3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Young Japanese Women Rent Out Their Bare Legs as Advertising Space
Het Arresthuis – A Luxury Prison Hotel You Won’t Want to Escape from
Computer Programmer Spent Two Years Creating Awe-Inspiring World Map Mosaic from 330,000 Tiny Glass Shards

Young Japanese Women Rent Out Their Bare Legs as Advertising Space

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 05:45 AM PST

A good way to make sure your advertisement gets plenty of exposure is to place it where a lot of people are looking. With this important marketing rule in mind, one Japanese advertising service is offering brands a novel way to raise awareness to their business – placing advertising stickers on the bare thighs of young girls.

We’ve featured some pretty bizarre advertising techniques here, on Oddity Central. We’ve had people renting out their last names to the highest bidder, tattooing brand names on their faces, and even using animals as living billboards, But so far, women’s legs have been off limits. Well, not anymore; Japanese PR company Absolute Territory PR has begun paying young women to wear advertising stickers on their “absolute territory” – the part of their thighs between the edge of their miniskirts and their high socks. Apparently this area of the female thigh is very popular with Japanese men, as evidenced by the fact that it even has its own Facebook page. You’d think such a daring way of advertising would be frowned upon by most girls, but as of November of last year, over 1,300 girls had applied for the agency’s service, and their number is growing fast.

Photo via Dime.jp

Girls interested in having their thighs registered with Absolute Territory must be at least 18 years old, and also have a social media account connected to at least 20 other people. After choosing a sticker ad, they have to wear it for at least eight hours a day, or more, for a set period of time, in order to meet the conditions of the contract and receive payment. Once the ad is stamped on their thighs, they can get on with their daily lives, while wearing revealing skirts as often as possible and showing off their legs. Of course, not being a hikikomori helps a lot, as staying in isolation kind of beats the whole purpose. In fact, to prove they are actively going out and promoting their thigh ads, girls have to post photos of themselves wearing the stickers on their Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts.

Photo via Togetter

According to recent reports, Japanese businesses aren’t the only ones using the unique service to have a leg up on the competition. Rock band Green Bay have employed Absolutr Territory to promote the Japanese release of their new CD “!Uno!”.

Photo via Twitter

Photo via Tumblr

Source: Nippon News

Young Japanese Women Rent Out Their Bare Legs as Advertising Space was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Het Arresthuis – A Luxury Prison Hotel You Won’t Want to Escape from

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 03:31 AM PST

After serving as one of the Netherlands most feared prisons for almost 150 years, Het Arresthuis, in Roermond, has been converted into a luxury hotel that no one wants to escape from anymore.

Het Arresthuis opened its doors in 1862, as a prison. Obviously, no one came here to stay by their own accord, during the 19th and 20th century, but things have changed a lot since then. The jail closed down for good in 2007, and now that the facility has been transformed into a luxurious hotel, guests actually pay big money to spend at least a night in one of the old holding cells. Although “cells” is not exactly the right word to describe the chic accommodations at Het Arresthuis. The 105 prisoner’s quarters have been converted into 40 spacious rooms, including 24 standard rooms, 12 deluxe rooms, and four suites, all of which feature modern furnishings and chic interior design. They are all equipped with air conditioning, a flat screen TV, free WiFi, and even a personal coffee and tea machine, and the hotel’s include a sauna, a fitness center, a central patio with olive trees, and an organic herb garden. If you’re wondering about bars, this place has both kinds – the ones you can’t get past and the ones where you can get your drink on.

Just in case you’re worried about jail food, Het Arresthuis staff are quick to reassure guests that the Damiantz restaurant serves more than just water and bread. Patrons can opt for a special jail-themed dinner party, complete with jailhouse attire, but the menu will be a lot scrumptious that what the old prisoners used to get. Looking at all these lovely photos, I think it’s safe to say the Het Arresthuis prison hotel is not a bad place to be doing time.

If you’re looking for more special jails around the world, you might be interested in Bolivia’s San Pedro prison community or Norway’s relaxing Bastoy Prison Island.

Source: Het Arresthuis via Neatorama

Het Arresthuis – A Luxury Prison Hotel You Won’t Want to Escape from was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Computer Programmer Spent Two Years Creating Awe-Inspiring World Map Mosaic from 330,000 Tiny Glass Shards

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 02:02 AM PST

49-year-old Chris Chamberlain, an IT worker from London, England, spent the last two years of his life piecing together the “Jewel of the Universe”, a giant mosaic of Earth made with 330,000 hand-cut pieces of stained glass, each smaller than a fingernail. Now, he’s trying to sell his magnificent artwork for £250,000 ($380,000).

Chris Chamberlain has always had a thing for the arts, but he can’t paint or draw to save his life. But what he can do is cut glass into tiny little pieces, so he decided to use this skill to create his very own impressive work of art. The Jewel of the Universe project started over two years ago, in the artist’s garage. Using NASA photos of Earth, he set out to create a unique mosaic of our planet, from glass and precious stones. It took Chamberlain six months just to cut the glass into little pieces, and another 21 months to set them in just the right place on a 3.18m x 2.18m sheet of perspex, using a pair of tweezers. During this long painstaking process, the English computer programmer even had to train himself to become ambidextrous, in order to avoid repetitive strain injury. Practically every hour of his free time was spent on this incredible mosaic, and Chris admits his wife didn’t see very much of him during these last two years.

To highlight important cities like New York, London or Hong Kong in his Jewel of the Universe, Chris Chamberlain used 1,238 real jewels including topaz, amethysts and sapphires. Rivers like the Thames, Amazon, Nile, Ganges and Yangtze were created with tiny turquoise shards. When the glass shard map was completed, Chris started work on a glass frame, made from 80,000 pieces of dark glass, and finally installed 6912 LEDs behind the perspex canvas, to illuminate the piece. “I can’t tell you the sense of relief when the final piece of glass went in. I’ve loved doing it but at times it drove me mad,” the self-taught artist said.

Now, the Jewel of the Universe is to be sold on eBay, with an asking price of £250,000. It sounds like an astronomical amount, but truth be told, many less-impressive pieces of art have been sold for much more. Not to mention that the proceeds from the sale will go toward funding humanitarian projects in Sierra Leone, where Chris’ daughter, Theodora, was born. “If I get just a fraction of what I’m asking on eBay, then I can make a difference to Sierra Leone,” Chamberlain said. “And the buyer is welcome to head out there with me and join in with some of the projects I’m trying to help. It might be the adventure of a lifetime.”