A 12-foot giant squid surfaced at Toyama Bay in Japan on Christmas Eve, and witnesses were able to film it in impressive detail. Since a giant squid wasn't captured alive on film in its natural habitat until 2012, this is a bigger deal than you'd think; this is only the third time a giant squid has been captured on video, according to CNBC. 

A diver was even able to reach the squid and film it from under water. "My curiosity was way bigger than fear, so I jumped into the water and go close to it," said Akinobu Kimura, the owner of Diving Shop Kaiyu. "This squid was not damaged and looked lively, spurting ink and trying to entangle his tentacles around me. I guided the squid toward to the ocean, several hundred meters from the area it was found in, and it disappeared into the deep sea."

Of course, this squid is on the "small" side, as far as giant squids go; it's just over the length of two men, marking it as an adolescent. Adult giant squids can reach up to 43 feet long.  

A Catholic priest in The Philippines was suspended for giving Christmas Mass while cruising the church aisle on a hoverboard. His diocese felt it was inappropriate to divert attention away from the mass with fancy grandstanding. The priest is lucky he got to enjoy it before he was suspended. Some people, like Russell Crowe, don't even get to enjoy their hoverboards before they're taken away.

The diocese had this to say regarding his suspension:

He acknowledged that his action was not right and promised that it will not happen again. It is not a personal celebration where one can capriciously introduce something to get the attention of the people.

Here is the video of his most unholy deed:

The statement by the diocese sounds like a lame lecture given by a disappointed parent or teacher. Will the priest use the suspension time to think about what he's done, or to plot how he'll give Easter Mass on a jet ski? Only time will tell.

The end of the year is a great time to reflect on what you've accomplished, your goals for the coming year, and all the ridiculous things newscasters have done on live TV. Luckily, there are lots of supercuts to help with that, including this supercut of news bloopers dedicated to the weather. This compilation will make you briefly forget your anger about meteorologists never being right:

Special Weather Dork Award should go to the guy who dedicated a segment to Taylor Swift lyrics. That was the opposite of a blooper.

If you thought the Kardashian-Wests would be some kind of pedestrian, couple-o-gifts family, then you've learned nothing in 2015. Rather, Kanye West reportedly gave Kim Kardashian 150 Christmas gifts.

Kourtney Kardashian did a livestream on her website that revealed some of her sis and bro-in-law's new presents. According to People, Kim got a Saint Laurent fur coat that sells for around $39,000, among at least 149 other things. And Kanye got a $15,000 silver three-wheeler motorcycle. Even if there were some smaller items under the tree—like say, cute pajamas, because it is Christmas—the average gift price probably still skews pretty high.

The Kardashian-Wests seem like they have the whole Christmas gift game locked down without needing any help from Santa. So it was probably pretty awkward when they met him at Kris Jenner's Xmas Eve party:

By now you've probably heard the story of how actor Harrison Ford was discovered. He was a carpenter and blah-blah something Star Wars. Really fascinating stuff, but that's not the reason your thirsty little hand clicked on this link. No, you wanted to see the smokin' hot, non-famous hippie carpenter with chiseled abs and low-rise pants promised in the headline.

Well, here it is. Last week musician Sérgio Mendes posted this photo on Facebook of the hot af carpenter and some other dudes (who cares) who built him a recording studio in 1970. 

You'd think Ford would get mad splinters in that get-up, but it seems like he turned out OK. Except for that earring, of course. 

Mike Tyson, former undisputed heavyweight boxing champ, lasted about 11 seconds riding on his daughter's hoverboard before totally eating it. This is by far Tyson's most public and humiliating loss in a match since Terry Crews beat him in Lip Sync Battle. Here is the champ acknowledging when he has been bested by an opponent:

Here are some other dads that thought they could handle hoverboards and did about as well as Tyson:

Nearly every time, dads take a tumble off the hoverboard after just 10 seconds. But hey, at least it's better to fall off a hoverboard after 10 seconds then to have it catch fire while riding it. 

Whether you had a good or bad 2015, it's pretty likely that Amy Schumer had a better year than you. (No offense; you probably did a great job on your personal and professional goals.) Schumer shot to fame—well, she was already famous but now she's J-Law-jet-ski-level famous—and had tons of memorable moments. Like that time she photobombedKim Kardashian and Kanye West by diving in front of them on the red carpet. Remember that? If not, here's a Barbie recreation:

Amy Schumer shared an Instagram photo of the fan-made "diorama," for lack of a better term to truly describe what this is, and she thanked Instagram user @adollworldafterall for making it. Hopefully the Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, and Aziz Ansari dolls are currently in progress so the most famous hangout of the year can be memorialized as well.

A son got revenge on his dad for giving him random junk hidden inside an Xbox 360 box eight years ago for a birthday present—by doing the same exact thing to his dad this Christmas with an Xbox One. This is some thoughtful dish-served-cold revenge—the sons even film the dad unwrapping his "present" from multiple phones, so you can see the dad's muted agony from different angles.

Don't worry—it all ends well.

Hale Goetz is a writer who went viral on Reddit and Imgur when someone posted an anonymous photo of her as a junior from her high school yearbook. Next to it they posted a picture of her as she currently looks, along with the caption "Empowered Feminist." Goetz didn't remain anonymous, though, because after a friend saw the post and let her know that she was being mocked online for gaining weight, she decided to speak out.

The image went up much earlier this year, but Goetz just went public this week with an essay about the experience for Jezebel, in which she revealed a few details about what it was like to read thousands of anonymous comments insulting her for her looks. First of all, the pic on the left is mislabeled—it's actually from 2007. Secondly, the pic on the right is a cropped photo of her and her husband that they used to announced their engagement.

My family rushed to my defense when I told them what had happened; they were livid, with raised voices and tears in their eyes. For a moment I was furious, too. I clicked the link my friend had texted me to Reddit. I looked at the image. I read the comments. And then, I laughed.

“Well, they’re not wrong?” I said, shrugging on that last word, my inflection suggesting a question. They’re not wrong that I was skinny, and now I’m not anymore. So what?

I think I look pretty good in that “after” picture, the one on the right where I am very fat. It’s from when my now-husband and I announced our engagement in June 2014...This is the same picture that’s sitting on my husband’s dresser, printed and framed by my mother-in-law. This is us, happy and cute and in love.

One of the unusual things about Goetz's case is that whoever "memed" her must be someone she knows and is friends with on Facebook. Most memes are pictures that are de-contextualized for the Internet's amusement, like what happened to Ashley VanPevenage's makeup photos. Goetz says the picture of her from her yearbook had never been on social media before, so someone must have seen her engagement announcement and dragged out an old yearbook for the sole purpose of shaming her online to strangers.

Goetz's musings on who would do a thing like this and why are pretty hilarious. She says:

The dead end was frustrating, because, as a fat feminist, I was hungry to find out who the original poster could be so I could then eat them. When repeated dives led me nowhere, I tried to understand “who” the original poster was by seeing their point of view. I drew out the argument: they saw a picture of me when I got engaged, noticed that I had a double chin, and decided to pull out their 2008-2009 Muscatine Muskies yearbook.

Ultimately, Goetz knows something about herself that no one commenting on a picture knows, not even her Facebook "friend": she has a happy life.

You can (and should) read her whole essay here.

The Kennedy Center Honors aired its ceremony honoring songwriter Carole King on Tuesday night, and it's no surprise that there were some pretty impressive people performing. One of those people was the incomparable Aretha Franklin, who sang "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and brought the house down. Everyone sang along, while some took to screaming wordlessly and yelling "It's Aretha Franklin!!!" at each other. Even President Obama cried.

The best part (after the singing) was her outfit: she came out with a clutch purse, then threw her fur coat on the floor when the spirit moved her. Aretha Franklin doesn't need her purse and coat, because she's got The Music!

People magazine reports that an arrest warrant has been issued in Pennsylvania for Bill Cosby in connection with the alleged sexual assault of Andrea Constand. Constand is a former basketball star and Temple University employee.

The assault allegedly took place at Cosby's mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, in 2004. He has been charged with a felony of aggravated indecent assault, and the charges came just in time. The statute of limitations to charge him will run out in January of 2016.

There will certainly be more details to come regarding the charges and Cosby's arrest for the alleged assault.

Carrie Fisher took to Twitter on Dec. 29, setting her blasters to stun to silence some trolls who criticized her body and the way she has aged. Apparently some fans with a mean streak are ragging on how Fisher looks in Star Wars: The Force Awakens compared to how she looked 32 years ago in Return of the Jedi.

Their collective troll voices were powerful enough to cause a disturbance in the force and warrant a response from Fisher. She made it delightfully apparent that she gives zero f**ks about the media or what people think of her appearance. This comes only weeks after she made headlines by revealing she was asked to lose weight for her role in the new movie.

Here are her responses to the Dark Side of the Internet:

After she chain-choked the trolls with that declaration, she laid down some Yoda-level knowledge: 

When 59 years old you reach, look as good, you will not. Hmmm? The force will be with Fisher. Always.

On Tuesday, Redditor Minnesotapolis posted two side by side pics that are purportedly of himself. The one onthe left is him when he was enjoying regular methamphetamine usage, and the one on the right is him after a year without meth. There are several differences, but the most important one is that without a drug addiction, he's smiling.

The post became very popular as people wrote congratulatory messages and encouragements in the comments. Then someone found another post written by Minnesotapolis, from about a year ago. In it he talks about his addiction and his struggle to get clean:

I'm a Crystal Meth addict in active addiction. I made a post about my addiction a few days ago and I just wanted to kind of update whoever saw it.

I went home to my moms house this weekend to go to an AA convention to try to get clean. I ended up getting high as soon as I got back to my apartment today and I'm devastated. I'm completely disheveled and I'm an absolute mess. I never believed them when I was growing up. I always thought they were wrong and I wanted to find out for myself.... biggest mistake I've ever made.

So here I sit, I'm high again and I'm unsure of what to do to stop. I've tried a million different ways and I have put 100% effort into 12 step work. I can't fucking stop and this shit is going to kill me eventually.

This post has been "locked," which means no one else can comment on it (probably because his other post went viral). As a result, there's only one response to his sad story. It's from an old friend. That's right—on Reddit, a website with millions of anonymous users, a friend found Minnesotapolis. They wrote to him:

Of course, no one but Minnesotapolis knows if this interaction had anything to do with his recovery, but the knowledge that it could have might make you more hopeful about shouting into the dark void of the Internet. And if it did help him, this commenter sums up just how amazing that is:

Michele Berg of Minneapolis needed a little help from Santa to maker her daughter Natalie's Christmas dreams come true. Santa doesn't always look like a big jolly bearded fellow, sometimes he looks like a Target employee named Judy. (They both wear red, close enough.)

When Michele posted this letter of thanks to the staff that helped her on Target's Facebook page yesterday, it immediately blew up. It currently has over 400,000 likes and 20,000 shares. Berg told KSDKit was all just an effort to thank a couple of exceptional employees, whom she says made her daughter's Christmas a memory she'll cherish forever.

This year my daughter received her dream doll that came from Target. This was her BIG present from Santa. After she opened it, we found it had a manufactures' defect in it. The spring was missing where the batteries went, so they would not stay in. The doll did not work. She was devastated and we had tears. Due to the price of this doll, she only had 2 other small toys for Christmas. I told her Santa works with Target and we'd figure something out once Santa rested up from Christmas Eve. Today I called the Andover Target and talked to Judy. I explained the situation. She found the doll and said she would put it in customer service under my daughter's name. An hour later, my daughter and I walk in with the broken doll. She is telling the customer service rep, Maggie, what happened. Maggie said "Oh! Are you Natalie?!" My daughter's eyes got big..."Yes" Maggie said "Oh..Santa was here and left a new doll for you!" My daughter was so excited! She said Santa works with Target to fix toys that the elves might have not put together correctly. We bought a few other items and as we were checking out, the cashier saw the doll and said "Are you Natalie?" Her eyes got big..."yes" (It was Judy who I talked to earlier!) She said "Oh! I saw your new doll back there that Santa brought in!" My daughter was just amazed! She said "Wow..I must be famous!" I cannot thank the wonderful staff who did this enough! They really touched a little girl and kept the magic of Christmas alive for her. Thank you Target for having such great staff that made today special for my little girl!

Good job, Target. Hopefully the new doll isn't a piece of junk like the last one, or this kid will curse Santa and his shoddy craftsmanship forever.

It's true what they say: "Out of the mouths of babes…"

After all, what grownup would have the confidence and honesty to take such pride in a fart? This little girl's adorable smile represents the pure unfettered joy that most people spend their whole adult lives trying to reclaim. If everyone acted like her, the world would be a happier place.

Out of the mouths of babes indeed. And out of their butts too.

Apparently, there's a version of Humans of New York in Dublin called Humans of Dublin, which is confusing. Are there humans all over the world or something?! Anyway, a guy named Glenn told a story to HOD that was posted on Tuesday, and it's pretty great. In the 90s, Glenn lived on the streets after losing his shop and his family. He says he had basically given up when a woman approached him on New Year's Eve, 1999.

He says:

"The turning point of my life was a young girl in 1999 walking by with her boyfriend at Christchurch on New Year’s Eve. It was lashing rain and I was sitting on some concrete steps with my long hair and beard, listening to the bells, wondering where my family were and how they were. Out of nowhere the young girl kneeld down in front of me, and like an angel with her blue eyes, said 'Hi! What’s your name?’ I had to think. Nobody calls you by your name on the streets. 'It’s Glenn,' I told her, and she asked ‘What would make you happy Glenn?’ I said 'I’m okay, I’m happy. I'm in a brave phrase. Thanks for asking.’ She went back to her boyfriend and got some cans from him and a pack of cigarettes and handed them to me. Then she asked again 'If you could have one wish what would it be?' I told her I wished to be with my family. 'So why don't you go home?' She asked. I said no, that it’d been too long - three and half years. And she said 'Just go!' Just like that. This girl in her late twenties being the wisest person in the world. Then she gave me a kiss on the cheek and wished me a happy New Year. 
She's out there somewhere not knowing what she did that day. You can make a difference in someone's life that you might never meet again. You have the power. The best thing you can take from this world is the belief that you made a difference. I went home the next day."

BuzzFeed News reports that Glenn is now a volunteer with a charity that helps the homeless called Dublin Simon Community, and he also works as an actor and writer. All proceeds from his recent book about his experiences are going to benefit Simon Community. It's a great story to read right before the New Year: anyone can turn their life around.

2015 was a big year for optical illusions, and it's not done yet. Squeezing in just under the wire is this trippy color-changing cake. There are no special effects, no CGI, and no reason to disown your best friend for not seeing it as white and gold.

According to Uproxx it's just a simple trick. The baker airbrushes different colors on different sides of the ridged icing. Anyone could make it, as long as they're willing to plunk down the money for a food-grade airbrush. This cake is freakin' sweet in more ways than one.

Finally you can have your mind blown while stuffing your face. No hallucinogenic drugs required.