3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

The Fake-Head Waitresses of Japan’s Anime Cafe
Dung Spitting Competition Will Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth
The Daily Talk – Liberia’s Blackboard Newspaper

The Fake-Head Waitresses of Japan’s Anime Cafe

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 04:15 AM PDT

Maid cafes are a dime a dozen in Tokyo’s geeky Akihabara district, but Kigurumi Cafe t.t.t. one-ups them all by introducing waitresses wearing full-body suits and creepy plush heads to reallybring anime characters to life.

Wikipedia defines cosplay as a performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. You’ve probably seen cosplayers dressed as popular video game or anime characters at geeky events, or at least photos of them posted online. But few people know there’s an extreme type of cosplay known in Japan as Animegao or Kigurumi. It implies not only wearing a character’s costume, but also an oversize fake head complete with giant anime-style eyes to bring popular 2D drawn girls into our 3D world. If you’ve seen my post on Anna Amemiya, the half-human half-anime model, you already know what I’m talking about, if not, get ready to be freaked-out.

If you thought Japanese maid cafes, reptile cafes or vampire cafes were weird, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Featuring a staff of seven differently-costumed anime faced maids Kigurumi Cafe t.t.t may seem like an otaku’s paradise, but it’s actually pretty darn creepy. Inaugurated in 2011, the bizarre venue has already gained considerable popularity among members of Tokyo’s anime-loving community, who come her to be waited on by kigurumi bishoujo (“beautiful young girls”) they fantasize about while watching their favorite shows. Although the cafe’s site mentions that "touching the maids is prohibited", clients are allowed to take photos of the waitresses and even interact with them for an additional fee. The real-life anime characters will even play mini-games with customers, but as not to break character, they will only communicate with them via body language and in writing.

Maid Mai

Kigurumi Cafe t.t.t. has already started booking reservations for this fall season, in case you’re interested, and it even has a new cast of anime-dressed waitresses. The question of what’s really behind those costumes remains, but judging by the success of this place, it doesn’t bother very many people.

Maid Momo

Maid Uyuri

Maid Nonoka

The Fake-Head Waitresses of Japan’s Anime Cafe was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Dung Spitting Competition Will Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 03:03 AM PDT

Kudu Dung Spitting is an African sport popular enough to have its own official competition, in which contestants have to put a kudu dung pellet in their mouth and spit it as far as possible.

Some people use dung to make coffee taste better, but in some parts of Africa it’s used to fuel a weird pastime called Bokdrol Spoek. Roughly translated as “spitting buck droppings this quirky tradition has people putting dung pellets in their mouth and spitting them as far as they can. The origins of kudu dung spitting can be traced back to tribal hunters who had difficulties catching the fast antelope. Most times the only sign of the animal was a trail of dung, which meant it had been there but it was long gone. Apart from swearing at the elusive kudus, hunters would engage in a contest of pellet spitting, to pass the time. In countries like South Africa, the disgusting custom is so popular that there’s even a championship held every year to find out who can spit a piece of antelope poop the farthest.

Photo: Simon Reeve

According to a National Geographic reporter, Bokdrol Spoek isn’t as gross as it sounds. Apparently, before they put a dung pellet in their mouth, competitors traditionally drop it in a shot of alcohol, which helps sterilize some of the bacteria, but there are a bunch of videos on YouTube showing people picking the dung off the ground, putting it in their mouths and spitting them. The secret to a less-disgusting dung spitting experience is finding a nice, hard pellet and not letting it melt in your mouth for too long before spitting it. People with first-hand experience in the African sport say even the most experienced participants are unwilling to put fresh kudu dung in their mouths, as it leaves a bad taste and attracts the ridicule of other competitors.

The rules of the kudu dung spitting championship are very simple. Whoever spits the poop pellet the farthest, wins. Unlike in most distance sports, the distance is measured according to where the dung comes to rest, not to where it first hit the ground. Contestants can use both kudu and impala dung pellets, and can spit them from a stationary position or from a run up. The world record in kudu dung spitting is a distance of 15.56 metres, and was set in 2006 by Shaun van Rensburg.

Dung Spitting Competition Will Leave a Bad Taste in Your Mouth was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

The Daily Talk – Liberia’s Blackboard Newspaper

Posted: 30 Oct 2012 01:03 AM PDT

The Daily Talk is a unique news medium published on a blackboard in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city. As most Liberians lack the money and means to access conventional mass media, this chalk-written daily “newspaper” is the most widely read report in Monrovia.

In the Western world, many are already talking about the death of written media, and the coming age of online information, but in some countries, access to old-fashion newspapers is still a thing of the future. Many Monrovians can’t afford to buy real newspapers or electricity to access the internet, so Alfred J. Sirleaf, the founder of this blackboard newspaper had to come up with a way to bring information to the people in an inexpensive way. He believes a well-informed people is the key to Liberia’s rebirth so ever since he started his unique venture on Tubman Boulevard, in 2000, in central Monrovia, he’s been providing valuable news every single day. For local news, he relies on a team of volunteer reporters who come to him with stories, while for international events he goes to an internet cafe to access sites like the BBC, because he doesn’t own a computer. Then, in the newsroom, a small wooden shed attached to the back of his blackboard, he updates The Daily Talk with chalk. He’s the editor, the designer and sole employee of the unique newspaper, yet he manages to get his message across.

Photo: white african

The Daily Talk was founded at the height of Liberia’s 14-year-long civil war, and because Alfred sometimes criticized ex-president Charles Taylor’s actions, the blackboard was destroyed several times, and the Liberian journalist even went into exile for a while. But he never gave up, and fought to keep Monrovia’s only source of news alive. Now that the war is over, Sirleaf is struggling to access the 25% of men and 60% of women who are literate. To this end, Sirleaf has devised a series of pictures and objects to symbolize the news, including a blue helmet for the UN and its peacekeeping force, a white handkerchief for Obama, a bottle of colored water for petrol, and a hubcap for President Sirleaf, known as the Iron Lady of Liberian politics.

Photo: white african

Funding is a vital issue for the survival of The Daily Talk blackboard newspaper, and even though it has been featured in prestigius publications like the New York Times and Christian Science Monitor, Alfred Sirleaf still relies on small donations and pre-paid cellphone cards to keep his chalk paper alive.