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December 15, 2010 12:20 PM   Subscribe

 
It's like Maradona's "The Metamorphosis"
posted by chavenet at 12:24 PM on December 15, 2010 [6 favorites]


aphid? aphid? APHID! DIE DIE DIE. no. no. not aphid. fuck. aphid? aphid? APHID! DIE DIE DIE. no. not aphid. fuck. aphid? aphid? aphid? APHID! DIE DIE DIE. no. no. not aphid. fuck. aphid? aphid? APHID! DIE DIE DIE. no. not aphid. what the fuck is going on? aphid? ...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:24 PM on December 15, 2010 [146 favorites]


At first I was like "aww cute." But then my inner biologist was like "wait...what is it doing? is it trying to eat the sprinkles and failing repeatedly? Can ladybugs even eat sprinkles?"
posted by melissam at 12:24 PM on December 15, 2010 [10 favorites]


maybe not best 'o the web…but damn thats cute
posted by ShawnString at 12:25 PM on December 15, 2010


"WHOOOOOOO BALL PIT! AWESOME!"

Seriously, all creatures great and small love a ball pit.
posted by Gator at 12:25 PM on December 15, 2010 [9 favorites]


Yeah...if play means:

Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK! Oh look food I want to go to there! Yes I made it. Good. FUCK!
posted by jimmythefish at 12:27 PM on December 15, 2010 [13 favorites]


I'm of two minds about this one:

what

-and-

this.is.awesome. I love the internet.
posted by exlotuseater at 12:27 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


...or what Cool Papa Bell said.
posted by jimmythefish at 12:28 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


If you want to decutify ladybugs, google "ladybug larva"

Eeeewwww
posted by melissam at 12:28 PM on December 15, 2010


Somehow, I found myself empathizing with the ladybug. Despite the fact that I have never encountered a giant morsel of food that rolls away faster than I can run every time I start to eat it.

melissam: I have had ladybugs try to eat my arm (luckily they eat very slowly). If the damned sprinkles would hold still, I am sure they would have been devoured.
posted by idiopath at 12:28 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


Lookit that little guy go! That ladybug could totally kick lazy corgi's ass!
posted by marxchivist at 12:28 PM on December 15, 2010


At first I was like "aww cute." But then my inner biologist was like "wait...what is it doing? is it trying to eat the sprinkles and failing repeatedly? Can ladybugs even eat sprinkles?"

That was kind of my thinking on this, too. It's totally cute, but what is actually going on here?
posted by SkylitDrawl at 12:29 PM on December 15, 2010


Despite the fact that I have never encountered a giant morsel of food that rolls away faster than I can run every time I start to eat it.

You just gave me an idea for my next Kickstarter project.
posted by naju at 12:29 PM on December 15, 2010 [13 favorites]


It's amazing how a combination of cutesy name, polka dots, and some Sesame Street clips from decades ago causes us to read 'ladybug' as cute. What would this video look like with a junebug?
posted by shakespeherian at 12:30 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


I can't help but imagine that like the ladybug entertains us, our own antics as a species serve as idle amusement for the equivalent of bored office workers among the individuals of some higher form of intelligence which we can't comprehend.

I wonder what their version of lolcats are.
posted by The Lurkers Support Me in Email at 12:30 PM on December 15, 2010 [13 favorites]


Is that a Ladybug at all? looks more like one of those Asian beetles.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:30 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


I wonder what their version of lolcats are.

It's lolcats all the way up.
posted by doctor_negative at 12:32 PM on December 15, 2010 [29 favorites]




It is a good Single-Yink TooLoob
posted by Mister_A at 12:34 PM on December 15, 2010 [5 favorites]


That's not stop motion, that's obviously CGI. Put your cursor under one of the white "sprinkles" (ha!) and you'll see.

However, rats still laugh when you tickle them. My daily need for cute is satisfied.
posted by maudlin at 12:36 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


Sorry. I'm still learning the ropes of "best of the web", you guys.
posted by SkylitDrawl at 12:36 PM on December 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


what shakespeherian said. I had an infestation of ladybugs at my cottage... not pretty. Once you have more than, say, 3 of them, they stop being cute and start being ewwww.
posted by chebucto at 12:36 PM on December 15, 2010


Is that a Ladybug at all? looks more like one of those Asian beetles.
posted by cjorgensen


It certainly does. And I don't think Asian beetles are anywhere near as cute as Ladybugs.
posted by Sailormom at 12:37 PM on December 15, 2010


Despite the fact that I have never encountered a giant morsel of food that rolls away faster than I can run every time I start to eat it.

You just gave me an idea for my next Kickstarter project.


It's been done
posted by burnmp3s at 12:38 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


She was clearly trying to pick up 12 sprinkles to take to the ladybugs' picnic later that afternoon. Alas!
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 12:38 PM on December 15, 2010 [8 favorites]


Definitely an Asian Beetle. We live near a farm, and they fly over every spring and fall looking for warm dark cave-like places in the eaves of our house to congregate. As soon as the Wisconsin cold hits us, they burrow their way into the house and then leave their cold, dead husks in every corner.

This is a cute video, but I keep trying to squash the bug on the screen out of habit.
posted by thanotopsis at 12:40 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


I wish a mod would fix my stupid acronym mess-up. Now I'm embarrassed.
posted by SkylitDrawl at 12:42 PM on December 15, 2010


Why are y'all racist against Asian beetles?
posted by Mister_A at 12:44 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


The mods would have to also take out the comment where I tease you about it, and the comment you made about wanting to have the thing fixed, and this comment, and probably the next comment after this. You're just going to have to take your lumps, I'm afraid.
posted by Mister_A at 12:46 PM on December 15, 2010


It's part of the process, I guess. It'll make me a better Mefite. Now, back to ladybugs vs the great and terrible Asian beetles.
posted by SkylitDrawl at 12:48 PM on December 15, 2010


It's a ladybug's worst nightmare: "OMG, the aphids have grown body armor!"
posted by amyms at 12:49 PM on December 15, 2010 [7 favorites]


Yeah, I remember the great Ladybug Plague of Northern VA about 10-11 years ago... bastiches swarmed so heavy that we had to be careful on smoke breaks not to inhale the goddamn things, and they'd be stuck to our hair when we came back in. And have you ever seen what they conceal underneath that cutesy red shell? HORROR. Ladybugs can go die in a fire forever.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:52 PM on December 15, 2010


Don't sweat the "SYTL" thing, SkylitDrawl. It could stand for "Silly Yet Tense Ladybug" (and don't worry about the "ladybug vs. asian beetle" thing either; they're all from the same family).
posted by amyms at 12:59 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Thinks its people.
posted by Trochanter at 1:03 PM on December 15, 2010


It's just not the same without the vuvuzelas.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 1:07 PM on December 15, 2010 [5 favorites]


Needs music.
posted by jbickers at 1:09 PM on December 15, 2010


Are we beanplating about whether it's a ladybug or an Asian Beetle? Because according to Wikipedia, Asian beetles are ladybugs.
posted by Gator at 1:14 PM on December 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


Well, if nothing else, the insights provided by Cool Papa Bell and jimmythefish has revealed something interesting to me:

Ladybugs are vulgar little fuckers.
posted by quin at 1:17 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


"Best of the web" is a wide enough umbrella to include this. Wonderful post! Nice SLYTing.
posted by hermitosis at 1:20 PM on December 15, 2010


Remember, though, a ladybug is not just for Christmas!
posted by Jody Tresidder at 1:23 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Ladybugs are vulgar little fuckers.

Only in their internal monologues. In polite company, true ladybugs replace the "Fuck!" with "Oh dear!"
posted by amyms at 1:25 PM on December 15, 2010 [7 favorites]


> It's amazing how a combination of cutesy name, polka dots, and some Sesame Street clips from decades ago causes us to read 'ladybug' as cute.

While watching the video I was constantly torn between being pleased by the cuteness and horrified by the arthropodity of it all.
posted by Bangaioh at 1:39 PM on December 15, 2010


It's part of the process, I guess. It'll make me a better Mefite.

Yeah, you know whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger. And this post (which I like) certainly won't kill you. Well, unless it's a situation like that one dude that posted that one video last year, and then....well we don't talk about that.
posted by marxchivist at 1:45 PM on December 15, 2010


Bend It Like Bugham.
posted by nickyskye at 1:53 PM on December 15, 2010 [7 favorites]


Oh and thanks for the smiles.
posted by nickyskye at 1:53 PM on December 15, 2010


Gah. I hate ladybugs. The ones around here are aggressive as hell and actually BITE. Once managed to try to picnic near a pond, and apparently that was a favorite place for them to swarm. My mother gets them in her house because the backside of it is white, and apparently that's really attractive to them.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 1:57 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


She was clearly trying to pick up 12 sprinkles to take to the ladybugs' picnic later that afternoon. Alas!

Great, now that's going to be caught in my head for the next three days until I finally jam an icepick into the corner of my eye socket.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:08 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


I just wanna rub that ladybug on its belly, asking it, "WHO'S a good ladybug? Is it you? YES it's you, yes good ladybug!"
posted by not_on_display at 2:20 PM on December 15, 2010 [6 favorites]


More on Ladybugs biting, after leaving a Motel in the morning years ago. the front of our car was covered with 1000's of ladybugs,we took off down Highway 395 from Lee Vinning, Ca. After reaching speeds of 60 plus miles per hour, we could not see any bugs from inside the car, the ones that did'nt fly off, were crowded around and in our front air vents. Hours later, i opened the front vent for some cool air and about 20 bugs were crawling around my legs( was wearing shorts ), they bit and hurt like hell, causing us to pull into a dollar self-service car wash and wash all the bugs off the vents on the outside, we took another hour to kill the ones which were in the interior of the car from the vents. i thought ladybugs did'nt bite and only helped the crops and flowers pollinate.
posted by tustinrick at 2:28 PM on December 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


I just wanna rub that ladybug on its belly, asking it, "WHO'S a good ladybug? Is it you? YES it's you, yes good ladybug!"

No you don't.

Bonus feature - closeup of ladybug mouth!

please note, this is a lie
posted by FatherDagon at 2:39 PM on December 15, 2010


Oh come on, ladybird is obviously a much better name.
posted by chorltonmeateater at 2:39 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


Gah. I hate ladybugs. The ones around here are aggressive as hell and actually BITE.

I think it might be a good thing I don't know your physical address, or you might have been the recipient of one of my favorite Secret Santa ideas ever.
posted by quin at 2:42 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


This is teh cute.

On a side note: I'm 53 years old, never brushed off the errant lady bug (based on cuteness alone) and have never been bitten by a ladybug. What are you guys doing wrong??
posted by djrock3k at 2:42 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


This being internet, I read that as "ladyboy".
posted by dickasso at 2:54 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


Humans have a mammal-centric view and have trouble wrapping their minds around the fact that for arthropod species, only about one in a thousand have to do anything sensible to propagate the species. The rest can go about biting hard spheres, mating with red pebbles, and waging pitched battles with window panes. Most of the special few who accidentally make all the right moves will still wind up getting killed, but the ones who make it have like a million stupid, vicious offspring to carry on the family tradition. I work with crabs, and they're sub-morons who nevertheless make the jigsaw killer seem reasoned. He felt the need to explain himself, but a crab will pinch you (or anything else) because it can reach you, no explanation or philosophy involved. It will eat something that sits still.

So, my opinion, CoolPapaBell is nearly right, but over-analyzing. The fucking thing doesn't give a rat's ass whether or not it's biting an aphid, nor does it experience frustration or self doubt afterwards. The complete inner monologue: CHASE CHASE DIE DIE DIE CHASE DIE CHASE DIE DIE CHASE CHASE [etc until expiration]
posted by Humanzee at 2:55 PM on December 15, 2010 [19 favorites]


My mother gets them in her house because the backside of it is white, and apparently that's really attractive to them.

My white backside has proven irresistibly attractive to other species, too.
It was that or a YRMAMA joke.
posted by joe lisboa at 3:08 PM on December 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


Okay, I'm going to weigh in on the side of the ladybug... I've got a spirea bush in the backyard which every year provides superb opportunities for viewing the entire ladybug life cycle, from eggs through various instars all the way up to mature new bugs. As said bush's tender new spring growth is irresistible to aphids, the instars have lots to eat. I have been known to stand nearby, urging the wee dragonlike beasts to "eat aphids! Yesss!!! You munch right down on them icky, sap-draining, wriggling green aphids! Go go GO!"

So yes, I am a fan of ladybugs. And I found this cute, very cute indeed.
posted by kinnakeet at 3:10 PM on December 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


This morning when I woke,
my skin still showed bed wrinkles.
I watched a little youtube clip:
a bug who played with sprinkles.
Thought of my own endeavors,
and the workday still ahead,
and how this was so like my life...
I got back into bed.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:29 PM on December 15, 2010 [10 favorites]


guin: I think it might be a good thing I don't know your physical address, or you might have been the recipient of one of my favorite Secret Santa ideas ever.

Dude, that would escalate far faster then you even want to begin to contemplate. I do not take being gifted a box of bitey little bugs that attract more of them when you kill them lightly.

kinnakeet: yes, they are valuable, but in the bushes noming on aphids is where they belong. Not in my house, my shirt, or tustinrick's shorts. I don't invite garter snakes inside for much the same reasons.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 3:36 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


arthropodity

Arthropodaciousness!
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:36 PM on December 15, 2010


Metafilter: their version of lolcats
posted by benzenedream at 3:41 PM on December 15, 2010


Bangaioh: "arthropodity "

You know, I stumbled on this video by accident just before it was posted here. I regard the fact that it wound up here while I was watching it to be a nice bit of arthropodipity.
posted by boo_radley at 3:44 PM on December 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


We had aphids on our patio plants a while ago, so we got a box of ladybugs. Let 'em loose and enjoyed the cloud of ladybugs for a night.

Of course, we didn't have enough aphids to keep them all, so the majority were gone by the next morning. Neither of us got a single bite, though, and overall it was just a fun experience.

Team Ladybug, all the way.
posted by meese at 3:47 PM on December 15, 2010


My parents bought a tub of live ladybugs from a green pest control company with the idea that we would release them in the yard and they would happily eat the aphids and mites on the yard plants. They flew away and never came back. I don't think any settled in. Fickle little buggers.

If raising them is easy, selling them for pest control seems like a scam.
posted by bad grammar at 4:29 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Russian words for "ladybug" translate to "God's little cow." I think that's even cuter.
posted by nasreddin at 4:30 PM on December 15, 2010 [10 favorites]


OM NOM NOM! wait a sec ... OM NOM NOM! dammit ... OM NOM NOM! hey! OM NOM NOM this is futile ...
posted by bwg at 4:49 PM on December 15, 2010


It's amazing how a combination of cutesy name, polka dots, and some Sesame Street clips from decades ago causes us to read 'ladybug' as cute. What would this video look like with a junebug?

Hey!

Junebugs are cool. Their carapaces are iridescent. Quite pretty. And you can tie one end of a string to one finger and another to a junebug's leg and they'll buzz around your head until they get tired and then they'll settle on your head or on your shoulder and it's like having a Tiny Flying Pet on a Leash until you yank the string too hard and rip their leg off and they fly away maimed and angry and you feel just a bit guilty about it.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 5:11 PM on December 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


I think a ladybug moves like a Roomba.
posted by msali at 7:20 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


I think its reverting to its feral dung beetle instincts. You think it's an invasive species now, just wait until it forces itself into our bathrooms.
posted by dgaicun at 7:47 PM on December 15, 2010


What they don't tell you is that the little fuckers bite. It hurts, slightly less than a horsefly, but you know you've been bit. Mostly happens in late September when they swarm... I was at a wedding where the were thick all over the stones of the Church and the churchyard walls and the stone walkways, and flying through the air, and everyone was "awww, how pretty.. aaaoowww, damnit, haha, little guy bites!" Until everyone was bit, and getting bit again... Then it got significantly less funny and cute, and everyone piled into their transpo in a panic to go get blitzed at the reception. Whether this was in response to a fear of another ladybug bite, or in response to the possibility of the open bar being drained dry by alky in-laws, I leave as an exercise for the reader.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:20 PM on December 15, 2010


I was going to make a Lenox Avenue Ladybug joke, but I'm either tired or not funny. In the grand tradition of not-funny people, I'll just put that obscure pop culture reference out and assume someone will think it's clever.
posted by nickgb at 8:45 PM on December 15, 2010


cool about the Russian woord for ladybug meaning 'God's little cow' in Irish the word for lady bug is 'bo De' which literaly means 'God's cow' I think that is very cool. personally, I have never been bitten by a ladybug. I really like them because they are cute. They aren't the only cute bugs up on YouTube. all sorts of people enjoy posting clips of insect activity.
Aphids, the usual food of ladybugs taste sweet. Some call them 'ant cows' because the little ants heard them and care for them in order to get sweet stuff the aphids secrete. so ladybugs DO like sweet tasting stuff. among larger creatures, predators usually are 'smarter' maybe ladybugs are smsrt in a tiny buggy way. Who knows. I totally loved this clip.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:14 PM on December 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Obligatory Ladybug Picnic clip
posted by IvoShandor at 9:45 PM on December 15, 2010


They flew away and never came back. I don't think any settled in. Fickle little buggers.

I've read that some gardeners have better luck making the garden a welcoming place for for ladybug larvae (who can't fly away). Oh hey there's advice in that article about how to reduce the risk that newly-bought adults will fly away as soon as they're released. Cool.

My lemon balm bush was full of whiteflies this summer so I was grateful to the successive generations of ladybug larvae and adults who lived in the bush feasting to their hearts' content.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 10:36 PM on December 15, 2010


Metafilter: vulgar little fuckers
posted by liza at 5:04 AM on December 16, 2010


MrMoonPie, I love you for that, thank you, you are the best ever.

I felt a bit bad for the ladybug, who was so enthusiastic about but unsuccessful in eating the sprinkles. Until the Benny Hill version.
posted by mostlybecky at 10:48 AM on December 16, 2010


Also, ladybugs are not so adorable when they swarm your NJ house in ridiculous numbers on a warm Fall day, crawling into sliding door tracks and curtain rods just to die there and fall out en masse when you move something, running relays across the room on the ceiling moulding. Cooking in the light fixtures. Biting me. Stealth-flying into my hot cocoa right before I sip it. Bleh! I love bugs, but years of that shit scarred me for life.
posted by mostlybecky at 11:01 AM on December 16, 2010


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