World’s Strangest

Most of you already know that Purple Hearts are medals awarded to soldiers who have been injured by the enemy while serving in the U.S. Military (or posthumously to those killed in combat), but you might not know that these famous figures have received the medal. 1. Charles Bronson Getty Images You know Charles Bronson for his roles [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of Bill DeMain’s new column, where he explores the real historical events that inspired various songs. “Music History” will appear twice a month. “Smoke on the Water” Written by Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice (1972) Originally performed by Deep Purple The Music It’s the riff that will not [...]

Purple Rain goddess Apollonia turns 52 today. To honor the most notable partner of the Purple One, we’ve rounded up an assortment of covers of the signature song from the duo’s 1984 film. Happy birthday, girl! Prince Dred Scott Enrique Iglesias Tori Amos Darius Rucker Ben Harper Natasha Bedingfield Tom Jones

Purple Rain as a science fiction thriller? Sure! London-based Graphic designer Christophe Gowans took twenty-six musical albums and depicted them as novels, aging them to indicate use. You can view the rest at the link. Link via Boing Boing | Screenshot: Mother Jones

‘Purple Forest’ from MORPHOLOGIC on Vimeo. In this video titled Purple Forest, you can see how the decorator crab makes its way in the world. By adding predictable detritus to its wardrobe, and after waiting for the currents to land an appropriate morsel of tasty goodness onto its shell, the unseen crab hooks his prey. The unsuspecting [...]

China’s Purple Mountain Observatory has revealed 40 minutes of footage showing a mysterious object in the sky taken during the solar eclipse earli…