Oddity Central |
- 10 Coolest Finds of the Week #35
- B-Style – Japan’s Fascination with Black Lifestyle
- Hamster Villa Lets You Experience Life as a Small Rodent
- The Unique Hot Water Beach of New Zealand
| 10 Coolest Finds of the Week #35 Posted: 16 Apr 2012 10:35 AM PDT
School Shaped Like the Millennium Falcon Causes Internet Stir (Lehigh Valley Live) Ocean Predators Look Even Scarier Inside (Environmental Graffiti) Scottish Hotel Menu Includes Live Comedian (STV) World’s First Lickable Elevator Is Covered with Jaffa Cakes (Gizmodo) Museum Boss Covers His Car with Broken Pottery (The Sun) Woman Turns to Craiglist to Find Out Who Got Her Pregnant (NY Daily News) Too Good to Be True Masks Are Actually Hideous (Nerdcore) Still-Life Photos of Rotting Food Are Really Quite Beautiful (Laughing Squid) Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression – The Hottest Place on Earth (Environmental Graffiti) Realistic R2-D2 3D Cake Complete with Sound Module (Bit Rebels)
10 Coolest Finds of the Week #35 was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| B-Style – Japan’s Fascination with Black Lifestyle Posted: 16 Apr 2012 10:10 AM PDT
Young Hina has what is most coveted by Japanese women – pale skin. And yet, she visits tanning salons every week. Not just for a sun-kissed look, but for a deeper, darker shade. Hina is one of many young Japanese women who are crazy about B-Style (Black Lifestyle). They adore the African American pop/hip hop culture to such an extent that they are ready to compromise everything natural about their looks. After all, as Hina herself admits, "part of B-Style is that you do not look Japanese." So there are trips to the tanning salons along with hair braids, clothing and accessories that reflect B-Style to the core. For Hina it all started when her hair turned frizzy in high school. She then got interested in Black artists and found them pretty cool. Soon she found herself in a tanning salon for the very first time. Today, she is an employee at a trendy Tokyo boutique called Baby Shoop, completely dedicated to B-Style fashion. The boutique goes by the tag-line 'Black for Life'. Hina loves working there as she feels the shop is a "tribute to Black culture and also to their music, fashion and dance." And it's not just Hina but all the shop girls at Baby Shoop that undergo deep tanning on a regular basis. One of the shop girls points out, "Really, with a tan you look slimmer. You look healthy and of course great."
Hina's mother has no problems with what she has done with her appearance. "My girl has tattoos and many piercings," she proclaims. As long as Hina is not dying from cancer, it's all okay for her. "When you are young you can do these things, so I say, you do what you want." Now that sounds like a super-cool parent. Besides tanning and dressing up in B-Style, Hina and her friends also enjoy 'black nights' – hanging out with hip hop dancers, rappers and clubbers.
Photos: aramateydidnt.livejournal.com Source: MetropolisTV
B-Style – Japan’s Fascination with Black Lifestyle was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| Hamster Villa Lets You Experience Life as a Small Rodent Posted: 16 Apr 2012 09:52 AM PDT
According to French scenographer Yann Falquerho, sometimes people really do want to live like their caged pets. I'm not sure I do, but Falquerho must be right, because his creation – the Villa Hamster – is immensely popular. The hotel allows you to experience exactly what the life of a caged hamster is like. 42-year-old Falquerho had always felt that the hotel industry did not pay any attention to the animal transformation niche. So he decided to open his own hotel designed with a hamster theme. Villa Hamster opened in 2009 and has been very popular ever since then. Located in Nantes, western France, the hotel opened with a room tariff of $150 per night, but this was soon increased in accordance with the demand. "We have a lot of success with this little house. It is because of the concept to transform into an animal," Falquerho told the press just a couple of weeks after the hotel was inaugurated.
Photo: Cédric Chassé So what exactly do you get to experience at the Villa Hamster? Well, for starters, the place dates back to the 1700s and it has cages for rooms. Other features include hay stacks to sleep on (accessible only through step ladders) and human-sized running wheels. Organic hamster grains are served in little containers, while guests sip water through a tube. The people staying at Villa Hamster supposedly even scramble about on all fours.
Photo: Cédric Chassé Falquerho is so pleased with the success of his venture that he is reported to have been considering expanding into replicating other animal habitats for humans. "Perhaps if we made a special house where you can transform into a dog or a cat, it might be popular," he said. I myself find it quite surprising that so many people would want to experience living in a cage and eating hard grains, but Falquerho has heard only positive reviews of his hotel. "We always ask them, 'Why do you want to come into our house?' And every time they tell us, well, 'it was so strange so we wanted to see this house. We've never seen a place where we can transform into a hamster.'" It's interesting to note that the hotel appeals to both adults and children.
Photo: Cédric Chassé
via CBC.ca Hamster Villa Lets You Experience Life as a Small Rodent was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
| The Unique Hot Water Beach of New Zealand Posted: 16 Apr 2012 09:29 AM PDT
Can you imagine a beach where the water is actually hot? Seems unnatural, but there really is such a thing in New Zealand. Located on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula (about 175 km from Auckland), Hot Water Beach got its name from the underground hot springs which filter up through the sand in between the low and high water tidal reaches. The beach attracts a huge number of tourists every year (approx. 130,000) and is one of the most popular geothermal attractions of the region. What's even more interesting than Hot Water Beach itself is the ingenious way people create their own spas at the beach. This generally happens in the two-hour time frame before or after a low tide. During this period, you can actually dig large holes into the sand at the beach, allowing hot water to escape to the surface. A hot water pool is created in the hole – a natural spa of sorts. The water gets as hot as 64C (147F). Several tourists bring buckets and spades with them, and later relax in the large hole of thermal water they dug out.
Photo: Steve & Jem Copley Of course, safety is a concern at Hot Water Beach. The hot springs aren't really too far away from the sea even at low tide. Large breaking waves can harm visitors if they aren't alert at all times. Swimmers are also advised not to swim within 50 m either side of the off-shore rocks opposite the springs. If the safety precautions are followed, Hot Water Beach can be a real fun place to hangout. And the best part – entry is absolutely. Given how much I love hot water baths, this is now at the top of my must-visit-before-I-die list.
Photo: Steve & Jem Copley
The Unique Hot Water Beach of New Zealand was originally posted at OddityCentral.com |
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