Happy Friday, and cheers to the end of February! Spring is one week closer, and we’re bringing you favorites this week that are sure to distract you from the cold outside. First up is a beautiful Google doodle celebrating the works of John Steinback, followed by two fun shorts and an innovative piece of street art.

 John Steinbeck’s 112th Birthday Doodle

Whether you’re a fan of John Steinbeck’s writing or not, the illustrations on yesterday’s interactive Google doodle are sure to impress. As a bonus, there is an archive of past Google doodles here. Who knew they had doodles back in 1998?

 “Selfie” by Andy Martin

Now that “selfie” has been named 2013’s word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary and become ubiquitous across social media platforms, it’s no surprise to see parodies popping up on the internet. The video above, created for the Character Selfie Project, is by Andy Martin, whose work we previously featured here.

 “Cinematics” by Pier Paolo

This short and sweet animation gives us a brief history of popular film. The characters are adorable, the music is catchy, and the animation is seamless.

 “Paradise” by ROID and INSA

The above gif is an animation of a real wall that was painted, then re-painted, by London-based street artists ROID and INSA for POW! WOW! Hawaii. We first learned about this incredible piece of art here.