A technique I came across whilst trawling the internet for yet more ideas to rip off is called “the zoom effect”, though having now given it a good bash, I prefer to call it “ZOOM AWESOMISATION”, as I feel this is a more accurate description. There are a lot of different ways to use the technique to create very different effects, but all of them involve manually adjusting the zoom on the lens during the exposure.
The most common and pedestrian use for this effect is to make stationary objects seem to be somehow in motion, or otherwise just to give such objects a bit of drama.
As you can see, here I have demonstrated the effect with Cuddles, the stuffed toy (it was a gift, alright?). Note that all I’ve done to the image in post-processing is very slightly alter the exposure, brightness, and contrast, I haven’t fiddled with the actual content at all (and this is the case with all photos in this entry).
Now, being a bit more adventurous, you can pause the zoom at the start of the exposure to produce a kind of ghost image, outside of the object.
Cuddles here, not presenting the most sinister subject but you get the idea. Pushing the concept further, you can increase the exposure, altering the look of the subject and distorting the background. 
This produces an almost water colour-like effect, feathering the edges and desaturating the colours. Now, add to the over-exposure a much faster twist of the zoom, and you get serious distortion.
Again, all I’ve done to this image in post-processing is slightly decrease the exposure again, and slightly increase the brightness and contrast. Looks pretty funky though, right? That’s because it’s been ZOOM AWESOMISED.
In Camera Obscura 