MetaFilter posts tagged with Weird

Frankeinstein's Frog

CitrusFreak12 — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:59:08 -0800

"After 20 seconds or so the quivering turned into a restless jig. The legs twitched violently, pumping up and down as if they were getting ready for one last hop."
A look at the curious, somewhat unnerving, and morbidly humorous culinary phenomenon of dancing frog legs.

Vintage SF Magazine Covers Wish You a Weird Christmas

jjray — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:36:45 -0800

Have a Weird Christmas courtesy of this set of vintage SF magazine covers.

Chimpanz-eek!

mippy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:57:30 -0800

Take A Break magazine has such a huge readership that it was the publication chosen by Tony Blair to address the women of Britain through during the 2005 election. It covers social issues, health, problems and many other mainstays of the women's weekly market. But what makes it so popular? As Take A Weird Break demonstrates, it brings us the stories other magazines won't print.

Just Do It, Flailing

Toekneesan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:25:12 -0800

A bunch of people, sort of running, in slow motion

The tale of the coelacanth

WhySharksMatter — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:47:57 -0800

The amazing story of the coelacanth is one of the wonders of the living world that inspires marine biologists such myself. Coelacanths, part of the offshoot lineage of fishes known as "lobed finned ", are very different from typical "ray finned" fishes that you usually think of. Their bizarre lobed fins are thought to be an intermediate step between fish fins and amphibian legs. Scientists had known that these weird fish existed because of fossils for over a century, but we believed that they went extinct 65 million years ago... until a South African fisherman caught one in 1938. Though the fisherman didn't know exactly what he had caught, he knew that it was noteworthy enough to save and bring to the museum in his small fishing village of East London. The head of the museum was Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, who contacted a famous South African fish biologist named J. L. B. Smith. Smith originally named the genus Malania after the South African prime minister who gave him money to search for more coelacanths, but since prime minister Malan was also the architect of apartheid, the name was eventually changed to Latimeria after the head of the East London Museum (the full scientific name is now Latimeria chalumnae, for the Chalum river where the fish was caught). Despite intensive searching and a large reward, it was almost 15 years before a second specimen was found. We now know a little bit more about this fascinating species. They can grow to larger than six feet in length and can weight up to 200 pounds. They have rough scales unlike most other existing fish species. They have internal egg fertilization, but the eggs hatch inside the mother and the young are born alive. They usually live in the deep sea, over 2,000 feet below the surface. Most alarming of all is that scientists estimate a population of only around 1,000 individuals, making coelacanths one of the most endangered animals on Earth. They survived for tens of millions of years after the dinosaurs went extinct, but they now face extinction in our lifetimes. I'll share with you a thought that keeps myself and other marine biologists going during times when the job seems rough... if it took us until 1938 to find the coelacanth, what else is down there?

"Oh. Weird. That poor bird"

Dipsomaniac — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:46:51 -0800

"I went out, and there was a big egg." (SLYT)

It's just you, a roll of tape and the internet, so why not?

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:00:29 -0800

Go ahead, tape yourself.

Crazy Japanese advertisements

reenum — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:30:28 -0800

The makers of Ninja Gaiden 2 have decided on an unorthodox ad campaign. The game is being advertised by two white breasts protruding from a wall facing the street (SLYT). There are predictably funny reactions from passers by. Obviously, this is NSFW.

You will drink it and you will like it

adamrice — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:01:57 -0800

North Korea's first TV advertisement for beer (BBC article with video).

I Love the Smell of Books in the Morning. Smells Like... Literacy.

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:35:27 -0800

If you're loathe to invest in an e-Book because you long for the physicality of books, you can now purchase book perfume designed to replicate the smell of books. [via]

Mambo #5

Smedleyman — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:02:59 -0800

Ok, stop me if you’ve heard this one: an ex-cop accused of killing his fourth wife gets engaged a fifth time and tries to get a job in a brothel on a reality t.v. show (video), but before he can, he's arrested today for killing his third wife. Of course, his fifth engagement was just a stunt. Or was it? Whatever. The world's greatest dad has plenty of ladies lining up to take his wife's place(s).

The Biology Textbook That Wished It Was A Progressive Rock Album

jonp72 — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:07:29 -0800

This is your biology textbook. This is your biology textbook on drugs. Any questions?

Viva La Vida - A Copy of a Copy?

spaceboy86 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:28:35 -0800

Did "Auto-Tune the News" guy accidentally write Coldplay's Viva La Vida? Michael Gregory, aka Auto-Tune the News guy (previously) talks about how his shower singing was turned into something eerily similar to Viva La Vida. The Creaky Boards claim their song was plagiarized by Coldplay; Michael claims to have been plagiarized by the Creaky Boards.

"Monsters Inc. meets The Nightmare Before Christmas inside a retro Japanese video game"

Rhaomi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:15:12 -0800

"Once upon a time there was a game that nobody ever played, sitting on the floor in the back room of an empty arcade. The game was full of life and strife, mega-monsters and robot fights. We Are The Strange was the title. Now meet the players who live inside, idle." The story of filmmaker M dot Strange and his solo indie masterpiece, We Are The Strange. When the trailer hit the web in October of 2006, it was an instant sensation. The video depicted a surreal digital dystopia full of bizarre characters and an absurdist plot, all set to rockin' chiptune music. Soon the eccentric creator of the film, M dot Strange (a.k.a. Michael Belmont), opened up his production process to the web. Through use of an official blog, making-of videos, and an extensive "film skool" series, Belmont gave viewers insight into the innovative animation process he calls "Str8nime" ("strange plus 8-bit plus anime"). By collating disparate techniques such as CGI, greenscreen, stop-motion, papercraft, and even Mario Paint, he had perfected a striking, overstimulating visual style that was not quite like anything seen before. The premise of the film unfolded, too -- a mute "dollboy" named eMMM and a cursed woman named Blue meet, forlorn, in the Forest of Still Life. Together they sojourn into the sinister Stop-Mo City in search of the perfect ice cream parlor. Meanwhile, the chain-slinging superhero Rain and his psychotic origami sidekick, Ori, do battle with the monsters inhabiting Stop-Mo in pursuit of their ectoplasmic archnemesis, Him (based on videogame baddie Sinistar). But, like the 8-bit games that inspired it, the plot of the film is incoherent and somewhat juvenile -- the focus is on the action and the cinematography. By the end of the year, Belmont completed the film and even snagged a spot at the Sundance Midnight Movie Festival, which led to favorable write-ups in Wired, Variety, and the New York Times. (Not all the buzz was good, however -- several of the Sundance critics reportedly walked out in bewilderment halfway through the film). His work finished, Belmont payed back the community that supported him by releasing the movie for free in HD on the web (eager fans churned out art and translated the movie into 17 languages, including Icelandic, Brazilian Portuguese, and leet). He also put together a 2-disc deluxe edition with scads of bonus features. He still runs a blog where he chats about filmmaking, animation, and upcoming projects.

Flickr [hearts] Panda

lipsum — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:46:58 -0800

This post will walk you through the weirdest thing: Flickr's mysterious obsession with Pandas (previously on MeFi: Link).

Barbie Dolphin

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:39:42 -0800

Albino Dolphins are pink.

this product reverberates a maximum amount of info known as the web

Potomac Avenue — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:46:13 -0800

The corporate logos of Kevin Bewersdorf More writing, art, music, and products available on his website: Maximum Sorrow PLUS: Top 500 Reviewer for Amazon (nsfw) Formerly of GEARt.e.k. Corporation Soundtrack to LOL the Movie Video for "Get This Party Slammin"

Lovely, Beautiful Transparent Fish!

Lipstick Thespian — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:37:11 -0800

See-through Species! Some quick links to a lovely, transparent fish courtesy of Born Animal and Pharyngula The beauty of the aquatic world never ceases to amaze and delight me. Enjoy! and thanks to Mudpuppie and BoringPostcards from Metachat.

If you like modern music, you'll probably like Nardwuar.

christhelongtimelurker — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:40:59 -0800

Nardwuar the Human Serviette is an interesting, abrasive and knowledgeable music journalist. Many of his interviews are on film and posted to youtube. Previously on metafilter. Warning: single link to a youtube user. Brevity is a virtue? I don't know if this is FPP material but I've wasted maybe 4 or 5 hours watching his videos over the past few days so if you are anything like me, you might enjoy them. And worst case situation, you might waste 10 seconds glancing at the post and deciding its dumb. Also, its a single

Soon California will have doggie discos, I'm telling you.

Salmonberry — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:28:42 -0800

Songs to Make Dogs Happy. (Or your cat, or bird, or gorilla.) I'm not saying this is a good thing, but it's certainly a....thing that one can buy. Composers have used SCIENTIFICAL STUDIES to create a CD that dogs love. They had a scientist work with them and everything. From that study they perfected tunes like "Squeaky Deaky" and "Scratch my Back". Says one of the musicians, "It's actually a bit nauseating for humans, although people do get addicted to it," said Haynes. "Especially Squeaky Deakey." Doesn't work on everydog, apparently. I can't wait for the mash-ups & remixes.

godWEENsatan

Bageena — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:23:17 -0800

Maybe you remember them from their 'hit' single "Push Th' Little Daisies", or from their appearance on MTV's Beavis and Butt-head. Maybe you know them from their appearance in the film "It's Pat" or from their contributions to the "Road Trip" soundtrack or even from their appearance at Chef Aid on South Park. My hope, however, is that you don't know Ween, allowing me the opportunity to let you taste the waste. Ween is often described as an 'Alternative Rock' band, although their music spans nearly every genre you can concieve of. Formed in 1984 in Pennsylvania, Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo (better known as Dean and Gene Ween), have released over a dozen albums, hundreds of songs, and contributed to several other bands. Their music is often ecclectic, strange, and beautiful. Their love of drugs, feces, and music (not necessarily in that order) is legendary. Their music can be and often is hilarious, but they have a serious side too. Nearly breaking up after a 4 year hiatus, Ween returned with a vengence last year with the release of both the "Friends EP" and "La Cucaracha". This holiday season, Ween released the CD/DVD album "At The Cat's Cradle, 1992". Dean Ween has channeled his love of fishing into a new online fishing show called Skunked. Meanwhile, Aaron Freeman is working on his photography. A little something for everyone, maybe Ween can shrug Mefi's nearly-constant mantle of 'Your favorite band sucks'. Maybe not.

Hey, Podo! Let's put on a show!

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:44:10 -0800

Dean and Company have been making "family-friendly TV" on local cable in Birmingham, Alabama for thirty years or so. Now they have a deeply weird and annoying website. Caution: do not visit The Time Warp. You have been warned. (Flash, intensely painful audio, forced jocularity, creepy family photographs, howlingly bad original music and choreography. May contain homemade hand puppets and Jean Harlow's stand-in.)

Groundbreaking skateboarding video

spork — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:23:36 -0800

Beez skateboarding video. A portion on youtube (gross). It will be a cult classic. Some info here and here. The Beez guys seem to be affiliated with Wiskate. The DVD cover says all proceeds will be donated to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and Hope House Milwaukee. Currently it's only $13, shipping included. Photo of Russ Clark, Backside Smith a Personal Water Craft. Their myspace.

Indie video

sotonohito — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:41:03 -0800

In addition to hosting the stuff we all know and love (loathe?), the anime music videos, the World of Warcraft ego films, the leave Brittney alone guy, youtube is also a medium for distributing indie video. Often combining moderately good production values, bizarre humor and genuinely funny writing, Kim Evey is one such producer/writer/actor, in between doing various TV roles. She's the mind (and one of the girls) behind Two Hot Girls in the Shower (SFW-ish), the "star" of the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, one of the forces behind The Guild (previously), and Meteor Men. See this interview with her and Felicia Day (of Dr. Horrible and The Guild) for answers to a few not so burning questions about the whole thing.

Hitmen For Destiny

misterzoo — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:49:59 -0800

Hitmen For Destiny: a weird, hilarious webcomic. Google suggests it's virtually undiscovered, but I think it's almost at Achewood level. The art seems crude at first glance, but with a little reading the distinctive brilliance becomes apparent. The plot appears to be something to do with monsters, alternate worlds, and destiny. Key features are odd humor and some insanely detailed taxonomy of imaginary creatures. There are many high points in the already long, convoluted story, but this installment may give as good an idea as any of the flavor. And it makes me laugh.