3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Japanese Divorce Newspaper Lets Your Loved-Ones Know You’re Happily Divorced
The Mind-Blowing Date Stamp Paintings of Federico Pietrella
China Hosts World’s First Ever Goldfish Beauty Pageant

Japanese Divorce Newspaper Lets Your Loved-Ones Know You’re Happily Divorced

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 03:13 AM PDT

Created by Japanese divorce guru Hiroki Terai, Divorce Newspapers are gaining popularity as a quick and painless way to let family, friends and acquaintances know your marriage is over. This saves couples the embarrassment of having to tell each one of them their marriage has failed and explain how it happened.

You know those awkward moments when you bump into an acquaintance on the street and while making small talk you courteously ask them about their spouse, only to find out they got divorced? With the divorce rate on the rise, it’s becoming harder to avoid this kind of unfortunate situations. However, the resourceful Japanese have come up with an ingenious solution to this problem, called “the divorce newspaper”. Its creator, Hiroki Terai, got the seemingly-wacky idea after hearing many divorcees complain about having to tell everyone they know in person about their failed marriage, and wishing there was a quicker way to do it. Sure, you have social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but let’s face it, 80-year-old grandmas don’t usually have accounts on these platforms, and a simple status change doesn’t let everyone know how you feel about the whole thing.

So Mr. Terai came up with the divorce newspaper, which offer readers a deep analysis of your failed marriage. When divorcing couples sign up for a divorce paper, they are first interviewed about their marriage, their feeling for each other, and whatever other stuff they want included. Then all the info is compiled into the newspaper within a week, and delivered according to their specifications. Divorcees can even choose between three different formats for their divorce newspapers: Japanese "sports page" style, "English headline" style, or "South American" style. And if you pay an extra charge , you can even have your old marriage converted into a Game of Life board and included in the newspaper. Each square represents a milestone in your relationship with the final square (goal) marked off as "Happy Divorce!"

Divorce newspapers are currently priced at ¥11,220 ($140) for a single-page copy, and ¥15,490 ($200) for a two-page copy, but divorcees get 50% off is they agree to include an ad for Hiroki Terai’s famous divorce ceremonies. Although the happy tone of the newspapers and the board games seem a bit weird under the circumstances, Terai says putting a positive spin on divorce gives closure and helps couples move on to a new stage in their life with a positive attitude.

Segment from a personalized Game of Life board included in the divorce newspaper

Source: Excite News (Japanese) via RocketNews24

Japanese Divorce Newspaper Lets Your Loved-Ones Know You’re Happily Divorced was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

The Mind-Blowing Date Stamp Paintings of Federico Pietrella

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 02:17 AM PDT

Italian-born Federico Pietrella uses an item usually associated with corporate offices to created incredible works of art. It’s simply mind-blowing how he can use a restrictive tool like the date stamp to achieve this level of detail.

Looking at Federico Pietrella’s artworks from a distance, you’d never guess they were actually executed using a date stamp. But that’s in fact all he uses to create these amazingly detailed masterpieces that look more like pixelated black-and-white photos. He has been practicing his date-stamp painting technique for the last 15 years and his skill level has reached a level where it’s very hard to tell one of his works from an old photograph. As you can imagine, his is a painstaking work. Each one of his masterpieces takes between 1 – 2 months to complete, which is easily verified considering the artist uses the current date whenever he uses the stamp. "Time is a mysterious thing. For me it's the most important thing from which everything is derived- work, existence, life," the artist says about his bizarre choice of tools.

Currently a resident of Berlin, Pietrela has been able to make a living wielding a rubber date stamp, as his works sell for up to €20,000. If you appreciate this kind of art, you might want to check out the typewriter works of Paul Smith and Keira Rathbone.

via Visual News

The Mind-Blowing Date Stamp Paintings of Federico Pietrella was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

China Hosts World’s First Ever Goldfish Beauty Pageant

Posted: 18 Sep 2012 12:54 AM PDT

3,000 goldfish from 14 different countries around the world competed for the title of “World Goldfish Queen” in the first ever International Goldfish Championship, hosted in Fuzhou, China’s Fujian Province.

A warehouse full of thousands of big white bowls of water sure doesn’t sound like the beauty pageant events we’re normally used to, but that’s exactly what it was. Last Saturday, a panel of judges gathered in the city of Fuzhou to determine which of the slippery contestants should be crowned most beautiful goldfish in the world. In an interview with Reuters, judge Ye Qichang said: ”We judge goldfish mainly by five criteria: breed, body shape, swimming gesture, colour, which is very important, and overall impression.” And although color counts for much, the favorite of the fishy competition impressed the judges with its size – weighing 1.75 kilograms (3.9 pounds), the giant goldfish reportedly moved arund his tank very gracefully, which obviously won it extra points. ”Not all goldfish can grow this big. Many factors such as breed and breeding method may affect their size. A goldfish cannot grow into that size if it suffers any hardship or major illness during the breeding. So it is a very rare one,” Ye concluded.