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.
posted by mippy on Oct 19, 2009 - 40 comments

A bunch of people, sort of running, in slow motion
posted by Toekneesan on Oct 16, 2009 - 33 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by WhySharksMatter on Sep 7, 2009 - 49 comments

"I went out, and there was a big egg." (SLYT)
posted by Dipsomaniac on Sep 2, 2009 - 90 comments

Go ahead, tape yourself.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Aug 18, 2009 - 38 comments

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.
posted by reenum on Jul 31, 2009 - 44 comments

North Korea's first TV advertisement for beer (BBC article with video).
posted by adamrice on Jul 7, 2009 - 35 comments

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]
posted by grapefruitmoon on Jun 7, 2009 - 47 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by Smedleyman on May 7, 2009 - 40 comments

This is your biology textbook. This is your biology textbook on drugs. Any questions?
posted by jonp72 on May 5, 2009 - 37 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by spaceboy86 on Apr 24, 2009 - 46 comments

"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. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Apr 9, 2009 - 5 comments

This post will walk you through the weirdest thing: Flickr's mysterious obsession with Pandas (previously on MeFi: Link).
posted by lipsum on Mar 8, 2009 - 15 comments

Albino Dolphins are pink.
posted by - on Mar 6, 2009 - 27 comments

The corporate logos of Kevin Bewersdorf [more inside]
posted by Potomac Avenue on Mar 3, 2009 - 27 comments

See-through Species! Some quick links to a lovely, transparent fish courtesy of Born Animal and Pharyngula [more inside]
posted by Lipstick Thespian on Feb 24, 2009 - 30 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by christhelongtimelurker on Feb 18, 2009 - 20 comments

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.
posted by Salmonberry on Jan 8, 2009 - 31 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by Bageena on Dec 30, 2008 - 73 comments

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.)
posted by BitterOldPunk on Dec 18, 2008 - 13 comments

Beez skateboarding video. A portion on youtube (gross). It will be a cult classic. [more inside]
posted by spork on Nov 30, 2008 - 34 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by sotonohito on Nov 9, 2008 - 10 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by misterzoo on Oct 10, 2008 - 35 comments

The fringes of knowledge Amok publishers specializes in collecting the finest of esoterica. Back before the Internet had everything, people with deviant tastes would have to rely on mail order catalogs such as Amok. It has published a compendium of bizarre books known as Dispatches since the 80s. [more inside]
posted by bodywithoutorgans on Oct 9, 2008 - 26 comments

Something to make the inner geek that is inside your inner geek do the boogie-woogie: "Weird Al" Yankovic announces that thanks to digital distribution, he will begin releasing songs as he records them, while the parodied song is still fresh in the public's mind, instead of waiting for an album release every three to four years. The first one will come out on October 7. iTunes will have first dibs on the new singles for the first 14 days, after which they'll go to other online music retailers. (via /.)
posted by WCityMike on Oct 3, 2008 - 73 comments

I don't care how creative you think you are. You can't top this for terrifying imagery. "She was chasing children in a cow costume."
posted by Cool Papa Bell on Sep 30, 2008 - 83 comments

Face + Paint = ! Astonishing effects using the human face as canvas.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy on Jul 5, 2008 - 28 comments

Putin on the Ritz [more inside]
posted by revmitcz on Jul 3, 2008 - 35 comments

Tentacles and Cosmic SF - Ann and Jeff VanderMeer on the art of Lovecraft. [more inside]
posted by Artw on Jun 27, 2008 - 14 comments

In the market for a new house? This one comes complete with upgraded tile, Berber carpet and a European wife.
posted by socalsamba on Jun 27, 2008 - 41 comments

A cute puppy (not Ugly) who hops like a bunny because she has no front legs is loved very much and given model airplane wheels.
posted by orthogonality on Jun 24, 2008 - 39 comments

A cat with no face is nonetheless loved very much. Let's be blunt, Chase the cat is a surprising creature. When she was only a few weeks old, she lost her face in a car accident. While this link isn't exactly NSFW by any use of the term, she is a disfigured cat - no face, no eyelids - and at first she's a little hard to look at. However, she is in no pain and she is obviously well loved and well taken care of. Chase is currently "employed" as a therapy cat, so that people can "feel just as great about themselves and realize that not everyone looks perfect and that is OK."
posted by Sticherbeast on Jun 23, 2008 - 81 comments

German newspaper Der Spiegel decided to take a look at Europe's oddest folk traditions and festivals. Perhaps you can have a metaphorical hard-on for the phallus festival of Tyrnavos, Greece. Maybe you're hungry for how a small Belgian town celebrates the practice of swallowing live fish. Or, alternately, you can look down on those bizarre practices... while chasing a giant wheel of cheese down a hill. [more inside]
posted by huskerdont on Jun 3, 2008 - 20 comments

Ikiki has a home. The mysterious game developer's strange, difficult, and interesting creations are all collected on one page (Japanese), and his art style - such as it is - displayed in fine form by these mesmerizing animated gifs.
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Apr 7, 2008 - 8 comments

"1 Crunchwrap Supreme + 1 OCTO-MAC + 20 or so Taco Bell Fire Sauce packets + Taco Bell Cheese Sauce + Bacos + Garfield's Macaroni & Beef + A splash of Jim Beam + Approximately 2 cups of salsa = GODKILLER, for why else would it exist but to kill God?" [more inside]
posted by Del Far on Apr 2, 2008 - 64 comments

Mario outside of his usual context is often weird and disturbing.
posted by ignignokt on Mar 17, 2008 - 27 comments

Uncle Dirty is a fascinating photo essay about a photographer's strange uncle who has lived 86 years obsessed with bodybuilding, penises, and thongs. Not safe for work, but not too crazy, the photos really humanize someone you'd probably cross the street to avoid in real life. (via mjj/blort)
posted by mathowie on Mar 8, 2008 - 130 comments

Nothing To Do With Arbroath [more inside]
posted by jtron on Feb 29, 2008 - 5 comments

David Horvitz will do things for money. [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Feb 24, 2008 - 92 comments

Nine experienced cross-country skiers hurriedly left their tent on a Urals slope in the middle of the night at around -30 degrees Celsius for no obvious reason, casting aside skis, food, boots and most of their clothes. Soon they would be dead, some with injuries more suited to car crash victims, and apparently dosed with radiation. Their deaths are still unexplained, 49 years later. The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Accident. [more inside]
posted by Henry C. Mabuse on Feb 22, 2008 - 122 comments

The Secret Museum of Mankind :: "Published in 1935, the Secret Museum is a mystery book. It has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers, no index ... The tone of the commentary is dated, and uniformly racist in the extreme, often hilariously so. It reads like the patter of a carnival sideshow barker, from a time when the world was divided between "modern" Europeans and "savages" ... Presented here is the Secret Museum in its entirety, all 564 pages scanned and transcribed-- nothing is omitted or censored ... Treat it as entertainment instead of education (don't take it seriously and don't believe a word it says!), adjust for the blatant racial bias of the time, and enjoy."
posted by anastasiav on Feb 14, 2008 - 67 comments

Doctors successfully removed a two-inch nail from a man's genitals yesterday. Doctors pulled the nail out of his urethra on their first attempt and later said the man could have died if the object had not been spotted on X-ray. The man had admitted himself to SMC on Sunday night with extreme abdominal pain and was unable to speak. The man told doctors the last thing he remembered was having something sprayed in his face and being fondled by one of his assailants before he blacked out. [more inside]
posted by Henry C. Mabuse on Feb 14, 2008 - 56 comments

Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees was the first movie on the internet. Also, allegedly the first indie movie edited on a digital non-linear system. Mostly, though it's just awesome because it features a cameo from William S. Burroughs and is just plain weird. [more inside]
posted by juv3nal on Feb 13, 2008 - 21 comments

Dead musical instruments... brought back to life by YouTube? Check out this mellotron demo film, a rare trautonium keyboard in some guy's garage, trautonium music by composer Oskar Sala, an original Ondes Martenot, a documentary on the telharmonium (parts 1, 2, and 3), and the Sonovox (used to funny but not-suitable-for-work effect in this parody of Sparky's Magic Piano). Meanwhile, avant-gardists have revived the art of prepared piano, but more mainstream acts such as Tori Amos and Ferrante & Teicher have also experimented with it. Last but not least, another performer of prepared piano is Margaret Leng Tan, but I think she should get more accolades as the best virtuoso of the toy piano since Schroeder from Peanuts.
posted by jonp72 on Jan 31, 2008 - 14 comments

You've seen the original White and Nerdy Video. Now watch two and a half minutes of pure, unadulterated awesome.
posted by Lord_Pall on Jan 27, 2008 - 59 comments

Jack Mulqueen presents Kiddie a-Go-Go. Check out the intro brought to you by Mickelberry's Plump & Juicy Franks and their fine variety of cold cuts. Hostess Pandora (played by Jack Mulqueen's wife Elaine) introduces the Stop and Go-Go dance, followed by a live performance from the New Colony Six in full Revolutionary War costumes. Unlike the Buddy Deane Show (which inspired the movie Hairspray), this later clip indicates that Kiddie A-Go-Go had racially integrated without incident. Other happenings inspired by the Kiddie A-Go-Go include a children's album, the public access TV show Chic-A-Go-Go, and San Francisco's Pip Squeak A-Go-Go (featuring go-go dance lessons from the Devil-Ettes).
posted by jonp72 on Jan 15, 2008 - 5 comments

Rule No. 1: Two bugs to a fight. Rule No. 2: Bug fights go on as long as they have to. Rule No. 3: No outside weapons in bug fights.
posted by Cool Papa Bell on Jan 5, 2008 - 185 comments

The Museum Of Weird Consumer Culture.
[more inside]
posted by sushiwiththejury on Dec 14, 2007 - 39 comments

Food and Beauty is a series of portraits of models with meat (and fish, and other kinds of food). It's strange, it's off-putting, it's sometimes sexy, but mostly ewww. Somehow I bet somewhere there is a Rule 34 site dedicated to weird shit like this (via Serious Eats)
posted by mathowie on Dec 7, 2007 - 21 comments

Terry's Chop Shop. "Ever since I was a boy I have had a burning desire to chop."
posted by Soup on Dec 5, 2007 - 14 comments