Spent the day at the LA Times Festival of Books and judging by the crowds at the many, many indie bookstore booths, this tracks.

A prop shark fin used in Jaws displayed on a white pedestal. Above it is a yellow sign with a quote from the movie, attributed to Chief Brody (Roy Scheider): “You open the beaches on the Fourth of July, it’s like ringing the dinner bell.

A museum display inspired by the design of the Orca from the movie Jaws. In the center is a wooden fishing chair and a fishing pole. There’s a harpoon gun, a scuba tank, a ships wheel, and other authentic props and scenery from the original film.

Finally made it to the Jaws exhibit at the Academy Museum. Very well-organized, with lots of original props and fun interactive displays. My favorite thing (not pictured) was the dolly rig set up so you could use your phone camera to replicate the famous dolly shot of Brody on the beach.

Love that Mayor Mamdani has obviously watched How To with John Wilson (still available on HBO Max). The scaffolding episode is great, and so are all the rest.

An old-timey sign reads “Renaissance Pleasure Faire” in fancy red letters on a yellow background. Below it are musicians dressed in Renaissance garb playing in front of a mural featuring a rearing white unicorn on the left and a red dragon on the right.

Fun but exhausting day at the Ren Faire. I should have taken more pictures, but I got this one as we were going in.

We were there today too! I think I saw more than a few Jesuses (Jesusi? I don’t know the proper plural.)

Can confirm

A new member joining the committee! (Yes, that’s the collective noun for a group of vultures.)

A view from below the branches of a cherry blossom tree with pink blooms and a background of blue sky.

Beautiful day at the Cherry Blossom Festival 🌸

Please soothe your soul with this footage of an enraged muppet being treated at the wild muppet center.

Your "research assistant" is Claude.
Their research assistant has claws.

Pleased to report that while schools are still trying to make AI happen, the kids hate it and are playing around with youraislopbores.me instead.

From a thread about great Douglas Adams quotes. I think about this one *a lot* these days.

Timeline cleanse:
Baby tapir getting scritches for their itches.

If you want to scritch your very own tapir & you live outside of Central or South America or SE Asia, you'll need to visit a zoo.

But these little guys are (evolutionarily) from around here, in North America. Let's talk about it.

This was probably my favorite of the shows we saw in London in November. Just awe-inducing theatrical magic.

Everything’s falling apart but I got to feed an okapi today, so it’s not all bad.

Love these guys! 💚

Look at these cute lil guys!

Tara: This skater is very graceful.

Johnny: Yes, his quintuple squoosh is impressive.

Tara: But I truly can't tell if he's a traitor.

Johnny: Me neither, Tara. Not a clue.

The LA Zoo will be participating in the GBBC with an early morning bird walk for members, but anyone can join from anywhere!

Not really a football fan, but this thread had me at binturong.

South African photographer Wim van den Heever is this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year, an annual contest run by the Natural History Museum in London. Van den Heever's photo beat out over 60,000 photos submitted from 113 countries. His photograph shows the elusive and endangered brown hyena prowling through an abandoned diamond mining ghost town in Kolmanskoppe, Namibia. WIM VAN DEN HEEVER, WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

Winner of last year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a gothic masterpiece.

www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...

A brown sloth rests face up on a perch in his habitat, eating a corn cob. His clawed feet are raised in the air, grasping into a branch.

I never get to see Charlie the two-toed sloth awake, but today he was up and munching on a corn cob. Precious!

Two teen girls stand opposite each other. The one on the left has her left arm outstretched and is touching her index finger to the other’s forehead in a gesture mimicking a new hug invented by a character in the Welcome to Nightvale live show.

Brought my kids to the show tonight too. Here they are hugging. (We all had a blast.)

Oh cool! They sometimes have activations here (basically a tent with a nice lady who has clipboards to sign up and maybe a thank you gift)

The cover of the Winter 2026 issue of Zoo View featuring a chimpanzee mother holding her infant in her arms and a pinecone in her mouth. In the bottom right corner a headline in white letters reads A Great Ape Baby Boom.

In case you need a break from the doom and gloom, here’s something I’m proud of. My second issue of the L.A. Zoo’s official magazine Zoo View is out this week! You can read the digital version for free here (no paywall!): lazoo.org/join-our-com...

Although I work at the zoo now, I still know a lot of people in entertainment journalism, so let me help you out. If you’re going to use puns in your Primate coverage, remember that chimpanzees are great apes, not monkeys. You’re welcome.

Australia Admits All Those Animals Made Up

Australia Admits All Those Animals Made Up theonion.com/australia-admits-all-tho...

Apparently a Laker walked past me and a co-worker at the zoo today? It was my co-worker who recognized him, obviously. I didn’t get the name.

You will be visited by three spirits