Lighten up, Elena! The Vampire Diaries credits, Friends-style.

A snapshot of Sunset Strip in the 70s: Vintage music & film billboards

Literary romance nerds rejoice! The letters of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning are now online.

"What is a weekend?" Drown your workday sorrows in Downton Abbey Cocktails from The Kitchn. Get drunk on Lady Mary, Sybil, or Edith.

That's how we do: Windup Wire characters

A Blast from our MTV Past: Stick Figure Hitchcock (Viva la Liquid Television!)

Yet another reason Bryan Cranston is SO awesome: Breaking Bad Chuck Taylors!

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For H.P. Lovecraft superfans: The (animated) Adventures of Lil Cthulhu (above)
"Little Cthulu is hungry after his long nap. What does he do? He eats his followers!" 

Our favorite Valentine's love story: Proposal by Infographic

Pretty-pretty: Scans of Vintage Vogue pages from the 50s & 60s

Tail to Tail: Requiem for a Dream in 60 seconds -- with puppets

Life moves pretty fast: Even if you hate that new Ferris commercial, you still need one of these. 

"Sorry about Jabba…": Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, retold in Iconoscope! 

LOL Fontz: Cats as fonts (Helvetica is ridiculous!)

Monkey cuteness! Capturing zoo close-ups with an iPhone + a mirror

$7, 714.83!!!!

You guys. That is. AMAZING!!! Jenny George (pictured atop an Exohxo pyramid above!) was sobbing with joy when we dropped the money off to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society {check out this sweet comment from Erin @LLS}. They told us straight up that it would help SO many people! This is the most money that DOTV has ever raised, and Jenny is so so so so thankful for all the volunteers and bands and attendees who made it happen! We can't wait to help plan next year's bash and raise even more money. 

As for Ben Haley's amazing photobooth pictures - they are on the way! Please take a moment to gaze upon Ben as "The Chauffer" and his assistant Merilee Jones - who had THE BEST 80s OUTFIT EVER! So totally tubular. There's a few more pics after the jump - and you can watch for yours in the ever expanding DOTV 7 Flickr set. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED MAKE JENNY'S BIRTHDAY SO FANTASTIC! 

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Aw, how romantic. Send some heartwarming messages to your valentine via The Mountain Goats + Movies Tumblr. 

Portlandia (yay!) nails how imaginary moms would approach the problem of insufficient indie-rock in preschools. 

Drunk(ish) comic book history: aka John Landis's son, Max, schools us on The Death and Rebirth of Superman (with the help of his celebrity friends)

Say it Ain't So - a Weezer...cruise??!!?!? What the. Who came up with this idea? 

Banksy + Tom Hanks: There's a new grafitti star in town: Hanksy. 

A lesson in freaking people out: Construct remote-controlled planes that look like flying people and fly them over NYC. 

PhyloPic: More animal clip art than you can shake a giraffe at.

Bonus: Tweet of the week! (omfgpugs)

Anything we missed that belongs on this imaginary list? 

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So much internet love this week! Here are the things that thrilled us so much we had to share.

There's not much we can add to the video above, except that the people at Archie McPhee clearly RULE. 

Ever wondered where the best of the worst roadside dinosaurs are? Now you know.

Rough breakup? Sell your ex's gifts on Never Liked it Anyway, or tell a story about items they left behind on I Still Have Your Stuff. 

Den of Geek put together a pretty good list of Top 25 Cult Film Actors - but Amie is upset that they forgot Jeffery Combs. I mean, SERIOUSLY. 

Cards Against Humanity: Our new favorite game (that you can download for free!)

The best cover of Depeche Mode's "Strangelove" on the entire internet. 

Low-Commitment Projects: Crafting for lazy people. 

{probably NSFW} Someone who calls themselves Dianne Amazeballs (rightfully so!) started a collection of Ridiculous Pregnancy Pictures on Pinterest, and we can't. stop. looking. at. them. 

What you'd see that's worthy of an Imaginary Shout-out? 

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So here's the thing; my crush list is kind of EPIC. By that I mean, there are a lot of celebs that I find myself dreaming about, and my dreams aren't limited to just the actors, they extend to specific characters they've played on screen. I felt compelled to share them with y'all* just in case you need some ideas for silly romantic comedies with men that will make you swoon. 

Dylan McDermott as Leo Fish in Home for the Holidays
It’s probably hard for everyone to erase the image of McDermott crying while masturbating in American Horror Story—but if anything can get it out of your mind, it’s his sweet, ruggedly handsome Leo Fish in one of my favorite holiday movies of all time. Leo pursues a sullen Holly Hunter with respect, romance, and just enough smoldering sexiness. There’s a bit in a coffee shop where he explains to the young clerk why he needs him to stay open long enough to buy this girl a cup of coffee that’s so endearing it’s insane, and when she rebuffs his romantic advances, I guarantee you’ll scream at her—as if she can hear you. I don’t want to ruin anything for those that haven’t seen it, but the ending. MYGODTHEENDING.

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We sure do love the internets! And we also love the millions and millions of things we see everyday while we're surfing around, trying to kill time or relieve stress, or just plain distract ourselves. Because we also love YOU, we wanted to share the following things that made us happy.

Social Media Madness: TIG jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon! It's fun (and time-consuming).

Awwwwww! We <3 this really sincere reaction to being nominated for an Academy Award.

Hipster heaven: create your own animated gifs with stenographs from the NYC Public Library.

Film nerd heaven: Watch short films from Sundance - for Free!

Seattle real estate porn: the revamped Sanctuary is back on sale (yet still too expensive for normal people) condo market. It sure is beautiful, though.

Seth Rogen speaks the truth at the Golden Globes. (hee!)

What'd you see on the 'net this week? Please share your imaginary awesomeness in the comments! 

{This is part two of two in our best-of photo series of 2011. Take a peek over at part one here, and don't forget to check out our festival best-ofs part one and two as well!}

Favorite photo #5: Ocean Shores :: In a get-to-know-your-roots {PNW edition} kind of road trip, we hopped in the car one weekend with esteemed sometimes-imaginary photographer and fellow transplant Laura Musselman for a ride out to the water -- Ocean Shores, to be exact -- with jaunts to Aberdeen and Hoquiam on the way. It was all at once melancholy and sun-filled, juxtaposing sad, semi-abandoned mainstreets with a big, bright, full-fledged kite festival once we were beachside. Strange as it was for those two worlds to meet, it was definitely a day trip for the books, yielding a half-dozen photos that easily made our best-ofs for the year (like the one above). {more field trip photos} {Laura Musselman}

Favorite moment #5: Eef Barzelay {at the Madrona Ale House} :: The night after Eef Barzelay's headlining appearance at our Imaginary Holiday Spectacular, he played a much quieter affair as part of a private party at the Madrona Ale House. Abandoning the PA after three-quarters of a song, he sat down across the table from us, where he proceeded to stay for much of the show. The result? A very front-row seat for one of our favorite performances of the year. You can even hear a moderately decent recording of one of his Journey project tracks from the show over here and relive the moment along with us! {more photos of Eef} {Eef Barzelay / Clem Snide bandcamp}

Favorite photo #4: Lovesick Empire at Neumos :: This one happened so early in the year that it almost slipped through the great sort-through! Way back in January, Lovesick Empire played an AMAZING set at Neumos, and even though they're pushing forward with a slightly different lineup than seen here, they are still making some of the most kick-ass music coming out of Seattle today. It's huge-sounding, dirty, full of guitars, and cuts right to the point -- another one to add to your "do not miss under any circumstances" list of live bands to catch so that you don't regret it forever the morning after they've played. {more photos from the Neumos show} {Lovesick Empire FB}

Favorite moment #4: John Roderick's pre-City Arts house show :: We were the luckiest of all ducks to not only attend, but actually host a super-intimate house show with John Roderick out in Ballard this past October, where less than two dozen folks pulled together a potluck and a city of tealights for one of our favorite shows of the year. John held court in front of the mantel, singing and storytelling and taking requests for more time than we could keep track of (minutes? hours?) while the room swooned away with delight -- like Eef's Alehouse show, we even managed to sneak in a homemade recording, which you can take a listen to here. Honestly, there's not much we can think of for 2012 that's going to be able to top it. {more photos from the house show} {The Long Winters}

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There were so many great times in 2011 that we've had to divide them up into little compartments just to review them all: there are the photos that captured everything in the perfect just-so kind of way, forever burning the days and nights into the backs of our minds and our notebooks, and the moments where the light was less than perfect but we were swept off our feet nonetheless. Even though we're likely forgetting some key {literal and metaphorical} snapshots from both categories, we've taken a crack at listing our favorites spanning back to January of this year.

Favorite photo-and-moment #10: Michael Lee {of The Young Evils} :: Just the other month -- was it November? -- we found ourselves at the Rendezvous in Belltown for a most-excellent set from our friends The Young Evils, who put on a performance so good that it left us practically beside ourselves at the thought of new music coming from their camp sometime in 2012. While they shook and swayed the stage, we managed to snap our tenth-most-favorite shot of the year in between applause and hollers of bass player Michael Lee, who was looking particularly dapper that evening all dolled-up in a suit and tie. His whole vibe had a very alt.indiepop.McCartney-esque slice to it, and we're so glad we managed to capture it in a photo! {more photos from the show} {The Young Evils}

Favorite moment(s)-and-photo(s) #10: the Market in the summertime :: Right around the time of the Eddie Vedder / Glen Hansard shows this year -- July, to be exact -- we found ourselves with a bit of free time and some friends visiting from out of town {namely one of our imaginary Austin liasons, Amanda}, which made for an excellent excuse to get our tourist on down at Pike Place Market. Even though the sun this summer was moderate and fleeting, we were able to soak up some of it on the sidewalks and benches on some of the most picturesque spots in town, by far making it one of our favorite little slices to remember 2011 by! {more photos from the Market}

Favorite photo #9: Heligoats :: Ah! Heligoats may just be our favorite knew-about-but-didn't-know-about-until-this-year act, which we happily discovered during his sets over the weekend of the Imaginary Holiday Spectacular. Seen above performing at Columbia City Theater earlier this month, Heligoats {in this incarnation as Chris Otepka, solo} stole our hearts and our kneesock-clad tapping toes all at once with his wordy, smart storylines and earnest, upbeat sound -- and to have this photo to remember it by makes it all the better! {more photos of the Imaginary Holiday Spectacular} {Heligoats official}

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{This is part two of our one-two punch showcasing the best in festival moments and photos from 2011. Start from the beginning here, where you can see picks #10 - #6!}

Favorite photo #5: Wye Oak :: Standing in the pit at Sasquatch! at the small stage is always a treat -- you're right up next to the performers, and unless someone's career has exploded between the time they got booked and the time the festival rolls around, there's not too many people mobbing the area surrounding the stage. Such was the case for Wye Oak, and while they were already a good, established band then with a solid crowd turnout, we were able to get up-close-and-personal for their set to capture this mid-song moment. If you haven't seen one of their many appearances -- Sasquatch! 2011, the shows with the National at the Neptune last month, or from the "HOLY SHIT" file: that time they played with Shearwater at the Triple Door in 2010 -- get out to see them on mid-sized stages while you can. {more photos from Wye Oak's set at Sasquatch!} {Wye Oak official}

Favorite moment #5: Del :: So, technically, this happened *during* Austin City Limits and not *at* Austin City Limits proper, but we couldn't compile a best-of without mentioning Del.

One morning, while loading up on espresso and bagels while uploading photos pre-fest on a hundred-degree day in Austin, we met Del. And as it turns out, Del is just an artist in a corner at a cafe, akin to those writing furiously in a notebook -- only he doesn't blog it, "show" it, exist anywhere on the internet, or have openings in art galleries. This is just what he does, and after getting permission to take his photo and chatting with him for a bit, we learned that this inky artpile is Del's form of art-therapy journal-y processing. While it wasn't a We Are Augustines set or a moment in front of the stage with Elbow, it was nonetheless a highlight of our ACL trip and well-worth preserving here in our 2011 storyline!

Favorite photo(s)-and-moment #4: Sharon van Etten

Favorite moment-and-photo(s) #4: Aloe Blacc

What an amazing, amazing pair of sets these two put on at Sasquatch! this year. Sharon van Etten's sparse, gut-wrenching performance rang out all the way into the darkest corners of our hearts where the best reverb lies, and Aloe Blacc held up to every expectation we had going into the set. The fact that they both looked good doing what they both obviously love {and are so, so well-suited} to do just made capturing it in photo-form all that much easier. {more Sasquatch! 2011 photos} {more about Aloe Blacc} {SVE official}

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