Oddity Central |
- The Colorful Street Carpets of Semana Santa, in Antigua
- A380 Themed Restaurant Lets You Experience Airplane Dining without the Turbulence
- Creepy Pillow-Phone Hugs You While You Talk to Loved Ones
| The Colorful Street Carpets of Semana Santa, in Antigua Posted: 03 May 2012 03:42 AM PDT
In some Central American countries like Guatemala and Honduras, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is celebrated in a colorful fashion, by creating beautiful street carpets made of sand and sawdust and decorated with plants and flowers, called alfombras. And nowhere are they most beautiful than in Antigua. Easter is a very special celebration in all Catholic countries, but the people of Antigua manage to take it to a whole new level, every year. During the month of lent, processions run through the city streets, each Sunday, with people carrying large statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. It’s truly a sight to behold, but it’s nothing compared to what happens during the last week before Easter. Local families and businesses work together to create the alfombras, incredibly beautiful carpets made of sand and sawdust, right on the cobblestone streets of Antigua. Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr The creation of alfombras begins on the last Sunday before Easter, when the bumpy cobblestone streets of the old Guatemalan city are covered with a layer of leveled sand, to create a nice plane base for the carpets. Then, the sawdust goes through a screen, to keep any rough pieces from ruining the intricate patterns, and richly colored dyes are added. Once the colored sawdust is ready, people start creating the beautiful alfombras by spreading it over the layer of sand, adding various designs inspired by Mayan tradition, Christian religion and nature, using carefully-carved wooden stencils. Some of these stencils are passed on from generation to generation, but new ones are created every year, so the design of the alfombras is always unique. Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr There are no rules to creating a colorful street carpet in Antigua; some people just drop some pine needles, flowers and vegetables over the colored sawdust, while others spend hours creating intricate patterns for their carpets. To make sure the wind doesn’t ruin all their hard work, the people of Antigua constantly use watering cans to keep the sawdust wet and compacted. The volume of work that goes into these intricate works of art is beyond impressive, considering a lot of them span over several blocks, and some are even a mile long. Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr In Antigua, people create alfombras throughout Holy Week, but the most beautiful are created on Thursday night, hours before Good Friday. Many locals race through night to make sure their colorful carpets are ready before the big procession is carried out early in the morning. They are all a feast for the eyes, and it’s hard to believe all these people work only to see their masterpieces ruined under the feet of others, as the procession comes through. Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr It seems almost unfortunate to see all those beautiful alfombras destroyed, but the art of carpet making in Antigua is sacrificial in nature. Just like Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for mankind, so the people dedicate themselves to making these beautiful street carpets only to see them destroyed. As soon as the procession passes the alfombras, the cleaning team is right behind them clearing the sand and sawdust and leaving just a few speckles of sawdust of what were once unique works of art. Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr Photo: Roberto Urrea/Flickr
All photos via Roberto Urreas incredible photostream on Alfombras de Guatemala If you find these street carpets beautiful, you might one to check out the sand carpets of La Otorava and the flower carpets of Genzano.
The Colorful Street Carpets of Semana Santa, in Antigua was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| A380 Themed Restaurant Lets You Experience Airplane Dining without the Turbulence Posted: 03 May 2012 01:32 AM PDT
Don’t you ever which you could just experience eating in a jumbo jet without actually having to pay a ticket and fly to who knows where? Me neither, but apparently there are people out there who love to eat on an airplane, otherwise why would anyone open an A380 jumbo jet themed restaurant, right? Recently opened in Chongqing, China, the A380 restaurant tries to replicate the interior of the world’s largest passenger airliner, and comes complete with a crew of waitresses trained to talk and act like real stewardesses. The windows, adjustable seats, carpets, and even the cabin lighting have all been inspired by the A380, but luckily you’ll find more than the usual airplane food on the menu. The restaurant covers and area of 600 square meters and currently has 18 employees, including 9 flight attendants that had to go through a series of courses on how to apply their make up and act just like actual stewardesses. Photo: CFP Believe it or not, this is actually the world’s second A380 themed restaurant. The first one is located in Taipei, Taiwan, and looks a lot more like the airplanes I usually travel in, which means it’s a bit more crowded and some of the food actually comes in plastic trays. The A380 looks a lot more luxurious, and judging by the price of its special ovular seats, 10,000 yuan ($1,590), it’s not exactly the kind of place where anyone can take their kids to show them what the world’s largest passenger plane looks like on the inside. Photo: CFP Photo: CFP
Video of the A380 restaurant in Taipei via China.org A380 Themed Restaurant Lets You Experience Airplane Dining without the Turbulence was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Creepy Pillow-Phone Hugs You While You Talk to Loved Ones Posted: 03 May 2012 12:46 AM PDT
Hugvie, the huggable robotic pillow-phone invented by Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, of Osaka University, has a heartbeat and internal vibrators meant to make it seem more human-like as you put your arm around it imagining it’s the person hundreds of miles away. The concept of enhancing long-distance phone conversations between loved ones isn’t new. Kissinger, the long distance kiss messenger, and the kiss transmission device invented by other Japanese researchers have also tried to make long-distance conversations more personal by making the protagonists feel closer to each other. Hugvie is basically a robotic pillow with a human shape that acts as a port for your mobile phone. It’s got its own heartbeat and internal vibrators that react faster and stronger, depending on the tone of the conversation. It sounds like an interesting device, but a lot of people find it just a little bit creepy. Right now, the Hugvie isn’t the most advanced robot to come out of Japan, but professor Ishiguro, who has made a name for himself by creating human-like androids, believes he can take his Telenoid technology further, by turning Hugvie into a robot with an internal frame and lots more sensors and vibrators. This would make the pillow-phone much more realistic and also end the hugs long distance; when you hug the pillow, the Hugvie on the other end would move accordingly. But even in the current state, the robot pillow is believed to become a hit with families, lovers and elderly people taking to far-away relatives. I do understand the idea behind Hugvie, but I wouldn’t put my hands around this creepy-looking pillow if you paid me. It looks too much like something out of a Japanese horror movie for me to even go near it, so for now I’ll just stick to Skype video calls, thank you very much.
Creepy Pillow-Phone Hugs You While You Talk to Loved Ones was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
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