It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Dutch gymnast Epke Zonderland’s knockout horizontal bar routine. The gold medal-winning performance has us questioning whether Zonderland is part-man, part-Peter Pan, as he acrobatically twirls through the air. Onlookers and judges — not surprisingly — dropped their jaws as Zonderland performed three back-to-back release maneuvers. What do you think: Best gymnastics routine you’ve seen this summer? BONUS: Must-Follow Athletes on Twitter 2012 Olympics: The Must-Follow Athletes on Twitter 1. Lolo Jones Jones, whose social media success we profiled in May, is the standard bearer for Olympians on Twitter. She’s honest, hilarious, tweets often, and is a world class hurdler for the United States. 2. Kevin Love A member of the American men’s basketball team, Love is one of the NBA’s cleverest players on Twitter. He should be an entertaining follow in London. 3. Usain Bolt Bolt will be one of the Olympics’ biggest stars. The Jamaican sprinter recently told us about his interest in tech and social media. He shares photos often on Twitter. 4. Juan Mata Mata helped Spain to the Euro 2012 title earlier this summer and will look to follow that up with an Olympic championship in August. He tweets in English and Spanish. 5. Caroline Wozniacki The Danish tennis star is engaging on Twitter, frequently posting her training and status updates. Even better, she dates pro golfer Rory Mcilroy — both are terrific follows when the other is competing. 6. Candace Parker The top women’s basketball player in the world suits up for the United States. Parker is active, humorous and down-to-earth on social media. 7. Ricky Berens The American swimmer told us in May that he uses social media to boost his visibility and marketing potential. His lighthearted tweets and frequent interactions with fans on Twitter helped him pick up sponsors like BMW and Got Chocolate Milk. 8. Jordan Burroughs A wrestler for the United States, Burroughs’ frequent updates, enthusiasm and humor have helped him rack up more than 20,000 followers. His handle, @alliseeisgold, is pretty cool too. 9. Dominik Meichtry Meichtry swims for Switzerland and is betrothed to American swimmer Jessica Hardy. He’s enthusiastic about sharing the Olympic experience with followers. 10. Nick Symmonds The American middle-distance runner spoke to us in June. He is super active on Twitter and is an outspoken advocate for Olympians’ rights to market themselves, despite IOC restrictions. 11. LeBron James Perhaps the 2012 Olympics’ biggest celebrity, James won his first NBA title with the Miami Heat in June and will look to follow up in London with his second gold medal. He took time off Twitter during the NBA Playoffs, but will likely be much more active during the summer games. 12. Neymar The soccer prodigy tweets mostly in Portuguese, but should be a fun follow as he tries to lead Brazil to its first Olympic title. 13. Natalie Coughlin An American swimmer, Coughlin is super friendly, funny and accessible on Twitter. 14. Rebecca Adlington In May, it was reported […]
There are short stories, and then there are short stories that shake you to the core. It could be the ending, or a twist halfway through, or just the entire story that makes you go “WTF?!” from start to finish. There are last lines that change the meaning of the entire story. There are stories that you don’t understand until you read them multiple times. There are moments that shock you, anger you, unsettle you, freak you out, or make you want to throw the book across the room and scream “WHAT?!”. Above all, these are stories that you won’t easily forget. Dive into this list if you want to give your brain (and your pulse) a workout. short stories 1. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson This is one of the most famous short stories in American literature with a memorable ending that’s sure to rock you. An American small town seems innocuous enough — but oh, it is not. Image: Amazon Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce This story of a Civil War execution plays with time and has an ending that makes the story even more confusing, if that’s possible. Image: Amazon Dover Publications 3. A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger This is the first appearance of Seymour Glass in the Salinger canon, and it’s safe to say you won’t truly understand the ending until you read every other Glass story. Maybe not even then. Image: Amazon Back Bay Books 4. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor Another classic and unforgettable American short story in which a family road trip turns into something else. You can guess what’s going to happen, yet you’re still not prepared for it. Image: Amazon Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 5. Child’s Play by Alice Munro Alice Munro is the master of the disturbing, multi-layered short story, but when she turns her attention to the behavior of children, she truly outdoes herself. Image: Amazon Vintage 6. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell This thriller inspired an episode of CBS Radio’s Suspense starring Orson Welles and a 1932 film. Image: Amazon Waking Lion Press 7. The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe Poe is famous for the macabre and supernatural, and this story is one of his most memorable. Image: Amazon Penguin Classics 8. The Catbird Seat by James Thurber The office frustrations of an unassuming middle-aged man quickly spiral out of control in this tale by the author who brought us the deceptive story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Image: Amazon Library of America 9. The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Luis Borges is a master of magical realism, and this story will make you contemplate the universe. Image: Amazon Penguin Classics 10. Zombie by Chuck Palahniuk This story is just plain cerebral. Image: Playboy 11. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman You slowly start to realize that something isn’t quite right in this story, although the […]
Quick — who was born in 1926 and died in 1962? Unless you’re a superfan, chances are you wouldn’t have known offhand that the answer is Marilyn Monroe. Steve Ellison, on the other hand, can answer in seconds. Also known as the “Human Wikipedia,” Ellison has the rare ability to remember the birth and death year of any famous person in history. Posted Wednesday, a YouTube video shows random crowds of strangers testing his memory. From Michael Jackson to the trickier John Steinbeck, Ellison consistently gets it right — and even corrects a few people along the way. The video, uploaded to YouTuber Charles Trippy’s account, claims to be real. Check it out, above; then tell us in the comments: Are you impressed with the Human Wikipedia? Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/11/01/human-wikipedia/
ESPN‘s long-running line of “This Is Sportscenter” ads take a whimsical and bizarre angle on the legendary show’s behind-the-scenes productions, imagining scenarios and backstories that, for all we know, could actually be true. They’ve produced some really funny spots over the years. But the latest offering — which purports to reveal that straight-laced NFL analyst John Clayton actually rocks a gnarly ponytail, head-bangs to Slayer and still lives with his mother — may be SportsCenter’s best ad yet. That was the chatter on the social web after the spot instantly started spreading in sports circles upon hitting YouTube Thursday morning — high praise considering the campaign’s hilarious history. So kudos to ESPN on another successful spot. But it may not match this ad from April, which showed why it actually sucks to be Michael Jordan. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/06/sportscenter-john-clayton/
Superbike racer Riccardo Russo made an error at the 2012 Italian CIV championship race in Mugello he’ll likely remember all his life: He forgot to run the last lap! To make the situation even worse, Russo was leading the race at the time. As he crossed the finish line, he slowed down and started celebrating his “win,” while all the other racers whizzed past him. The video above shows the unfortunate celebration for a while, and then the director switches to the rest of the racers who completed the final lap. While Russo’s error seems quite unbelievable, these types of mistakes occasionally do happen in racing. Spanish racer Julián Simón famously celebrated his win too early in 2009, eventually finishing fourth in the race. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/11/motorcycle-race-leader-forgets-to-run-last-lap/
Many people consider pogo sticks a children’s toy — think again. With a few upgrades, pogoing can bounce from a mildly dangerous childhood activity into an a treacherously awesome extreme sport. These Xpogo athletes redefine the old-fashioned bouncy stick with tricks and flips that would terrify your mother. Some of the jumpers can reach heights of 10 feet, measuring from stick tip to ground. Video: YouTube, GoPro Do you have your helmet on? BONUS: 15 Terrifying GoPro Videos to Make Your Heart Skip GoPro Sweats 1. Video: YouTube, GoPro 2. Video: YouTube, James Kingston 3. Video: YouTube, dk4one7 4. Video: YouTube, GoPro 5. Video: YouTube, GoPro 6. Video: YouTube, GoPro 7. Video: YouTube, GoPro 8. Video: YouTube, GoPro 9. Video: YouTube, GoPro 10. Video: YouTube, GoPro 11. Video: YouTube, GoPro 12. Video: YouTube, A Donnelly 13. Video: YouTube, GoPro 14. Video: YouTube, Ethan Swanson 15. Video: YouTube, John Collis Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/06/02/extreme-pogo-video-xpogo/
Fadi Saleh of baracksdubs has already mixed videos of President Barack Obama singing Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen, so it was only a matter of time before Obama crooned One Direction. Saleh, a biochemistry major who makes these videos in his spare time, has taken viewer requests for Obama’s next dubs since LMFAO’s Sexy and I Know It. Now he’s back with One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful — with a little help from Steve Shane and Matty Trump on instrumentals. Some of the artists covered have tweeted out Saleh’s videos, but he’s more excited to see what viewers on YouTube have to say about them. “I plan to keep doing this until people aren’t entertained by it,” he told the Daily Dot. Which leaves us wondering, how long until the inevitable Gotye cover? Tempo Storm expand into Heroes of the Storm, pick up Symbiote Gaming D’Angelo gets politically righteous with ‘SNL’ performance The most embarrassing questions we’re Googling before the Super Bowl Justin Timberlake confirms baby news in the cutest way possible This article originally published at The Daily Dot here Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/23/barack-obama-one-direction/
