Free Republic

Right Shark had crisp, coordinated moves. Left Shark is drunk: Left Shark failed out of choreography school. Left Shark fell asleep during the meeting where the moves were planned out, but nobody noticed (sharks sleep with their eyes open and remain mobile while asleep) and nodded his head when the dance instructor asked if he knew what he was doing. Left Shark only got this gig after threatening to bite the person in charge of casting. But despite all his failings, Left Shark continued to fight. And that's beautiful. The New England Patriots may have won the Super Bowl, but...

Nigel John Stanford is a musician from New Zealand who is well-known for his work in the genres of Ambient and New Age music. In the video below, you can see a range of his musical abilities as he plays both a drum set and a piano while also rigging makeshift instruments from things like playing cards. This video is entitled 'Cymatics,' and cymatics is the science of creating visualizations of audio frequencies.

ROUND 2 of the greatest hits of the '80s begins! Due date: Sunday, Feb 8 @6:00 pm (Eastern) Had to cut short the Round 1, as the response wasn't enough. Will try weekly rounds from now on. This Round takes the top 6 songs of each year of the '80s, and pairs them in brackets along with the best #7s as voted in Round 1.

I remember seeing a picture of a Nazi propaganda poster. It had two pictures side-by-side. The first picture was a picture of a large state hospital and the second picture was of a lot of cute little homes within the community. The message was basically "how would you rather our state money be spent? " I have been trying to find this poster on the Internet, but have not been successful. Does anyone know where I can find this picture?

Police confronted a large group of people Saturday night and reported that they were unruly and possibly creating mayhem. They suspected the crowd of nearly 1,000 had been kicked out of a rave. LAPD later clarified that they belonged to the Flask Mob photography group. “Everyone just meets up and takes photos, roam the streets of L.A. and just shoot,” photographer Mason McDaniels said. They were drawn to the area, at Mission Road and East 7th Street, by postings on social media sites

When American Sniper went into wide release, I promised to get a thread going, after a few weeks, so that FReepers could have a discussion about the movie, Hollywood, the effect of the story on us as veterans and civilians and whatever else. I hope that most of FR has had a chance to see it. There will probably be spoilers in this discussion.

What does it take for a film to be a huge hit at Sundance, nab a distribution deal, and get a nationwide theatrical release? Big Hollywood stars? Mass appeal? Expensive professional equipment? Short answer -- no! Director Sean Baker's feature film Tangerine, which got picked up by Magnolia Pictures, is one of the most talked-about films at the Festival this year even though it doesn't exactly fit the profile of a buzzworthy entry. Firstly, it features unknown actors; no Kristen Wiigs, no Ethan Hawkes. Secondly, it's a story about two transgender women on a Christmas Eve odyssey through the many...

Op.68 -- Freiburger BarockorchesterI post this with a humble heart. It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. I think it is as close to meeting heaven and Christ as I will get to on earth. 15:30 of talented, dedicated, wonderful musicians giving their all to a piece by Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713)

Tom Petty has addressed the recent news that he and frequent collaborator Jeff Lynne have received songwriting credit on Sam Smith's hit "Stay With Me." In a statement to Billboard, the rock legend praises Smith for quickly addressing what he calls a "musical accident" -- i.e., the similarities between "Stay" and his hit "I Wont' Back Down." "Most times you catch it before it gets out the studio door but in this case it got by," he says. "Sam's people were very understanding of our predicament and we easily came to an agreement. "

African golden cats are hardly ever photographed in the wild. In their rare, camera-trap cameos, the cats are usually seen licking their spotted fur or innocuously inspecting the unfamiliar lens. But recently, scientists captured a much more dynamic scene: a golden cat crashing a party of red colobus monkeys in Uganda.

Got a smartphone and a telescope? It’s a sight now common at many star parties. Frequently, you see folks roaming through the darkness, illuminated smartphone aimed skyward. Certainly, the wealth of free planetarium apps has done lots to kindle a renewed interest in the night sky. Inevitably, after peering through the eyepiece of a telescope, the question then arises: “Can I get a picture of that with my phone?” The short answer is yes, with a little skill and patience. Now simply aiming a camera at the eyepiece of a telescope — known as afocal astrophotography — and shooting without...

An artwork depicting high-heeled shoes on Islamic prayer mats has been removed from an exhibition after a Muslim group warned of possible violence in the wake of the Paris attacks. The French-Algerian artist, Zoulikha Bouabdellah, withdrew the work from an exhibition in a northern Paris suburb with a large Muslim population after an Islamic group told local authorities it could provoke “uncontrollable, irresponsible incidents”. It is considered disrespectful to step on Muslim prayer maps with shoes.

The greatest musical genius in the history of the world was born 259 years ago today. Here is a silent toast to the magical music of Mozart. From Wikipedia: He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, and his influence on subsequent Western art music is profound; Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years."

FULL TITLE: The children of Auschwitz: On the eve of the 70th anniversary of its liberation, Jews who appeared as youngsters in photograph taken at the concentration camp join those revisiting their past Too bewildered and dehumanised to show any emotion, a dozen young faces peer out from a world beyond comprehension. Witnesses to unfathomable depths of human savagery, these are among the last occupants of history’s most infamous slaughterhouse. To stand in the Arctic chill of Auschwitz today, it seems extraordinary that anyone survived what unfolded here. Yet, astonishingly, most of the people in this photograph – taken exactly...

With polished silverware still in the kitchen drawers and outdated toiletries sitting on a dusty dressing table, these incredible photographs show a perfectly preserved home that was abandoned by its owners decades ago. From the retro patterned wallpaper to the well out-of-date food in the pantry, the dilapidated home in Ontario, Canada, is a remarkable time capsule. An urban explorer called Dave made the stunning discovery while he was looking at abandoned properties in his home province - and documented his findings on his website Freaktography.  'The sight upon entering this house was eerie, breath-taking and weird,' he said. 'There is...

(Newser) Brad Deery's billboard idea got plenty of attention for his car dealership but not quite the kind he had in mind: The Iowa man took down a mannequin from the sign after numerous motorists thought it was a person preparing to jump and called 911. The sign next to US Route 61 in Des Moines County read "I can see Deery Toyota, Nissan, Mazda from here," with the mannequin appearing to be gazing at a distant car lot, reports Reuters. Deery says police told him that the mannequin not only alarmed drivers, they were worried somebody might climb up...

A black Marianne has adorned city hall in Frémainville, France since 1999. The small town of Frémainville is one of the few in France where a black-skinned Marianne statue adorns city hall. But the city’s new mayor is replacing the minority Marianne, claiming she does not represent the French republic. Mayor Marcel Allègre, who won local elections in March, has removed the city’s emblematic black Marianne from the main hall where civil marriages are performed, and has placed an order for a new statue. “That black sculpture was a Marianne of liberty, but not a Marianne of the French...

The 2015 March for Life and Walk for Life have ended with hundreds of thousands marching across the country. Here are some of the best signs and shots we found on the web. !!!!PICTURES ON LINK!!!!

Recently I saw a live performance of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot", a story about two hobos who are, oddly enough loitering around waiting for a visit from a person named Godot. They are interrupted by Pozzo, a cruel and pompous man, and Lucky, his hapless slave led by a noose around his neck. Lucky performs demeaning tasks on command. At the urging of the hobos, Pozzo commands him to dance, and then to "think". What follows is a run-on rambling speech/rant lasting about four minutes of half-developed themes, nonsequeteurs, stuttering, random interjections, and entertaining nonsense. Here is the link...