Oddity Central |
- Artist Makes Stunning Sculptures from Shattered CDs
- This Norwegian Princess Can Teach You How to Talk to Angels
- Renowned Photographer Spends over 10 Years Building 35-Foot-Long Camera by Hand
- Hang on to Your Panties: Thai Man Collects 11,000 Pairs of Women’s Underwear in 30 Years
| Artist Makes Stunning Sculptures from Shattered CDs Posted: 20 Feb 2012 01:19 AM PST
Instead of throwing away old CDs, like most of us do, Sean Avery transforms them into incredible sculptures he classifies as sustainable art. Sure, you’ve seen CDs used as decorations before, but I assure you, they’re nothing like what this man makes. Pieces of shattered CDs are pretty hard to work with when you’re trying to recreate an organic shape, but somehow Sean Avery manages to piece together animal and bird models that look amazingly realistic. Using special layering techniques, he is able to make something as pointy and sharp as CD shards look as smooth as feathers or animal fur. “I blend many different man made materials together to make them appear strangely organic, with a distinct sense of movement” the artist reveals about his unique process. Now that the iPod and other players have rendered music CDs obsolete, it’s nice to know there’s someone who can breath new life into them, by creating a menagerie of crystal-like creatures. If you want to learn more about Sean Avery’s incredible artworks, or order yourself on of his extraordinary creations check out his official site.
Artist Makes Stunning Sculptures from Shattered CDs was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| This Norwegian Princess Can Teach You How to Talk to Angels Posted: 20 Feb 2012 12:43 AM PST
A princess talking to angels – sounds like a chapter right out of a fairy-tale, doesn't it? Turns out it isn't. Real-life Norwegian Princess Martha Louise can not only converse with the unearthly beings, but also teach you how to do it. Last Thursday saw the release of her second book on the subject, with co-author Elisabeth Nordeng. The book called 'The Secrets of Angels,' is a sequel to the 2009 'Discover Your Guardian Angel.' According to the two women, angels are real and they do exist just for us. In fact, the angels supposedly want to be in touch with us and help us, all we need to understand is how they operate and how they get in touch. Princess Martha Louise says that she realized her innate abilities to contact angels and read people's inner feelings as a child. She is also trained in physical therapy and has always been interested in alternative forms of treatment. Photo © Mona Nordøy The 40-year-old Princess is the daughter of King Harald and Queen Sonja, and fourth in line to the Norwegian throne. However, she renounced her title of Princess Royal in order to further her spiritual pursuits. She went on to establish the Astarte Education Center along with Nordeng, where students are taught to "use angels and your own power to create miracles in your life." The school mainly focuses on meditation and self-development. On their official website, Princess Martha Louise talks about something even stranger than conversing with angels – she actually learned to do it through horses! "It was through horses that I learned to communicate with animals, and it was while I worked with horses that I came in contact with the angels," she says. Any takers? Oh come on, the courses are just $2,600 a year (taught only in Norwegian, though). This Norwegian Princess Can Teach You How to Talk to Angels was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Renowned Photographer Spends over 10 Years Building 35-Foot-Long Camera by Hand Posted: 20 Feb 2012 12:25 AM PST
In a world where all things small are considered beautiful and cool, a photographer is doing something quite drastically different from the norm. Dennis Manarchy is in the process of creating a camera that is so huge, it captures 24-foot tall realistic photographs of incredible detail. Photoshop-ing these pictures would be totally out of the question. The camera itself is a thing of wonder. It's huge, to say the least. At 35 feet long, 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide, it's large enough to fit a small apartment into. Manarchy is in the process of collecting more funds to make the camera functional, and in the meantime, he has a working immobile model, equally large, fixed in his studio. It uses negatives that are 4.5×6 feet in size. An actual window needs to be used as a lightbox to view them. As opposed to dipping the negatives in chemicals, they need to be showered with the stuff in order to be developed. The resulting photographs are of such pristine detail that even the fleck of an eyelash or pores on the skin can be viewed clearly. Of course, blown up photographs of people are not new, we get to see plenty of those every day on billboards. However, the difference with Manarchy's photographs is that with film this large, the detailing offered is 1,000 times greater. The quality of these pictures is something else, rather surreal I must say. I'm looking at this portrait of an American Indian by Manarchy, for instance, and it is quite eerie to be able to see the fine wrinkles, pores and hair on his face. It's like the person is right before me. Manarchy says it isn't easy working with a camera and film of such size; for one, there are no retakes, you can't click away like you would with a digital camera. A portrait of any person is made only once, so everything needs to be planned out well. Speaking of plans, Manarchy has big ones for his dream camera. Once he's able to take it out on the road, he plans to travel over 200,000 miles with it across all 50 states. His aim is to create a collection of photographs that tell the stories of American culture and history, the ones that have played their role in shaping the nation. Pictures of cowboys, Eskimos, Cajuns, Native Americans and WW2 veterans, will all be part of the project called 'Vanishing Cultures'. After the trip, Manarchy plans to have the 24 feet photographs displayed along with the negatives in stadiums all over America. Now, that's something I'd call a life-sized project.
via Slate.com Renowned Photographer Spends over 10 Years Building 35-Foot-Long Camera by Hand was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Hang on to Your Panties: Thai Man Collects 11,000 Pairs of Women’s Underwear in 30 Years Posted: 20 Feb 2012 12:00 AM PST
Some hobbies are downright disgusting. Like this guy from Thailand who collected 10,000 pairs of women's underwear. No that's not the gross part. What's truly disturbing is that he smelled them all the time, even while he was driving. Ewww, right? Apparently, his obsession was not just for underwear, but also for the stealthy way he obtained them. The police were tipped off about the thief after he broke into a building in Chinatown, Bangkok along with an accomplice. When they raided his home, to their surprise, they found not cash or jewels, but a whopping 10,000 pairs of underwear. And an additional 1,000 were in his vehicle. He then admitted that he had been breaking in and stealing female panties since the age of 18. He is now 48, so there was actually was literally 30-years-worth of underwear in there! Unfortunately, they could only arrest him on grounds of breaking and entering, since no one had actually reported any missing underwear. And I don't suppose anyone would be interested in getting their missing garments back, either. We’ve featured some pretty odd collectors here on Oddity Central, like the man who collects bellybutton lint, or the woman who collects creepy clowns, but this is definitely the most disgusting one. On the bright side, at least he’s not stealing them off women while they’re wearing them… And if you din’t think this news was funny, check out the video below, I found this guy’s version hilarious.
via Weird Asia News Hang on to Your Panties: Thai Man Collects 11,000 Pairs of Women’s Underwear in 30 Years was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
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