The latest in the People Are Awesome series has clips from videos uploaded in 2014. These people are doing awesome things, dangerous things, things that made me cringe. I’m a Mom, after all. Don’t try this at home. Well, try watching the video. No one gets hurt in it, although there were probably lots of injuries getting to point of perfection. -via Tastefully Offensive
Zapatou (Luc Bergeron) is back with another mesmerizing compilation of the crazy, scary, and amazing things that people (and animals) do, culled from 233 viral videos of 2014. It’s not only the action that amazing, it’s also the new way we get to see them, as this collection is heavy on POV and mounted cameras, so we are extremely close to the action and can even put our feet in someone else’s shoes. Take that as a warning that some these clips may induce vertigo. You’ll recognize a lot of them. Zapatou has a list of the source videos here. -via Time
See also: more from Zapatou.
Wherever this man wants his slinky to go, it goes. It's not telekinesis (presumably), but the work of a master juggler. He can move his slinky so quickly that his performance looks like a special effects light show.
In contrast, Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama needs to practice his routine a bit more.
Some people say the definition of insanity is repeatedly taking the same action time and time again, expecting a different outcome. After seeing this video, I think there may be a new definition. This clip is from the new film Days of My Youth, which follows skiers and their love of the sport. In the clip, professional skier Cody Townsend skis the narrow, nearly vertical drop that made Powder magazine's "Line of the Year." -Via Gizmodo
Ma Yan Yan performs on the talent show Amazing Chinese 2014. You think she’s going to dance, and she does, but as it turns out, this is mainly a magic show. Oh, you know some sleight-of-hand tricks? Can you do them en pointe? Can you even do them without sleeves? It’s a weird combination of skills for an act, but I’m impressed. -via Bits and Pieces
Eric Hunter got a Cyr wheel, which looks like a lot of fun. But you have to learn to use it: stay in contact with the wheel at all times, control your center of gravity, don’t fall, and whatever you do, don’t roll over your fingers! All it takes is practice. You know and I know that putting in that practice, every day, without fail, can be exhausting -but it’s the only way to become good at something. And he did just that! -via Digg
(Photo: Barcroft Media)
He's hurtling toward death, but he is at peace within himself. This is Gugulotu Lachiram, 40, of Khammam, India. Barcroft Media reports that he’s found a unique way to get attention. He's long enjoyed yoga and riding motorcycles. 6 years ago, after watching daredevils perform stunts on television, Lachiram decided to combine his two passions.
Lachiram hopes to take his local show on a national level, traveling and performing these stunts for at least another 10-15 years.
-via Geekologie
The Copenhagen musical group The Bottle Boys play us a tune we all know and love, and let us in on one of their secrets to making bottle music look so easy -when we all know it’s not. From the YouTube page:
Sometimes people say, that it’s impossible to play that fast on bottles when they see our videos, because they are looking at just one persons head movements. But if you look closer you will see, that we share all the melodies by two persons. So if Philipp plays one part of the lead melody, Kaspar plays the other half, which combined gives you the complete melodic part that you all recognize:-)
We decided to shoot this video in our own studio, since it’s too cold outside here in Denmark and since we wanted it to have a more cosy look, without too much else going on in the frame. In that way you can really focus on what’s being played. We chose to play Y.M.C.A because it has some fast melodic parts and some really cool secondary melody lines.
-via Tastefully Offensive
See more videos from The Bottle Boys.
This busker has found a novel way of drawing a crowd. Not only is he good singer and guitarist, he's good at them while standing on his head!
-via Yababoon
Rocky Byun, a wizard and performance artist, can balance any object on any other object. In performances, he commonly balances heavy objects precariously on rocks, such as a washing machine on a corner or a motorbike on the tip of its kickstand.
Sometimes, to make his tasks even more demanding, Byun balances objects while wearing rollerblades! How is this possible?
-via Gizmodo
This is Paul Hunn. His superpower is the ability to burp. In fact, at 109.9 decibels, he can burp louder than a lawn mower engine.
Hunn isn’t sure why he’s able to burp louder than anyone else. But he does have a couple tips on how you can improve your burps. Surprisingly, you should not eat before you need to burp. But you should breathe in and swallow as much air as you can.
So start practicing. You could be the next Burper King.
Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, offered $10,000 in tuition for performing an amazing basketball stunt: sink a layup, free throw, three-pointer, and a half-court shot, all within 30 seconds. Gustavo Angel Tamayo, a soccer player for the Lions, won the opportunity to try it. Tamayo grew up in England, and never played on a basketball team. Watch him rush through all four shots, ending with a Hail Mary toss from half court -and the crowd goes wild!
"It's just football [soccer], that's all I do," he said. "And I had a broken finger on my left hand."
Tamayo is a senior and his tuition is already paid, so he will take the prize money in cash. -via Daily Picks and Flicks
As long as I live I will never forget the premier of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. I was young. So young in fact, I was not allowed in the room. Mind you, like any cunning kid, I slid up behind the couch and watched with one eye. The lesson I learned that day was that dancing zombies are only a little less scary than regular zombies. It also helped reiterate that there was a time when Michael Jackson was really cool. I know he got weird, but one thing that never changed, his talent. He was undeniably talented. Nothing reminds people of that quite like Thriller.
So I thought, what better time than Halloween to bust out some classic making-of Thriller footage? I owned this on VHS, so there is a real sense of nostalgia here. It is amazing to see how one of the greatest music videos of all time came to be. It could also be said there is a real sense of tragedy behind the childlike wonder you see in him here, only because we all saw how he ended up.
Watch part two here, and part three here.
Original street art and photo by Artestenciva. Animated GIF By A. L. Crego.
Laughing Squid put together a list here of some street art that artist A.L Credo ended up animating, and it is stellar. While the works themselves are remarkable, seeing just a dab of animation added to them seems to breathe even more life into the already staggering work.
They are small touches in every piece, but just enough to breathe a little life into them all.
