Clown Funeral – Tragically Hilarious
Seemed like a catchy title, but there’s really nothing hilarious about it, just tragic and bizarre. These photos were taken at the Fairview Cemetery, in Springfield, where 79-year-old Norman Thompson, member of the Antioch Shrine Funster Clown Unit, was buried, on May 29. His clown-friends dressed up for the occasion and honored Norman, for the last time. It looks bizarre, I know, but I was reading about this on the web, and found out that this is a tradition for clowns and magicians. Apparently this is the way they show their respect to their fallen colleagues. via Springfield News Sun
Biggest Custard Pie Fight Ever
Everybody loves a good food fight. But there’s no food fight like a pie fight. 251 children gathered at the Kidz Stuff Festival, in Horsham, southern England, to stage the biggest custard pie fight ever. The event took place on May 31 2009 with the clear goal of setting a new record for the largest custard pie fight. The current record stands at 120, but it will surely fall once the Guinness Book of Records finishes its verification.
China’s Kung Fu Soccer Team
Chinese discover deadly combination: soccer and Kung Fu martial arts. The first thing that came into my mind, when I first saw these photos, was the movie Shaolin Soccer. Ok, so it wasn’t the best film ever made, but it had a pretty cool idea, mixing a popular sport like soccer with martial arts. Now the Chinese bring fantasy into real life with the women’s kung fu soccer team. The kung fu soccer team was founded in Tanggu, and the girls showcased their abilities for the first time on May 31, in Tianjin. From What I can see, these girls got game! via China.org.cn
15-Year-Old National Texting Champ
‘Surprisingly’ the US Texting Champ is a 15-year-old girl. Kate Moore, a young girl from Des Moines, Iowa, took home the title of 2009 US Texting Champion and a prize of $50,000. But she had to work hard for every cent. LG, the contest organizer, made this year’s competition a very difficult one. Contestants had to type tough messages while blindfolded, text acronyms, run an obstacle-course and text at the same time, and even text tongue-twisters while being taunted by actors dressed as emoticons. Moore made it to the final tie-breaker with runner up Dynda Morgan, and won the championship by typing“Zippity Dooo Dahh Zippity Ayy…MY oh MY, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine Comin’ my way….Zippitty Do Dah Zippity Aay! WondeRful Feeling Wonderful day!” faster than her opponent. 15-year-old Kate Moore stated she texts between 400-500 times a day and an average of 12,041 times a month. CNN via Switched
La Tomatina – Biggest Food Fight in Colombia
What started as La Tomatina of Bunol, Spain, is now also a popular celebration in Sutamarchan, Colombia and even Dongguan, China. On June 14, locals of Sutamarchan and many tourists gathered on an old football field to stage Colombia’s biggest food fight of the year. Around 15 tons of tomatoes were sacrificed in La Tomatina this year. The food fight, inspired by the much more famous Tomatina of Bunol, is part of a three day tomato celebration. A tomato-eating contest and a competition for the largest tomato, are also part of the celebration. via Telegraph.co.uk
Mud Day 2009
One day, every year, getting down and dirty in mud is a good thing. On July 7, hundreds of kids gathered in Westland, Michigan for the annual Mud Day. For once parents actually encouraged their children to jump in a pool of mud and just have some good, clean fun. Just like Mud Day 2008, this year’s event was sponsored by Westland Country Parks and Recreation and consisted of several muddy events, including a wheelbarrow race. The dirty rascals had a mud hole filled with 200 tons of mud-soil and 20,000 gallons of water.
Glamour Stiletto Run 2009
On June 19, Glamour Magazine challenged 100 German women to a race on high heels and win 10,000 euros. Held in west Berlin, Germany, Glamour Stiletto Run 2009 had 100 women compete in a 100 meters race on stilettos. There were only two rules, the heels had to be at least 7 cm long and at most 1.5 cm wide. The winning time of 14.7 seconds was obtained by local girl Denise Hanitzsch, who was the runner up in last year’s race, because one of her stilettos broke. Denise confessed she didn’t train for the race, because she didn’t have to. She works in an office but is forced to run on high heels daily. Asked was she was going to spend the 10,000 euros, the winner answered “On shoes! What else?”.
