1. Rock-afire Explosion [youTube]
A pneumatic animatronic animal band plays all your favorite songs.
But honestly, words are not at all needed to describe why this is one of my favorite things in the world. The band is so creepy and amazing that nothing I can say to you in this paragraph will capture that better than the videos themselves. This is my super bomb, and my only real recommendation.
The band was created by Aaron Fechter (who is apparently the inventor of Whac-a-Mole) and is recognizable as the creepy robot animal band that plays at Chuck E. Cheese. Fechter started programming the Rock-afire to perform modern songs on his youTube channel, and later attempted to keep the (brilliant, unbelievable, inspirational) project going by allowing users to bid on the songs they wanted to see the Rock-afire perform. If you're looking for something equally disturbing but not quite as entertaining, I also suggest the educational videos of his Animatronic Experimenter's Kit.
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly [film]
Sergio Leone—I'm sure others can explain this better. Or you could just watch it if you haven't already. In my experience it was the kind of movie that only made me more curious as I read about it afterwards.
3. Homeland, Season 1 [TV]
I have not sincerely committed myself to a TV series since LOST. That show broke me—ruined me, really, and made it impossible for me to trust that any TV series was anything more than promises of delayed gratification that would never actually pay off.
But Homeland is clearly different. (Or, at least, the first season is.) Maybe it was the fact that I watched the majority of the season's twelve episodes while lying sick in bed, but I don't think I've ever seen a TV show with such well-motivated characters. Robert McKee says that "The key to a great story is to give the audience what they want, but not how they expect it." It's how a story can make the viewer feel smart but still delighted, and Homeland is so good at this. I see the writers setting up the characters in their correct positions, and the creepy music signals the oncoming conflict so clearly that I see each plot twist coming. But somehow, every single time, Homeland manages to surprise me. It's perfect.
4. Creature Comforts USA [TV]
I love interviews, specifically interviews with "normal" people rather than "accomplished" ones. This series takes that idea and clothes it in claymation animals.
5. My Idiot Brother [film]
When my dad first put this movie on TV, I thought "Oh, okay, we're going to watch some awful movie, this is fine." But...man...this movie made me so happy. It reminds me of so many people I've had in my life and loved for the same reason. Those who are shamelessly big-hearted.
6. NBA Game Time [PS3 app]
The free version of this PS3 channel is like Sportcenter for the NBA, except instead of entertaining play-by-play commentary you get an extremely functional and well-designed interface for keeping track of the entire NBA. Three-minute summaries of every game are released once each game is completed, plus all the browsable stats, standings, and daily highlight reels you'd ever need. Just as with Sportscenter, I found myself wondering if watching the highlights might actually be better than watching the games themselves.
7. Vine [mobile app]
Vine is a lot of fun. Unlike videos on Instagram, Vine's videos loop seamlessly, and the length (6 seconds instead of 15) is restrictive enough to make you feel creative. The only unfortunate part, I think, is that no one is used to making videos of themselves and dealing with the resulting self-consciousness. Making obnoxious videos seems, for some reason, much easier than making an obnoxious photo. (Is it just the sounds of our voices? Maybe.) Anyway, I love Vine even if barely anyone I know (including myself) still uses it.
8. lamb curry [recipe]
I'd never cooked lamb before. Australians, thanks surely to the country's Greek influence, eat a lot of lamb, and so this curry reminded me a lot of something I might have eaten in Melbourne. But really, this is an amazing recipe.
It also provided me with my first unquestionable example of something that is better the next day than it is the first: I've baked so many cookies that it's hard for me to understand how something could be better not fresh out of the oven, but this lamb curry definitely got better each time I had it. Like all curries, it's best served with brown rice and yogurt.
9. Mike Patton [youTube]
Had I seen these videos when I was in middle school (i.e. when I was a big fan of screaming and trying to appear insane), Mike Patton would have been my idol and main source of inspiration. Before Mike Patton, I'd never seen anyone take a scream solo—let alone someone who treats screaming with such respect that he clearly sees it as a musical instrument, let alone someone who is such a musician at yells and shrieks that he is allowed to scream alongside respectable jazz musicians. Mike Patton's noises, even to my present-day self, are inspirational.
10. The Conversation [film]
You might notice that I am avoiding talking about why I like the movies on this list. (See #2.) That's because, for whatever reason, I don't remember movies very well. If I don't write something down immediately after seeing one, all I'll remember in the long run is the magnitude of my enjoyment, which is convenient for things like ranking and knowing how much to nod and exclaim when someone else mentions the movie's name, but not for much else.
What I do remember about The Conversation is that the protagonist is an amazingly written character. And that the only scene I didn't like was the nightmare/dream sequence. Sorry, that's all I got. But I did really enjoy it.
11. Bob's Burgers, Season 1 [TV]
At first glance, this show looks like another obnoxious show related to Family Guy. But it is not. It's great. And Tina really likes butts.
12. Dalvit's Braids [youTube]
If you want to learn about braid theory, this is definitely the place to start. Braid theory is a branch of mathematics roughly concerned with the various ways of twisting around idealized threads (it's closely related to knot theory). Because braid theory is such a visual subject, normally you'd want a few pieces of string around if you started reading about it on your own. But making the sorts of braids necessary to understand the subject quickly gets too messy and complicated to do on your own, meaning Dalvit's virtual braids are the way to go. Her explanations are precise and well-paced enough for anyone (i.e. not just math-lovers) to follow along, and her voice is strangely peaceful.
13. Tim's Kitchen Tips [youTube]
Tim and Eric disgust me whenever the camera involves the waist-down parts of their bodies. (Which, sadly, is most of the time.) But this youTube series, where Tim parodies TV cooking shows while also showing you how to make every ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard sauce imaginable, is brilliant.
14. Google Hangout [app]
Google Hangout is like Skype with blurrier images and slightly-worse audio quality, but with the ability to video chat more than two people for free, and, most importantly, HATS.
My first real experience with Google Hangout was last year when my Grandma (pictured above) turned 80 years old. My family threw her a surprise party that essentially doubled as a family reunion, and practically the only relatives not present were my cousin and myself, each of us half-way around the world both in time of day and location. So someone set up a laptop and let us "hang out". (The inclination to verbify "Hangout" and use it like "hang out" is both strong and obnoxious. I will resist this urge.)
There's nothing that new about attending parties virtually. But Google Hangout lets you put on a virtual costume as well: You can put on a moustache, a dog mask, or you can make your background into clouds or a beach. But most importantly for birthday parties, you can wear a party hat. And there's nothing like the smile on a grandma's face when she's wearing a virtual birthday party hat.
15. Dogfish Head 60-minute IPA [beer]
I don't know how to talk about beer. I don't even know the slightest thing about it, except for a basic familiarity with the names of different types of beer. All I can say is that this beer made me decide that I like IPAs. And, ignorance aside, it's fun having a favorite beer.