museum of the weird – Page 40 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Guest Blogger

SPOKE LIKE YODA OUR ANCESTORS DID

According to a new study of the history of human language, it turns out our ancestors of long ago actually spoke the way Master Yoda does in a movie series you might be familiar with, Star Wars.

Does George Lucas know something we don’t?

…probably not.

New Scientist writes:

What form did the first human language take? According to some linguists, all known languages descend from a proto-language, perhaps dating back to the first behaviourally modern humans 50,000 years ago. But little else is known about how our ancestors spoke.

Now two maverick linguists say they have clues. Merritt Ruhlen of Stanford University in California, and Murray Gell-Mann, at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico created a family tree for 2200 languages, living and dead, based on how they use similar sounds for the same meanings. Most modern languages use subject-verb-object sentences: “I see the dog”, while most dead ones, such as Latin, go subject-object-verb – “I the dog see”.

On Ruhlen and Gell-Mann’s tree, subject-verb-object languages always descend from subject-object-verb languages, but never the other way around. “This tells us that the putative ancestral language had subject-object-verb word order,” says Ruhlen. However, mainstream linguists are dubious about the tree’s validity.

Read similar stories at newscientist.com

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Guest Blogger

PHOENIX JONES, REAL-LIFE SUPERHERO, UNMASKED!!!

Right on the heels of his unfortunate arrest and his secret identity being revealed due to said arrest, Phoenix Jones has publicly released his face and identity.

Phoenix Jones, or Benjamin Fodor, rocking a haircut worthy of a superhero. This is a man who looks and acts the part of true crime-fighter. Good on ‘ya my friend! We here at The Museum Of The Weird salute you!

Here’s video from CNN of the famed unmasking.

Hopefully this will not prevent Phoenix from performing his regular duties as protector of the night for Seattle.

If so, we invite Phoenix Jones to Austin, Tx!

C’mon down partner!

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Guest Blogger

PHOENIX JONES, SEATTLE’S GREATEST CRIME FIGHTER ARRESTED AFTER HELPING!

Here is Phoenix Jones, one of Seattle’s toughest, smartest and prolific real-life super heroes…

Yet, he can’t catch a break. First, he had his nose broken earlier in the year defending the city’s residents and now Seattle PD arrests him for trying, succesfully, to stop a fight.

Phoenix Jones has gained notoriety from being a comic book-style super hero badass and making friends with one, Rainn Wilson, who himself has donned a crime-fighting costume to defend the streets of his own defenseless city in 2011’s “Super”. Despite legitimately helping citizens of Seattle, Phoenix, who’s real name has been released due to this arrest, but you will not see it here for we believe in keeping his secret-identity, secret, faces many challenges outside of the criminals he battles relentlessly, like particular officer’s of Seattle PD who do not approve of Phoenix Jones’ vigilante ways.

Does this seem like the people of Seattle have an issue with this guy?

MSNBC writes:

SEATTLE — Instead of the bad guys, it was Seattle’s most prolific self-styled superhero that ended up in handcuffs.

Police officers arrested the 23-year-old man who calls himself Phoenix Jones early Sunday after he was accused of assaulting several people with pepper spray. He was booked in county jail on four counts of assault, with arraignment set for Thursday, police said Monday.

Jones, who wears a black mask with yellow stripes and a bulging muscle bodysuit, said he was only trying to stop a street brawl.

“Just because he’s dressed up in costume, it doesn’t mean he’s in special consideration or above the law. You can’t go around pepper spraying people because you think they are fighting,” said Seattle police spokesman Det. Mark Jamieson.

In capital letters, Jones wrote on his Facebook page that said he wouldn’t “ever assault or hurt another person if they were not causing harm to another human being.”

He also released a video shot during the alleged assault on his Facebook page which he said shows that he used the spray after being attacked. It could also be found at www.vimeo.com/30307440.

PROOF OF THE RUSSIAN BIGFOOT? NOT YETI!

Pictured above is an animatronic Yeti, built and used for a commerical. Sadly, it's the closest thing to a real one there is.

Ouch, that was a sad attempt at a joke, but guess what…

…that happened and I’m leaving it.

So, apparently there is some big news waiting to come out of Russia about the existence of the fabled “Snow Men”, or Yeti. The Russian bigfoot has been in dispute for many, many years and doesn’t seem likely to be settled anytime soon. Unless we’re about to get a huge smack in the face with some evidence, which would be a nice change from the annoying prodding of maybe, maybe nots we know all to well, but where is this evidence? The same question we all ask of anyone claiming to have “proof” of anything.

Until we see something that blows our minds and the cap off cryptozoology, we’ll wait by the screen, repeatedly hitting refresh until that day comes.

The Telegraph writes:

The Russian coal-mining region of Kemerovo said in a statement on its website that footprints and possibly even hair samples belonging to the yeti were found on the research trip to its remote mountains.

“During the expedition to the Azasskaya cave, conference participants gathered indisputable proof that the Shoria mountains are inhabited by the ‘Snow Man’,” the Kemerovo region administration said.

The expedition was organised after Kemerovo’s governor invited researchers from the United States, Canada, and several other countries to share their research and stories of encounters with the creature at a conference.

“They found his footprints, his supposed bed, and various markers with which the yeti marks his territory,” the statement said. The collected “artifacts” will be analysed in a special laboratory, it said.

DO YOU DARE ATTEMPT ‘THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS PATH’?

Teetering along a crumbling walkway more than 330ft high, a group of intrepid climbers carefully inch their way across what has been dubbed the most dangerous path in the world.

And they’re not alone. Adrenaline-junkies have been flocking to southern Spain to experience the 110-year-old El Caminito Del Rey before work begins to refurbish it next year.

Companies have now begun offering unofficial tours after a video of a walker tackling the hair-raising trail went viral on YouTube.

MOTW-101111-El_Caminito_Del_Ray_1 — Don't look down! Climbers braving Spain's El Caminito Del Rey tackle a sheer a cliff face where the dilapidated walkway has completely fallen through

And you don’t need to be an experienced climber either, the only requirements are that walkers should be at least twelve years old and have a good head for heights.

MOTW-101111-El_Caminito_Del_Ray_2 — On the edge: A close-up shows the hair-raising crossing. Adrenaline junkies are flocking to take on the path after a YouTube video appeared of a walker tackling the trail wearing minimal safety equipment

The trail, also known as the King’s Pathway, was originally built in 1905 for workers to travel between two hydroelectric power plants but was closed-off in 2000 after two walkers fell to their deaths.

It snakes its way along cliff edges high up in El Chorro Gorge, thirty miles from Malaga.

Much of the one-metre-wide walkway is crumbing away with rusting supports, gaping holes, no handrails and sections that have completely fallen down.

A makeshift wire has now been attached to the rock face which walkers and climbers can clip themselves on to in order to have some degree of security – but many still prefer not to use any safety equipment at all.

Work is now due to start on an 8.3 million project to make the pathway safe again and attract more tourists to the area.

MOTW-101111-El_Caminito_Del_Ray_4 — History: El Caminito Del Rey, also known as the King's Pathway, was originally built in 1905 for workers to travel between two hydroelectric power plants but was closed-off in 2000 after two walkers fell to their deaths

MOTW-101111-El_Caminito_Del_Ray_3 — No walk in the park: The final stages of the path have fallen through so walkers must abseil down around 100 metres in order to complete the trail

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Steve Busti

TODAY: THE WEIRD THEATRE MIDNIGHT SPOOKSHOW and ZOMBIE MOVIE MARATHON!

All this week, the Museum of the Weird is celebrating our undead friends… ZOMBIES!… as we get set to launch our new eagerly-anticipated live horror host show, the Weird Theatre Midnight Spookshow, premiering TODAY (Friday, October 7th) at the Museum of the Weird (live on stage)! Tickets are only $10 for a full day pass for all the movies, and includes admission to Museum of the Weird!

To help celebrate all things zombie, Thursday at 2:00pm we gave away free tickets to the upcoming zombie film, The Dead, opening in Austin October 7th! The passes are for a special midnight screening tonight, October 7th, at the Alamo Drafthouse on West Anderson Lane. While the free tickets are gone, you can still buy tickets to any of the screenings today, which will feature a Q&A with director Howard Ford.

We’ll also be hosting guests galore tonight and tomorrow:

• Meet Doc Ravencraft, Authentic Texas Mojo Man, who consults behind the scenes at the Museum and for The Shadow Hour. He’ll be hosting the Weird Theatre Midnight Spookshow weekend, featuring an undead smorgasbord of classic zombie-themed flicks, including Night of the Living Dead, Zombie and more!

• Aron Houdini, great nephew of the legendary Harry Houdini, will be performing on stage tonight at 9pm.

• The Dead director Howard Ford makes an appearance this Saturday from Noon to 2:30pm.

• Greg Lawson, author of the book “Zombie Advocacy” will be signing advance copies on Saturday from 2pm-5pm.

• Plus possible surprise guests from the Paranormal Convention!

Check back here or follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get more details as they become available!

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Steve Busti

2PM TODAY: FREE TICKETS TO SEE “THE DEAD”

Attention all zombie horror fans! At exactly 2:00pm today (Thursday, October 6th), the Museum of the Weird in downtown Austin will be giving away a limited number of passes for you and a guest to see the midnight screening tomorrow night of the new zombie film, THE DEAD, directed by the Ford Brothers.

Shot on 35mm in Ghana and Burkino Faso, West Africa, THE DEAD explores new terrain in zombie tales, using all indigenous African actors as the ever hungry flesh-eating undead. Braving the harsh condition of deep Africa, Howard has fashioned a zombie film in the vein of grand master George Romero, crafting a hyper-realistic terrifying film without the use of CGI gimmickry or flashy camera movements.

This movie is genuinely creepy, I had the opportunity to catch it during last years Fantastic Fest. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one! It is screening at Midnight, Friday, October 7th at the Alamo Drafthouse on West Anderson Lane.

Passes will be given away at exactly 2:00pm on a first come, first serve basis, so don’t wait or they may be all gone! Limit one per customer (each pass is good for two people). The Museum of the Weird is located at 412 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701. See you here!

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Guest Blogger

SPOOKY SPIRIT OR SPIRIT SPOOF?

This is one where we want our reader’s to give some input and see what you think about this kind of thing. Do you think it’s real? Can you explain this? Do you have the ability and know-how to make something like this of your own? Give us some feedback and let us here at The Museum Of The Weird know what you think!