Walking Dead, Cupcake Tank, and the Terrifying Vagina Of Doom! [I read stuff]

Wherein I read things, laugh [or not], and pass them on to you…

When I saw this, I was struck by such a case of the giggles, who the hell knows why… but just watch it and that goofy look on the cats face, and see if you don’t giggle too

• The collapse of a shark tank at The Scientific Center in Kuwait. Share this because it’s probably the only time in your life you will see something like this.

• Jon Bernthal’s unhinged lawman is still walking (dead) tall:

The relationship between Shane and Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) was so compelling to watch — you have these best friends turning against each other very slowly. How would you characterize your rapport with each other on set?

BERNTHAL: We both love this very much, and we take it enormously seriously. I hadn’t found anyone who was as like-minded; we go about this differently, but we’re sort of always on. There were times Andy and I would just walk off the set in between takes and we would walk out into the Georgia night and we’d both be crying our eyes out. We couldn’t leave the scene. It’s so important when you’re dealing with an ensemble like that — we’re really trying to suspend your disbelief that we’re in a world where at any point zombies can come out, you can’t take a scene off. You can’t phone it in because any little bit of phoniness — we set out to do a genre piece without winking at the audience, without trying to be cute or campy. That requires diving in full blast.

What do you remember about shooting your final scene?

BERNTHAL: When we got out there, we shot that scene through the night, and believe it or not, late November in Georgia, it’s freezing cold. We shot the scene about 600 times. It was great for me because it was Andy and I, us two. It was us two out there on that field. A lot in that scene was improvised. We were very much off the script. I remember after one take, Andy and I walked back into the woods, and I said, “Hey, man, do you think it’s bad that we’re just making it up?” He said, “Let’s just do this for you and me.” He did some of the most phenomenal acting I’ve ever seen in my life, sort of in my ear. He started kicking my dead body, and I had to remain lifeless as he’s kicking me with those damn cowboy boots right in my leg. When the scene was over, everybody converged like zombies around me, and I made a little speech. It was a beautiful night and an emotional night.

[Los Angeles Times/Gina McIntyre/14 Jun 2012]

• Video: Army’s Cupcake Tank Fires Desserts – When a tank is made of 5,000 chocolate cupcakes, the only logical ordnance to fire is more cupcake. And so it was that the U.S. Army watched in the Pentagon’s courtyard as its newest confectionery delivery system shot cupcakes 20 feet into the air.

The Terrifying Vagina Of Doom!:

• Whatever you do, don’t yell “Vagina!” like you would “Eureka!” upon discovering gold at the end of a rainbow, or gaining entrance to a highly coveted and special place. “Vagina” is offensive and will get you a proper scolding and banned from speaking if you dare use the term during a House debate about legislating vaginas …Look dudes — if you can’t say “vagina,” or you find “vagina” offensive, then you don’t get to touch them — and you sure as hell don’t get to legislate them.

• If they don’t want to talk about them, maybe they should stop regulating them:

So the Michigan House of Representatives banned one of its members from speaking today. Why?

“What she said was offensive,” said Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville. “It was so offensive, I don’t even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company.”

What did she say? She said … “vagina”.
[Hullabaloo/Digby/14 june 2012]

• Hero Michigan Rep. Frank Foster Identifies Appropriate Words For Lady Parts:

Members of the Michigan legislature are expected to behave in a manner that is becoming, not only of the dignity and responsibility of their high office, but of the people they represent.

That’s why the Honorable Frank Foster, member of the Michigan House of Representatives, did the only gentlemanly thing possible when Michigan Nurses Association staffer Julia Smith-Heck wouldn’t stop mowing her lawn while Foster was a guest in Smith-Heck’s neighborhood last month: he called her a cunt. As a matter of fact, Foster shouted “you’re a cunt” from across the street.

Like a gentleman!

[wonkette/Jeff Wattrick/16 Jun 2012]

• Michigan GOP Spokesman: Female Reps Threw ‘Temper Tantrums’ Over Abortion Bill:

The term ‘temper tantrum’ is not-so-subtly coded sexist language leveled at women to infantilize them and de-legitimize their points. In an attempt at clarification, the spokesman only reaffirmed that the Michigan House GOP’s position was not only against saying the word ‘vagina,’ but also against letting women talk seriously about political issues.
[thinkprogress/Annie-Rose Strasser/15 Jun 2012]