MetaFilter posts tagged with weird and bizarre

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

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

"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.

Paranoia is a heightened state of awareness

bodywithoutorgans — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:07:16 -0800

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. I managed to bump into this book at the University library. I also wasted half a day savoring the ridiculous annotations and drawings. Here are some reviews that hype it: "The Amok catalog is required reading for all information junkies, mutants, lunatics and anybody else interested in exploring worlds and ideas never seen... A side effect of reading the Amok catalog is that it could make you reconsider the very nature of imagination, freedom and possibility." – San Francisco Chronicle "Amok is the research guide to all the sordid thoughts you'd never discuss at lunch... the index of all that we hold obscure, perverse, and dear." – Esquire "You think you're postmodern. You give to your local National Public Radio station. You write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience. Jesse Helms makes your knee go into involuntary spasms. You are primed for First Amendment battles and believe you stand squarely on the side of the purists. Until you start to leaf through the Amok Fourth Dispatch." – Publisher's Weekly "The benchmark sourcebook on deviant literature." – Vanity Fair "An impressive collection, absolutely definitive in many ways – one can almost say that there's no need to read anything that isn't in this catalogue." – J. G. Ballard "A reading list from Hell that is a must for any serious oddball bibliophile." – John Waters

The Dyatlov Pass Mystery

Henry C. Mabuse — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:48:44 -0800

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. Photos from the skiers' own cameras. Photo gallery (includes photos from cameras of victims, photos taken by searchers and others). Online version of the novella by Anna Matveieva

Odd creativity with sex toys

janetplanet — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:21:31 -0800

Odd creativity with sex toys - sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes pretty far-out, and sometimes just unbelievable (all links probably NSFW to varying degrees)

The Childbirth Centrifuge

fleener — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:18:02 -0800

The Childbirth Centrifuge You must be pregnant to ride this ride. Why push your baby out when you can spin the sucker out? This device probably makes one mean martini, too. Unlike many patent applications, the Apparatus for Facilitating the Birth of a Child by Centrifugal Force is described in great detail, making me wonder whether a prototype actually got constructed. Link goes to a summary. Click through for the completely confusing text of the patent.

Destined to be The Wierdest Elvis Sighting, Evar.

lilboo — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:22:39 -0800

Bush and Koizumi: Roadtrip to Graceland - NYT link

Kol-Belov

Gator — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:45:45 -0800

It takes a long time to load, but Kol-Belov's "PU's_tota" is just so creepy and bizarre and awesome with really cool music. The artist is obviously deeply weird, also highlighted in the series of shorts, "Self-Destructing Organisms." There's also a game. These are Flash animations. Nearly all of them contain a modest amount of cartoon violence/gore; may not be safe for work. Also, the guy really loves his industrial music.

Predictive Programming - another Iluminati conspiracy

0bvious — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 02:17:26 -0800

' "Predictive programming works by means of the propagation of the illusion of an infallibly accurate vision of how the world is going to look in the future". Through the circulation of science "fiction" literature, the ignorant masses are provided with semiotic intimations of coming events. Within such literary works are narrative paradigms that are politically and socially expedient to the power elite. Thus, when the future unfolds as planned, it assumes the paradigmatic character of the "fiction" that foretold it...........' The Illuminati: an all encompassing conspiracy stranger than any fiction

Some of us like them fat.

quasistoic — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 11:10:22 -0800

Art by Showchicken Also showcases his work on Flickr and on Fotolog.

It's Crispin Glover

mr.marx — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 13:49:59 -0800

What is it? It's Crispin Glover's feature film. (NSFW)

hannibal lechter couture

madamjujujive — Fri, 30 Jul 2004 06:13:57 -0800

Skinbag - looking for that flayed flesh look for your fall fashion statement? Look no further, your epidermic, polysemic clothing and accessories are here.

madamjujujive — Fri, 18 Oct 2002 06:48:13 -0800

Braingirl - she's brainy, she's bizarre, she's curiously compelling and she has a sidekick named Bag Boy. See all 8 episodes. Flash & sound effects alert, and not safe for work unless you work at a pretty funkified place.