Awesome Weird

This tense “walking simulator” from Kotake Create drops players into a seemingly-endless subway, where they must wander its tiled hallways to find a way out. The game’s instructions read simply: Don’t overlook any anomalies; If you find anomalies, turn back immediately; If you don’t find anomalies, do not turn back; To go out from Exit 8.

TikTok channel Restoration Magic takes things that are already used and puts them back to their original state. In this clip, he took an already-poured bowl of Corn Flakes and milk and made them as good as new. Some of his other restorations include pencil stubs, a broken egg, and already-chewed gum.

Colin Furze has created all kinds of inventions over the years, from useful to useless. This one falls into the latter bucket, though it could be used to get your campfire going. Because nobody was asking for it, Colin created a flamethrower that mounts inside of his pants and shoots fire from his butt. It’s powered by an aerosol can and an electric igniter.

Peter Sripol is no stranger to making unusual aircraft. In this video, he builds and tests out three weird designs for airworthiness, including a plane with a fuselage made from springs, a propeller that works like a tank tread, and a ridiculous set of wings that resemble Venetian blinds.

Inspired by a video of a fake bottle of clear Heinz ketchup, mad food scientist Barry Lewis wanted to see if he could make the idea real. What he ended up with was basically a goopy soup, but it’s still clear and tastes like tomatoes. He posted the complete recipe on his website if you dare try it yourself.

There was lots to love about the 1980s, like Max Headroom, VHS tape boxes, and this McDonald’s training video, created to familiarize the crew with Chicken McNuggets and their sauces. What we got was a hilariously surreal short film with googly-eyed Big Macs and french fries welcoming their new friends to the menu. Brought to you by Tony Pepperoni.

MSCHF’s Gobstomper shoes are designed to be distressed. So, the mischief makers teamed up with Dremel to bundle the shoes with a rotary tool kit. The shoes come in a black-white-blue colorway, ready for you to wear away their four layers for your own personalized look. The limited purchase drawing ends at 2 pm EST 11.29.23.

We’ve come across some weird musical instruments over the years, so why not add another to the collection? Artist Philipp Läng’s spring-loaded Flötenkreis makes its music by pushing air through a dozen plastic recorders, each set to play a single note. The sounds it produces are more annoying than melodic.

What happens when you ask an artificial intelligence to write a script for a short film about AI’s impact on society? You get this dystopian nightmare. Nobody & The Computer posted this AI-generated movie, which imagines what the future might look like once we all have AI-powered augmentations and robots have taken all of our jobs. (Thanks, Rob.)

Do you like offbeat indie games? Check out Torfi’s A Firm Handshake. This wacky casual game challenges players to reach out to NPCs and get them to shake hands. As you do your handshake business deals, you march around looking to build an empire of corporate drones. And then things get really weird. SMii7Y provides an in-depth demo of the game.

When YouTuber Aboringday isn’t overpowering toys with too much electricity, he’s doing other stupid things, like turning everyday objects into yo-yos. He starts out with plastic fan blades and wall clocks, then ramps up the danger by using circular saw blades. Other highlights include an ice yo-yo and one made from ping pong paddles.

Classic.FM recently turned us on to a 97-key piano that has just a single octave. Now, they are showing off another unusual instrument – a piano that only has white keys. Micronet’s Sinhakken piano still has 88 keys, but it looks far more difficult to play without black keys for reference.

Handy Geng wanted to know what it was like to feel weightless. But since he’s not planning on heading to space any time soon, he decided to build a machine that approximates that sensation on Earth. The vomit-inducing car has a cylindrical passenger compartment that can flip 360º. The faster it’s driven, the quicker it spins.

Created by German instrument maker Sauter, the Mikroton is a specially-tuned piano that only has 1/16th of a step between its keys. Despite having nine more keys than a regular piano, it only has a one octave range. Musician Antune demonstrates its ability to produce an incredibly smooth progression of notes.

After a failed attempt to do a backflip in real life, animator Nikita Diakur thought it would be safer to have a digital stand-in perform the maneuver. With the help of engineer Maximilian Schneider and machine learning tech based on the paper Deep Mimic, he attempted to nudge his avatar in the right direction to achieve his gymnastic goal.

(PG-13: Language) 80s and 90s kids might recall McDonald’s weirdly entrancing Mac Tonight ad campaign. Portrayed by award-winning actor Doug Jones, the moon-headed crooner made several comebacks over the years before becoming an internet meme and an odd symbol of hate. Doplex and ManyKudos teamed up to recap Mac Tonight’s strange history.

Animator Cyriak’s motion collage HONK is one for the birds. Hit play on the video, and you’ll be treated to 86 seconds of snow-white geese waddling along, honking their hearts out, and literally putting their necks on the line for your entertainment.

Open your eyes, look up to the skies, and see… Pokémon! Magik Mike put together this cursed mashup of the Pokémon theme song with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Then Elton John shows up to launch the whole thing into space. Prefer your tracks with more drums? You’re welcome.

Musician and luthier Shane Speal is known for making guitars out of cigar boxes. But his penchant for creating unusual musical instruments goes far beyond that. In this short video, he shows off some of his crazy builds, including guitars made from a boat oar, copper pipes, and a shovel. The exit sign electric guitar is our favorite.

From the late 1970s to the 1990s, George Lucas was featured in a number of ad spots for Japanese electronic brands Panasonic and Technics. On their own, the commercials are a little strange and awkward, but in the hands of editor Neil Cicierega, the weird factor just hit Level 9000.

Artist Felix Colgrave is known for his weird and trippy animations, populated with strange-looking creatures. The Lost Suburbs drops us into a maze of streets where a highly energetic character keeps popping up and proceeds to take us on a wild ride. It’s not really an hour long, but you can let it play as long as you’d like.

Some things defy description, like these awesome slippers based on an indescribable art installation of the surreal “Glitzy Snurtle” street sweeper at Meow Wolf’s indescribably cool Convergence Station in Denver. Let it suffice to say that Snurtle Slippers keep your feet cozy and dust your floors as you shuffle around your domestic multiverse.

Jan Hakon Erichsen does just the kind of ridiculous stuff that we’d do if we were performance artists. He spends much of his time popping balloons in creative ways, but this reel reveals his appetite for destruction of pasta. We hope he cooked some of those noodles after he cracked them.