Two fingers and a tooth removed from the exhumed body of Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei nearly 300 years ago were rediscovered yesterday. They had last been seen over 100 years ago in a sealed glass jar. When a similar sounding container went up for auction recently, a donor to the Museum of the History of Science in Florence nabbed it, delivering the jar and its contents to museum director Paolo Galluzzi. These last remnants of the famous astronomer will now remain at the museum in Florence.
Strange and morbid? Yes. But as it turns out, the historical resting place of famous body parts is cause for widespread debate. Here are some of the more famous body parts to go missing through the years.
Veteran’s Day gives us the chance to reflect on all of the service men and women, their sacrifice, and their innate bad-assness. Because, let’s face it, no matter what your stance on war, politics, or anything else, there is no draft anymore. These people are putting their lives on the line to protect us by choice. What could be more bad ass than a decision like that?
Nothing. So let’s celebrate the real heroes by rounding up some of our favorite fictional ones from film, shall we?
According to the LA Times, Michael Jackson’s This Is It isn’t performing like a concert film. In the six days it has been in theaters, the doc has already grossed over $100 million worldwide, with its biggest numbers happening overseas. While concert movies’ ticket sales usually drop off after fans hit up the opening night, This Is It grossed more on Sunday than it did on any day since it debuted.
Perhaps this will lead more acts — other than Miley Cyrus and the JoBros — to reinvigorate the genre with theatrical releases. Animal Collective? The Dirty Projectors? Imagine if the Flaming Lips UFOs At The Zoo had gotten a run at the local cineplex. After the jump, five classics we think all concert films should take their cues from.
With seemingly limitless scientific ingenuity, it should have been easy to guess that the one thing the brainiacs at NASA don’t know how to do is be popular. NASA’s rep has been on the decline since word of an economic slowdown hit and resources began going to the war in Iraq. Then there was the moon bomb that wasn’t. But with today’s unmanned (and successful!) rocket mission, NASA has a lot to crow about once more.
Last week Tom Morello, formerly of Rage Against the Machine, and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails joined Pearl Jam, the Roots, R.E.M., and others in support of a new campaign pressuring US politicians to close the Guantánamo Bay. Why are so many musicians joining the movement? According to previously declassified reports, interrogators have used Metallica, Britney Spears, and even Sesame Street to torture detainees in the past. Many artists are outraged that their music may have been used without their consent, and want the practice stopped immediately.
With the success of True Blood and Twilight, anything with fangs is in style at the moment. But the “New Fang” everyone is talking about doesn’t vaporize at sunrise. It’s the first studio single from Them Crooked Vultures, a raucous combination of Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age). As supergroups go, these guys would blow Monsters of Folk out of the building with their relentless rhythm-based rock.
Whatever your thoughts on vegetarian vampires, sexual repression, or the world’s most puzzling sex symbol Robert Pattinson, you can’t argue with the numbers: the New Moon soundtrack has sold 115,000 copies after just three days. If it goes to number one (which history tells us is likely), Twilight will become the first movie franchise to have two soundtracks reach the top. All of this leads us to believe that middle school kids aren’t the only ones drooling over the New Moon. It’s all of us.
For months now, it has been easy to dismiss Twitter — the massively popular micro-blogging website — as just another internet fad. From the rampant oversharing to the B-celebrity feuding, some dismissed Twitter as megalomania 140 characters at a time. But not for long.
For Simpsons fans everywhere it was a historic moment when Playboy unveiled their November cover model last week; the bright yellow beauty in the buff would be none other than Marge Simpson herself — arguably America’s favorite TV mom. Now the question on every animation ogler’s mind (besides how Homer is going to deal with his wife’s centerfold status) is what other hand-drawn hotties would make good nude models.
The recession-era woes continue for the American automotive industry as it was announced last week that GM brand Saturn would be phased out of production over the next year. This will no doubt have a negative impact on auto-worker jobs as well as the brand strength of GM going forward. But one group of Saturn owners are especially affected by this and seem to be largely ignored by the mainstream media: TV and film characters. Read More »
