In honor of the approaching Academy Awards, below are a few examples of horrendous Oscar fashion.  The following actresses, all former winners and generally lovely looking ladies, chose to take their stylists’ advice and show up looking like—well, like they look below.  (Most of them would have been better off in jeans and a Gap T.)

1.  Gwyneth Paltrow

Shakespeare is no longer in love.  Looking more like a medieval serving wench than an Oscar-winning actress, Gwyneth Paltrow slouches down the red carpet, offering a little nip for good measure.  Maybe the tight hausfrau braid put a strain on her fashion judgment.

2.  Meryl Streep

The reigning empress of American acting, Meryl Streep can seemingly do no wrong on the silver screen.  With two Oscars, one for 1977’s “Kramer  vs. Kramer” and the other for 1982’s amazing turn in “Sophie’s Choice,” there is no doubting Streep’s acting acumen.  Unfortunately, her talents don’t seem to extend to the wardrobe.  At the very least, she could have changed out of her PJs…

3. Kate Winslet

I’m expecting her to beg for $300 to save Tara at any moment…  Kate Winslet proved an Oscar bridesmaid the year of “Titanic,” but the real tragedy was this dubious emerald ensemble.  She would go on to win an Oscar as a former Nazi prison guard in 2008’s “The Reader.”

4.  Cate Blanchett

It takes a brave woman to wear fashion’s version of the Bubonic plague.  Modeling Trekkie shoulders and a pleated paper plate, “Aviator” winner Cate Blanchett defines fashion misstep.

And Katharine Hepburn wouldn’t be caught dead in this.

5. Kim Basinger

Oh, Vicki Vale… Much like Kim Basinger’s career after “L.A. Confidential,” major sections of this dress are missing.  Half fencing jacket, half Jessica Rabbit cast-off, Kim’s not helping herself with the stringy hair and hoop skirt.  Of course, a single glove is always a winner…

6.  Cher

Yes!

7.  Geena Davis

There’s no way Louise is hanging with Thelma in this get-up.  Between the push-up corset and cockroach crushing booties, the “Accidental Tourist” Oscar-winner looks like a Can-Can girl minus the awesome dancing.

(And is it just me, or does she appear to be dragging along a pile of black laundry in the train?)

8.  Whoopi Goldberg

Pick your favorite:

No one’s gonna be making Whoopi in this outfit.

Here’s a leopard who should have changed her spots.

And we thought “Sister Act 2” was the worst it could get.

9.  Hilary Swank

Boys Don’t Cry, but I do.  After playing a boy and a boxer, Hilary Swank obviously thought she needed to boost the femininity quotient with a pink, transparent mosquito net.

10.  Angelina Jolie

In 2000, the “Girl, Interrupted” winner scored a smooch with her bro, reached for the golden idol then crawled back into her coffin before sunrise…

Katie L. Fetting is a Seattle-based writer who hopes when she’s nominated for her Oscar, a snotty writer (like her) won’t call her out for wearing skinny jeans, mildewed flip flops and a rainbow tube top.

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Most A-List celebrities are movie stars and sports heroes, so it should come as no surprise that they prize (and value) their bodies considerably more than the average Joe.

Below are the most bizarre body parts insured by our favorite stars.  They include everything from derrieres to chest hair.

Breasts – Holly Madison

Ex-Girl Next Door Holly Madison insured her lady lumps for $1 million, making Dolly Parton (whose famed bosom is covered for a measly $600,000) look like a slouch.

The Butt – Jennifer Lopez

The butt that launched a thousand implants, various reports have Jennifer Lopez’s bootilicious rear insured for between $300 million and $1 billion.  But of late, J-Lo’s received some major competition for the junk-in-the-trunk crown.  Close on her heels is famed royal-in-law Pippa Middleton; Pippa’s Maid of Honor padding set off a world-wide craze and the tabloids just can’t seem to get enough of her trendy boots and skinny jeans.

Chest Hair – Tom Jones

That Tom Jones insured his chest hair for $7 million is particularly ironic considering how many people pay to have theirs removed.

Feet – Michael Flatley

Michael Flatley, of Irish dancing fame, insured his fancy feet for $39 million (apparently $38 million was too little?)  After all, he IS the Lord of the Dance.

Hands – Keith Richards

Provided the rest of him hangs together, Keith Richards’ hands will return a hefty sum of $2 million should anything happen to them.

Legs – Mariah Carey & Friends

Far and away the most popular body part to insure, celebrities seem to have a real paranoia of losing their legs.  For footballers David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo, this may make some sense – but Jamie Lee Curtis?  Really?

Mariah Carey – $1 billion

Cristiano Ronaldo – $144 million

David Beckham – $70 million

Tina Turner – $3.2 million

Heidi Klum – $2.2 million

Jamie Lee Curtis – $2 million

Angie Dickinson – $1 million

Rihanna – $1 million

Betty Grable – $1 million (1940s dollars, non-inflation adjusted)

Mary Hart – $1 million

Teeth – America Ferrara

America Ferrera  – of “Ugly Betty” and “Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants” fame – had her grill insured by Aquafresh for $10 million as part of a charity campaign.

Tongue – Gene Simmons

The KISS front man values his protruding muscular hydrostat at $1 million.  Just how he would lose this tongue is a mystery…

And some other random fun facts about crazy celeb insurance:

–  David Lee Roth’s sperm insured his sperm for $1 million to cover any potential paternity suits.

–  Cricket player Merv Hughes insured his famous trademark mustache for $317,000.

–  Funny man Ben Turpin was the first celebrity to insure a body part.  He valued his comical, often crossed eyes at $25,000 in the 1910s.

Katie has a love-hate relationship with celebrity culture and the insurance industry (in that order).  She is a conspiracy theorist who believes Pippa Middleton is a fraud perpetrated by the UK’s powerful skinny jeans lobby.

The Paper Christmas Cards

Hey Cowgirl

Yee Haw!

Santa Flies

Reindeer, apparently, are jerks.

Bill O’Reilly is a Christmasy Dude

Nothing Says Christmas Like Guns

Or, rather, nothing says Christmas like a dog holding a gun and looking sad.

More Evidence Reindeer are Jerks

Social media  + Reindeer = Mega Jerks

Krampus Wishes

In Austria, Krampus is the guy who visits along with St. Nicholas.  While St. Nicholas gives presents to the good little boys and girls, Krampus tortures the bad little children.  Yeah.

Monkeys Like Christmas Too

It’s just so weird.

Homemade is Great

I’m sure her parents are so proud.

Goth and Christmas?

The girl in the photo before may have made this card, eh?

Corporate Cards Have So Much Soul

These animals are dancing because you spend money with our company.  Sweet.

The Christmas E Cards

Marketing Buzzwords

Synergy.

White People

that has an enormous sled that you all ride down the hill on while smiling.

Christmas Party

At least try to wait until you get home.

Rage

Eagerly.

Holiday Wishes

And I still won’t tell you if I am or not.

Holiday Bonus

Next year, working on Christmas will be the new Christmas bonus.

Homeless

And then we can talk about giving money to charity but spend it on pedicures.

Christmas Lights

Two words – surge protectors.

Holiday Cheer

Amen.

Gift Giving

This is what it’s like at my house.

Not Funny

Santa is such a jokester.

Got a funny Christmas card to share? Add a link in the comments. Thanks.

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Song writing is a craft beset with clichés. Whether this is due to the fact that the English language isn’t quite as suited to rhyming as others (although, anyone whose seen the Eurovision song contest might have something to say about the musical suitability of a whole host of tongues), or if it’s just because people are lazy is the matter of much debate. Either way, hearing lines like “baby, I need you/ you make me fly/ so high/ in the sky” gets extremely tedious.

On the other hand, when wordsmiths over step themselves in the search for originality, the results can be equally disastrous and wonderful. Here’s a look at five of the best such examples:

“Solar Prestige a Gammon” by Elton John

“Solar prestige a gammon/Kool kar kyrie kay salmon/Hair ring molasses abounding/Common lap kitch sadin poor floundin”

Elton, ever concerned with co-ordination, seems to have decided to provide his wacky wardrobe with word play to match on this track. At first glance, the lyrics seem to be offering up some sort of coded message, but on closer examination it appears he’s simply having fun cramming the names of as many fish into his lines as possible. A little bit Edward Lear, this one, and that’s no bad thing…

“How I Wrote Elastic Man” by The Fall

“And they will ask me/ they will ask me/ how I wrote plastic man/ how I wrote plastic man”

Mark E Smith, arch sour-puss and leader of post-punk pioneers, The Fall, isn’t renowned as somebody who goes out of his way to make sense. Indeed, he seems to delight in causing confusion whenever he can. The song ‘How I Wrote Elastic Man’ is a case in point, featuring as it does the repeated line ‘how I wrote plastic man’, contrary to its title.

Apparently, Mark was trying to prove a point about journalists not listening to his lyrics properly and often misquoting them, in which case you’d have to say the line worked quite well, seeing as it is, to this day, still frequently misquoted as ‘how I wrote elastic man”. Can’t imagine why….

Come Together by The Beatles

“He bag production/ he got walrus gumboot/ he got ono sideboard/ he one spinal cracker […] he got muddy water/ he one mojo filter”

The Beatles, as widely beloved and undoubtedly influential as they were, did quite enjoy talking a bit of nonsense. Who wouldn’t, knowing a sizeable proportion of the human race will eagerly examine anything you say with a fine tooth comb?

The reason these lines in particular make the list is that they all sound like weird slang terms for nasty venereal diseases, or labels for sexual deviants. “Hey, stay away from that guy, he’s a real spinal cracker, you’ll probably catch walrus gumboot just from sharing an elevator with him…”

Is It Really So Strange by The Smiths

“I left the South/ I traveled North /I got confused – I killed a horse […]/ I left the North again/ I traveled South again /And I got confused – I killed a nun”

On the b-side to their 1987 single, ‘Shelia Take a Bow’, England’s favourite gloom-mongers posed the question “is it really so strange?” A quick look at the lyrics affirms that the answer has to be a resounding “yes!”

When he wasn’t stealing horses, stabbing nuns and migrating back and forth across Britain on a bizarre spree of random criminality, Morrissey gave the world some of the most enduring lyrics to be used in pop music. It seems genius takes days off.

Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart by Johnny Cash

“And now you say you’ve got me out of your conscience/ I’ve been flushed from the bathroom of your heart”

Anyone will tell you, Johnny Cash could string words together in a highly affecting manner. Whilst the effect in question would normally be between heartbreak and righteous indignation, in the case of ‘Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart’, the reflex inspired is more likely to be the one associated with gagging.

Given that the second line of the song is the strangely poetic “in the bread line of your dreams I lost my place” it seems the song, as it progressed, followed a similar trajectory to poor Johnny’s heart, right down the toilet.

Will Kerr also writes for UK Net Guide, where you can find a wealth of information on all sorts of topics.

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5. Be Drunk.

Contrary to popular beer commercial mythos, slamming an entire case of Keystone Light right before a funeral wake will not make you smooth. (Yes, Keith Stone, we all know that in the screwed up alternate reality that you live in, ladies think being extra creepy qualifies as being smooth.) No, instead of getting you ‘in’ with grieving ladies, this poorly-timed inebriation will only lead to awkward confrontations with relatives of the deceased after you decide to urinate in the European fan palm in the corner of the funeral home. NOTE: This rule does not apply to rednecks, whose drunken funeral follies are expected to leave more emotional wreckage than a Sunday afternoon NASCAR crash.

4. Impersonate a Holy Man.

Priests, Rabbis and Imams have spent years learning how to help people deal with loss and are highly respected members of society. So, showing up as one and giving your own eulogy in place of the real speech might fool people for a little while, but as soon as the jig is up, it’s go time.  The offense is tenfold if you show up to a funeral wearing the garb of an Imam at an over-zealous Christian gathering in the Bible Belt. You had better be a speedy runner if you decide to do this, because you will have to move faster than a turkey on Thanksgiving Day if you want to escape. (And boy, do those folks love hunting.)

3. Dress as the Devil.

There are a lot of good reasons to wear a devil outfit, like for Halloween, costume parties, or the TV series Jackass. But, like Chris Pontius, you had better be ready to take a brutal ass-beating if the wrong person sees you sporting red horns at a funeral. If you wear your demonic garb to the funeral of a religious family and gently caress the coffin, while murmuring, “I’ve been waiting to take this one with me,” one of two things will probably occur: Grandma will have a heart attack, or Uncle Lenny is going to start throwing punches until the police arrive.

2. Try to pick up chicks and try to get laid.

Let’s face it. You’re not Will Ferrell. In Wedding Crashers, his character may have scored all the tail from amongst the mourners and it was funny in an “Oh that rascal Will Ferrell. What will he do next?” sort of way. But, treating a wake as your own personal scouting grounds, like a cheap dive bar, will turn you into a bigger creep than Charlie Sheen in the middle of a strip club. (Or Charlie Sheen anywhere, really.) If you want to retain an ounce of self respect, and, more importantly, respect for the dead, you’ll keep it in your pants for once. No. For real, don’t do be a d-bag and do this. Seriously.

1. Dress up like a Ghostbuster.

Everyone loves the Ghostbusters, but unless you’re Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, or Harold Ramis, breaking down the door at the wake of a funeral and yelling, “Back off, man. I’m a scientist,” won’t earn you any sympathy. Something about pointing a Neutrona Wand above the casket with intent of blasting the dead’s ghost back into the afterlife just gets people’s shorts in twist.  (Of course, if you ARE Bill Murray, then you can basically do no wrong, and busting into a funeral wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on your back, ready to zap the ghost of the deceased, is the most epic thing you can do. In fact, if Bill Murray is reading this I would like to officially make the offer of paying cash for him to show up at my funeral as Peter Venkman. I’m not kidding.)

You have been warned! Black clothing, lines like “I’m keeping him in my thoughts,” and lots of tears will probably go over a lot better than devil suits… but the Ghostbusters gear may be worth it.

Ryan Heuer writes for a company that sells scary Halloween costumes. He’s never actually been kicked out of a funeral.

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1.        The Mullet

Credit: Predict Football.co.uk

You may blame this one on the 80s, and yes, this decade has a lot to answer for, but it wasn’t the first time that this hideous haircut has been seen.  Unbelievably, the 6^th century Byzantine Empire had the misfortune of seeing rebels “clipping the hair short on the front of the head down to the temples and letting it hang down in great length and disorder in the back”.  Sounds like a mullet to me.

2.       The Perm

The permanent wave, to give it its full name, has been around for quite some time.  To give it its due, it doesn’t always look terrible, just most of the time.  The first perms were let onto our streets in the early 20^th century when a delightful combination of cow urine and water were applied to long hair, which was then wrapped around hot rods.

3.       The Reverse Mohawk

Credit: worsthaircut.com

Lots of people don’t like mohawks but they can be pretty crazy and distinctive, have a long tribal history and are a long-lasting part of the punk scene.  However, the reverse Mohawk is just wrong  and doesn’t suit anybody.  There are plenty of mohawk variations to choose from (the bihawk, the fanhawk, the dreadhawk, etc), just don’t do the reverse mohawk.

4.       The Bowl Cut

Credit: badcuts.com

A haircut doled out by parents on thousands of children over the years, the bowl cut is free and foolproof.  And also looks dreadful.  Its roots go back to Roman times but it has been used by popular society, religious groups and also some indigenous tribes with unerring frequency.  A form of this hairdo is now back in fashion thanks to Justin Bieber.  This might be the kind of haircut that just isn’t going to go away.

5.        Curtains

This style haunted the 90s, spreading across the heads of teenagers, footballers and actors with alarming alacrity.  Look at any of the boy bands from the period and you can almost guarantee at least one will have curtains.  It is one of those fashion trends that is ultimately just going to be very embarrassing when you look back at photos of the time.

6.       The emo-cut

Credit: On Sugar

There are too many variants of hideous emo haircuts to list them all but this is a pretty good example.  The Emo music scene came out of the 80s but it look until the early 2000s for this haircut to surface in popular culture – and then it was everywhere.  A combination of a long fringe, choppy layers and inventive use of dye makes this a haircut to forget.

7.       The comb over

Credit: US Hair Restoration.com

When you start going bald, the answer isn’t to spread the rest of your hair across your head.  It doesn’t fool anyone and it does not look good.  Ever.  It wasn’t cool when Emperor Constantine did it in the 4^th century and it isn’t cool now.  Those who wear the comb over are nicknamed ‘bar code men’ in Japan because of the straight lines of hair that streak the scalp.  Ick!

8.       The beehive

Credit: Hji.co.uk

A product of the 60s, the beehive involved a lot of back-combing to get a huge hairy lump on your head.  Unfortunately it came back into fashion in the mid-2000s with stars such as Amy Winehouse sporting this catastrophe of a haircut, making it acceptable for the rest of the population to do so.  The aftermath of a beehive looks almost as bad as the cut itself so the whole thing is best avoided.

9.       Feathering

Credit: hairstyle99.com

Feathering can be okay, in moderation and combined with a reasonable cut.  But when it ends up like this, it is definitely not okay.  One from the 70s, this voluminous look is best confined to the annals of history and forgotten about.  Fortunately these days feathering is generally used in combination with a smooth cut rather than textured.

10.    Partially shaved

Credit: fashionindie.com

Completely shaved heads look fine but combining shaved head one side with long, flowing locks on the other is not a good plan.  It has been part of the punk scene for years and in the last couple of years there have been some celebrities who have sported this look but really, take a step back and think about what this looks like.

The author of this top 10 list is Alex, who writes about all things hair and beauty, including brands Biotherm and L’Occitane.

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In my opinion what makes for a good April Fools’ Day hoax is simplicity, plausibility and execution. If you have to think too much about a gag, if it’s too obviously fake or if it was a good idea but poorly presented then it just doesn’t work. In Google’s case, I will add reach as a qualifier; if only a handful of people see/get the gag, then it failed. After all, with the number of people who interact with Google directly every day, they have a responsibility to fool as many of them as possible!
So without further ado, here’s Google’s Top 5 April Fools’ Pranks:

1. MentalPlex (2000)

Let’s face it. Sometimes typing words into a search field is hard; particularly if you aren’t 100% sure how to phrase your query. Wouldn’t it be easier if Google could just read your mind? Well in 2000 Google did just that. On April 1 a new section appeared below the normally sparse search page; there was a red and blue pinwheel and a set of simple instructions, starting with taking off your hat and glasses.

Google claimed that if you focused your mental energies on the circle, visualizing what you wanted to search for, MentalPlex would do your search. Clicking through led to an error page with a number or different messages and the top results for April Fools’. This hoax was simple, had a little bit of camp and great follow through. Not only did they add detailed FAQ page, but they also had illustrated instructions. The pinwheel added a nice touch of camp; it looked like it could appear on the back of a magazine, next to the x-ray specs. But really, back in 2000 we didn’t know if Google was actually developing that tech or not. This was the first April Fools’ Day Google Hoax, and it set a pretty high standard for the decade to come.

2. Pigeon Rank (2002)

Google’s search algorithm is one of the best kept secrets in all of nerdom–and they know it. In the early 2000′s there was a lot of interest in Page Rank, one aspect of Google’s algorithm that analyzed hyperlinks to assign the relative importance of pages and sights. In 2002 Google revealed the power behind the PageRank system…PigeonRank. Google purported that PigeonRank was an offshoot of B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning, and claimed that clusters of pigeons working together could compute the relative value of a webpage faster than human editors or algorithms.

The article revealing this technology showed up on Google’s Technology blog, and was mostly seen by web site owners and online marketers. So while this gag didn’t reach everyone, it covered everyone who would have come across it. The article lists several reasons for technology’s integrity, including data graphs, development and speculation into the future of pigeon computing.

It’s both a clever play on words, an adaptation of the monkeys at typewriters working on Shakespeare paradigm and a subtle reminder that web developers should focus on user experience and not on the algorithm.

3. TiSP (beta) – Toilet Internet Service Provider (2007)

This is my personal favorite. Google was supposedly getting into the ISP game, letting you connect directly to one of their servers with a Google-supplied fiber optic cable. All you had to do was add a weight to one end of the cable and flush it. Within the hour one of Google’s Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers would have you connected to 8Mbps. This was a free service supported by the discreet DNA sequencing of “personal bodily output.” Google would then display relevant culinary ads tailored to your current eating habits.

This Toilet gag works on so many levels, combining a spike of interest in DNA sequencing that year, with the rise in local and alternative ISP’s. While obviously ridiculous, there was an air of plausibility since all you really needed was a cable running from your wireless modem (supplied for free) to a server. The FAQ and step by step Instructions page, complete with pictures, pushed the whole thing over the top. TISP had three tiers of service, The Trickle, The #2 and the Royal Flush, and stipulations for toilet usage after installation and the promise to develop a mobile broadband service called TiSP on the Run.

4. The YouTube Rickroll (2008)

You remember Rickrolling don’t do? You would click a link to a video you wanted to watch and ended up watching some form of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up. This joke was not only of the most successful implementations of the “bait and switch,” but probably the most widely distributed internet meme to date. Listed by Wired magazine as one of the best known “beginner” hoaxes, Rickrolling was just coming into its own when Google-owned YouTube took it to a whole other level.

On April 1, 2008 all the featured videos on the YouTube landing page redirected to Astley’s video. As a result, any user who clicked through a featured video link, a popular way to discover new and interesting content was Rickrolled. Simple, timely and unexpected, this was the first time that YouTube participated in Google’s April Fools shenanigans since Google purchased the service 2 years earlier. Victims of mister Astley’s late 80′s power-pop ballad numbered in the thousands, possibly millions that day.

5. Topeka Name Switch

In March of 2010 the Mayor of Kansas officially unofficially changed the name of his town to Google, Kansas for a month. Google was running a program called, “Fiber for Communities” where they were going to install fiber optic connections in an undisclosed location. Cities had to let Google know they were interested in being considered for the program. What better way to show Google how serious you are than changing the name of your city?

Well, it caught Google’s attention. So on April First 2010 Google officially unofficially changed their company name to Topeka. The name change on Google’s part was not supposed to indicate an endorsement for the program but a way for them to “honor that moving gesture,” said Topeka CEO Eric Schmidt. That having been said, Kansas City won. They will be the first city to receive the 1 gigabit per second network, which should go live near the beginning of 2012.

About the Author: When he’s not out skiing the Utah powder, Greg Buckskin is a writer and blogger for Comcast.USDirect.com – home to Comcast Internet Deals.

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Renaissance Faires

The beauty of a Renaissance faire is that both the actors and the public can dress up, put on a saucy accent and partake of the romantic atmosphere. Wench costumes are everywhere here, in the pubs, workshops and on the stage. You’ll fit right in. There are hundreds of Renaissance festivals in the United States. Usually outdoor affairs, they normally run during the summer months.

Pirate Festivals

Kind of like the little brother of the Renaissance faire, pirate festivals have seen a surge in popularity that coincides with the rise of Capt. Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Caribbean films. A wench costume is almost mandatory to fully participate in the skullduggery at a pirate fest. You can find them in coastal communities from Maine to California all year round.

Medieval Times

Take a step further back in time to the 11th century. This is dinner theater at its finest. Medieval Times puts on a one-of-a-kind show featuring live jousting, sword fighting and a bountiful four-course feast. There are kings and princesses, knights and knaves at the nine unique castles in the US and Canada.

Common Ground Fair

This country harvest festival is the largest celebration of organic farming in the United States. People come from all over the world to spend three glorious September days in Unity, Maine. Costumes aren’t mandatory, but the ones that show up are all over the map, and no style is too outrageous. Wench-like peasant blouses and ruffled skirts are a popular choice. But remember, this is Maine in September and the weather can get wet and chilly. So, often you’ll find those woollen leggings and hiking boots along with the lacy skirts.

Highland Games

Traditional highland games are popular festivals where participants celebrate all things Scottish. Gentlemen don kilts and hose and the ladies wear long skirts and laced up bodices (hmm, sounds familiar). In addition to learning about Celtic culture and history, you can also listen to pipe and drum corps, toss a caber (kind of like a big telephone pole,) dance and play games. While many Highland games around the world are small, some in the US attract 20,000 to 50,000 people. That’s a lot of kilts!

Steampunk Ball

You might have to make a few alterations to your basic wench outfit to make it truly “steampunk.” This is a literary genre that’s vaguely Victorian combined with steam-powered technology. Gears and goggles and leather straps and buckles symbolize the style. Try hitching up your skirts, add a leather belt around your corset and don some lace-up granny boots and you’ll be all set. Steampunk events can be evening fashion shows, elegant balls with drinks and dancing or an afternoon picnic in the park.

Oktoberfest

German neighborhoods all around the world celebrate Oktoberfest with beer and brats and lively music played long into the night. While the St. Pauli Girl just may be the quintessential beer wench, you’ll fit right in with just a bodice, blouse and flouncy skirt.

Fantasy Conventions

Meet your favorite author, play games and shop for things you’ll never find at the mall. Fantasy and science fiction conventions (called “cons” by those in the know) come in all flavors. There are horror cons and Star Trek cons and comic book super hero cons. And costumes are a major part of the fun. Some of the largest fantasy cons include DragonCon and the World Fantasy Convention that moves from city to city over the years. But smaller conventions exist in just about every major city.

Burning Man

We can’t talk about costumed gatherings without including Burning Man. For one week every year, Black Rock Desert in California turns into a temporary city and celebrates all things “out there.” 50,000 people come together for a weeklong 24 hour a day costume party and art show.

Polar Bear Dip

The next time you have the urge to go swimming in an ice-cold lake in January, why not do it in costume? Polar Bear dips are sponsored all over the country and raise money for various charities. People get together in teams and take the plunge to raise money for groups like the Special Olympics. Very often team members will raise more money if they do it in costume. It seems friends and co-workers will pay to see you freeze your tuckus off, but they’ll pay more to see you do it in a costume.

About the author: Julie Anne Eason writes about costumes and sewing for a variety of websites. You can learn more about the best Brother sewing machines and recommended dress form brands on her website SeriousSewing.com

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But as true as that is, there are times when things can get a bit too serious as well and you need a comedy fix. Knowing where to turn to for a quick laugh can make a tough day a little bit brighter or a short break actually refreshing.

But where do you go for a chuckle? There are tons of choices but a few sites have really stood out and made it their goal to be the go-to destination for those in need of a laugh.

Here are just five of those sites, what they offer and why you might want to bookmark them for when you need a good laugh.

Jokes.com

Though Comedy Central may be best known for the Daily Show and Colbert Report these days, it actually has a huge library of stand up comedians and it keeps those clips at its Jokes.com site.

You can sort through clips by comedian, look for certain joke types and even search by tags. In addition to videos, you can also find written jokes that you can retell to your friends, possibly making you the hit of the party, or at least the water cooler.

FunnyorDie

Co-created by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Hench, Funny or Die is a video site dedicated solely to comedy, though it also has images and slideshows as well.

Funny or Die hosts a wide array of both professional and amateur clips and has actually been the start of many of the Web’s biggest memes including, most famously, “The LandLord”. A voting system that encourages users to rate videos as, fittingly, “Funny” or “Die” ensures that good videos rise to the top for easy discovery later.

EffinFunny

EffinFunny is a site by stand up comics for stand up comics. It provides something of a safe haven for comedians to post their best clips and have them seen by the public.

The site has a relaxed editorial policy on content such as swearing and adult subjects, making many of the clips not safe for work, but EffinFunny also has several great original series such as “The Legend of Niel”.

Zug

Zug is about pranks. It has videos of pranks, images of pranks and articles about pranks, all under one roof. For those with a slightly more mean-spirited sense of humor, Zug is a natural destination.

For those who want to get in on the action, Zug even has a large “Ideas” section where you can get inspiration for your future pranks.

The Cheeseburger Family

Though technically many sites under one  umbrella, the Cheeseburger network has literally dozens of places you can go for a quick laugh.

Named after it’s flagship site, “I Can Has Cheeseburger?”, better known as the home of the LOL Cats, the Cheeseburger network has dozens of related and intertwined sites all dedicated to humor. From “Fail Blog” to “Poorly Dressed” to “Ugliest Tattoos”, you can easily find a site with your style of humor.

Bear in mind though that some of the individual sites are not safe for work. Ben Huh, the company’s founder, saw a large market for a more adult style comedy and chose to create several NSFW site as part of his network.

Though humor is  a very subjective thing, odds are that, at one of these sites, you’ll find something that will consistently get a chuckle.

And when you do find a site that reliably puts a smile on its face, be sure to subscribe to it or at least bookmark it so you can come back when you need it.

The Web, even with all the humor it has, can be a very dreary place at times, it’s best to have a little bit of humor ready at all times.

This guest post is brought to you by Lior who is a marketing consultant for 123 neon signs, an ecommerce shop for neon busines signs and also advises to Storemed

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For those who aren’t aware, that last sentence is a quote from Will “Frank the Tank” Ferrell in the Mitchapalooza house party scene in Old School. And that isn’t trivial, because the whole point of this post is to give my top 5 (or so) supporting roles in comedies. Screw the Academy Awards–this is the real honor. Trust me. Let’s go.

6) Christopher Mintz-Plasse as “McLovin” in Superbad

“I’ve never been with an older guy before.” “Well it’s, like…way…better…”

See, here’s the thing about a role like this. If you’re a third or fourth actor in a movie full of really funny people, and you manage to stand out as the memorable one (how many of you could remember that his name was actually Fogell?), you deserve to be on this list. McLovin went from geeky teenager to fake ID-toting Hawaiian organ donating movie god as soon as he took that punch from the robber in the liquor store.

5) (Tie) Robert Downey Jr. as “Kirk Lazarus” and Tom Cruise as “Les Grossman” in Tropic Thunder

Virtually impossible for me to choose between these two; I think they’re both amazingly funny. Robert Downey Jr. was the shit in Iron Man, but playing an Australian Academy Award-winning actor playing a ghetto black soldier was the true rejuvenation of his career. Not to mention some of his lines: “Same thing happened to me when I played Neil Armstrong in Moonshot. They found me in an alley in Burbank trying to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere in an old refrigerator box.” Unreal. And as for Tom Cruise, say what you want about the dude–he definitely is crazy and he probably has magic powers by now–but Les Grossman may have been the most surprising comedic turn of all time. For the love of God, they’re making a movie about him! Although I’m sure it will be horrible, as most spin-offs are, but I digress…

4) Paul Rudd as “Brian Fantana” in Anchorman

“It’s called the Octagon…”

I might be a tad biased here because I think Anchorman is brilliant, and apparently not everyone else does. But some people are idiots, so I’m not going to worry about it. Even though the movie is clearly focused on Ron Burgandy (and in nooo way is that a bad thing), Paul Rudd is phenomenal as Fantana. Between the classic discussion of his multiple names for his genitalia and citing studies claiming that 60% of the time, Sex Panther works every time, Rudd came back into movie relevance like Willis Reed. Plus his porn star mustache is dope. Enough said.

3) Will Ferrell as “Frank ‘The Tank’ Ricard” in Old School

“We’re going streaking!!!!” became the catch phrase of countless frat parties after Old School premiered, and it isn’t surprising. Frank the Tank has more quotable lines in this movie than almost any other supporting actor that I can remember. Check it out:

* “Blue, you’re my boy!”

* “I thought we were in the nest…are we not?”

* “I was thinking we could go back home, have some dinner and pop in the Sisqo CD…”

* “You’re crazy man. I like you…but you’re crazy.”

* “Honey do you think KFC is still open?”

* “That’s the way you do it! That’s the way your debate!”

* “Once it hits your lips, it’s so good!”

* “I see Blue…he looks glorious!”

* “Snoopaloop!”

The list just goes on and on. He was incredible, and the quotes don’t do him justice–especially since his grown-man body and odd stomach scar (was he in a knife fight or something?) make him physically hilarious as well. I’ve never seen an actor with such a questionable physique so willing to get naked for a laugh. But I can handle it if he can.

2) Vince Vaughn as “Trent Double-Down” in Swingers

“Look at you. You wanna kiss me.”

Swingers became the epitome of cult comedies in the late 1990′s, and for good reason–it had three really good young actors doing their best Rat Pack impressions with a script that was insanely good. Vince and Jon Favreau had worked together before (remember Rudy?), but they struck gold with this joint. Vaughn is perfect as the supportive hipster who just wants to get his friend laid (and maybe get some beautiful babies on his his own junk in the process), and every scene he is in makes you wonder whether you should be chuckling to yourself or laughing out loud. I always chose the latter, but that’s because I lack social grace–and because watching two men fight over making Wayne Gretzky’s head bleed is hilarious shit. So do what you want. Maybe I’m just the asshole in the bar.

1) Romany Malco as “Jay” in The 40 Year Old Virgin

“Let’s say ya’ll livin’ together…”

I can’t say enough about this role. I don’t care what Romany Malco does for the rest of his career, he will always have a free pass with me. I think he hit it on all cylinders with his characterization of “Jay”, Andy’s crazy quasi-ghetto but kind-hearted sex fiending friend in The 40 Year Old Virgin. I can’t even count how many times I have repeated lines from his parts in this movie, from his advice to Andy about avoiding baby mama drama to the notes he left about the girls he met while speed dating (“Oh yeah, she was a ho…foooo’ sho”). Just perfect. He even made the other co-stars around him funnier just because they were able to play off his stereotypes (“When your child is born, is he already on parole?”). Just as before, he managed to stick out in a cast of very funny people, and in my opinion was a huge reason why Apatow’s first major movie was such a success. I love him.

So that’s it. I should probably note that there are some other close calls that could easily have made this list if it were longer. Russell Brand’s “Aldous Snow” from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Chris Tucker’s “Smokey” from Friday come immediately to mind, but I wanted to keep this at a respectable length. So feel free to disagree with me–I welcome the challenge and look forward to a good fight. Plus I get bored easily and like to argue. So fire away. Peace out.

This guest post has been provided by Adam Schechter of Thoughts and Ramblings.

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