Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Tricked out



It might take a hundred reps and the patience of Job to get it right, but this video with five full minutes of trick shots from the fellows called Dude Perfect is entertaining, impressive, and quite satisfying nonetheless.

And check out how Armand Dijcks made cinemagraphs from these beautiful photos by Ray Collins that transform ocean waves into an animated images he calls "The Infinite Now".




"Discipline is remembering what you want." -- David Campbell


Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Terminal condition



This clip from Kazan, Russia of a guy driving through the airport (the terminals, that is) while the police give chase might remind you of "The Blues Brothers", but the added soundtrack will evoke something else entirely.

And I guess getting out was the right decision... MoveHub had a few British people attempt to label a map of Europe and the results were not encouraging.




"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers." -- Hans Christian Andersen


Monday, May 29, 2017

We'll see about that

Does this video clip seem to show a man walking through a mirror in the middle of Portland's Hoyt Arboretum?

A post shared by Kevin Parry (@kevinbparry) on



And probably not an illusion, this fellow taking inventory at a gas station looks like he's faking it, but then ask yourself why would you fake something like this...?




Finally, the WeWantPlates subreddit features food served on all manner of strange things that are anything but actual plates and the contempt people have for them.



"One man's daydreaming is another man's day." -- Terri Guillemets


Friday, May 26, 2017

Copper plea



Michelangelo made 'em from marble, but not Shaun Hughes, a rather talented engraver who can turn a Lincoln penny into a minted macabre masterpiece right before your eyes.

And see how well (or not well) 100,000 or so people drew the Mona Lisa in under 20 seconds, plus the other 50M+ attempts at Google's "Quick, Draw" game.

Finally, Japanese artist Chie Hitotsuyama uses old newspapers to make these amazingly expressive animal sculptures.




"An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he — for some reason — thinks it would be a good idea to give them." -- Andy Warhol


Thursday, May 25, 2017

Why intercept?



Oblivious driver cuts off a motorcyclist on the freeway and amazingly keeps driving even after the rider lands on his car.

And a man brings an accordion on a Ryanair flight and gets the Irish treatment.




"I'm all about sharing the road with other drivers — as long as they use the part that's behind me." -- Unknown



Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Off the grid



This hand-drawn animation called "Extrapolate" allegedly is a visual palindrome, systematic but speculative, and a whole bunch of other very-much-subtle things. Math and patterns or not, fairly cool and trippy.

And this bookstore in France has a creative way of bringing books to life, I suppose in the desperate attempt to get people interested in reading again.




"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards..." -- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There


Sunday, May 21, 2017

The end is nigh



The world was a mad place long before Max... witness the It's a Mad Mad Mad Max Fury Road mashup trailer. Admirable job, I'd say.

And photos of "coffin homes" and the Hong Kong residents who live in them. (If you call it living.)


"Our democratic capitalist society has converted Eros into an employee of Mammon." -- Octavio Paz


Saturday, May 20, 2017

Outside in



Mind-twisting 360° light odyssey video whisks you from space through the universe to a deconstructed Tokyo and back again.

And watch a circular tower of 4K dominoes fall (and unfall) in glorious 360-degree 4K video.




Lastly, photos of "Shed of the Year" competition finalists from British publication Shedblog. (You can vote for your favourite here.)


"If I answer the stranger at my gate while my own cry within, — perhaps my own is at the gate, and the strangers are within." -- Muriel Strode


Friday, May 19, 2017

Strange bedfellows



There is absolutely no way in h*ll this should work, but yet somehow... Earth, Wind & Ozzy.


Look at how Greg Dietzenbach made his chalk drawings just a little different at the recent Chalk the Walk festival in Mount Vernon, Iowa, putting the "art" in participatory (or something) with a some digital creativity.




And this apparently bored (and I guess creative) traveler in Azerbaijan started leaving strange "gifts" on the bed for the housekeepers. Guess it's better than what they usually find.





"Be pleasant until ten o'clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself." -- Elbert Hubbard


Thursday, May 18, 2017

Crushing defeat



The Backyard Scientist had a bit of a raccoon problem at his house, so to deal with it he built a gigantic mousetrap capable of smashing a coconut thanks to an industrial-strength spring-loaded arm.


Also, some cooking fails that will make you feel better about your own skills.




And lastly, sending 20,000 volts of electricity through a watermelon would be a fittingly spectacular end to any barbecue.





"Life is life — whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage." -- Sri Aurobindo


Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Out of nowhere



Thanks to the availability of cheap dashcams, another random happenstance caught on video... this time a lightning strike leaves a surprise for an unsuspecting motorist.

And some deadly statistics to make you feel better or worse about things.


"While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die." -- Leonardo Da Vinci


Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Foodies



Caught red-pawed raiding the birdseed, this chipmunk gives up the goods. All of it.


And Not Hotdog by SeeFood Technologies is an iPhone app that tells you if something is or is not a hotdog. (If you watch Silicon Valley, you will understand.)




Finally, restaurant names featuring amusing culinary wordplay.


"An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh." -- Will Rogers


Monday, May 15, 2017

Headbanger's ball



Watch this woman fake an injury in the most ridiculous way possible so she could file a worker's compensation claim. But cameras don't lie, and her fraudulent foray was found out. More details from Fox 13 News.

And believe it or not, "Mommy, Why Is There a Server in the House?" is an actual book. What is this world coming to..?


"Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called everybody, and they meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey


Sunday, May 14, 2017

Exhibit A



An unassuming museum visit takes a bizarro turn in this entertaining two-minute animated short called The Last Exhibition.

And the Museum of Failure opens next month and will put on display the Segway, Harley-Davidson perfume, and other notably product flops.


"Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking." -- Tim McMahon


Saturday, May 13, 2017

Stalk is cheap

The comedy classic(ish) What About Bob works pretty well recut as a stalker-thriller.




And ten horrifying deep sea creatures that'll make you glad you're up here.


"If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you'll die a lot of times." -- Dean Smith


Friday, May 12, 2017

Where there's smoke

Caught on dashcam, an incredible fiery plane crash lights up the afternoon commute outside Seattle.




And on the watery side, watch a balloon pop underwater in slow motion is mesmerizing in a different way.




And this is what a cat looks like if you shave everything but its face.




"Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The Eternal." -- Dante Alighieri


Thursday, May 11, 2017

The road less traveled



Inexplicably, a couple attempts to go down the up escalator. Some questions probably are better left unasked.


And don't look down... the ladder off the side of this 900-foot chimney makes for a scary descent.




"Integrity has no need of rules." -- Albert Camus


Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Which way is up?



Mind-bending puzzle/game called Fragments of Euclid takes a page right out of the M.C. Escher playbook. (You can download and play the game online.)


And watch this for a while and make your brain hurt.

I could watch this for a while



"There are no facts, only interpretations." -- Friedrich Nietzsche