Call me Ralph

Cats captured in a montage of techno-colored interludes might be a bit off-putting for the faint-of-stomach, if not emblematic of year-end revelry.

"Everything has seasons, and we have to be able to recognize when something's time has passed and be able to move into the next season. Everything that is alive requires pruning as well, which is a great metaphor for endings." - Henry Cloud

Lane change

Has this ever happened to you? Watch "Stay In Queue", where the lesson is commit and see it through.

"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." - Jonathan Swift

Karma and dogma

Adventures at the mall as told in "Car Park", 2014 British Comedy Award winner for best
Internet short from Bird Box Studio.

"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full." - Henry A. Kissinger

Black Christmas

Just in time for the holidays, Bing Crosby croons death metal, either to your delight or horror.

And the popularity of the top music genres since 1950 in one easy-to-use graphic.

"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day." - Phyllis Diller

Thought crimes

The original "Cat gives a dog hypnotherapy" was ripe for a translation. Beware of felines bearing massages.

And watch time and color pass if you have the patience.

"We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves." - Galileo Galilei

All in one

Just try keeping up with the non-stop pop culture references in Cruisr's animated music video for "All Over".

And a regular laugh riot of old comic book con ads, and some more here.

"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food." - W. C. Fields

On the up and up

Pouring a few bushels of plastic balls onto an escalator turns it in to something like a perpetual motion machine, enough to amuse you for a minute or two.

"Whenever a thing is done for the first time, it releases a little demon." - Emily Dickinson

De nada

For your viewing pleasure, a "Seinfeld" aquarium built into an old TV. Should make it easy to name the goldfish.

And finding economics lessons in that "show about nothing".

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing." - Theodore Roosevelt

Escape plan

Worst parking/driving job ever, as this surveillance camera video shows in painful detail. Watch it at 2x speed to minimize the agony. (Thanks RG)

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh

Crowd dynamics

This is how it goes when an endless surge of people rushes into a slowly-rotating metal barrier. Surprisingly mesmerising, although probably more interesting if done with real people.

"The mass, whether it be a crowd or an army, is vile." - Benito Mussolini

'Stache away

A few ways to remove your mustache that I wouldn't recommend to my worst mustachioed enemy.

And gear up and draw away using the Inspirograph. Hours of fun and RSI without the pile of paper.

"Most hard-boiled people are half-baked." - Wilson Mizner

Got game

The question of why certain races seem to dominate certain sports is finally answered in this recently unearthed video. (thanks BK)

And like a game of "Telephone", run some text through a translator a bunch of times and see what comes out the other end.

"The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said." - Peter Drucker

Ornament express

Doofus cat vs. Christmas tree. Guess who wins.

And better than a selfie — "You complete me."

"Either you decide to stay in the shallow end of the pool or you go out in the ocean." - Christopher Reeve

Don't knock it

Knock knock. Who knows? Who knows how long this man kept his daughter standing in a field until they nailed the take...

And the final rankings of favorite numbers are out, with unsurprising results and some interesting reasoning behind the selections.

"I distrust camels, and anyone else who can go a week without a drink." - Joe E. Lewis

Blurry lines

Sometimes, embracing your demons is the only way to go. But go where...?

"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." - Buddha

Good vibrations

What happens when science meets music? A moving piece of work.

And these letters, they're animated.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats

Movable feast

Photo series featuring artsy versions of Thanksgiving dinner, as prepared by greats like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Pollock, is the newest (and first food-based) project from artist Hannah Rothstein.

And what Thanksgiving would look like around the world.

"Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants." - Kevin James

Artful dodger

Originally, you needed to create a Vine within their app in just one take. Now you can create it elsewhere (e.g., a camera) and upload it. This traffic-dodging exhibition can't be real, right?

And this zombie apocalypse game The Dead Outnumber the Living is a blend of "choose your adventure" and a text-based video game.

"There's only one requirement of any of us, and that is to be courageous. Because courage, as you might know, defines all other human behavior. And, I believe — because I've done a little of this myself — pretending to be courageous is just as good as the real thing." - David Letterman

My sweet law

Observe the fate of a "freeman of the land" non-person when he tries to pull that nonsense on the police. The law is not blind, nor apparently does it have infinite patience.

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." - Jimi Hendrix

Anything goes

Animation sometimes can break the rules — or possibly not have them in the first place — as the animation school dropout proves with something that just might be weirder than Cyriak.

"Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king." - Mark Van Doren

Enough to make you hurl

Is the apartment across the street in the local delivery area for your pizza place? Definitely is in Japan, it seems.

And speaking of which, @OnePerfectShot tweets not much else but so-thought "perfect" still-photos from the movies.

"They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one." - Alan Shepard

Rough suede

The good folks at Musicless Musicvideo doctored Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes" into a cabaret classic.

"Fortune and love favor the brave." - Ovid

Subject to change

Show what you know about murder rates, teen pregnancies, religious preference, and more — take the Perils of Perception quiz for your country.

And amuse yourself with these deleted Wikipedia articles with freaky titles. ("Cambodian scrotum theives", "Intergalactic Thanksgiving", "Cathode Ray Tube Beef Curry"...?)

"Why don't they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth." - Will Rogers

Chain redaction

Florida man allegedly attempts to shoplift a chainsaw (not running) by stuffing it in his pants. [Fill in your own "wood" joke here.]

And the top 25 deadliest films of all time, by on-screen death toll. The winner is probably not what you expected (though the top 25 deadliest actors might be more in line).

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination." - Nelson Mandela

Spin drift

Captivating kids from Singapore turn freestyle card shuffling into a performing art.

"To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." - Lao Tzu

Lessons from the past

Second-hand bookshop in Australia occasionally finds cool stuff in the old books it buys.

And do you recognize these obsolete technologies? (Also known as the "How old are you?" quiz.)

"Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend -- or a meaningful day." - Dalai Lama

Found angel

Breathtaking day and night shots in "Angel City" make Los Angeles look about as beautiful and time-lapse-y as possible, while paying musical homage to the movie Heat.

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." - Henry David Thoreau

Telejustification

"Apocalypse Pooh" is a remixalot that makes a humorous yet disturbing point by recasting the famous fictional animated animals from Hundred Acre Wood as characters in Coppola's Vietnam War epic.

And Booking Bands has a smashup of classic books + bands, like "The Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" or "The Lionel, the Richie and the Wardrobe".

"Our ideals are our better selves." - Amos Bronson Alcott

Whole nine yards

Executives at Subway restaurants seriously underestimated the American public in this recent news item. Hope you like Onions on that... (Thanks Kingwood)

"To generalize is to be an idiot." - William Blake

Paths of glory

Riding a unicycle in the first place is somewhat insane, but racing a pickup down a mountainside on one wheel is definitely a crazy way to get from point A to point B.

"Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley." - Theodore Roethke

Ars brevis

Speed-painting video attempts to show the beauty of life at every age, from beginning to end and over again in about 4 minutes (or less if you watch at 2x speed).

And Your Life on Earth generates a personalized look at how the world has changed since you were born.

"I was born in very sorry circumstances. Both of my parents were very sorry." - Norman Wisdom

Now and then

The good folks at Electrolux R&D just might have lost their minds. If this is the future of the kitchen, who wants it? And from the past, Retronaut delivers historic photos by tweet on the hour, every hour.

"The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Uncomfortable

Kick back, and relax while watching Guy Fieri eat in slow motion to "Killing Me Softly".

And speaking of horror, woman orders "fur wolf tail" for Halloween and turns out that it's not exactly what she thought it was.

"You know you're getting old when all the names in your black book have M.D. after them." - Harrison Ford

Strange weather we're having

The gang over at Jimmy Kimmel Live rustled up a nice compendium of evocatively-shaped weather patterns from local news broadcasts. Well, as long as they're not making rain.

And other unforced errors... the most disastrous typos in Western history.

"Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Hazardous tourist duty

Take a little trip to some dangerous and/or deadly destinations around the world, like this walk along a mountainside that gives new meaning to planking.

And this site uses Google Street View to look at the most perilous roads on the planet.

"The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything ... or nothing." - Nancy Astor

Foam over function

Break-dancing gymnasts + bullet time = broken laws of physics in the pit.

"Gravity is a contributing factor in nearly 73 percent of all accidents involving falling objects." - Dave Barry

Continuation

"87 Bounces", a really creative short film, ties things together in classic Hollywood movies via a wayward basketball.

And movie posters stripped down to basic shapes at "Film the blanks".

"Filmmaking is a chance to live many lifetimes." - Robert Altman

Safe or sorry

Informative official video, complete with timely rhymes, for a hard-to-believe new product called Scroguard is must see YT. Clearly will accomplish its mission by preventing the act in the first place.

And some vomit-inducing Facebook quotations under the conjecture that everyone is awful.

"Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature." - C. S. Lewis

Onward Christian drummer

A little creative license on percussion arguably improves the listening enjoyment of this church band's rendition of "Oceans".

"You are the music while the music lasts." - T. S. Eliot

A case of the creeps

If you like woodwork and the supernatural, you're in luck. Ghosts make bookcases in a haunted but fully-functioning workshop. Or maybe it's stop-motion.

"One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done." - Marie Curie

Couchcophony

Not some strange piece of artwork — it's actually every couch gag from 25 years of "The Simpsons" (that's 554 episodes), played all at once. With sound.

"Everything is funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else." - Will Rogers

Spin zone

At first glance, you'd think there's no way this chocolate cake could blow your mind, but give it a few seconds to start spinning. (Warning for epilepsy AND diabetes.)

Also pretty sweet, some unbelievably realistic cake sculptures from Debbie Does Cakes.

"I am still learning." - Michelangelo

Goatpocalypse

Crazed farm animal runs amok, makes nuisance of himself attacking innocent townspeople.

"Dogs never bite me — just humans." - Marilyn Monroe

Swine fu

Kids put to the test by an amazing real-life talking pig who bears striking resemblance to Jimmy Kimmel.

Feeling "meloncollie"? Wish you had that guy's big "mussels"? Wonder what a "flamingo dancer" looks like? Well Illustrated Twitter Typos shows all.

"No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does." - Christopher Morley

Let there be

General Electric gets Jeff Goldblum to play a super-suave version of his oddball self to hawk some newfangled light bulbs. Amusing, though a just slightly disturbing scene at the hot tub.

And want some timeless advice? Then ask the past and look in olde bookes.

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

Looky here

In what seems like an obvious experiment/stunt, Nestle drums up some roundabout corporate goodwill by placing a hidden camera in a woman's bra to prove what we already know. All for a good cause.

"The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are." - John Burroughs

Find a penny...

...pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck. Accomplished operator deftly picks up a coin with his forklift and deposits it into a bottle.

"A goal is not always meant to be reached; it often serves simply as something to aim at." - Bruce Lee

Groovy trick

This won't do much for Pandora, Spotify, or MP3s, but it's amazing how this dude cleans his vinyl LPs with wood glue. Yes, glue. The kind you use to glue wood together. And it works.

"One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say." - Bryant H. McGill

Tech roundup

A couple of 19th-century whiskey-drinking cowboys discuss "The Good, the Fad and the Ugly" — the increasing ridiculousness of technology overwhelming our lives.

"Men have become the tools of their tools." - Henry David Thoreau

Grate job

Why did the sheep cross the cattle guard? Who knows. But if the question is "how"...

"I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Waltz on walls

Sure, it's an ad for GoPro cameras, but still... two people dancing on the facade of Oakland's City Hall.

"Freedom lies in being bold." - Robert Frost

Labors lost

Who knew there was a backstory to this kid's game — "BROKEN: Rock, Paper, Scissors" is a to-the-point little animation that beautifully portrays true love's true sacrifice.

"When you go in search of honey you must expect to be stung by bees." - Joseph Joubert

Small dogs

Perhaps you caught the clip of Tiny Hamster eating tiny burritos. Well now he's stepping up to take on none other than Kobayashi in a much-anticipated sequel.


"I must govern the clock, not be governed by it." - Golda Meir

Teenage wasteland

Tragic story of parents who decided to euthanize their brain-dead teenage daughter. Those of you in a similar situation will likely be able to empathize. (Thanks KW)

"My wife is so analytical with raising kids, and I am not. My feeling is if they turn out good, then that means I was a good daddy and put a lot of effort into it. If they turn out bad, it means they took after her side of the family." - Jeff Foxworthy

Calling all cards

The man who is the legend Willie Nelson tells a story that's an awesome card trick using every card in the deck. Captivating.

And a nice thread at Reddit: five-word scary stories. For example, "Living alone, toilet was warm."

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde

Shoot 'em up

Compilation of (supposedly) the 100 most iconic movie shots of all time.

"Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award." - Billy Wilder

Vintage score

Novel cover idea, this waltz arrangement of the Cyndi Lauper 80's classic, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".

"You can't sweep other people off their feet, if you can't be swept off your own." - Clarence Day

Noble barns

Watch the Ohio Amish raise a barn in under 10 hours, conveniently compressed to 3 1/2 minutes. (Try 2x speed for extra effect.) Reminds me of that "Family Guy" scene.

"I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again." - Joan Rivers

Turnkey

A paper cut from the cutting edge, Ikea parodies — or more like mocks — Apple ads in hawking its new catalog (a.k.a., bookbook).

"The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do." - B. F. Skinner

Hoop it up

Street performer Coral Jade looks like she's about to be teleported to another dimension as she masterfully spins 30 hula hoops using every part of her body.

"A will finds a way." - Orison Swett Marden

Gibbon take

Monkey makes mockery of two tacticless tigers in an exemplary exhibition of athletic acumen. Try to ignore the unnecessary sound effects.

"He who angers you conquers you." - Elizabeth Kenny

That's not a bucket...

...THAT's a bucket. Death toll from failed ice bucket challengers may some day rival that of ALS itself.

"Many are called but few get up." - Oliver Herford

Headbanger's Ball

Mystery guitar guy rocks public transit to the obvious delight of fellow passengers.

And a distantly related Tumblr go-with: guitarists making faces, looking like they're holding giant slugs.

"Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves?" - Robin Williams

Cartesian plain

Life and other stuff explained by graphs.

"People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do." - Isaac Asimov

Low budget, high res

Novel idea to scan video during playback, collect some of the images, and turn it into what amounts to a live-action stop-motion clip. The music's nice and funky, too.


And it's back to school time... math question from a Hong Kong elementary school (supposedly part of a first grade admissions test) had a lot of adults stumped. Can you solve it?

"Beauty without expression is boring." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Raise the boom

A question that probably didn't need to be answered — what if Michael Bay directed "UP"?

"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." - Sophia Loren

This we'll defend

The BBC (I guess) presents "War Worm" — sort of like "War Horse" but a little lighter.

"War does not determine who is right — only who is left." - Bertrand Russell

Picture perfect

Twenty-year-old self-taught illustrator Heather Rooney can produce some amazing photorealistic drawings of people's faces — LeBron James for example — wielding nothing but colored pencils.

"I'd love to be a pop idol. Of course, my groupies are now between 40 and 50." - Kevin Bacon

Iron lung

Man with superhuman lungs can blow up a hot water bottle until it blows up.

"Everything can have drama if it's done right. Even a pancake." - Julia Child

I me mime

Guitarist performs miracles on the classical guitar.

"Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else." - Tom Peters

Swooper man

Nice footage of daredevil paraglider guy gliding head-on, dead-on between two buildings. Anyone else think about a dip in the pool?

"It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - J. K. Rowling

We got action

One of the first water parks in the United States to put you in control of the fun, there was nothing in the world like Action Park. Must have made Irwin Mainway proud. (Thanks TED)

"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it." - Russell Baker

Slight mods

The folks at r/CommercialCuts show what a minor change or two will do to a run of the mill TV ad. Check out the nicely curated selection over at Digg.

And some improved names for everyday things.

"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." - Groucho Marx

Double-scoop

I scream, you scream, I scream again... this prankster of an ice cream man really makes you work for your cone.

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Losing cause

No matter how many hours you have under your belt or how good you think you are, you probably will never, ever beat this nonchalant air hockey-playing robot. And what's worse, it apparently knows how to string along human opponents and let them think they have a chance at winning.

"I'll let the racket do the talking." - John McEnroe

Remember your lines?

The Oscar for most talented forehead should go to this real scene-stealing star in the emotional conclusion of "Her". (Hint: Turn your head to the left or click the link to see the rotated version.)

"Apparently we love our own cell phones but we hate everyone else's." - Joe Bob Briggs

Cel job

Animator has a field day creatively creating creatures from anything and everything in
Aug(De)Mented Reality. El mundo está ocupado.

"The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny." - James Allen

Cannonball

Lunatic vacationer leaps off a five-story building and lands in a nearby swimming pool, amazingly still alive. Apparently this is a seasonal tourist fad in places like Spain. No doubt cuts down the tourist population, though on the plus side, thins the herd.

"Oldtimers, weekends, and airplane landings are alike. If you can walk away from them, they're successful." - Casey Stengel

Gotcha covered

Lumberjack rescues a black bear with a milk can stuck on his head. (The bear, not the lumberjack.) He must have had some practice in the arcade. (The lumberjack, not the bear.)

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." - Ernest Hemingway

One bad Apple

Jimmy Kimmel took to the streets to ask people what they think about Apple's new iWatch, which cunningly is a $20 Casio with an Apple logo stuck on the back of it.

Also in disguise, what if modern TV dramas had new theme songs extruded from classic TV sitcoms? Take the quiz if you're so inclined.

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Free for all

No need to call PETA. The elephants, giraffes, and other animals skydiving, skateboarding, and the like in these little French ad spots aren't real. But they do point out how ridiculous we humans must seem doing it.

And see the world by drone, from Australia to Zimbabwe.

"If God wanted us to fly, He would have given us tickets." - Mel Brooks

Pushover

Mean ol' dog shoves sweet unsuspecting cat into that watery pit of hell we call "the tub".

And here's your chance to make a deal with the universe. Write it a note, and hope it gives you whatever you need (or justice, at least).

"If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done." — Bruce Lee

Ghost rider

Little kid pulls off a mighty cool move during a neighborhood altercation and then rides off into the sunset.

And I'm not sure of the odds of that, but Correlated.org uncovers surprising connections between seemingly unrelated things.

"We may brave human laws, but we cannot resist natural ones." - Jules Verne

Push and pop

Performing some amazing feats without human intervention, these self-stacking building blocks are a nice upgrade over the usual playthings, thanks to the geniuses at MIT. [Popular Science]

"I always love to quote Albert Einstein because nobody dares contradict him." -- Studs Terkel

The new black

A simple trick you can do at home using black light, if you dare.

"I'm an algebra liar. I figure two good lies make a positive." - Tim Allen

Editing is everything

Really swell crop job brilliantly converts "Saving Private Ryan" into Hollywood idiocy.

"The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he is a baby." - Natalie Wood

Fur your birthday

Tiny hamster attends a tiny birthday party for his spiky friend, tiny hedgehog; cuteness ensues. (He also likes burritos.)

"You know you're getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It's like, see if you can blow this out." - Jerry Seinfeld

Get real

Not much to add when talking about this stunning realistical drawing. And quick, too.

"Fettucini alfredo is macaroni and cheese for adults." - Mitch Hedberg

Night moves

New Lexus ad uses stuntmen in LED suits doing some (literally, I think) impossible parkour runs through Kuala Lumpur.

And this mission impossible mouse would make Jean-Claude Van Damme proud.

"It's amazing how good getting up and moving makes you feel." - Paula Deen

O'er the ramparts

Fireworks show filmed from a drone is great and all, but just wait until they learn how to launch them.

And a quiz... a Google Maps-based trivia game called Smarty Pins.

"With my sunglasses on, I'm Jack Nicholson. Without them, I'm fat and 60." - Jack Nicholson

Sight and surround

Some visual fun in the way this woman's body becomes part of the canvas as it comes to life.

"There's a lot of mountain climbers trapped inside of bodies of people behind the counter at Kinko's." - Henry Rollins

Pine eraser

Amazing machine that can shred a tree to nothingness, top-down, in a matter of seconds.

"Great things are done when men and mountains meet." - William Blake

Talking the dull out of dulcimer

The classic "Whole Lotta Love" played on a dulcimer has a majesty and power that Led Zeppelin surely would approve of.

"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon

Mite shift

This highly detailed microscopic view of the hallway carpet in "The Shining" is a beautifully artistic and creepy little bit of animation.

And a few GIFs that might just teach you a thing or two.

"Our best thoughts come from others." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Footloose

David Bowie and Mick Jagger in a music-less music video is, in a word, amazing.

And drummer sniped by flying disc literally doesn't miss a beat.

"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't." - Jack Dempsey

Almost got the hang of it

Old women find the escalator to be just a little perplexing.

And something not quite right in these Chinese Translations gone awry, many in the profane vein.

"Understanding is a two-way street." -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Sol brother

It's the first day of summer, so go ahead and grab a little bit of it.

"Is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus, or just a really cool Opotamus?" - Mitch Hedberg

Spears fishing

Adding yourself to every frame of a Britney Spears music video could only make it better, right?

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value." - Albert Einstein

Silent bark

Your pareidolia of the day might have been more astounding only if found in a piece of toast.

"Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet." - Roger Miller

Call it a draw

Wabbit-master Chuck Jones gives a quick (two-minute) lesson on how to draw Bugs Bunny.

"There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept." - Ansel Adams

Dad-cam

A not-so-good son scares the bejeezus out of his dad again and again and again in this video compilation. Snapchat abuse, with unforgivable vertical orientation.

"Most comedy comes out of misery." - Seth Rogen

Print is dead?

Canon printers blur the line between 2D and 3D, at least in this ad.

And some clever magazine ads illustrating how life's too short for the wrong job. (Don't they mean the opposite?)

"One today is worth two tomorrows." - Benjamin Franklin

On the wall

A nice little chunk of stop-motion, "Evolution", with graffiti and bits of trash artfully combined to create animals and then...

"Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything." - Gustave Flaubert

Got way back

The Seattle Symphony and Sir Mix-a-Lot team up to perform "Baby Got Back", replete with awkward dancing, strings, and things.

"When you are through changing, you are through." - Bruce Barton

Border checkmate

Watch this timelapse map to get an idea of how 1,000 years of European borders have changed.

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." - Lao Tzu

Get religion

I might frequent a house of worship a little more often if there was the chance of a sword fight, like the one at this Sikh temple.

And interactive stats of global views on morality, from divorce to gambling to other good stuff, from Pew Research.

"They can conquer who believe they can." - Virgil

Trust your gut

Things would have turned out a little different if David Lynch directed "Return of the Jedi". (And actually, Lucas did offer him the opportunity.)

"If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased." - Katharine Hepburn

For play

)


Does anyone really want to watch this guy kissing a king cobra? (Granted, he was the perfect gentleman. No tongue.)

"You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer yes without having asked any clear question." - Albert Camus

Show and tell

Finalists in an optical illusions contest, assuming you believe what you see.

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures." - Oscar Wilde

Skins alive

Will Ferrell bears a strong resemblance to Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, so they take the stage for a drum-off to settle things once and for all.

"A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience." - John Updike

Recursion

The last word in celebrities impersonating celebrities, a compilation that doubles your entertainment fun.

And who's your celebrity birthday double? Enter your birthdate and this magic web page spells it all out.

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it." - Art Buchwald

Rock fusion

Two giants of modern musical history, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, collaborate nicely in "Whole Lotta Helter Skelter".

And hey Mildred, did you know you can guess peoples' ages based on their names?

"Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them." - Louis Armstrong

Better you bet

An amusing yet macabre take on the more humane capital punishment method recently installed in Ohio.

And which Dewey Decimal category are you? Find out if you don't already know.

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

Top notch

Dad carrying his child casually tries to catch ball with undesired result.

And accurate headlines for non-news stories, better rewrites of The Daily Mail's celebrity "news".

"When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat." - Ronald Reagan

On location

The band NO found a really cheap and ingenious way to shoot the video for their song "There's A Glow" using Grand Theft Auto as the backdrop.

And how much does it cost to book your favorite band? Too much, from the looks of it.

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." - Anais Nin

Ground Zero (+1)

After ten years and one million images under its belt, EarthCam has a stunning time-lapse of the 9/11 Memorial Museum's construction.

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell

Defiant

Insane Russians doing insane acrobatics on an electric tower, no strings attached.





And some eerie and indelible Russian dashcam footage from a car driving through what looks like Hell, though luckily is just a raging forest fire.

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress." - Frederick Douglass

Heed the call

Exorcism detour ahead... a minor setback while casting out inner demons, not to mention the video orientation.

And free your mind — words to live by from the New Age poppycock generator.

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." - Socrates

Short stuff

For "Game of Thrones" fans, an alternate ending (and possible minor spoiler) for Tyrion's speech that you might enjoy.

And maybe get a grin out of TL;DR Wikipedia's cheeky entries that get straight to the point.

"Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing." - Robert Benchley

Camera obscura

The fantastical fractured French fairy tale "HYPERMONDE" is a music video mix of live action and a little animation to haunt your waking dreams.

And what do the number of swimming-pool drownings and the number of Nicolas Cage films have to do with each other? Beats me, too, but more of that sorta stuff at Spurious Correlations.

"Either move or be moved." - Ezra Pound

Motive unlcear

Legendary comedic talent Armando Iannucci takes you through a typical corporate speaking gig.

How much more is the average American CEO compensated vs. the average worker, and other quick quiz questions you may (or may not) know at How Wrong You Are.

"Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence." - Laurence J. Peter

The meaning of

Homer sees his life flash before him, roll by roll, in this recent Game of Life couch gag, with a dark take on the classic board game.

"If at first you don't succeed, blame your parents." - Marcelene Cox

Gluten for punishment

Jimmy Kimmel asks some of those gluten-free people if they know what gluten is. Surprise, surprise.

"Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with." - Robert Staughton Lynd

Out and about

It's 10PM — do you know where Fluffy is? Your worst suspicions about a usual cat day confirmed via CatCam.

And a look at the daily creative routines of Mozart, Darwin, Dickens, Freud, and more.

"My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can." - Cary Grant

In the sing of things

You know darn well what "Commando: The Musical" is going to be, but don't let that stop you from enjoying it.

"I had to stop going to auditions thinking, 'Oh, I hope they like me.' I had to go in thinking I was the answer to their problem." - George Clooney

Emotion sickness

Human emotions on demand, courtesy of "The Office" Stare Machine. (If it seems familiar, that's because it's the sister site of "The Office" Time Machine.)

And use this Twitter Bio Generator and save some thinking for yourself.

"You must never underestimate the power of the eyebrow." - Jack Black

Dramatic change

Expert editing turns "Dumb and Dumber" into a serious movie. (Though not as good as the adrenaline-pumping suspense thriller recut, IMO.)

And amusing one-star reviews of literary classics.

"If you're a woman and a guy's ever said anything romantic to you, he just left off the second part that would have made you sick if you could have heard it." - Louis C. K.

Reaction time

A mega-mix of spectacular science-related tricks, sure to spice up any Chemistry department faculty party.

"Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing." - Euripides

In the rotation

Particularly impressive -- epic, it claims -- exhibition of pen spinning. The custom carrier case is a nice touch.

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else." - Margaret Mead

One sigh fits all

Compilation of infomercial clips highlighting those hilariously exaggerated problems so easily solved in just five easy payments.

And this fake text message generator lets you create your own "genuine" autocorrect mishap, ready for posting to your favorite social network or whatever.

"A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds." - Mark Twain

Life's mystery

Zefrank's "Sad Dog Diary" gives some excellent insight into the depths of the dog's psyche. (Thanks Kingwood)

"Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy." - Joseph Campbell

Give my regards to Broadus

Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show crew is back at it with another installment of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams rapping, this time to Snoop Dogg's classic "Gin and Juice". Maybe a name change to Snoop Brian?

"Thankfully, dreams can change. If we'd all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses." - Stephen Colbert

Nuggets of truth

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Inside Amy Schumer parody "The Foodroom" lampoons what an Aaron Sorkin TV show about McDonald's would be like.

"Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion." - Thornton Wilder

Dyeing art

Nice job with these painted pop culture Easter eggs that are a standard deviation or so from the mean.

And a Tumblr, terrible photos of real estate for sale.

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength." - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Automation domination

Allegory abounds in "Monsieur COK", a dark and beautiful tale of totalitarian industrialism in a post-World War society.

And is this man's spreadsheet-based ranking system for his friends just a bit over the top?

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." - Desmond Tutu

Junkyard parts

Go back to 1930 and you'll find this stop-motion short of a metal-eating bird, with some outstanding effects created way before anyone dreamt of CGI.

And for no particular reason, Shakespeare’s works in three-panel comic strips.

"I don't want to be interesting. I want to be good." - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Not safe for perch

Living your days chained to a post probably would be enough to make you say it, too.

And check out "lol my thesis", where graduate students try to describe their theses in one short sentence.

"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn

Hairitage

Some of the worst hairstyles from the 60s and 70s, soon to be on display in Brooklyn or SF. [Devour]

And the question: Should you take a selfie? This infographic has the answers.

"I don't want something special. I want something beautifully plain." - Anne Lamott

Half-past two

The answer to "What time is it?" in the Italian countryside is an old joke but a good one.

Inattextive (incessant phone use during social situations) and other such neologisms from the Emotionary, a place for "words that don't exist for feelings that do".

"There are as many opinions as there are experts." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Yippee kayay

Something of a remake, "Die Hard With Pugs" makes up for in pug-ness what it lacks in production quality.

"Discontent is the first necessity of progress." - Thomas A. Edison

Plain sight

Holy crap, this parrot is actually a woman in bodypaint posing for a mind's eye trip. Incredibly impressive attention to detail.




You can see more work from this remarkable artist, Johannes Stoetter, in this video:

"There is an optical illusion about every person we meet." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Unlucky brake

Home security camera captured this incredible scene of a FedEx delivery gone terribly wrong. (Though granted things could have turned out far worse.)

"As I grow older, I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do." - Andrew Carnegie

A star is born

Man in a TV show studio audience catches wind that he's on camera and becomes an instant legend.

And actual celebrities that look like mattresses.

"Life is a long lesson in humility." - James M. Barrie

When pushpin comes to shove

A good run of stop-motion fun with office supplies, A Girl Named Elastika looks like more work than work.

"Nothing is work unless you'd rather be doing something else." - George Halas

Morphing

Transcendental transitions in this quirky little hand-drawn animation that'll make you feel like you inhaled.

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." - Michelangelo

What the puck?

Days of human dominance at the arcade are over with the arrival of this 3D-printed, airhockey-playing robot on the scene. Machines eventually take all the fun out of everything.

"One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word." - Robert A. Heinlein

Brand spanking

The world's most generic brand ad corrals the worst of today's tech TV spot cliches in one convenient place.

"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket." - George Orwell

Morph Simpson

Observe as a human model gets turned into a creepy and unnerving real-life Marge Simpson in about a minute.

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people." - Virginia Woolf

But now am found

"I'm just 1 of the 12 lip balms that you own & don't use," exclaims an entry in Little Lost Project, a Tumblr that tells the stories of the little objects that we lose all the time.

And a fairly engaging tool for visualizing cultural production across various disciplines throughout history.

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." - Leonardo da Vinci

Seasoning

Pop-culture references from The Office, by year, on demand, if you plug in The Office Time Machine.

"Most people have to talk so they won't hear." - May Sarton

Out of tune

Classical music interrupted by trombonist sneezing makes for classic performance.

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." - Berthold Auerbach

Keep it clean

Clever and nicely done little animation from Rushes shows some novel ways of dealing with litter.

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." - Tony Robbins

Deer me later

Funny fake-news from the world of social media mass-migration in which The Onion describes the next teen fad fleeing from Facebook.

"There's a danger in the internet and social media. The notion that information is enough, that more and more information is enough, that you don't have to think, you just have to get more information — gets very dangerous." - Edward de Bono

Fare whether

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Comedian cabbie takes his pet/prop on a reptilian ride-along in New York City. Passengers react in predictable NY style.

"A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running." - Groucho Marx

Moves

Website models involuntarily pump up the jam and get spun around. Maybe I'm just a cynic, but seems like it could be a stealth viral ad for an apparel company.

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." - Japanese Proverb

Suspend disbelief

Didn't know that a broken fire hydrant spews enough water to lift the back end of a compact car off the ground, but that's the story reported by NBC's San Diego affiliate.

"In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it." - Lao Tzu

Fate accompli

Voluminous compilation of close calls starkly illustrates how we're always just a breath away, and often oblivious.

"Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him." - Groucho Marx

Lyin' in winter

Wintery sci-fi futuristic deathmatch in space called Project Skyborn packs the spirit and thrills of a Hollywood blockbuster into a few-minutes long indie short.

"Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come." - Robert H. Schuller

'Snow way

Kamikaze skier launches off a massive cliff and flies down the mountain during a run at the Swatch Freeride World Tour in France.

"It is better to go skiing and think of God, than go to church and think of sport." - Fridtjof Nansen

Tweets of pareidolia

They're everywhere, my uncle has told me, and you'll get no argument from Faces in Things, an expressive Twitter feed that leaves only a little to the imagination.

"There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face." - William Shakespeare

Alley oop

Suffer the portrait mode for this impressive golf trick shot (or editing job).

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else." - Charles Dickens

Have a blast

Old but still impactful clip from "The Amazing Race" of contestant suffering ignominious injury via melon malfunction.

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." - Salvador Dali

Too much monkey business

Budget CGI highlights My Nature Documentary, a Jack Handey story originally published in the New Yorker about a screenwriter poring over his African safari script.

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." - Ernest Hemingway

A little nuts

Onboard camera proves that this squirrel stealing a plane footage has to be real, no? Action starts after about a minute or so.

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

Excommunication

Gibberish with perfect diction in a non-existent foreign language pretty well simulates the experience for me.

"England and America are two countries separated by the same language." - George Bernard Shaw

Battle of MIDIway

Helpless dot-matrix printer is forced to rock the tunes, probably paving the way for the sequel, Rise of the Machines.

"Hell is full of musical amateurs." - George Bernard Shaw

Black Benny

Who'da thought — black metal + "Yakety Sax" make for unexpectedly amusing bedfellows.


And some Benny Hill-ified ravers look just a little back-in-time.

"We build too many walls and not enough bridges." - Isaac Newton

Optical protrusion

Not only terrifying, this giant eyeball rendered in your browser is also adjustable via slider controls.

"Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge." - Carl Sagan

Domestic flap

Adorable flying squirrel-like pet comes when you call it. I wish my dogs listened this well.

"Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination." - Immanuel Kant

A game about nothing

Mario vs. Seinfeld in a Parody About Nothing is sitcom gold if you're a fan of one or both.

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." - George Bernard Shaw

Unbiased source

Killer editing job from Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show crew on this clip of NBC news anchor Brian Williams rapping "Rapper's Delight".

"The face is more honest than the mouth will ever be." - Daphne Orebaugh

Help in a furry guise

So many things wrong with us, according to A Cat's Guide To Taking Care Of Your Human, compared to the feline's simple needs.

"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect." - Steven Wright

Taking the fizz out of physics

What keeps a train on its tracks? Richard Feynman explains why whatever you're probably thinking is not the right answer. Interesting two-minute lesson from a demi-god.

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." - RPF

I'll let it slide

Olympic flashback to a bygone era when Cat Curling was a sanctioned event.

"Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country." - Steven Wright

Dems da breaks

Couple ends it with a little help from 154 movie titles.

And watch colors appear on blank objects, courtesy of this optical illusion.

"Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?" - Groucho Marx

Tank commander

Goldfish piloting a radio-controlled aquarium in this clip seems to have gotten a decent amount of press coverage.

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." - Harry S. Truman