Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that messes with people. We know it's total marketing trash created as a way to sell us stuff we don't need. Roses die, diamonds are awful, stuffed animals collect dust and your dog's just going to eat the nose off of it anyway, and none of us need that much chocolate in one sitting - at least as far as our dentists are concerned. Still, if we don't celebrate it, some of us get really really salty.
That leaves people and their partners perpetually panicking. (High fives to me for that alliteration) Do we gift? Do we not? How much? What's appropriate? By the time we figure it out, it's often way late in the game - at least in my world. If you're like that, too - no need to worry. Reddit's got you covered.
Reddit user u/Top3GamesA asked:
Reddit, whats a good last minute idea for Valentines day?
Start taking notes, folks
Pictures
Serious Answer: print out some nice pictures of the two of you (throw them in some nice frames or a book for bonus points.) People so rarely have physical pictures nowadays and its nice to have something you can keep on your desk or something.
Also you can hide sh!t in the background of the pictures and wait to see how long it takes them to notice.
Something Personal
The best gifts are gonna be something personal to the person and not something generic. Maybe some of their favorite snack food, or make their favorite meal. Take them to their favorite restaurant or just somewhere sentimental to you both.
White Castle
Last year I was sick/injured and couldn't really do too much but the girl I was with suggested we go to White Castle and I was like "you're awesome! Hell yeah I'll go." And I was just gonna go through drive through but she said she called and made reservations like 2 weeks before and I was like "for white castle?" And I sh*t you not, there was balloons and numbers on the table and stuff and it was actually really cool. Plus who doesn't love those little delectable burgers?
Nothing...
Doing nothing........ no really.
Well perhaps not 'nothing', but the problem with Valentines day is everything suddenly doubles in price and/or is fully booked weeks in advance and I'm not just talking about restaurants. One of the greatest things you can do is go grab some food from the store and produce a home cooked meal for your SO and watch a film of questionable quality. Then throw on some Phil Collins and smoosh booties.
Sea Turtle Museum
A girl I have a crush on is really into marine life and the ocean in general. I wanted to take her to a Sea Turtle Museum.
- Onoh_9
Frozen Rose
The Ice Cream Rose in bucket
get a plastic flower pot, line it with foil or plastic wrap, fill it with cookies and cream ice cream, get a pack of oreos and crumble it, cover the ice cream with it, acting as dirt, and stick a long stem rose in the middle.
its a rose, and ice cream, and you did it yourself. Its fail proof.
Ladies Love Meat
Not exactly last minute, but I'm planning on making my wife a nice steak dinner. I'm going to dry brine ribeyes and reverse sear them, make roasted garlic mashed potatoes, roast asparagus, and serve it with a wine bottle that we got at our wedding. To finish I'm making a nice white cake from scratch.
Live And Learn
Back in college my now wife and I went out for a Valentine's dinner. It was a nightmare. We didn't really even have the money, it was packed with other 20 something year old couples. The entire thing was just shitty and unenjoyable.
The next year we ordered Chinese and smoked a blunt.
I'm 33 now, and have two kids, so a blunt would probably break my brain, but we still just order Chinese and relax.
TLDR: Pot, take out, pajamas. In a pinch, at least just the last two.
Lush
I got a photo frame that has room for 5 photos. I chose 5 of my favorite photos of us together and assembled them in the frame. Walmart usually has big teddy bears and chocolate, and don't forget flowers. Also if there is a lush nearby go there, the staff are excellent at helping you score brownie points.
A Die Hard Valentine's
My wife and I choose a department store like Target (though we're thinking of using a mall this year), go there together, and then spend a set amount of time (about 30 min) sneaking around trying not to see/be seen by the other as we buy gifts for them within our agreed-upon budget. Then we check out (again, don't get seen!) and meet up near the entrance to exchange gifts.
This works best when there is a coffee shop or food court in the location you choose to make the exchange more comfortable. It's fun because the limited supply of the store you are in makes it both harder and easier to choose what to get. The gifts are definitely secondary to the fun of playing around like a couple kids, and anyone at the store who asks what the heck we are doing is always really positive about it.
This has been our tradition for about ten years now and we look forward to it all year. It's like a hide and seek/Die Hard Valentine event.
The Hunt
Write 10 or 15 short reasons you love them on slips of paper, hide them in your house and send them on a scavenger hunt!
- livmight
George R.R. Martin Just Confirmed A Popular 'Game Of Thrones' Fan Theory About White Walkers
Game of Thrones scribe George R.R. Martin is promoting his new book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and provided insight into a group of characters fans have been waiting to learn more about.
As an author known to inject symbolism into the fantastical worlds he creates, Martin revealed that the icy group of White Walkers from Game of Thrones personified climate change.
What the ancient humanoid race of icy creatures stand for is a concept many have theorized all along.
Now fans received confirmation from the author himself.
Martin may have prognosticated climate change while he was writing GoT. The cold that transcends upon Westeros sounds eerily familiar.
"It's kind of ironic," Martin told the New York Times.
"Because I started writing 'Game of Thrones' all the way back in 1991, long before anybody was talking about climate change."
"But there is — in a very broad sense — there's a certain parallel there. And the people in Westeros are fighting their individual battles over power and status and wealth."
He added:
"And those are so distracting them that they're ignoring the threat of 'winter is coming,' which has the potential to destroy all of them and to destroy their world."
"And there is a great parallel there to, I think, what I see this planet doing here, where we're fighting our own battles. We're fighting over issues, important issues, mind you — foreign policy, domestic policy, civil rights, social responsibility, social justice. All of these things are important."
Martin continued:
"But while we're tearing ourselves apart over this and expending so much energy, there exists this threat of climate change, which, to my mind, is conclusively proved by most of the data and 99.9 percent of the scientific community. And it really has the potential to destroy our world."
"And we're ignoring that while we worry about the next election and issues that people are concerned about, like jobs."
Marten stressed the importance of caring for the environment, adding that protecting it should be a top priority.
"So really, climate change should be the number one priority for any politician who is capable of looking past the next election."
"We spend 10 times as much energy and thought and debate in the media discussing whether or not N.F.L. players should stand for the national anthem than this threat that's going to destroy our world."
When the author was asked if he could "pick the best real-world, present-day match — politicians, celebrities" and pair them up with corresponding characters from his novels, Martin answered: "Pass."
Fire and Blood: 300 Years Before a Game of Thrones, is expected to be released on November 20.
H/T - NYtimes, Twitter, Mentalfloss
This Brand's Tweet History Is A Hilariously Fitting Representation Of A Brand's Life Cycle 😂
Carl's Croutons tried their hand at social media to advance their brand.
But their objective got derailed when their tweet ignited a confusing thread that sent everyone down the rabbit hole.
@topherflorence captured highlights from the thread that received over three thousand retweets for its zaniness alone.
Can you follow?
The bread crumbs company endeavored to stir excitement for the brand by encouraging participation with the following tweet:
"Taking our first steps on the www!! tell us your favorite crouton recipes! #croutons #yum"
Harmless, right?

But somewhere along the way, the brand mixed business with politics. @religiousgames noticed that Carl's Croutons issued a one-word directive: vote.
The Twitter user asked, "What does it mean?"
Did the Carl's Croutons account manager get his social media account wires crossed? Possibly. But then we're not sure.
@topherflorence responded by saying, "lol that wasn't me i would posted something way dumber."
The following tweet from Carl's Croutons attempted damage control:
"Carl's Crutons [sic] regrets the inappropriate tweet from earlier and we sincerely apologize to the people of The Republic of Malta."

So how did Carl's Croutons insult the Republic of Malta?
@Bestorb shed some light on why the Southern European island country may have been insulted by sharing a YouTube clip of episode 1008, "Final Justice," from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Did it have something to do with the country's dominant population of women?
The thread spun off in all different directions.


There were many takeaways from the esoteric thread, but the one directive really stood out.
There's still an unanswered question.
So who is Carl's Croutons anyway? Nobody knows. Just vote.
Clever Dog Tricks McDonald's Customers Into Feeding Her By Pretending To Be A Stray 😂
It's a dog eat dog world out there and sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do. At least that's what one dog owner realized when she caught her pooch trolling the streets looking for an easy meal.
Facebook user Betsy Reyes busted her dog Princess who was out moonlighting as a stray in order to play on the sympathies of strangers. It seems Princess likes to wander off to her favorite hangout, the local McDonald's, and work the drive through lane like a pro.
And that's what she did right up until Reyes busted her scam. Reyes, who lives in Oklahoma City, took to Facebook and outed Princess in the most hysterical way, saying:
"If you see my dog @ the McDonald's on shields, quit feeding her fat ass bc she don't know how to act & be leaving the house all the time to go walking to McDonald's at night. She's not even a stray dog. She's just a gold diggin ass bitch that be acting like she's a stray so people will feel bad for her & feed her burgers."
Lots of scammers out there.
It's an adorable story, but maybe get the dog a collar with identification?
Not everyone thought the story was cute.
Of course, when a girl's gotta eat, a girl's gotta eat.
Let's hope Princess has learned her lesson and stays home.
H/T: Huffington Post, Mashable
Feminists Slam Man Telling Them They Can't Have Both Chivalry And Equality
A man on Twitter informed feminists they had to choose between chivalry and equality.
He was promptly raked over the coals for even assuming an antiquated concept would be considered as a viable option.
Twitter user @Rich_Cooper stated:
"Dear feminists. You either get equality or chivalry. You can't have both."
One user responded:
"I'll take equality. I don't need special treatment."
Cooper's rhetorical question did not go over so well. Both women and men expressed their disdain for his message.
One male user observed that chivalry was irrelevant and treating everyone with kindness and respect was compulsory.
"What people care about is caring, empathic [sic], considerate, thoughtful people, NOT whether THEIR door is held for them or THEIR meal is paid for them."
"Are there gender stereotypes in het[erosexual] dating? Sure. But that's separate from being a warm, giving, caring, grounded person."
Some women got right down to the point.
The notion of chivalry and equality are mutually exclusive and not a lot of people thought it was a major priority for feminists.
Common courtesy is not chivalry.
This user pointed out the fact that chivalry stems from a history of men outdoing other men. The concept had very little to do with women.
"Chivalry is a medieval concept of men dressing to impress other men. It has little to do with equality."
"Some men were on top, other men were beneath them. Historically, women were rarely invited into the process."
Neil Bradley described the outdated concept of chivalry as one that implies men being superior to women in a September 8, 2017, article for Medium publications.
"Examples: opening the door for a woman, paying for a woman's meal, gesturing for a woman to go first. The justification is either that women are not physically as strong (to open the door), able to provide (pay for their own meal), or are more deserving of compassion than men (allowing women to go first)."
Bradley also added that he wants to treat others the way he wants to be treated and asked if that approach should be motivated by chivalry or equality.
"If the genders are to be considered equal and treated equally, how a man treats a woman will essentially be the same as how a man treats a man."
"The obligation to open the door, pay for the meal, and let women go first vanishes. Men do not do this to other men, therefore why do it for women?"
His final take was that the two concepts can't co-exist. Either one is chivalrous or treats everyone as equals.
At the end of the day, people were happy to show chivalry the door.
H/T - GettyImages, Twitter, Indy100, Medium
















