Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.


* File under: There will be tears. This marine is deployed to Afghanistan, but that didn't stop him from making an incredible video holiday card for his wife. (Buzzfeed)

* Speaking of excellent husbands . . . "You know what's funny? I don't ever feel the need to escape. I have a strong marriage. I like my life. You hear about these guys having midlife crises—I don't see that happening to me."—Harry Connick Jr. makes us swoon.  (O Magazine)

* Remember singer Dobie Gray, who passed away this week, by listening to his classic hit, "Drift Away." (Vulture)

Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.

Photo: Ben Goldstein/Studio D

* America's favorite doctor has plenty of colorful, comforting gift ideas. (O Magazine).

* Guys who love My Little Pony have a name: Bronies. They also have a convention, where they can geek out with adoration for Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. (WSJ.com)

* From Jay Z to Novak Djokovic to . . . Kristen Wiig? GQ's Men of the Year. (GQ)

* It isn't easy looking stylish next to Kermit's signature green. Jim Henson pulls it off, and your man can too. (Nerd Boyfriend)

* "And then there were the everyday, every-stripe Americans. Like a tattooed trucker I met off I-80 in Iowa who, when he heard how many African truck drivers were infected with H.I.V., told me he’d go and drive the pills there himself."—On World AIDS Day, Bono finds reasons to be hopeful about the future of our fight against the pandemic. (NYTimes.com)

Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.

Photo: Salon

* Salon releases its counter-list to to People's annual Sexiest Man Alive issue, full of guys "whose appeal comes from something other than rock-hard abs, blessed bone structure and blindingly white teeth."  We dare you not to be charmed by their number one pick.  (Salon, People)

* For the Parks and Recreation fan who is also observing Movember, Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson, has hand crafted these limited-edition mustache combs in his woodshop. (Nick Offerman Woodshop)

* Aspiring Hollywood celebrities can learn something from this essay on Paul Newman and how he proved there was "a second path to enduring stardom, one characterized by decency, fidelity, and philanthropy." (The Hairpin)

* "Practically everything I know about writing, then, I learned from music. It may sound paradoxical to say so, but if I had not been so obsessed with music, I might not have become a novelist."—IQ84 author Haruki Murakami. (NYTimes)

I have spent the better part of the last week obsessing about a shell.  A partial shell, to be precise, with shoes and a face.  I know how this sounds, but I've been seeing him waddling around the bathroom sink when I brush my teeth in the morning and lounging in the kitchen when I'm cooking dinner after work.  His name is Marcel, and before you report me to the authorities, let me explain: Marcel is the star of a 2010 viral video created by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp as well as the subject of a stunning picture book ($18.99) and iPad app ($6.99), Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Things About Me, released this month.  In addition to being miniature and funny and a special kind of wise, Marcel is also a marvelous tour guide, showing us around the corners of his world (he sleeps in a "breadroom" in between two slices of white, and the attraction he finds too thrilling to ride at the amusement park is the salad spinner because "I'm already thrilled enough").

I adore Marcel—and the squeaky sweet voice Slate loans him in the video and in the audio of the app—but it's the way you're given a chance to experience his pleasures alongside him that makes the app so special.  He takes comfort from his breadroom and finds friendship in Alan, the piece of lint he ties to a string; best of all, his life is a constant adventure.  Whether it's his regular visits to the "aquarium" (fishbowl) or yearly trek up the sandal, he's an expert at discovering joy.  So yes, maybe imagining a partial shell with shoes on scampering around my apartment is a little strange, but as Marcel would say, "compared to what?"

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Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.

Photo: Getty Images

* "Red wine and sports cars. Not at the same time though."—Joel McHale on his guilty pleasures and other ways he lives his best life. (O Magazine)

* Remembering Smokin' Joe Frazier, who died this week of liver cancer. His most famous fight, the Thrilla in Manilla against Muhammad Ali, is captured stunningly in this 1975 Sports Illustrated story. (NYTimes; Sports Illustrated)

* Tour the U.K. by bike with these dashing Gentlemen Cyclists. (Gentlemen Cyclists)

* Eddie Murphy returns to the spotlight in this revealing interview. Warning: Language NSFW. (Rolling Stone)

* David Rees searches for answers to the questions that haunt us: "At some point I realized that what had begun as idle curiosity (“I wonder how tall Jake Gyllenhaal is?”) and developed into a quest (“I’ve gotta know how tall Jake Gyllenhaal is!”) was now a high-stakes emotional journey (“Dear God, when will I uncover the truth about Jake Gyllenhaal’s height?”). I longed for closure." (Good)

Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.


* Movember is back! You don't have to be able to grow facial hair to support the charity event that raises awareness about men's health. (Movember)

* Brilliant people hanging out together: Johnny Cash and Shel Silverstein's duet. (Brainpickings)

* An Autistic teenager is manager of his high school's basketball team: Awesome. But it gets even better. (YouTube)

* "Sometimes I cried after the war, that she was not with me. Fate decided for us, but I would do the same again."—Jerzy Bielecki, who died last week, on the woman he fell in love with and helped to rescue while they were prisoners at Auschwitz. (NYTimes.com)

© Virginia McKenna/bornfree.org.uk

A lion cub is purchased from a London department store, raised in a furniture shop, successfully introduced into the wilds of Kenya, and recognizes his human friends when he's reunited with them a year later. Tens of millions of people have viewed the sensational video, but lesser known is the story of Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, the husband-and-wife stars of the 1966 film Born Free, who facilitated Christian's move to Africa—and housed the lion in their Surrey garden while the details were worked out.

Travers and McKenna met the lion by chance, but the friendship they'd built with George Adamson, the legendary gamekeeper and subject of Born Free, while shooting the film proved essential to finding Christian a home in Kenya. These days, McKenna spends her time working on the foundation she helped found in 1984, also called Born Free, rehabilitating animals that have suffered in captivity and returning them to the wild. She took some time out between tending to the organization's rescue centers in South Africa, India, Malawi and Ethiopia to tell us what she remembers about the lion's journey from cramped London quarters to East African bush.

See the pictures and learn the rest of the story, and tune in to check out episode 14 of Oprah's Lifeclass for more lessons animals have taught us.

Illustration: Thinkstock

Let's try a quick exercise. Think of everything you've done in your professional life for the last three years—every question you've asked, every problem you've solved, every discovery you've made, every breakthrough you've had. Now explain all of it aloud in a way that's understandable and engaging. You have three minutes, starting now. Go. What's that? You're finding this project a bit difficult? Well I said it was quick, I never said it was easy.

The 42 graduate students who participated in The University of Queensland's 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition in Australia last month know just how challenging it can be. 3MT asks candidates for advanced degrees to present their thesis ideas to an audience of non-specialists in 180 seconds. The contest, says the mission statement, "is not an exercise in trivialising or 'dumbing-down' research but forces students to consolidate their ideas and crystalise their research discoveries."

Videos from the winning presentations are available to watch online for free, and they're inspiring—not only because they offer anyone an opportunity to educate themselves fascinating subjects in three short minutes, but also because they celebrate a grossly under appreciated skill: communicating the ideas we're most passionate about.  It doesn't only apply to big presentations or speeches; whether you're in a job interview, on a date, pitching your big idea or just trying to persuade your friend that Revenge is a really good show and she should give it a chance, passion is an attractive quality. If you want a role model for using yours in your favor, just watch Matthew Thompson, a psychology student, who managed to turn "Structure and Features of Complex Visual Stimuli: Assisting Identification in Forensics" into "Suspects, Science, and CSI."



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Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.



* For toy-lovers: The mother of all Hot Wheels tracks. (Devour)

* NPR investigates how we become sports fans, and even if you're consistently getting your heart broken by the team your father saddled you with as a child, take comfort in the fact that "sharing a team with your dad is a point of connection for both sons and daughters." (Krulwich Wonders)

* If sports never caught on with you, but you still want your dad—or uncle or brother or husband—to open up, here are nine easy ways to connect with the men in your life. (Oprah.com)

* "Picture the coolest brasserie in your hometown, that’s what this is. It’s the hottest-looking restaurant in this town. We have to get rid of a few stigmas attached to the word volunteering and making a difference."—Jon Bon Jovi on the pay-what-you-can restaurant his foundation has opened in Red Bank, New Jersey. (Grub Street; Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation)

Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.


* In the above video, renowned Australian chef Ben Shewry passes his father's wisdom about the sea down to his son. (Vimeo)

* And for a slightly less solemn take on parenting, read this hysterical John Jeremiah Sullivan essay about allowing the TV show One Tree Hill to film in his house—and then not allowing it anymore: "And so, for primarily petty and neurotic reasons, I made a decision that negatively impacted our financial future. It's called being a good father." (GQ)

* The many faces of Darth Vader. (Wired)

* How Sal Khan is educating the world, one video at a time. (O Magazine)

* And finally, real men are kind to animals: This gorgeous National Geographic photo of orphan elephants with their caretakers is a guaranteed smile. "It's not for the wages," explains one veteran keeper. "The more you're with them, the more you satisfy yourself. You just love them." (National Geographic)