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The Video Round Up: December 19th 2015

Video Round Up DEC 19th 2015
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The Video Round Up is a new series highlighting videos and multimedia content that caught our eyes. Getting stoked on travel, good food, and extreme sports is best when shared with friends, so we’ll be posting a bi-weekly series on our favorite videos we find from every corner of the web. Have a tip or some awesome footage? Shoot an email to support@themanual.com

Distiller’s List Holiday Spirit Guide

Distiller's List Boozeletter | Happy Holidays | December 2015

Giving the gift of a bottle of good scotch or tequila will never go out of style. If you’ve left it to the very last minute, the pros at Distiller’s List put together a handy guide with picks for everyone in the family. In case you were wondering, we’d love to find that Don Julio 1942 under the tree this year.

Star Wars A Capella

Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Cast Sing "Star Wars" Medley (A Cappella)

Star Wars mania has a firm grip across the country this weekend. We’ll keep things spoiler free if you haven’t seen it yet. If you need a little extra dose of things from a galaxy far far away, Jimmy Fallon put together a star studded a capella arrangement of the original music. Enjoy.

Giro’s Engrained:Verbier Part 1

Engrained: VERBIER, Part 1

The Alps are steeped in ski heritage. Verbier, Switzerland, a tiny ski town in the heart of the range, represents the best of those European roots, but also plays host to some of the best extreme skiing in the world. As a stop on the Freeride World Tour, Verbier is the competition that every skier wants to win. This first part of Giro’s Engrained follows their athletes as they prepare for steep free ride competition. We can’t wait to see the rest of the series.

Scott Sports/Team Lac Blanc Blowing Up Corners

Blowing Up Corners with Team Lac Blanc SCOTT

This is some of the best mountain biking film we’ve ever seen. Scott Sports recently launched their Genius LT with the new “Plus Size” tires (typically 3 inches wide rather than the standard 2.3). French riders Pierre Charles Georges and Amaury Pierron know how to use these more grippy tires to great effect while they charge down pristine, loamy trails.
Austin Parker
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Austin Parker is a former contributor at The Manual Parker is a powder skier and sport climber and is no stranger hauling…
From Gilda Radner to Ali Wong, these are the best female comedians of all time
These women from all generations will make you laugh out loud
Ai Wong comedian 2017 Moontower comedy festival

Hot take: I don’t care for straight male comedians. It’s not that they’re not funny, they’re just … I don’t know, boring? Maybe that’s reductive of me, but I never seem to leave a straight male comedian’s set feeling particularly inspired. And though some may argue that it’s not important for a set to "inspire" its audience, I’d actually argue that the opposite is true. For me, I want to see a comedian use humor to address real issues and say real things about the world, even if they do it in a completely goofy way.

Therefore, I tend to prefer female and female-identified comedians. They’re sharp, tough, and have often seen shit that makes their comedy feel raw and true. Undoubtedly there are male comedians who do this, too, but to a much lesser degree, in my very humble and very personal opinion.

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12 classic sci-fi books everyone should read
If you love science fiction and reading, these classic sci-fi novels are a must
Man reading a book and drinking coffee

It may feel like we were recently living in a science-fiction dystopia life -- and in some ways, we were -- but that doesn't mean that we should simply avoid an entire genre of writing. Hardly. In fact, this is probably the perfect time to explore classic sci-fi books, to see what the masters have written, and maybe even see if someone predicted anything like this. Many, though, simply ignore sci-fi wholly and completely because of an association with robots, aliens, and the like.

Long story short, if you think you don't like sci-fi, you have never read great books from the genre. But indeed, many such books abound, including a number that has delighted generations of readers going back well over 150 years. In fact, one of the best things about so many sci-fi books is their very timelessness. As by definition, this type of fiction breaks away from the norms of the everyday world -- whether slightly twisting things or taking place on entire other worlds -- the stories often feel as fresh and relevant today as when they were published decades ago.

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The 7 best classic fantasy books to get lost in
Even adults can enjoy entering the fantasy world
Man reading a book

Using the term "fantasy" when it comes to fiction, we are admittedly casting a pretty wide net. After all, think about just how many shows and movies could technically be considered fantasy, too. If. we're talking about classic, canonical fantasy, though, the net shrinks considerably. If a book is to stand the test of time to be considered a classic -- regardless of genre -- it has to be damn good. At the risk of offending plenty of authors and fantasy fans both of yesteryear and today, most fantasy writing ... how should I put this? In a few decades, it won't be on some future writer's list of fantasy classics.

I say all that as an absolute fan of fantasy writing. From the Game of Thrones books, our era's Lord of the Rings, to the novels of Neil Gaiman, to the Twilight series (except not that), there is a plethora of great fantasy writing being produced today. But if you're looking to get into the genre or are already an aficionado with a few gaps in your reading list, classic fantasy novels are always a fine choice, as are classic mysteries, classic adventure books, and on it goes across every genre of literature.

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