An Eerie And Surreal Look Inside China's Counterfeit Disneyland
9 Classic Movie Musicals That Could Benefit From Black Actor Remakes
The updated version of Annie starring critical darling Quvenzhané Wallis is a good start. But we can do better, Hollywood.
Paramount/Giphy
Which Britney Era Are You?
It’s your prerogative to know.
youtube.com / Jive Records / Christian Zamora / Via BuzzFeed
29 Hottest TV Sex Scenes Of 2014, Ranked From Worst To Best
There was a lot of shower sex in 2014. Not complaining, just saying!
ABC, Starz, Netflix
Claire, Frank, and Meechum, House of Cards
When it happened: Season 2, Episode 11, "Chapter 24"
What made it hot: OK, let's be honest, parts of this scene were not hot. Mainly because Frank and Claire are so lecherous around poor, drunk Meechum that you start to worry for his safety. And this was also insanely PG, as far as threesome scenes go. But a threesome with three hot people is still a threesome, and ya gotta give some credit for that.
Netflix / Via buzzfeed.com
BBC
Things Straight Girls Do That Drive You Crazy
A crush is a crush.
BuzzFeedViolet / Via youtube.com
42 Ways Istanbul Is So Beautiful It Actually Hurts
Çok güzel!
Istanbul is so gorgeous it hurts.
There is beauty literally everywhere...
Merton Wilton / Flickr: 97238650@N08
Are You Addicted To Pizza?
There is no shame in being addicted to pizza, btw.
iStock
22 Times Tumblr Made You Check Your Gender Expectations At The Door
Not today binary, not today.
greatwhiteprivilege.tumblr.com
When this conversation was brought to an end:
thegrimreaperofrelationships.tumblr.com
What's The Craziest Thing You've Done To Get Out Of A Date?
Sorry, my best friend’s nephew just got attacked by a robot…
When dates are good, they are really, really good.
Touchstone Pictures
Unfortunately, many dates are not so good.
DreamWorks
In fact, some are so excruciating you just have to split.
Universal Pictures
Maybe you've faked an illness or injury...
Touchstone
21 Times Zoë Kravitz Embodied Perfection
We are not worthy.
This is Zoë. She's a musician. She's an actress. She is perfect.
Getty Images Frazer Harrison
Getty Images Andreas Rentz
The "Secret" Krabby Patty Formula Has Been Online This Whole Time
Plankton, you should have just googled it!
This is Plankton. For all you Spongebob Squarepants fans out there, you know him as the evil mastermind/restaurateur of The Chum Bucket.
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon
19 Reasons Taylor Swift & Karlie Kloss Are The Ultimate #FriendshipGoals
Kaylor was the best thing to happen in 2014 and if you don’t agree you are wrong.
They celebrate each other's accomplishments:
There is no competition here, there is only love and support. 👯
We Stalked U2's Most Dedicated Fan
To ask him some questions about the two (two!) cars he’s used to express his love for the band.
All photos Martin Høedholt
Martin Høedholt
Martin Høedholt
8 Celebrity Tweets You Missed Today
BuzzFeed News Reporting Recognized With Major Award
Three BuzzFeed News stories were highlighted for offering “unforgettable” and “unsparing” coverage of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force. Greg Johnsen, John Stanton, and Kate Nocera received the Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress for the series.
Three BuzzFeed News reporters were awarded with the National Press Foundation's Dirksen Award for Distinguished Coverage of Congress for a series of stories on the hastily written Authorization for the Use of Military Force — 60 words which were intended to allow the Bush administration to retaliate against those found responsible for 9/11.
In the initial story, "60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History," BuzzFeed News reporter — then the Michael Hastings Fellow — Greg Johnsen explored the creation of the AUMF, drawn up in a panic in the immediate days following 9/11, and its expansion to encompass nearly every covert military act made by the U.S.:
The AUMF had ceased to be a scalpel. Now it was broadsword that could be used against a wide variety of groups, many of which had not even existed in 2001. The fact that the 60 words made no mention of detention authority or associated forces no longer mattered. The sentence stayed the same, only the meaning had changed.
By the end of the Bush administration, even some officials who had initially been in favor of a broad reading of the authority enshrined in the AUMF began to grow wary of building so much of U.S. counterterrorism strategy on such a shaky foundation.
"It is like a Christmas tree," John Bellinger III told me recently. "All sorts of things have been hung off of those 60 words."
D.C. Bureau Chief John Stanton and congressional reporter Kate Nocera were also awarded for their follow-up reporting on the AUMF.
In a statement, the National Press Foundation judges said: "BuzzFeed's 10,500-word article is a magisterial account of a 60-word congressional resolution, the vaguely worded language that authorized military action against the 'nations, organizations, or persons' deemed responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The consequences of that resolution, passed with only a single dissenting vote, continue to reverberate across the globe. BuzzFeed captures the historic drama of that moment and all that has happened since, from Capitol Hill to the offices of Executive Branch lawyers to the targets of U.S. commando attacks in Libya and Somalia. The details are unforgettable—and so is the unsparing focus on how the Bush and Obama administrations have each used these 60 words, 'unbound by time and unlimited by geography,' to wage a global war with no clear rules and no visible end."
18 Reasons Why Legalizing Marijuana Is The Worst Thing That Can Happen
The end of the world as we know it.
Because the White House will be doomed:
Our coffee mugs and bongs will have sex to create abominations like this:
Our waffles will be in danger:
Because... global warming:
29 Reasons Life Should Come Equipped With A Restart Button
We all deserve a mulligan every once in a while.
Because there's no way this guy could have seen that pothole.
Because how's this guy supposed to finish his dock?
Because trampolines aren't supposed to work like that.
Because if you make a FOUR HOUR LASAGNA YOU SHOULD GET TO EAT IT!
These Unspeakable Acts Remain Permissable After The UK Porn Ban
Cry. Key.
The UK Parliament recently banned several sex acts in porn.
Because you can't spell "Parliament" without "l-a-m-e."
Independent / Via independent.co.uk
Which is strange, considering their usual celebrations of sex working individuals.
So progressive in some ways, really.
BBC News / Via Twitter: @AndrewBloch
But degenerates can rejoice, as there are still several vile acts that are legal in the UK.
Well, plenty!
BBC / Via stepchildofthesun.tumblr.com
You can still force this adorable cocker spaniel to live in a human body and perform in films.
Phil Cole / Getty Images
The 21 Realest Tumblr Posts About Identifying As Asexual
“My anaconda don’t want none.” Seriously, no thanks.
The genius of the "Anaconda" remix:
This conversation:
These serious career goals:
Talking Books With The Editor Of The New York Times Book Review
Pamela Paul conducts one of her famous “By the Book” interviews… on herself.
In celebration of her new book, By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review, we asked Pamela Paul to answer the questions she's usually asking some of the world's most talented writers.
Earl Wilson / New York Times
What books are currently on your nightstand?
Pamela Paul: Right now, I'm reading Moss Hart's marvelous memoir, Act One, a delight on so many levels. I saw the play based on the book earlier this year, and had been meaning to read it ever since. Now that we've got our Notables and Best Books picked for the year, I can do a little "freelance reading." Also, among books published quite a while ago, John Le Carre's A Perfect Spy, which I was inspired to turn to after reading Ben Macintyre's hugely entertaining A Spy Among Friends earlier this year. I still want to read Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson, which came out last year. And I haven't read Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, also on the pile.
Children's books too: The Little House books, which I'm reading aloud to my daughter at night. The first Harry Potter, which I am midway through re-reading as an ongoing project for my children's book club, Kidlit. I feel doubly inspired because my middle child just finished the books for the first time, and my eldest just re-read them a third time. I'm a slacker by comparison.
What are your favorite books of all time?
PP: I've got a long list, even though I'm just going to stick to the classics. First, the Russians: Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov. Short stories: "The Nose," "The Double." Another favorite story: "The Secret Sharer," by Joseph Conrad — I've always wanted to make it into a movie. I generally love stories at sea even though I don't particularly like being at sea — "Benito Cereno" is another. My favorite Edith Wharton by far is The House of Mirth and for George Eliot, I am tied between Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. I loved The Magic Mountain and Buddenbrooks. The best book that made me cry was The Portrait of a Lady, and the books that have made me laugh more than any others were and still are Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse-Five. Other random favorites: I adored Of Human Bondage, William Dean Howells's A Hazard of New Fortunes, and A Modern Instance.
As for nonfiction: George Orwell's essays are still the very best. The Emperor of All Maladies by Sidddartha Mukherjee. Lenin's Tomb by David Remnick. Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon. Self-help: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen ... And Listen So Kids Will Talk (works with grown-ups too).
I gobble up memoir and biography and so must subcategorize in order to do some justice. Memoir: Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, Wild Swans by Jung Chang, Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng, Remembering Denny by Calvin Trillin, Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson, The Long Road to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchens, everything by Spalding Gray. Graphic memoir: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Stitches by David Small, Maus by Art Spiegelman. Biography: The Power Broker. Literary biography: Richard Ellmann on Oscar Wilde.
Comics: Claire Bretécher's Les Frustrées. She and Roz Chast graphically narrate my life.