Oddity Central |
- Guerrilla Gardener Turns Potholes into Miniature Works of Art
- Professional ‘Rinsers’ Take to the Internet to Find Generous Wealthy Men
- Unofficial Animal Registrar Performs Expensive Pet Weddings
| Guerrilla Gardener Turns Potholes into Miniature Works of Art Posted: 18 May 2012 05:28 AM PDT
Steve Wheen realized nobody likes to hit potholes on their way to work, so if authorities weren’t going to fill them, he would. Steve became a guerrilla gardener, traveling around the world and turning ugly potholes into charming miniature gardens. “Guerrilla Gardening has been around for a long time, in fact one of the earliest examples I know about is when wives of servicemen used to go out planting flowers along the train tracks during WW1 so their husbands would have a pretty journey home,” Steve Wheen says, but he’s taken it to a level where it’s perceived as an art form. The London-based artist started pothole gardening during his university years, partly to make art, partly as a hobby, and mostly to highlight how crappy East London’s streets were. Since then, he’s traveled to other big cities, like Milan, to turn potholes into tiny gardens featuring all kinds of small props. “For me, it's turning something crappy into something happy. It's making people stop and think about the environment around them, and I hope also gets them to slow down. People in London are always so busy and I think my gardens slow them down,” Wheen says about his work. He never claimed to be the world’s first guerrilla gardener, or even the first pothole gardener, for that matter, and even posts examples of other similar projects on his blog, The Pothole Gardener. He also encourages other gardening enthusiasts to send him photos of their own creative pothole gardening, so he can post them for everyone to see.
Photos: Steve Wheen/ThePotholeGardener.com Guerrilla Gardener Turns Potholes into Miniature Works of Art was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Professional ‘Rinsers’ Take to the Internet to Find Generous Wealthy Men Posted: 18 May 2012 04:35 AM PDT
Gold-diggers have been around for centuries, but according to a TV documentary this breed of women has been constantly evolving, and is now taking advantage of technology to land their benefactors. English Channel 4 has produced a documentary called “Sex, Lies and Rinsing Guys”, featuring three modern ‘rinsers’ who use their feminine charms to get wealthy followers on Facebook and Twitter to finance their glamorous lifestyles. Jeanette Worthington, Danica Thrall and Hollie Capper merely offer their admirers a virtual friendship and hardly ever meet them in person, but they expect expensive gifts for their efforts. “I want to teach women how to do it. What’s the point in scrimping and saving for all of your life when a muppet down the road is going to pay you £1,000 a month to live like a princess,” says one of the three expert rinsers. Jeannette Worthington (center) Photo: Channel 4 But how do these three English women get what they want from rich easily-manipulated men? Believe it or not, they don’t even have to meet them face to face mot of the time, all it takes is posting their wish lists on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and their Amazon accounts, and some occasional online flirting. “I do nice things for my friends and I don't expect them to have sex with me,” Jeanette says, confident her statement makes all the sense in the world. Expensive watches, dozens of Jimmy Choo shoes, exotic holidays are just some of the lavish gifts rich men have offered these rinsers just to get to know them better. 33-year-old Jeanette Worthington admits finding young guys in the rinsing business is very rare, like a four-leaf clover, and says most of her connections are elderly businessmen and divorcees. Although she realizes this kind of lifestyle does have its pitfalls and manipulating men can come at a price, the rinser says she couldn’t imagine her life any other way. She adds: “I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m not breaking any laws. If people are going to fall for it it’s their problem… They’re stupid.” Danica Thrall So just to clarify, rinsing means getting nice stuff for free without even have to meet who bought if for you. And, according to a journalist from the Guardian, a simple “thank you” is apparently too much. He went to Danica Thrall’s official site and bought her a copy of Britney Spears’ “Crossroads” movie she had on her wish list. Then he tweeted to her, letting her know about his little gesture, but got nothing back, not even a squeak. Men probably need to buy Danica much more expensive stuff to get a tweet back from someone like her. via Daily Mail Professional ‘Rinsers’ Take to the Internet to Find Generous Wealthy Men was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Unofficial Animal Registrar Performs Expensive Pet Weddings Posted: 18 May 2012 03:05 AM PDT
Ann Clark calls herself an “animal registrar“, which is just a fancy way of saying she performs weddings for pampered pets. You might think that’s a silly job, but she’s making up to £20,000 ($31,600) per event. Why should pets miss out on the unforgettable moments of getting married? That’s probably what Ann told herself, when she decided to become a pet wedding registrar, four years ago. She had heard of a man performing animal weddings in Liverpool, and thought it was a great idea. Like most children, she used to pretend her pets were getting married, only unlike most, she never grew out of it. She started advertising her wedding services on a website, and suddenly people were contacting her about pet weddings. It was a dream come true for the 55-year-old from Desborough, England. Photo: Izismile Clark says the base price for pet weddings is £150 ($240), which includes the wedding venue on her front lawn, as well as help on writing the wedding vows, but most people spend a lot more than that (from a few hundred pounds to several thousand). One lady splashed a whopping $32,000 on her beloved pet’s wedding, which included a harpist and a six-foot chocolate fountain, among other extravagant details. So far, the unofficial pet registrar has performed dozens of wedding ceremonies, and says her trade is in very high demand. Photo: Izismile The usual pet wedding starts off with a champagne breakfast at Ann’s house for human guests, and milk and water for pets. Then, as the wedding ceremony begins, the bride is walked or carried to a pagoda in the middle of her garden, where the groom is waiting. After they’ve been pronounced husband and bride, the now married pets pose for the photo album and celebrate by stuffing their face with treats. “It's a lovely day out for everyone, just like a human wedding", Ann says. The animal registrar admits there are many who think her profession is crazy, but she doesn’t believe it does anyone any harm. That’s true, but it does cost an awful lot for something that’s not even official. I mean, how is the couple supposed to share their belongings in case of a divorce? Are they supposed to contact a pet divorce lawyer? Hmm, there’s a potentially lucrative niche to consider… via The Sun Unofficial Animal Registrar Performs Expensive Pet Weddings was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
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