Oddity Central |
- Mind-Blowing Portrait Created from Thousands of Coffee Stains
- Ultimate Tazer Ball – The Sport That Lets You Taze Your Opponents
- Man Chooses Pet Buffalo as Best Man at Vow Renewal Ceremony
- Artist Turns Creepy Crawlers into Steampunk Works of Art
| Mind-Blowing Portrait Created from Thousands of Coffee Stains Posted: 22 Feb 2012 01:52 AM PST
Just weeks after she took the Internet by storm with her incredible portrait of Yao Ming, created only with a basketball and red paint, Malaysian artist Hong Yi strikes again, this time with a realistic rendition of Taiwanese singer Jay Chou made with coffee stains. The young artist begins her unusual creative process by taking a sip of coffee. Like most of us, she spills some of it in the small saucer and that apparently inspires her to use the dirty bottom of the cup to start a sepia tone masterpiece. At first the coffee cup stains look just like the ones you can spot on table cloths in cheap restaurants, but as she progresses, her work starts to take shape. First you can make out the outline of the head, then the nose and mouth, the eyes, and before you know it you’re staring at a realistic portrait of Jay Chou made with coffee stains, and struggling to lift your jaw off the floor. Hong Yi, who also goes by the nickname “Red”, said “My painting is meant to look like a sepia-toned old photograph to capture the essence of this story”. She spent around 12 hours on this incredible piece, because not only did she paint the whole thing with just a coffee cup, but the had to get the coffee mixture just perfect, as the ring stains were permanent the moment they touched the canvas. For someone like me, who can’t paint a decent portrait with the best paintbrush money can’t buy, this kind of masterpiece is simply awe-inspiring, and I just can’t wait to see what this amazing artist comes up with next.
Mind-Blowing Portrait Created from Thousands of Coffee Stains was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Ultimate Tazer Ball – The Sport That Lets You Taze Your Opponents Posted: 22 Feb 2012 01:11 AM PST
If you've read or watched the Harry Potter series, you'd know that Quidditch has Bludgers that are hurled at opponents to make them lose control of the ball. While this could be fatal in real life, no one's ever thought much of it since it's only make-believe. But what if there really was a sport where players were armed with weapons to cause serious injuries to their opponents? That, my friends, is exactly what Ultimate Tazer Ball is all about. The weird sport actually allows players to use stun guns on members of the opposing team. I watched a few short videos of the sport being played, and in my opinion, there's nothing fascinating about it beyond the use of the stun guns. The ball used by the players is actually pretty huge, like a beachball, which makes it look like grown men running behind a kid's toy and trying to stun each other in the process. Menacing expressions are adopted, which I'm guessing is to provide the audience with some entertainment while in reality, nothing much is going on. But again, that's just my opinion, so let me tell you the rules of the game, and then I'll let you be the judge. Two teams of four people each compete to get the oversized ball into the opponents’ net. Only players in possession of the ball are allowed to be zapped. And that's pretty much it for Ultimate Tazer Ball. You can see why although the YouTube video has over 1 million hits, no one's actually buying the fact that this is a real game. Many believe it to be just another internet hoax. But 25-year-old Canadian Eric Prum is pretty serious about his creation and insists that it isn't fake. He's actually launching a league along with German business partner Erik Wunsch. The first tournament is scheduled to start in Bangkok in March. So far there are four teams on the league, Philadelphia Killawatts (are you kidding me?), San Diego Spartans, LA Nightlight and Toronto Terror.
According to Prum the tasers aren't really dangerous police-grade ones. They aren't lethal or cardiac-inducing either, since the stun guns used are of much lower amperage. Even so, the players are pretty vocal about the pain. While one of them claims in a video, "It hurts, man, it doesn't feel good,"and another one warns, "If you're scared, don't play." The creators of the game are quite bold to say that Ultimate Tazer Ball will soon become an "exciting sport of the future." I highly doubt that, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Ultimate Tazer Ball – The Sport That Lets You Taze Your Opponents was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Man Chooses Pet Buffalo as Best Man at Vow Renewal Ceremony Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:53 AM PST
People who renew their wedding vows will generally go to any lengths to get everything right the second time around. So this man from Quinlan, Texas, thought things through and realized that no one could make a better best man than Wildthing, his pet buffalo. A 2008 picture of the ceremony shows Ronald Bridges and his wife Sherron posing along with the towering Wildthing. You'd think the picture was morphed if you didn't know it really happened. The Bridges run a ranching business in Texas, and Ronald is actually pretty experienced in working with farm animals. So when Wildthing was born in 2005, Ronald decided to tame and raise him as a part of the family. When the buffalo responded beautifully to domestication, the Bridges kind of went overboard. They actually gave him a room of his own in the house where he could eat, sleep and come and go as he pleased. The only time he's not allowed inside is when they have guests over, as American Bison can actually be pretty temperamental and dangerous around people. But this did not discourage Ronald one bit from having Wildthing participate in the wedding ceremony, and his wife, Sherron, had no objections either. The 40 guests present at the event were surprised and cautious at the same time. They stayed clear of the huge bison throughout the whole thing, and there were no disruptions on account of Wildthing. He performed his duties as best man pretty well, and Ronald remembers he was specially brushed for the occasion and looked very smart. He even carried the rings on the tips of his horns. The Bridges say that Wildthing may look scary, but he's actually a real softie at heart. He loves being with the family all the time – relaxing on the grass with Ronald, playing with the rubbish wheelie bin and watching their daughter on the trampoline. At times he scratches himself against the side of the house or scrapes windows with his horns, and then he gets told off. So he goes away to sulk for a while, but he's back soon for more family-time. He sounds a lot like a dog-in-a-buffalo's-hide. Strangely enough, the Bridges aren’t the only family with a buffalo as a pet. Jim and Linda Sautner treat Bailey the Buffalo as a member of the family and even let him ride in their car, while young South-African Luke Michaelides is best friends with two African Buffaloes.
Photos via Daily Mail Man Chooses Pet Buffalo as Best Man at Vow Renewal Ceremony was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Artist Turns Creepy Crawlers into Steampunk Works of Art Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:26 AM PST
Insects have always freaked me out, so there's no way I'm falling for these half-steampunk versions. I do appreciate the craftsmanship of the creator, artist Lindsey Bessanson from Arizona. Given the pains that she goes through to create each masterpiece, her work certainly does deserve a mention. While Lindsey started off making insect jewelry in 2003, over the years she's perfected a unique routine to create her robo-bugs. She first got the idea when she realized some insects were just too beautiful to be cast in gold or silver for jewelry. So now, she takes dried, dead insects and puts them through a humidifier for a couple of days. With this, the legs and wings become more flexible, allowing her to fan them out and position them according to her liking. At this stage she is able to take the insect apart, as though it were a toy. She then strengthens all the joints with metal and puts everything back together again. The completed insect is pinned to a piece of Styrofoam so it can harden into the desired position. It takes her about two weeks to complete an insect sculpture. Some of Lindsey's works include the Desert Hairy Scorpion and Purple Dung Beetle with Metallic Gears. To me, those names sound like warriors from those old cheesy kung-fu movies, but in reality, Lindsey's creations are harmless compared to and somewhat less creepy than the living version. Her most favorite insects to work with seem to be tarantulas and scorpions. She obtains dead ones from eBay and from a few specialist entomologist websites. Sometimes, she finds a good-looking insect right at home and then it's her husband's job to put it in the freezer to die quickly and painlessly. Apparently, she can't do it herself because she feels for the insects she later turns into steampunk hybrids. "I can't even give them the last, 'Okay you're going to die now…' speech. It's too sad," she says. Lindsey's not the only one who likes the mechanized insects. A few colleagues who find her work fascinating provide her with a steady supply of interesting bugs as well. The completed pieces are all for sale between £75 ($120) and £190 ($300). Well, now you know what's the worst thing someone could get for my birthday!
Photos via Hadal Art Artist Turns Creepy Crawlers into Steampunk Works of Art was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
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