By Erin Green | Tuesday, May 19, 2009 3:20 PM Smile File: a collection of goofy, endearing, funny, or just plain enjoyable things. They made us smile, so we shared them with you. ****** May 19 Twinkie? No, Cream-Filled Cake
That's right: The fine folks at the Dinnercraft blog offer a natural alternative to the chemically enhanced (but damn good) Twinkie. Now, we're not saying this cake is good for you, but we're pretty sure it'd taste good. If anyone gives it a try, let us know how it turns out. Cheers, Dinnercraft. And no offense to you Twinkie lovers out there. ****** May 18 Bay to Breakers Still Crazy After All These Years The 98th running of the annual Bay to Breakers As participant and hula skirt-wearing Josh Peterson told the San Francisco Chronicle: "It's all about drinking beer in the sun. In the city where anything goes, this is the day when anything goes." Indeed. Oh, and somebody even actually ran and won the race (congratulations Sammy Kitwara of Kenya!). Photo nod for Wonder Women goes to AGrinberg via flickr. Click here and here for more race/party photos. ****** May 15 Happy National Chocolate Chip Day! Our apologies, as the Smile File has no idea how today was picked as a chocolate chip holiday, if it is indeed national or not (did Congress really declare this a day?), but we choose to celebrate it by eating chocolate chip cookies and sharing videos anyway. In honor of this day, we present Cookie Monster! C is for Cookie, and indeed, that's good enough for me. P.S. Ever wonder how Toll House came up with chocolate chip cookies? They've got the backstory right here. ****** May 14 Burrito-induced high-speed car chase No, a burrito wasn't chasing a car. The police were chasing a man that was chasing a burrito. Confused yet? Read on, from our friends at Associated Press: FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- A suspected drug dealer who led police on a high-speed chase was arrested after he got a case of the munchies, police said. Several officers were chasing Jermaine Cooper, 36, Tuesday when he suddenly pulled into a Taco Bell parking lot. Fort Wayne police Sgt. Mark Walters said Cooper told them he "knew he was going to jail for a while" and wanted to get one last burrito. Sadly for Mr. Cooper, AP (courtesy of theINDYchannel.com) says here that he never got his burrito. ****** May 13 Forgive us, loyal Smile Filers, for not posting yesterday, as we were visiting with a Vedanta-practicing monk. (No joke. Check out the site.) To make it up to you, we present Awkward Family Photos! Courtesy of the site by the same name, we smiled (or downright guffawed) at this collection of family horrorshows, er portraits. ****** May 11 Two videos are making the Internet -- and Tonic -- smile today. The first is a follow-up to Justin Timberlake's viral SNL hit "...in a box." Just like it's predecessor, this video isn't safe for work (at least without headphones). Take a peek here . The other video comes courtesy our new found Comic-in-Chief. Okay, he doesn't really tell a "Your Momma" joke, but the President does get his funny on at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. They must have talked a lot of smack back in Hawaii, cause President Obama brought his A-game. ****** May 8 Clean up litter, find eight grand. Okay, it's not that simple. It turns out a 10-year-old boy named Arie Johnston found more than $8,000 stuffed in a burned backpack in New Hampshire while participating in a neighborhood roadside cleanup event this week. The Associated Press has the rest of the details: Arie's grandmother called the Alton town clerk, who identified the bag's owner based on the passports and other documents found with the money. The owner was a woman who had lived across the street until a fire damaged her apartment last year. Police say the woman has since moved to Maine and has asked that her belongings be given to her sister who lives in Alton. No word on a reward... yet. But, that's still just another reason to participate in your neighborhood clean-up day, I say. ****** May 7 In honor of tonight's midnight release of Star Trek (an event my mom is attending; scary, no?), here is William Shatner doing his dramatic interpretation of Elton John's "Rocket Man." (Note: Cap'n Kirk starts at 41 seconds into this video.)
By the way, there has been some rockin' Internet content to surface because of Star Trek's imminent world takeover. I urge Trekkies and Trekkers alike to watch The Onion take a stab at J.J. Abrams attempt to make the new Star Trek, you know, a good movie.
If that wasn't enough, check out Cracked's list of Star Trek's most ridiculous alien races. Now, go live long and prosper, Smile Filers. ****** May 6 Superman does a fly by. Trust me. Watch this. ****** May 6 Huge (smile-inducing) news today -- Tourism Queensland, the people who brought you The Best Job In The World contest, has picked a winner. The lucky bast.., er guy, is Ben S., a project manager/charity fundraiser from England. Only July 1, he'll begin being paid six figures to be a caretaker of an Australian island in the Great Barrier Reef. He'll swim. He'll surf. He'll blog. Best job, indeed. We, at Tonic, obviously approve of this news since Ben is a charity fundraiser, but the part that really got me to smile today is this: Ben can ride an ostrich. (See picture, courtesy of Queensland Australia.) The team that picked the winner said they "were impressed by Ben’s proactive approach to campaigning for the Best Job in the World, which included organising media stunts and securing an extensive amount of media coverage." (Ed note: They gave a PR job to the guy that was good at PR? No way!) ****** May 5 The American Dream Lives... No, really. It does! Despite the great recession, 401k statements, and Anoop being voted off American Idol, 44 percent of Americans feel they have achieved the American Dream, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released this week. Believe it or not, that's up 12 points from 2005. Another 31 percent of people surveyed think they'll achieve the American Dream at some point in their lifetime. Of course, if you look deeper into the poll, you'll see that belief in the American Dream is tied to how much money you make. (The more you make, the more you believe in it.) But, I choose to put cynicism aside today and consider this good news. (Editorial aside: Forgive me while I'm mushy for a moment, but I think the American Dream is kind of like Santa -- as long as you keep believing, it lives.) ***** May 4 At Least It Was for Charity Denise Richards sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field on Friday, in part to raise money for the Kidney Cancer Association (see the full story here). And, well, since she's now a YouTube hit and lots of people like us are writing about her, one can only hope the charity is getting plenty of love. See the performance for yourself. It made us smile. Or was that a wince?
****** May 3 This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy gave a baby swine flu...
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009 | Posted by English Langauge at 1:08 AM |
Smile File: Make Your Own Twinkie
Have you ever noticed what's in a Twinkie? We suppose you don't really consider such things when popping one in your mouth. And when was the last time you did that, anyway? Well, since eating one seems a little weird, we may opt to make one (and eat it) instead. 
Erin Green spends a lot of time scouring vintage record stores for old comedy albums. When she's not riffling through vinyl, she's writing, producing videos, or reminiscing about the BBQ in San Luis Obispo. She is a Senior Editor at Tonic too.
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Comments (2)
reese
posted: Tue May 5, 2009 11:06 PM
i absolutely heart this page!! the pic of the baby licking the big just made me laugh during finals week. a very big deal. *smile*
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steve
posted: Fri May 15, 2009 5:29 PM
Chocolate chips go in my pancakes.
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