Oddity Central |
- 16-Year-Old Girl Is a Real-Life Barbie
- Seo Young Deok’s Bicycle Chain Sculptures Are Off the Chain
- Real-Life 50 First Dates: Teen Loses Memory Every 24 Hours
- Silbo Gomero – Tweeting Is an Actual Language on La Gomera Island
- New York Woman Makes a Living Catching Other People’s Cats
| 16-Year-Old Girl Is a Real-Life Barbie Posted: 24 Feb 2012 02:07 AM PST
Everyone meet Dakota (at least I think that’s her real name), she’s a 16-year-old girl who goes by KotaKoti and looks a lot like a Barbie doll. Recently, photos of her have gone viral on several Asia and Arabic social sites because of her incredible resemblance to Barbie. I stumbled upon some photos of KotaKoti while browsing a popular Vietnamese site for weird stories (yes, I do actually visit a lot Vietnamese sites, where else do you think I find all this crazy stuff) and was stunned by the resemblance between this girl and the popular Barbie doll. I mean, in some photos Iwas having trouble figuring out if she is actually a real person or just a life-size toy. I wasn’t able to find a lot of info on her, as she doesn’t seem to be as popular on western websites, and although she has her very own blog, it doesn’t have an “About” page or anything like that. KotaKoti incredible resemblance to Barbie has made her very popular in countries like Japan and China, where she has been featured on several news stations. Considered a cosplayer by a lot of her fans, the 16-year-old says she dresses like this pretty much all the time and she doesn’t mind it when people look at her funny. I seriously think she should move to Japan, I bet they would worship he there.
16-Year-Old Girl Is a Real-Life Barbie was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Seo Young Deok’s Bicycle Chain Sculptures Are Off the Chain Posted: 24 Feb 2012 01:05 AM PST
You’ve probably sculptures made from bicycle chains, but I bet they’re nothing like the ones created by South Korean artist, Seo Young Deok. The incredible ‘works of Seo Young Deok are clearly inspired by the shapes of the human body, but artists have been sculpting masterpieces based on our natural curves for hundreds of years. What makes this Korean designer special is the material he uses for his unique creations – bicycle chains. Miles of metal chains, to be exact, welded in such a way that they recreate the human body to the finest details. Deok says he finds inspiration for his art in crowded markets, and metro or bus stations, but also in Buddhist sculptures and paintings, which he has alway admired. “I like Asia Beauty” he says, “so most features of my work seem to take an Asiatic pose”. All of the artworks in Seo Young Deok’s newest series, Dystopia, are very impressive, but the 7ft 6in head called Nirvana clearly stands out. The stunningly detailed human head is made of over a mile of bicycle chains, and costs over $40,000. The artist spent over a year painstakingly welding every piece of chain to create this realistic masterpiece. His collection also includes a human torso that was completed in over two months, and an entire human body he finished in four months.
Seo Young Deok’s Bicycle Chain Sculptures Are Off the Chain was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Real-Life 50 First Dates: Teen Loses Memory Every 24 Hours Posted: 24 Feb 2012 12:12 AM PST
Drew Barrymore's character has a weird memory condition that makes her relieve the same day every time she wakes up. This pretty much the basis of the romantic comedy 50 First Dates. It’s a pretty interesting concept for a film, but in real life it would be considered a nightmare. Unfortunately, 19-year-old Jess Lydon has to go through something similar to this every day. Instead of returning to the past, Jess is actually trapped in the present. She has been affected by a rare condition known as Susac Syndrome that only allows her to remember what happened in the past 24 hours. Needless to say, this is highly upsetting to Jess and her family. It gets so bad sometimes that she cannot remember what she had for dinner the previous night, or what she did on Christmas and for her birthday. Looking at family pictures confuses her, as she can't recollect any of the events that took place. The worst part is that although she split up with her boyfriend almost 2 years ago, she wakes up thinking they're together every morning. Imagine having to relive a heartbreak every single day of your life. Susac syndrome is a brain disorder so rare that only 250 cases have been reported so far in the world. And victims like Jess suffer a lot more than just memory loss. She's also had severe headaches and dizziness, for which she was rushed to the hospital and had to endure three months of tests. What actually triggers the condition is not known. It may disappear in five years, or cause even more serious problems like loss of sight and hearing. Jesse Lydonn (photo by Hanna McKay) It's strange that a while ago, we wrote about this lady who remembers every single thing that happened in her life. And now there's Jess, who only remembers 24-hour's worth of events. They're both equally sad situations. I guess too much or too less of anything is hard to live with. via Mirror.co.uk Real-Life 50 First Dates: Teen Loses Memory Every 24 Hours was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Silbo Gomero – Tweeting Is an Actual Language on La Gomera Island Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:41 PM PST
The Silbo Gomero language sounds as sweet as the tweeting of Nightingales. Listening to this beautiful means of communication makes me wonder if birds are actually able to talk to each other in the same manner. Because the people of La Gomera island in the Canaries certainly do one heck of a job of talking through chirp-like whistles. Silbo Gomero is the name given to the language of whistles spoken on the small island of La Gomera, off the coast of Morocco. It is structured in such a way that the islanders are able to mimic the spoken language of the region – Castilian Spanish – through whistles. While there have been reports of other whistling languages in the world, Silbo Gomero is the only one that is fully developed and practiced by an entire community. It is so organized and thorough that every vowel and consonant can be replaced with a whistle. Depending on the pitch and the number of interruptions, the sounds can be distinguished from each other. Photo via Reflexiones de Manuel The language that is considered a cultural heritage of the region was actually under threat of dying out until recently. That's when the government decided to make it compulsory at school for children. Things have picked up since then, and now almost all the islanders are able to understand and speak the language. The beauty of Silbo Gomero lies in the fact that it can be heard over two miles away. It had to evolve that way in a region where hills and ravines made worded communication impossible. In fact, highly skilled speakers are able to send messages from one end of the island to another. I think that renders mobile phones pretty useless on the island of La Gomera.
Religious ceremonies and festivals see a peak in the usage of Silbo Gomero, but tourists can witness the amazing language everywhere they go, even at restautants, as the locals put on shows for that demonstrate just how complex their chirps can be.
Silbo Gomero – Tweeting Is an Actual Language on La Gomera Island was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| New York Woman Makes a Living Catching Other People’s Cats Posted: 23 Feb 2012 11:11 PM PST
If you've ever dreamed of living in New York, here's one more reason for you to move there – Jordana Serebrenik. The name of her business explains it all. She is the founder, owner and sole worker of Catch Your Cat, which pretty much sums up what she does. This 45-year-old resident of Murray Hill will come to your home, catch your cat and will do with it anything you want her to. Let's face it. Although cats are very adorable creatures, they are fierce when it comes to personal space. Even a hint of threat to their independence and some of them they will even snarl at their own masters. So imagine trying to get a pet cat into a carrier to go to the vet. It could be quite a daunting task. More so, for the elderly or the physically impaired. That's where Jordana and Catch Your Cat step in. For about $80, she will make sure the cat is in the box in no time at all. Photo © Librado Romero/NEW YORK TIMES She uses the punch-line "Can't get Fluffy into a carrier?" and her customers all praise her services. Alene Yarrow, a client, says it's worth every penny. "It takes away all the worry and concern off your shoulders. What she does is a blessing." If you're still not convinced, take a look at their Facebook page and you'll see the testimonials for yourself. According to Jordana, the business she started in 2010 has taken off due to the fact that she isn't emotionally attached to the cat in question. "It's not that I don't care. I care a lot, but I'm not emotionally tied to that animal, so I don't get cluttered in thought." What else could explain the swift moves and agility that allow her to grab any cat with such impressive ease?
Jordana acquired her special skills in the few years she did animal rescue work. When she realized her knack, she knew it could be turned into a profitable business. Today, she's a professional cat-nabber with several tools – red nylon net bags, a pair of Kevlar and leather gloves. The gloves are dotted with cat bite marks, but so far she’s had no major injuries attributed to her job. She sums up her entire attitude towards cats in one line, "I'm going to win, so just let me”. New York Times via Laughing Squid New York Woman Makes a Living Catching Other People’s Cats was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
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