How to Make a Tennis Ball (also it's impossible to make a tennis ball)

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A video like this - which is beautifully shot and fascinating - is the kind of thing that further convinces me that the complexity of the world has reached the point wherein a global collapse of basic infrastructure would lead to the extinction of so many things.

Like tennis as we know it. 

Watching this video convinces me that making a tennis ball would be nearly impossible if we had to start from scratch.

Let's hope we never have to start from scratch. 

Passion Lubes makes for outstanding reading. Don't deny yourself this joy.

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Perhaps you're already aware of Passion Lubes, the 55 gallon water-based lubricant currently available on Amazon.com for $1,290.30 (reduced from $2,500).

But if you haven't spent any time reading the reviews of this product, as well as the Questions Answered and the "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed" section, you don't know what you're missing.

Everything about this product is entertaining as hell. 

Simple. Hilarious. Makes stupid people look stupid. Everything I want in a two minute video.

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If you haven't seen this yet, you must watch. 

Anything that ironically or sarcastically simplifies a subject that should already be extremely simple to comprehend makes me happy.

I love it when stupid people are made to feel stupid.

Also, I was thinking that I would start asking my wife if she'd like a cup of tea as my new euphemism for sex, but perhaps that is not such a good idea. 

This update to "Ironic" is a beautiful thing

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There's nothing better than a celebrity willing to make fun of herself. If only more of them (and human beings in general) understood this.

Authentic self deprecation is such a courageous and beautiful thing. 

In this spirit is Alanis Morissette's update to "Ironic" on The Late Late Show is one of my favorite things on the Internet in a while.

It helps that I love James Corden, too. 

This hoodie is real. You won't think so, but I promise you. This is a real thing.

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The Russian clothing clothing Chukcha launched a Kickstarter campaign last month to support its special hoodies that have pockets in both the front and back. They call this design Together Wear.

When I saw this, I thought it was a joke. A spoof. A parody. The pictures alone make it seem like a farce, and the Kickstarter video sounds like something ripped directly from FunnyorDie.com or The Onion. 

It's not. I've check and re-checked. This hoodie is a real thing. Completely serious. Earnest beyond belief. And it is terrifying.  

Deep, scary, philosophical Star Trek thoughts.

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Somehow a discussion about how the transporters work on Star Trek had me in an existential panic.

Granted, this is easier to accomplish with me than most people, but still. This is both fascinating and a little terrifying, even if you're not a Star Trek fan. 

This history lesson is unlike anything I've ever seen before. YOU MUST WATCH.

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I didn't care about Japanese history all that much. I especially didn't care about the history of Japan pre-1900. 

But someone who I trust recommended this video to me, and now I recommend it to you. It's unusual and unique and captured my attention in ways I never imagined it could. It brought history to life, but in a way I have never seen before.  

Give it a minute. If you're not hooked, shake your fist at me. Wish me ill. Leave an insulting comment on my blog. Move on.

I don't think that's going to happen.  

Don't speak to old people like they're children or houseplants, damn it.

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I love Flossie Dickey.

I'm sure she wasn't trying to be obstreperous in this interview, but I'm glad she was. The reporter speaks to her like she's a child, and then she and the director speak about her as if she's a houseplant. It's condescending, insulting, and stupid.

I only wish Flossie Dickey would've punched each one of them in the nose.

A whiskey ad, made by two amateur filmmakers, did this to me.

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Every now and then I run into something that zeros in on my eternal flaw - my inner crack - and tears it wide open. This ad will hang on me like an old coat for weeks. Look closely and you may see tears in my eyes at any moment until sometime in 2016.

It's fine. Don't worry. Just an indescribable, overwhelming, ever-present existential crisis. 

This time that thing was a Johnnie Walker ad made by two film students.