From Big Apple bodypainting to bizarre (and, frankly, macabre) Barbie mania in El Salvador, and a big peanut and bologna sandwich to zoo antics in China, it was another stellar week in our weird and wacky world.

FUNERAL HOME IN THE PINK

A funeral home in El Salvador has taken Barbie mania to an extreme, offering pink coffins with Barbie linings. The coffins are on sale at the Alpha and Omega Funeral Home in the city of Ahuachapan, near the border with Guatemala. Owner Isaac Villegas said he had already offered the option of pink coffins before the July premiere of the Barbie movie, but the craze that swept Latin America convinced him to decorate the cloth linings of the coffins with pictures of the doll. The coffins are also decorated with little white stars.

He said the funeral home has already launched a promotional campaign around the Barbie boxes and has sold 10 of them. “We are going to have more pink coffins, because people are asking for it,” he said.

Latin America jumped on Barbie mania with pink-colored tacos and pastries, commercial planes bearing the Barbie logo, political ads, and even Barbie-themed protests.

WHAT, NO MUSTARD?

An enormous bologna sandwich – billed as one of the world’s largest – was unveiled at a central Pennsylvania fair. The 45.7-metre-long sandwich was created at the Lebanon Area Fair by a large crew of volunteers known as the “Bologna Security.” Lebanon bologna is known for its distinct smoked and tangy flavour. Every footlong “bite” was sponsored at $100 per foot with money donated to charity. Sandwich-makers used 600 slices of provolone cheese and 1,200 slices of half-bologna to create 900 sandwiches, or six sandwiches per foot.

ZOO BEARS WITNESS

A zoo in eastern China is denying suggestions some of its bears might be people in costumes after photos of the animals standing like humans circulated online.
The sun bears from Malaysia are smaller than other bears and look different but are the real thing, the Hangzhou Zoo maintained on its social media account.
“Some people think I stand like a person,” said the posting, written from the bear’s point of view. “It seems you don’t understand me very well.” Other Chinese zoos have been accused of trying to pass off dogs dyed to look like wolves or African cats, and donkeys painted to look like zebras.

I COULD RUN FASTER THAN THAT

Somalia’s sports minister publicly apologized and ordered that the chairwoman of the national track and field federation be suspended after a seemingly untrained female sprinter represented the African country at the World University Games in China and took more than 20 seconds to finish a 100-metre race, at the same time skipping across the finish line.

The minister said he did not know how 20-year-old Nasra Abukar Ali was selected to compete in the event and his ministry separately directed the Somalia Olympic Committee to suspend national athletics federation chairwoman amid allegations that Nasra Abukar was a relative of hers and was given the chance to compete at the games because of that. A video of the agonizingly slow run was shared across social media and the minister said that the performance was embarrassing for Somalia.

BUMMER!

It was last call for Bodypainting Day in New York this summer with the final edition of an event that, for more than a decade, saw artists turning nude bodies into works of art. Taking place in Manhattan’s Union Square, more than 50 people were painted over four hours in Manhattan’s Union Square before marching through Greenwich Village, posing for a photo in Washington Square Park, riding a double-decker bus over the Manhattan Bridge and ending the day with a party in Brooklyn. Organizers

Organizer Andy Golub, who launched the extravaganza to underscore that nudity for artistic purposes is legal in New York City, despite occasional attempts by police to stop the event, mused that “It’s just been like a really positive experience of really celebrating freedom.” Golub decided this year’s event would be the last because it’s time to “move on and clear that plate.”

SOMETIMES YOU FEEL LIKE A NUT

Georgia’s Big Peanut is back. The roadside landmark along Interstate 75 in south Georgia was rededicated recently, nearly five years after an earlier version was felled by the winds of Hurricane Michael. This time, the giant goober is made of sheet metal, not fiberglass.

The Ashburn-Turner County Chamber of Commerce raised nearly $80,000 to replace the giant groundnut, which is a symbol of pride in the heart of south Georgia’s peanut belt, as well as an enticement for tourists to pull off the highway in the small town of Ashburn. The original monument had saluted motorists since 1975 until it was blown down on Oct. 10, 2018. The new peanut is painted in brown and beige architectural paint, and in a modern touch, is now illuminated by LED lights at night.