Mike the hamster loves carrots. That's it, and it's adorable!

The footage reminds me about the clip with Chewbacca the Sloth.

Via Boing Boing.

In the three-episode documentary web series "Snow Craft: Generations" (2014), former professional snowboarder and filmmaker Lukas Huffman in collaboration with writer and producer Jesse Huffman, tell the story about the pioneering work done by snowboard manufacturers such as Dimitrije Milovich from Winterstick and Mervin Manufacturing, to the innovative snowboard makers of today.

An interesting journey from when surfing on snow evolved to snowboarding as we know it today.

Watch the full documentary version:

Featured image: From episode two – "Winterstick’s Lost Legacy".

Explorer and filmmaker Sam Cossman and a team of experts travelled to the volcanic island Ambrym, an island belonging to the Oceanian country Vanuatu located in the South Pacific Ocean, to explore the lava lake in the Marum crater up close. The footage is both enchanting and terrifying to watch at the same time.

Every year, writer Nick Confalone's dad videotaped Nick and his sister coming down the stairs on Christmas morning. Nick made a compilation of all the videos he could find and named it "25 Years of Christmas". The film is accompanied by Vince Guaraldi's lovely song "Christmas Time is Here" (video link).

Via Daily Mail.

Morten Rustad's time lapse of Norway displays the nature of Norway at its best. Music by Jogeir Daae Mæland.

Spoiler alert! I have to say that I share golfer Bubba Watson's appreciation for tap water and ice.

I'm a big admirer of dancer Marquese Scott after having seen him dance to a dubstep remix of Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain".

Here he is with yet another great performance. Incredible!

And I have to leave you with this video that blew me away of Scott dancing alongside Poppin John:

Hear the song "Eye of the Tiger" (1982) by Survivor being played on a dot matrix printer.

Visit Midi Desaster's YouTube channel for more tunes.

In collaboration with Sony, skateboarder Tony Hawk built the world's first horizontal loop to be able to pull off yet another eye-catching trick.

Via Rolling Stone.

In a prank done by Ford, a group of bachelors unknowingly date a female professional stunt driver, who later on in the date reveals her professional skills by burning some tire in an empty parking lot.

Via Mashable.

The Kickstarter project and coffee table photo book "Faces of Yoga" by Jonah Sargent, consists of uncomfortable photos of people in strange positions.

Sargent told Mashable, that he got the idea for the book after having observed something at an upscale yoga studio in Minneapolis:

"While cleaning at this studio I occasionally overheard yogis being up-sold expensive yoga pants, mats and designer headbands. One day a woman came in and bought nearly $500 of yoga clothing because the yoga instructor was telling her she looked sexy in it. During class the instructor kept complimenting her, and the yogi kept looking in the mirror and readjusting to look more picturesque. It all just made me feel like there was something funny with the glamorisation of this ancient discipline."

I find this book to be interesting for yet another reason – this book conveys the message that yoga can be tough exercise – and yoga teacher Bryan Kest sums it up in a good way by calling Power Yoga for the ultimate cross-training.

Watch Kickstarter video:

Image credit: Via Metro (UK).

It took over 100 hours for this New Zealander, to carve out and complete this magnificent octopus surfboard coffee table. I just love how the end polish looks like with the octopus burnt into the wood.

Seth Armstrong is a Los Angeles based artist, whose work offers intriguing cinematic details. Following paintings, except for "Color on the Ritz", is taken from Armstrong's exhibition "The Air is Thick" in 2015 at the Thinkspace Art Gallery.

"Color on the Ritz", 2015, oil on paper on wood:

"Bullitt in Italy", 2014, oil on paper:

"January 5th", 2015, oil on paper on wood:

Miguel Endara's drawing "Hero" is a portrait of his dad, made up by 3.2 million ink dots.

Via Jonathan Moore.

This footage of a owner getting chased by his dog, who sprays him with water, is just a great thing to watch.

Via Holy Kow.

The blog io9 has outlined the history of some of Tom Cruise's spectacular stunts. I had no idea the plane stunt in "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation" (2015) actually was for real.

Behind the scenes of the plane stunt:

The short documentary "907’s Own" produced by commerce brand Shopify, captures the vibrant hip-hop scene of yet-to-be-discovered rappers and producers in Anchorage, Alaska.

Via Tjock.

After having seen a recent and captivating interview with Mukunda Angulo on the Swedish talk show "Skavlan", I found out about the documentary "The Wolfpack" (2015) directed by Crystal Moselle.

It deals with the isolation that Mukunda and his brothers experienced when they weren't allowed by a controlling father to participate in life outside their apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Homeschooled by their mother, the brothers just went outside a few times a year. The only connetion they had with the the world outside was through the movies.

Watch trailer:

Image credit: Poster via Indiewire.

Finnish photographer Pekka Turunen began to work with his photo series "Against the Wall" (Seinää Vasten) in 1984, in which most of the pictures were taken in the region of North Karelia.

Brothers in Hattuvaara, Ilomantsi, Finland, 1986:

A packed car trunk in Korpi, Tohmajarvi, Finland, 1990:

Cat in a bowl in Berlin, Germany:

A punk rocker in Haukivaara, Ilomantsi, Finland, 1990:

In the documentary "Sweatshop: Deadly Fashion" (2014), three Norwegian fashion bloggers travel to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to work in a sweatshop for a month.

It started off as a web-series, charting the experiences of three young fashion bloggers, who spent a month living the life of Cambodian garment workers in Phnom Penh. But following headlines and articles all over the world, more than a million hits and lots of inquires, the webseries has been re-versioned into an hour long documentary.

Frida, Anniken and Ludwig live, breath and dream fashion. They spend hundreds of euros every month on clothes and make a living promoting the latest catwalk trends. Except for speculated that factory workers must be ‘used to’ their hard lives, they have never given much thought to the people who make their clothes.

Now, they're trading their comfortable lives for those of Cambodian garment workers. As well as working in the factories, they have to survive on $3 a day. But this is no exploitative doc, relying on shock value. It poignantly shows the consequences of cheap fashion.

Watch trailer:

The web series is still available to watch for free.

Featured image: From the trailer.

In a study done by Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at University of Washington, an experiment shows that a 15-month-old toddler readjust his behaviour after having observed the loud interaction between two grown ups, so that he can avoid further conflict and anger.

The latest I-LABS research shows that toddlers who watch an argument use that emotional information to avoid making adults angry.

The study, led by I-LABS' Betty Repacholi and Andrew Meltzoff, shows that children as young as 15 months can detect anger when watching other people's social interactions and then use that emotional information to guide their own behavior.

"Through studying the roots of social-emotional learning we are illuminating an important aspect of human personality and what helps kids succeed in life and school," said Meltzoff, co-director of I-LABS. "There's been a lot of attention on child problem-solving, but if we want to understand what makes kids tick, we need to study their social emotional lives, too."

Watch how joyful play turns to inner conflict:

The Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters has produced this interesting and beautiful video about commercial winter fishing in Canada. Follow longtime fishermen Helgi, Dale and Kris Einarsson, on a typical workday at the Dauphin River of Manitoba, Canada, and for some wonderful scenery.

The documentary "Everybody Street" (2013) by filmmaker and photographer Cheryl Dunn, explores street photography in New York City, and is one of the best documentaries I've seen recently.

"Everybody Street" illuminates the lives and work of New York's iconic street photographers and the incomparable city that has inspired them for decades. The documentary pays tribute to the spirit of street photography through a cinematic exploration of New York City, and captures the visceral rush, singular perseverance and at times immediate danger customary to these artists.

Watch trailer:

Featured image: Photography by Joel Meyerowitz, New York City, 1963.

On December 18th, the documentary "Noma: My Perfect Storm" will be released. The documentary captures the work of Danish chef René Redzepi and his Michelin star restaurant Noma in Copenhagen.

Via Tjock.

Hear Patrick Mathis perform a fantastic version of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" (1987) on a barrel organ. Carnival vibes are in the air!

Via Holy Kaw.

When Pete Cashmore founded Mashable in 2005, it was hard and lonely work for a long period of time, that gave the site massive momentum.

Whether you are an experienced blogger or a beginner, I think you'll appreciate hearing Cashmore talk with Inc. Magazine about his journey when first starting out. Just one thing: don't neglect your sleep!

Update: Had to remove the embeded video because of the autoplay function.

Mode.com has put together a video, which displays some of our most common family meals during the last 100 years. The meals from 1925 and 2015 have to be my favorites.

Via Metro (UK).

Featured image: Chicken á La King from 1925.

According to a piece in Wall Street Journal, veggie burgers currently enjoy an upgoing trend. Some people object to call these veggie burgers for just burgers, but I think it's a good idea since hearing about them will become more widespread.

They are visually pleasing, taste good obviously and you can enjoy them guilt free. What can be better?!

The secret of these burgers’ success? Not trying in the slightest to imitate meat. Mr. Humm’s [Chef Daniel Humm at The NoMad Hotel] recipe is modeled on falafel, the original meat-free meatball. Ms. Bloomfield’s [Chef April Bloomfield at The Spotted Pig and The Breslin] will be made with beets and other roots, plus sweet potato vermicelli and rice. At Superiority Burger, the patty includes an ever-changing assortment of beans, grains and vegetables, bound with potato starch.

“I don’t need something indistinguishable from meat in order to feel like I’m eating a hamburger,” said Mr. Headley [Chef Brooks Headley at Superiority Burger]. “The act of eating a burger is so iconic and so American, and it’s not just about the patty. It’s the squish of the bun and the crunch of the lettuce and the tang of the ketchup—there’s something primally satisfying in all that.”

Featured image: The NoMad Bar Veggie Burger with Piquillo Aioli. Photography by James Ransom / WSJ. Food styling by Ryan Reineck, and prop styling by Stephanie Hanes.

Climb aboard and start your journey from Moscow with the Trans-Siberian Railway, heading towards the open fields of Mongolia, to arrive in Beijing for your final destination, all in less than four minutes by watching filmmaker Stanislas Giroux's short film "Seat 22 – Trans-Siberian Odyssey".

Cat food brand Whiskas' adorable campaign "Nurture Their Nature from Little to Big", was made by ad agency Clemenger BBDO, Australia, and shot by photographer Tim Flach.

Every time this campaign runs on television, it puts a smile on my face.

Via Lady Danger.

Image credit: Via Creative Director Nick Bonney.

Irish nine-year-old Jesse McParland, well-known from this year's "Britain's Got Talent", has been practicing martial arts since the age of three. One of her goals is to become an Olympian, which after seeing her perform, doesn't seems like an unattainable goal.

Miss McParland has been practicing martial arts since the age of three, after deciding she wasn't interested in the more traditional pastimes her mother wanted her to try such as ballet.

Last year she added sword work to her list of skills including kickboxing, kung fu and Tae Kwon Do, with which she has competed and won awards all over the world.

She trains with her coach Sensei Gary Kelly in Ireland four times a week, as well as master Jeff Scott in the UK.

And Miss McParland, who is the World Association of Kick Boxing junior world champion and stars in upcoming film Martial Arts Kid, is now hopeful for an Olympic career.

Jesse during 2014 WAKO Cadets & Juniors World Championships, Rimini, Italy:

Via Holy Kaw.

In a dirt-floored factory in Howrah, India, many of New York City's cast-iron manhole covers are produced. Having just moved to NYC to pursue her Ph.D. at NYU, anthropologist Natasha Raheja became intrigued by these covers after having spotted one that was stamped with "Made in India".

Her curiosity led her to visit a foundry in Howrah, which is documented in the documentary "Cast in India". Having watched the trailer, the horrific working conditions make me question many of the beautiful and crafted items from India me and my wife have bought over the years.

As part of Raheja's research, prior to going to Howrah, she visited a bronze-sculpture foundry and a metal lamp fabricator in New York. What she learned was that while these sites and their employees shared many skills and processes with the foundries of Howrah, the respect and value derived from the products they created is vastly different.

"A cast-iron manhole cover from India," Raheja says, "is not imbued with the same sentimentality and rugged glamour as an iron hatchet cast in Greenpoint, Brooklyn."

Watch trailer:

In the Swedish comedy TV series "Boy Machine" (2015), a former boy band decides to reunite. The series is great fun, but also tackles more serious issues, and contains some good music, although it's parody.

Remember Take That's classic video "Back for Good"? Well, here's Boy Machine with "Can't Remember to Forget":

Ok, can't leave you without the original:

And here are Boy Machine's agonists in the series, the duo Stargaze with "B*ng You":

Inspired by the 10,000 hour rule (a rule that is somewhat questioned), Mike Boyd got curious to see how long it would take him to acquire a new skill.

He decided to try out skateboarding with the goal of making a kick flip. After many trials and errors, and with great support from his lovely cat, it took him less than 6 hours. Not bad!

Via Digg.

This guy has probably one of the best basements in the whole world: one that houses a full-scale spaceship simulator.

When Markus B. travels the Milky Way in the spaceship simulator Elite: Dangerous, he do so with the use of three projectors and a fully equipped cockpit.

Via Holy Kaw.

From the British Film Institute's archive, footage of everyday scenes from London in 1926, shot in color by cinematographer Claude Friese-Greene.

While Gatsby fever grips the film world in anticipation of the release of Baz Luhrmann’s new F. Scott Fitzgerald adaptation, the internet has been abuzz with an authentic vision of life in the 1920s. Colour footage of London in 1926, filmed by pioneer filmmaker Claude Friese-Greene for his cross-country travelogue The Open Road, has captured the imagination of online viewers, with an extract from the BFI’s restoration going viral following a tweet from actor Kevin Spacey.

The YouTube uploader says it so eloquently: "It's like a beautifully dusty old postcard you'd find in a junk store, but moving."

In an ambitious project, Simon Smith re-created Claude Friese-Greene's shots, enabling for an interesting comparison that shows how little the architecture of London has changed over the years.

The Flying Frenchies is a collective of acrobatic daredevils, who perform their skills on high altitude.

In the film "The Flying Frenchies – Back to the Fjords", they travel to the fjords of Norway, making spectacular stunts with Norway's magnificent nature as their backdrop.

In the short film "The Ridge", professional trials cyclist Danny MacAskill heads to his native home of the Isle of Skye in Scotland, to ride along the Cuillin Ridgeline, which includes an ascent that will make your hands sweat.

Via Holy Kaw.

In 1986, toy company Worlds of Wonder introduced the infrared pursuit game Lazer Tag with a commercial that makes you want to jump into the screen and let the game begin.

A street vendor in China makes beautiful cotton candy art by creating a large colorful flower. Remember, more colors gives you a healthier snack!

"Bake Pizza Ride Bikes" shot and directed by Michael Evans, is a lovely short film about passion and the attention for details.

Anthony Mangieri's passion for pizza was born when he was yet a child. During his soccer team's annual dinner, they always visited a pizzeria, in which the pizzas were made by a charismatic man with long hair, mustache, tank top and driving a T-Top Corvette.

Mangieri has now been making pizzas for 27 years, and when he's not busy making pizzas at his place Una Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, he's riding bikes.

In a spectacular ascent, adventurer James Kingston climbed the arch on Wembley Stadium.

H/t Devour.

On James Lileks' site, one category is named Coffee and Chrome, which contains a large collection of vintage postcards from diners around the United States.

No one over 40 needs an introduction to these places; we have dim smoky memories of road trips with the folks, stopping at odd cafes and coffee shops en route to some distant destination. Hamburgers and fries and maybe a shake! Cottage cheese for Mom.

Anyone under 40 may recognize a few of these places, or find an analog to a local hash house. But people who came to these places in the post-chain, post-franchise, post-"Diner" movie era are cursed: they approach these places with Irony and Context, and see them as Symbols, pieces of History.

Jet Drive-In, Austin, Texas:

Hinson's, Homosassa Springs, Florida:

Featured image: Jolly's, Cave City, Kentucky.

To accompany you on your running session, Paula from the blog Attitude At Rome, has put together the following playlist:

1. Two Door Cinema Club – "Sun"
2. The Whigs – "Waiting"
3. Passion Pit – "Carried Away"
4. Lucius – "Turn It Around"
5. The Avett Brothers – "Geraldine"
6. Michael Nyman – "Sacrifice"
7. Phoenix – "1901"
8. The Preatures – "Is This How You Feel?"
9. Harlem Shakes – "Sunlight"
10. The Griswolds – "Down and Out"
11. The Strokes – "Reptilia"

I made a playlist on Spotify with available tracks.

Featured image: From Le Coq Sportif's (The Athletic Rooster) retro running ad directed by production company Golden Wolf.

In a video uploaded by Jakob Hernig, a car surrounded by flames leaps into a pond, while the driver jumps out midair for a safe landing. A great stunt, but ok, somewhat bad for the environment.

Via Death and Taxes. H/t Huffington Post.

Watch daredevils Ryan Williams and Andrew Ahumada from the Nitro Circus team, when they attempt the world's first BMX triple front flip.

This seems fun! Hitting the slopes all-year-round at the Skicentrum Heemskerk in the Netherlands.

Trader Paul Tudor Jones advices anyone who wants to succeed in business to take a journalism class, so they can improve memos and reports.

Jones says writing as a newspaper journalist does can help someone become a better problem-solver because it requires synthesizing a complex problem. Writing clearly to a peer can help an employee get to the heart of a problem and find a solution faster.

"Today, in business, time is money," said Jones. "When you've got hundreds of decisions to make every week—dozens every day—being able to see, think and understand what the issue is in the first couple of paragraphs is actually paramount to being efficient at what you do."

When Andrea Furlan plays his didgeridoo, the cows line up.

Via One Green Planet.

In a rare hour-long documentary from 1981, we get to follow street photographer Joel Meyerowitz documenting NYC with his 35mm Leica.

In-public [street photography site in-public.com] have great pleasure in being able to bring you a documentary about our friend and mentor, New York street photographer Joel Meyerowitz. Filmed in 1981 and never before made public, the film follows Joel Meyerowitz on the streets of New York accompanied by the curator and writer Colin Westerbeck. The film gives an insight in to Joel's approach to the street and a glimpse of his working methods including the small 35mm Leica and the large plate camera.

It's on Vimeo as well:

Let the sounds from Swedish psychedelic folk duo Sagor & Swing and their "In i skogen" (Into the Woods) wash over you, preparing and relaxing you for the weekend.

For more, you can listen to the duo on Spotify.

Filmmaker Casey Neistat was ticketed for not riding in the bicycle lane in NYC. The policeman let him know that he should always use the bike lane, although it's not necessarily the safest place to be. In response, Casey decided to demonstrate the possible dangers of using them. It's a wonder he didn't get hurt making this.

In the short film "The Pizza Cart" (2012) by Conrad Laga, we get acquainted with Jason and Cindy Murray, who provide for their family by making pizzas in a mobile wood-fired oven on the streets of Cedar City, Utah. Since late 2014, they are to be found indoors.

Record-breaker Ashrita Furman has set over 350 Guinness World Records, which makes him the greatest record breaker of all time. Now he wants to climb the site Machu Picchu in Peru on stilts. Watch director Brian McGinn's full version of the "The Record Breaker" (2012) here.

Watch trailer:

Ben Brucker's parody trailer for season two of the acclaimed Netflix series "Chef's Table", cracks me up.

In the fascinating BBC Earth Production "Troll Hunting: On the Trail of Ancient Mythical Beings", science reporter Melissa Hogenboom travels to the majestic Iceland for a little bit of troll hunting. As always, a high quality segment from the BBC production team. There was no embed option so you have to watch it here.

If you liked this, you'll probably find the documentary "Investigation Into the Invisible World" (2002) from French director Jean-Michel Roux fascinating as well. I have seen this documentary twice and love its cinematography.

Via P M Paris.

In this magic trick, "The Vanishing Bandana", Swedish magician Carl-Einar Häckner "mistakenly" folds a banana instead of a bandana at the 2011 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

The beautiful short film "Wizard Mode" takes us into the world of pinball, where we follow pinball wizard Robert Gagno and his climp up the rankings on the international pinball circuit. A feature length documentary is in the making, which you can contribute to at Indiegogo.

Stereokroma has released another macro video in their ongoing video series. The first video was footage of incense burning, and this time we take a closer look at soap bubbles. Look at those colors!

Via Devour.

For Huffington Post, Xaque Gruber interviews radio station KCRW's music director Jason Bentley. Find out where to find the best vinyl in Hollywood, why it's important to trust your interests, and how his deep love for music came about.

Xaque Gruber: Did your passion for music begin with your parents' music collection?

Jason Bentley: Both of my parents had great record collections. My Dad and I had a ritual of going to record stores on weekends and pick out albums. Part of the fun was taking a risk buying an album in the dollar bin that we didn't know - maybe just based on the cover - and the discovery process in that was so joyful. My Dad was a great vinyl and book collector, and that rubbed off on me.

The following video is a nice addition with Jason from inside the KCRW studio:

And here is my earlier post with a list of Jason's 10 favorite albums of 2014.

Featured image: From the #SupportKCRW video with Jason, produced by Colin Hanks and his production company "Company Name".

Lifestyle and accessories brand Nixon, met up with graphic designer Aaron Draplin at his studio in Portland, Oregon. Draplin talks about designing with details and the collaborative working with Nixon's the "Lost Coast Collection: Shelter Cove".

In "Can City" produced by Studio Swine, watch how a street artist in São Paulo, Brazil, takes thrown away beverage cans and turns them into art with the help of his mobile aluminium foundry.

Actor Charles Parker Newton eats pizza several times per week. Hear him talk about what makes a good pizza and why you (might) find it at Di Fara Pizza, Brooklyn, in "Profound Pizza" directed by Tom Levin.

In this commercial, Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson demonstrates the new Amazon Fire TV Stick, and yeah, announces Top Gears anticipated comeback in 2016 on Amazon.

Via Digg.