A Tata Nano, which usually sells for $3,000 has been converted into one of the most expensive cars in the world, after it’s been plastered with $4.6 million worth of gold and jewelry.

The Nano was a welcome innovation designed to bring affordable transportation to Indian masses, and though it may not have all the features we’ve grown accustomed to in the western world, the tiny car achieved its goal. But there is nothing affordable about Tata’s latest publicity stunt for the Nano – they’ve teamed up with Titan Industry-owned Goldplus jewelry chain and decided to create the most expensive Tata Nano ever. After covering it with kilograms of gold, silver and jewelry, the price of the world’s cheapest car went from $3,000 to $4.6 million. Now that’s quite a makeover.

Read More »

Like to torment your pet, do you? Than you’re going to get a kick out of Amelie Segarceanu’s extensive collection of cat and dog headgear.

Amelie, from Atlanta, Georgia, is a hat designer who apparently likes to play dress-up with animals. She creates funny headgear for cats and dogs and sells them to animal lovers on her Etsy shop, To Scarborough Fair, along with free tips on how to trick pets into wearing them. A relaxed mood and some tasty treats are always a good way to start dressing up your pet, and speaking in a warm, soothing voice doesn’t hurt either. Still, cats are known to be very sensitive and even though these silly hats are especially designed to make them more tolerable, some felines won’t be easily convinced. I’d say they don’t like being laughed at, but that’s just me.

Maybe Amelie should get together with Cat Prin, the famous cat tailor, and make some complete pet wardrobes.

Read More »

Maya Pixelskaya is very passionate about art, video games and movies, so she decided to combine the three and create unique designs on her fingernails.

One of Maya’s fingernail paintings, a detailed tribute to classic video game Doom made the rounds online this week, after it went viral on social bookmarking site Reddit.com. Unfortunately there was no mention of the artist, but luckily a Redditor recognized her work and was kind enough to link to her website, so we could enjoy the rest of her awesome fingernail works of art.

Read More »

We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids Book of Freedom is a coloring book about the tragic events of 9/11 2001, featuring pictures of the burning World Trade Center towers and the execution of Osama bin Laden.

Although Wayne Bell, publisher of Really Big Coloring Books Inc., in Saint Louis, says the book was never meant to be controversial, and that it’s simply based on market research, on what people are looking for, the fact that it contains scenes like Osama bin Laden being shot by a Navy SEAL has sparked some controversy. Bell goes on to describe the coloring book as “a simplistic honest tool” to “educate children on events on 9/11”, but do kids who still like to color need to see scenes of mourning, burning buildings, and the execution of a Muslim man portrayed as hiding behind his veiled wife? may

Read More »

I’ve posted my share of impressive mosaics, throughout the years, but the keyboard key space shuttle created by Doug Powell has to be one of the coolest ever.

Known for his incredibly detailed puzzle-piece mosaics, Powell has now turned to a more modern medium – keyboard keys. For his latest project, a beautiful mosaic of a space shuttle, he spent 190 hours placing 5,951 keyboard pieces in just the right place to create a detailed image. Within the artwork created for Ripley’s Believe It or Not, the artist also included 14 hidden words for the viewers to discover. Head over to Ripley’s blog and see if you can find all 14.

Read More »

Helsinki-based Miina Akkijyrkka has made a name for herself in the art world based almost exclusively on the image of the cow. Throughout her long career she has created various representations of the bovine that have managed to spun both interest and controversy.

Using the cow as inspiration for an art career may seem strange, but it makes a lot more sense once you take a look at her schooling history. She studied horses at the Equine College Ypäjä, then turned to studying dairy farming at the Dairy Farming School of North-Savo, before attending the School of Fine Arts of Finland. Miina is known as a protector of Finncattle, the native Finnish dairy breed, and even owns her own cows.

Asked about her relationship with cows, Miina Akkijyrkka told art21: My feelings for the cows are deeper than a mother’s feelings for her children, stronger than any feeling I have ever had for a lover, more than any other thing on earth; it’s like blood vessels. I share a placenta with cows. We share the same blood. I look at the world through a cow’s telescope. I have a tiny piece of macaroni through which I look at the world from a cow’s point of view. 

Read More »

The Subtropical Teahouse, a “reptile cafe” offering customers the chance to observe and pet dozens of species of reptiles, has recently opened in Yokohama, Japan.

The Land of the Rising Sun is notorious for a variety of wacky venues, like the relaxing cat cafes, or the Vampire Cafe in Ginza, but it didn’t have a reptile-themed one. Since a few days ago that’s no longer a problem, as the country’s first reptile cafe opened its doors in Yokohama’s Naka Ward. ”I wanted to create a venue for those reptile fans hiding in the closet to get together and freely talk about the charms of the creatures they love,” Mutsumi Nagano, the cafe’s 42-year-old manager said about his idea.

Read More »

Tokyo – probably the only city in the world where toddlers have their own hang-out spot, where no childless adults are allowed.

Japan may have one of the lowest birth rates in the world, but that apparently only means the few babies that are born here are given everything – even their own exlclusive café. Located in the Omotesando neighborhood of Tokyo, the Nendo-designed Baby Café is the perfect place for children under seven to chill out, and play in a safe environment, while their parents socialize over a cup of coffee. No more having to listen to mommy telling them to “sit up straight”, “don’t play with your food”, “don’t run through the restaurant”, at the Baby Café kids can do as they like. But there are monitors all over the place so parents can keep their eyes on children while giving them the illusion they’re free to do as they please.

Read More »

Japanese artist Yo Shimada, of tat-o architects, has created a series of fragile structures using thousands of brightly-colored post-its.

This isn’t the first time someone has used the good old post-it as an art medium, but it may well be the first time it serves as a building material. Aided by students from the Kyoto University of Art and Design, Yo Shimada painstakingly glued around 30,000 colored post-its to create building components which were later assembled to create a wall-like structure currently exhibited at the Gallery Artzone, in Kyoto.

Visitors were given the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the post-it structure by writing their thoughts on post-its and sticking them to the facing gallery walls.

Read More »

Beer-mongers around the world, your prayers have finally been answered – English supermarket Asda has launched aspecial underwear that promises to sculpt your beer belly, tone your behind and hide love handles.

Called Manx, after the female underwear brand Spanx, this miracle undergarment will save you the effort of having to suck in your belly every time you go out. They may not be the sexiest underpants you’ve ever seen but if you’re not big on diets and exercising they may be the only way to get that streamlined silhouette you’ve always dreamed of.  Asda claims its specialists have been working on Manx underwear for an entire year, getting fabric percentages just right and adding control areas in problem areas.

Read More »

Vietnamese-born photographer and artist Huy Lam uses tiny 4 point type recurring words and phrases to create beautiful portraits of modern and historical icons.

The Toronto-based artist has always been fascinated with the concept of perception, and the way we form opinions based on what we perceive as real.  At a glance, his works look like they’ve been painted or drawn with pencil or charcoal, but as you approach them further, you realize they’re made with an entirely different medium – differently colored words.  Through his art, Huy Lam tries to convey the concept of perception, but he also hopes that these images created with words “will provoke thought, discussion and even laughter.” But the hours he spends actually placing thousands of 4 point type words in just the right spots to create detailed portraits is no laughing matter.

Read More »

Natumi Hayashi‘s blog featured all kinds of normal photos of herself, her pet cat, friends and Tokyo sights, but on September 16, 2010 she posted a photo entitled “Today’s Levitation”. The rest, as they say, is history…

Hayashi has become an Internet sensation after she began posting photos of herself levitating in all kinds of places around Tokyo. She told the Daily Mail it was an English idiom that inspired her to take the first photo of herself levitating – ‘to have one’s feet firmly planted on the ground’. Apparently they have the exact same phrase in Japan, but since she doesn’t consider herself a practical person she chose not to have her feet firmly on the ground in her self-portrait photos, to show how she really is. “In being free of gravity in the pictures, I am also not bound to societal conventions. I feel as though I am not tied to many things and able to be my true self.” the artist said in an interview. After taking her first levitation photo the frequency of “Today’s Levitation” gradually increased until she started posting a new photo every day.

Read More »

Most girls their age spend their time at malls, shopping for clothes, trying on make-up and flirting with boys, but these teenage graduates of Bob Larson’s school for exorcists are only interested in casting out demons.

While they may look like average teenagers, these girls are actually seasoned exorcists who have traveled all over the world casting out Satan and his minions. Savannah Schurkenback, Jess Shurkenback, Christina Massih, Melanie Massih and Brynne Larson, aged 15 to 19, decided to answer the call of evangelist Reverend Bob Larson of Spiritual Freedom Churches International, when he announced the number of possessed people was on the rise while the number of trained exorcists had fallen. They joined his exorcism school, where they study everything there is to know about fighting demons and dealing with the possessed.

Read More »

Art Orienté objet, a French artistic known for its exploration of trans-species relationships and questioning scientific methods and tools has staged one of the most shocking experiments ever – injecting a human being with horse plasma.

For this latest project, entitled Que le cheval vive en moi (May the horse live in me), Marion Laval Jeantet, one of the members of Art Orienté objet, was injected with horse blood, which made her feel “extra-human”. This shocking event took place in February, but Marion spent several months preparing her body, by injecting herself with small doses of horse immunoglobulins, the glycoproteins that flow through the blood and function as antibodies in immune response. The French artist called this process mithridatization, after Mithridates IV of Pontus, who is said to have developed an immunity to poisons by gradually ingesting small doses of them.

Read More »

10 Creepiest Abandoned Morgues on Earth (Environmental Graffiti)

Couch Surfing, Literally (Metro)

Geeks Change Names for Super-Long Superhero Names (Anorak)

The Severed Child’s Hand iPhone Case (Geekosystem)

Shotgun with a Chainsaw Handle (Neatorama)

Alfie, the Mustache-Wearing Horse (Daily Mail)

Wannabe Superheroes Guard English Town (SWNS)

Mayor Drives Armored Vehicle over Illegally Parked Car (Newslite)

10 Beautiful Chinese Women Executed over the Past 30 Years (China Smack)

EVOL’s Hidden Cities (Dudecraft)