Person Has Terrible Idea, Follows Through
August 4, 2022 6:38 AM Subscribe
I realized after seeing Six Days With a Big Lollipop on MeFi, and remembering one of my favorite things ever, My 14-Hour Search for the End of TGI Friday's Endless Appetizers, that whatever-you-call-it (people having a creeping, terrible idea, and undertaking it), is my favorite internet thing. MeFi also mentioned I Drank the Velveeta Martini, and I've seen and enjoyed, I Ate at Every Rainforest Cafe in the Country, but I need MOAR - please help!
Best answer: I ate alone at the Times Square Olive Garden for eleven days, and I'm different now
posted by box at 6:43 AM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by box at 6:43 AM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: There was a great one on the Blue recently about trying every flavor of Mountain Dew!
It's perhaps less of a taxing stunt, but I really enjoyed this article about spending 24 hours at Margaritaville.
posted by babelfish at 6:47 AM on August 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
It's perhaps less of a taxing stunt, but I really enjoyed this article about spending 24 hours at Margaritaville.
posted by babelfish at 6:47 AM on August 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Also, if you enjoyed Caity Weaver's TGI Friday's piece (which, you are right to, it is one of the greatest things ever written) and you somehow missed out on the Best Restaurant in New York series, please do yourself a favor. Each installment is a different weird restaurant the participants would never otherwise go to, so it doesn't have the sheer tenacity of the Endless Appetizers gag, but arguably that makes it a long string of stunts.
posted by babelfish at 6:50 AM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by babelfish at 6:50 AM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
Best answer: A long time ago, there was this wonderful series called Steve, Don't Eat It! where he'd eat all kinds of disgusting food and food adjacent things. I remember dying laughing over some of his posts. I wish there were more!
posted by silverstatue at 6:51 AM on August 4, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by silverstatue at 6:51 AM on August 4, 2022 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Perhaps you'd like Londonist's We spent 24 hours in a 24-hour cafe (opposite Liverpool Street station in London). Arguably not such a terrible idea, though.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:58 AM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 6:58 AM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Metafilter's Flavortown meetup.
posted by twelve cent archie at 7:07 AM on August 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by twelve cent archie at 7:07 AM on August 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
Best answer: There was an episode of the My Brother My Brother and Me podcast where one of the brothers aimed to eat a pizza roll every minute for an hour.
ProZD’s food rating videos usually involve trying every flavor of thing without a break, which is quite a lot when there are dozens of flavors.
posted by tchemgrrl at 7:10 AM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
ProZD’s food rating videos usually involve trying every flavor of thing without a break, which is quite a lot when there are dozens of flavors.
posted by tchemgrrl at 7:10 AM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
There was a blog a few* years ago called Steve Don't Eat It, so named because it's what the writers' friends would say upon hearing of his post ideas. It's not culturally sensitive - a couple posts are making fun of "exotic" foods from other countries. But the prison wine post was pretty good, I have to say. A classic.
* Since I'm officially old, "a few" now means like, nearly twenty.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:21 AM on August 4, 2022
* Since I'm officially old, "a few" now means like, nearly twenty.
posted by kevinbelt at 7:21 AM on August 4, 2022
Best answer: Mark Malkoff does this sort of thing regularly.
He consumed something from every Starbucks in Manhattan in one day, and lived to tell about it. Unfortunately, the original video is no longer available, though there is this copy. But if you want to know what it's like to spend a week in an Ikea or to race a bus on a tricycle, he's your man.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:34 AM on August 4, 2022
He consumed something from every Starbucks in Manhattan in one day, and lived to tell about it. Unfortunately, the original video is no longer available, though there is this copy. But if you want to know what it's like to spend a week in an Ikea or to race a bus on a tricycle, he's your man.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:34 AM on August 4, 2022
This guy routinely consumes decades-old MREs. I seriously don't know how he's not dead.
Was going to mention ProZD. One of the funnier ones, though there are only eight varieties rather than the thirty-plus he often faces down, is Let's Rank Girl Scout Cookies (including the memorable line, "Calm down, you Girl Scout otaku fuckers").
posted by praemunire at 7:51 AM on August 4, 2022
Was going to mention ProZD. One of the funnier ones, though there are only eight varieties rather than the thirty-plus he often faces down, is Let's Rank Girl Scout Cookies (including the memorable line, "Calm down, you Girl Scout otaku fuckers").
posted by praemunire at 7:51 AM on August 4, 2022
If you can handle book length, A. J. Jacobs spent a year attempting to keep every law in the Bible, then wrote about it… here’s his Ted Talk on it if you want the shorter version.
He also wrote a book about reading the entire encyclopedia from A to Z
posted by Mchelly at 7:59 AM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
He also wrote a book about reading the entire encyclopedia from A to Z
posted by Mchelly at 7:59 AM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
The try guys YouTube channel has an ongoing series of “Keith eats everything at…”. The Try Guys generally have content along these lines. See also the “without a recipe” and “without instructions” videos.
Karen Puzzles does extreme jigsaw puzzle antics, such as mixing up 3 gradient puzzles and doing them simultaneously
Safiya’s franken-videos also may suit your needs. No playlist, but this “every flavor of cake” is one of my favorites.
Morgan Donner - 500 years of haircuts
Eddy’s travel companion, Ted, released his own version of the Rainforest Cafe video, but I think Eddy’s was better.
I love this genre! Thanks for asking.
posted by itesser at 8:07 AM on August 4, 2022
Karen Puzzles does extreme jigsaw puzzle antics, such as mixing up 3 gradient puzzles and doing them simultaneously
Safiya’s franken-videos also may suit your needs. No playlist, but this “every flavor of cake” is one of my favorites.
Morgan Donner - 500 years of haircuts
Eddy’s travel companion, Ted, released his own version of the Rainforest Cafe video, but I think Eddy’s was better.
I love this genre! Thanks for asking.
posted by itesser at 8:07 AM on August 4, 2022
The Beard meets Food youtube channel, a bearded chap travels far and wide accepting gluttony challenges. He's surprisingly slender. His gimmick is finishing the food mountain, and then asking the shocked hosts for dessert.
posted by adept256 at 8:11 AM on August 4, 2022
posted by adept256 at 8:11 AM on August 4, 2022
An internet classic via the Wayback machine, This Guy ate nothing but snacks containing Olestra for a week. Warning: Contains pictures of stained underwear. (full disclosure: he's a friend of mine)
I know a guy who got this really dumb idea to make a set of Cow Tools from that controversial Far Side comic, pondered it for a few months, and then one day decided to go through with it. Hilarity ensued.
posted by bondcliff at 8:25 AM on August 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
I know a guy who got this really dumb idea to make a set of Cow Tools from that controversial Far Side comic, pondered it for a few months, and then one day decided to go through with it. Hilarity ensued.
posted by bondcliff at 8:25 AM on August 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
Spending 24 hours in a Waffle House seems like a popular thing.
Buzzfeed (guy loses bet), Bon Appetit (editor works as a cook, much more interesting).
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:44 AM on August 4, 2022
Buzzfeed (guy loses bet), Bon Appetit (editor works as a cook, much more interesting).
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:44 AM on August 4, 2022
Basically the theme of Brian David Gilbert's show for Polygon, Unravelled, was him taking a silly videogame idea and pushing it to it's absurd extreme. Frequently that was reading too much (see the Skyrim book report and Halo novelization episodes) but also sometimes it's trying to maximize your endurance like the protagonist in Death Stranding or cook every recipe in Breath of the Wild.
posted by crossswords at 9:05 AM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by crossswords at 9:05 AM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
Testing the limits of the US Postal Service.
Also, the show How To by John Wilson contains a number of examples of John Wilson taking a questionable idea and following it through to its conclusion — or filming other people doing so. The MRE guy was featured in one episode.
posted by mekily at 9:20 AM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also, the show How To by John Wilson contains a number of examples of John Wilson taking a questionable idea and following it through to its conclusion — or filming other people doing so. The MRE guy was featured in one episode.
posted by mekily at 9:20 AM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: One of the first ideas I can think of in this vein is Monkey Chow Guy. This was back in 2006—beautiful, innocent, pre-Soylent 2006—when some guy got the idea of trying to eat nothing but monkey chow (actually some sort of chimpanzee/large-primate pellets) and wrote up a pretty extensive day-by-day weblog about it.
It got a fair amount of press at the time.
I don't know why, but that particular concept+execution has always made me chuckle; I guess it's because it's an idea that lots of people have probably had ("hey what if I found one single uberfood and ate it forever"), coupled to actually going through with it (dude did some research, figured out what they feed zoo and research primates, bought some, ate it), and wrote up the results for everyone to enjoy. And it wasn't harmful to anyone or some sort of Jackass-style stunt or something. The humor was... a bonus? I don't know.
Anyway, it's one of my Web 1.0 faves.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:59 AM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
It got a fair amount of press at the time.
I don't know why, but that particular concept+execution has always made me chuckle; I guess it's because it's an idea that lots of people have probably had ("hey what if I found one single uberfood and ate it forever"), coupled to actually going through with it (dude did some research, figured out what they feed zoo and research primates, bought some, ate it), and wrote up the results for everyone to enjoy. And it wasn't harmful to anyone or some sort of Jackass-style stunt or something. The humor was... a bonus? I don't know.
Anyway, it's one of my Web 1.0 faves.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:59 AM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
Best answer: I feel like you might enjoy the YouTube show Good Mythical Morning, as this is basically the impulse that drives the entire show. Getting covered in 10000 bees. Eating every Ben & Jerry's flavor. Putting weird things in a vacuum cleaner.
posted by capricorn at 10:30 AM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by capricorn at 10:30 AM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Fictional, but you might enjoy the TV series Review. I read the endless mozzarella sticks piece yesterday after it was linked in that thread on the blue, and it reminded me of the brilliantly uncomfortable episode "Pancakes, Divorce, Pancakes"
posted by doift at 10:58 AM on August 4, 2022
posted by doift at 10:58 AM on August 4, 2022
Best answer: There was that time Shia LaBeouf sat down to watch all the movies he'd ever starred in, in reverse chronological order, 24/7 over the course of three days
Coverage by The Verge
Coverage by Rolling Stone
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:23 PM on August 4, 2022
Coverage by The Verge
Coverage by Rolling Stone
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:23 PM on August 4, 2022
You might like Danny Wallace's older books. Or his current stuff, but I'm not familiar with that. He's the Yes Man guy and his earlier books are about what he calls "stupid boy projects".
posted by harriet vane at 8:03 PM on August 4, 2022
posted by harriet vane at 8:03 PM on August 4, 2022
Best answer: I think you'll enjoy Cristine of Simply Nailogical putting 100+ coats of nail polish on her nails, aka Polish Mountain. She followed this up with 100+ coats of clear nail polish, aka Return to Polish Mountain. You can watch her sanity erode as she paints her nails for hours, condensed into snappy and entertaining videos.
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:05 PM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:05 PM on August 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Worst Idea of All Time, the podcast where two comedians watch the same bad movie every week for a year (s1=Grown Ups 2, s2=Sex and the City 2, s3=We Are Your Friends)
Til Death Do Us Blart, the podcast where they team up with the McElroy brothers to watch Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 every thanksgiving since 2015
posted by Nickel at 8:15 PM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Til Death Do Us Blart, the podcast where they team up with the McElroy brothers to watch Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 every thanksgiving since 2015
posted by Nickel at 8:15 PM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I TURNED CAPS LOCK ON FOR A WEEK AND EVERYONE HATED IT
posted by rpophessagr at 8:42 PM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by rpophessagr at 8:42 PM on August 4, 2022 [3 favorites]
Three boys eat instant ramen in creative ways for a week. The beer ramen looks nasty.
posted by whitelotus at 9:14 PM on August 4, 2022
posted by whitelotus at 9:14 PM on August 4, 2022
Super Size Me and The Year of Living Biblically
posted by subocoyne at 11:04 PM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by subocoyne at 11:04 PM on August 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Joe Queenan wrote about spending a day living like Mickey Rourke. Smoking Marlboros by the dozen, befuddling drunken strangers with existential bon mots ("some people never go crazy, what truly horrible lives they must lead"), rolling around in the gutter between visits to bars and porn palaces, threatening members of the press. It's one of the essays collected in his book If You're Talking to Me, Your Career Must Be in Trouble.
posted by TayBridge at 1:31 AM on August 5, 2022
posted by TayBridge at 1:31 AM on August 5, 2022
Best answer: My ex-husband watched Mortal Kombat: Annihilation every day for an entire year and made a podcast about it.
It is a terrible movie, and that was a very long year.
posted by a.steele at 9:50 AM on August 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
It is a terrible movie, and that was a very long year.
posted by a.steele at 9:50 AM on August 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
On the borderline between madness and a TV deal, Danny Wallace's mate Dave Gorman has done a few of these, ranging from meeting lots of other Dave Gormans, to an American road trip visiting only non-chain businesses.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 6:15 PM on August 5, 2022
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 6:15 PM on August 5, 2022
Best answer: Have you ever wanted a suit made of rotting food to attract a charming group of raccoons?
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 6:44 PM on August 5, 2022
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 6:44 PM on August 5, 2022
Best answer: "I, a total loser, came in last place in my fantasy football league. As punishment, I spend 24 hours in a Waffle House. Every waffle I eat shaves an hour off the clock. It’s 4:07 Central."
posted by Omission at 6:58 AM on August 9, 2022
posted by Omission at 6:58 AM on August 9, 2022
Best answer: Traveling to and cataloguing all locations of the collapsing diner chain G.D. Ritzy's in the U.S. Midwest. Then just keep going on road trips to dozens of other chain stores in the "brown dwarf" stage of the corporate life-cycle.
posted by JDC8 at 10:40 AM on August 10, 2022
posted by JDC8 at 10:40 AM on August 10, 2022
Best answer: I Wore JNCO Jeans for Seven Days to Find Myself
posted by msbrauer at 6:02 PM on August 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by msbrauer at 6:02 PM on August 11, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you to everyone but especially to Gotanda who posted The Stinky Meat Project, an early days of the web thing that I didn't think was still out there, and I deeply loved at the time. Amazing stuff here!
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:41 AM on August 22, 2022
posted by tiny frying pan at 8:41 AM on August 22, 2022
[comment deleted because I posted it in the wrong thread.]
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:13 AM on August 22, 2022
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:13 AM on August 22, 2022
« Older Cheaper way to get generic Adderall? | Story about husband in a coma, maybe 19th-century? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by songs about trains at 6:43 AM on August 4, 2022 [6 favorites]