Oddity Central |
- Vice Lolly – A Ice Cream Made from Holy Water and Absinthe
- Talented Composer Makes Beautiful Music with Instruments Provided by Mother Nature
- Welcome to PigVille, China’s First Village for Pigs
- NeatoShop Gets a Slimy New Addition – A Tentacle Doorstop
| Vice Lolly – A Ice Cream Made from Holy Water and Absinthe Posted: 01 Jun 2012 03:46 AM PDT
The Vice Lolly is the latest frozen treat created by controversial ice-cream shop, Icecreamists, in London. The gun-shaped lolly is made from holy water from a sacred spring in Lourdes, France, 80% alcohol absinthe and sugar. A year after he shocked the world with the ice-cream made from breast milk, Icecreamists owner, Mark O’Connor, has launched a new outrageous frozen dessert called the Vice Lolly. Priced at £18.58 ($28.5), the green gun-shaped treat is made of three parts holly water imported from the spring at the Grotto of Massabielle at Lourdes, a famous place of pilgrimage for Catholics, and one part absinthe, the potent alcoholic drink banned in the UK, in the 19th century. The bizarre combination is sweetened with sugar and aims to build on the risque reputation of the unique ice-cream parlor in Covent Garden, London. "Being born into a Catholic family I wanted to make a statement about religion," O’Connor says. "I was looking at doing something that was a traditional childrenʼs ice lolly, but I turned this idea on its head. I went from something quite innocent to the most radically provocative concept possible.” After he got the holy water shipped from France, he spent some time tasting it with 80% alcohol absinthe and sugar, trying to get the taste just right. Once he nailed the alcoholic mixture, it just needed to be super-frozen at -30 degrees Celsius, in gun-shaped molds.
The creator of the Vice Lolly describes its taste as “alcoholic with a touch of sweetness” and says an average drinker would need to consume about three to feel the effects of the absinthe. The powerful drink, nicknamed “the green goddess” , was only reapproved for sale in Britain in 1998, after being banned by the Victorians, during the 19th century. It is said absinthe made Vincent Van Gogh chop off his own ear.
Lourdes became an important Christian pilgramage site after 1858, when 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous claimed she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary there. Nowadays, thousands of believers travel to the French town hoping their ailments will be miraculously cured. Priests here don’t just give the holly water away for free, they sell it for €100 ($123) per liter. I guess that kind of explains the spicy price of the Vice Lolly… Icecreamists via Taylor Herring Vice Lolly – A Ice Cream Made from Holy Water and Absinthe was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Talented Composer Makes Beautiful Music with Instruments Provided by Mother Nature Posted: 01 Jun 2012 02:26 AM PDT
Meet Diego Stocco, the guy who can make music from anything, even raw nature. In celebration of Earth Day, he staged an innovative musical experiment in which he used all kinds of unusual but completely natural instruments. Who knew tree bark or orange peel could sound so groovy, if orchestrated by the right person? In his new performance, “Music from Nature”, Diego Stocco uses professional microphones and a customized stethoscope to best capture the sounds of nature as made by several uncommon musical instruments, including trees, leaves, almonds and bees. The result is too cool to describe, you just have to listen for yourself. Stocco began experimenting with the sounds of nature in 2009, when he was inspired to use and odd tree in the garden of his house as a musical instrument. Intrigued by the idea he scaled down the process and experimented with music from a bonsai tree. From there on he started making music from pretty much everything, including sand and a dry cleaner. You can check out all of Diego’s unique performances on Behance Network. In case you were wondering, he performs all his compositions only by playing the chosen instruments, without synthesizers, samplers or additional sounds.
In the past, we’ve featured artists who used natural instruments like carved fruits and vegetables to perform their musical masterpieces, but Diego Stocco’s style is on a whole other level.
via This Is Colossal Talented Composer Makes Beautiful Music with Instruments Provided by Mother Nature was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| Welcome to PigVille, China’s First Village for Pigs Posted: 01 Jun 2012 01:08 AM PDT
In an attempt to make their pigs more comfortable, the people of Zhangpu Village, in China, have built a residential complex for them, made up of 600 small concrete houses. Most pigs spend all their lives locked up in pens, just waiting to be slaughtered, but the lucky swine of Zhangpu are living the good life in their very own village. At first, the idea of moving the animals from their industrial complex didn’t appeal to the locals, primarily because of the $1,230 price tag of each needed villa, but critics were put to rest once everyone noticed how happy the pigs were and how fast they started growing. The pig’s happiness was actually the main goal of PigVille (not its official name), as it is believed relaxed animals have a more delicious meat. According to Chinese media reports, the locals of Zhangpu Village did everything in their power to make the pigs feel welcome in their new luxury homes. ”A good environment will leave pigs in a good mood and keep them healthy, so it’s therefore logical that the pork will be better,” Suining County official Hu Juchun told China News. So they equipped every villa with toys and furniture for the pigs to play with, as well as CCTV cameras so they can be monitored at all times. The pigs leave their color-painted houses at 8 am every day, and are allowed to play with the other pigs, in the nearby woods until 5 pm, when they return to their comfortable residences. After seeing photos of the pig village locals call the Pig Garden, Chinese Internet users concluded that these pigs live much better lives that some human citizens. Welcome to PigVille, China’s First Village for Pigs was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
| NeatoShop Gets a Slimy New Addition – A Tentacle Doorstop Posted: 01 Jun 2012 12:07 AM PDT
We don’t normally do this kind of thing, but we thought we’d make an exception for our friends at Neatorama, who recently got a cool new addition to their collection of neat stuff at NeatoShop. The tentacle doorstop makes it seem like a creepy tentacle monster is trying to break into your room. The handcrafted artworks work on any kind of floor (carpet, wood, concrete, laminate, etc.) and are sure to creep out your mom the first time she walks through the door. The tentacle doorstop is the brainchild of Odd Art Fabrications, a team of talented indie artists dedicated to making offbeat goodies for your enjoyment. Be sure to check out the rest of their awesome creations at NeatoShop. NeatoShop Gets a Slimy New Addition – A Tentacle Doorstop was originally posted at OddityCentral.com  |
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