Sunday Burst of Weirdness

Good stuff this week:

:: First, a couple of photo-blogs that aren’t exactly “weird” in the sense of “Wow, that’s really weird!”, but in the sense of, “Hmmm, interesting notion for a blog.” First is the Fail Blog, which is a collection of those photos of failure, usually either impending or actually unfolding, helpfully captioned thusly:

And then there’s the The Signage of Negative Space, which features photos of illuminated signs whose forms involve dark shaping over backlighting, like this:

“Negative space” in art is an interesting thing. I remember years ago reading an interview with comics artist and writer John Byrne, when he was working on the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths relaunch of Superman, and he indicated that the only way he’d ever been able to draw the classic Superman insignia was not to draw the actual ‘S’ but rather the negative spaces involved. Anyhow, moving on….

:: Sticking with signage, Heavy Metal Redneck has a photophoto of fairly creepy bit of signage that is apparently part of a whole series of signs gracing Owasso, Oklahoma. I’ve decided that I want to move to Owasso, since this is clearly a town where all other problems have been solved.

(But really, this notion that putting up signs helps correct negative behaviors is one of the enduring mistakes that our civilization makes. If this really worked, surely we could win the War on Terror ™ by simply plastering the entire Middle East with signage reading, “Blowing things up is forbidden and won’t work anyway.”)

Link via Lynn, who has some kind of relation to Heavy Metal Redneck.

:: Still sticking with signage, and again via Lynn, here’s a place that will apparently convert your used clothes into…well, go look. This would seem to violate so many laws, both moral and physical, that you have to wonder how this joint’s not a smoking crater by now.

:: Hmmmm.

Snicker.

Snicker snicker.

Chuckle.

Chuckle chuckle.

Guffaw.

Guffaw guffaw guffaw.

Hee hee…heh heh heh….

BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAA-HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh my stars and garters, another one! BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAA-HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh heavens! Super Bowl XLII is the gift that keeps on giving!!

(Both links via Kissing Suzy Kolber, which is laced with R-rated content, often directed squarely at the NFL team from New England. If you’re offended by such, don’t go there. Trust me.)

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Sunday Burst of Weirdness

In going through my blogroll earlier, I realized I hadn’t checked in on Short Fat Guy in quite some time, and lo and behold, he has lots of fun weird stuff, so just some links to him.

:: First, one wonders if news editors bother to read their headlines.

:: Next, he reports on a bill being proposed in Mississippi to forbid obese people from eating in restaurants. Of course, I can’t believe a bill like this has a chance of going anywhere; all those casinos in Biloxi surely rely on the income that more than a few high-BMI’d people bring in. (Oh, and you know how Republicans are always decrying the “Nanny State”? Especially those Southern Republicans? Well, guess the party affiliation of two of the three authors of this bill.)

:: And finally, he’s got the goods on some bloopers from the Lord of the Rings movies! You know there’s got to be a lot more of this stuff, with all the film they shot.

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Sunday Burst of Weirdness

:: OK, I’m going to assume that this is a spoof of some kind, but if not, I apologize for serving Satan all these years. How could I have known???

:: I can’t imagine.

:: I haven’t tried it yet, so I don’t know how it works, and it’s maybe not “weird” in the normal sense, but Cookthink.com is a site that lets you enter tags based on what you’re craving and then it comes up with what you should make. Could be useful.

OK, that’s all for now.

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Sunday Burst of Weirdness

Hmmmm….

:: Researchers confirm that kids don’t like clowns.

:: This isn’t weird, actually — 18 stunning bridges from around the world — but it partially qualifies on the basis that I can’t believe they want to build bridges in some of these places. Do we need a bridge to link Alaska to Russia? No way I would drive that thing. (via)

:: My Star Trek Year. This person is attempting to watch every episode of every Trek series, and all the movies, in the course of one year. He’s also apparently reading some Trek books along the way. Wow. He does not seem to be watching the episodes in the order they were telecast, however. I can kind of see why; a massive dose of, say, the third season of TOS over the course of a week would probably have anyone heading for the bathtub with a couple of brand-new razor blades.

:: In honor of this past week’s return of American Idol — yes, I’m a fan, sue me — I link the best Idol audition ever. This makes William Hung look like peanuts, folks.

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Sunday Burst of Weirdness

As has been the case with much of December, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to noodle about the Web seeking weirdness outright, but I did happen upon a couple of items.

:: I think I have now discovered the ultimate product for people who are inherently lazy when it comes to working in the kitchen. If you don’t want to make pancakes from scratch, there’s always been the tried-and-true “complete pancake mixes” like Aunt Jemima. But now, you don’t even have to do that! Behold the Batter Blaster. Words fail me. (I can’t remember where I saw this, so if it’s you, thanks for the link. If it wasn’t you, then why the hell not?!)

:: Here’s a charming tale of urban cunning: guy gets coupon for a “free drink” at Starbucks, and wonders just how expensive a drink can be made there. How much does his final tailor-made concoction end up costing? Find out for yourself, and check out his itemized receipt. Just reading this post made my pancreas whimper like a smacked puppy. (via)

:: Not so much weird, but potentially useful for people whose office-cubicle lives are full of dull drudgery: Slate selects the best online games. I haven’t played any of them, so I vouch not.

:: Cthulhu Claus, I suppose.

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