Mikkele.bringard

If you purchased the Samsung Galaxy Gear as a Christmas gift, we hope you kept the receipt. After viewing this inexplicitly awful ad, which somehow combines creepiness, non-ironic corniness, wine-chugging and implausibility in the most awkward 2:15 on YouTube, there’s no way you’ll want to be seen wearing this watch ...

Leon, Lilly and little Orson Mackey are using all the boxes in their house to recreate scenes from classic movies, and it's just the best ...

When you think about the children’s modeling clay brand Play-Doh, of course you think of sharp pop-culture analysis and social insight. And that weird smell. The brand has released this 2013 Year in Review, re-creating some of the year’s most memorable moments with the colorful clay. From the Nsync reunion and the Cronut craze, to the rise of Jennifer Lawrence and Twitter’s IPO, the list is surprisingly diverse for a brand that markets to 7-year-olds ...

This guy has the right idea ...

Did you miss ABC’s airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas last night? Don’t worry, you can still watch this fun Peanuts-themed Christmas flashmob to restore your Christmas spirit ...

North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un evidently wasn’t very happy with recent demonstrations in South Korea, in which protestors burned his photo and rallied against his leadership. The protests took place on the anniversary of the death of his father, former ruler Kim Jong Il. He was so angry that military officials fired up the fax machine and sent a threatening warning to the South Korean government that they would "strike mercilessly without notice." Despite the hostile fax, no North Korean military activity was observed. The authoritarian rule of the young dictator has been increasingly unstable; he recently had his own high-ranking uncle executed for unspecified threats to the government. The news comes at the same time that Amnesty International released new images that show that North Korea’s prison camps are growing at an alarming rate. They estimate that more than 200,000 people—including children—are housed in a sprawling system of gulags, and are regularly victims of unspeakable atrocities ...

Important, breaking news: The company that changed the way you order and consume burritos is preparing to get into the pizza business. Chipotle is investing in a “fast, casual” restaurant chain called Pizzeria Locale that offers a similar dining experience as their popular Mexican restaurants. The Denver-based pizza specialists at Locale allow customers to create their own pies, and then bake them in a special oven that cooks them in under two minutes. It’s just like the restaurant you’ve dreamed about. In a press release, Chipotle CEO Steve Ells said, “Opening Pizzeria Locale using a model similar to Chipotle allows us to make extraordinary pizza, made with high-quality ingredients accessible to everyone.” You hear that? “Accessible”; “extraordinary”; “high-quality”; “pizza.” Let the revolution begin ...

Bill Gates, ladies and gentlemen. Of all the fabulously wealthy billionaires out there, few seem to be as intent as giving it all away as he is. And he's doing so in pretty innovative ways too. When Rachel signed up for Reddit's annual Secret Santa project, she didn't expect much out of the gift she got. Inside was a copy of National Geographic's 500 of the World's Greatest Trips (Rachel's profile contains a line about loving to travel) a plush cow doll and a photo. A photo of Bill Gates. Signed by Bill Gates. And a card informing her that a $500 donation had been made in her name to Heifer International, a very cool organization that gives cows to families in need. That card was also from Bill Gates.

In her follow-up post on Reddit, Rachel felt the need to come clean about one thing to Mr. Gates: "Sorry for the apple ipad on my wishlist, that was really awkward" ...

A group of high school students in Denmark wanted to figure out why they didn’t sleep very well when they kept their smartphones near their beds, so they decided to do a little experiment. The students were trying to find out what effect the microwave radiation could have on living organisms, and discovered something terrifying: Their plants wouldn’t grow near a Wi-Fi router.

Because they didn’t have the equipment to measure brain waves, for their experiment, the students placed groups of seeds in two rooms, one of which contained a Wi-Fi router (a device that gives off similar radiation as a phone). After 12 days, the seeds in the router-less room bloomed into lush greenery, and the Wi-Fi exposed ones shriveled into brown, dead foreboding signs of what our technology is capable of. Some of the seeds were even mutated. They then repeated the tests, and got the exact same results. Some professional scientists were so intrigue by the experiments, they are going to try and replicate it at an actual lab. We’re no scientists, but this can’t be good ...

Goodness gracious, everyone, a round of applause for Orlando—the greatest dog who has ever lived. Orlando is a seeing-eye dog for Cecil Williams, a New York man who has the privilege of owning the world's best dog. Mr. Williams fainted yesterday while waiting for the subway, and fell onto the tracks. That's when Orlando, giving no thought to his own life or safety, leapt down to the tracks and tried to revive his poor master. This being a dangerous world, an oncoming train approached before Orlando could wake up his best friend. Uh-oh.

But Orlando, being as smart as he is brave and loyal and wonderful, ducked under the tracks—the subway passed safely over both him and his master, and everyone got taken to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries. Mr. Williams told the New York Post that "he will give Orlando a special treat, as well as affection and scratches behind his ear," which is the least Orlando deserves for being our Christmas miracle. Three cheers for Orlando, the subway dog hero ...

Happy birthday to Mr. Brad Pitt, who today turns fifty years young. May your big day be an inspiration to all of us that growing older isn't really anything to be afraid of, as long as you're Brad Pitt ...

Now, hold your horses, haterz. You too, Beliebers, don't you start. Just because Justin Bieber told LA's Power 106 that he's retiring doesn't mean it'll actually happen. TMZ says they spoke to someone in Camp Bieber who said the Biebs was "joking" and, well, it doesn't sound like a joke, but maybe that's part of the genius. Bieber hasn't said anything about it since, and his reps are keeping quiet, so we'll just have to let this one play out ...

The bar has been raised for the family Christmas card ...

Evidently, ever since the '90s, Conan has been bringing Paul Rudd onto his show to promote his movies and show clips of those movies, as stars all want to do. And ever since then, Rudd has been Rick Rolling Conan with the same bizarre clip from a horrible 1988 movie called Mac and Me. It's a simple gag, but it works awfully well. Conan seems to fall for it every time, and Rudd is so sublimely satisfied with himself—as you can see in this monster compilation of every time it's happened. If Anchorman 2 is half this funny, the press will all be worth it ...

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un made international headlines after he arranged for the execution of his own uncle, the country’s No. 2 in command, for being “despicable human scum” (that this, according to the unbiased state-run newspaper). Now, the authoritarian regime is erasing him from the country’s history. The Guardian is reporting that the North Korean government has since deleted thousands of articles on the websites of its state-controlled media outlets that made reference to the official . If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the exact same plot as the book 1984. Orwell fans may remember that the novel’s main character worked at the “Ministry of Truth,” and it was his job to rewrite history in state-controlled media to reflect the latest whims of the psychotic government. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the execution of the official is a sign of “how ruthless and reckless” the young ruler is and is an “ominous sign of the instability” within the reclusive country ...

At the Dec. 10 memorial service for Nelson Mandela, sign language interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie stood behind important world leaders for four hours and emphatically moved his hands, presumably translating their speeches for deaf people watching around the world. But, as it turned out, his hand signals meant nothing. The Deaf Federation of South Africa called him a fake, and the ensuing outrage brought out more questions about his credentials and how he got hired for the event in the first place.

Jantjie has stood by his interpretation skills. "My portfolio shows that I have been a champion of what I have been doing," he told CNN. However, he does admit to having some difficulties at the event, and this is where it gets really interesting. In an interview with The Associated Press, Jantjie said he has schizophrenia, and during the event, he started hallucinating that there were angels entering the stadium. He admitted that previous attacks of schizophrenia have made him violent. Now, the company responsible for contracting the interpreter has reportedly disappeared ...

You know how the saying goes: you can please some people all of the time, but you can't please racists. Not that you should bend over backwards trying or anything. After rumors surfaced that 17-year-old pop wunderkind Lorde is dating an Asian photographer by the name of James Lowe, racists everywhere did what they do worst: try to string together a few coherent words that would fully express their outrage over Twitter. Most of it is unprintable, so just take our word for it when we say that racism is alive and unwell in the world. Also disconcerting is how many people shrieked about Lowe being simply "ugly," as if a 17-year-old girl is somehow selling herself short according to someone's conventional wisdom about who is and is not attractive. In short, it's a mess and teenage stardom sounds like a nightmare ...

Late night host and noted Tolkien fan Stephen Colbert visited with David Letterman last night and revealed that he is hiding somewhere in the next Hobbit film. Colbert, who also showcased his character-acting abilities by dressing as an old-timey chimneysweep, said that he and his family were invited to the New Zealand set by director Peter Jackson, and are actually in a scene. As to what part of the movie he’s in, Colbert let that remain a mystery, saying, “It’s kind of a Where’s Waldo” for viewers. So, in case you go to see the new Hobbit movie and find yourself bored out of your mind during another hour-long dinner and song scene, at least there’s a fun find-Stephen-Colbert game you can play to try to entertain yourself ...

As it turns out, no one wants to “Like” a post about a relationship break-up, tragic passing, job loss or sad personal story. To remedy that problem, Facebook developers are reportedly working on a brand new "sympathy" button that would allow users to express complex emotions and offer heartfelt condolences with a single click. Thanks to Facebook, soon, expressing basic human empathy will finally require none of that uncomfortable “interpersonal communication” or any awkward “actual conversations.” They’ve thought of everything ...

Clothing giant H&M says it wants to set an example among retailers by committing to assuring that international garment and textile workers receive a living wage. In countries like Bangladesh, where many clothes that Americans wear are made, workers are faced with dangerous factory conditions, long hours and a life of poverty. And because supply chains are so large and complicated, American companies and buyers often have little influence on how overseas factories are run. But H&M wants to change that and ensure that workers are compensated fairly—even if it means raising prices.

The spokesperson from a corporate watchdog organization told The Huffington Post, "It's the first time ever they have said they were willing to raise prices and that consumers were now ready for that.” H&M cautioned that negotiating with international suppliers for improvements like trade unions, new safety standards and pay hikes for workers will take time, and said that consumers shouldn’t expect to see higher prices overnight. Under its new Fair Living Wage policy, the company said that by the year 2018, their is goal is to ensure that 850,000 global textile workers receive a fair, sustainable, living wage ...

You may remember the story from earlier this year about a programmer who offered a local homeless man a choice: he would either give him $100, or he would take time out of his schedule to teach him code. Leo, the New York City homeless man, chose the code lessons. Now, armed with his new programming knowledge and a laptop from the programmer, Leo has just released his first app. “Trees for Cars”, which costs $.99, helps drivers find fellow carpoolers on their route and see how much CO2 they are saving by using the app. After just 16 weeks of lessons, Leo (who relies on the generosity of local doormen to charge his laptop), is officially a developer. In a statement about that app, Leo said, "Trees for Cars is a great way to build relationships, strengthen communities, help each-other financially and energy wise, all under the umbrella of saving the environment." Congrats on the all the hard work, Leo ...

Humans haven’t just done a thorough job of polluting our own planet—we’re also junking up the solar system. German photographer Michael Najjar—a space exploration aficionado who’s already booked a ticket on the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo—has created this image showing every piece of space junk currently orbiting the planet after decades of satellite and research equipment launches. Those astronauts are such litter bugs ...

This year, The History Channel landed a ratings hit with the miniseries The Bible—a 10 part look at scripture from producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. Now, the network has decided to revisit the life of Christ in a new series—this one, produced by two horror movie directors with no basis in actual history. The network is reportedly in talks with Eli Roth (known for the torture-focused Hostel franchise) and Eric Newman (the producer behind films including The Last Exorcism, The Thing and Dawn of the Dead), to develop a new series called The Lost Years, which imagines the unrecorded years of Jesus’ life, before he entered into ministry at the age of 30. According to Deadline, “The Lost Years was conceived in the horror genre, and it explores a theory about Jesus’ origins as an exorcist.” Obviously, this is a risky move for The History Channel. Considering the series would be based on fiction and speculation and would likely isolate much of the new audience it gained through The Bible miniseries, it’ll probably be a tough sell to Christian viewers …

Here’s a trailer for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s new variety show, HITRECORD ON TV, which debuts in January on the Millennial-centric Pivot network. Each episode will feature a combination of segments (live music performances, cartoons, short films, etc.) created by a series of contributors to the site hitREDcord.org, all centered around a weekly theme. Judging from the trailer, it definitely looks like it has the potential be something pretty cool ...