Latest news with #LooneyTunes
Scottish Sun
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Telly icon Glen Michael gets last laugh with Looney Tunes moment at touching funeral
THAT'S ALL FOLKS Telly icon Glen Michael gets last laugh with Looney Tunes moment at touching funeral SHOWBIZ legend Glen Michael was given a final farewell by a crowd of well-wishers as he was laid to rest today - bowing out with The Looney Tunes catchphrase: 'That's all folks'. The telly favourite, who presented Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade on STV for 26 years, passed away at his Ayrshire cottage last week following a short illness. He was 99. Advertisement 7 Glen Michael was laid to rest at Masonhill Crematorium in Ayr today 7 His family paid tribute to the telly icon 7 Glen fronted his iconic show for 26 years 7 The star was 99 when he passed away But Glen was given a send off with the Cavalcade theme tune as his final committal music, before Porky Pig had mourners laughing with the iconic phrase. Earlier in the service Glen's son Chris Buckland, 66, caused more hilarity when he recalled one of the birthday cards a viewer had sent in of Wile E. Coyote with both hands around the Roadrunner's neck with the speech bubble: 'Try and 'beep beep' now, you bastard.' While his daughter Yonnie, 74, recalled a time that her famous dad tried to tart up the family car with a coat of varnish. She said: 'A few hours later, he took mum and I out for a run along the esplanade in his lovely, shiny car, only to realise that when they got out, it resembled a huge flycatcher.' Advertisement Born Cecil Edward Buckland on May 16, 1926 in Paignton, Devon, he came to Scotland in 1952 to try his hand as a stand-up comedian, and stayed here for the rest of his life. In 1966 he launched Cartoon Cavalcade on STV, featuring favourites including Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry which ran until 1992. It became essential Sunday tea time viewing for generations of Scots with Glen accompanied by his companions including Paladin the talking lamp, Totty the Robot and dachshunds Rudi and Rusti. But son Chris revealed that after his father left STV he had taken Cartoon Cavalcade on the road, performing live shows at schools across Scotland - but disaster struck when one night thieves broke into his van. Advertisement He said: 'Instead of finding power tools they had scattered across the garden balloon animals, 300 woof club badges, 157 photos of dad, Paladin the lamp, Totty the robot and a large cardboard cut-out of Spider-Man shouting, 'it's spidey time.'' One Glen's proudest achievement was winning a BAFTA award for the Best Children's Programme in 1975. Glen Michael speaks to the Scottish Sun ahead of 99th birthday While his dancer wife Beryl died 10 years ago. He is survived by his two children, three grandsons and two great granddaughters. 7 Touching badge worn by funeral directors at the service Advertisement 7 Music was hand-picked for the day
IOL News
16-07-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
Road Runner prank goes viral: driver mistakes graffiti for real road
A car has been damaged after a driver drove into a "hyper-realistic" picture of a tunnel with the Looney Tunes character, Road Runner, standing on the side. Image: Instagram When it comes to driving, vigilant eyes are usually trained on road signs and the rules of the open road. But nowadays, drivers are being urged to take an additional precaution: checking if the roads they navigate are genuinely real. Yes, you read that right! Thanks to an audacious prank that has gone viral, reality took a whimsical turn after a graffiti artist decided to paint the iconic "Looney Tunes" character, the Road Runner, right next to a tunnel on the side of a bridge. This stroke of artistic genius - complete with impressive shadow work - was so convincingly realistic that a driver, late at night, crashed into the wall, mistaking it for an actual road! Can you say 'beep-beep?' Images from the scene reveal the aftermath of this unfortunate collision, showing the ill-fated driver's vehicle and igniting a social media firestorm. Now, local authorities are on the hunt for this anonymous artist, whose prank has caused a ruckus online, stirring both mirth and ire in equal parts. The divisive opinions amongst locals have labelled the prank as 'dangerous' and 'genius', drawing comparisons to a scene that could have jumped out of a classic "Looney Tunes" episode. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading While the damage to the car appears to be minor - thank goodness - the authorities are treating this act as vandalism, a public safety risk that could lead to potential slapstick shenanigans. But wait! On the internet, the unknown painter has been rising in popularity like a true folk hero among some circles. The search is ongoing, as is the heated debate about whether this is art, comedy or simply criminal mischief. As the discussions heated up online, netizens took to social media to voice their thoughts. Here's a glimpse at what the Instaverse had to say: @scrubl0r.d wrote: 'That's definitely your fault for hitting that.' @themaxlevan added: 'Imagine explaining this to your insurance.' @hometeam870 said: 'Straight outta Looney Tunes 😂😂😂.' While @j_tix said: 'Honestly, that person who ran into the wall doesn't deserve a licence 😂 like seriously.' This whole episode rekindles the age-old debate about the thin line between creative expression and public safety. While some folks argue it's a reckless act that could've ended far worse, others celebrate it as an immaculate satire of the cartoon world's logic. At this rate, it seems like the Road Runner may have some serious competition - on the roads, at least.
Los Angeles Times
16-07-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
After having a heart attack at 36, a master refinisher shares his tips on ‘a lost art'
Aaron Moore was at his workshop in Garden Grove when the first wave of pain hit. That fall morning in 2022, the furniture refinisher, who was 36 at the time, felt his limbs begin to tingle as he took the clamps off a table. He had been under elevated stress. He was juggling care for a busy toddler and a booming business, along with building a social media presence to promote his work. So as the tingling escalated to moderate chest pain, Moore chalked it up to a panic attack and kept working. It was only upon seeing a late friend's funeral program pinned above his desk that Moore caved and headed to the hospital. Two weeks later, his doctor told him that decision likely saved his life. 'In the hospital, it was a joke, because we didn't really know what was going on,' Moore said. After being told that he'd had a trio of NSTEMI heart attacks (characterized by partial blockage in a coronary artery), he was still unsure how serious they had been. At his two-week follow-up, though, Moore said he learned those 'mini heart attacks' could have been precursors to a deadly finale. 'It was more of a, 'Hey, you just narrowly dodged the widow-maker,'' he said. At home in Orange, Moore didn't have much time to process the episode. His toddler son and newborn daughter kept him plenty busy. However, back in the shop, amid the mesmeric hum of sanders and drum fans, a thought dawned on him: 'What would have happened to all the knowledge if I had died?' A high school woodshop prodigy, Moore got his start in furniture refinishing at a piano company in Anaheim. His boss, a friend's dad, hired him just before he graduated from Esperanza High School, and he stayed at that job for about five years. Moore loved the work, but he hated workplace politics. He wanted to get poached by another refinisher based in Garden Grove. That refinisher's name was Butch Crane, but Moore liked to call him Elmer Fudd after Bugs Bunny's antagonist from Looney Tunes: 'Bald, kind of chunky, wore the red plaid flannels.' When Crane decided to retire in 2010, he was resolved to keep the building out of the city's hands. So he made Moore a deal. 'Five grand. I'm leaving in one month. If you want it, shop's yours,' Moore recalled Crane telling him. Moore accepted. Fifteen years later, the tradesman stood outside Crane's old spray booth, sanding a $25,000 rosewood bench. 'Rosewood has a very floral scent to it,' he said. 'You can smell it in the air.' Above him hung a 'Moore's Refishing' sign, a friend's comical misspelling of the shop's name. Tucked into a corner of industrial Garden Grove, Moore's Refinishing boasts no ornate exterior. The shop's only signage — save for the misprint in the back — graces the top half of its glass front door. Inside, though, is every thrifter's Midcentury Modern dream. Atop a wooden mezzanine, a rattan back desk sits among chestnut-colored dining chairs. Deeper into the shop, a Grotrian-Steinweg piano is just put back on its legs. When Moore first took over the shop, he worked mostly on antiques, or as he calls it, 'grandma's old furniture.' Over the years, he's amassed high-profile clients from specialty collectors to fine art dealers. His most expensive project thus far is a rare Antoine Philippon & Jacqueline Lecoq wall unit that Laguna Beach gallery owner Peter Blake valued at $175,000. At 38, Moore has spent more than half his life in a trade boasting no more than a handful of old-timers to preserve it. After his 2022 health scare, he has been more intent than ever on passing down all he'd learned, but he wasn't sure how. That's when Anastasia Petukhova wound up at his doorstep. Petukhova, a Moscow-born marketer and photographer, was teaching marketing classes part-time at Loyola Marymount University when she began flipping furniture as a social experiment to share with her students. At some point, Petukhova said, 'my flipping sort of evolved from something very basic to some nicer pieces,' and she realized she needed a master to fill in her knowledge gaps. So she started doing her research. 'Turns out there's this guy, Aaron Moore, an hour away from me,' Petukhova said. She messaged him, offering a free photo session in exchange for a refinishing lesson. 'I thought, I show up for half a day, do the skeleton of the process,' she said. 'How difficult can it be?' They met a few days after Moore's cardiac episode. Moore knew it wasn't wise to return to work so soon, but he'd already canceled on Petukhova twice. He didn't want to bail again. The pair ended up working together for more than a year on Petukhova's furniture flips, Moore's online refinishing content and later the coffee table book of Petukhova's dreams. 'Revive and Refine: The Art of Furniture Restoration' (self-published last year and available on Moore's website for $125) is a 240-page starter guide for aspiring refinishers, covering everything from the basics of disassembly to master staining techniques. It's intentionally written in such a way that anyone can pick it up and get started on a project — Moore's wife scanned his manuscript for jargon before the book was published. In the book, Petukhova's images depicting the refinishing process step-by-step are interspersed with fine art-style photographs. The cover image, chosen by Moore's social media followers, is a striking shot of a 1970s Afra and Tobia Scarpa dining chair, so aesthetically composed that the object itself is defamiliarized, taking on the visual quality of an ancient relic. When Moore first entered the industry in the mid-2000s, he said his mentors habitually kept trade secrets. 'This was an industry of gatekeepers,' he said, adding that master tradesmen ultimately viewed their apprentices — working in the same 10- to 15-mile radius as them — as competition. However, in the internet age, there's business enough for everyone, Moore said, and teaching others what he knows doesn't threaten his own livelihood. If anything, it preserves his legacy at a pivotal moment for skilled trades. Enrollment at public two-year schools focusing on vocational and trade programs has risen by nearly 20% since the spring of 2020, according to a May National Student Clearinghouse report. One explanation for this upward trend is the majority belief among Gen Zers that a college degree isn't necessary to obtain a well-paying, stable job. Moore's mission is to capitalize on this resurgence of interest in the trades. He started to notice the uptick on his social media channels, especially after he first started sharing refinishing content on Instagram in 2021. He's since expanded his content by posting longer form videos on YouTube and teaching a paid online course that has 100 members. Moore films most of his online content during the work day, which he admitted has caused some projects to pile up. Blake, the gallery owner, has begun calling Moore 'Aaron Kardashian' — a dig at what he called the refinisher's growing 'influencer' behavior. 'I love giving him s— about [it], you know, when I walk in there and see the tripod,' Blake said. 'I tell him that, 'Of course, my stuff isn't done, because you're so busy being an influencer.'' But like the vast majority of Moore's clients, Blake is mostly content to wait, knowing his go-to refinisher has never skimped on quality. 'I hate to say this, but I pushed the s— out of him,' Blake said. 'I would give him threats all the time that, 'It better be good, Aaron. You realize this is a $30,000 chair. Do not f— it up.' 'I gotta say, he rose to the occasion,' the gallerist said. Ivan Astorga, Moore's only full-time employee, initially had trouble adjusting to his boss' high standards. He began working part-time at Moore's Refinishing in 2016, while still employed at his father-in-law's refinishing business. A couple years in, Moore realized Astorga had downplayed his skills and promoted him to full-time. 'Working here was a complete different ballgame. He demanded only the best for his clients,' Astorga said. At the shop earlier this month, Astorga was making his fourth pass on a chipped wooden table. Several times, he worked a Walmart iron over a wet cloth, then peeled the fabric back to inspect the surface underneath. On the last round, the chip was hardly visible. To this day, whenever Astorga visits his father-in-law's shop, he said he has to hold his tongue about stains and scratches Moore would never miss. In the rare event Moore does make a mistake — like the time he sanded through the veneer on a coffee table — 'we have the capabilities to repair it after,' he said. Sometimes, he added, 'you have to break things first before you can make them better.' Moore said that as a kid growing up in Yorba Linda, he always loved the physicality of taking things apart and putting them back together. But it's not the work itself that has kept him in the industry; it's the stories. Pacing across his workshop, Moore rattled off the names of clients with heirlooms in his queue, smiling as he spoke about one woman who brought in her childhood sewing machine for restoration. Just outside his office, he's curated a Wall of Treasures, composed of miscellaneous objects he found in furniture purchased at auction. Among the bric-a-brac are a hosiery stock card, old negatives and a birthday letter. 'It's history,' Moore said. 'I'm a catch-all person for this, not junk wood.' Moore doesn't see himself retiring any time soon. No one currently stands to replace him, but he's hoping that the supplemental income he derives from his online and in-person coaching side hustle will allow him to spend fewer hours in the shop. 'I'm tired of doing it to this degree,' Moore said, adding that he'd rather make the bulk of his salary teaching refinishing than doing it himself. That plan looks promising as he gears up to send a $20,000 quote to a prospective coaching client. To him, the figure seems inordinate. But to his wife Taylor, it represents the true value of his labor. 'My whole family is attorneys,' said Taylor, a probate paralegal. 'They're looking at it from, 'What is your hourly rate? How long is it going to take you to do this? What would you make in the shop?'' Taylor, 33, added that her husband can sometimes underestimate the value of what he does because 'it's such a lost art.' 'He doesn't realize what he does is so unique, and no one really does it anymore,' she said. 'All the old-timers are either retired or have passed or slowed down.' Financially, it would behoove Moore to keep the trade specialized and therefore more lucrative for himself. But that's not the future he wrote a book for.
The Spinoff
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Friday Poem: ‘Concrete' by Jonny Mahon-Heap
A new poem by Jonny Mahon-Heap. Concrete I waited for the pain to shift. I had bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day good day good day bad day bad day bad day bad day. I had birthdays. I held my breath for a long time. I thought it was all epilogue. I looked like a Looney Tunes character. I saw stars circling around my head. I tried to think relatively. I scrapped together proof of my faith. I waited longer than you can imagine. I tried to shrink time. I thought I was the worst man ever made. I tried to collapse myself. I underwent several controlled explosions. I stepped out of the demolition site. That was seven years ago. There's nothing growing yet. No resource consent. I kept making submissions and realising they were all oppositions. I left the site, circled the block, came back again. I looked for something—anything—in the cracks of the pavement.
New York Post
01-07-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Here's how watching videos at 2x speed is reworking your brain — and the age group most impacted
The fast and the curious? If you're a big fan of watching videos on the internet — like via TikTok, YouTube or Masterclass — chances are you've grown accustomed to listening to people speak at Looney Tunes speed. Speed-watching has become an increasingly common way to consume content since it enables the assimilation of information in half the time or more. Advertisement 3 A new analysis reveals how speed-watching impacts our ability to retain information — and there's a big difference between younger and older brains. fizkes – But have you ever wondered about the effect that it's having on your brain? An international team of researchers set out to determine just that. The group examined 24 studies that generally involved placing participants into two groups — one in which they listened to a video at normal speed and another in which the same video was presented at 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x and 2.5x normal speed. Advertisement Afterwards, both groups were asked to complete tests that assessed how well they retained the video's content. While not much of a difference was recorded at 1.5x, memory retention definitely took a hit at 2x and above. 3 While not much of a difference was recorded at 1.5x, memory retention definitely took a hit at 2x and above. Viktoriia – 'Incoming information is stored temporarily in a memory system called working memory,' Marcus Pearce, who researches cognitive science at Queen Mary University of London, wrote this week in The Conversation about the study. Advertisement 'This allows chunks of information to be transformed, combined and manipulated into a form that is ready for transfer to the long-term memory.' Pearce notes that working memory can only process a certain amount of information at a time — too much at once can lead to cognitive overload and loss of information. The scientific takeaway is to stick to 1.25x or 1.5x speed, especially for unfamiliar, complex content. Advertisement The findings were recently published in the journal Educational Psychology Review. It's tempting to think that the way we consume content today only affects young, developing minds — but this research suggests otherwise. 3 A 2023 study found that older adults see a 31 % drop in understanding at just 1.5x speed, compared to younger peers who maintain over 90 % comprehension at 2x. Dorde – Adults aged 61 to 94 were more impacted by the faster speeds than those 18 to 36 years old. A 2023 study found that older adults see a 31 % drop in understanding at just 1.5x speed, compared to younger peers who maintain over 90 % comprehension at 2x. What's unclear, at this point, is whether the issue is age or practice — meaning, are younger adults better at consuming content at faster speeds because their minds are more pliable or is it simply because they've trained their brains by doing it more often? If it's the latter, can older adults improve? Advertisement The limited research we have indicates that, sadly, the answer is not so much. Younger brains are simply more adaptable, although studies do suggest that older adults can train to get better, even if they often require more time and likely hit a plateau sooner. If older adults want to rewire their brains for speed-watching, a deliberate program of gradual speed training, retention checks and cognitive boosting is the most promising route. The good news is that experts say that consuming content at normal speed actually makes it more enjoyable for everyone.
