Broadway stars Laura Osnes and Christopher Rice pay homage to classic MGM films in this holiday performance. Read the rest

Watching a real yule log burn is cool and everything, but Yule Log 2016 has outdone all previous years with 54 fantastical animations on a yule log theme.

All proceeds go to Camp Interactive, a kids' coding camp. Read the rest

Lish Laynette posted her amazing Prince-themed Christmas tree on YouTube and Facebook. Read the rest

Sorry, apparently this shit is fake because 2016. Read the rest

This totally out-of-control gorgeous gingerbread castle is replete with elegant reclining peppermint bark reindeer and inlaid candy glass windows. Read the rest

These bespoke tree-shaped ornaments by Forge Creative might look great hanging from a tree, but they would also be right at home on a mantlepiece or in a curio cabinet.

Quoth Forge:

These collectible tree ornaments are hand-turned on a lathe and each tree is unique. We use off-cuts form a wide variety of woods and turn a them into different shaped trees. This way each one ends up with its own unique character. These look great as a small collection on a mantlepiece. We will pick trees at random and If you buy more than one we try to send a mix of different wood types and shapes. If you wish to choose a specific wood or colour, let us know and we will see what we can do.

They have 35 shapes to choose from and all kinds of wood.

• Trees (Forge Creative via Behance) Read the rest

Yep, all in one place: a list of every movie coming out this holiday season. Read the rest

Until the 18th century, the seashore was not a place most people would go to relax. In ancient times, it was where you might run into a variety of monsters like Scylla and Charybdis. The shore is also where one might encounter pirates, smallpox, or even a wayward Kraken. Then something changed. Sorbonne University historian Alain Corbin explores this unusual history in the book The Lure of the Sea: The Discovery of the Seaside in the Western World, 1750-1840, one of the sources for a fascinating Smithsonian magazine article about "Inventing the Beach":

Around the mid-18th century, according to Corbin, European elites began touting the curative qualities of fresh air, exercise and sea bathing. Especially in Britain, home of the Industrial Revolution, aristocrats and intellectuals became preoccupied with their own health and hygiene. They viewed workers, whose numbers were multiplying in factories and new industrial towns, as strengthened through labor. By comparison, the upper classes seemed fragile and effete: lacking in physical prowess and destined for decline. The notion of the “restorative sea” was born. Physicians prescribed a plunge into chilly waters to invigorate and enliven. The first seaside resort opened on England’s eastern shore in the tiny town of Scarborough near York. Other coastal communities followed, catering to a growing clientele of sea bathers seeking treatment for a number of conditions: melancholy, rickets, leprosy, gout, impotence, tubercular infections, menstrual problems and “hysteria.” In an earlier version of today’s wellness culture, the practice of sea bathing went mainstream...

Tracing this remarkable turnaround, “the irresistible awakening of a collective desire for the shore,” Corbin concludes that by 1840, the beach meant something new to Europeans.

Read the rest

Polyhai's tutorial for creating a tiki-mug menorah is all the sholem aloha you need for eight nights of candlelit grog-swilling. Read the rest

The festival of lights, indeed. (Thanks, Jordan Kurland!)

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"Fireworks," a classic from 2009 by PES. Happy Independence Day! Read the rest

Advice from the Humane Society that might save your pet's life.

Welcome to this year's Boing Boing Gift Guide, a piling-high of our most loved stuff from 2013 and beyond. There are books, gadgets, toys, music and much else besides: click the categories at the top to filter what you're most interested in—and offer your own suggestions and links!

"Fireworks," a classic from 2009 by PES. Happy Independence Day! Read the rest

From vintage ad enthusiast Paul Malon's superb Flickr stream, this 1960 holiday season cover from science fiction magazine Galaxy. He has another one with two aliens sneaking up on Christmas, and a stressed-out interstellar Santa. Read the rest

SantaCon 2012, official "Why the Nose" edition, San Francisco. Music by Kevin MacLeod, video by Mark Day.

wookie needs a tree. Photo: J5K.

Boing Boing reader J5K of Helsinki, Finland picked up a LEGO 2012 Star Wars Advent Calendar 9509, and has been setting up and photographing cute little holiday scenes with the minifigs. He shared some in the Boing Boing Flickr pool, and you can view them all here.

at-at walker, Star Wars Advent Calendar - Day 10. Photo: J5K. Read the rest