3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Meet Tommy Edison, the Blind Film Critic
Amazing Fantasy Creatures Brought to Life by Talented Artist
Golden Baba – Indian Holy Man Tells Followers to Live Frugally But Drapes Himself in Gold

Meet Tommy Edison, the Blind Film Critic

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 03:40 AM PST

Being blind doesn't stop Tommy Edison from doing the things he really wants to do. Like working as a traffic reporter for a Connecticut radio station, taking photographs, or critiquing movies – things that normally require a reasonably good eye sight. He also runs a great website where he puts up his reviews and talks about being blind.

It's confusing at first as to how a blind person could review movies – a very visual experience. But Tommy has managed to find a way to do that, and in a way that's both engaging and entertaining. His approach is unique. He says, "I watch movies and pay attention to them in a different way that sighted people do. I'm not distracted by all the beautiful shots and attractive people. I watch a movie for the writing and acting." And so he's able to deliver a review that hits the nail right on the head. I watched his review of The Dark Knight Rises. It was short, crisp and to-the-point. Several comments on YouTube reveal that people watch his reviews first, to figure out what's a good movie to watch. Sometimes Tommy jokes around, like when he reviewed Water for Elephants he said, "I didn't think Robert Pattison was all that much to look at. I gotta be honest with you. I don't know what all the kids see in him. Ha ha!" His rating system is unique too. For Scream 4, he said, "Sighted people, I think you will really enjoy this movie. Blind people stay at home. I'm going to give this 2 out of 4 eyes open."

One of the most interesting videos on Tommy's website is the story of how his parents told him he couldn't see. Because being blind was all he'd ever known, he never figured that there was something wrong with him. He says that he doesn't remember the exact moment when he was told about it, but being blind is natural and normal as far as Tommy is concerned. He doesn't think he's missing anything. "To us, my family, it was normal," he says. "It was all I knew." It's quite apparent from his videos that Tommy has a great sense of humor. Other interesting videos on his website include: 'Best Things about Being Blind', 'Why Nature Scares Me' and the 'Blind Basketball' series.

Apart from being the Blind Film Critic, Tommy has also been a radio professional for the past 20 years. People love him for his engaging personality and entertaining demeanor. He's also big on Instagram. He takes photographs of things that inspire him all through the day – a tree, a bird or any object in his office – and then posts the images on Instagram. He has over 13,000 followers on the photo sharing app. "I took a picture at work and it's got 130 likes. I don't know, it just blows my mind that people are interested. I can't believe people want to look at it," he says. As with reviewing films, Tommy has a unique method to take pictures as well. He sets his iPhone to 'Accessibility' mode, so each button's function is dictated to him. So before he makes a selection, the voice-activated software tells him to tap an icon twice.

Tommy reviews movies along with his friend and filmmaker Ben Churchill. His videos have received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. But the two friends had no idea their work would become so popular. "Tommy said he always thought it'd be cool to review movies from his point of view," says Churchill. "So I said, 'Let's do it.' We had no idea how it was going to turn out." Churchill is the producer, director and editor of the videos and says that people love the reviews because they're able to get an idea of Tommy's perspective.

It seems like in all the things that Tommy does, there's a common theme that emerges. As he puts it, "I want to show you the world my way – show you what I'm supposed to be seeing." And that's exactly what makes his work so popular.

Meet Tommy Edison, the Blind Film Critic was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Amazing Fantasy Creatures Brought to Life by Talented Artist

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 03:02 AM PST

It doesn’t happen every day, but I sometime get the chance to write about something truly special. This is definitely one of those rare occasions. Ever wondered what the creatures of your imagination would look like in real life? I’m sure you have, but just like me, you probably lack the talent and patience to actually take them out of your dreams and into reality. Luckily, artist Wood Splitter Lee is both incredibly talented and patient-enough to do it. Plus, her imagination is so much better than mine…

Do you know what a Tundra Stag looks like? How about a Moondust Wolf? Relax, you’re knowledge of zoology is probably not that bad. The only way you could have know about these fantastic creatures is if you lived inside Wood Splitter Lee’s head. The young Virginia-based artist breathes life into the figments of her imagination by sculpting them in clay and covering them with vividly-colored fur. Horned wolves, fire foxes, ice dragons, forest guardians, they’re all real in Lee’s astonishing art collection and she makes them all look so incredibly life-like you’re tempted to think these stills from an awesome fantasy film you somehow missed, and not just really good photos of hand-made sculptures. As a huge fan of mystical creatures, I am in awe!

Posable Tundra Stag

But the artist’s story is just as intriguing as her artworks. Born and raised in Alaska, Wood Splitter Lee grew up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest and wildlife. Her memories include moose hunting with her dad, being surrounded by wild dogs and bears trying to break down the front door of their house, so I think it’s fair to say her adventurous childhood serves as the main inspiration for all these fantastic creatures. Even though she and her family moved to Virginia a few years back, Lee says she will always consider herself and Alaskan.

Posable Moondust Wolf

Wood Splitter Lee was 13 years old when she first asked her parents for some sculpting clay. She had never tried sculpting before, but she wanted to give it a go. She started creating small animals and horse heads, and as her skills improved, she started taking commissions. Before she knew it, the young girl artist was overwhelmed with orders, to the point where she had to work long days to keep with demand, so her father had to stop commissions. After that, her parents contacted some professional sculptors and sent them photos of her work. They all said she was talented, and was even called a child prodigy by a number of well-known artists, but all those days of constant work had taken a toll on her, and Wood Splitter Lee didn’t sculpt again for 4 years, due to burnout.

Posable Keeper of the Woodland

Then, at age 18, she started creating her little posable baby dragons. She was using her imagination, creating the things she wanted, and sculpting became fun again. As the dragons started evolving, she experimented with different techniques and designs to enhance the creatures and eventually started selling them on eBay. The feedback was very positive, and as a result, her eBay profile currently shows no available works. It seems only natural, considering each one is unique, created by hand, without using molds, casts or patterns. “I just enjoy creating, and sharing that excitement with others,” 20-year-old Wood Splitter Lee says on her DeviantArt profile.

Posable Fire Fox

Posable Galaxy Stag

Posable Snow Leopard Dragon

Exotic Phoenix

Keeper of the Woodland

Moondust Wolf

Source: DeviantArt via RocketNews24

Amazing Fantasy Creatures Brought to Life by Talented Artist was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Golden Baba – Indian Holy Man Tells Followers to Live Frugally But Drapes Himself in Gold

Posted: 19 Feb 2013 01:36 AM PST

His real name is Bittu Bhagat, but his fascination with gold earned him the nickname “Golden Baba”. Claiming to be a living saint, this Indian holy man tells his followers to live in poverty, while he covers himself in gold clothes and accessories worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Golden Baba has apparently been in the sights of Indian tax officials for some time, but he also attracted the attention of the press when he made an appearance at the sacred Kumbh Mela pilgrimage with two young European beauties hanging on his arms and wearing dozens of solid gold accessories around his neck and on his hands. He looked more like a middle-aged playboy than a holy man preaching about the rewards of a simple life free of worldly possessions. But reports claim Bittu Bhagat tells his disciples they mush shun their material wealth, even their clothes, if they want to follow him, and investigators say he only accepts donations in solid gold. Formerly a simple tailor, this Golden Baba now allegedly has a fortune of several millions of dollars and travels around in a fleet of chauffeur-driven Mercedes, Bentleys and BMWs.

“This is my way of preaching, people come to see my gold,” Bhagat said during a speech at the Kumbh Mela, in Allahabad. Referring to his refusal to pay a single penny in taxes, the Golden Baba, whose gold thread religious robes alone are worth around $400,000, said “This is God’s gold, not mine. I know what the tax officials are trying to do, but I hope that by being close to me they will eventually be brought into God’s way and give up their greed.” Yeah, they’re the greedy ones… Weirder still is the fact that Golden Baba seems to have a lot of young European followers as well, as shown by the photos of him and his entourage at this year’s Kumbh Mela. I wonder what he told them to get them to donate all of their wealth to him.

This Golden Baba isn’t the only Indian who loves to cover himself in as much gold as possible. A few months back we wrote about Datta Phuge, a businessman who commissioned a 3.2-kilo solid gold shirt, accessorized with 5 kilograms of gold chains, bracelets and rings.