In-the-WeirdIn-the-WeirdDiversionary Distractions and Profound Mutterings. A collection of artists, djs, writers, and all around strange people sharing their creations, reviews on books, movies , music and more, as well as odd findings from around the world. 
Articles
I'm with the Banned
2009-09-21 20:00:00 Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's Banned Book Week once again, seven days out of the year when we take the time to celebrate our First Amendment Rights, the power of the pen, and the triumph of reason over hysteria. Time to pull out your Judy Blume, your JK Rowling, your George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Harlan Ellison, Anne Frank, Michel Foucault, Betty Friedan, Benjamin Franklin, Ray Bradbury, Maya Angelou. In short, this is a good week to think, because if you are a thinker, no doubt you will find some of your favorite authors in this list of authors challenged with censorship.The United States of America was built primarily on the foundation of personal freedom, beginning with the freedom to speak and think as we like without government mandate. Freedom of the press--our right to publish our beliefs without censorship--is the cornerstone of our freedoms, along with freedom of speech, freedom from government intervention regarding religious behavior and our right to peaceably assembl...
Cryptic Creatures
2009-09-16 03:58:00 We haven't given up on el chupacabra, and you shouldn't either.Check out this recent video featuring a taxidermist and a creature that bears only a passing resemblance to a coyote. According to this industry insider, he's seen a lot of dead animals, and this one is different than anything he's ever stuffed.Anything is possible, as our readers well know. I even heard tell of a new bigfoot photograph floating around the web. The picture was taken automatically, so no one saw the big skunk ape wander or in or out of the frame. Well, you've got to decide for yourself. I say, people usually see what they want to see. People who want to see sin see it everywhere. And people who are looking for magic.... More About: Creatures
Indoorcycling: Full On Gymnastics... On a Bike.
2009-09-13 03:53:00 These girls are so far beyond badass there needs to be a whole new word created just for them:European Junior Championships Indoorcycling More About: Bike , Full , Gymnastics
Open Sun Glasses for the Kirkland Museum by Woodeye Glassware
2009-09-09 13:56:00 I have been hard at work and completely neglecting my friends here (among other things), and I completely forgot to post a link to my new "Open Sun" glasses created especially for the Kirkland Museum in Denver, CO. The museum store manager contacted me a couple months ago to ask if I could create a special series of glasses based upon the "Open Sun" series of painting created by Vance Kirkland which are center pieces of their museum. After much effort I was able to create glasses that almost perfectly reflect the paintings they are based on. The first series of of 10 sets are Very Limited Edition, and feature double painted, reverse gradations. Only 10 sets will be made and are available exclusively thru the Kirkland Museum. I have also created some less expensive, etched only and single paint versions that will be available within the next couple weeks.MAJOR UPDATE!!! I was just contacted by the Kirkland Museum to let me know the museum director and curator have placed a set ... More About: Glasses
A Long Time in Coming
2009-09-03 01:13:00 After a long, uphill battle, it looks like Antioch College is knocking on freedom's door. This Friday, the long-anticipated transition of power will finally occur. The enormous breach of trust and waste of resources committed by the University is in the past, and the independent College can flourish again! Classes are scheduled to resume in fall of 2011. More About: Time , Long
New Life
2009-08-30 00:57:00 In the Weird returns to its roots! Today, we showcase an artist working in the medium of strange. In this case, we laud him not only for his artistic ability, but for the green quality of his oeuvre, which is hand-crafted exclusively from discarded phone books. Artist Alex Queral soaks these ubiquitous and antiquated relics of a world without on-demand information in water to stick the pages together, then carves the faces of famous men and women into the hard, pulpy mass, using a scalpel.View more images of Queral's work here. More About: Life , New Life
Finally found a reason to post.
2009-08-22 23:06:00 can't be unwatched. you're welcome. groovy. More About: Post , Reason , Finally
Read to a Dog
2009-08-22 20:55:00 In the Weird has started to sound like a dour, angry old hippie, standing out on the porch of our dilapidated farmhouse, shaking our collective fists at the world's conservatives, capitalists, and anyone who happens to set foot on our damn lawn.That's not weird. That's just sad.So let's take a break from all this seriousness to tackle a topic that at the heart of our sister blog, Dragon's Library: youth literacy. Do you have a moment to discuss your dog's ability to appreciate literature?In the days of two working parents and too much video technology, beginning readers often don't have the motivation to practice reading, which is where therapy dogs come in.Yes. Dogs. Did you know that a dogs is a "non-judgmental listener...who will accept the story exactly as" it's read? For struggling readers, reading to a dog involves less stress than reading to someone who may correct or question their interpretation. This information comes directly from our local library system website,... More About: Read
It's the, stupid, economy
2009-08-14 01:21:00 There's a human element.First, there were the foreclosure and for sale signs up and down my block, but since we are misanthropic and anti-social, and my landlords are not planning on selling this house, it didn't affect us much. After a while, most of the foreclosure and for sale signs were replaced with rental signs. And gradually, those disappeared. There are still a few in the neighborhood, but most of the empty homes converted smoothly into rental properties.Second, there was my cat. He was obviously domesticated, and he was obviously out of doors, and he was obviously starving to death. We speculated he came from one of those foreclosed homes, was left behind when the humans went. I took him in, fed him, and his problems ended.Third, there are the unrentable houses.I wouldn't know about them, except that circumstances transpired to make this a good time to buy my first house. It's a buyer's market, after all. I'm not wealthy, though. I can afford a bargain, and a bargain ... More About: Economy , Stupid
On Health Care and Dining Out by Allison Williams
2009-08-08 08:46:00 Imagine that America has the best restaurants in the world. The food is both amazingly delicious and incredibly nutritious. Chefs come from all over the world to work and learn in American restaurants and test kitchens, and every year billions of dollars are spent to make the food even better, and to make food that appeals to every possible diner’s personal tastes and physical needs. And anyone who wants to can eat.One catch – eating in an American restaurant costs at least $200 per meal. Not counting the appetizers, any special requests like “extra Bearnaise sauce, please” or the napkins. But since the food is so good for you, and so desirable – and in this world, most people can’t cook at home, and most raw ingredients aren’t sold in stores – about 84% of the public has an agreement with their employer. They pay about $200-500 a month, and they can eat all they want. The remaining 15.8% of the American population goes hungry most of the time, eating whatever they c... More About: Health , Health Care , Care , Williams , Dining
The Battle of the Century!
2009-07-24 04:22:00 YES!!!!Movie Trailers - Movies Blog More About: Battle
Brilliant!
2009-07-01 04:07:00 Robotic furniture powered by vermin like mice and flies, which it catches itself. Functional AND functional.
At long last?
2009-06-30 22:42:00 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead. Alumni group to pay $6M to separate Antioch College in Ohio from parent universityBy Associated Press12:52 PM EDT, June 30, 2009DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — An alumni group from Antioch College in Ohio has a conditional agreement that will allow them to operate the financially strapped school and reopen in two years.The alumni group agreed to pay parent Antioch University $6 million for the campus and the college's endowment. The school is closed because of financial problems caused by declining enrollment, a heavy dependence on tuition and a small endowment.The college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is the flagship of Antioch University, which also has campuses in Seattle, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Calif., and Keene, N.H.The agreement, announced Tuesday, is contingent on approval from the Ohio attorney general's office and university bond holders. More About: Long
I <3 the future!
2009-06-30 02:05:00 Telekinesis machines? In the Weird seems to have missed the announcement of Mattel's Mindflex, the game that allows players to move objects with thought, but here comes even more exciting news: a wheelchair controlled by thought.It's an EEG device that "analyzes brain wave data using signal-processing technology and delivers neuro-feedback to the driver." Similar technology is being used for other mind-controlled devices, as well as the next generation of more-accurate lie detectors. More About: Future , The Future
Nerd Core
2009-06-20 18:56:00 Actor/writer and acknowledged nerd John Hodgman discusses President Obama's geek credentials while the president plays along in front of a crowd of media correspondants. Good, clean fun for geeks and nerds! More About: Nerd , Core
The best of both worlds
2009-06-07 23:26:00 More stuff to love:Dean Fraser draws pop culture icons in the style of The Simpsons at Springfield Punx. His most recent posts caricature the folks from Lost. Older posts showcase comic book superheros (Marvel and DC), old TV characters, and pretty much whoever strikes his fancy. More About: Worlds
My skin just came off my body and ran away
2009-06-04 20:08:00 (from a tech demo of animation from a still image) More About: Skin , Body
You're less dead than me
2009-06-01 00:17:00 So have you had the chance to meet the glorious Croy Devenish-Phibbs and his hilariously dead family? Croy is the 103 year old (so it is claimed at least) "silver surfer" of the web and twitscape who has urged people to send him photographs of donated park benches around Scotland with obituary markers from his extended Devenish-Phibbs clan... with extremely humorous results. This is one of the funniest "public art" projects I have ever seen... may take a bit to load the images, but hang in there, they are so very worth it.Click here to visit the Devenish-Phibbs bench plaque photo gallery.One of my favorites, just as a teaser:"For Flo who used to love to come to this park to chase squirrels, sniff dogs and do her business in the bushes. She was by no means a conventional woman but we miss her all the same.Florence Devenish-Phibbs, wife and sister1830 - 1934" More About: Dead
They saw a need...
2009-05-23 21:34:00 Click here to read about an exciting new invention: the scorpion shield, which keeps the potentially dangerous arachnid from climbing into your child's crib and stinging him to death!In fact, out here in the desert, there's nothing at all weird about this, but I imagine folks in the rest of the country shuddering and shaking their heads. "At night [the inventors] used to prowl the rooms in their North Side home with a black light and tongs, catching scorpions."Yes, many scorpions fluoresce under ultraviolet light! Isn't that interesting? Just another one of nature's miracles.Florescent scorpionBut don't breathe easy just yet: "...although smooth glass is a good shield, it won't keep out every scorpion. They also walk across ceilings and sometimes drop onto furniture." Are you ready to move out to the desert?Go to www.scorpionsafe.com to learn more!
Two-Stroke Rhythm Section Looks Exhausting*
2009-05-11 22:37:00 This reminds me of a wonderful duet for trombone and tractor I once heard at the SF Contemporary Music Players, I wish I could remember who that composer was.Tractor Used As Drums For Sweet Georgia Brown(thanks steve)* apologies for the pun, I couldn't resist. More About: Rhythm , Section , Stroke
Introducing the USB Toaster!!!
2009-05-07 19:55:00 What a wonderful way to start the morning! Just plug it in to your USB port and it will toast the news, weather or any photo directly onto your bread! I'm guessing cloudy with a chance of cream cheese!
Serious monsters
2009-04-20 05:06:00 We love the serious study of the bizarre as much as anyone (OK, we love it more than most people) but we don't deny there's room for a little comic relief in the pursuit of secretive animal species. Enter In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Big Foot. This tell-all tome offers up the dishiest dirt on the often elusive, always misunderstood forest dweller. Sure, Bigfoot can't always control his love of eating people, but he has feelings like anyone else, and he's not afraid to share them. Read more and buy the book at Dragon's Library More About: Monsters
Fertile ground
2009-04-16 04:20:00 This one strains credulity in a way that goes above and beyond our normal cryptozoology posts. Let's call it cryptobotany. Doctors in Russia claim to have removed a two-inch fir tree from a man's lungs. The video shows a two-inch fir tree nestled inside a surgical incision.Mostly likely it's hoaxier than that last Loch Ness Monster sighting, but who knows? Maybe his lungs were moist and fertile. Maybe enough light penetrated his chest to nurture a baby evergreen.Maybe the hospital was short on funds and really, really needed some free viral publicity. More About: Ground
If you try sometimes, you find...
2008-06-08 21:48:00 ...you get what you need.The news from Antioch College today is stellar. According to the alumni website, the University Board did a complete 180 and offered a plan that would allow those who believe in the College's mission to keep the College up and running as a 4-year residential college for kids who want to raise a little hell. Co-op, classroom, and community are the pillars of an Antioch education, none of which would have been represented in the previously recent proposal that would essentially put the College on par with such academic bastions as the University of Phoenix.We are cautiously celebrating. While the Board seems to be on board, the University Administration has been stubborn, deceptive, and calculating in their efforts to destroy everything the College and its alumni stand for. We must hope that this is not another diversionary tactic for the simple purpose of derailing the faculty lawsuit (and keeping the alums from barricading themselves on campus after reunio... More About: Find
Sometimes, the headline says it all
2008-06-05 05:44:00 Dutch man injures posterior in mooning accidentRead the bare facts More About: Headline
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show
2008-05-30 08:58:00 Wow... just... wow. Thank you mighty and glorious Wil Wheaton for bringing this absurdly, wonderfully, totally wrong thing into being. More About: Machine , Show , Chicken , Tiny , Gorgeous
Who Shoots A Water Barrel?
2008-05-27 09:17:00 This past Saturday, I went on a water station run with Humane Borders, which is a Tucson-based humanitarian organization that maintains emergency water stations in the Sonoran desert of Southern Arizona. Each station usually has at least two (sometimes more) 60 gallon barrels filled with clean water. The whole point of these stations is to keep migrants from dying in the desert.According to the U.S. Border Patrol, over 400 migrants died along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2007. The vast majority of those deaths (over 200) occurred in Arizona. Since 2001, 1,058 migrants have died in Arizona alone. Within a few miles of the Baboquivari mountains, pictured below, more migrants die than any other place throughout the entire border region, from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California. While the figures from the Border Patrol are staggering, they are by no means authoritative. The methodology used by the office of the Pima County Medical Examiner estimates the figures for Arizona exceed 1... More About: Water , Shoots , Barrel
Helicopter Kills Pedestrian. Blame: iPod
More articles from this author:2008-05-17 23:03:00 OK... so, a helicopter crashes and kills a guy on the ground as he was walking to his mailbox... what do you think the focus of news story will be? The fact that he was wearing headphones of course.Death spurs headphone debateVANCOUVER -- The death of a pedestrian in Cranbrook, B.C., on Tuesday has raised the question of how loud is too loud when it comes to listening to iPods and other personal music players.Isaiah Otieno, a 23-year-old student, was killed when he was struck and dragged by a helicopter that crashed to the ground as he was walking to the mailbox. More About: Ipod , Helicopter , Blame 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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