the kind of person that can’t remember anything without your Outlook calendar, go to Hassle Me. It will send you emails at regular intervals nagging you to go to the gym, keep your diary, or whatever else you have requested.
Mel Blanc is the voice of just about every cartoon character you remember from your childhood. Before A-list actors stared slumming it in CGI animations to finance that new Prius, Mel and his thousand voices ruled the cartoon world. We’ve come across a clip of the great man being interviewed by an uncharacteristically humbled David Letterman that gives a rare glimpse of what the man behind Bugs Bunny actually looked like.
Google powers more than half of all search requests, research indicates. But some users are sceptical. Daniel Brandt is Google’s most outspoken critic: “When we search, we reveal what our interests are. What we might be doing tomorrow. That’s the No 1 thing that spooks want to know about you.” His website, Google Watch, collates probing stories about the company he calls “Big Brother”, including a New York Times article entitled “Is Google God?”.
Competitors will descend on Toronto this Saturday for the annual World Rock, Paper, Scissors Championships. It’s a complex strategical game, of varying methods and strategies, according to the World RPS website. Its slogan is “serving the needs of decision-makers since 1918”, it admits that “playing RPS probably won’t make you rich and famous” and “chances are you won’t win an Olympic gold medal”.
On par with the matches themselves, the New Zealand rugby team’s traditional pre-game Haka may be one of the most spine tingling things screened on television. When the All Blacks were confronted with Tonga’s own war dance, the Sipi Tau, during the 2003 World Cup the resulting confrontation was positively explosive.
Miss England 2007 was concerned to find a bogus MySpace profile, which, she claimed, made her sound “thick” and “tarty”. The page, now removed, listed Georgia Horsley’s heroine as Katie Price (aka Jordan) and played 50 Cent (her own music choice would have been “a lot more girly”). Luckily, you can see her authentic profile at the Miss England website, where she lists her talent as “make-up” and her ambition “to be a successful model”.
With no more props than a puffy shirt and a curious hairdo, today’s web video star creates a David Copperfield magic spectacular that will thrill, amaze and (especially) amuse. If one were of a playful bent, with access to a puffy shirt and a video camera, one could always create one’s own theatre of illusion in any high street, but this chap did it first. And its marvellous.
“Naming a band is as important as naming a brand,” says Nick Stewart, a record industry veteran, amid concerns that new groups are choosing unpopular and confusing names. If you’re seeking an original moniker, try Band Name Maker, which generates options incorporating your chosen word. A test run with times2 surnames produced an interesting selection, including “Bovine Steele” and “Gaussian Henery of the Loony Fission”.
We make no apologies for running our second Betty Boop clip in as many months, now that we’ve found this splendid piece of video which shows the actual performers in action, and demonstrates the subliminal fruitiness that gave the cartoon flapper an appeal that wasn’t visible to the naked eye. Readers are warned that the clip contains a certain amount of mildly risqué line drawing
The TED conference unites people from the worlds of technology, entertainment and design once a year in California. You can now watch the speeches of some of the world’s greatest minds, from Bono to Bill Clinton, from Richard Dawkins to Dame Jane Goodall, at the new TED website. Speakers debate issues ranging from the existential (Is there a God?), the practical (What’s next in tech?) to the political (Africa).
You don’t need Melvyn Bragg to tell you that English is a complex language that takes a lifetime to master, and the two fine French gentlemen that have been asked to re-dub today’s clip have a command of our language that far outstrips the average Englishman’s mastery of French. That doesn’t prevent their manful attempts to render the flowery language of TV chefs into our notoriously unflowery tongue any less droll.
Pulp Fiction
One minute, forty-nine seconds of quality boogie from Times Online's very own Arts and Entertainment editor. He's got canned heat in his heels tonight, baby! Inspired yet? Click here to send us your entry and win an HP laptop
The Godfather
Quite a dark clip, but then so is the subject matter. This entry from Rose Wild. Enter Times Online’s Your Take competition and win an HP laptop. For entry details, click here
Alien
Leading by example, Times Online's very own Executive Editor, Parminder Bahra, turns his hand, literally, to the task. Can you do better than this? Well grab your video camera and prove it.
In the age of blogging, Youtube and social networking anyone can be an auteur, writer or movie producer, but in this period of creative socialism, budding talents still look to the greats for inspiration and guidance. The web is awash with short videos from amateurs emulating their favourite scenes from recent cinema history. Now we want you to do the same.
Times Online, in conjunction with HP and The Times 51st bfi London Film Festival is offering a fantastic HP Pavilion Notebook PCs for the best film scene we receive. Just think of your favourite movie moment, get a friend to point a video camera or camerphone in your direction, and send us the result.
For inspiration click here for some of The Times’s favourite ever scenes
Or click here for Times Online readers’ favourite romantic movie moments
THE PRIZE
The winner will receive a brand new HP Pavilion Media Center Entertainment Notebook PC.
And see your videos online: the best entries will be published on Times Online
HOW TO ENTER
Think of your favourite film scene and shoot it. It can be as simple as a line, with prizes being awarded on the basis of wit and creativity rather than production values. Upload your video to Youtube (making sure to set all sharing options to “allow”), and tag the video with keywords "Times Online Your Take". Then email the link to us at yourtake@timesonline.co.uk, or post a comment with your entry on the end of any of the videos. Alternatively if you have a video on your blog or wish to deliver your masterpiece to us some other way, please email us at the same address. Please include your name and address in the email.
Click here for full terms and conditions
When they’re not masquerading as a terrorist threat, chillis can taste rather good. There’s something for everyone in the chilli family, from the bell pepper to the Jamaican hot. Did you know that their heat level is measured in Scoville units, or that the pepper spray used by US police ranks below the hottest chilli, the pure capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers hot? Trivia, growing tips and recipes can be found at Chillis Galore.
There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned attack on industry rivals to make your own product more marketable. The Dove team is at it again in the ad (below) for its Dove Self-esteem Fund at the Campaign for Real Beauty site, which claims to “empower women to embrace a broad definition of beauty”. OK, so it’s a blatant plug, but the disturbing images of purging women and plastic surgeons are surprisingly effective.
GEICO are a US insurance company whose series of TV ads featuring easily-offended cavemen has proven so popular that it has been adapted into a full-length primetime sitcom. In order to inure readers from the blandishments of party bores who have ‘just discovered this great new show while they were stateside’ we have found a compilation of all of the original ad spots.
Jason Lewis is back in British waters after spending 13 years travelling the globe on human power alone — without motors or sails. He (and his fellow adventurer, Steve Smith, who returned home in 1999) crossed five continents, two oceans and a sea, using kayaks, mountain bikes and a pedal-powered boat called Moksha. You can view all the blogs, pictures and videos from the epic journey at Expedition 360.
The immensely successful ‘Left Behind’ series of books and movies popularised the hitherto obscure biblical notion of ‘The Rapture’ – An event where the most faithful Christians would be scooped up to Heaven leaving the rest of us in a rare old pickle. Christian hidden camera pranksters ‘Prank 3:16’ managed to find the funny side of this epochal event as evidenced in this cruel, but nevertheless droll, video
Hurrah — more news that chocolate can be good for us! In the past year we have been told that it can lower both blood pressure and the risk of blood clots. Now research shows that it might reduce symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. Chocolate-cioccolata has information on the history of chocolate, its legal status (is “white” really chocolate?), recipes and some unusual ideas — Cadbury’s face-mask, anyone?
Anyone who’s seen ‘Minority Report’ knows that robot spiders are the future of CCTV. Animatronic artist Matt Denton is doubtless already attracting the interest of our political masters: His face-tracking hexapod robot can recognise a human face and respond to its movements, remembering everyone it encounters by taking a photo and publishing it directly to its own personal blog. Simultaneously impressive and worrying.
Fallen out of love with Facebook? You’re not the only one. As the number of users grows (now about 35 million), so do the disillusioned. It’s invasive and addictive, and what are all those stupid applications for? The Crackbook spoof page will shame you into quitting social networking forever. There are other parodies too, including Bahoogle and Poormatch, which claims to be the worst dating site in the world.
We’re going to tell you about as many big silly noisy movies as we can in these twilight years of the blockbuster.
By night, Tom Whitwell makes extra geeky clips for YouTube. By day, he's the communities editor of Times Online
Michael Moran spends much of his time watching Batman fan films but is nevertheless web correspondent of Times Online
Simon Crerar digs watching Chinese karaoke singalongs and dogs chasing their tails, and is Arts & Entertainment editor of Times Online
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