Everyone has their favorite Christmas movie, but it turns out that those tastes are often regional. For example, the Rust Belt seems to love Elf while the West has a soft spot for The Nightmare Before Christmas. Love for Home Alone seems to be spread out throughout the country. So what's your state's favorite Christmas film and does it happen to match up with your own personal tastes?
You can see a break down of the movies and the states that love them here.
Via Mental Floss
One of the great and simultaneously awful things about Disney theme parks is that Walt's vision that the parks will never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the world. It's great that we can always expect new and amazing attractions, but it's also frustrating when your favorite ride is no longre there.
You can read up on some of the best rides that no longer exist (or are about to disappear) over at Travel and Leisure. Personally, I rode the Cars-themed version of the flying saucers and wasn't very impressed. Have any of you rode some of these now-defunct rides?
Children in the US are obsessed with Santa Claus, but for the naughty-minded adults, one Christmas character is drastically more interesting -Krampus. If you just have to get your hands on some Krampus gear, whether for yourself or someone naughty on your list, you won't want to miss this Mental Floss list.
From ugly Christmas sweaters to candles and patches to candy canes, Krampus fans everywhere will surely want to get their hands on these great goodies.
Better Off Dead was often overlooked in favor of the classic John Hughes teen comedies, but it for those with a dark sense of humor, it's just as good, if not better. For those that love the film, this trivia on Mental Floss is not to be missed as it's filled with all kinds of surprising facts about the movie. For example, the fact that it's semi-autobiographical, including writer and director Steve Holland's attempted and botched suicide:
I went into the garage, and I put an extension cord on a pipe, and I’m on a garbage can, and I’m thinking, ‘Should I do this? Maybe this isn’t a good idea.’ Anyway, it was a plastic garbage can, and my weight just like crashed through it and I fell, and the pipe broke! And it starts pouring water everywhere. And I’m basically in a garbage can, drowning. And my mom comes and starts yelling at me for breaking a pipe, which is what any mom would do.
Another fun fact: John Cusack absolutely hated the movie when it came out though now his feelings have softened a little and he claims he never actually hated it, he just "didn’t really have a feel for it.”
So check out the full list of trivia tidbits at Mental Floss.
Christmas trees are everywhere this time of year, but while a regular old pine tree might be great in your living room, sometimes you want something different when you own a business trying to get attention.
This Travel and Leisure article is filled with fun and unique Christmas trees you might never see anywhere else -like the deer antler one outside a wild game processing plant in Texas or this LEGO tree spotted at LEGOLAND, California.
There are plenty more fun ones on the list, so don't miss the full list here.
I went to a restaurant last week that offered alcoholic punches served in a cookie jar. As it turns out, that's nothing compared to some of the ridiculous serving methods some hipster restaurants are resorting to.
How do you like your ceasar salad? Without cheese with a cruton napkin ring around a head of romaine? Yeah, that's fancy.
And plates are so 2015, wouldn't you rather eat on a shovel, mouse trap or skateboard? Yeah, the restaurant scene is getting pretty damn stupid.
And what is this even?
See the full list of utterly preposterous food trends over at Buzzfeed.
Cutting snowflake patterns as a child is just one of those special childhood memories everyone seemed to enjoy.
But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it as an adult. In fact, it can be a relaxing hobby and easy holiday decoration. It's especially great if you have a pattern that sparks your geek interest.
Fun.com has a huge collection of geeky superhero snowflake designs, each of which has a free downloadable pattern so you don't have to guess how to make the designs yourself.
We love a good ramen here at Neatorama, but one with four servings of ramen, almost 9 pounds of bean sprouts, 24 ounces of broth all coated in chili powder? That's taking things a little far. But eating something on this scale isn't just recreation, it's a challenge.
And if you can take down this big bowl of noodles and broth from The Umakara Ramen Hyouri restaurant in Tokyo, you could earn $438 -if you do it in 20 minutes. Do it in 30 and you can still walk away with an impressive $236. Of course, a challenge like this isn't without its risks and in this case, it's not just the risk of a very, very bloated belly. If you fail, you owe the restaurant $88 for this massive meal.
You can see more pictures of the crazy dish over at My Navi, but be warned the writing is all in Japanese.
Via Thrillist
Many kids know the joy of jumpking in a freshly-raked pile of leaves, but their joy is nothing compared to how absolutely thrilled this husky is to see such a majestic playground made just for him.
If that pile of leaves was any smaller, Butch would not only have less fun, but he would probably already make way more of a mess, but because there are so many leaves, it's pretty hard to make much more of a mess.
It's not easy to take home a Christmas tree when you're flying an X-Wing, but it sure looks festive.
It looks a little easier in an A-Wing, but there's still no room for a pilot.
Of course it seems a little easier using the USS Enterprise, but those decorations must be huge if you consider that this ship is supposed to hold over 1,000 people.
These delightful geek Christmas displays were created by Allison Kapner and they can be yours if you visit her Etsy store.
Guy Fieri rubs a lot of people (myself included) the wrong way, but the fact remains that he has some truly die-hard fans who follow Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives everywhere. And it's those fans that make it so worthwhile for restaurants to appear on his show despite the fact that it requires them to close down shop for days and make any and all food items available at the host's requests. While Fieri might seem obnoxious on the show, he's actually more muted and likable in person and his rabid friends flock to restaurants seen on the show making them tourist destinations for years to come.
Read more details about what it's like to work with Fieri on Thrillist.
Most people are familiar with Depression-era photographer Dorthea Lange, but while you probably have seen her Works Progress Administration photographs, you may not have seen her photos from the WWII Japanese internment camps. The reason you haven't seen them is pretty simple -they were censored at the time and not released until 2006.
The photographer was hired by the government to document the relocation of Japanese-Americans in 1942. But Lange had a habit of capturing her opinions in her photography and the military commanders did not like what she had to say about the internment.
You can see more of the incredible and heart-breaking images and read what Lange had to say about the camps over at Counter Current News.
Ever wish you could dine out with the cast of Seinfeld? Or maybe drink with the crew from Cheers? Well, you can't. But you can actually go to Tom's Restaurant or the real Cheers bar. Over at Travel and Leisure, you can read up on the real life bars and restaurants spotted in many classic shows and movies. So which one would you visit if you could? Personally, I'd like to visit the Double R Diner from Twin Peaks to see if their coffee and pie are really that great.
Check out the full list here.
Monkeys and primates can't speak. That much is certain. We know that some primates can learn to speak sign language and many can learn to understand human words, but they still can't talk to us. Until now, many people believed that was because they were physically incapable of speach, but a new study by the University of Vienna reveals that primates do have the physical ability to speak, with larynx, tongues and lips capable of it. Instead, they now believe that the problem lies in their minds -they simply aren't mentally capable of understanding how to use language and forming words.
So will they be able to learn to speak eventually? Maybe after another 1000 years or so of evolution.
During the recession of 2007, many statistics said that the economy was actually worse than the Great Depression and while that might be right as far as financial losses, our security nets prevented it from being nearly as bad on a human level. A look at these amazing photos from New York during the Great Depression show just how bad things were during the 1930s.
The article is a slideshow but the pictures are still pretty impressive, so while scrolling through it might be annoying it is worth the effort. So if you have the time, don't miss this collection of historically fascinating photos.
