One of the most difficult games I’ve ever heard of, Ear Pull is an old Inuit tradition that has competitors test the strength of their ears.

The Ear Pull is as simple as it is painful. Two contestants sit down in front of each other with their legs straddled and interlocked, place a loop of twine around one of their ears, and at the referee’s signal, start pulling back until one of them either yields or the loop of twine comes off from one of the ears.

It may sound like a horrific display, to some of you, but the Ear Pull is a registered sport practiced at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. Competitors’ faces contort, their ears turn bright red and crumple as the string cuts deeper into the cartilage, and some of them even require stitches. And for what, some of you may ask. Most ear pull competitors say they do it to endure pain, but the old Inuits used to practice this bizarre game as training for enduring ear frostbites.

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Hundreds of ballerinas of all ages gathered on Monday, in Central Park, New York, to set a new world record for standing on pointe.

Led by a desire to leave their mark on the world of ballet dancing, 241 ballerinas from New York’s dance school attempted to set a new Guinness world record, by standing on pointe simultaneously. Most of them heard about the challenge online, and decided to “make history through dance” with other fellow ballerinas.

At the signal of Craig Salstein, a soloist with the American Ballet Theater, the ballerinas attempted to stand on their toes. 230 of them managed to maintain their pose for 1 minute and 7 seconds, thus beating the old record set last year. by 220 other ballerinas.

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That’s right fans of the Dark Knight, your favorite superhero is finally settling down with the love of his life, none other than Wonder Woman. Surrounded by their superhero friends, the lovely couple said “I do” in front of Joker, who played master of ceremonies.

46-year-old Neil Vaughan, and 40-year-old Sharon are not the most traditional people in England, so they decided to get married as their favorite superheroes, and asked their attending friends to follow their example. Neil wanted to be Batman ever since he was a child, and his wife said she always dreamed of being Wonder Woman. They spent under 300 pounds on costumes, to finally fulfill their dreams.

Robin, Batman’s faithful sidekick, was his best man on the big day, while the adorable Powerpuff Girls were bridesmaids. The cast of superheroes at this incredible wedding included The Hulk, Spiderman, Superman, Ironman, Captain America, Wolverine and many others.

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31 overweight beauties of Italy competed for the title of “Miss Cicciona“, which translates as Miss Chubby, in the yearly contest of Forcoli.

The only entry condition for Miss Cicciona is related to the weight of the contestants. Women have to be at least 100 kilograms heavy, in order to be admitted. The lucky ones then try to impress the judges by parading in glamorous gowns, or undergarments. The bravest of the women even try striptease routines to gain an edge. The winner doesn’t get a prize, just a boost in self esteem and a huge cake to share with her competitors.

Miss Cicciona was founded to show the beauty of overweight women. Most of them are mocked and humiliated every time they go out in public, and this is a welcome opportunity to actually be proud and feel good about how they look.

This year’s winner of Miss Cicciona was 33-year old Angela Scognamiglio, from Naples. The 170 kilogram heavy beauty said she “felt like she had just won the lottery”.

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Scott Burr, a chemistry professor at Gustavus Adolphus College, in Minnesota, returned from his vacation to find his office a lot shinier than he left it.

Upon returning from his well-deserved Summer vacation, the young chemistry professor found his office had fallen victim to some really resourceful students. Everything in the office, including pens, books and even his box of Kleenex tissues were individually wrapped in aluminum foil. The students were so meticulous they even wrapped a tissue in foil and put it back in the box, for effect.

Mister Burr said this kind of pranks have become somewhat of a tradition. In previous years, students have turned his office into a pirate ship and draped his office in pink. But he admits this year’s effort really impressed him, as he has never experienced anything like this.

One of the students involved in the college prank said he and his colleagues used 10 200-foot long rolls of tin foil, to pull the whole thing of.

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Vampire killing kits were a must-have for wealthy nobles traveling to Eastern Europe, during the mid 19th century, and with vampires making a comeback (at least in Hollywood), these things may still be useful.

There are only a few original vampire kits in the world, and most of them, 26 to be exact, can be found in Ripley’s Believe It or Not museums, in 8 countries around the world. With interest for vampires on the rise, in the media, vampire killing kits are among the most popular of Ripley’s  exhibits.

Most vampire killing kits were made in Boston, and contained a crucifix, bible, wooden stake, holy water, pistol with lead bullets and various concoctions meant to wreak havoc among blood suckers. They were available by mail order, for people traveling to remote regions like Transylvania, where people were talking about vampires well before Bram Stoker invented Dracula.

These are only 8 of the vampire kits in Ripley’s possession, but you can get an idea of how cool they are. I wonder if they’re interested in this 19th century vampire slaying kit we featured a while back. It would be a nice addition to their collection.

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PETA (People for the Ethic Treatment of Animals) staged some pretty original protests in the past, but its most recent, “Meat Is Murder” was a bit on the shocking size. The event took place July 27th, in Times Square, New York.

PETA demonstrators  acted like packed pieces of meat, the kind you see in most every supermarket, only a lot bloodier. The human meat packs were branded with stickers that read ‘Billions of Animals Are Abused and Violently Killed Because You Eat Meat’. Now doesn’t that make you feel guilty?

I’ll confess I was moved by a few of these protests, but this particular one just managed to gross me out. I think PETA would be much wiser to stop condemning everyone who eats meat, and just militate for the ethical treatment of animals raised for slaughter, before they are sacrificed. To hope everyone will just stop eating meat is just unrealistic, and quite frankly their zero-policy attitude is doing more harm than good.

Let me know if these trays of packed human meat convinced you to stop eating meat. They just made me hungry. Read More »

Transformers star Bumblebee is making an appearance in Shanghai for the 2010 Cybertron Annual Meeting.

Weighing around 8 tons and 7 meters tall, the Bumblebee replica is set to be the star of the 2010 Cybertron Annual Meeting, a Transformers fan conference that will take place between July 30 and August 3. The 8 ton replica is one of the best Transformers statues we’ve featured on OC, so far.

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With the Luxury Cat Hotel now open in Hertfordshire, you can rest assured your cat will have a nicer holiday than you, the next time you go on vacation.

Abi and Matt Purser, the owners of this five-star pet hotel, have always believed cats deserve the same attention and care as their owners, and that’s how the idea for their business was born. Now, while their human owners are getting pampered on some exotic island, their cat enjoys the same star treatment at the Luxury Cat Hotel.

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During the “Rojo Nova Work in Progress” exhibition at the Sao Paolo Museum of Image and Sound, Australian artist Lucy McRae showcased her unique safety pin art.

Trained as a classical ballerina and architect, Lucy McRae has evolved into a body architect who “invents and builds structures on the skin that re-shape the human silhouette.” In a statement, the museum says “her provocative and often grotesquely beautiful imagery suggests a new breed; a future human archetype existing in an alternate world.”

This time, she relied on hundreds of safety pins, glued on most of her body, to depict how evolved humans might look in the alternate world of her vision. The first reaction upon seeing her is something like “what has she done to her body?”, but then you notice the pins are just glued to her skin and you begin admiring Lucy McRae as a work of art.

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Kittiwat Unarrom, a talented artist from Thailand, uses his skills to create unique loafs of bread shaped like various human body parts.

Kittiwat has experimented with many art forms, from painting to sculpting, but it wasn’t until he had to return home and take over the family bakery that he discovered his true passion – making grotesque-looking bread. Since he first started out, in 2006, he has made a name for himself, and his Body Bakery has become a popular tourist attraction. Read More »

A 36-foot-tall meerkat statue made of straw has appeared on a field, in Chester, England, drawing the attention of drivers on the A51 motorway.

I don’t know if you remember, but last year I wrote a post about a straw replica of the Big Ben, built by the owner of an ice-cream company. His straw creations have become sort of a tradition in Chester, and this year he raised the bar even higher with an incredible meerkat straw statue.

Chris Sadler and his wife Cheryl have been coming up with ideas for straw statues since 1998, when their first creation, the straw Millennium Dome, was created, and have continued delivering wacky ideas that ended up being built by Mike Harper, who creates metal structures and fills them with hay.

The idea of a meerkat statue was inspired by a popular commercial in the UK, and since everyone loves these creatures, it seemed like a good idea. The public certainly loves the overgrown meerkat, and most people say they feel cheered up just looking at it.

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13-year-old Xiao Xin puts on a show for his family, as he clips everyday items with his tongue.

The young boy from Daqing, northeast China, was born with a snake-like tongue that branches out close to its tip, allowing him to use it as a tool for clipping various things. So far he hasn’t found a proper use for it, apart from using it to entertain family and friends, but who knows when his snake tongue will come in handy. If you’ve always dreamed of having a tongue like that of Xiao Xin, all you have to do is go to a body-mod shop and they’ll fix you right up.

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The island city of Key West has been hosting an Ernest Hemingway  look-alike contest, for the last 20 years. People sporting wool turtle-neck sweaters and white beards try to convince the judges they most resemble the famous writer.

Interestingly enough, Hemingway Day takes place during the month of July, a time when the real Ernest Hemingway wouldn’t have been caught dead in hot Key West. Secondly, during his time spent in the island city, Hemingway was slender man, with black hair and just a small mustache, unlike the contenders of the look-alike contest.

During the Hemingway look-alike contest, competitors have to emulate the late “papa” look of Ernest Hemingway, and are judged by a panel of previous contest winners. This year’s contest took place on July 24, in Sloppy Joe’s bar, the writer’s favorite watering hole.

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New-Zealander Maurice Bennet, also known  as “Toastman”, creates incredible portraits and abstract works of art using toast.

Born in Paeroa, in the late 1950s, Maurice Bennett has always been fascinated by the art world, and as a young man, he traveled the world visiting museums and art galleries learning more and more about traditional and offbeat art. Upon his return to New-Zealand, the starving artist had to find a job, rather than focus on his art career, so he began weighing potatoes at a local market. Before he knew it, he and his wife were owning their own supermarket, and he was able to express himself through art.

Maurice’s first artistic experiences had him painting and sculpting, but it wasn’t until he discovered toast as an art medium, that he became a truly fulfilled artist. Throughout the years he created portraits of famous figures such as New Zealand prime minister John Key, rugby legend Jonah Lomu, the Mona Lisa, Elvis Presley , all of which earned him the praise of art critics.

Some of his more recent creations include a portrait of American president Barrack Obama, and some abstract works inspired by Maori carvings and Pacific patterns. he even made a portrait of rap star Eminem out thousands of M&Ms.

After selling his successful business, in late 2009, Toastman Maurice Bennett is now free to dedicate himself to his family, and his offbeat art.

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