3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Robot Band Compressorhead Puts the “Metal” in Heavy Metal
Tibetan Sand Mandals – The Sacred Art of Painting with Colored Sand
Okunoshima Island – Japan’s Rabbit Paradise

Robot Band Compressorhead Puts the “Metal” in Heavy Metal

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 03:08 AM PST

Compressorhead is not your usual heavy-metal rock group. The band’s three members are all robots, but they’ve proven they can cover hits by rock legends like Motorhead or AC/DC honorably. They’re even scheduled to play alongside The Chili Peppers and The Killers, at the Big Day Out Festival, in Australia, this summer.

Assembling, cooking, waiting tables, even horse riding; robots have proven capable of doing all of these jobs, but until now, musicians seemed like they had nothing to fear. Well, not anymore – introducing Compressorhead, a rock band made up of three real metal heads: Fingers, Bones and Stickboy. They are robots that can be programmed to cover hits by pretty much any rock group that ever existed, but so far they seem to prefer heavyweights like Black Sabbath, Pantera or Led Zeppelin. They’re a bit lacking in the creative department, but I’m sure they’ll improve on that as they go along. The robot group hail from Germany and hope to conquer human kind with their music, instead of Terminator-like force. Let’s meet the boys:

Photo: Compressorhead/Facebook

Sickboy, the bad-ass drummer, was created to specifications, in 2007. He has “4 arms, 2 legs, one head, and no brain”, and plays a Pearl 14 set with double kick.

Fingers, the guitarist, joined Stickboy in 2009. He has 78 purpose-built fingers, “enough to play the entire fret board and pluck”.

Bones, the bassist, is the youngest member of Compressorhead (created in 2012), and “the highest precision bass player in known existence”.

Photo: Compressorhead/Facebook

Compressorhead via Music Feed

Robot Band Compressorhead Puts the “Metal” in Heavy Metal was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Tibetan Sand Mandals – The Sacred Art of Painting with Colored Sand

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 02:05 AM PST

Demolishing sand castles can be great fun. But what if you had spent weeks creating it painstakingly, only to have it destroyed at the end? Heart breaking, isn't it? But for the monks of Tibet who create exquisite sand paintings, dismantling their work is the only way. This is said to signify the impermanence of life.

Sand Mandala, the art of creating intricate artworks using colored sand, is practiced by Tibetan monks as a part of tantric tradition. In the Tibetan language, the art is called dul-tson-kyil-khor (mandala of colored powders). As a part of the sand mandala, millions of sand grains are laid painstakingly into place on a flat platform. Several monks work on a single piece, which can take days or weeks to complete. The word Mandala means 'circle' in Sanskrit and is said to represent the cosmogram of a Buddha or bodhisattva. This could be the monk's own, or of the one he wishes to appease. The art includes geometric figures and several Buddhist spiritual symbols. A sand-painted mandala is used as a tool for blessing the earth and its inhabitants. It also provides the monk who practices the art a visual representation of the enlightened mind of the Buddha.

Photo: San Jose Library

A typical sand mandala consists of an outer ring, inside which is a smaller square representing the 'celestial palace', a dwelling place of the deity. This square has four gateways representing each of the four directions. The circle as well as the square is made with several intricate layers. The square contains yet another circle, divided into 9 sectors. This circle might just repeat the pattern outside, or the central sector may contain the deity itself. If this is the case, the deity's manifestations are represented in the surrounding sectors. Sometimes, the whole pattern may be contained within a square, with each of its corners repeating the pattern in smaller mandalas.

Photo: San Jose Library

The Tibetan mandalas are deceptively simple. They might look like they're made up of basic patterns, but are extremely complex and might take weeks to complete. Buddhist monks undergo years of training before they can make a mandala. Since the ritual is considered to be very sacred, it cannot be done on a lighter vein. So before a mandala is made, a monk will spend time in philosophical and artistic study. Once a level of understanding has been reached, the mandala is created. In the personal monastery of the Dalai Lama, the Nyamgal monastery, monks spend about three years studying before making the mandala.

Photo: Josh Simerman

Traditionally, four monks work on a single mandala, each taking one of the four quadrants. Each of these four monks has an assistant to fill in their detailed outlines with colors. All the monks begin work on the mandala from the center, moving outwards. Balance is maintained by waiting for all the monks to complete their sections, before moving on to the next. But even before they can start their sand work, the monks perform an opening ceremony. Then, a chalk is used to make a blueprint of the mandala, starting with a single dot at the very center. Four lines are drawn from this dot, after which each monk will work in his own quadrant. The blueprint is completed, the outlines filled with colored sand, made from crushed white stone and dyed. A serrated, funnel-like device is used for the application of the sand, known as chakpu. Two chakpus are scraped against each other, producing a vibration that releases sand onto the blueprint.

Photo: Wonderlane

But what is most unique about the Tibetan sand mandalas is that they are destroyed after completion. The monks work methodically on this as well, brushing off the sand, pushing it all towards the center of the platform. The entire process is undone, and the sand is poured into the nearest body of water. This action is meant to teach us not to get attached to earthly objects, and symbolizes the impermanence of all things material.

Photo: Zlatko Unger

Tibetan Sand Mandals – The Sacred Art of Painting with Colored Sand was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Okunoshima Island – Japan’s Rabbit Paradise

Posted: 15 Jan 2013 01:35 AM PST

Okunoshima is a small Japanese island, located in the Inland Sea of Japan, in the Hiroshima Prefecture. What's special about this place is that it is completely crawling with rabbits – a bunny paradise of sorts. Nicknamed the Rabbit Okunoshima attracts thousands of animal lovers every year. Feeding bunnies can be one of the most relaxing pastimes, and people come here to do just that. The island is a popular day-trip and weekend holiday destination.

Okunoshima might be a place of natural beauty, but it has a dark, dirty past as well. In the early 20^th century, it served as the base for the Imperial Army's lethal gas operation. Over 6,000 tons of about 5 types of poison gas were manufactured on this very island between the years of 1929 and 1945. The mission was top secret back then, so Okunoshima was actually omitted from maps and workers were sworn to secrecy. Today, you can still see the ruins of these factories on the island. Given its history, there are several explanations of the unusually large number of rabbits in this place. Some sources say the furry animals were brought over during World War II, to test the effects of the poisonous gases. When the war ended, the workers are said to have released the rabbits into the wild. Other sources claim that a group of children were on a field trip at Okunoshima in 1971, when they left behind 8 bunnies. Well, we might never know how the first rabbits got on to the island, but they did their job well – copulating to make sure they left behind hundreds of their progeny to roam the island today. Hundreds might not sound like a lot, but on an island just 2.5 kilometers in circumference they make their presence felt.

Photo: Tumblr

The rabbits of Okunoshima are wild, but well accustomed to human presence. Sometimes they even approach tourists for snacks, especially during seasons when natural food sources are low, hopping on to laps much to the delight of visitors. Carrots, cabbage and rabbit feed (sold at the island hotel for about $1 a cup) are what they prefer the most. Rakuten, a travel company, offers a tour called 'Let's Play with Rabbits', in English and Japanese. Most of the tourists who come to Okunoshima are animal lovers. Apart from roaming Japan's dog and cat-cafes, this is a popular destination for them. Who could blame them? After all, an island full of bunnies is pretty hard to resist. Hunting the rabbits is strictly forbidden, and so is bringing cats and dogs on the island. If you fancy felines, you can visit Japan’s cat island, instead.

Photo: Laura Appleyard

Even though tourists flock to Okunoshima to see the rabbits today, the island's poison gas legacy isn't easily forgotten. Not only is the place home to the Poison Gas Museum, it also reeks of chemical contamination even today. The water supply in the island was found to contain arsenic in 1996. In 2005, the Environment Ministry reported that the level of arsenic in the atmosphere was 49 times the environmental standard. Of the 6000 workers who were employed between 1929 and 1945, many are said to have become ill and suffered respiratory problems at the time. Some are even rumored to have been involved in accidents that disfigured them horribly. The arsenic and mustard gas are said to have penetrated their bodies and created bubbles under their skin. The island has been declared safe for tourists now, but according to Masayuki Yamauchi, a volunteer who gives tours of Okunoshima's factory ruins, there are 11 known locations on the island where workers buried gas after the war was over. These locations are sealed-off today, but many voices argue that the island isn't safe for humans even today, given the fact that there was never any major decontamination operation. Tourists are generally advised to stay on official walkways and paths.