Weird! Magazine

Weird!

Photo by Sincerely Media

Photo by: Velizar Ivanov

WHAT IS WEIRD! MAGAZINE?

“It’s a little different”

Weird! Magazine was created by Isabel Johnson in February 2022. She came up with the idea for a magazine that was different from the ones she’d grown up reading. She noticed how most of the magazines were just popular culture so she decided to create her own magazine.

This magazine has been made for all of you who don’t fit in with the “normal”.

Our goal is to show people the beauty in the weird.

We’re a women-owned and women-run business and just to add another great thing to the list we’re also eco-friendly! Yes I know it’s incredible isn’t it.

Not only are digital magazines eco-friendly but they’re also available anywhere in the world!

What does the logo mean you may ask?

Our logo Nebo Tengoku X - 07 (NT X- 07 for short) stands for being an alien in society / not fitting in. And also because aliens are very cool. Made for you and made by you. Come into the world of weird!

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris

Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, more commonly known as a capybara, is roughly the same size as a small pig and twice the size of a beaver! They are the biggest rodents on earth but that doesn’t mean they’re not friendly, although I wouldn’t suggest putting your hand in their mouth. With their three-inch teeth that never stop growing, I expect you’d get a nasty bite!

● Capybaras are herbivores but they do have a strange hankering to eat their own faeces in the morning!

● They love being in the water just as much as being on dry land and can hold their breath for five minutes under water.

● In the wild, capybaras live in South America although some have been spotted in Florida.

● Quite a few people now have capybaras as pets, just like Melanie Typaldos who looked after Caplin Rous, who sadly passed away in 2011.

● Their average lifespan is 10-12 years in captivity.

I hope you learned something new about these weird rodents!

Here are five more facts about capybaras you probably didn’t know:

BEAUTY

MESSY AND WEIRD MAKEUP

WEIRD! MAKEUP

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MUA & MODEL: Anne-Marie Jomphe

PHOTOGRAPHER: Francis Fontaine

This is the first collaboration between the incredible photographer Francis Fontaine and the equally incredible self-taught artist Anne-Marie Jomphe. Anne-Marie loves texture and Francis wanted to try macro photography with colourful makeup. They really connect together and had so much fun creating this artwork.

ABOVE

MUA,MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER: Sara/ @livingonzeedge

Inspired by the amazing @mamamcdonie’s style of jump rings, this green mask was born. Sara loves a good statement element in makeup, but also couldn’t skip doing something dramatic on the eyes. Her favourite part of this look is the smudged mascara on top of the sharp liner. Messy is the new go to.

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MUA, MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER: Jaz/ @allthatjazmakeup

Jasmine is a self-taught makeup enthusiast and colour lover. She creates unique makeup looks that are indeed very colourful. If you like graphic shapes and lots of colours then you’ll love her looks. This look was inspired by Diyara Veli/@diyaraveli

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MUA, MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER: Amber Fern/ @amberfern_oneill

Amber Fern is a MAC makeup artist and is a lover of colourful makeup. She loves creating looks with different textures, as shown in this picture. This look was created using wool string as part of her “A seamstress at work” series. Sometimes a simple look speaks louder than a complicated look.

ABOVE

MUA, MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER: Zoey/ @rouyuyo

Zoey is yet another amazingly talented makeup artist. Most of her makeup looks are inspired by her favourite TV series and her Chinese heritage. Her looks involve lots of line work and beautiful gradient colours. This look is inspired by Devilman Crybaby (Japanese Animation).

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MUA, MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER: Emily Thorn/ @emilythornmua

Another hard-working and talented makeup artist, Emily Thorn, loves doing beautiful glam makeup. She has been doing bridal makeup for a while as well as working on a makeup counter. She loves teaching people how to express themselves through makeup. This makeup look with its graphic lines and colours is just one of her many creative looks.

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MUA, MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER: Amber Fern/ @amberfern_oneill

As stated on page 08 Amber is a MAC makeup artist who as a company are all working to enable limitless self-expression by turning makeup into art for all. Amber was inspired by a graffitied wall on her commute home. With slight adjustments to colour and shapes to work for her facial features.

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MUA, MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER: Marina Ferraz/ @marinaferraz.makeup

Marina Ferraz is a brazilian makeup artist. She loves experimenting with different colours and textures. Describing her style as “makeup experimentalism and escapism”. Her art is improvised and in her words “rough around the edges”. A type of makeup we personally love. She also only promotes vegan makeup. This look was inspired by Pater Sato (Japanese visual artist) and Lunachicks (American rock band).

Photo by: Anne-Marie Jomphe

Photo by: Bjorn Pierre

Photo by: Bjorn Pierre

Image By: Christian Werther

Photo by: Aedrian

Retro Futurism

Image By: Xu Haiwei

Words by: Isabel Johnson

Most of you have probably heard of retro-futurism at some point in your lives. If not then here’s a little summary of what it is and maybe even those of you who know about it will also learn something. Retro-futurism is a movement in the creative arts depicting what the future world will be like through the perspective of an earlier era. When you think of retro-futurism you would probably think of the 50s-60s, but it has actually been around since the 1920’s!

Retro-futurism also gave birth to other artistic styles such as cyber-punk, steam-punk, diesel-punk, raygun gothic and atom-punk.

There are a lot of things these days that have been inspired by retro-futurism on tv: e.g., Back to the Future II, Mars Attacks!, Blade Runner and Tomorrowland. It has also influenced fashion, e.g., Andre Courreges 1964 collection, Pierre Cardin’s collections and a lot of Paco Rabanne’s collections, music, games, books, architecture and even cars. Especially Tesla’s new cybertruck which, in my opinion, is one of the coolest cars on earth.

Retro-futurism style involves a lot of robots, self-driving cars, high rise buildings, nuclear powered cities and interplanetary life. Which sounds almost like how life is now. It seems they got it spot on! We will have more articles in the future expanding on interplanetary life and the need for nuclear energy.

WEIRD! FASHION

Previous Image and Above:

Photographer: Calicadoo

Model: Morgan Vandermaas

Stylist: Sydney Scarola

Photos by: Soroush Golpoor

Photo by: Krisjanis Kazaks

BRUTALISM

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel

Words by Isabel Johnson

Brutalism is like the marmite of architecture, you either love it or hate it.

So what is brutalism and where did it come from?

Brutalism originated at the end of WWII when Europe needed to rebuild quickly after the extreme damage it had received from the war. They used cheap and accessible materials like: concrete, glass and wood. Thus the brutalist design was born.

You may think that brutalism got it’s name because of it’s brutal appearance but it was actually because of the french phrase “Béton Brut” which means raw concrete.

Brutalism’s popularity peaked in the 50s, 60s & 70s and the style became even more popular after Reyner Banham’s 1955 article “The new brutalism”. Sadly, in the subsequent decades, people found it too ugly and a lot of the buildings have now been demolished.

Personally, I love brutalism as I’ve always found beauty in the things that most people would call ugly. We live in a world with beautiful mansions and futuristic skyscrapers so it’s hard to find beauty in something so raw and bold as brutalism. But next time you see a brutalist structure I ask you to really look at it and find the beauty in the imperfect.

So why should we keep brutalist structures?

Because they’re our history, they’re our past. Even if this generation doesn’t appreciate the historical side of these buildings then think about the next generation. Don’t you think they’ll want to see the history and not just read about it?

Photo by:Matteo Vella

Photos by: Elia Pellegrini

Artwork by: Simon Lee

Photos by: Alexander Krivitskiy

Photo by: Wolfgang Hasselmann

WEIRD NATURE

WEIRD

Octopuses have three hearts: one heart circulates blood around the body while the other two pump it past the gills to pick up oxygen. They also have nine brains and blue blood!

Cats can safely drink seawater, their kidneys can filter out the salt in water. Because of this, cats can consume and properly rehydrate with saltwater.

Sunsets on Mars are blue! This is because fine dust makes the blue near the Sun's part of the sky much more noticeable than the red light.

Snails have been known to sleep for up to three years and a garden snail has up to 14,175 teeth all located it’s tongue. I didn’t even know they had tongues!

NATURE

Did you know that the planet Saturn could float on water?

Saturn is mostly made from gas and ice which are both less dense than water so it technically could float on water!

Horses and cows can sleep standing up but they can only dream whilst lying down. The most common dreams horses have are of running.

One of the loudest animals in the world is a pistol prawn only 4 cm long. They snap their claws which creates a bubble that then explodes and stuns their prey. When that bubble explodes it is louder than a gunshot!

The turkey is called ‘India’ in Turkey, ‘Peru’ in India, ’French Chicken’ in Cambodia, ‘Dutch Chicken’ in Malaysia and ‘Western Chicken’ in Vietnam. It seems no one knew where this animal originated from.

Serves 1

Weird! Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

● 1 Serving of Rice

● 1 Tablespoon Honey

● 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

● Half a Lemon

Prep Time 5-10mins

● 2 Large Strawberries

● Cucumber (optional)

STEP BY STEP

The day before you make this recipe, cook your rice following the instructions on the packet.

Place in fridge for the next day.

Put the rice into a bowl and mix in the honey and soy sauce.

Cut your lemon in half and squeeze it over the rice. Dice the strawberries and scatter on top of the rice.

Then (if using) chop up the cucumber and scatter that on top of the rice also.

And that is all you need to do to create this quick, easy and fresh meal.

Photographer: Elia Pellegrini

Model: Marion Adam

Photo by Marko Brecic

WEIRD INTERNATIONAL LAWS

No donkeys in the bathtub

In 1924 a law was made that you can’t have a sleeping donkey in your bathtub after 7pm. This law only applies to Arizona after a flood where they had to do a search and rescue of a donkey who had been sleeping in a bathtub.

WEIRD INTERNA

No flushing after 10

In Switzerland you can’t flush your toilet after 10pm.

Don’t drink and ride

It is illegal to ride a cow whilst you’re drunk in Scotland. Honestly, I’d love to see that!

1603 Loophole

A law was made in 1603 in Cornwall that you have to obey no trespassing signs, unless you’ve climbed a tree to point at a fish.

Don’t yeet that octopus!

Throwing octopuses is illegal in Michigan.

No fun around here

It’s illegal to build a sandcastle in Spain. I wonder if they allow sand houses?

Keep ice cream in your hand

On Sundays in Georgia you can’t keep an ice cream cone in your back pocket. But on any other day you can? And what about your front pocket?

The Salmon Act of 1986

Since 1986 It has been illegal to hold a salmon suspiciously anywhere in England & Wales.

No turning into a squirrel, Darren

It’s illegal to reincarnate without permission in China

… I don’t know what to say.

Explosive balls

It’s illegal to own an explosive golf ball in Massachusetts… what…?

Onion permit

In Idaho you need a permit to buy onions after dark.

Frog jumping

In California, if a frog dies during a frog jumping contest, it is illegal to eat it.

Winnie the indecent pooh

You can’t have any Winnie the Pooh merch in Poland because he’s not wearing trousers! But what kind of bear wears a red t-shirt anyway?

Don’t run out of gas

It’s illegal to run out of gas on the German autobahn. So you had better top-up before you get on that road!

Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who helped make this magazine from the artists featured:

Sincerely Media, Velizar Ivanov, Aedrian, Anne-Marie

Jomphe, Francis Fontaine, Sara, Jazz, Amber Fern, Zoey, Emily Thorn, Marina, Igor Rand, Bjorn Pierre, Christian

Werther, Visax, Dusan Veverkolog, Xu Haiwei, Calicadoo, Morgan Vandermaas, Sydney Scarola, Krisjanis Kazaks, Soroush Golpoor, Erik Torres, Ricardo Gomez Angel, Elia

Pellegrini, Simon Lee, Alexander Krivitskiy, Matthew Henry, Matteo Vella, CDC, NASA, Tingey Injury Law Firm and Daniel Olah.

To my family and friends for their help and support:

Mum, Dad, Lee, Amelia, Brenton and Devenni.

Thank you also to Issuu, Vecteezy.com and Unsplash

We wouldn’t have been able to create this without you. So from Weird! Magazine, Thank You!

WEIRD!

Photo by Daniel Olah