The following is an article from Uncle John's Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader.

What happens when one of Hollywood's most famous movie mobsters meets up with the genuine article? Here's the story of one of the most unusual "sit-downs" in mob or movie history. Bada-bing!

CONNECTED

Even if you've never heard of Rocco Musacchia, if you're a fan of gangster films like Prizzi's Honor (1985), Donnie Brasco (1997), and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999), you're familiar with his work. Musacchia works as a "technical advisor" on mob films. He teaches Hollywood actors how to act like gangsters- "how a wise guy dresses, how he walks and talks and wears his hat," as he put it. He grew up around such real-life characters in Brooklyn and has maintained his contacts over the years.

In the summer of 1989, Musacchia was working on The Freshman, starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick. In the film, Brando parodies his role in The Godfather by playing a mobster named Carmine Sabatini, who just happens to look and even dress like The Godfather's Vito Corleone.  

LET'S EAT

One evening after filming a scene in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York, Brando and his co-stars went to a nearby Italian restaurant to eat dinner and watch the prizefight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns.

The evening got off to a bad start. Hearns was widely thought to have won the 12-round bout, but the judges scored it a draw, which drove fans like Brando crazy. Making matters worse, Brando was on a diet: He had to settle for a plate of broiled fish while everyone around him feasted on some of the best Italian food in the city. He was in a foul mood, but he perked up when word filtered into the restaurant that John Gotti, the infamous head of the Gambino crime family, had just walked into his headquarters, the Ravenite Social Club, right across the street.

AN OFFER HE COULDN'T REFUSE

What happened next depends on whose version of the story you believe. In his autobiography, Brando claimed that Gotti sent over one of his goons with an invitation to drop by the club. "That's nice," Brando claimed he said in reply. "I was curious, and with four or five other people from the picture, I went across the street."

Musacchia remembers the event differently. He knew Gotti and offered to introduce Brando to the Dapper Don. Brando, says Musacchia, could hardly contain his excitement: "His eyes lit up. Nothing else ever impressed him. He was the biggest movie star in the world and here he was, literally star struck."

Whichever version is true, Brando, Broderick, and a third actor, Bruno Kirby (who played the young Peter Clemenza in The Godfather II), were soon making their way across the street with Musacchia to meet John Gotti in his lair.

CLOSE ENCOUNTER

According to Gotti's daughter, Victoria, the visit went off without a hitch. "Brando was telling jokes all night and doing magic tricks." she said. "Dad was doing what he does best, telling stories. And they just enjoyed each other's company."

Brando paints a different picture in his memoirs: According to him, the meeting was not the fun-filled encounter that one might expect. When Brando entered the Ravenite Social Club- "a shabby store front …filled with Mafiosi," as he put it, Gotti and several of his cohorts were seated around a table playing cards. Gotti did not rise to meet Brando, though he did shake Brando's hand. Brando interpreted this to mean that Gotti did not want to lose face in front of his men by fawning over a Hollywood star, even if it was the guy who played Don Corleone. Gotti was not about to let down his guard.

The Dapper Don introduced Brando to his men, one of whom joked, "Will the real Godfather please stand up!" That got a laugh, but when Brando tried to add to the levity by joking that nobody made any money betting on the Leonard/Hearns fight, Gotti said nothing. Instead, he gestured toward the big sign on the wall that read,

THIS PLACE IS BUGGED. WHATEVER YOU SAY WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU.

THE CARD FATHER

Brando like to perform magic tricks and often carried a deck of card to use as an icebreaker around awestruck fans. This room was as tense as any he'd ever been in, so he took out his cards. Gotti must've though he wanted to play poker, because when he saw the cards, he snapped, "If you wanna play in here, you don't deal."

"Take a card," Brando told him. Gotti picked a card. Brando told him to put it back in the deck and shuffle the cards. Gotti complied. Then when Brando asked for a hanky to cover the deck of cards, every goon in the joint pulled theirs out in unison and waved it at Brando. "The place looked like a wash line on Monday morning," he remembered. Brando selected a hanky, used it to cover the deck of cards in his hand, and told Gotti to pull the hanky away. Gotti pulled, and when he did, the deck was gone -the only card Brando still held in  his hand was the one Gotti picked.

It was a clever trick and a nice little icebreaker, but then Brando sabotaged his own efforts by joking to Gotti, "You know, you could make a living this way."

And that's when the evening screeched to a halt. "I didn't say anything more," Brando remembered, "because suddenly the whole room had become as quiet as a tomb at midnight. Suddenly I realized what everyone was thinking: Had I tried to make a fool out of the boss in front of his crew?" As Gotti stared in silence, Brando decided one brush with death was enough. He and his party said their good-nights and beat it out of the Ravenite Social Club as fast as they could.

ART IMITATES LIFE

The evening wasn't a total loss. If you ever get a chance to watch The Freshman, you'll see that in several of his scenes with Brando, Matthew Broderick has a terrified look on his face -the look that someone might have if, say, they ever meet a real mobster in the flesh. According to Musacchia, that's exactly what it was. Broderick, he says, "has this totally astonished look on his face the whole time in front of Gotti, that he duplicated later, in the film." (Convicted of 13 murders and other crimes in 1992, Gotti was given a life sentence and died in prison in 2002.)

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The article above was reprinted with permission from the Bathroom Institute's book Uncle John's Heavy Duty Bathroom Reader. Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute has published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

Lil Hoots Bib

Are you on the hunt for the perfect mealtime accessory for your precious little owlet? Swoop on over to the NeatoShop for the Lil Hoots Bib. The Lil Hoots Bib is made of super soft machine washable material. This adorable bib is a real hoot. It makes a wonderful gift for your favorite night owl. 

Matching Hooter Carrysome and Lil' Hoots Snuggler also available. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Owl items and Mealtime fun. 

Link

Add this to the long list of strange animal mating habits we've featured on Neatorama. Meet the necrophiliac frog:

For a small Amazonian frog called Rhinella proboscidea, death is no impediment to sex. The males form huge mating balls in which dozens of individuals compete to fertilise a female. These competitions are so intense, and the combined males so heavy, that the poor female sometimes drowns in the struggle.

But for the males, that’s not a deal-breaker. Thiago Izzo from Brazil’s National Institute of Amazonian Research has found that the males can force the eggs from the bodies of the deceased female, and fertilise them. It’s a unique strategy and one that effectively involves sexual reproduction with a dead partner. Izzo calls “functional necrophilia”.

Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science has the post: Link - via Super Punch

Why did Neanderthals die out while other hominids survived? In an article published in the Journal of Human Evolution, John E. Fa and colleagues argue that it may be because Neanderthals were unable to adapt their hunting techniques to small game, such as rabbits:

Fa and his colleagues counted up the skeletons of animals found in three excavation sites in Spain and southern France. Up until 30,000 years ago, the remains of large animals such as deer were abundant in caves. But around that time, coinciding with the disappearance of Neanderthals, rabbit remains became more prevalent. The authors postulate that humans were more successful at switching to catching and eating rabbits.

It's not clear why Neanderthals would have had more trouble changing prey, says Fa. They may have been less able to cooperate. Rather than using spears, early humans probably surrounded a warren and flushed out rabbits with fire, smoke or dogs. But Bruce Hardy of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, says Fa takes the interpretation too far. Humans may have eaten more rabbits than Neanderthals, but neither would have exclusively eaten meat, he says.

Link -via VA Viper | Photo: daveroast

(YouTube link)

In a kids-division dance battle, 6-year-old Bgirl Terra owns the crowd at Chelles Battle Pro 2013 on Saturday. Her somewhat older opponent isn't bad, either. -via Viral Viral Videos

Photos: Darmon Richter/The Bohemian Blog

Atop the barren Mount Buzludzha in Bulgaria sat one of the strangest abandoned places on Earth: a concrete saucer that used to house the Communist Party Headquarters before the collapse of the USSR.

The tower of Buzludzha reaches a total height of 107m; the red Soviet star adorning its side measuring three times the diameter of the star emblazoned onto the tower of Moscow’s Kremlin. An eternal flame set into the front courtyard served as a tribute to fallen comrades, while great concrete letters were hung around the main entrance to spell out rousing verses:

“ON YOUR FEET, DESPISED COMRADES!

ON YOUR FEET YOU SLAVES OF LABOUR!

DOWNTRODDEN AND HUMILIATED,

STAND UP AGAINST THE ENEMY!”

Dark Roasted Blend has the image gallery and post: Link (Thanks Avi!)

Irish You were Beer

St. Patrick's Day is just two weeks away, so you better get ready with these neat St. Patrick's Day T-Shirts from the NeatoShop!

Irish Girls Rock	So Irish My Liver Hurts	Irish You Were Naked	Wee Irish Princess - Baby Snapsuit
I'm So Cute I Must Be Irish	Irish Drinking Team	Beer: I Want To Be Inside You	Irish Taste Tester

I'm a Drinker Not a Fighter

Link: St. Patrick's Day T-shirts | All St. Patrick's Day items

Why is Barbie Parker having such a good time? Because she loves to sign and loves music. She's a professional sign language interpreter who specializes in providing her services at musical concerts:

At live music shows, Ms. Parker, 45, does not just sign lyrics — she communicates the entire musical experience. She mouths the words. She plays air guitar and air drums. She jams along with the bands.

“Music is such a large part of who I am,” she said. “I want to be able to open up that experience.” [...]

The number of deaf and hard of hearing music fans taking advantage of interpretation at free shows held at Auditorium Shores as part of SXSW has risen noticeably in the past few years, Frank Schaefer, the officer manager for the festival, said in an e-mail. The increase can be attributed, at least in part, to a growing number of interpreters who specialize in that kind of work.

Link -via Marginal Revolution | Photo: Barbie Parker

(YouTube link)

The Pony Mixer is a generator in which you can customize Shetland ponies dancing to various music genres, such as rock, Bollywood, hip-hop, rave, punk, and funk. It's an advertising stunt for some company that sells something besides ponies. Link -via Metafilter

Spray Can Phoney 

Are you looking for a fun way to make your phone stand out in the crowd? You need the Spray Can Phoney from the NeatoShop. This hilarious cell phone accessory is shaped like a spray nozzle. The Spray Can Phoney easily fits into any standard 3.5 mm audio jack. 

Skull Phoney and Mustache Phoney also available. 

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Mobile Phone & Tablet Gadgets. 

Link

Artist Kenny Durkin executes mash ups like Miss Piggy executes her karate chops, with aplomb and grace. That's why we love, love, love his Muppets mash up artwork! Check out more over at his deviantART page: Link

And it's free! So I'll have the Swedish Breakfast.

Is that too harsh for you? Redditor LyingPervert writes, "You guys are missing out. In Canada, we have aspirin with a glass of maple syrup."

Link -via Daily of the Day

A pair of cheetah cubs born at the National Zoo in Washington have been hailed as a miracle, or at least a victory, in the science of breeding cheetahs. Since they were declared an endangered species, zoos can no longer import cheetahs from the wild, and breeding them became very important, not only for the sake of the zoos, but to help researchers keep them from disappearing altogether. Why are cheetahs so hard to breed in captivity? SciWrite has a fascinating three-part post on the history of cheetahs, their social structure in the wild, and the attempts to breed them in captivity. Oh yeah, and the story of Ally's difficult birth that resulted in the two cubs, Justin and Carmelita. From part two:

While some researchers started watching cheetahs from afar, another group took an opposite approach and starting collecting blood, urine, and stool samples. Written into the cheetah’s genes, researchers stumbled upon the cat’s dark history. Around 10,000 years ago, cheetahs nearly went extinct. An estimated 10-20 individuals survived, the ancestors of all living cheetahs today. Consequently, current “cheetahs have almost zero percent of genetic variability,” says Steve Bircher. They are “all like brothers and sisters.”

Could the lack of genetic diversity having a lingering effect? Studies of male cheetah sperm showed startlingly low sperm counts; about one-tenth the normal counts of lions, tigers, and domestic cats, according to Bircher. This was initially thought to explain low captive birth rates until it was realized that wild Namibian males with similarly low sperm counts reproduce just fine.

“Lack of genetic variability is not what has hampered the cheetah ability to breed,” says Bircher. “Quite simply, it’s how we managed cheetahs.”

Just above the title of each post the link to the next post in the series. Link  -via Not Exactly Rocket Science

(Image credit: Adrienne Crosier, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)

R.R. Martin, maker of steampunk and Victorian-themed headgear, has the most impressive zoetrope hat I've ever seen, as well as the only one. He writes:

This is a leather top hat with an illuminated motorized praxinoscope. The praxinoscope was the next generation in moving picture technology after the zoetrope. It features six mirrored surfaces reflecting six images on a revolving cylinder that appear to move when the cylinder is set in motion. The switch in the bottom of the hat powers a battery operated motor that turns the cylinder and illumines two bulbs. 

Click on Continue reading to see a video of the zoetrope in action.

Product Link | Video Link

via @Cute Overload

"Mr. Gorpawchev, tear down this wall!"
-- Romeow Reagan

Your turn.

British artist and physicist James Chapman designed a map of the United States featuring the settings of 113 television series. See the map full size and purchase if you want at Etsy. Sadly, Justified, a show set in my birthplace, is not included. Link -via Laughing Squid

Crewman Fripple was intelligent, friendly and diligent. He was an excellent security guard on the Enterprise. Alas, he was killed in the line of duty while accompanying Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy on a planetside mission.

Michal Wright-Ward made this adorable ball of fluff. It was his contribution to a Star Trek-themed art show at QPOP in Los Angeles. You can see other excellent contributions at the link.

Link -via Super Punch

Hunny Bunny Honey Jar

Does your hunny bunny love honey? Hop over to the NeatoShop for the Hunny Bunny Honey Jar. This adorable container features removable ears that are actually in the shape of a carrot. The ears double as a honey wand.  

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Kitchen Stuff. 

Link

(YouTube link)

The always-amazing Top Secret Drum Corps from Basel, Switzerland performs at the 2012 Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The "digital age" part comes in the last minute or so. -via Daily Picks and Flicks

In 1968, novelist Len Deighton's personal assistant had a problem. She had to retype chapter drafts for his book in progress dozens of times over. Thankfully, IBM had something that could help:

A few weeks later, Deighton stood outside his Georgian terrace home and watched as workers removed a window so that a 200-pound unit could be hoisted inside with a crane. The machine was IBM’s MTST (Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter), sold in the European market as the MT72. “Standing in the leafy square in which I lived, watching all this activity, I had a moment of doubt,” the author, now 84, told me in a recent email. “I was beginning to think that I had chosen a rather unusual way to write books.”

Today, of course, many—surely most—fiction writers work with computers, laptops, and word processors just like the rest of us. Literary scholarship generally credits Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi with being the first manuscript submitted to a publisher in typewritten form. Would it be possible, I wondered when I began my research into the literary history of word processing a year and a half ago, to locate a corresponding first for the digital age? The answer turns out to be the book Deighton published in 1970 with the aid of the MTST: a curiously apropos novel about World War II, titled Bomber

Matthew Kirschenbaum of Slate has the story: Link

Samantha Morshed is a knitting professional who lives and works in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. She and her assistants, Nasima and Taslima, knitted this colorful cover for a rickshaw. Maybe it's destined for exhibition, for Morshed first had to take it around the city. Passersby were greatly impressed.

Link -via Makin'ology

Most moms fret in worry when they don't hear from their children in a while, but 25-year-old Garrett Hand's mom really takes it to a whole 'nother level. She got the Peruvian government to start a manhunt for her "missing" son when he didn't update his Facebook page for a few weeks:

In November, 25-year-old Garrett Hand and his 25-year-old girlfriend Jamie Neal flew from their California home to South America for a four-month bike trip. Before the couple left, they informed their friends and family that, for some of their trip (as they traveled through jungles and rainforests), they would be out of cellphone and Internet range.

In January, they passed out of cellphone range. In February, Garrett's mom demanded the Peruvian government launch a full-scale search for the couple, whom she believed to be missing.

What they actually were, was "having a blast."

The couple's last communication with their families (and access to their bank accounts) occurred on January 25. In late February, Garrett's mom called Peru and demanded they put Garrett on the phone to talk to her right this instant, or else they'd be in big trouble, mister.

Caity Weaver of Gawker has the full story: Link

It started out as a simple picture post, then the comment thread went in a different direction and became something special. Redditor gxace has fingers that don't bend, so he does not have the wrinkles on the inside of his knuckles that the rest of us have. That was mildly interesting, but then someone asked, "How did you take that picture?"



He responded by posting another photo.

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

Who knows, he may still be adding photographs to the thread. But it turns out that this has happened before, a couple of years ago, when redditor gimmegimme asked for members to show off their tattoos. 

That's when Saend posted a picture that piqued much curiosity. "How did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

"But how did you take that picture?"

Even Saend congratulated gxace on pulling off the more recent stunt, with more pictures even though his fingers don't bend. The question: how many cameras does one person really need? The answer: more!  

How does one go about tearing down tall buildings in a crowded metropolis like Tokyo? The usual demolition technique of wrecking balls or controlled explosions are noisy, dirty, and can go terribly wrong.

The solution? Demolish it from the inside out.

The key idea is to disassemble a structure in an enclosed space, unlike the traditional way of working in the open air, Ichihara said.

Taisei looked into using a building’s roof to create a closed working site and bringing cranes inside the building.

The roof is held up by temporary columns that are lowered by jacks as the higher floors come down.

“It’s kind of like having a disassembly factory on top of the building and putting a big hat there, and then the building shrinks” from the top, said Ichihara.

Link | YouTube Link

Yes, these are real eggs decorated with real embroidery. Brett Bara saw some embroidered Easter eggs, but found no instructions. So she developed her own technique!

My research didn’t uncover much in the way of a how-to for this technique, so after much obsessing, I decided to give it a try on my own. To my surprise, sewing on eggs isn’t really difficult at all, once you get the hang of it! I know you don’t believe me, and this project truly does seem to defy the laws of physics.

She posted the step-by step instructions at Design Sponge. Hint: they involve a Dremel. Link -via Everlasting Blort

Hello Kitty Strawberry Picnic Mugs Gift Set

Are you looking for the purr-fect gift for your Hello Kitty crazed friend? You need the Hello Kitty Strawberry Picnic Mugs Gift Set from the NeatoShop. This useful and adorable set features two porcelain mugs nestled in a beautiful gift box. It makes a sweet treat for a sweet friend.    

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Hello Kitty items. 

Link

No Photoshop here. Redditor itwvet instead molded clay letters to spell "Africa." After placing a light behind them in the hut, he then refined the shapes of the letters so that they form a convincing elephant shadow.

Link

You hear it all the time that international cuisine in America is not authentic, particularly when discussing Olive Garden and Taco Bell. Well, we know that, but the argument also comes up about the mom-and-pop ethnic restaurant on the corner. Turn that idea around, and you have to wonder whether other countries have "American" restaurants. Yes, they do -and they can say a lot about how the world views American food. CNN has reviews of the worst attempts at recreating the American dining experience in Europe. American Dream in Paris leads the list:

Rude service. A patronizing menu of “American” specialties. An interior that takes kitsch to a nauseating level, with an over-abundance of cheap tchotchkes throughout, and for some inexplicable reason, a basement dedicated to Japanese manga.

***

The fries taste stale and the shakes are sweet to the point of undrinkable. The menu full of overpriced blandness is served on dishes made to look like paper plates.

We get it. American food is often rightly mocked for being oversized, dripping in grease or just plain tasteless.

But to make an entire restaurant out of the joke isn't funny.

Have you ever been to any of the restaurants on this list? Or to any "American" restaurants in Europe? Link  -via Alltop

PS: They're not all bad. CNN also lists the best American restaurants in Europe. Link