So here are a few of the strangest stories that you might have missed. If you think you're really smart, you can jump ahead and take the Fark Weird News Quiz without this little recap. If not, let's get started.
The Surprisingly Supple, Writhing Look of Modern Protesting
In America, protesters typically circulate petitions, craft up some placards with pithy slogans, and march or mull about in small groups. Some write letters to the editor or post spittle-flecked screeds in online forums.
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According to Alec Baldwin's character in "Glengarry Glen Ross," real estate brokers should always be closing. According to Berlin activists Hedonist International, real estate renters should always be disrobing. Protesters in Germany have been scheduling viewings of apartments they consider overpriced, then stripping naked for impromptu dance parties.
Demonstrators who refer to themselves as "Hedonist International" have decided to protest the rising cost of rents in Berlin in their own inimitable way. When they see an apartment that they believe is priced too high, they set up an appointment to view it, and then at some point during the viewing they put on masks, strip naked and have an impromptu dance party.
The Nudist Offensive Action Committee insists that they're not doing anything wrong except bringing awareness to the soaring cost of rents, although they insist that brokers who find customers dumb enough to pay the exorbitant rents are bordering on "illicit profiteering."
No, Not "Mr. Awesome" -- That's "Captain Awesome" to You
Getting a name change nowadays is pretty easy. You fill out the paperwork, go before a judge and make the request. Your proposed name can't be obscene or slanderous, obviously. Typically, if it looks legit, the judge asks you a few questions about it to make sure you're serious. If he's satisfied, bam!, you're done.
Although one Oregon judge probably didn't know what to make of Douglas Allen Smith Jr.'s request to legally change his name to Captain Awesome. It sounds like something done on a drunken bet with friends in the middle of the night. But after the judge was satisfied that the man was indeed serious -- and wasn't using it for fraudulent reasons -- he granted both the name change request, as well as Captain Awesome's proposed new signature: a right arrow, smiley face and a left arrow. The bank won't accept it (too easy to forge, they say), but it does have its own charm.
Sources say the subsequent petition from a local supervillain to change his name from Andy Bartolokowski to Doctor Badass was denied until after appropriate archvillains completed their name changes to avoid upsetting the balance of good and evil.
HO HO HOoaaaaauuuuuggghhhhh
When most of us think of Christmas, we think of the Christmas tree and presents, family gatherings and the whole house smelling like cookies baking. A season to give.
Not everybody has quite that same Rockwellesque vision, though. A California artist named Michael R. Oddo has created a bizarre set of Christmas ornaments featuring Santa. Not the jolly Santa -- the horrified, anguished Santa as he faces a multitude of painful tortures.
Yes, the jolly old soul of the North Pole is portrayed paying the ultimate price: being hanged by an elf, lashed, electrocuted, decapitated and stretched on the rack. Oddo says he views his tortured Santas as a combination of Buster Keaton and the Mr. Bill character from "Saturday Night Live."
Oddo calls the series "Suffering Santas" and says he's getting a bunch of orders for the outrageous ornaments from his Facebook page. He doesn't seem to be too concerned about coal in his stocking but probably should keep an eye out for a guy who can get anywhere in the world in one night and enter your house without tripping an alarm. Just something to think about.
And Now, Back to Your Video GamZZZZZZZZzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Anybody who watched the World Cup last summer remembers one thing above everything else: the maddening drone of thousands of vuvuzelas being played throughout various stadiums in South Africa.
Both players and fans complained about the buzzing, likening it to being trapped inside a hornet's nest. The vuvuzelas themselves became a constant inside joke, but now they're being used to annoy software pirates.
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Video game developer Ubisoft has released the Nintendo DS version of "Michael Jackson: The Experience" with a surprise for people who might try to use a pirated copy. Ubisoft has inserted the blare of vuvuzelas to make copied versions of the game unplayable.Ubisoft called it a "creative way to discourage any tampering with the retail version of the game," while Wired.com was more direct, calling the anti-piracy measure, "just the latest -- and perhaps most hilarious -- method used to fight illegal copying."
The only place that the measure is expected to fail is South Africa itself, where residents who still have hearing after the World Cup are unlikely to notice the minor background noise.
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