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What in the heck are these for!? I seriously cannot think of a single situation when you would need these, want these, or where these would be funny. Are these for the next generation of ravers? I guess that means glow sticks are out. Now you need a Party Rat.
The name doesn't even mean anything! Yes, these little lights look like rats, but so what? Is a "party rat" something that I just don't know about? "Party animal", yes. "Party rat", no.
It's important for people to have creative outlets. Whether you play an instrument, write novels, or create works of art, the creative process can have tremendous benefits on your overall health and happiness. I love to see people who are actively involved in a creative hobby that gives them pleasure.
What follows is a showcase of the works you won't see on the auction block at Sotheby's any time soon - or even the pages of the Martha Stewart Magazine, for that matter. Instead of looking at the kind of pieces that make people "ooh" and "ahh", we're going to look at the pieces that typically find their way to flea markets, dilapidated country homes, and possibly even landfills.
If you have an "unconventional" sense of style, this is your lucky day.
1. The Skunk Pet Rock - This is going to flip the entire pet rock industry on its head.
2. Red Witch Doll - This one is bound to be the holiday season's hottest gift.
3. Love Pads - Because getting busy will be the first thing on everyone's mind when someone is wearing these...?
If you've ever dared to venture beyond the normal magazines like Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and Time, you probably realize that there are literally thousands of magazines in print. Some are good, some are decidedly not good, and others...well, just take a look.
10. Geez: Holy Mischief in an Era of Fast Faith - This magazine claims to have "set up camp in the outback of the spiritual commons." I don't know what the heck that's suppose to mean, but I do know that these people really, really like dashes. A couple of quotes from their homepage...
"...A bustling spot for the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched and maybe even the un-churchable."
"...it's time we untangle the narrative of faith from the fundamentalists, pious self-helpers and religio-profiteers."
"...A place for wannabe contemplatives, front-line world-changers and restless cranks."
If there were an award for best use of a toilet on the cover of a magazine, though, they'd be strong contenders.
9. American Coin Op Magazine - This trade publication is dedicated to serving the needs of coin-operated laundromat owners. It makes me wonder if there's a magazine for people who own those little perfume and adult novelty machines in gas station bathrooms...there are an awful lot of those around, too.
8. Fate - There's no better way to stay up-to-date on ghosts, monsters, and local legends like Bigfoot and Nessie. There's also no better way to ensure that your postal worker thinks you're completely insane.
7. High Times - Potheads everywhere love High Times, but I've always wondered what percentage of this magazine's copies get delivered to college towns and trailer parks. I'd be willing to bet it's high. Yes, I went there.
While most of us are thrilled with a simple pillow-top mattress or memory foam slab on a basic frame, there are always those who feel the need to be a little different. Below, we've found a variety of unusual beds for those who crave a unique sleeping experience.
The Private Cloud Bed: Without the stabilizers, this would definitely make an interesting sleeping experience.
The Feel Sofa / Bed: This unusual bed looks like it has the potential to be extremely comfortable.
The Atman Spiritual Bed: If I were another bed, I would definitely not be attracted to this bed. The loud and garish colors make me wonder why anyone considers this a "spiritual" place of rest.
Just as we humans have freaks in our ranks, the plant kingdom has plenty of plants that are incredibly strange. Below, we've profiled a few of our favorites:
1. Wolffia plants, aka watermeal - These tiny flowers look like floating specks, but they're actually the tiniest flowering plants in the world. They'd make adorable bouquets and corsages for little ants and bees.
2. Welwitschia mirabilis, a plant whose nicknames sound just as foreign as its scientific name (and thus, are not listed here) - The welwitschia is an incredibly strange desert plant that can live for hundreds and possibly even thousands of years. Each one has two leaves, a stem, and roots. That's it. As they get old, they just get more and more tattered.
3. Makahiya, the bashful mimosa - These mimosas are much like all the other mimosas, with one key difference. They fold up their leaves when you touch them.
4. Amorphophallus Bulbifer - These strange plants get their name from the greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" and phallos, "penis". It's also said to smell like dirty socks.
5. Solanum Mammosum, aka "Cow's Udder Fruit" - Just because people refer to them as fruit, that doesn't mean you should eat them. They're poisonous.
I have seen my fair share of crazy piercings and strategically placed tattoos, but this is a whole new level of body modification. The Eyeball Piercing.
Photo Source: http://www.technovelgy.com
Imagine having something in your eye that you can't get out. Now, imagine that all the time. That is how I envision life with an eyeball piercing. It's not normal, it's not right. I can barely stand getting a cat hair in my eye, let alone inflicting this sort of pain on myself.
So when I saw this, I began to wonder... how do you go about getting an eyeball piercing? Apparently, you need to insert a 0.13 inch wide piece of special jewelry, like the heart in the picture above, into the eye's mucous membrane. Oh, and all the anesthesia and cutting and junk.
I've never seen anyone with this type of eye-wear in person, but if I did, I'd have to admit I'd freak out a bit. Okay, ALOT. Gross.
Let me just tell you that I will not be in line to get this done. I enjoy my vision, and plan to keep my eyeballs just the way they are thank you.
Have you ever loved an animal so much that you wanted to be able to hug it all the time? Well, how about wear it....all the time? I stumbled across this book
This book actually teaches you how to collect your dog's fur and spin it into a yarn-like material suitable for knitting. But don't worry, if you don't like the color of your pet's fur, there's a chapter all about dying the fur to your desired color. It also explains how to take care of the clothing once you are done knitting. I wonder if a Golden retriever is hand-wash only?
If you like this idea, there is a site that shows you just how to spin your own yarn. Just make sure to complete step 1 thoroughly. "Clean the entire amount of dog hair again with a mild liquid detergent or dog shampoo and lay it out to dry." You don't want any fleas to get mixed in there!
However, for those of you who are not into the whole create-your-own-yarn fad, you can have it made for you! VIP Fibers is a company that will spin the hair into 100% animal hair yarn! Simply save all your dog's hair and send it in. Somehow this whole idea freaks me out a bit. I love my pets and all, but I'm not about to go wear his shedded dead hair. Ew. I guess it's really no different though than wearing wool sweaters. Apparently Chow chow fur sweaters can go for upwards of $600.
Now for all you cat-lovers out there, fret not. You can make clothing from cat hair as well. Suzanne Owen, a woman from Lakewood, Colorado made her own cat hair cardigan sweater. How lovely is this?
I just have one thing to say. When my cat gets wet, he smells bad, so watch out for them rainstorms!
A lot of the customer feedback here at Vat19 makes us smile, but it never makes us laugh out loud. Until this one.
It looks like this kind lady ordered a Charging Station through our Amazon storefront. The product is designed to organize, charge, and store personal items like cell phones, mp3 players, keys, and wallets. It's actually quite handy.
As for her feedback...we'll let that speak for itself. For those of you who aren't totally in the know, you may need to reference this Urban Dictionary link to figure out what the heck we're laughing about.
If you're a reptile fan, you probably know that it's not all that uncommon for animals like lizards, snakes, and tortoises to be kept in a refrigerator for hibernation purposes. The cool, consistent temperature is perfect for a nice long nap.
What is a little unusual, though, is the British woman who keeps 75 tortoises in her refrigerators, right alongside her wine and bell peppers. Shirley Neely has tiny tortoises in biscuit tins, big tortoises that line the inner shelves in their makeshift towel sleeping bags, and a few mid-sized strays that line the door.
Although she has removed their bedding for photos, the picture below gives you a pretty good idea of what her guests see when they reach for a drink. You can read the full story over at the UK's Daily Mail.
Also, just a note for those of you who may want a few fridge tortoises of your own - there are a number of safety precautions that you must take to ensure the animal's safety. Check out this article on refrigerated tortoise hibernation for more details.
Everybody knows that person. That strange, broken individual who canât stand sweets - not even his own birthday cake. Meatcakes were practically invented for that person.
Instead of using sprinkles and chocolate and sugar (all the things that make real cakes so delicious), Meatcakes are an abomination â frosted imposters filled with ground beef or turkey. Take a look at this Halloween concoction and ask yourself, âWhat kind of sick person would do this?â
To the users of this product I ask: If you are drinking a tall boy, are you really the type of girl that needs a prissy koozie?
Maybe women feel better about their vices if they have a cheery and stylish appearance. This polka-dot koozie should be thrown in the trash with all of the other products that are typically thought of as non-ladylike that try to look glam by adding bright colors, prints, fake bling, or something else feminine.
In the trashcan we also have:
Every once in a while, you come across a product that's so out of tune with most its prospective customers that you have to wonder if it was ever meant for them in the first place. That's how we feel about these animal-shaped tire swings.
If you've ever spent a little time browsing the (not safe for work) BMEZine website, you already know that people will spend a lot of money to do a lot of strange things to their bodies. If you have a weak stomach, you'd be best advised to avoid the site completely.
That said, it was definitely amusing to see this strange, but less vomit-inducing approach to body modification. A number of plastic surgeons online claim to offer an "elf ear" procedure, including this doctor in Europe. I'm not really sure why anyone would want to have that done, but some sources say it improves hearing slightly. Personally, I think it's just a matter of having spent too much time playing Everquest/World of Warcraft/Dungeons & Dragons.
Some people are calling the image a fake, but the fact remains that even outside of this particular doctor's image, there are real people with elf ear modifications and doctors who claim to perform the procedure.
Would you do it? Could you date or befriend someone with elf ears? Could you take a boss/teacher/parent seriously with elf ears?
For most people, getting a thread through the eye of a sewing needle is difficult. They'll try and miss, then lick the thread and try and miss a couple more times.
Willard Wigan is not most people. He creates micro sculptured art that can fit inside the eye of a sewing needle and on top of a pinhead, nail, or tip of a pen. These are the tiniest sculptures I have ever seen.
It's almost unbelievable that something so small can have so much detail. But then again, if a human hair can be split 17 times, I guess the eye of a needle can offer lots of room for achievement.
After a great deal of deliberation, we at Vat19 have decided that Custom Creature Taxidermy is another product thatâs just not right for our store. We try to give our customers what they want, and right now, weâre pretty sure that doesnât include horrifying patchwork dead animals.
On the other hand, the artistâs designs are so incredibly bizarre and unique that we canât help but write about them. Below, youâll see a couple of her more ambitious creations. At the website, you can view more affordable alternatives like the $40 âMystery Foot on a Heavy Chainâ.
It seems like plenty of companies are named after the individual(s) who founded or inspired them. Wal-Mart, Hilton Hotels, Disney, Ford, MGM (thatâs Metro, Goldwyn, & Mayer), and Dell are just a few.
Of course, there are also those names for which no one seems to know the origin. For the truly curious, Wikipedia has compiled a long list of company name origins. Weâve collected the highlights:
Kodak - Kodak is the completely original creation of George Eastman, the founder and inventor behind the company. He believed that the letter K seemed strong, and liked that no one would mispronounce the name.
Amazon - As one might expect, Amazon.com was named for the Amazon River, the most voluminous river in the world. Someone had some foresightâ¦
Lycos - This one comes from the word Lycosidae, the spider family that contains wolf spiders.
Coca-Cola - The world-famous beverage is named for the coca leaves and kola nuts that are used for flavoring. Itâs actually a lot more appetizing than Pepsi, which was named for the digestive enzyme pepsin.
QVC - Quality, Value, and Convenience.
Starbucks - Starbucks was named for the character Starbuck in Moby Dick. See, even the name is pretentious and overrated.
Mozilla - This popular web browser was originally designed to replace a program called Mosaic. Mozilla is a combination of âMosaic-killerâ and Godzilla.
Taco Bell - Taco Bell was named for its founder Glen Bell. Because you know itâs good Mexican food when it comes from a guy named Glen.
Vending machines are great for a lot of things. Theyâre faster than waiting in line for stamps, easier than walking into a store to buy a soda, and convenient for buying new toothpaste when youâve forgotten yours while traveling. All the same, weâve seen some vending machine products that have given us reason to wonder about the people stocking themâ¦
Live Bait â You know, for when youâre really craving a good nightcrawler. These machines are pretty common in small river and lakeside towns.
Live Lobsters â Iâve always viewed the ocean as the ultimate lobster vending machine, but the Japanese have other ideas. Japan may actually be the crazy vending machine capital of the world, as they sell not only lobsters, but fried food, toilet paper, breath testing, rhinoceros beetles, and airsoft pistols through their numerous vending machines.
Fruit â Iâve seen this on a couple of college campuses, and in most cases, the bananas were black, oranges were fuzzy, and the grapes were piling up at the bottom of the machine. The bananas might be feasible if they had a Banana Bunker on each one for protection, but youâd have to pay a little more than .75 for your bananas, then.
âAdultâ Products and Publications â If you stray too far from the big hotel chains, youâll probably run into a few of these vending machines. While Iâm not one to question the rights of adults to do what they want in the privacy of their own homes, Iâm not sure that leaving some of these products out in the open for children is such a good idea. Staying at a budget motel doesnât necessarily mean that you want to come face to face with âBarely Legalâ every time you walk to your room.
Perfume â If youâve ever been to a truckstop, youâve probably seen one of those fabulous âdesigner impostersâ perfume vending machines. The only thing worthwhile about these machines is watching big-haired truckstop women try to contort themselves to make sure that the spray reaches all the important pulse points.
When I took art classes in school, my supply lists included things such as acrylic paint, coal pencils, and a sketch book. Never did those supply lists include puke, an enema, or menstrual fluid.
I understand that art means different things to different people. What is artistic and beautiful to one person is downright ugly and disgusting to another person. Here are some people who use mediums that are generally considered disgusting to create their artwork.
Some guy named Lance makes himself throw up onto canvases and then blows his vomit around with a straw. He uses food coloring instead of paint. Apparently, Lance can store a reserve of vomit in his esophagus. Now that's an awesomely disgusting talent.
Keith Boadwee makes "butthole paintings". He fills up an enema with egg tempura paint and fills himself up. Then he aims himself over the canvas and, ummm, releases.
Vanessa Tiegs uses her menstrual blood instead of paint. How did she collect the blood? With a moon cup throughout 36 periods.
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