Awesome Fake

Artist Sy Goldstein uses generative AI tech to create wild and imaginative street scenes from 1980s and 1990s New York City. Created in collaboration with Lenski, The Last Head Shop envisions a wild time when The Big Apple’s head shops sold human skulls – at least until the mayor came through and cleaned up the city to make way for The Disney Store.

We all know about movie sets and theme parks. But throughout history, fake cities have existed and still exist all over the world. They often occupy acres of space, many with elaborate structures and roads, but are purpose-built for testing, deception, or distraction. YouTuber Stewart Hicks breaks down the different types of these bizarre locations.

There’s a trend on TikTok where people have posted videos of typically populous locations that appear utterly devoid of people. They’re images straight out of dystopian science fiction, but they’re not real. Captain Disillusion explains the VFX techniques that go into producing these convincing “Empty World” illusions.

Restaurants in Japan sometimes use fake food in their display windows. Shigeharu Takeuchi has been honing his skills in creating lookalike food for over 50 years. In this Process X video, you’ll see how he makes realistic lettuce, omelets, tempura shrimp, and other inedible delicacies from wax, pigments, and plastic. He even makes caulk look like an appetizing dessert.

(PG-13: Language) We’ve seen some mighty impressive cakes that look like other things. In this hilarious sketch from Australia’s always-warped Aunty Donna, we learn what happens when the gang takes their cake fakery too far. Memo to self: if visiting their Coffee Café, always bring an Epi-Pen.

It’s been some time since Captain Disillusion debunked a video, but this one was worth the wait. This time, he took on an illusion in which a magician appears to push a card through a glass window to an orangutan. After putting a few theories to the test, it doesn’t add up – but Cap’s sleuthing eventually reveals the truth.

Making a parked car look like it’s driving can be as simple as projecting a moving background. But making it shake, dive, and roll produces a more realistic illusion. Insider visited NAC Effects to learn how they use motion control rigs to simulate movement and combine those with old-school effects like towing and airbags.

Filmmaker Davy Force was commissioned to make a series of TV commercials from the future for the video game Journey to the Savage Planet. He’s compiled a video of some of these ridiculous ads, which are like a live-action version of Rick and Morty’s Interdimensional Cable. Some days we could really a pack of Brain Wipes.

There are lots of scenes in movies and TV shows where they show enormous stacks of cash. But there’s a fine line between on-screen realism and illegal counterfeiting. Insider takes a look at how prop companies produce fake bills, and one of the times they got in trouble for being too good at their jobs.

The guys at Corridor Crew thought it was time to expand their repertoire beyond being VFX artists and into product design. So they came up with the idea of creating a line of toys that nobody in their right mind would put into production. Then they pitched their concepts to a group of similarly fake investors.

TV shows and movies sometimes make reference to fake shows on background screens or in dialogue. Designer Lynn Fisher cataloged over 400 of these shows within shows on Nestflix, which includes such gems as 30 Rock’s The Rural Juror, Sunrise Bay from Schitt’s Creek, and Angels with Filthy Souls from Home Alone.

Don’t you hate it when you go to get some ice cream from the freezer, and it turns out one of your housemates has already gobbled it all down? Häagen-Dazs Australia sympathizes, so they came up with this fake bag of frozen peas for you to hide your dessert treats inside of.

Jeff Wysaski of Pleated Jeans and Obvious Plant fame will showcase more than 100 wonderfully flawed, weird, and downright stupid toys in a pop-up exhibit of his own Museum of Toys. The show runs 3/1-3/17/19 at 2270 Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles.

A while back, a video made the rounds showing what was supposedly a flying phone case. We figured it was fake, but as Mark Rober and Captain Disillusion point out, it also scammed people out of cash. Keep an eye on Peter Sripol’s channel for his WORKING version.

(NSFW: Language) We like to keep a cool head, but some pesky garden bugs could really use some termination with extreme prejudice. Like many awesome gadgets however, the tiny but mean UH-60 is obviously too good to be true.

Shooting ping pong balls from afar? Meh. Knocking a can off of someone’s head? Pfff. Messing around with syringes? Yawn. Internet, The Great One is not impressed with them measly trick shots.