On the beaches of Mount Loretto State Park, on Staten Island, you’ll find a series of mysterious rock towers and mounds, known as the Rock Sculptures of Staten Island.

Looking a lot like the ruins of an ancient temple, these mysterious rock formations cover near half a mile of beach, near the ruins of the old Raritan Bay clamming industry. Believe it or not, a single person has been stacking thousands of rocks on top of each other, for over a decade. Every Friday, Douglas Schwartz, a zookeeper at the Staten Island Zoo, sets out on the beach of Mount Loretto State Park and spends around 45 minutes stacking and stabilizing rocks into tower-like formations.

Some people refer to this place as “New York’s little Stonehenge” and those who have already discovered it appreciate its beauty and tranquil effect. There are children playing around the rock sculptures, trying to create their own, while grownups enjoy the peace and quiet. It’s amazing how relaxing looking at dozens of rock sculptures, on a deserted beach, can be.

Read More »

Grayson Castro is an original artist with an affinity for zombies. I’ve never even imagined what Jesus or Barrack Obama would look like as zombies, but thanks to Grayson’s art we don’t have to. You can also check out Audrey Hepburn or Dolly Parton as mindless zombies, and even John McCain. I always knew politicians were monsters, but munching on a baby’s limbs seems a little too much.

You can see more of Grayson Castro’s artworks on his website and Flickr stream. Read More »

I’ve never been a big fan of fish, but hunger has made me gobble down trout after trout, a few times. But there are some fish dishes I’d rather die than put in my mouth. If you thought eating raw fish, like sushi, was disgusting, I suggest you get a bag ready, before scrolling down, just to be sure, because you’re about to discover the most disgusting fish dishes in the world.

Surströmming

Also known as “sour Baltic herring”, Surströmming is a Swedish dish consisting of fermented hering. It usually comes in cans that, due to the fermentation, often bulge. As long as the can stays closed, Surströmming isn’t much of a problem, but as soon as the lid comes off, the odour becomes too much to bare. This is the main reason even fans of Surströmming prefer to eat this fish dish outdoors. In 2006, several airlines banned Surströmming, claiming the cans were potentially explosive. Swedish authoritis say that’s just a myth, but why risk it? If the can doesnt kill you, the smell probably will.

Read More »

Just because Italians invented pizza doesn’t mean America can’t have it’s own signature pie, covered with all the delicious stuff likely to give you a nice heart-attack.

Made on 4th of July, in honor of America’s independence, this real American pizza has all the the toppings that made American fast food the unhealthiest cuisine in the world. The thin pizza crust is covered with ketchup, two cheeseburgers, an order of nuggets, fries, all covered by a layer of melted cheese. Let’s face it people, pizza doesn’t get any better than this…

And if the pizza didn’t spell “the American way” clear enough, the hand-gun next to it, in the last photo, definitely clears things up.

Read More »

Inspired by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, Reg Miller transformed his old shed into a pirate themed retreat that earned him the title of winner in the Shed of the Year 2010 contest.

Reg Miller, or Jolly Reg, as he’s come to be known, built his impressive pirate shed from scratch. He has some old muskets and swords, and since his partner didn’t want them in the house anymore, he figured the best place to store them was the shed. After seeing his first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, he decided he was going to build his very own pirates’ den.

Jolly Reg did it all himself, using anything from recycled pieces of wood to fixtures and fittings he found at car trunk sales. He spent years working on it, but his pirate shed is still a work in progress, as he is always adding new things. So far he has set up a Koi fish pond, complete with palm trees, and decorated the shed with barrel seats, pirate flag pole and even a real life parrot.

The 65-year-old would-be pirate managed to beat over a 1,000 other candidates and snatched the grand prize at  UK’s Shead of the Year 2010 competition. He’s now 1,000 pounds richer and has a hefty supply of wood-maintenance products from the contest’s sponsor.

Read More »

Home to the largest secondhand bookstore in the world, Hay-on-Wye is more than just a little town on the border between England and Wales, it’s book heaven on Earth.

The history of Hay-on-Wye as the “town of books” began on Fools’ Day of 1977, when during a bold publicity stunt, bibliophile Richard Booth announced the independence of Hay-on-Wye as a kingdom of books, with him as the monarch. Ambassadors were sent to the International Court of Justice, in Hague, and a rowing gunboat started patrolling on the river Wye. Since then, he managed to establish a healthy tourism industry based on books, and thousands of visitors come to Hay-on-Wye every year, to look for whatever books they need.

Read More »

Taras Lesko is an incredibly talented designer who likes to create beautiful things both on his computer and with his own two hands. Though his graphic designs are nothing short of impressive, it’s his paper craft creations that really caught my eye.

Taras spends months working on his paper craft models, drawing up the parts, cutting them out and putting them together. Now that doesn’t sound like anything special, but wait until you see what this guy make out of paper.

The Freedom Gundam is, in my opinion, the coolest paper craft model in his personal portfolio. Inspired by the famous Gundam anime movie, Taras spent two months working on the 4-foot paper-craft Fredom Gundam. He ended up using 175 paper sheets and 500 individual parts.

Read More »

Designer Alexander Gedda has spent several months making a replica of the famous Porsche 911 supercar, out of thousands of toy building blocks.

The 14-foot-long wooden replica was commissioned for the historic archive of a Porsche dealer in Milan and is made out of toy building blocks and a giant zipper, down the middle. The designer used over 6,500 wooden blocks, which, if placed end-to-end, make 1,500 meters of wood.

If you’re wondering what the role of the zipper is in all this, well it’s actually the only way to enter the “vehicle”. Inside you’ll find pretty much nothing, but if you’ve ever dreamed of being inside a wooden Porsche 911, you’ll have to use the zipper.

Read More »

Most likely, the only pyramids you learned about in school were the “Great” ones in Egypt. If you were lucky, you maybe heard that there were some in Central America, but mostly the education was all about Giza and the buried Pharaohs. However, pyramids were built as sacred architecture all over the world, from Chichen Itza (Mexico) to Indonesia; from China to the Canary Islands. If you’re traveling because you’re interested in cultures that you may not have known about before, then you have to check out these epic pyramids of the world.

1) Pyramids of Guimar (Tenerife) – Tenerife is one of the most well-traveled locales in the Canary Islands. There are plenty of hotels and cheap flights to Tenerife; this makes the Pyramids of Guimar a great first “Pyramid That’s Not In Egypt” to see. Built out of volcanic rock and fitted together without mortar, these pyramids are mysterious in that a) they’re comparable in size to all the major pyramids of the world, yet b) no one knows who built them. There are all kinds of stories involving Gnostic Christians, Freemasons, or even Aztec traders before the first millennium, but no one knows for sure. That’s why they’re so interesting.

Read More »

Yes, believe it or not, just 2 years and a half ago, this man looked like your average 30-year old, living  and working in the Big Apple.

I got these photos by email, the other day, and was stunned to see how much a person can change in just two years, if they get carried away. The email didn’t mention a name, but apparently the dude in the photos is a 32-year-old piercing and tattoo enthusiast, from New York, who got a ton of tattoos and piercings, but nothing that couldn’t be covered by pants and sleeves. He had a 9-to-5 office job and a pretty much normal life, when he decided to move closer to Manhattan and live how he always wanted.

Our hero started working as a tattoo apprentice, and that’s when things started getting out of hand. He started out small, with a few tattoos on the top of his shaved head, but got carried away and covered his entire head with ink. There’s really no room left and you could swear he’s a different person now.

Thanks a lot for the pics, Daegan!

Read More »

I know, I know, the title makes no sense, but neither does this delicious chocolate cake shaped as a creepy human skull.

The Bitter Teeth cake was created by Chloe Bird, who followed an original t-shirt design by Threadless. She cast a silicone mold of a human skull, and used it to create the face and jaw of her cake out of delicious milk chocolate. The back of the skull was made from baked sponge cake and clued to the front of the skull with even more milk chocolate. Before covering the whole thing in molten chocolate, Chloe carved the details of the skull using dental equipment. The creepy teeth were painted with dark chocolate.

As you may imagine, its creepy look didn’t save the Bitter Teeth cake from the hungry mouths of Chloe’s work mates, who were all over it the moment she unveiled it.

Read More »

Flickr user Pepa Quinn, an avid fan of Futurama, has finally completed his amazing LEGO replica of the World of Tomorrow.

Pepa Quinn has been working on this LEGO masterpiece for over six months, regularly posting photos of his progress, but now he has finally completed his project. LEGO World of Tomorrow is a worthy replica of the world presented in Futurama, boasting famous landmarks like Planet Express, Robot Arms Apts, Madison Cube Garden and the sewers of New New York.

Pepa Quinn’s geeky LEGO metropolis has already been featured on popular websites like Comedy Central Insider, earning him the recognition he deserves. Well done!

Read More »

Haw Par Villa, also known as the Tiger Balm Gardens has to be one of the weirdest tourist spots you can find in Southeast Asia, and the weirdest in Singapore.

Aw Boob Haw and Aw Boon Par, the two brothers behind the famous Tiger Balm, built the Haw Par Villa in 1937. It featured over 1,000 statues and 150 dioramas inspired from Chinese folklore, history and mythology, and quickly became an attraction for people who appreciated Chinese culture. Although it was a huge place, Haw Par Villa was always full of people taking pictures of its weird-looking exhibits and kids running around holding balloons. That was 20 years ago, because now Singapore’s weird theme park is almost deserted.

But just because this place lost its glow doesn’t mean it’s not worth a visit, especially if you’re into offbeat attractions. I mean this place will really blow your mind, with statues like a woman breastfeeding her father in law, armed monkeys, or the human faced giant crab. Now these apparently do make some sense if you’ve read up on Chinese mythology, but to an uneducated guy like me they just look freaky.

Not to mention the Ten Stages of Hell exhibit, a place that will creep the hell out of a grownup, let alone a child. According to Chinese mythology, a soul must pass through ten courts of judgment, before being allowed into heaven, and Haw Par Villa has very detailed representations of these trials. As you’re about to see, they are not pretty.

All in all, Haw Par Villa is still considered a must-see attraction for people fond of Chinese culture, and efforts are being made to restore it to its former glory. If you want my opinion, don’t take your kids with you, unless you enjoy explaining why an old man is sucking on a woman’s breast… Read More »

Women of the Apatani Tribe, in India’s Apatani plateau, are famous for the bizarre nose plugs they’ve been wearing since times long passed.

The Apatani, or Tani, are a tribal group of about 60,000 members, often praised for their extremely efficient agriculture, performed without animals or machinery. They have no written record of their history, and traditions are passed down orally, from generation to generation.

One tradition that is quickly fading into the mist of time is the traditional Apatani nose plugs, worn by most of the elder women in the tribe. There was once a time when every woman had to wear these bizarre accessories, but since the middle of the 20th century, the custom began to die. According to the Apatani, the nose plug was born as a way of protecting the women of the tribe. Apparently, Apatani women have always been considered the most beautiful among the Arunachal tribes, their villages were constantly raided by neighboring tribes, and the women kidnapped.

To make themselves unattractive to the other tribes, Apatani women began wearing these hideous nose plugs and tattooing their faces with a horizontal line from the forehead to the tip of the nose, and five lines on their chins. Let’s face it, that turns off any raider in search of beautiful women to have his way with.

But the tradition of the Apatani nose plug hasn’t been practiced by any woman born after 1970, and as time passes, this custom will probably soon be forgotten. Well, at least we still have the Ethiopian lip plug.

Read More »

Constructed in1896, and used to store the gas that supplied Vienna, these four giant gasometers are now used as modern and original living spaces.

Remnants of the industrial age, gasometers all over the world have been demolished, or simply abandoned and left at the mercy of the elements. But the people of Vienna thought it would be a shame to just wipe these once useful structures off the face of the earth, and came up with a way to give them new meaning.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Vienna’s gasometers were the largest in the world, each 70 meters tall and 60 meters across. Now, they are some of the city’s most coveted living and office spaces. After natural gas started being used to power Vienna, the interior of the gasometers was completely removed, leaving only their brick shells The idea of transforming them into living quarters appeared as the result of a design contest, calling for new ideas on how to reuse old structures. Now, the gasometer apartment buildings incorporate the ideas of four architects, including the translucent roofs, the interior garden and the eco-friendly terraced structure.

There are currently 1,500 people living in this gas tank city within a city. They are known as the Gasometer community.

Read More »