Get Lit! Woot Celebrates Day One
by wootbot
Because great prose should be celebrated. With videos, obviously.
Friday, March 14
Thursday, March 13
The Trivial Eye: Basketball Movies
by Jason Toon
The likes of Eight Men Out and The Blind Side notwithstanding, basketball tops every sport on the silver screen. The back-and-forth scoring, the spectacular jumps and shots, the buzzer-beaters from halfcourt, the complex interplay of class and race: it's all made for the movies. Before the real basketball drama starts unfolding next week, can you identify these eight hoops films by their posters or DVD covers?
Wednesday, March 12
There Can Be Only Pun: Crappy College Basketball Teams
by Sean Adams
You guys, I have an addiction. I'm addicted to puns. I need them. I can't get enough of them. I HUNGER FOR THEM. That's why I've set up this weekly blog feature: so you guys can feed my addiction. Every week, I'll name the topic, give you some examples, and then you'll pun away in the comments, on Facebook, or on Twitter. I'll choose the best ones and post them here next week. Sound good? Good! Let's do it!
THIS WEEK'S EPISODE: Crappy College Basketball Teams!
Next week, the tournament of young basketball teams begins. We'll be taking the week off from the pun post, so we figured we'd celebrate now… with some really crappy college basketball teams. That's right. We're looking for bathroom humor in the form of basketball team puns. Use the whole team name or just the school. Here are a few examples:
Tuesday, March 11
The Debunker: Did Big Dinosaurs Have a Second Brain?
by Ken Jennings
Did you know that the second week of March is Brain Awareness Week around the globe? You didn’t? You weren’t aware of your brain? Conscious of your consciousness? Well, get with the program. March is perhaps the brainiest month of the year—it’s also when we celebrate the 1879 birthday of famous smarty-pants Albert Einstein, and the 1946 beginning of Mensa intelligence testing. But it turns out people will believe just about anything they hear about what’s going up between their ears. We’ve asked Ken Jennings to fact-check some particularly lame-brained misconceptions about gray matter.
The Debunker: Did Big Dinosaurs Have a Second Brain?
Yale paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh was one of the great dinosaur experts of the 19th century, naming pretty much every extinct lizard you see today in museum lobbies or children’s books: Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Triceratops, Apatosaurus. Much of his work centered on the dinosaur he called Stegosaurus, meaning “covered lizard.” In 1881, he made a cast of a Stegosaurus skull, and was astounded to find that the giant animal probably made do with a 3-ounce brain, no bigger than a lime. (Not quite the “brain the size of a walnut” from popular accounts, but close.)
Monday, March 10
Music Monday: Songs With Just Enough Plot
by Scott Lydon
Happy Music Monday! Last week Scott covered songs with too much plot. This week, however, we're going in the opposite direction! Today we're gonna collect songs that have JUST ENOUGH plot. Like, say, this one:
It takes one about two measures to have the tune down pat. After that, you're just along for the ride in this story of a man who loved and lost. Even before it was associated with Walter White, it was already a classic! And why? Because the story is just simple enough. You already know what's going to happen… but you can still hope you're wrong.
More stories to come. See you after the jump!
Thursday, March 06
The Trivial Eye: Foreign Posters for Hollywood Movies
by Jason Toon
These days, the posters for Hollywood movies usually look pretty much the same everywhere, except for the language. But there was a time when it was more common for local distributors and exhibitors put together their own posters to appeal to local audiences. And their re-imaginings can be more interesting than the movies themselves. Sometimes they'd interpret the movie's theme symbolically. Sometimes they'd latch on to some detail that the American producers considered secondary. Sometimes they'd take a completely different tone or visual style. And sometimes they'd make some crap up and hope it got people in the door. Can you recognize any of these well-known Hollywood flicks from their foreign posters?
Wednesday, March 05
There Can Be Only Pun: Boozy Board Games
by Sean Adams
You guys, I have an addiction. I'm addicted to puns. I need them. I can't get enough of them. I HUNGER FOR THEM. That's why I've set up this weekly blog feature: so you guys can feed my addiction. Every week, I'll name the topic, give you some examples, and then you'll pun away in the comments, on Facebook, or on Twitter. I'll choose the best ones and post them here next week. Sound good? Good! Let's do it!
THIS WEEK'S EPISODE: Boozy Board Games!
In July of last year, we did Boozy Video Games. Now, we're doing Boozy Board Games. Choose a booze (brand or generic), choose a board game, and have at it. Here's our examples. We have five… because… umm… we came up with too many good ones…
Tuesday, March 04
The Debunker: Are There “Left-Brained” and “Right-Brained” People?
by Ken Jennings
Did you know that the second week of March is Brain Awareness Week around the globe? You didn’t? You weren’t aware of your brain? Conscious of your consciousness? Well, get with the program. March is perhaps the brainiest month of the year—it’s also when we celebrate the 1879 birthday of famous smarty-pants Albert Einstein, and the 1946 beginning of Mensa intelligence testing. But it turns out people will believe just about anything they hear about what’s going up between their ears. We’ve asked Ken Jennings to fact-check some particularly lame-brained misconceptions about gray matter.
The Debunker: Are There “Left-Brained” and “Right-Brained” People?
Your buttoned-down computer programmer friend Gary is detail-oriented and analytical. Not long ago, he would have carried a slide rule with him at all times in his jacket pocket. “Left-brained!” you announce knowingly. But your free spirit friend Maya is creative and intuitive. She’s written poetry since third grade and has recently taken up painting. Regardless of weather, she is probably wearing a scarf right now. “Right-brained!” you decide.
Monday, March 03
Music Monday: Songs With Too Much Plot
by Scott Lydon
Happy Music Monday! Today Scott's jumping in to the huge mess that is story songs. Everyone knows at least one song with way, way, way too much plot. But are there five? Well, sadly… yes. And you're about to endure them. Let's start with a "classic" of the "genre"...
Kenny Rogers - Coward Of The County
Before he sold chicken, Kenny Rogers had this hit about a guy who was chicken. It's a simple story of a man who takes revenge on some bad guys who attacked his lady, and yet… it's just hideous. Maybe it's the weird way it turns sexual assault into a man's story of finding his courage, or maybe it's how they make turning the other cheek into "crawling" or maybe it's just the happy crackin' guitar in the background. Whatever it is, this song is like listening to a stranger's story when you only came in to the bar watch the game.
Well, not every song can be Ice Cube's "It Was A Good Day." See you after the jump?
Friday, February 28
Movie-Awards-That-Happen-This-Weekend Bingo!
by Team Chuckle
Are you sick of watching boring television programs in the age of video games? Tired of never-ending speeches and shots of Jack Nicholson trying not to fall asleep? Hey, this year, why not make the O████s fun again? Why not join us in a few games of BINGO?
We've put together one two three four different Bingo cards, so you and those you love can compete to see who is the best person in the history of ever. Print 'em out, hand 'em out, fill the spaces and cheer!
Just, whatever you do, don't say their actual given name. Sheesh. It's like they're Voldemort or something.
