Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra

This Friday sees the world premier of a new classical composition by popular modern composer Anna Meredith. However this is a score with a difference as Anna, in collaboration with top British beatboxer Schlomo (it's his real name), has incorporated 5 of the performance artists into her latest piece, Concerto for Beatboxer and Orchestra, playing at London Southbank Centre. The first problem facing the odd-couple duo was how exactly to score a beatbox performance as the vocal styling had grown from its hip-hop roots entirely by 'word of mouth' and has no formal notation. Undeterred Meredith and Schlomo have spent a year constructing their own, which they hope will gain wider adoption when the entire score of the new work is made available online for free following the first performance (FT).

The Southbank Centre has put up a 'teaser trailer' for the new work


And Schlomo's beatbox talents can be checked out courtesy of the BBC's Jules Holland Show.

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Thu Feb 18, 2010 - Comments (6)
Category: Art, Performance Art, Entertainment, Music, Screams, Grunts and Other Exclamations

Salamander Sam: Back in Action

As very few of you are probably aware, I have been away for a while. Now that I have returned from winter vacation I can start posting again, and I will start with a few weird things I have found around the internet over the past few months.

First, we have an ad that I noticed right here on Weird Universe:


I know Microsoft is evil, but getting their rival to link to their competing service? That's just terrible.



More in extended >>

Posted By: Salamander Sam - Sat Feb 06, 2010 - Comments (3)
Category: Entertainment, Advertising, Internet

Go Ahead, Waste My Time

Yes, my title is a really lousy rendition of the "Go ahead, make my day" line as uttered by Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact. But it's relevant because this post is about a website dedicated to some of the cheesiest lines ever spoken in action movies. The Quotable Action Hero blog is guaranteed to waste at least fifteen minutes of your life. So what's weird about it? It may just be a matter of opinion, but these are not your typical quotations. In fact, if the blog author didn't include the movie's name along with the quote, I would have no idea where most of these lines came from. What do you think?

Posted By: Nethie - Fri Feb 05, 2010 - Comments (4)
Category: Entertainment, Hollywood, Movies, Pop Culture

Horse in a Hamster Bubble

Fast-forward to the 1:30 mark.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 18, 2010 - Comments (4)
Category: Animals, Entertainment, Europe

Floram Marchand

As magic tricks go, the "I can vomit wine" claim has died a deserved death. One imagines that neither David Copperfield, nor even Penn & Teller, will be reviving the spectacle of Floram Marchand any time soon.

Floram Marchand: The Great Water Spouter

In the summer of 1650, a Frenchman named Floram Marchand was brought
over from Tours to London, who professed to be able to 'turn water into
wine, and at his vomit render not only the tincture, but the strength
and smell of several wines, and several waters.' Here - the trick and
its cause being utterly unknown - he seems for a time to have gulled
and astonished the public to no small extent, and to his great profit.
Before, however, the whole mystery was cleared up by two friends of
Marchand, who had probably not received the share of the profits to
which they thought themselves entitled. Their somewhat circumstantial
account runs as follows.



More in extended >>

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jan 07, 2010 - Comments (5)
Category: Entertainment, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Magic and Illusions and Sleight of Hand, Body Fluids, Europe, Seventeenth Century, Alcohol

Family Guy Maize

Bob Connors, a farmer in Danvers, Massachusetts, took it upon himself to mow Brian and Stewie into his corn maze, with Fox's permission of course. Now he's looking to get the creator of "Famliy Guy" to come to his farm and do the voices of the characters, which shouldn't be too hard since Seth MacFarlane has family in the area. The Boston Globe/Connors Farm

Posted By: mdb777 - Sun Oct 11, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Agriculture, Entertainment, Pop Culture

MP3 Experiment

Back on May 23, Over 2,000 people gathered for the Sixth Annual Mp3 Experiment. Everyone had to download the same mp3 and at exactly 4:00 pm press play. Once the opening song finished, Steve (the voice on the mp3) tells you to do some crazy stuff. Too bad I don't live in New York, because this looks like a lot of fun.
Improv Everywhere

Posted By: mdb777 - Sun Jun 28, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Entertainment, Games, Recreation, Video

Wouldn’t That Be A Great Band Name?

I know you've had this thought at least once... you and your friends are sitting around, drinking a few brewskis (or shooters or whatever it is you drink). One of your friends says something completely off the wall and you think, "that'd be a great band name." Oddly enough, that is how some of the best known bands get their names. Other bands have their names chosen for them by record producers or managers (how boring). In the end, how a band gets its name seems to be as different from one band to the next as their various playing styles. Here is a comprehensive list, in alphabetical order, of some of the most popular bands in recent history and where their names come from. I admit that the list itself is not particularly weird, but the way some of the bands ended up with their current names definitely is.

Posted By: Nethie - Wed Jun 03, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Art, Entertainment, Music, Odd Names

Sideshow Illusions

Sideshow expert Jon Marshall has created a unique business model: replicating the freak shows of the past as corporate entertainment. Check out his pitch in the video below, then visit his web site.

Also, you can see a great "audio slideshow" where he another expert discuss the history of sideshows at the bottom of this page.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 26, 2009 - Comments (10)
Category: Entertainment, Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts, Human Marvels

Sharks and Waves

Prof. Music recently sent us a link to this site that allows you to snorkel from your monitor. (Watch out for the shark!)

It reminded me of another site I had seen recently, As If Pulled By a Magnet, which simulates the experience of being a buoy bobbing up and down in the water. (Or maybe you're a piece of debris lying on the beach... It's hard to tell.)

Anyone know of similar sites?

Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 10, 2009 - Comments (5)
Category: Entertainment