I cried when I first read the book Charlotte's Web, and in some subsequent readings, too. I cried when I watch the animated film in 1973. And I cried at the live-action remake in 2006, although my kids didn't understand why. By then it was a flashback to my childhood experience of the story. If you have fond memories of watching the 1973 animated version of Charlotte's Web, you'll want to read a trivia list about the movie.  

10. Debbie Reynolds offered to forego her salary to play Charlotte.

Reynolds loved the book so much that she was willing to voice Charlotte’s part just for the fun of it. That’s true dedication to one’s craft.

4. The author wasn’t too fond of the movie.

Just as he feared the director and the animators changed too much about his book. He watched it once and then never again.

E. B. White objected to the songs in the film, but Hollywood did not change the story as much as it changes most stories. Read more about the 1973 Charlotte's Web at TVOM.

It's time for a little warm-and-fuzzy break! Take a few minutes and revel in seeing all kinds of animals giving hugs to people (or vice-versa). We have cows, chimpanzees, parrots, fish, elephants, poultry, bears, pigs, goats, cats, dogs, and ferocious wild animals -some you may not even be familiar with. Need we say it? Don't try this with just any animal.   

(YouTube link)

When you feel the world is falling apart, enjoy the power of touch and the pure signs of affection from critters who don't care about our wealth or our pasts or our politics. -via Tastefully Offensive

Here's a hotel room you will tell your grandchildren about. TheKrane is an abandoned crane at the harbor in Copenhagen, a real crane, converted into an overnight suite for two. The experience won't be cheap (currently €2,500), but you'll have certain amenities:

As a homage to its industrial past, the interior is lined from floor to ceiling in black-stained Douglas planks. Designer Danish furnishings in the signature color complete the minimalist palette, allowing the scenery to shine through the surrounding windows. Below, a gray-stone spa sits in front of floor-to-ceiling glazing, affording expansive views of the city and sea from the sauna and soaking tubs. Amenities include a concierge, airport pickup, and your own BMW to explore the capital.

Did I mention the views from the crane are spectacular (for a harbor)? See a gallery of images at Uncrate. -via Boing Boing

AMC has promised that the mid-season eight finale of The Walking Dead will have a shocking and devastating moment for the audience. We are not surprised, as that's the kind of talk we hear about every episode. But the series tends to kill off characters right before the show goes away for months at a time -and that's why we have these polls. Who do you think is going to bite the big one this Sunday night? Continue reading for specific predictions for each character, which will contain spoilers for those not current with the show. Or go ahead and register your prediction in the poll.

A young girl is excited about the school's holiday talent show, and puts in plenty of time practicing her dance. But her father is always busy working. Will he make it to the big event? Will he even remember it?

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Sometimes parents can surprise you. This heartwarming Christmas short film is from BBC One. -Thanks, Ken D!

Hey, I got a shirt that color! Actually, more than one shirt that color. The Pantone Color Institute has announced the Color of the Year for 2018, and it's Pantone 18-3838. We laymen can call it Ultra Violet.

“Purple is a complex color,” Lee Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, tells Co.Design. “We’re in a complex time; this is a complex color.”

I dunno, it looks like medium purple to me, but I like medium purple. Get ready for Ultra Violet pots and pans, Ultra Violet bathroom accessories, and Ultra Violet clothing, of course. You can browse the ways that Ultra Violet can be used at Pantone. -via Digg

This stunning photograph of the Milky Way over Harvey Dam in Western Australia was taken by Flickr user inefekt69 in February. It was selected as one of Flickr's top images of 2017. So was this magnificent picture of Mont Saint-Michel in France, with its reflection showing in a puddle of water by Flickr user Loïc Lagarde.

To select the best images of the year, Flickr relied on user metrics, such as how many views and favorites the pictures received, to whittle the contenders down. Then the final 25 were selected by the Flickr staff. See all 25 of Flickr's best photos of 2017 here. And if you've got time, there are 612 galleries of top photos broken down by category here. -via Metafilter

This is fine. Christmas is filled with so much joy that we can smile while warming our hands by the toasty flames of our bank accounts incinerating. Honestly, sometimes I think that Christmas exists to make sure we enter the New Year completely broke. That way, the only way to go is up! Until income tax season, that is... This is the latest comic from Sarah Andersen at Sarah's Scribbles.

Andersen's latest book, Big Mushy Happy Lump: A Sarah's Scribbles Collection, is an economical Christmas gift.

A universal basic income (UBI) has been proposed now and then in different places as a response to income inequality, unemployment, low wages, automation, and inadequate social safety nets. Everyone would be given enough money for basic survival, whether or not they also have a paid job. The theory is that some will still work and earn extra money, while those who cannot work (the elderly and disabled), can't find a job, or choose not to work (new parents, family caregivers, students) will not starve. Others will find the freedom to start their own business, go to school, or do volunteer work.

(YouTube link)

Kurzgesagt explains the basic principles of UBI, the many ways it could be implemented, and the arguments for and against. Don't hold your breath, though.  

Competitive creative dog grooming is an activity that makes dogs into an art medium. The biggest competition is the annual Groom Expo, which took place in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in September. Watch as dog groomers Adriane Pope and Angela Kumpe negotiate the four-day grooming exposition and sculpt and dye their poodles, transforming them into magnificent, if odd, works of art.

(vimeo link)

As with other obscure pastimes, creative dog groomers know each other, know the rules and trends, and work diligently to make a name for themselves among those in the creative dog grooming community. The short film Well Groomed by Rebecca Stern is being developed into a feature film. -via Laughing Squid

(Image credit: Flickr user MR38.)

Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate toward a profession that is reflected in their name. The Wikipedia page cites a 1977 article titled "The Urethral Syndrome: Experience with the Richardson Urethroplasty" co-authored by two Australian doctors named Splatt and Weedon as one of the inspirations for the term. It's not clear whether this is really a trend, or whether those who fit the theory just get attention for it. However, it seems to be rampant in the medical profession. This could be because we have so many terms associated with health and illness. The wide use of euphemisms plays a part, as you can tell in the great number of urologists and gynecologists that fit the profile. Let's meet some of them.

The 2008 movie The Hurt Locker followed a bomb disposal unit in the Iraq War, which meant lots of violence and explosions, but the film was ultimately about how war changed the men in it. Kathryn Bigelow became the fist woman to win an Oscar for Best Director for the movie, beating her ex-husband's film Avatar. Let's learn some of the details behind The Hurt Locker.  

10. The film was shot on location in Jordan.

Kathryn Bigelow wanted to shoot part of the scenes on a Kuwait military base but she was denied.

9. The director claimed that no scenes were left out of the final cut.

It would seem that everything that was filmed was put into the movie, which is kind of hard to believe but kind of intriguing as well.

Here's more to learn about The Hurt Locker in a trivia list at TVOM.

(Image credit: Sir Toby Toblerone)

Meet Sir Toby Toblerone. This British cat was picked up by an animal rescue group as a kitten and then was adopted from a shelter by his foster parents. Toby has never been able to walk, although the exact cause have never been pinpointed. But Toby leads a good life with the other cats Hattie and Nigel and his Mum and Dad, who take care of his every need.

(Image credit: Sir Toby Toblerone)

Toby loves to cuddle and enjoys trains, so his humans dress him up and take him on adventures, like riding on a train or just watching one.

(Facebook link)

Toby's adventures are regularly shared on Facebook. -via Metafilter

In 1825, a baby giraffe was taken from her mother and shipped by camel, by ship, and on foot to Paris as a gift from the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt to King Charles X. She was called “la Belle Africaine” or “la girafe,” and has since been called Zarafa, which is the Arabic word from which we derive the word "giraffe." Her arrival caused a sensation across the country, and fashion turned to giraffe-mania as the French used giraffe imagery for everything from hair styles to wallpaper.

Along with inspiring some eccentric fashion, and a whole host of commemorative porcelain, accessories, combs, soap, and fans, Zarafa also made her mark on art. A rise in the popularity of animal sculpture by artists like Antoine-Louis Barye was partly inspired by observing Zarafa and the other newly arrived creatures at the Jardin des Plantes. Nicolas Hüet, the official painter for the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle at the Paris menagerie, perhaps captured Zarafa most beautifully in luminous watercolor, with a groom resting alongside her. Caricatures of Charles X, who had a rather long neck, sometimes depicted him as an awkward giraffe. One of the anthropomorphic king being wrangled by a member of the clergy read: “La plus grande bête qu’on ait jamais vue” (“The biggest beast that we’ve ever seen”). In 1827, Honoré de Balzac satirized a Paris visit by a group of Osage from North America, imagining a discourse between the indigenous people and the giraffe as a critique on Charles X. (It’s worth noting that in the 19th century, human zoos in Europe exhibited “exotic” people as well as animals.)

Read about Zarafa and see examples of the art she inspired at Hyperallergic. -via Metafilter

Abstract Expressionism was a fringe movement, until the feds stepped in.

In 1946, the U.S. State Department organized an international exhibition called Advancing American Art that showcased paintings by artists such as John Marin, Ben Shahn, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Not everyone was a fan. The paintings weren’t abstract -portraits, still lifes, nothing that would be out of place at an exhibit of mid-century work today- but they were “modern.” The tour was cut short amid criticism from the American Artists Professional League.

This news delighted top government officials. President Truman called the works “the vaporings of half-baked lazy people,” adding, “If that’s art, then I’m a Hottentot.” Other officials thought the exhibit was a ruse: House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Taber complained to the secretary of state that the paintings were made by Communists to “establish ill will” toward the United States.