If you're a foreigner, then Norway's winter weather right now is brutal. But if you're Norwegian, then it's just a bit breezy outside. Trym Nordgaard illustrates the Norwegian attitude as he casually sips his coffee in the morning.
Content warning: foul language.
-via Boing Boing
Give Justin Fiddler a hammer--specifically, a Stiletto brand hammer--and step back. He slings that hammer around like an acrobat. It flies through the air with ease, as though Fiddler is controlling it with his mind.
When he's done, Fiddler slides the hammer back into its holster in a single, smooth motion. Nailed it!
-via Laughing Squid
The concept of “Hey, y’all, watch this!” has been elevated to an art form. Luc Bergeron (Zapatou) gives us a 21-minute compilation of the best internet videos from 2015. It’s absolutely beautiful, and breathtaking.
The first seven minutes are extreme human stunts that may leave you dizzy. Starting at about seven minutes in, you may become verklempt. At 8:15, it become adorably cute. Then animals jump in. We also see some great special effects. At 12 minutes in, the stunts start again, with a fast-moving sequence of vehicle videos. At 15 minutes, we see the art of video. At 16:30, the dancing begins. At 18 minutes, we see the beauty of places. And more stunts. These videos would not be possible -or be as good- without GoPros, drones, high definition, and video stabilizing technology. And a bunch of fearless people. -via Viral Viral Videos
See more of Zapatou's videos.
Ase Marie Nordhagen, 90, of Norway loves soccer, especially the task of "keep ups." This is keeping a ball in the air by bouncing it off one foot continuously. She's been practicing since she was a little girl, once performing 1,000 without dropping it.
Now she's good for about 50 keep ups at a time, thanks to up to an hour of practice per day. Nordhagen loves it so much that, she explained to a Norwegian newspaper, "I can't go past the ball in the hallway without picking it up and performing a few tricks."
Try to keep up with her.
(Image: Gulf News)
Prem Kumar is, amazingly, still alive! His hands are in great condition, even though he regularly dips them in boiling oil.
Kumar, 65, is a chef in New Delhi. When he was young, he saw his father, from whom he inherited the restaurant, casually dip his hands in pots of boiling oil. Kumar tried it himself and found that he could do it, too.
Now people visit his shop not only for the fish, but for the amazing show he puts on. On request from his customers, he'll dip his hands in the oil.
Are you worried about this practice being unhygenic? Don't! That oil is 200°C. It will kill any bacteria on his hands.
-via Oddity Central
The New Conformity is a trio of jugglers who perform with Cause & Effect Circus. They start off with synchronized juggling, which is nice to see. Then they start juggling each others’ balls. A nicer term for that would be tandem juggling.
They also do contact juggling, ball balancing, a hand dance, and even a Three Stooges-type routine. After all that, they just start showing off. -via Digg
Michael Long sets up a bowling trick that is impossible--right up until the end when it works perfectly.
He sets two pins in the middle of the lane. Then he spins a bowling ball and sets it slowly moving forward. Meanwhile, he knocks over all but two pins with a second bowling ball.
The spinning ball slowly moves down the lane, weaving in between the pins set in the middle. Then it knocks over the two remaining pins at the end. Amazing!
-via Yababoon
He calls it handskating--no, extreme handskating. And it is. Mirko Hanßen possesses extraordinary coordination, balance, and upper body strength. While wearing rollerblades, he can flip over from hands to feet and back again, all while moving at high speed. He can perform jumps, use ramps, and weave through obstacles upside down with skates attached to his hands.
-via Geekologie
You think driving your RV to a state park is camping? Try hanging a hammock over a gorge in the Alps! These highliners set up 17 hammocks for 26 people to sleep in under the stars at Monte Piana, Italy, and over the scenic gorge in the Dolomites where 18,000 soldiers died in battle in World War I.
Highlinemeeting 2015 took place last week. The photographs are stunning, and you can see more videos here. A good time was had by all. -via Laughing Squid
See also: last year's meeting.
(Image credit: Sebastian Wahlhütter)
This sport appears to be a combination of trampoline and tightrope walking. The final competitors are Estonia and America. They give it their all as fast as they can to impress the crowd and the judges at the Globetrotter World Slackline Masters meet in Munich.
Who should win? Why do they do this? These guys even fall off with style! -via Digg
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Daredevil Primož Ravnik rode his bicycle down the nearly vertical wall of a Slovenian dam and captured the nearly 200 feet (60m) plunge on his GoPro camera. The stunt was part of a contest by GoPro and biking website Pinkbike to find the most outrageous stunt, with a top prize of $20,000.
If that's not extreme enough for you, here's a compilation cut of more death defying stunts from Pinkbike:
Maud Le Car, a professional surfer, is currently ranked the 15th best in the world. She wanted to show that although her sport is physically demanding, it can be glamorous at the same time. So Le Car made a short video with Almo Film (auto-start video) showing her enjoying a gourmet meal with wine while wearing a formal dress, then immediately strapping on some high heeled shoes for an afternoon of surfing.
-via Glenn Reynolds
It's called artistic cycling. It's a sport invented in the 1950s and is currently most popular in Germany. The sport is similar to floor gymnastics, except that performers ride bicycles during the whole event. This woman, Nicole Frýbortová, is incredible at it. As the video progresses, her physical feats become only more amazing. It's like she can fly!
-via Twisted Sifter
There were 164 skydivers jumping out of seven planes over Chicago. Plus photographers. They managed to latch onto each other to set a new record in aerial formation. Don't bother counting them, just enjoy the beauty of the video.
The previous record was 138 skydivers in formation. These folks did it by linking up head down in the sky. Read about how it came about at Redbull. -via The Kid Should See This
Surfing is difficult enough, but these folks had to go and add ballet and gymnastics to the sport!
Chuck Inman and Lauren Oiye are champion tandem surfers. I guess if you’ve developed the incredible balance necessary for surfing, you may as well harness that balance further. See several more of their videos at Daily Picks and Flicks.
