Not every moment of movie genius is written down in the script. Take this collection of ad-libs and off-script moments, for instance…

Sometimes, the genius moments of a film weren’t in the script, and happened in an off-the-cuff moment on the shoot itself. Here are 10 examples of when an ad-lib or off-script moment went very, very right…

Taxi Driver: “You talkin’ to me?”
(Martin Scorsese, 1976)

Arguably the most famous cinematic quote of all time, “You talkin’ to me?” was actually improvised. Even though the film’s screenplay was written by the brilliant Paul Schrader (who also wrote the adapted screenplay for Scorsese’s Raging Bull), it’s this line which has gone down in the annals of pop culture history.

Director Martin Scorsese has always encouraged Robert De Niro’s creativity, proving that actors can contribute more than just their performance, and in this instance it paid off.

In the original script Schrader had simply written “Bickle speaks to himself in the mirror.” Alone in his grubby apartment, De Niro’s loner sociopath character Travis Bickle is planning to shoot a politician. In the mirror he is practising with the sleeve-holster he made for his gun. Catching his reflection, he postures, repeating “You talkin’ to me?” before whipping out his gun and taking aim. It is a moment of stunning personal insight into a character as flawed, intriguing and complex as you will ever see on the big screen.

The Shining “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!”
(Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

Adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name, The Shining is one of Kubrick’s best known and most commercially successful films. The shoot was a famously difficult one, as Kubrick was notorious for being a controlling, sometimes cruel, filmmaker.

It’s common knowledge that the fear displayed by Shelley Duval (playing Wendy Torrance) in the film was genuine. Kubrick would scream and shout at her, and allegedly even slapped her across the face during one take. So the spooky, tense and horrifying atmosphere we see on screen is often authentic, and perhaps inspired Jack Nicholson to ad-lib one of his most famous lines.

Jack Torrance (Nicholson’s character) slowly loses his mind when stationed to mind a remote hotel with his wife and little boy. At a pinnacle stage in the narrative, he chases his wife (Duval) through the hotel with an axe. She locks herself in a bathroom, and when Torrance chops through the door, he pokes his demented face through the hole and wails, “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!”

Nicholson was mimicking the catchphrase used by Ed McMahon to introduce Johnny Carson on The Johnny Carson Show (a hugely popular show at the time). It is this juxtaposition, in terms of connotation and context, that gives it such a magnificently dark, creepy, yet disturbingly humorous, effect.

Despite the screenplay being adapted from a book by one of the best horror novelists of all time, “Heeeeeere’s Johnny!” is certainly the most easily remembered line from this uber-stylish classic.

Indiana Jones And The Raiders Of The Lost Ark: Jones shoots the swordsman
(Steven Spielberg, 1981)

The story behind this scene is almost as famous as the scene itself. Harrison Ford, playing our protagonist explorer Indie Jones, got a bad case of food poisoning and dysentery. He was due to shoot a big fight scene with a skilled swordsman the next day. Not able to take on the action, Ford suggested to Spielberg that he simply shoot the over-zealous antagonist, in a quip that sums up the ethos and feel of Jones’ character perfectly.

So, following an arduous journey through the streets of Egypt, the crowd parts to reveal a sinister, threatening swordsman dressed in black. He faces Jones, but straight after he cuts some impressive pre-fight moves in an attempt to intimidate his opponent, Jones draws and shoots him down in one. And off-script movie magic is made.

Blade Runner: Roy Batty’s final soliloquy
(Ridley Scott, 1982)

With Harrison Ford in the lead again (this time as Rick Deckard) we come to Ridley Scott’s revered sci-fi epic Blade Runner. The screenplay was based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?.

Hollywood legend has it that Martin Scorsese was originally interested in the adaptation but never optioned it. That would have been interesting. But we all love Scott’s dark, moody, original and highly influential shoot which launched a thousand mimics. And we especially love the Aryan, cold, violent Roy Batty, the perfect replicant (android).

Played fantastically by Rutger Hauer, Batty is LAPD Officer Deckard’s nemesis. In the end Batty’s life is drawing to a close, and like so much in the film, it makes a social comment on all kinds of issues.

So, sitting on a rooftop in the pouring rain Hauer takes the first few lines from David Peoples’ script and adds a couple of very memorable closing lines as his character’s last words. “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time. Like tears in the rain. Time to die.”

Mad to think Bladerunner is set in 2019. Doubt we’ll have such perfect androids in only ten years’ time.

The Third Man: Lime’s cuckoo clock maxim
(Carol Reed, 1949)

Carol Reed’s The Third Man is a film that constantly appears on ‘best film’ lists. It’s a beautifully shot and scripted testament to the art of film noir, starring notorious movie heavyweight Orson Welles. It also has one of the most ferociously famous theme tunes in film history (even if it doesn’t come to mind right now, you do know it).

One of its most memorable moments comes when Harry Lime (Welles) is trying to convince his old friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) to join him in some dubious dealings. He’s explaining that to make omelettes you need to break eggs.

Illustrating Welles’ absolute cinematic brilliance, he includes the cuckoo line. It was not part of the original screenplay, adapted from a novel by reputable writer Graham Greene, but is perhaps the best known quote of the film: “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. They produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

Midnight Cowboy: “I’m walkin’ here!”
(John Schlesinger, 1969)

Okay, it’s been disputed as to whether this was off-script or not. But it’s not past the methodical Dustin Hoffman to ad-lib such a brilliant line.

Midnight Cowboy won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (John Schlesinger) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Waldo Salt). It’s the only X-rated film to have won any Oscars, and the only other X-rated nomination in history was Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971).

There is a scene in which Hoffman’s unforgettable ‘Ratso’ Rizzo is walking our midnight cowboy Joe Buck (played by a young Jon Voight) through the streets of New York. He’s coaching him about becoming a successful stud and gigolo, and while crossing a street nearly gets hit by a yellow cab. Hoffman beats the hood with his fist and shouts, “I’m walkin’ here!” in his unique New York parlance, yhen quickly retorts to Voight, “Actually, that ain’t a bad way to pick up insurance y’know.”

“I’m walkin’ here.” is often cited as one of the world’s best movie quotes. It’s usually thought of as an improvised line, which Hoffman has claimed. And he is certainly more than capable of this kind of fleshed-out character portrayal. But producer Jermoe Hellman has always maintained that it was in the script. The romantic film buff in me likes to believe the former, but I guess we may never really know.

Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb: Dr. Strangelove’s sporadic involuntary Nazi salute
(Stanley Kubrick, 1964)

Apparently, so many of Sellers’ lines in Dr. Strangelove were improvised that he is often cited as an uncredited co-writer. And it is considered a study of retro-scripting, ie. when ad-libbed lines are later written into the final script. So, it’s difficult to know which one to pick, but perhaps the most ingenious and intuitive is when his title character performs sudden involuntary Nazi salutes in the company of the US military (Sellers plays three characters in total).

Dr. Strangelove is a wheelchair-bound German nuclear weapons expert, who has a past association with the Nazis. In one of the best comedic performances of all time, Sellers’ Dr. Strangelove sometimes accidentally refers to the US President as ‘Mein Fuhrer’, and strangles himself with his out-of-control right arm. This is as well as having to use his left arm to push down the Nazi salutes his right arm frequently and uncontrollably lapses into.

This was entirely Sellers’ creation. So much so, in fact, that the novel from which the film was adapted (Red Alert by Peter George) didn’t even have the character Dr. Strangelove at all. The word genius does get thrown around but, good lord, Peter Sellers really deserves the moniker.

Goodfellas: “Funny how?”
(Martin Scorsese, 1990)

Adapted from the Nicholas Pileggi book Wiseguys, the Goodfellas screenplay is not without its share of memorable moments. It is one of the best loved films of all time, and displays a darkly humorous side to the Italio-American gangster genre, largely absent in Coppola’s The Godfather series.

People always remember the crazy Joe Pesci character, Tommy DeVito, who defined and inspired a million mafia-esque archetypes. Such is the unstable and changeable world of mafia relationships that in one scene DeVito is sitting with our protagonist Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), sharing a drink and having a laugh. When Hill comments, “You’re a funny guy,” DeVito’s face turns stone cold and he replies, “What do you mean I’m a funny guy. Funny how? Funny like I’m here to amuse you?’” The entire room stops dead. A couple of wiseguys mumble, “Hey, Tommy, calm down,” as Hill looks worried and tries to explain himself.

The tension is just about to turn into what we think will be bullets, when DeVito cracks and says, “I’m just fucking with you,” and everyone laughs. With relief, might I add.

It exemplifies beautifully how crazy Pesci’s character is. His friends believe he may turn that easily, and also how volatile and suddenly hostile their world can be. It’s thought that Pesci ad-libbed quite a lot for this role and that lines such as this were often retro-scripted into the final draft of the screenplay.

Silence Of The Lambs: Hannibal’s hissing
(Johnathan Demme, 1992)

Playing one of the most iconic cinema villains ever, Sir Anthony Hopkins immortalised the cannibalistic Dr. Hannibal Lecter in this classic performance. Although he only has under twenty-five minutes of screen time, Hopkins won an Oscar for Best Actor. Jodie Foster also won for Best Actress, and the film won Best Director, Best Screenplay (Ted Tally) and Best Picture too. Not bad.

The American Film Institute named Lecter the number three screen villain ever in their top 100 in 2003, next to Norman Bates, with Darth Vader in the top spot.

Lecter is an incarcerated serial killer cannibal whom Foster’s character, FBI agent Clarice Starling, interviews to help find another murdering cannibal, still at large. All in a day’s work.

At one point Lecter tells of an unsavoury incident, describing a now-famous meal: “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” He then hisses and sucks at Starling in a truly revolting and disturbing manner, forever putting an entire generation off that particular varietal of wine.

Hollywood rumour says that this hissing was just a joke thrown in by Hopkins. He never intended it to be so frightening, not to mention appearing in the final cut and becoming so utterly conspicuous.

Casablanca: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
(Michael Curtiz, 1942)

Ah, Casablanca. What can we say? If it’s not your favourite oldie, and the final scene doesn’t make you cry, then I’m sure you don’t have a reflection in a mirror. But more than the emotion of the story, the coolness of Bogie and the beauty of Ingrid Bergman, it is a technically superb and incredibly entertaining film.

Regarding the script, the famous line, “Play it again, Sam”, is not actually in the film and is probably the world’s biggest cinematic misquote. Then, to our ad-libbed moment.

During the last scene and their final interaction, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) is doing the right thing and letting Ilsa (Bergman) go. Crying, she tries to convince him to let her stay. He refuses but consoles her, saying, “Here’s looking at you, kid.” And there isn’t a dry eye in the house.

The American Film Institute often calls it one of the most memorable lines in film. It is often quoted and parodied. Yet, legend has it that this is something Bogart used to say to Bergman as he taught her to play poker in between takes on set. It was never in the original script at all.

SOURCE: Den of Geek

This ancient text has no known title, no known author, and is written in no known language: what does it say and why does it have many astronomy illustrations?

The mysterious book was once bought by an emperor, forgotten on a library shelf, sold for thousands of dollars, and later donated to Yale. Possibly written in the 15th century, the over 200-page volume is known most recently as the Voynich Manuscript, after its (re-)discovery in 1912.

Pictured above is an illustration from the book that appears to be somehow related to the Sun.

The book labels some patches of the sky with unfamiliar constellations. The inability of modern historians of astronomy to understand the origins of these constellations is perhaps dwarfed by the inability of modern code-breakers to understand the book’s text.

If you think you can provide any insight, please participate in a fresh online discussion. The book itself remains in Yale’s rare book collection under catalog number “MS 408.”

SOURCE: Astronomy Picture of the Day

U.S. filmmaker Dan Woolley was shooting a video about poverty in Haiti when the earthquake struck. He could have died, but he ultimately survived with the help of an iPhone first-aid app that taught him to treat his wounds.

After being crushed by a pile of rubble, Woolley used his digital SLR to illuminate his surroundings and snap photos of the wreckage in search of a safe place to dwell. He took refuge in an elevator shaft, where he followed instructions from an iPhone first-aid app to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound, according to an MSNBC story.

The app even warned Woolley not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his cellphone’s alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes. Sixty-five hours later, a French rescue team saved him.

“I just saw the walls rippling and just explosive sounds all around me,” said Woolley, recounting the earthquake to MSNBC. “It all happened incredibly fast. David yelled out, ‘It’s an earthquake,’ and we both lunged and everything turned dark.”

Woolley’s incident highlights a large social implication of the iPhone and other similar smartphones. A constant internet connection, coupled with a device supporting a wealth of apps, can potentially transform a person into an all-knowing, always-on being. In Woolley’s case, an iPhone app turned him into an amateur medic to help him survive natural disaster.

Say what you will about the iPhone. This story is incredible.

The app used was Pocket First Aid and CPR. A user review by “Webguydan” reads, “Consulted this app, while trapped under Hotel Montana in Haiti earthquake, to treat excessive bleeding and shock. Helped me stay alive till I was rescued 64 hours later.”

SOURCE:  Wired.com

On Saturday, groups of programmers, Web developers and other assorted technophiles will meet in Washington and other cities to brainstorm ways computer technology can help in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.

CrisisCamp Haiti will bring together professionals from tech companies, universities and government agencies for a free-form session of firing out ideas, then turning those ideas into action.

The result, they hope, will be tools that will help rescue workers find victims and help family members find loved ones, along with other kinds of computer-based assistance.

“It’s a way to provide technological tools and expertise to help those who are on the ground in Haiti with their humanitarian relief efforts,” said Gabriela Schneider, whose group, the Sunlight Foundation, will be hosting the Washington meeting. “It’s kind of like the way Doctors Without Borders might go and help, or people from afar might get together to send goods.”

The eight-hour event is being coordinated by Crisis Commons, a group which, according to its wiki page, “is meant to capture knowledge, information, best practices, and tools that support crisis preparedness, prevention, response, and rebuilding.”

A similar get-together was scheduled Saturday for Silicon Valley, California, and organizers were trying to plan others in New York, Los Angeles, California, London, England, and Denver, Colorado.

As of Friday afternoon, nearly 100 volunteers had publicly registered to attend the Washington event. Their employers ranged from Internet startups to universities to government agencies, including the State Department and U.S. Geological Survey.

“It’s a growing community that should not be underestimated,” Schneider said. “They’re tech-savvy and they know how to use networks well.”

For Jonathan Nelson, a programmer and product manager who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, but telecommutes for a company in Washington, CrisisCamp Haiti is a chance to take some small action in a situation that otherwise felt overwhelming.

“You watch the news and it’s like post-9/11 trauma again,” he said. “Haiti is so far away — you’ve got obligations here, but you want to contribute. I just thought, ‘I’ve got to get up there.’ ”

Among the possible projects that participants plan to tackle:

• Building an open-source base layer map of Haiti that can be used by nongovernmental groups and others working in the country

• Creating an online locator system for families seeking lost loved ones

• Setting up an online communications tool similar to Twitter that would allow relief workers and others to talk with each other in real time

Other ideas could emerge. The group uses what’s called the BarCamp model, which allows conversations and projects to develop organically and without hard and fast agendas.

“This is getting out of the red tape — getting out of the corporate inefficiency — and just having one common purpose and being very agile,” Nelson said. “It’ll all be a continual process.”

SOURCE: CNN

SAN FRANCISCO — Cellphone users in the United States have contributed more than $11 million to Haitian earthquake relief through text messages in what is being hailed as an unprecedented mobile response to a natural disaster.

The Mobile Giving Foundation called it a “mobile-giving record” for funds raised for a single cause. Donations are rising swiftly, it said, as former President Bill Clinton and other politicians urge the American people to give.

Jim Manis, chief executive officer of the foundation helping to manage cellphone donations, said it was receiving up to 10,000 text messages per second. The foundation said more than $11 million has been donated.

Cellphone users can donate $5 to Haiti-born hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting the word “Yele” to 501501, or they can donate $10 to other nonprofit organizations, such as the American Red Cross, by texting the word “Haiti” to a specified number, like 90999.

The donation is charged to a user’s cellphone bill.

The American Red Cross said it has received more than $9 million in donations from more than 900,000 mobile phone users.

“It’s unprecedented that we’ve received this amount,” said spokeswoman Nadia Pontif.

Jean’s fund had raised $2 million via text messages, according to Give on the Go, Yele’s mobile application service provider.

The giving is also being fueled by the popularity of websites like Facebook and Twitter, where users are urging one another to make donations using cellphones.

Wireless carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile USA have waived fees for customers wishing to send mobile donations. Carriers are also letting users know they are not taking a cut of the donations.

“There are no text messaging fees and 100 percent of the $10 donation goes to the American Red Cross,” Verizon said in a statement.

SOURCE: Reuters

(Editor’s Note: This REPRINT from HuffPost represents a deviation from the normal weird; this certainly does not qualify as weird in my book. It is simply one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve heard in quite some time and want to do my part in moving it along. Happy 2010! — Lin)

Move Your Money: A New Year’s Resolution

by Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson

Too-big-to-fail banks are profiting from bailout dollars and government guarantees, and growing bigger.

Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks, and started discussing what concrete steps individuals could take to help create a better financial system. Before long, the conversation turned practical, and with some help from friends in the world of bank analysis, a video and website were produced devoted to a simple idea: Move Your Money.

The big banks on Wall Street, propped up by taxpayer money and government guarantees, have had a record year, making record profits while returning to the highly leveraged activities that brought our economy to the brink of disaster. In a slap in the face to taxpayers, they have also cut back on the money they are lending, even though the need to get credit flowing again was one of the main points used in selling the public the bank bailout. But since April, the Big Four banks — JP Morgan/Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo — all of which took billions in taxpayer money, have cut lending to businesses by $100 billion.

Meanwhile, America’s Main Street community banks — the vast majority of which avoided the banquet of greed and corruption that created the toxic economic swamp we are still fighting to get ourselves out of — are struggling. Many of them have closed down (or been taken over by the FDIC) over the last 12 months. The government policy of protecting the Too Big and Politically Connected to Fail is badly hurting the small banks, which are having a much harder time competing in the financial marketplace. As a result, a system which was already dangerously concentrated at the top has only become more so.

We talked about the outrage of big, bailed-out banks turning around and spending millions of dollars on lobbying to gut or kill financial reform — including “too big to fail” legislation and regulation of the derivatives that played such a huge part in the meltdown. And as we contrasted that with the efforts of local banks to show that you can both be profitable and have a positive impact on the community, an idea took hold: why don’t we take our money out of these big banks and put them into community banks? And what, we asked ourselves, would happen if lots of people around America decided to do the same thing? Our money has been used to make the system worse — what if we used it to make the system better?

Everyone around the table quickly got excited (granted we are an excitable group), and began tossing out suggestions for how to get this idea circulating.

Eugene, the filmmaker among us, remarked that the contrast between the big banks and the community banks we were talking about was very much like the story in the classic Frank Capra film It’s a Wonderful Life, where community banker George Bailey helps the people of Bedford Falls escape the grip of the rapacious and predatory banker Mr. Potter.

It was a lightbulb moment. And, unlike the vast majority of dinner conversations, the excitement over this idea didn’t end with dessert. It actually led to something — thanks in great part to Eugene and his remarkable team, who got to work and, in record time, created a brilliant, powerful, and inspiring video playing off the It’s a Wonderful Life concept. Watch it below:

Within a few days, the rest of the pieces fell into place, including an agreement with top financial analysts Chris Whalen and Dennis Santiago, who gave us access to their IRA (Institutional Risk Analytics) database. Using this tool, everyone will be able to plug in their zip code and quickly get a list of the small, solvent Main Street banks operating in their community.

The idea is simple: If enough people who have money in one of the big four banks move it into smaller, more local, more traditional community banks, then collectively we, the people, will have taken a big step toward re-rigging the financial system so it becomes again the productive, stable engine for growth it’s meant to be. It’s neither Left nor Right — it’s populism at its best. Consider it a withdrawal tax on the big banks for the negative service they provide by consistently ignoring the public interest. It’s time for Americans to move their money out of these reckless behemoths. And you don’t have to worry, there is zero risk: deposit insurance is just as good at small banks — and unlike the big banks they don’t provide the toxic dividend of derivatives trading in a heads-they-win, tails-we-lose fashion.

Think of the message it will send to Wall Street — and to the White House. That we have had enough of the high-flying, no-limits-casino banking culture that continues to dominate Wall Street and Capitol Hill. That we won’t wait on Washington to act, because we know that Washington has, in fact, been a part of the problem from the start. We simply can’t count on Congress to fix things. We have to do it ourselves — and the big banks are the core of the problem. We need to return to the stable, reliable, people-oriented approach of America’s community banks.

So watch Eugene’s amazing video, then go to www.moveyourmoney.info to learn more about how easy it is to move your money. And pass the idea on to your friends (help make this video — and this idea — go viral!).

JP Morgan/Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America may be “too big to fail” — but they are not too big to feel the impact of hundreds of thousands of people taking action to change a broken financial and political system. Let them gamble with their own money, not yours. Let’s turn big banks into smaller banks. We’ll all be better off — and safer — as a result.

Make it your New Year’s resolution to move your money. We can’t think of a better way to start 2010.

SOURCE: Huffington Post

This video by the American Museum of Natiral History takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the cold silent reaches of space with its mysterious quasars and supernovae back to the to the afterglow of the Big Bang.

Enjoy the ride!

SOURCE: DailyGalaxy

SOURCE: Online Education

A man who was dubbed the human coral reef after huge shell-like growths appeared all over his body has been cured.

Lin Tianzhuan was unable to move his arms and legs and said his “terrifying” condition made him feel like he was turning to stone.

The 38-year-old, of Shuimen in southern China, added people would scream when they saw him.

Horrified Lin became a hermit, hiding at the family home after he was shunned by friends and neighbors.

He began to notice the hard growths on his hands and feet when he was just 13.

He said: “They grew and grew and soon they were all over my arms and legs, my back and even my head. It was as if I was turning to stone and it was terrifying.

“Gradually my shell became thicker and thicker and I could no longer bend my arms or my legs. It was very frightening.”

But now, thanks to a year of treatment and surgery by doctors from a special skin clinic, he only has a few discolored patches of skin to show for his horrific condition.

Fuzhou Dermatosis Prevention Hospital vice president Dr Liu Yinghong said: “He may need radiotherapy for quite some time still but he has made very good progress.”

SOURCE: The Sun

A woman who was given a self portrait by Andy Warhol in the 1960s but stashed it in a closet for 40 years, has sold it at auction for £2.4 million.

Cathy Naso had worked as a receptionist for Warhol at The Factory in New York when she was a teenager, and as a gift he had given her a self-portrait.

Since then she kept it wrapped up at the back of her wardrobe – never hanging it on her wall.

That was until she decided to cash in on it and put it up for auction at Sotheby’s in Manhattan. It had been expected to sell for £750,000 but it far exceeded predictions by going for £2.4 million.

SOURCE: NewsLite.tv