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I SPENT the summer producing new “Candid Camera” shows, and among the many things I observed after a 10-year hiatus was that people are more easily fooled than ever. That may seem counterintuitive, but I’m certain it’s true. Much has to do with multitasking. When my dad, Allen Funt, introduced the show over six decades ago, he had to work at distracting people. Nowadays they do it to themselves. Many people we now encounter are fiddling with cellphones and other devices, tackling routine activities with less-than-full focus. That makes them easier targets for our little experiments, but also more vulnerable...

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The Washington Post on Wednesday revealed a U.S. Forest Service plan that would "fine photographers who shoot on federal wild lands without a permit." Reporter Hunter Schwarz noted how "critics have characterized the rules as too vague and say it infringes on the First Amendment's free speech clause," and quoted from a U.S. senator who raised his concerns about the "troubling questions about inappropriate government limits on activity clearly protected by the First Amendment" (Olympic National Park's Ruby Beach pictured at right; taken by Matthew Balan in September 2011). Schwarz cited a Tuesday report by The Oregonian that outlined the...

Russians always love American culture and Igor Presnyakov is no exception. This Russian is in love with the west and plays a wide variety of classic songs on the guitar. This piece "Misirlou," a Dick Dale instrumental made famous in the movie Pulp Fiction, is one of his best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7dqyQlhaFM

Can you make it through this post without muttering “aaarrrggghhh” softly under your breath?

(Note: This posting is for educational purposes only.) I’m assuming the phrase “staging” came out of the theatre world, but it’s equally at home (and useful) in the movie world, since the term (roughly defined) refers to how all the various elements of a given scene or piece are aligned, arranged, and coordinated. In movies the role of editing adds something unique: the opportunity to extend and/or expand a visual (or narrative) idea to the limits of one’s imagination—a crazy idea that works today is tomorrow’s normal... So I want you to watch this movie and think only about staging,...

One million steins of beer were consumed over the weekend, organizers say, as tourists and locals kicked off the 181st Oktoberfest. The Bavarian beer festival, held on Munich's Theresienwiese, lasts 16 days and will welcome more than six million visitors from around the world. This year, the average price of a mug of beer at any of the tents this year comes to €10.67 ($13.70 U.S.). Gathered here are some of the scenes from the opening weekend of Oktoberfest 2014.

Last week, Breitbart News revealed a secret video game journalist mailing list used by a clique of influential writers, editors, and bloggers, some of whom attempted to bully their colleagues with it in an attempt to shape the news agenda for political purposes. We can today reveal the complete list of journalists, some 150 key industry figures, on the list. Outlets with representation span the entire video games journalism universe and include Polygon, Ars Technica, Wired, Eurogamer, Destructoid, Kotaku, Joystiq, TechRadar, and many other well-known brands in games publishing. But they also include freelancers and staffers for publications as solidly...

1924: Pep, “The Cat-Murdering Dog” Pep "The Cat-Murdering Dog" was a black Labrador Retriever admitted to Eastern State Penitentiary on August 12, 1924. Prison folklore tells us that Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot used his executive powers to sentence Pep to Life Without Parole for killing his wife’s cherished cat. Prison records support this story: Pep’s inmate number (C-2559) is skipped in prison intake logs and inmate records. The Governor told a different story. He said Pep had been sent to Eastern to act as a mascot for the prisoners. He and the Warden, Herbert “Hard-Boiled” Smith, were friends. Pep was...

Atlas Shrugged - the movieFind Theater near you

Roger Evans of Fairbanks sent in this photo. He writes, "This fox has stolen an approach shot, and is waiting on the green for golfers to chip on so he can make off with another, which he did. He chose a pretty orange one next. This is the fourth ball thieving fox to steal hundreds of balls at North Star Golf Club on Old Steese Highway. He has the black legs of his most recent predecessor from a few years ago. What they do with them is anyone's guess, but we hope they don't think they are storing food for...

A structure once believed to form part of an ancient town is identified as a 5,000 year old monument believed to have been used to honour the Mesopotamian moon god 'Sin' A stone monument in the shape of a crescent moon found in northern Israel is more than 5,000 years old, archaeologists have said. The structure, known as Rujum en-Nabi Shua'ayb or Jethro Cairn, is located near the Sea of Galilee and predates the construction of Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid in Egypt, as well as the writing of the Bible. It was initially discovered in the early part of the...

These horses were originally bred as "war horses" in the days of knights and armour. As armour got heavier, bigger horses were needed and the Friesian almost became extinct. They are back and are one of the most beautiful horses in stature as well as gait. What gorgeous animals. Just watching them becomes an emotional experience. Can you imagine what it would be like to ride one? Their manes and tails are the longest that I have seen and I noticed that when performing on grass, their hoofs do not kick up a divot, as they land flat footed. Creatures...

A gravedigger has been suspended and a family subjected to ridicule after posing with the corpse of a man who died 23 years ago. An image of council worker Celestino Reyna, 55, alongside the cadaver and the husband of the dead man’s niece, was sent to her work colleagues via Whatsapp. The photo then ended up on social media, where is was then widely shared – and Mr Reyna recognised by his employers. ‘We never thought this could have such serious consequences, and I did not want to show any lack of respect for my uncle,’ the apologetic niece, who...

A war is happening on the web between cats and sloths. Whoever wins, we lose. Well, not really. Whoever wins, we get bombarded with pictures of the two cutest animals on the planet. Whether you’re a cat connoisseur or a sloth aficionado depends on your outlook on life. Love sitting on the couch? You’re a sloth fan. Like chasing mice? Then you’re a cat man. There’s only really one way to find out which animal is cutest… put a lot of pictures of them against each other and hope for the best:

The way we perceive color is greatly influenced by our cultural understanding. We all grew up learning that Fire is Hot and Ice is Cold. Therefor red and orange are warm colors while blue and cyan are cool colors.This association in our mind is so strong that filmmakers can actually invoke a sense of temperature just by the color palette they use in their films.Take for example Spike Lee’s 1989 film “Do the Right Thing”The film beautifully photographed by Ernest Dickerson, is awash in yellows, oranges and reds invoking the heat of a long, hot day in the Bed Stuy...

With cameras and computers everywhere in our modern world, it’s easy to forget that the very first motion pictures were, themselves, essentially a special effect. It’s here at the beginning of filmmaking that we’ll start our journey:  the close of the 19th century with one of the world’s first prolific filmmakers – a man who spent his life studying the art of illusion – Georges Méliès.Georges Méliès In his 1898 film  Four Heads are better than one, (Un Homme De Tête) Méliès employs a visual trick that is the rudimentary beginnings of what we now think of as greenscreen compositing. The...

If you're looking for a heartwarming advertisement about 9/11, look no further than this throwback ad from Budweiser in 2002. The ad shows several Clydesdale horses crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and other scenes before the horses kneel down before a scene of New York City. The ad was only shown once during the 2002 Super Bowl, but boy did it make an impact. Here's a little more background on the ad from the St. Louis-based company AB Global Creative: “We filmed in New York City. We had a helicopter going over the Brooklyn Bridge. Mayor Guiliani let us into the...

The video is already generating death threats. SURPRIIISE! Is "ISIS" merely a radical group? What about EVERY SINGLE Islamic country committing gross violations of human rights? The video debunks... Also, Dana Loesch literally slaps an Islamic terrorist!

Parents in England have released a beautiful photo of their daughter, born prematurely at 24 weeks, with the hopes that it will demonstrate the humaity of unborn babies who can be legally killed in abortions in the U.K. Emily Caines, 35, has released photograph of birth of daughter Adelaide, born at 24 weeks but who was too small to survive even though that is within the 22-24 week time period that is the earliest for premature babies to survive. Caines hopes the photo will raise awareness of neonatal death and she hopes it will prompt lawmakers in Parliament to re-open...