Oddity Central

Manipur, the Indian State Ruled by Korean Pop-Culture
Texas Industrial Worker Has Welding Down to an Art
Chinese Millionaire Gives Up Fortune, Lives in Isolation for Two Years to Become Buddhist Monk

Manipur, the Indian State Ruled by Korean Pop-Culture

Posted: 12 Aug 2015 05:01 AM PDT

Despite being a part of India, the northern state of Manipur can culturally be described as Korean. Ever since local authorities banned Bollywood movies and Hindi TV channels in a bid to “stamp out Indianisation”, a vast majority of the local population have turned to Korean pop-culture. They are now big fans of Korean films and music, and have adopted various elements of Korean culture.

Posted: 12 Aug 2015 03:20 AM PDT

There are plenty of artists out there who use welding as a part of their creative process, but none that I can think of actually make the welds their artworks.

That’s what makes Scott Raabe so special. The Texas-based industrial welder is so good at what he does that his welding works are pieces of art in their own right. I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure pipe welding isn’t supposed to be this visually appealing. However, there’s something about the seemingly perfect way Scott weaves the welding beads between two pieces of metal that makes you want to stare at his works for hours on end.