Every week, Kickstarter staff collect a few of our favorite, recently launched projects to share with all of you. This week's projects all involve a little bit of serendipity—we've got the stories of strangers, a lost Oscar-winning film, and free art. Check it out!

MIXED MEDIA: "Strangers" Season 2

Lea Thau is interested in stories. For ten years, she was the Executive & Creative Director of storytelling organization The Moth. Now, her new project is called Strangers, a podcast where people tell true stories of their lives that are frequently funny, occasionally heartbreaking, always interesting. Lea interviews each storyteller for hours, and then picks out the wonderful, poignant moments to piece together an enrapturing, coherent story. (It doesn't hurt that Lea's also a Peabody award-winning producer!)

DOCUMENTARY: FINDING KUKAN -- A Documentary Feature Film

Amazingly, there is an Oscar-winning documentary that's been lost. For many years there was no print of Kukan, a film made by a Chinese American author from Hawaii named Li Ling-Ai and a freelance photographer from the Midwest named Rey Scott. The film featured some of the first color footage of China, shedding light on a largely forgotten period of time when China and America were close allies. It captured the fascination of filmmaker Robin Lung, who is now making a feature documentary about her quest to restore a badly damaged print of Kukan and tell the story of the woman behind the film.

PUBLIC ART: The Free Art Machine

Well this is pretty neat—two Chicago artists have made a crazy thing called The Free Art Machine, which produces free art for just a dollar a unit. The art gets displayed in a public space, where anyone is free to take a piece off the wall and bring it home. The artist's information is on the back of each piece, so the art-appreciator and contact them and look at more of their work if it moves them. It's an experiment that simultaneously supports local Chicago artists while cultivating art appreciation. Plus, submission for free art is open, so you can send in your own images!

MIXED MEDIA: FlipBooKit - Mechanical Flipbook Art and Kit

This project basically reinforces my suspicion that kinetic artists make some of my favorite Kickstarter projects. Mark Rosen and Wendy Marvel (two of such wonderful people) made series of motorized flipbooks based on the motion studies of Edweard Muybridge in 2011. It was such a success that they felt that they had to make a kit to make the whole process accessible to everyone. They teamed up with their friend, inventor and manufacturing designer Steven Goldstein to make the FlipBooKit, which allows you to make your own magical flipbooks!

ANIMATION: Masaaki Yuasa's "Kick-Heart"

"Kick-Heart"—a project with a serendipitous name—is an animated love story between Romeo, a successful pro-wrestler, and Juliet, a nun who lives a secret double-life as a female pro-wrestler. "What if a 'Sadistic' type lady wrestler and a 'Masochistic' type male wrestler were to fight together—how would they interact together?" asks director Masaaki Yuasa. Good question. Well there is only one way to find out.

Nothing better than winding down the work week with a full array of fruit in a bowl with feet. Wait, what? What I meant to say is, we got a lot of packages, and one of them happened to be the Efeet Bowl with, um, feet! Their goal was to take a stand against boring dishware — and from my vantage point, it looks like they succeeded marvelously. Hopefully the bowl won't run away with my pear. (Rim shot!)

It seems like Efeet bowl backers aren't the only ones getting hooked up with new works, as Philosophy Posters have officially gone from the printer into the homes and workplaces of backers who helped the project succeed. It's become so apparant that creator Max Temkin created a site for people to submit photos of their posters. Apparently these make excellent wedding gifts, though be sure to steer clear of Heidegger, just to keep things on the lighter side.  

The Efeet Bowl is important since doctors and Moms agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you are heading out to the New York Art Book Fair, you will likely agree that enjoying a healthy breakfast (in a bowl with feet) is the best way to wake up before going to see hundreds of artists and publishers present their independent works at MoMa PS1 this weekend. We've got a lot of creators participating in the annual event, including Shifter Magazine, Mono.Kultur's collection of the neon light installations of Robert Montgomery, art-and-event space Triple Canopy, and indie publishers Ugly Duckling Presse. You can also check out Singular Beauty, a photo-doc on the world of cosmetic surgery, Mossless Magazine, Art Bandanas for Wildlife Identification, and work from Princess Dies — among many, many others. Like I said, be sure to eat your Wheaties. 

Before we head off into the sunset, we couldn't let you go without passing along this giant guitar on fire. Or, as some of you may know it, Indoclip's "Street Justice", a music video project where the band was going to set fire to a massive guitar. Backers, this is going to look awesome on VHS. Enjoy!