Michael Jackson Used to Piss off Russell Crowe with Constant Prank Calls

http://goo.gl/XvyKQP

It turns out that the King of Pop and Gladiator himself had a very interesting relationship for many years. Russell Crowe, the Australian actor best known for his work in Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, and Les Miserables, reveals that Michael Jackson would constantly prank call him at home or in a hotel for over three years! The strangest part? The two had never even met! Crowe states in an interview with The Guardian that, " I never met him, never shook his hand, but he found out the name I stayed in hotels under, so it didn’t matter where I was, he’d ring up do this kind of thing, like you did when you were 10, you know. 'Is Mr. Wall there? Is Mrs. Wall there? Are there any Walls there? Then what’s holding the roo fup? Ha ha.' You’re supposed to grow out of doing that, right?" The fact that this type of thing went on for many years makes it one of the most impressive feats in prank call history. It makes me really happy to know that these two superstars had a great sense of humor! Celebrities are still human, after all. #MWTG325

Mind-blowing tattoo makes man look like machine

http://goo.gl/nk5qGV

Don't let your eyes deceive you. No, you are not looking at a robotic arm but rather a normal human arm which happens to have an awesome tattoo. The tattoo was created by Tony Booth of Dabs Tattoo in Southport, England, who excels at working in black ink and creating geometric designs. Booth also creates a type of tattoo known as "dotwork," in which exceedingly complicated designs are made one dot at a time. Lisa, Tony's wife, commented, "The client and Tony came up with the concept between them and it grew from an upper arm sleeve to a full sleeve and then it carried on to his hand, shoulder and upper chest." The tattoo took multiple sessions to complete over the course of 18 months, and it won top prize in the category of "Best Blackwork Tattoo" at the "Tattoo Tea Party" convention in Manchester, England. The picture of the design emerged Thursday on the Instagram page of acclaimed street artist Banksy, and you can see more of Booth's work on the Dabs Tattoo site as well as on his Instagram page. Although we might not yet have androids roaming around covered in cool carbon-fiber-matrix skin, this is still pretty cool! #MWTG325

Emoji that look just like you are hilarious, slightly creepy

http://goo.gl/Hlulv5

Ever use an emoji and think, "Man, I wish this actually looked like me!" Well, worry no more my friends! Bitmoji is a new app that has taken its cartoon skills and applied them to the world of the emoticon. It allows you to design your own character and personalize its appearance to appear in emoticon form. If you want to start from scratch with a Bitmoji avatar, the app will walk you through the setup. As you can imagine, it's a simple process to build your virtual self. First, you choose from a variety of face shapes, skin tones, hair color, eyebrow shapes, noses, mouths, makeup or facial hair, height, and build. Next you select an outfit. No more generic yellow smileys; you can star in your own set of customized emoji with this fun, free app!! I don't know about you, but I think I'll give it a try! #MWTG325

Musical Glove Helps Stroke Patients Use Their Hands Again

http://goo.gl/FCSnrJ

Every forty seconds, someone has a stroke. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, strokes are the leading cause of long-term disability in the US. Although many rehabilitation options exist for stroke patients, the problem with them is that not many of the victims keep up with their therapy once they leave the hospital. “They’re left at home, with just a list of exercises that the therapist gives them to do. It’s just not motivating, people don’t continue the therapy,” says Nizan Friedman, founder of Flint Rehabilitation Devices. Friedman is working to change that with MusicGlove, a wearable computing device designed to help patients improve their fine motor skills. The glove has tiny sensors that track the user’s hand movements, and it uses music as a way to keep people from getting bored with doing the same exercises again and again. Patients play a Guitar Hero-style game that involves pinching and gripping notes on the screen of a tablet while performing their exercises at the same time. Friedman wanted to combine robotics and music therapy, which is how he came up with the idea for the glove. #MWTG325

LED smart shoes turn your dance into a light show

 

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I'm going to need some of these the next time I hit the dance floor! Orphe is a programmable performance shoe fitted with 100 full-color, serially controlled LEDs, advanced motion sensors and a wireless Bluetooth module. The LEDs can be programed to map interactions between light, movement and sound and they can also be programmed to respond a certain way to the wearer's movements. Essentially, they were designed to enhance your dance moves! The shoes come in plain black and plain white to let the LEDs shine to their best effect, and each shoe contains a small unified circuit board as well as the high-density LED strip around the sole. The developing team commented, "More than money ... what we need are people who will join us in creating with new forms of artistic expression using these tools. We hope that with the participation of a diverse range of people involved in the creation of expressive art, including not only dancers and musicians but also developers and designers, our technology can lead to the emergence of a completely new culture of audiovisual expression." Pretty neat, huh?! #MWTG325

Mercedes-Benz self-driving concept car spotted on San Francisco roads

http://goo.gl/EJQVLP

Although the world of flying cars is still in the distant future, at least self-driven cars have finally emerged! Check out this new Mercedes-Benz that works on self-driving technology.  "Luxury in Motion," as they call it, provides a sort of private cocoon space for people to enjoy while traveling, rather than manually operating a vehicle. The car has LED lights installed on the front and back, which operate as the vehicle's headlights and are used as a way to communicate with other drivers. Blue means it is in autonomous driving mode, while white means someone is controlling the vehicle. Its strange proportions are deliberately designed to look like something ripped from the future. As of now, this is just a concept and will not be available to the public for at least 15 years. But hey, I think it looks pretty neat! Would any of you trust a self-driving car? #MWTG325

‘Whiplash’: Watch The Short Film That Lead To The Oscar Winning Movie

http://goo.gl/SG20s2

Whiplash -- my favorite movie of 2014, and possibly one of my favorite films of all time. The film tells the story of a young drummer (Miles Teller) who is mentored by a teacher (J.K. Simmons) who uses extreme teaching methods in order to motivate his students at music conservatory. The film has won three Oscars and was nominated for two more, however, some people might not know that this game-changing movie was shot first as short film. Director Damien Chazale did not have enough funding to produce a full-length feature film, so he created the short film in hopes of drawing attention to the project so he could eventually create the full motion picture. The short film is essentially a recreation of one sequence in the full length. J.K. Simmons still plays Dr. Fletcher, the role that eventually lead him to an Oscar win, however, the role of Andrew Neiman is played by Johnny Simmons in the short film instead of Miles Teller. The short garnered rave reviews, and due to the short’s reception, Chazale was able to get funding for his debut full length version of Whiplash. Definitely check out both versions of this incredible story; you won't be disappointed! #MWTG325