The Jillon: A Bizarre and Surreal British Comedy Short

The Jillon is one of those things, like car crashes, large buildings falling and public assassinations - in as much as you cannot tear your eyes away from it.  No matter the fact that you have more than an inkling how it’s going to end for everyone involved (and maybe that’s why we can’t turn away), you just keep on watching.  While crashes, falling and assassinations have variable results and rewards, I do have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of The Jillon, even though at times my shoulders were shrugging as wildly as a zebra foal trying to escape the clutches of a hungry lion.

The Jillon tells the story of an elderly couple, Jill and John (oh, I get it) who met late and so could not have children of there own.  That doesn’t stop Jill in particular wishing that she could and so, thanks to a more than a little intervention, a magical package is left on their doorstep.  Yes, that is the Jillon of the title – and it’s like Mr Blobby had entered a massively radioactive zone and come back out non the wiser but more manic (and disturbing to the eye) than ever before.  Well, they say that when the gods wish to punish us, they give us what they want.

Written by Harry Hill, The Jillon features Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd etc) as the narrator – who doesn’t seem to care which fictional walls he breaks (but gets his comeuppance anyway).  It stars Flip Webster as Jill and Richard Syms as John, both stalwarts of British TV and film (with a few global blockbusters under their collective belt, too).  They are the kind of actors who you immediately recognise but can’t quite remember their names unless you are already a devoted fan, and then spend the next fifteen hours recalling all the things you have seen them in (and admonishing yourself for not knowing their names in the first place).  Jillon is played by Cosmo Wellings, who has a shortish but impressive CV, acting wise, and gets into the eponymous role with some gusto, not to mention relish and an alarming degree of commitment.

Viewer reactions have been a little mixed... although mixed might be putting it somewhat mildly. Some have declared it a modern-day classic and a work of art (no tongue in any cheek ever), while others are still trying to work out precisely what they've just watched. Comparisons have been made to a British Twilight Zone, a remake of Eraserhead and even the Mr Blobby origin story. One viewer suggested it was a public information film about the dangers of, erm, wood, while another simply declared: "I have no idea what I just watched... but I watched."  And that brings me back to my original point, I guess.

Richard Ayoade's unexpected running exploits have also proved a particular talking point. Perhaps the most telling comment came from someone who predicted that, years from now, this extraordinary little film would pop into their head and leave them wondering whether they'd simply dreamt it. Watch The Jillon below…

The Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno

One of the largest cemeteries in Europe, the Cimitero monumentale di Staglieno in Genoa, Italy covers more than a square kilometer.  It opened in 1851 and since then has gained a reputation for its monuments to those buried there. And what monuments they are.  It is a place for contemplation, for reflection on human frailty and the short-lived nature of our time on earth. Today we will let the pictures speak for themselves...

Image Credit Flickr UserLatente

The Sand Dollar – the Animal that Can Clone Itself

This somewhat strange looking specimen is a Sand Dollar and it is featured today over at our sibling site, the Ark in Space. It is a sea urchin which burrows and comes from the order Clypeasteroida – and you can see why it gets its name, as it resembles a coin.  Some joke that it is the only stable dollar in the world at the moment.  Humor aside, it does have one trick up its sleeve that we can only wish would apply to real money.  It can clone itself – creating a perfect copy.  Read more about the how and why over at the Ark.

Image Amanda Dague

Avengers Assemble! Watch the Marvel 2026 Hangang Drone Show Light Up Seoul's Night Sky

Seoul has never been a city to do things by halves (or thirds or quarters for that matter), so when the Avengers come to town, it really doesn’t matter that they are there to celebrate the 2564^th film in the Marvel superhero franchise (that would be Avengers: Doomsday), the denizens of the South Korean capital are going to put on a show.  The 2026 Marvel Special Hangang Drone Light Show brings together a spectacular meeting of superhero mythology, together with approximately 2,000 drones.

The result – well, wow hardly does it justice.  The skies above the Han River are transformed into a giant, illuminated canvas, bringing our (over?) familiar heroes to life in a truly dazzling aerial display.   I can imagine fans over the world watching this and thinking I wish I had been there.  Well, so do I, but unless you have a green time stone at hand, you will have to make do with watching Thor, The Hulk, Iron Man appear over the streets of Seoul by watching the video below…

Getty Images: The Forgotten Glass Plate Photograph That Revealed the Remarkable Story of Connie Gilchrist

If you have ever tried to source photographs online, then you will have come across Getty Images.  As one of the world’s leading suppliers of licensed stock photography (not to mention editorial images, video footage and other forms of visual content), you might have wondered at the processes involved by Getty itself, to source the photographs and eventually bring them online.

In this video, Melanie Llewellyn of the Getty Images Hutton Archive in the UK, investigates a “forgotten” collection of glass archives.  Perhaps it's better to say that they had been archived for 150 years, awaiting the moment an expert would get to them! Using modern technology, she can quickly see the (startlingly high quality) image on the glass.  Yet identifying the person in the image sometimes takes some good old-fashioned human detective work.  The picture in the video turns out to be of Connie Gilchrist.  She came from humble beginnings and escaped the London slums by becoming an artist’s model.  She worked for a number of painters, including Whistler, and became a Gaiety Girl, performing a novelty act in the theater.  It was marrying into the aristocracy that was her real coup – the 7^th Earl of Orkney did a real Mr Darcy and shrugged off any misgivings he may have had about marrying a girl from the slums (not to mention the theater!).

That’s just a snippet of her life.  Watch the video below to learn more about the life of Connie Gilchrist, her later life – acceptance by Victorian society – and her daughter…  It makes for fascinating watching, all because of a single glass plate photograph.