Month: August 2018

Jim Cummings tells stories behind 4 fan-favorite characters he's voiced

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jim-cummings

I certainly didn’t think he’d be the same person who voiced Tigger and Pete from Goof Troop. It was one of those things I questioned but had no deep inclination to research. When I found out it was Jim Cummings, I was blown away by the breadth of his voice acting career and how many of my childhood faves he voiced.

Cummings was born in Ohio but relocated to New Orleans, where he worked as a deckhand on riverboats. After a few years in the mid to late 80s voicing characters in The Transformers, Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears, and Duck Tales, he joined the voice cast of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh where he voiced Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. Since then he’s appeared in a plethora of animated and live action movies and series.

In this video, Jim Cummings discussed four of his best-loved characters and the inspiration behind them. You can check out the video below.

Jim Cummings Gets Totally Nostalgic with 4 Stories Behind 4 Fan-Favorite Characters

Disney related: The history of Walt Disney Home Video

Cook In The Breaking Bad RV with Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston

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Cook In The Breaking Bad RV with Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston

Breaking Bad turns 10 this year! The show only ran for 5 seasons but is cited as one of the greatest TV dramas of all time. It spawned a heap of Heisenberg cosplays, memes, t-shirts, and quotes. To celebrate, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are inviting you to cook with them in the original RV. (Un)fortunately, that will be culinary cooking as opposed to Class A cooking. The promo video sees Paul (as himself) promoting the competition and visiting the RV. Upon entry, he discovers Bryan Cranston living there. What I found funniest is the Hal Wilkerson-esque acting which is what I knew him for before I started watching Breaking Bad. There’s also a hidden secret about Paul towards the end of the video but I won’t spoil it.

To join them, head over to the Omaze page and know all entries will support the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Kind Campaign. Flights & hotel included (sorry, you can’t stay in the RV or defecate in the bucket either).

Aaron Paul Discovers Bryan Cranston Living in Breaking Bad RV // Omaze

RIP Jean-Michel Basquiat

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King Alphonso by Jean Michel Basquiat

That’s the line I’m going with anyway. I won’t pretend I knew about him for years. He was a name I’d heard but not explored further than occasional utterances. Then I went to see his Boom For Real exhibition at the Barbican in London and everything changed. His bodies of work (and that pun was intentional) were the true definition of expressionism. He flew by the seat of his pants when it came to life and art, neither discipline far from each other nor mutually exclusive.

“I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.”

Jean-Michel Basquiat

He proclaimed himself a legend and nobody can take that status away from him.

The chaotic brilliance of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat - Jordana Moore Saggese

My All-Time Favourite Chili Pepper Challenge by AyyOnline

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AyyOnline's Chili Pepper Challenge.

The other is the one with the two white girls which I’ll post tomorrow, but back to my all-time fave. AyyOnline was a popular black British Youtuber until he left (and recently came back) and during the chili pepper challenge’s heyday, Ayy joined in. The hottest pepper at the time was the Naga Viper pepper or “Ghost pepper” as it was also known. It was the “World’s Hottest Chili” in 2011 with a rating of 1,382,118 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). Pepper X is the unofficial champion now (used in the Hot Ones’ sauce) but the Naga Viper was the king for quite some time.

The featured image for this post is the precise moment before he took the “deadly” bite; the record scratch “you’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation” moment. What follows is hilarious. Cue removal of clothing, ice, yoghurt, and some vomiting. The initial reaction was classic. The instant realisation that you’ve made a bad decision and there’s no way out. Well, not a comfortable one anyway. But like he said, he did it for laughs and he got plenty from me over the years. I’m glad he didn’t live up to the ghost pepper’s name and came back.

Fun facts about chili peppers (courtesy of Wikipedia):

  • Chilis were part of the Aztecs’ staple diet and originated in Mexico.
  • The substance that gives chilis their intense heat is called capsaicin.
  • 32.3 million tonnes of green chili peppers and 3.8 million tonnes of dried chili peppers were produced in 2014 worldwide.
  • China is the world’s largest producer of green chillies, providing 50% of the global total.

Remember when a bee sting turned Bear Grylls into Benedict Cumberbatch?

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Remember when a bee sting turned Bear Grylls into Benedict Cumberbatch?

Bear Grylls loves a bit of danger and feels no way putting his body through hell in the name of survival. It’s what early humans did after all. Except this is the 21st century and you can get honey from a supermarket for about £2 (or the DVD starring Jessica Alba for about £3 on Amazon). But don’t be silly, I hear you cry, he’s in the wilderness and he needed to aggravate some bees in order to get some sweet honey. Winnie the Pooh he ain’t.

Born Survivor - Bee Sting