Cat Love

(Thanks, WTM!)

Black Girl ln a Big Dress

Long before Bridgerton, Aydrea Walden created a video series "about an African American Anglophile cosplayer in love with the Victorian Era who's trying to bring a fantasy courtship from her re-enactment events into the real world." It's a historical comedy of manners, so to speak, except that it doesn't hide its 21st-century setting. So "Lady Kate" must deal with anachronisms like a ringing cell phone during tea and maneuvering a hoop skirt into a sedan. This is the first episode. You can see all the episodes at YouTube. (via Metafilter)

Tightwad Bank

From 1984. The bank closed in 2007, but the sign is still there. You can see it at Weird Universe. 

Just One Person

This is the opening number from the TV special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson. It aired on November 21st, 1990, 35 years ago. Henson had died a few months earlier. The premise of the show was that the Muppets barely knew who Henson was, and spent the hour exploring his life. The entire show is available at YouTube. 

Thanksgiving Banner

Check out the word cloud in this banner. I mean, not just the few misspellings, but how are they associated with Thanksgiving? You can see it enlarged here. (via reddit) 

About Friendsgiving

Friendsgiving is the custom of having a Thanksgiving feast among friends instead of family. It has become pretty popular in the 21st century because of a few trends in modern society. Young adults live far away from family because of their jobs, and often can't get enough time off to travel home. They are postponing marriage and children. And sometimes they just can't go home because their family is toxic. But they still want to indulge in the traditional harvest feast, so a circle of friends make it happen. It sure beats watching TV and eating macaroni alone on Thanksgiving.

In fact, Friendsgiving is so popular that even people who celebrate with family have a separate feast for friends on another day. The idea isn't new, but it has exploded in recent years. Vox has the story of how Friendsgiving became what it is today. (via Laughing Squid) 

Actually

From Married to the Sea.

A Truly Interesting Board Game Table Review

I don't normally post product review videos, and I know nothing about premium game playing tables, but you will enjoy this. Jeff Kornberg of The Dragon's Tomb makes videos about tabletop games, and his reviews can be hilariously scathing. Seemingly unaware of this, a company called Starmork offered to send him their new deluxe game table to review. 

Kornberg tells the tale of their correspondence, which took months, but he finally received the table. Here he presents to you in all its glory. As funny as the review is, the punch line at the end is delivered by someone besides Kornberg. (via Metafilter) 

Don't Ask

The first time I had a bird for a pet, this really happened. It was back in the 1970s, and the cat and bird were actually friends. (via Fark)

Cockatiel Performs Medley of Queen Songs

Something gives me the idea that whoever owns this cockatiel is a Queen fan. MAY-cyan sits on the arm of a Freddie Mercury figurine while whistling "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Radio Gaga." YouTuber MrsStr1 has a couple of other videos of MAY-cyan singing Queen songs in his channel. We'll have to check in again to see if he learns to whistle "Bohemian Rhapsody." (via Laughing Squid)

They Tried

(via Bad Newspaper)

1776

1776 is a 1972 film based on the 1969 Broadway musical. I was not familiar with it until some time in the 2000s when I saw it on TV. Look! There's the doctor from St. Elsewhere! And the coach from The White Shadow! And I found it strangely charming. It does bring the process of the Second Continental Congress and their decision to issue the Declaration of Independence to life. Our Founding Fathers are presented as real men instead of the icons we learned about in grade school. Except for when they burst into song.  

ATM Fees

(via reddit)

World Record Bagpipe Ensemble

A world record was broken a few days ago in Melbourne when 374 pipers played a song together. 
No, it wasn't "Scotland the Brave," because this isn't Scotland, it's Australia, where they all know Bon Scott's bagpipe part in the AC/DC song "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)." The record hasn't been confirmed and posted yet, but the previous record was 333 pipers, set in 2012 in Bulgaria. 

The story of how the song was first recorded is well worth a read, too.

Tsars

(Thanks, WTM!)

An Honest Trailer for Wicked

The 2003 Broadway musical Wicked was based on the two witches from the movie The Wizard of Oz. It proved to be very popular, so it was made into a movie in 2024, also called Wicked. But not quite, because that was only the first part of the story. The second part, Wicked: For Good, is opening across the US this weekend. So it's about time that Screen Junkies gave us an Honest Trailer for the first film.  

The best part of an Honest Trailer for a musical is the disrespectfully self-aware parody lyrics they give to the songs. You won't hear them until halfway through this trailer, but they are worth the wait. Otherwise, they had to stretch to say anything truly critical about Wicked. 

Miss Cellania's Links

How to Photograph an Active Volcano Without Getting Vaporized. (via kottke) 

How Did Indigenous Northern Communities Create Waterproof Clothing Thousands of Years Ago? (via Messy Nessy Chic) 

Indian folks confirm that Vindaloo Singh's version of "Sleight Ride" has become their Christmas anthem. 

Slavery’s brutal reality shocked Northerners before the Civil War − and is being whitewashed today by the White House. 

If evolution is real, then why isn’t it happening now? An anthropologist explains that humans actually are still evolving. 

Even If You’ve Never Seen Seven Samurai, You’ve Certainly Seen Movies Influenced by It. Director Akira Kurosawa broke all the rules—and budgets—of Japanese filmmaking with his 1954 classic.

A particularly athletic and carefree Brazilian garbage collector. 

Trump’s Scheme to Give the GOP Extra House Seats Just Blew Up in His Face. More links on the current gerrymandering battle at Metafilter. 

5 Cringiest Sketches From 1970s Holiday Specials. 

 

ALSO: If you have a big frozen turkey for Thanksgiving, it's time to take it out of the deep freeze today or tomorrow and put it in the refrigerator to thaw. Smaller turkeys should come out this weekend.  

 

Today's logo was generated at Space Type Generator. 

Touche Toucan

(Thanks, James!)

C-3PO and the Forest of Doom

This weird LEGO stop-motion video portrays the Ewoks sacrificing C-3PO in a religious ceremony. But it's not Return of the Jedi, it's actually that horrifying scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple Doom, with original audio. It's altogether pretty creepy.

What's the point? You'll see that this story explains one of those things that happened between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Because there is no detail in the Star Wars universe too small to be examined and made into a fan film. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

Learning About Medicare

This government PSA from 1965 urges Americans to learn about the new program called Medicare. Forrest Tucker from the weird Indian wars era sitcom F Troop manages to deliver his lines without moving his lips.