Lead by example

Try to grok this guy carving a pencil on the end of a pencil on the end of a pencil.


And old style, a clever 3D optical illusion newspaper ad. (The ad was created for the supermarket HiperCentro Corona, and you might notice that the blocks of text in the illusion are in the shape of a kitchen.)

"Most editors are failed writers — but so are most writers." -- T.S. Eliot

Bad breaks

Nifty side-scrolling condensed one-minute animated version of "Breaking Bad" is as capsule a summary as you can imagine.


And a healthy dose of instant karma goes to this woman who steals a package from someone's porch, and then promptly breaks her leg slipping/tripping on the lawn during her "getaway".

"Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein." -- Proverb

Impressive run

Must have been a lot a lot of work to synchronize this intricate chain-reaction marble-and-magnet run to Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers".


And another sync'd showing of some significance, New York Times Sunday Magazine articles from 100 years ago, posted weekly.

"The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." -- Carl Sagan

Last call of the wild

In Minnesota there's a tavern called Hillbillies Ice Hole that is quite literally on a lake, open just 20 days a year when the weather's right, featuring ice fishing inside the bar and its signature drink, a Minnow Shot.


And artist Yuki Tatsumi created "Japanese Tip", an installation of the 8,000 origami "tips" left by customers at restaurants.

"Almost anything can be preserved in alcohol, except health, happiness, and money." -- Mary Wilson Little

Noir trek

Based on the new trailer, Quentin Tarantino's Star Trek looks like a winner. (No matter what, it's gotta be a million times better than the actual movies they made.)


And when something gets lost in the translation of American movie titles to Japanese, someone like @Bomb Arrow is there to document it on the interwebs.

Bad Japanese Movie Title #82: "Anger Management" is "New York Style Happy Therapy" #japanesemovietitles pic.twitter.com/nupD1vDrbH

— Bomb Arrow (@Bomb_Arrow) August 3, 2017

"It would have been more logical if silent pictures had grown out of the talkies instead of the other way around." -- Mary Pickford

Way downtown

After trying for eight hours a day for six days straight, guy sinks a seemingly impossible record-breaking 660-foot "free throw" from up top a waterfall. How ridiculous, indeed.


And check out 19 year-old Dexton Crutchfield who at 5'9" jumps over his friend's head in this unreal real "dunk video". (I'm guessing he chose the friend, who is 6'2", specifically for the padded hairstyle.)

"Hey, let's go to Target." "Why?"

"If you meet the Buddha in the lane, feed him the ball." -- Phil Jackson

Snack attack

I'm not sure why these people on Goat Island in Australia are feeding this crocodile, but their little dog sure didn't seem to like it and chased him off after a whole bunch of barking. Dog might owe his life to the fact that the croc had already eaten.


And how to stop a kangaroo fight; one man's technique.

How to stop a kangaroo fight from funny

And then there's the Conor McGregor way.

Conor McGregor vs Kangaroo

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends." -- J. K. Rowling

Snowbody's business

In a moment of perfect timing, car spins out in the background of a live news report about safe driving on icy roads.


And an imaginative prankster fooled the cops pretty good with a car made out of snow. Fortunately Canadians tend to be mild mannered.

"You can't get too much winter in the winter." -- Robert Frost

Seen on the street

A compilation of interesting and sometimes talented street performers showing what they got. Proves that it takes all kinds and then some.

And in High Point, NC, this 1920s-era 36-foot-tall Goddard-Townsend style dresser/building called the "Bureau of Information" is on the market and available for a mere $235K.

"Freaks are the much needed escape from the humdrum. They are poetry." -- Albert Perry

Breadbasket catch

Seasoned paratha-maker seen flinging doughy disks across a restaurant with astounding accuracy. Would make for an interesting time and motion study.


And most folks throw away avocado pits; this artist carves them into fanciful forest figurines.

"Every loaf of bread is a tragic story of grains that could've become beer." -- Unknown

Finteresting

How time consuming is it to get ready for a little fishing trip? Fairly much if you start from scratch, like in this nicely animated two-minute short.


And grab a Raw Meat Hoodie, perfect for your next BBQ or trip to the butcher.

"It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming." -- John Steinbeck

Way OC

Orange County transit bus dashcam video of the car that went airborne after hitting the median and flew into the second floor of a building on Sunday.


And a big-ol' list of less dramatic one-in-a-million coincidences that might have actually happened. A bunch of these are pretty darn good.

"You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it." -- Jimmy Dean

Slide goeth before a fall

Man makes a valiant attempt to avoid falling as he skate-slides all the way down his driveway. But inevitably...


And this genius has no excuse. Sometimes you get what you deserve.

"Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests." -- Thornton Wilder

Rooster tales

A previously unnoticed animal instinct -- a chicken named Frog who runs to greet Savannah as she gets off the bus every day after school. He's got some wheels and lots of enthusiasm.

Also unexpected, set aside your repulsion and take a look at these bizarre, fantastically colored, almost otherworldly creatures, caterpillars.

And finally, a speeding car hit the median and launched into the second floor of a building in Santa Ana, California, early Sunday morning. The building sustained minor injuries.

OCFA on scene in SANTA ANA of a vehicle into a building. One person still trapped inside the vehicle. pic.twitter.com/sWmtovu0Kd

— OCFA PIO (@OCFA_PIO) January 14, 2018

"Animals are such agreeable friends — they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms." -- George Eliot

Duel identities

Scene from Bruce Lee's "Fist of Fury" reworked to include light-sabers and light-nunchucks, without the armpit burns though.


And you can use Google's Arts & Culture app to see if a portrait of your doppelganger is hanging in a museum somewhere.

"It may be that the deep necessity of art is the examination of self-deception." -- Robert Motherwell

Driving force

Car on the freeway gracefully spins out of and back into control in a bravo performance, whether sheer luck or not.


And check out this clip from Burbank Firefighters Local 778 of a small car careening down a hilly road in a torrent of muck and mud. "Urban Prius bobsledding," they called it.

A post shared by Burbank Firefighters (@burbankfirefighters) on Jan 9, 2018 at 6:32pm PST

"The cars we drive say a lot about us." -- Alexandra Paul

Sketchy situation

Can you work an Etch A Sketch like master-twister Kyle Fleming? If you're so impressed, you can get his custom works and other stuff like clothing and jewelry on his website.


And a nice demonstration of technique with this hand lettering with nifty shadow effect from @santarosatattoo.

"An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original." -- Jean Cocteau

Batten down the hatches

Crazy footage from the cruise ship Norwegian Breakaway that traveled through the "bomb cyclone" that hit the East Coast over New Year, complete with flooded hallways, leaking ceilings, piles of deckchairs, and staggering passengers as it sailed through stout wind and rough seas.


Meanwhile in Alaska... a seemingly insane chainsaw racer does a few laps around a small plane parked on a frozen lake. Good idea?

Meanwhile, in Alaska

"There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing." -- Alfred Wainwright

Glide you did

Russian dancers appear to float across the stage while doing the Berezka dance. Pretty fresco stuff. I assume they have feet.


And along other paths, some flowing data about who marries whom based on occupation.

"Dancing is the poetry of the foot."John Dryden

That's the spirit

Twenty-seven years later, "Teen Sprite" is Nirvana's anthem "Smells Like Teen Spirit" played in a major key. And it's a completely different everything from the classic grunge anthem.


And a nifty little Tumblr called The Kitten Covers transforms iconic album covers by replacing the people with adorable kittens.

"Music is what life sounds like." -- Eric Olson

Enemal instinct

Yeah Jesus could walk on water but could he do this!? from funny

I know we're way past waterpark season but check out this Christ-like display of aquatic adeptness. Give yourself a round of applause, young man.


And a collection of collectors' collections of odd things. Guess the stuff has to go somewhere.

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

State lines

Vicariously hike the entire Continental Divide Trail -- 3,100 miles from Mexico to Canada -- in four quick minutes without getting off your couch, courtesy of this video made from one second of each day of the trek. (What stumps me is how the heck you know where you're going? Half of it looks like wandering in a field or up the side of a random hill.)


And a list from McSweeney's -- new Latin state mottoes for the 21st century.

"Hiking is just walking where it's okay to pee." -- Demetri Martin

Nice comeback

You'll like UK game show host Rob Brydon's brilliant comeback after being told he has a face like a horse, accenting it with some nice propwork to boot.


And Sp@mnesty is a simple service: forward your spam to it and it will engage the spammer in pointless chatbot email chains, wasting their time. The conversations are posted live, and some are quite funny. It's fascinating how obvious it is when a spammer switches from their own bot to giving a human response, and satisfying to see them fooled.

"An intellectual is a man who doesn't know how to park a bike." -- Spiro T. Agnew

Cooper scooper

Storm Eleanor has been hitting UK something fierce, with torrential flooding and winds up to 100 mph. Watch as this car cruises through serious storm surge like it's no big deal. (And a Mini, no less.) Needless to say, don't try this at home.

Bonus little-known fact: yesterday (January 4th) was National Trivia Day. (Obvious fact: I missed it.) But here are 60 interesting though not necessarily useful trivial infobits from your friends at Mental Floss.

Finally, seems "Dukes of Hazards" stuff like this is possible in real life.

"The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble." -- Blaise Pascal

Dinner at random

Give this woman a hand, because in six short minutes she prepares an entire Christmas turkey for cooking using nothing but her piehole. (It's a little less confusing -- though perhaps no less astounding -- when you find out that it's some sort of "art" created by London-based artist Nathan Ceddia.)


And like to add some suspense and uncertainty to your dinner? Then try Pizza Roulette, a service that allows you to order a random pizza, putting your pizza fate in their hands to fulfill through your local Domino's.

"Life is too short to stuff a mushroom." -- Storm Jackson

Take the plunge

Groomsman completes the perfect wedding ceremony (portrait filming notwithstanding) with an abrupt crash. Eyes on the bride -- she's annoyed and not the least bit concerned.

And Every Second tracks things such as YouTube videos, animal heartbeats, Spotify songs playing, and more right up to the, uh, second.

"Never get married in the morning, because you never know who you'll meet that night." -- Paul Hornung

Herd around town

If you think you've seen everything there is to see on the Internet, have a gander at these real-life "sheeple" being shepherded, performed as art by Toronto's Les Moutons dance troupe.


And which are smarter, cats or dogs? A new study from Vanderbilt University gives us the answer

"Lots of people talk to animals.... Not very many listen, though.... That's the problem." -- Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh