This is my new favorite holiday video, forever. Read the rest

In 1990, Pee-wee Herman recorded this delightful TV commercial for Japanese company Wako Securities. As we know, the following year, Pee-wee (aka Paul Reubens) was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult theater. From an Associated Press article at the time:

″I know this may sound rude coming from a sponsor of his commercials, but he is not that famous in Japan, and the news doesn’t create as much of a fuss as in the United States,″ said Wako Securities Co. spokesman Yoshihei Nishimura.

He said, however, that ″renewing the contract with him is unthinkable, given common sense″

(via /r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

In the market for a Ferris Wheel? Carousel? Scrambler? Go-kart Fleet? How about just a Chili Cheese Dispenser? The entire contents of the Heritage Square Amusement Park in Golden Colorado will be up for auction on October 25. It's cash-and-carry (certified or cashier’s check accepted) but "buyers of large pieces will have additional time for removal." Whew. I've got my eye on that Space Shuttle Ride from 1980 and maybe the 1963 Tilt A Whirl.

Heritage Square Amusument Park Auction Brochure PDF (via Atlas Obscura)

Read the rest

Longtime Burning Man enthusiast and video maker Mark Day shares “A quickie iPhone hyperlapse of some Burning Man 2018, including some lovely robots, as befits the "iRobot" theme.” Read the rest

This weekend I'm camping in a secret location with a bunch of nutty geniuses. Two of them are Jon Wee and Owen Morse, a comedy juggling team who work together as The Passing Zone. They're performing Saturday night, September 8, 2018, at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in St. Joseph MN, not far from Minneapolis-St. Paul. Read the rest

Tim from Grand Illusions dusted off a decades-old carbon arc lamp to show how it works, and how to create colorful and hypnotic pulsing patterns. Read the rest

YouTuber nigahiga took a fan request and made this impressive clip of dancing without moving over the course of a week. Read the rest

Crazy Carts are souped-up electric go-karts with rear wheels like the ones on the front of shopping carts. Some goofballs decided to turn a real car into a Crazy Cart by replacing the rear tires with caster wheels. Read the rest

4-Mation is a product being developed by Kevin Holmes, Jonathan Scoon, and Charlie Round-Turner that features a spinner that accommodates different 3D-printed animations, like the leaping frogs above.

They also have this cute fish loop:

They plan to offer three models, from basic to deluxe:

4-Mation is a modular 3D Zoetrope kit that will be available in 3 models. It’s powered by 24 3Watt RGB LED strobes, precision timed by a microcontroller linked to an encoder motor. RPM(Strobe-rate), brightness, colour are all controlled from a phone app. The Android app (4-Mation) is already in the play store, iPhone app is in progress. Assemble the kit in about 1/2 hour then download and print one of our free animations – or design your own.Animations can be swapped in a minute.

They took it to a local school, where the response was tremendous:

Sign up at their site to find out when the crowdfunding campaign launches.

• 4-Mation carousel 1: Jumping Frogs - a 3D Zoetrope (YouTube / Kevin Holmes) Read the rest

YouTuber Nigels Life created a cool proof of concept for a quiz show using YouTube clips as multiple choice answers. He recorded a clip for every possible outcome. Read the rest

These next-level Transformers costumes are not only cute, but they are very well-designed! It's especially cute because the kids are so young they seem a little unclear on how cool their final forms are. Read the rest

SoCraftastic tested six marker types on a non-porous surface to see which one allowed the ink to float on water. The effect is pretty cool with a stick figure. Read the rest

YouTuber Mr. Puzzle demonstrates Revomaze, a maze puzzle hidden inside a metal cylinder. Read the rest

Ross Symons wanted to improve both his photography and origami skills, so he challenged himself to create a fun photo of one of his miniature origami each day, something he started for fun in 2014. Read the rest

LEGO invited YouTuber Andrew Huang to make a song using only instruments he constructed from the colorful plastic bricks. Some very creative instruments were the result. Read the rest

Michelle McNew: "My crazy kid jumping on his buddy’s ice covered trampoline"

Read the rest

Everyone is raving about Nintendo Labo, simple contraptions made with cardboard and circuits that turn a Switch into a whole new experience. Read the rest