Elf animals (1) Jan 3, 2011
My favorite scene from the movie Elf: 



Puffin:  Hey Buddy, wanna pick some snowberries?
Buddy:  Not now, Arctic Puffin! #entertainment
People in the floor Dec 16, 2010
I really like this piece of artwork by Korean artist Do-Ho Suh: 



I like imagining that the world is held in place by little people.  (via The Big Picture) #entertainment
NJ man Nov 24, 2010
The license plates for the great state of New Jersey feature a solid-color graphic of the state.  When I was a kid, I thought it was a picture of some guy.  I even asked my mom, "Who's that guy on the license plates?" 

Turns out, with some rudimentary computer drawing skills, you can make the state of New Jersey look like an awkward, frumpy policeman with a witch's nose. 



You'll never look at New Jersey the same again.  You're welcome. #entertainment
Radio editing Nov 22, 2010
On The Media recently re-aired a segment about all the editing that's done before one of their shows is released.  Very interesting behind-the-scenes stuff. #entertainment
Stiller and Meara Nov 5, 2010
Jerry Stiller and his wife Anne Meara have a series of videos where they talk for a few minutes about what's on their minds or what's in the news.  It's produced by their son, Ben Stiller.  It's essentially modern commentary by non-modern people, and it's great.  In the first episode, they talk about how it's their first time "on internet" and they discuss the phenomenon known as Spacebook, a.k.a. Facebook. #entertainment
Kit Kat beep Nov 3, 2010
In two different stores lately, I've heard the Kit Kat song from several aisles away, but it sounds like it's coming from a little electronic device or something because it's really just a series of beeps.  It plays a few notes then stops, then plays a few more notes a little later, and so on.  My natural reaction is to finish the song in my head, thus becoming the song-singing candy-eating robot the marketing people want me to be.  Damn advertising.  It worked. #entertainment
ESPN commercials Oct 30, 2010
ESPN plays a lot of self-promoting commercials, which isn't normally a good thing (e.g. "60 Minutes will play in its entirety directly following the football game" -- who cares?), but they do it in a way that doesn't actually advertise anything, which is a good thing.  In other words, they exist solely for entertainment, though I suppose they communicate the vague notion that since ESPN makes funny commercials, they're a TV channel that's worth watching.  Either way, it works, both in the sense that their commercials are entertaining, and that since they're entertaining, I want to watch more ESPN. #entertainment
Flying mattress (2) Oct 25, 2010
I helped one of my friends move last week.  After lugging his giant king-sized mattress down two flights of stairs and loading it onto the back of his pickup truck, we decided it didn't need to be tied down because it was so heavy.  This was our first mistake.  The internet says it weighs somewhere between 120 and 150 lbs, but I wouldn't have been surprised if it weighed ten times that amount.  It was stupid heavy.  And bulky.  And being somewhat of an expert regarding the flight of physical objects (they say I'm an "aerospace engineer," whatever that means), I decided that unlike a rigid airplane wing, this skinny, flat object would bend and flex way before it became airborne.  This was our second mistake.  So I got in the chase car and happily watched this mattress bend and flex in the back of my friend's truck, feeling satisfied it wouldn't bounce anywhere.  This was our third mistake.  It's true, it didn't bounce out of the truck.  It just so happened that this was one of the windiest days we've had in a while.  So while we drove along on a fairly slow road, the mattress caught a gust of wind and did the impossible, achieving liftoff and flying into the adjacent lane of oncoming traffic, where it was hit by an SUV.  We pulled our vehicles over and spent the next several minutes unraveling the mattress cover from the SUV's wheel well and assessing the damage.  Thankfully, this giant flying mattress only caused a little body damage to this SUV, and no humans were harmed in the making of this stunt.  We apologized to the driver of the SUV, who will probably win the award of being one of the most chill people ever, as he said, "Eh, it happens."  No sir, king-sized mattresses do not in fact fly out of the beds of pickup trucks and land in the road in front of your vehicle, almost killing you and causing a major accident.  Note to future humans:  Despite what you may believe about physics and common sense, 150-lb mattresses can fly. #entertainment
Cablevision vs. Fox Oct 20, 2010
I awoke this past Sunday morning to find out that my cable provider, Cablevision, was having a slap fight with Fox, and as a consequence, had dropped all programming from this major content producer, including that afternoon's Giants football game, the previous night's NLCS baseball game, and shows I enjoy like House and Fringe.  The story goes something like this:  Fox said, "Give us more money, losers," and Cablevision said, "We're totally unfriending you," and now Congress or the FCC or somebody is trying to step in and fix things.  As Wendy said, it's like parents fighting and taking it out on the kids.  Personally, I hope both companies go out of business and lose all their money and are forced to give me free cable for a year. #entertainment
Wait Wait laughs Oct 20, 2010
I've never heard a more annoying series of human laughs than on NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.  Regular panelist Charlie Pierce sounds like one of those Muppets that sits in the balcony and heckles everything and everyone, Kyrie O'Connor sounds like she barely has the ability to get through a few seconds of laughter, and Amy Dickinson sounds like a chipmunk.  I'm not here to tell anybody how they should or shouldn't laugh, but seeing as how this is radio and the only physical sense I'm using while listening is my sense of hearing, it's hard for me to ignore things that are un-ignorable.  The least they could do is turn down the volume on the mics for panelists whose laughter makes my skin crawl. #entertainment