People Are Awesome looked back at all the great videos of folks doing impressive things over the past year and put them all together together for you. These athletic young people show off amazing skills while having the time of their lives.

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The activities themselves are pretty offbeat. There are two guys playing ball while skydiving. A fellow hits a golf ball, aiming for his buddy's mouth. Several people, unaware of each other, use inner tubes as targets of one sort or another. Some I can't figure out what they're doing, but they are all awesome. -via Tastefully Offensive

These guys traveled all the way to Switzerland to throw basketballs. But it paid off when they landed a basket from 493 feet above and set a new world record! Australian trick shot artists Brett Stanford, Derek Herron, and Scott Gaunson, together known as How Ridiculous, took turns tossing a ball from the top of Mauvoisin Dam in Valais, Switzerland in September. Herron had the third shot, and it went in the basket at the bottom of the dam!

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How Ridiculous had actually held the world record twice before for the highest basketball shot, but were outdone by Dude Perfect last year. Now that they've reclaimed the title, it will be hard for anyone else to find a place to even attempt to break it. Read more about the stunt at the Guinness World Records site. -via The Daily Dot

In his workshop in Hakone, Japan, a master craftsman shows us the art of Yosegi-zaiku. You really should watch the video before you read the Wikipedia article on it, because you'll enjoy discovering what it's all about as he goes through the process.

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Also, the video itself is beautiful and soothing, with lovely music. If you spot any finished Yosegi-zaiku products in a shop, or maybe in a friend’s home, you’ll be glad you can explain what goes into it.  -via reddit

Mike Phirman does a snake puppet that lip-syncs (if a snake had lips) to the song Sterling Holloway sang in The Jungle Book. Actually, he doesn’t even have a puppet -he’s using just his two hands!

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It’s a trick that’s as mesmerizing as the animated sequence, simply because he’s so good at it. -via reddit

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This guy is amazing! He doesn't need rope or hooks. He moves so quickly up the enormous tree that his method looks more like running that climbing. And since he's been caught on camera doing it, he'll have to submit to the government in keeping with the Mutant Registration Act.

-via Geekologie

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The Packard Brothers are simple men. All they want on a hot summer day is an ice cold beer. So they turn to each other and say, "Hey, pass me a beer." Then they deliver cans of beer in extraordinary ways.

We've previously seen their acrobatic beer passing. Now they're back with more trick shots featuring a summer fun theme to promote Old Milwaukee Beer.

-via Tastefully Offensive

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At least I assume that this gentleman in China is using telepathy or magic. It's got to be one of the two. He flips what appears to be cookies over and into patterns with phenomenal skill. Each one moves precisely where he wants it to. Like many street cooks, he's as much a performer as a chef.

-via Atlas Obscura

America’s Got Talent is going through the audition round for their new season. This guy comes out with tape over his face, so they can’t talk to him. He’s a mime. There’s not a lot of market for mimes these days, but he puts a clever twist to what he does, and he does it well.

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It’s a real hoot, but it's one of those acts that delight you when you see it -once. You have to wonder how he’s going to step it up to remain competitive over time. -via Viral Viral Videos

Today is National Tap Dance Day! You might think tap is an obsolete form of dance, but the troupe Syncopated Ladies puts a modern twist to their routines.

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Here they dance to Prince’s song “When Doves Cry.” They dance in perfect rhythm with very little repetition in the routine. This had to take some real work to learn.

Want to see more tap? Check out these 12 famous tap dance routines.

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When you want to meet a woman who knows how to use a whip, go to April Choi. I mean, she has an entire wall full of whips, some of which she uses while cosplaying as Catwoman. She makes them herself, so you know that you're dealing with an expert.

In this video, Choi demonstrates her remarkable skill. She plays Jenga by slapping one piece at a time out of the stack using just her whip.

-via Jeremy Barker

2CELLOS are back with a little number that blends Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with “Whole Lotta Love” from Led Zeppelin. By the time they are finished, it’s four cellos.

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Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser were once rivals for the title of hottest best cello player in Croatia, and then teamed up to form 2CELLOS. Which was a great move. Hear more of their music in previous posts at Neatorama.

-via Buzzfeed

Richie Jackson is a different kind of skateboarder. Rather than going faster, higher, or longer than the next guy, he looks at the possibilities of using his skills to do odd tricks that other skaters never think about.

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Jackson’s tricks are not only impressive, but downright entertaining. How does he do it? With years of practice, risk-taking, and well-waxed shoe soles. -via the A.V. Club

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You're impressed, but the Master is just bored. This is nothing to him. In fact, he doesn't even need a knife to perform this feat. He can use just his mind. But he knows that makes the other cooks uncomfortable.

Teach me, Sensei.

-via That's Nerdalicious!

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YouTube user MarcoRubo created this video of him juggling 3 Rubik's Cubes and successfully solving all 3 puzzles in just 20 seconds! That's amazing!

But it doesn't impress everyone. The Telegraph notes that some people on the internet think that the video is fake:

"It's definitely being played in reverse," says Reddit user TarmacFFS. "The throws are too effortless and the catches have too much force. You don't just open your hand and something flies out of it, and you don't yank objects out of the air. […]

The theory that the video is played backwards appears to be the most popular – with other critics suggesting that the sound effects were dubbed in afterwards. One commenter even notes that viewers conveniently can't see the mouth of anybody speaking.

-via Geek Tyrant

UPDATE 3/24/16: It's fake.

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The task of the game of Jenga is to remove blocks from the pile without collapsing the stack. 16-year old George Hirst of Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, UK had the onerous task of removing the only block on the very bottom of the pile. This means that the entire stack would be completely distabilized.

Amazingly, when George pulled out the block, the stack neatly dropped down completely intact! You can read more at the Telegraph (auto-start video).

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The Playgrounds is a new golf course designed for kids and families at the Bluejack National Country Club near Houston, Texas. Tiger Woods helped design the new course. He was there when it was inaugurated by the very first players. First up was11-year-old Junior PGA member Taylor Crozier, who scored a hole-in-one! A good time was had by all. -via Tastefully Offensive

Step 1: get into a split position.

We'll get back to you once you've accomplished that task.

Now, step 2: move to the finish line 10 meters away before anyone else does.

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Kazumi Kawahara, who I think is the victor in the contest above, is also the Guinness World Record holder for the fastest 10-meter split mover. She completed it in 16.90 seconds and, as you can see in the video, does so with a bold swagger.

I'd like to think that in a better future, international disputes would be settled through split contests like this one.

-via Atlas Obscura

French professional skier Candide Thovex (previously at Neatorama) returns to give us a POV thrill as he does impossible, or at least illegal, things while sliding on snow at terrifying speeds.   

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Watch out for that tree! And the pond! And the helicopter! Thovex really went out of his way to raise the wow factor from the previous installment in this series. The overall effect is that of a human Rube Goldberg device on snow. You have to wonder how many broken bones must one endure on the way to becoming this good. -via Digg  

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S.O.A.R. Dunk is a ministry team at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The members perform amazing acrobatic feats with basketball equipment. Last week, the team demonstrated what they can do in a performance at Central Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Virginia.

In this phenomenal display of coordination and teamwork, seven members of the team jumped off a trampoline, handing off the basketball in midair, before dunking it at the end--and shattering the church's backboard.

Oops!

-via reddit

Swiss professional freestyle skier Nicolas Vuignier has been experimenting with point-of-view photography. In this video, he swings his iPhone 6 on a string, around in circles over his head. While skiing. This excellent video came after almost two years of experimenting, so if you try it, the first result will not be as good.

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It didn’t even harm the phone! Vuignier promises a making-of video soon. -via Viral Viral Videos

Pursuant the Mutant Registration Act, Marisa Arriaga of Cedar Hill, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, must submit to government supervision. She might have avoided that fate, had she not recorded her amazing abilities last June. She tells Fox 4 News that it’s just a bat trick, but I think that it’s clearly superpowers at work:

"I just started messing around,” said Arriaga. “I'm like, ‘I'm gonna make a bat trick video.’ So I got my sister out here and she was recording me.” […]

LaTisha Griffin, Arriaga’s softball coach, says Arriaga has crazy good skills.

"The finish is something she does all the time in the game, sending the ball a yard or going outfield with the ball with that complete swing through the zone, that's something she does all the time,” said Griffin.

-via Matthew Caverhill

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The good people of Kuma Films travel around the world, documenting the amazing physical abilities of people. They demonstrate that dance is not something limited to a formal choreography, but any bodily movement that is perfected with time and talent.

In the past, we’ve seen their videos of lightsaber training, contact juggling, yoyo tricks, and cardistry. Now they bring us a man who dances in, around, through, and with a steel cube.

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Have you ever seen someone show you self-tying shoelaces? It's not a great invention, but a clever bit of prestidigitation. Dave Hax shows you how this illusion is done so that you can fool other people. You'll need a bit of string, an extra shoelace, and a willingness to wear pants.

Hax is one of the best treasures of YouTube. He's filled with great household tricks and tips like this one, including how to burn a candle underwater, set up a pretty flower arrangement, and steal pizza without getting caught. Hax does not disappoint in his latest offering.

-via 22 Words

If you're a foreigner, then Norway's winter weather right now is brutal. But if you're Norwegian, then it's just a bit breezy outside. Trym Nordgaard illustrates the Norwegian attitude as he casually sips his coffee in the morning.

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Content warning: foul language.

-via Boing Boing

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Give Justin Fiddler a hammer--specifically, a Stiletto brand hammer--and step back. He slings that hammer around like an acrobat. It flies through the air with ease, as though Fiddler is controlling it with his mind.

When he's done, Fiddler slides the hammer back into its holster in a single, smooth motion. Nailed it!

-via Laughing Squid

The concept of “Hey, y’all, watch this!” has been elevated to an art form. Luc Bergeron (Zapatou) gives us a 21-minute compilation of the best internet videos from 2015. It’s absolutely beautiful, and breathtaking.

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The first seven minutes are extreme human stunts that may leave you dizzy. Starting at about seven minutes in, you may become verklempt. At 8:15, it become adorably cute. Then animals jump in. We also see some great special effects. At 12 minutes in, the stunts start again, with a fast-moving sequence of vehicle videos. At 15 minutes, we see the art of video. At 16:30, the dancing begins. At 18 minutes, we see the beauty of places. And more stunts. These videos would not be possible -or be as good- without GoPros, drones, high definition, and video stabilizing technology. And a bunch of fearless people.  -via Viral Viral Videos

See more of Zapatou's videos. 

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Ase Marie Nordhagen, 90, of Norway loves soccer, especially the task of "keep ups." This is keeping a ball in the air by bouncing it off one foot continuously. She's been practicing since she was a little girl, once performing 1,000 without dropping it.

Now she's good for about 50 keep ups at a time, thanks to up to an hour of practice per day. Nordhagen loves it so much that, she explained to a Norwegian newspaper, "I can't go past the ball in the hallway without picking it up and performing a few tricks."

Try to keep up with her.

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Prem Kumar is, amazingly, still alive! His hands are in great condition, even though he regularly dips them in boiling oil.

Kumar, 65, is a chef in New Delhi. When he was young, he saw his father, from whom he inherited the restaurant, casually dip his hands in pots of boiling oil. Kumar tried it himself and found that he could do it, too.

Now people visit his shop not only for the fish, but for the amazing show he puts on. On request from his customers, he'll dip his hands in the oil.

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Are you worried about this practice being unhygenic? Don't! That oil is 200°C. It will kill any bacteria on his hands.

-via Oddity Central

The New Conformity is a trio of jugglers who perform with Cause & Effect Circus. They start off with synchronized juggling, which is nice to see. Then they start juggling each others’ balls. A nicer term for that would be tandem juggling.  

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They also do contact juggling, ball balancing, a hand dance, and even a Three Stooges-type routine. After all that, they just start showing off. -via Digg

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Michael Long sets up a bowling trick that is impossible--right up until the end when it works perfectly.

He sets two pins in the middle of the lane. Then he spins a bowling ball and sets it slowly moving forward. Meanwhile, he knocks over all but two pins with a second bowling ball.

The spinning ball slowly moves down the lane, weaving in between the pins set in the middle. Then it knocks over the two remaining pins at the end. Amazing!

-via Yababoon