Heineken has unveiled its original Christmas tree, made out of 1,100 FULL beer bottles, in Shanghai, China.
Created by stacking Heineken beer bottles on a custom-made armature, the beer-bottle Christmas tree has Nanjing Street passers-by drooling when they look it. It may not look like a traditional Christmas tree and beer is definitely not as tasty in winter as it is on a hot summer day, but Heineken’s Christmas tree is definitely my favorite for 2009.
via Inhabitat
Meet Oscar, the luckiest dog in the world. This year he and his master traveled across 5 continents and 29 countries.
Five years ago, Joanne Lefson found Oscar in a South-African kennel and took him in. In May of this year, Joanne sold her house and went on a trip around the world, accompanied, of course, by her beloved pooch. Their incredible journey was meant to inspire people everywhere to take stray dogs of the streets and offer them a home.
Here are some amazing photos of Oscar taken in some of the most amazing locations in the world. Oh, and check out the full of list of countries he visited, at the bottom.
Photos by CATERS NEWS AGENCY
via Daily Mail
He may not have the supernatural abilities of comic-book superheroes, but Captain Australia is prepared to watch over the safety and tranquility of citizens all around the world.
I received a rather interesting email the other day, from a person who actually met Captain Australia. It seems our superhero isn’t too tech-savvy and needed an internet-ready computer set-up. When asked where the product should be delivered, Captain Australia said he is unable to provide contact information, as he can’t risk revealing his secret identity. The guy didn’t pay much attention at first, but when a dude dressed in a green-yellow costume came to pick up the computer, he was stunned. They’ve done business several times since then and it seems Captain Australia takes his superhero tasks very seriously.
As you can imagine, I was intrigued by this story, so I accessed Captain Australia’s website. That’s right, even superheroes have their own virtual homes these days. I was able to identify the Australian superhero’s four main goals:
1) To prevent crimes through acting as a deterrent by actively patrolling and thus intimidating the criminal element.
2) To intervene when I see criminal activity, or to solve crimes that I become aware of.
3) To inspire normal people to be better, by demonstrating a level of moral excellence that I hope will serve as an example to the people I meet.
4) If all else fails, I can accept simply amusing or shocking people – having ordinary citizens lighten their hearts by amusement or surprise.
Captain Australia’s symbol is an @, worn as a tribute to using the internet to channel his message globally, and because it looks like a combination of the c and a letters (Captain Australia). Our masked vigilante has a videographer following him during his patrols, to document his adventures as an inspiration for people everywhere and as possible evidence for criminal prosecution.
Australia’s number 1 superhero (and very possibly its only one) says he’s not in the same shape as he was when he first started out, but he’s working hard to remedy this. He does however posses a series of gadgets and abilities (Photoshop is not one of them, as you’ll see bellow) to help him protect the citizens.
So next time you’re in trouble just shout out for Captain Australia, who knows, he might actually show up.
Thanks Jacklord!
Jacob Yarmuth, possibly the world’s biggest Stargate fan, spent $70,000 on a state of the art Stargate-themed home theater.
Featuring a fiber-optics starscape ceiling that shows galactic clouds and comets passing every few minutes, air pocket doors and faux finished walls complete with backlit panels, the Stargate Atlantis home-theater looks like it came right off the filming set. The circular screen is a perfect replica of the stargate and has a 10-foot diagonal.
Yarmuth equipped his futuristic screening room with two Sony megachangers able to accomodate 800 DVDs, Atlantic’s THX speakers seres, two Polk Audio in-wall subwoofers and a JVC light amplifier for HD imagery. Oh, and the airpocket doors are triggered by motion sensors.
Maybe he and Gary Reighn, owner of the Star Trek home-cinema should get together sometime, I’m sure they’d have a lot to talk about.
via Electronichouse
They may look like just elaborate models of Christian, Jewish and Islamic holy places, but Al Farrow’s artworks have a much deeper meaning.
Al Farrow’s Religious Trifecta: A Synagogue, a Cathedral and a Mosque tries to reinterpret three of the world’s major religions according to their political, military and cultural history. As you surely know, religion played a major role in some of the greatest conflicts in history and that’s what the artist is trying to emphasize through his models. Built with used gun components, bullets and steel shots, these unusual holy places reveal the violent side of religion.
Al Farrow‘s steel masterpieces are displayed at the de Young Museum, in San Francisco.
Cabbages and Condoms, a Thai restaurant that promotes safe sex as well as good food decided to celebrate Christmas by displaying a life-size Santa Claus made of condoms. Cabbages and Condoms is the only restaurant in the world where you get a free vasectomy, at the clinic next door, with every ordered meal. One of the most original eating establishments on Earth, is one of the most popular attractions in Bangkok, Thailand.
For the past two years, the guys at the Cabbages and Condoms restaurant have been greeting the holiday season by building a Condom Santa Claus. I have been able to dig up much info on this latex covered mannequin, but I’m willing to bet it took hundreds, maybe thousands of condoms to make. Here are a few photos of the 2009 Condom Santa:
To make sure they squeeze some money out of them, young Chinese beggars have begun clinging to the legs of their victims.
Picture this: you’re walking down the street, minding your own business when this helpless little beggar girl comes up to you and asks you to buy a flower. You say something like “no thanks” and move on. But wait, one of your legs seems to be immobilized. You look down at the leg and see that same girl wrapped around it saying she isn’t going to let go until you buy a flower. This sort of harassment takes place more and more often on the streets of China’s major cities.
Now, considering there’s rarely any police around to help you with the issue, there are two things you can do. One way to resolve this would be to kick her with your other leg, but what kind of animal hits a child, right? So your only other option is to actually buy the flower and see to your business. Maybe you think there are other ways to escape the grip of these persistent beggars, but those already trapped by one say they don’t let go no matter how hard you try to reason with them or even hit them.
So the obvious question is: are these clinging beggars to blame? I would be inclined to say no, because they’re just doing what they must to survive. There are criminals that send them to “work” every day and if they don’t earn their keep, they’re in serious trouble.
via bbs.163.com
It may look like an ordinary old stagecoach, but, in truth, there’s nothing ordinary about this colorful masterpiece.
After seeing a smaller model of a stagecoach made from toothpicks in the window of a store, Terry Woodling decided he was going to build his own life-size replica. This was back in 1981, but he didn’t really get started until Thanksgiving of 1994. Also known as “Me. Toothpick”, 72-year-old Terry spent 15 years of his life working on his one of a kind toothpick stagecoach, in Warsaw, Indiana.
More than 1.5 million flat toothpicks went into the project, bound together by a whole lot of glue. The fact that it’s glued was actually why his stagecoach didn’t get acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records. But Mr. Toothpicks isn’t too disappointed and decided to donate it to the local Warsaw Museum. But his extraordinary creation caught the eye of Ripley’s Believe It or Not and got a place in their famous museum.
We all know sleeping in a bear-inhabited forest can be pretty hazardous to your health. That’s what artists Eiko Ishizawa was thinking when she designed her Bear Sleeping-Bag.
Unless you take all the necessary precautions, like wrap the food and hang it in a tree as far away as you can, chances are you’re going to be mauled by a bear, while camping. Ok, so it doesn’t happen that often, but the point is now you have an extra safety measure. The bear-shaped sleeping bag makes you look just like a bear and if you’re lucky enough, hungry bears will probably mistake you for the real thing and leave you in one piece.
But there are some risks once you strap on this comfortable outfit. You might run into a horny bear who wants to have his way with you or maybe some rednecks with guns could spot you and see nothing more than another hunting trophy. The point is you should think twice before sleeping in the Bear Sleeping Bag.
Just in case you feel you want one, check out Eiko Ishizawa’s official site and see if you find one for sale.
One of Britain’s most bizarre racing events, the annual Pantomime Horse Grand National Race is also one of the most fun.
Designed as a parody of the Grand National horse race held in Antree, the Pantomime Horse Grand National draws in thousands of people to the city center of Birmingham, all eager to watch the competitors and bet on the winner.
Contestants pay a 50 pounds fee to enter the competition and slip into their plush horse costumes for a chance to win the grand prize, a bottle of champagne. I know it’s not much, but it really isn’t about the winnings at all. All the money raised from entrance fees, sponsorships and betting on the sidelines go to the Lord Mayor’s charity funds.
This year, the 7th edition of the Thomas Vale Pantomime Horse Grand National had contestants competing in a grueling 12-jump course. In the men’s race James Bamber and his “horse” Hoof Hearted claimed the no. 1 spot, while in the girl’s challenge Nicki Mills and her Spank The Donkey came first. The funny event raised around 4,000 pounds.
Ed Bing Lee, a talented artist from Philadelphia, has been perfecting his knotting skills for the past 25 years and is now able to create practically anything using basic macrame knots.
His “Delectables” series features some of the most delicious art pieces I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing. They may not be edible, but Ed Bing Lee’s knotted foods sure look good enough to eat. Using as many as 500 half-hitch knots per square inch, the artist managed to transform into a unique art form.
At 2 meters and 5 centimeters, Eve may be an incredibly tall, but she’s also incredibly hot. Yup, I do have a thing for “taller than thou” babes.
Eve, a successful American model and the tallest model in the world will grace the cover of Zoo Weekly, an Australian men’s magazine, with her extraordinary physique. This the first time a woman of her size appears on the front of such a publication and to better show off her tallness, she posed beside a 1.62 meters-tall Australian model.
Zoo Weekly editor Paul Merrill said they had her bikini custom made, but it was worth it. Bro, I totally agree, great job! Oh, and who said good things come in small packages was so wrong!
via ninemsn
Chris Gilmour is a world famous artist who creates representations of every-day objects from cardboard.
You may have seen cardboard art before, but the level of detail and complexity of Mr. Gilmour’s works is simply breathtaking. Although he also works with “dirty cardboard” (salvaged from packaging cardboard boxes with labels and common writings), his “clean cardboard” pieces are he most astonishing. People often have the impression his cardboard sculptures are actually real objects wrapped in paper.
Take a look at some of his most famous masterpieces and be sure to pick your jaw off the floor.
These are the famous “fantasy coffins” used by the Ga Tribe, on the coast of Ghana to both mourn and celebrate the death of a beloved family member or friend.
The tradition of burying people in strangely-shaped coffins began roughly 50 years ago when a fisherman was set to rest in a funeral casket shaped like a fish. Ever since then photographers have been buried in camera-shaped coffins, people who like to drink in caskets shaped like beer bottles and avid smokers, you guessed it, in cigarette-like wooden coffins.
Families of the deceased spend enormous amounts of cash on these intricate caskets, sometimes even as much as $600. Sure, that may not seem like a lot to you, but in a country where the average income is somewhere around $50/month that’s a lot of money. The wealthier relatives usually put up the most part of the sum with the rest of the families providing the rest.
The coffins of the Ga tribe symbolize the essence of the deceased, his profession, a vice or his place in the community.
Students from a Colombian cooking school presented their unusual “love dessert” at the Gastronomy 2009 culinary show, in Bogota.
The special pudding contains dissolved Viagra, passion-fruit and is garnished with whipped-cream and chocolate. The students, aged between 17 and 23, found a way to safely dissolve the magic blue pill in their dessert and create a new, sweet aphrodisiac. They say their recipe contains detailed instructions on how to dissolve the pill.
Because Viagra is a prescription drug, the Love Dessert can’t yet be sold, but once Colombia’s food and drug institute concludes its analysis of the dessert, you may find it in cafes and restaurants near you. Enjoy and make sure to wear baggy trousers.
Photos by William Fernando Martinez / AP
via IBN Live
