Society & Culture

In the time around the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it seems anyone capable of stringing together a few words has been devoting much of their time to punning on how the Force has truly awakened. Fact of the matter, the Force never sleeps. Rather it’s around times like these that Star Wars fans instead step out of the dark and into the light. Often choosing sides in the process, but not awakening by any means. Alhough it is rumoured a few fans have been seen inside of replica Tauntauns. But only to keep warm. Nothing else. While many other fans have been concerning themselves with vital matters such as how to make their own slave Leia bikini out of recycled metal cans – purely for cosplay purposes – one fan in particular has turned his attention to more potentially practical matters. Imbued with secret Jedi training to ...

“Great Scott!” A man drove into office buildings thinking he could apparently “travel through time”. Ignoring the fact that he was driving a Dodge Challenger, and not a DeLorean, there’s no word on whether the car was fitted with a working flux capacitor. While Ford did briefly offer a flux capacitor, sort of, probabilities here on the Dodge favour the answer is firmly no. Especially since he crashed into the wall. Unless he was playing chicken with it, possibly because the wall called him “chicken”. The crash occurred Monday 21 December 2015, but time and news of purported time travel can move in strangely nonlinear ways. Particularly around the internet, and distorted by the holiday season. The driver crashed into the office of Advanced Tax Services, in Pensacola, Florida, USA. General manager Emanuel Mores spoke about the incident to the local news: “I was mad, then eventually I was happy ...

As of 1 March 2016 adult bicycle riders in the state of New South Wales, Australia, will be required by law to carry photo identification with them. It will not be a requirement that minors, those under the age of 18 years, will also have to carry photo ID with them if riding a bike. For bicyclists’ not carrying photo identification, it’s anticipated that warnings will be in place initially for one year, with $106 fines expected to be imposed from 1 March 2017. Within the NSW legislation of the Road Rules 2014 (which are subject to be changed), the following definition within the Dictionary is given: “bicycle means a vehicle with 2 or more wheels that is built to be propelled by human power through a belt, chain or gears (whether or not it has an auxiliary motor)”. Which rules out arguing the legality of an adult not carrying ...

In the interests of equality and respect, the Dadeville City Council in Alabama, USA, is proposing to ban wearing mini-skirts and short shorts in public because it has already proposed a ban on wearing saggy trousers in public. Let it be known the equality movement continues in America. Dubbed the “Saggy Pants Ordinance” Dadeville City Council first had the concept of banning men wearing their trousers below their waistlines brought up back in August. Councillor Frank Goodman proposed the idea at a council meeting to prevent what he views as “slacking” and to promote “respect” in the community. As the Alex City Outlook reports, Goodman said: “We have people walking down the street with their hand in front of them holding up their pants. Then they have the nerve to walk into a place of business and ask for a job. If you come to my house you are going ...

Bhanu Prakash Racha, of Hyderabad, India, wants to hold the world record for taking selfies. As record attempts are often nothing without the journey and personal sacrifice in pursuit of the dream, Bhanu quit his job to pursue his photography goal. From hospital research assistant to practising taking selfies fulltime, such is his dedication. At 24 years old, Bhanu Prakash Racha had worked at the hospital for five months, and applied to Guinness World Records about the proposed attempt. Yes, there’s an official Guinness World Record for almost everything. In this case, it’s for the “Most self-portrait photographs (selfies) taken in 1 hour” which is currently held by American Patrick Petersen and NBC Sports. Total selfies taken in the hour officially numbered 1,449. Speaking to the Times of India, Bhanu has been preparing for his attempt. “I am comfortable clicking selfies only with my right hand, so I do exercises ...

Beginning 8 December 2015 and set to run to 20 November 2016, to mark the Year of Mercy, will be a Jubilee Year as declared by Pope Francis. Within this period the Pope will formally allow priests to forgive abortions. Typically a Jubilee, or Holy Year, occurs every 50 years. It’s observed by both Jews and Christians. With respect to Roman Catholicism, there are two type of Jubilees. An ordinary Jubilee, observed after a set number of years (typically every 25 or 50 years), with the first proclaimed by Pope Boniface VII in the year 1300. There are also extraordinary Jubilees which can be proclaimed by the Pope to mark an extraordinary event. This tradition began in the 16th century, and such extraordinary Jubilees can last from several days to a year in length. It is the latter case, in that it will be the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy as ...

It began with the American creators of a giant fighting robot, called MegaBot Mk.II, challenging the Japanese creator of another giant robot, called KURATAS, to a duel. Naturally if there are two giant robots, what else are they going to do but fight? Steeped in the cultural history of giant robots, as a matter of honour Japan promptly accepted the robot duel. Meaning the fight is on like Tron. So much hype, but it now needs to deliver. However, there’s a twist to the saga unfolding. MegaBots are calling upon the American people for help with this fight. Beyond patriotism alone, it’s the guerrilla warfare of donations that is crowdfunding. With MegaBots asking for an initial US$500,000, and up to US$1.5 million, via a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for fighting upgrades for their robot. Mainly because the Japanese Suidobashi Heavy Industries’ CEO Kogoro Kurata agreed to the robot duel not ...

Perhaps because it’s easier to destroy than create, there’s an attempt to destroy Minas Tirith before it can even be realised. Unrealisable. Inconceivable, as well. Whether made from the slimes of the earth or being from corrupted Elves, a group of purported Orcs are making their own crowdfunding attempt to: Destroy Minas Tirith. The Orcs want to raise via crowdfunding, £1 million to destroy Minas Tirith, the capital city of Gondor. Compared to the £1.85 billion Tolkien fans want to crowdfund the building of the White City, it’s a strange fate that they should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little amount. Now it may be that the forces of Mordor seeking to destroy Minas Tirith are not Orcs alone. Or even the Uruk-hai. They may have a cave troll. Or worse, an internet troll. They could also be Olog-hai, and able to ...

A team of Tolkien fans are taking it upon themselves, with the help of some crowdfunding, to build the fictional city of Minas Tirith from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Called Realise Minas Tirith, the crowdfunding campaign is seeking a trivial (compared to the wealth of Smaug) £1.85 billion to create “a beautiful, inspirational and fully-functioning replica of Peter Jackson’s depiction of Minas Tirith,” as was seen in the director’s LOTR films. Two locations for building the real-life Minas Tirith, both in southern England, are currently being considered. If made, the recreated capital city of Gondor, Minas Tirith, would feature both residential and commercial properties, to span across the five tiers of the city. Those contributing to the crowdfunding campaign could buy such properties; and if the funding goal is not reached all pledges will be cancelled, with pennies and gold coins to be returned in full. Sounding the ...

Nintendo fan. Zelda fan. LEGO fan. Combining the three, which some might suggest creates some form of Golden Power, could also lead to 19-year-old Joseph Zawada. Who built the Hyrule Castle from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess entirely out of LEGO. Brick. By brick. By brick. Some two and a half years in the making, no doubt it required the combination of power, wisdom and courage to build the Hyrule Castle from LEGO. Displaying his Hyrule Castle at the recent BrickFair in Virginia, USA, Joseph Zawada talks about his creation in the Beyond the Brick interview below (Midna provided no useful instructions): Hopefully Ganondorf doesn’t revive and destroy Joseph’s LEGO Hyrule Castle in the process. And since it was based on the Twilight Princess version – Zawada’s favourite game in the Zelda franchise – playing an ocarina probably won’t reassemble the LEGO bricks like the chopped up signs in ...