Jenny's Noodle

If you watched the MTV Movie Awards two weeks ago, you probably caught the sneak peak trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—the seventh and final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. Today, Warner Brothers released the much-anticipated official HD trailer for Part 1 of the 2-part epic; "the finale of the worldwide phenomenon, the motion picture event of a generation."


Here is the official synopsis for Deathly Hallows:

Part 1 begins as Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission to track down and destroy the secret to Voldemort's immortality and destruction—the Horcruxes. On their own, without the guidance of their professors or the protection of Professor Dumbledore, the three friends must now rely on one another more than ever. But there are Dark Forces in their midst that threaten to tear them apart.

Meanwhile, the wizarding world has become a dangerous place for all enemies of the Dark Lord. The long-feared war has begun and Voldemort's Death Eaters seize control of the Ministry of Magic and even Hogwarts, terrorizing and arresting anyone who might oppose them. But the one prize they still seek is the one most valuable to Voldemort: Harry Potter. The Chosen One has become the hunted one as the Death Eaters search for Harry with orders to bring him to Voldemort...alive.

Harry's only hope is to find the Horcruxes before Voldemort finds him. But as he searches for clues, he uncovers an old and almost forgotten tale—the legend of the Deathly Hallows. And if the legend turns out to be true, it could give Voldemort the ultimate power he seeks.

Little does Harry know that his future has already been decided by his past when, on that fateful day, he became "the Boy Who Lived." No longer just a boy, Harry Potter is drawing ever closer to the task for which he has been preparing since the day he first stepped into Hogwarts: the ultimate battle with Voldemort.

Part 1 of Deathly Hallows arrives in theaters November 19, while Part 2 is scheduled to open July 15, 2011—both movies will be released in IMAX 3D.

Spaghetti Stiletto ($350). Photo credit: Sole Sensations via Etsy

You can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the Spaghetti Stiletto—after all, this blog is named Jenny's Noodle for a reason. The high-heeled shoe is among many scrumptious sculptures in the Etsy shop Sole Sensations, designed by Robert Tabor. Here are a couple more of Tabor's delectable footwear offerings:

Cherry Pie Mule ($350). Photo credit: Sole Sensations via Etsy

Brisket Flip Flop ($295). Photo credit: Sole Sensations via Etsy

Image credit: Jacques Khouri

In this short film, director Jacques Khouri asks:


Watch as letters get animated in Words.

Photo credit: LoveBones via Flickr

How adorable are these Hello Kitty mini pizzas?! Hello Kitty—so cute! Anything mini—even cuter! And pizza—yum! I especially love the teeny pepperoni bow!

[via Neatorama]

Buddhist monks create a sand mandala at Emory University as part of "Tibet Week" 2010. Photo credit: Mark Hill/CNN

mandala

Part of Speech: n
Definition: Any of various ritualistic geometric designs symbolic of the universe, used in Hinduism and Buddhism as an aid to meditation.
Pronunciation: mŭn'də-lə
Etymology: from Sanskrit meaning "disc" or "circle"

[source]

Monks have been creating sand mandalas for thousands of years. The process begins with a free-hand outline drawn using chalk, rulers and compasses. The monks then rub a grated metal rod against a traditional metal funnel called a chak-pur to carefully place millions of grains of colored sand into the geometric mandala design.

As part of the annual "Tibet Week" celebration at Emory University, a group of Buddhist monks spent approximately 150 hours over six days creating an extravagant sand mandala. The ritual continued after the last grain of sand was placed, when, instead of admiring their handiwork, the monks passed out half of the sand to the audience as blessings for health and healing. The rest of the sand was poured into a nearby river as a gift to Mother Earth. The idea is that the sands symbolize the impermanence of life and carry the prayers they embody onward to everything they touch.

Watch the entire process in about two minutes thanks to time-lapse video. [via CNN]

Image credit: Sherwin-Williams

Imagine a world where everything from the birds and the bees to the flowers and the trees is made of colorful paint chips. The new Sherwin-Williams ads use stunning animation to bring that concept to life.

"Revenge Baby." An oldie but goodie.

Here's the answer to last week's (June 20) NPR Sunday Puzzle:

Answer: Saint and sinner (derived from paint thinner).

NPR Sunday Puzzle for June 27:
Name a famous English composer with two vowels in his last name. Interchange the vowels and you'll get the last name of a famous American writer. Who are these two people?

Submit your answer to NPR for a chance to be on next week's broadcast and be sure to visit Jenny's Noodle next Sunday to see the correct answer!

"Hello, ready to write by hand on your computer?" Create personalized fonts with PilotHandwriting. Photo credit: Pilot

Love the convenience of email, but miss the personalized touch of handwriting? Now you can have both with a new application from Pilot Pen company.

PilotHandwriting allows you to turn your own handwriting into a font. All you have to do is print out a template (like the one pictured above), write the corresponding letters in each box, upload the completed template (via webcam, scanner, or digital camera) to the site, and finally, make any corrections.

The bad news? As of yet, PilotHandwriting doesn't allow you to download the fonts; you can only compose and send emails from their site. Still, it's fun to play around with the application.

Image credit: Wikipedia

This is the 100th posting at Jenny's Noodle!
Thank you to all of the readers out there for your continued support! I hope to keep entertaining you for many more postings to come!

June 24, 2010: Lightning strikes (left to right) the John Hancock Building, Trump Tower, and Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower). Photo credit: cshimala via Flickr

A strong summer thunderstorm hit Chicago on Wednesday, with lightning striking three of the city's tallest buildings—all at the same time! Local Craig Shimala captured the eventful moment on video:

Elaine was not amused by Gary’s passive-aggressive response to her request to "garnish the cocktails."

The above photo and accompanying caption come from a funny new site called Catalog Living: "A look into the exciting lives of the people who live in your catalogs." Written by comedian and actress Molly Erdman (who you may recognize from the Sonic commercials), Catalog Living's hilarious captions give some personality to those customarily mundane decor photos.

[via Neatorama]

The Tulip wine goblet. Photo credit: Wine Innovations

"Peel—>Enjoy—>Recycle" is the motto of creative packaging company Wine Innovations, makers of a disposable wine goblet called the Tulip.

Designed by inventor James Nash, these recyclable goblets resemble Jell-O cups with stems attached—but the substance contained in these glasses is not kid-friendly. Each cup holds about 6 ounces of Shiraz, Rose, or Chardonnay—the perfect amount for an impromptu picnic or a little after work relief for commuters. No corkscrew? No problem. Just tear off the lid and enjoy.

The Tulip is currently available only in the UK and Europe, and sells for $3.40 a glass. But Nash is hopeful for a U.S. distribution in the near future (and so am I!).

[via Daily Mail]

Photo via Buzzfeed

What else would follow today's lunar eclipse but an emotisun?! :)

June 26, 2010: The partial lunar eclipse as it set over Boise, Idaho and the distant Owyhee Mountains on Saturday morning. Photo credit: Jared Aicher via spaceweather.com

This map shows where the June 26, 2010 eclipse was most visible throughout the world.

You didn't have to be "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" to have enjoyed an eclipse on Saturday. If (unlike myself) you decided not to sleep in, you may have caught a glimpse of the partial lunar eclipse.

During a lunar eclipse, the Earth blocks out some of the sun's rays that would normally reach the moon.

The eclipse started at 10:17 Universal Time (6:17am Eastern Time) and lasted for almost 3 hours. At maximum eclipse, 53.7% of the moon was covered by the earth's shadow.

Saturday morning's celestial event was the first of two lunar eclipses in 2010; the next will be a total lunar eclipse, visible over North and South America on December 21, 2010. There will be a total solar eclipse over the South Pacific on July 11, 2010.

An outdoor swimming pool is a hotel amenity most of us appreciate, but the newly-opened Marina Bay Sands in Singapore takes swimming to a "whole...'notha...level". The hotel's Skypark offers guests the luxury of swimming in a 450-foot long infinity pool (three times the length of an Olympic pool), and it's located 55-stories (650 feet) above ground! The hotel complex also includes 2,500 hotel rooms, a casino, a luxury shopping mall, two theaters and a museum.

Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik's sculpture honoring Michael Jackson on a beach at Puri, India. Photo credit: AP

Fans around the world are paying tribute today to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009). From monuments, to walls of photos, to wax sculptures, there are countless MJ memorials popping up all over the world. This sand sculpture in India is one of the more intricate, creative tributes to the late pop star.

Photo credit: Vid Nikolic

See how simple carving watermelons can be? Remember the skills you learned here and you'll surely impress the guests at your next summer party.

But seriously, how amazing was that?

[via I Like Cool]

June 24, 2010: John Isner wins the longest tennis match in history at Wimbledon. Photo credit: Suzanne Plunkett

After 11 hours and 5 minutes—played over 3 days—American John Isner beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the longest tennis match ever recorded. It happened at the prestigious annual Wimbledon tournament in London. The final score after 5 grueling sets was 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68. My feet hurt just thinking about it.

Another man, Mohamed Lahyani of Sweden, also entered the history books today, as the umpire who presided over the longest match in tennis history.

"It has been quite amazing to be involved with such an extraordinary match," Lahyani told the AP. "I can't imagine seeing another one like it in my lifetime."

Quite an accomplishment. And after such a strenuous workout and burning so many calories, I would be especially excited for the celebration meal. Wonder what they'll have...

Image credit: epicponyz

Awww. This is even sadder than Sad Keanu.

Image credit: Flickr via Chutzpah's soup

If you've ever played Tetris, then you get it. If not, may God have mercy on your soul.

A big thank you to Dan Baghdoian for submitting the following guest post—hopefully the first of many! Are you interested in contributing a story to Jenny's Noodle? Send me an email

Image credit: DC Universe

June 1938 was a landmark year for science fiction as one of the genre’s greatest—if not THE greatest—icons was born: The Man of Steel, Superman!

Wednesday, June 23 marks another landmark as Superman’s self-titled comic book series reaches issue #700. Famed science fiction creator/author J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Thor) will be jumping onboard to usher the Last Son of Krypton into a new era.

This giant-sized issue promises to be a real treat for Superman fans, as it not only introduces a new status quo for the character, but ties up loose ends from the previous creative team.

Here’s to another 700, Superman!

Qlocktwo in frozen blackberry. Photo credit: Biegert & Funk

A clock that tells time in words, QlockTwo has a quadratic matrix of letters, where some of the letters are illuminated. The time is displayed as text in five minute intervals. The QlockTwo is available in a variety of colors and several languages. It's a bit pricey but certainly a clever concept.

Buy it ($1,085) at Biegert & Funk

[via TWBE]

Nutritional facts: 1,500 calories, 79g fat, 101 carbs—why not order two? Photo credit: The Daily What

Move aside KFC Double Down, the Friendly's Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt is here. The new chubwich consists of a big beef burger topped with mayo, lettuce and tomato (so healthy!), all between two hot grilled cheese sandwiches. That's all well and good, but what about the bacon? And how about putting cheese on top of the burger itself, or better yet, two types of cheese? Seriously, what a gyp!

[via Consumerist]

"Teamwork" by Torakamikaze.

'I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll...Oh, Yeah!'

A cute tee-shirt for sale ($10) at Woot. (Update: Currently sold out.)

[via The Daily What]

June 21, 2010: The Summer Solstice celebrated at Stonehenge. [Photo credit: PA via DailyMail]

Happy Summer!

June 21 is the Summer Solstice (derived from the Latin sol or "sun" and sistere meaning "to stand still")—the day when the sun shines in the northern hemisphere for the longest period of time all year.

This year, an estimated 20,000 druids, hippies and others gathered at prehistoric Stonehenge in southern England as part of an annual pilgrimage marking the event. The sun rose at 4:52am, aligning with the Heel Stone, located just outside the main circle of ancient rocks.

More photos here

Lemon cake with lemon pudding filling, yellow buttercream frosting and Jujubes decorations. [Photo credit: ©Jennifer Tashman/JennysNoodle.blogspot.com]

By popular demand, here's an exclusive look at my Father's Day/Start of Summer lemon cake! (Could the photo quality be any worse? Probably not!)

An obligatory vuvuzela post; my first and last. The World Cup has created so much buzz around this simple instrument. Here's an infographic with some random facts that you may know about the vuvuzela.

[Image credit: Socialradar via Mashable]

Each of the 500 colored pencils has a creative name.

"It's about enjoying an unhurried creative process," says Felissimo, a Japanese company offering a colored pencil-of-the-month club.

It's every artist's dream. For around $20 per month, the recipient will receive 25 colored pencils every month for 20 months; a total of 500 comprise the final set. Like Jelly Bellys, each pencil has a unique hue with an inventive name, like Mermaid's Gown, Drizzly Afternoon and Pumpkin Pudding.

Felissimo says the beauty of 500 Pencils is that you don't receive all of them at once. The company urges artists to: "Express whatever you dream, with beautiful visual precision. Together, the colors suggest infinite possibilities."

Various options for showcasing the set are also offered, include aurora—a wall mounted display, and color wave.

Aurora wall display. [Photo credit: Felissimo]

Color wave display. [Photo credit: Felissimo]

Sign me up, please!

Happy Father's Day!
Ever year we honor our dads on the third Sunday in June. But did you know? Father's Day 2010 is the 100th anniversary of the holiday.

It all began with a woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Her father was a Civil War veteran, who raised Dodd and her five siblings after their mother died in childbirth. She thought of the idea of a holiday to celebrate dads in 1909 while listening to a sermon on Mother's Day. Local religious leaders supported the idea and the first Father's Day was celebrated June 19, 1910 (the month of Dodd's father's birthday).

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge gave his support to the observance and in 1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson officially proclaimed it a national holiday. Father's Day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972. [source]

To my dad and everyone else's—Happy Father's Day!

Here's the answer to last week's (June 13) NPR Sunday Puzzle:

Answer: The first two letters of the first and last name are in alphabetical order first to last name. For example, Christian Dior, C-D, H-I. Of the five names given, only Richard Simmons did not have this quality.

(I submitted Stanley Tucci as another name with this property. Did you think of any others?)

NPR Sunday Puzzle for June 20:
Think of a product for sale at a hardware store. It's a generic two-word name. Replace the first letter of the first word with an S, and replace the first two letters of the second word with an S, and the result will be two new words that are opposites. What are they?

Submit your answer to NPR for a chance to be on next week's broadcast and be sure to visit Jenny's Noodle next Sunday to see the correct answer!

As part of a clever new ad campaign, Volkswagen asks subway commuters and grocery shoppers—"Are you ready for the FAST LANE?"

"Fast Lane is dedicated to everyone who loves to go beyond the regular, who is curious for new stuff and who simply enjoys to speed it all up a little. FAST LANE – Driven by fun."

The long staircase or the slide? The standard grocery cart or the pimped out skateboard version? I know which route I'd choose, how about you?



[Photo credit: VW]

Hello Kitty Motor Oil is being produced by Agip and costs $33. [Photo credit: bookofjoe.com]

Coming soon in Japan—Hello Kitty Motor Oil. Bet you thought those four words would never be used in any sort of proximity to each other. I happen to dabble in collecting Hello Kitty items, just a little. But motor oil? Really? I wonder who the target audience is supposed to be?

[Image credit: onlineschools.org]

Next time you pick and flick just remember you're not alone. [via AllTop]

[Image credit: Disney/Pixar]

Toy Story 3 opens today!
Beloved characters like Woody and Buzz return, joined by 14 other new toys—Big Baby, Bookworm (adorbz), Buttercup, Chatter Telephone, Chunk, Dolly, Ken, Lots-O'-Huggin'-Bear, Mr. Pricklepants, Peas-in-a-Pod (so cute), Sparks, Stretch, Trixie and Twitch (see them all here).

Preliminary reviews of the sequel are overwhelmingly positive, although many critics agree that the third installment of the Toy Story franchise doesn't quite live up to the first two. And typical of Pixar, Toy Story 3 contains its share of clever Easter Eggs, detailed here.

The Official Synopsis:
Toy Story 3 welcomes Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), Buzz (voice of Tim Allen) and the whole gang back to the big screen as Andy prepares to depart for college and his loyal toys find themselves in day care! These untamed tots with their sticky little fingers do not play nice, so it's all for one and one for all as plans for the great escape get underway. A few new faces--some plastic, some plush--join the adventure, including iconic swinging bachelor and Barbie's counterpart Ken (voice of Michael Keaton), a thespian hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants (voice of Timothy Dalton) and a pink, strawberry-scented teddy bear called Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear (voice of Ned Beatty).

Musician Teppei Okada plays the soundtracks to classic Nintendo games like you've never heard them before—on violin!

Listen as Okada plays the score to levels one and two of Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3.

Additional videos showcasing the NES musical stylings of Okada are here. (Obligatory addition to the future playlist: ZELDA!)



[via Buzzfeed]

[Photo credit: tsgquickdishing.com]

Macaroni and cheese—everyone's favorite comfort food—existed way before that famous blue box. So when and where was the warm, gooey, delicious dish invented? It all began in Italy, of course.

The first recipe for mac and cheese is thought to have originated from a 13th century Italian cookbook called the Liber de Coquina, or Book of Cooking. According to food historians, the recipe for de lasanis called for sheet pasta cut into two-inch (50-millimeter) squares, cooked in water and tossed with grated cheese, likely Parmesan.

Thomas Jefferson's macaroni machine with instructions for making pasta (1787). [Photo credit: Library of Congress]

The popular dish spread throughout Europe, eventually reaching colonial America. Today it's a pretty inexpensive meal, but in the 19th century, macaroni and cheese was primarily reserved for the upper classes. In fact, many historians credit Thomas Jefferson with introducing the dish to the United States. Jefferson dined on mac and cheese while he was in Italy and loved it so much that he brought a pasta maker back with him to the U.S.; the dish was first served at the White House in 1802.

As part of its new ad campaign, on Tuesday, Kraft installed a 20-foot long elbow macaroni sculpture outside of Chicago's Wrigley Field. [Photo credit: Chicago Breaking Sports]

During the Industrial Revolution, pasta production became easier and macaroni was made readily available to the masses. Kraft Foods introduced their version of macaroni and cheese in 1937, at the end of the Great Depression. Called "the housewife's best friend, a nourishing one pot meal," it was a fast, filling and inexpensive way to feed a family.

[via AllTop; TLC Cooking]

"Silver Back" (2007) by David Mach.

In 2007, artist David Mach entered the Guinness Book of Records for creating the "largest coat hanger installation"—a giant gorilla sculpture entitled Silver Back. The seven-foot tall, nine-foot long, five-foot wide piece was constructed from 7,500 hangers.

Silver Back is currently on view as part of the annual Summer Exhibition at London's Royal Academy of Arts. Now in its 242nd year, the RCA Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open contemporary art exhibition, showcasing work by both emerging and established artists in all media including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, architecture and film.

Here are more of Mach's innovative sculptures, all created using thousands of matchsticks.