Weird Universe Archive
May 2022
May 6, 2022
Lamp Shade Queen
Pittsburgh Press - Apr 2, 1939
Posted By: Alex - Fri May 06, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Fashion, Furniture, 1930s
Follies of the Madmen #531
"Our pants are endorsed by shirtless murderers."
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Fri May 06, 2022 -
Comments (8)
Category: Death, Fashion, Advertising, 1960s
May 5, 2022
Moby Dick, from the whale’s perspective
Artist Wu Tsang's six-hour looping film Of Whales, displayed recently at the 59th Venice Biennale, reimagines the story of Moby Dick, from the whale's perspective. Details from artnet.com:The site-specific digital film displays a six-hour loop of dreamlike subaquatic sequences and changing reflections of daylight, woven together through the use of game engine technology... the film imagines the story of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick from the whale’s perspective...
"The work is about reflection in both senses, as well as capturing the whale come out of the water and dive back into it," the artist said, looking at the looping underwater scenes in which the whale remains unseen but is hinted at in fluctuating camera movements. Images of jellyfish float through the water and spiral beams of light reflect across forceful waves.
"The work is about reflection in both senses, as well as capturing the whale come out of the water and dive back into it," the artist said, looking at the looping underwater scenes in which the whale remains unseen but is hinted at in fluctuating camera movements. Images of jellyfish float through the water and spiral beams of light reflect across forceful waves.
It doesn't sound like Ahab and crew ever make an appearance, which seems to me like a bit of a lost opportunity. It could have been six hours of jellyfish and waves, followed by five minutes of crazed sailors.
Posted By: Alex - Thu May 05, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Literature, Movies
Las Floristas Headdress Ball
It seems that this charity group does not do the annual Headdress Ball any longer. But we can still marvel at the past.See more photos here.
Posted By: Paul - Thu May 05, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Charities and Philanthropy, Fashion, Headgear, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
May 4, 2022
Electricity from falling workers
3M recently received a patent (No. 11,260,252) for a safety harness that generates electrical power when a worker (wearing the harness) falls off a building.
Digging deeper into the patent, it becomes clear that 3M is imagining that if the safety harness is self-powered, it can readily transmit a help message. As opposed to it being battery-powered, which runs the risk of the battery being dead when needed.
Still, it's amusing to think of falling workers as the solution to the world's energy problems.
Posted By: Alex - Wed May 04, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Patents, Power Generation
The Coffee Song
An ode to caffeine. Is Starbucks looking for a new theme song?My favorite line is: "You date a girl and find out later/She smells just like a percolator."
Lyrics
Way down among Brazilians
Coffee beans grow by the billions
So they've got to find those extra cups to fill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
You can't get cherry soda
'Cause they've got to fill that quota
And the way things are I'll bet they never will
They've got a zillion tons of coffee in Brazil
No tea or tomato juice
You'll see no potato juice
The planters down in Santos all say no no no
The politician's daughter
Was accused of drinking water
And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
You date a girl and find out later
She smells just like a percolator
Her perfume was made right on the grill
Why they could percolate the ocean in Brazil
And when their ham and eggs need savor
Coffee ketchup gives 'em flavor
Coffee pickles way outsell the dill
Why they put coffee in the coffee in Brazil
So your lead to the local color
Serving coffee with a cruller
Dunking doesn't take a lot of skill
They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 04, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Music, Coffee and other Legal Stimulants, 1940s, South America
May 3, 2022
The Kitchen of the Unwanted Animal
According to its website, The Kitchen of the Unwanted Animal is "the kitchen that sells products from unwanted animal species. This installation makes a statement about the absurdity of meat production and socially unacceptable animals."The website is in Dutch, so that quotation is via Google Translate.
The Kitchen is located in Amsterdam and, from what I can gather, it's primarily a food truck. Though it does cater some sit-down events.
The "unwanted species" on its menu include pigeon, goose, muskrat, crow, and horse.
More info: npr.org
Posted By: Alex - Tue May 03, 2022 -
Comments (10)
Category: Food
“Kuzu” by Iimura Takahiko
‘Iimura films the cadavers of daily objects (junk) and animals without heads, cats, dogs or birds. While boats float calmly in the distance and children run along the beach, all kinds of larvae and insects move from old tatamis to old bottles under a “rain” of scratches caused by the numerous projections that the original film underwent.
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Tue May 03, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Garbage, Trash, Waste and Other Detritus, Movies, Avant Garde, 1960s, Asia
May 2, 2022
House Bean Soup
The U.S Congress has some unusual traditions, one of which is that the U.S. House of Representatives Restaurant always has bean soup on the menu. Details from the Congressional Archives:A common item in the U.S. House of Representatives even before the turn of the 20th century, bean soup became a permanent fixture in the institution when Speaker Joe Cannon of Illinois discovered that his favorite meal had not been prepared by the kitchen staff on a hot, summer day in 1904. Dismayed by the omission, the Speaker directed that bean soup be served in the House every day, regardless of the weather. More than a century after Speaker Cannon’s decree, bean soup remains on the menu in the House Restaurant, making it one of the more longstanding and famous traditions in the House.
Back page of the 1955 House Restaurant Menu
Posted By: Alex - Mon May 02, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Food, Politics
The Case of the Missing Parliamentary Comics
Just a few days ago, Alex made a post involving the infamous Fredric Wertham. As an inveterate comics reader from way back, I long knew of Wertham's crusade to ban comics. But I did not realize that the UK had undergone the same crusade.Apparently, the offending material proved to be too attractive to remain on exhibit.
Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina) 22 Apr 1955, Fri Page 1
Posted By: Paul - Mon May 02, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Government, Comics, 1950s
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction books such as Elephants on Acid. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Chuck Shepherd Chuck is the purveyor of News of the Weird, the syndicated column which for decades has set the gold-standard for reporting on oddities and the bizarre. Our banner was drawn by the legendary underground cartoonist Rick Altergott. Contact Us |
