Oddity Central - Collecting Oddities

Watts Tower – One Man’s Dream Turned Reality

Spooky — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:40:23 +0000

“I had in mind to do something big and I did it.” That’s what Simon Rodia said about his work.

Designed by Italian immigrant Sabato (Simon) Rodia, Watts Towers are a famous example of vernacular architecture, located in the Watts district, Los Angeles. The talented construction worker spent all his spare time, between 1921 and 1954, working on this collection of 17 interconnected steel towers. The amateur structures are made from steel rods wrapped in wire and coated in mortar.

Rodia decorated his architectural masterpieces with found stuff, like bottle caps, seashells, broken glass and pottery. Children from all over the neighborhood would search for pieces of glass and bring it to Simon Rodia, in hope their findings would be included in his project.

Unfortunately, the talented Italian didn’t get along with his neighbors and he’d often find his Watts Towers vandalized. One day, sick of all the abuse, he left and never came back. In the following years his work became more and more popular, but the towers were about to be teared down by the city, when community activists formed the Committee for Simon Rodia’s Towers in Watts and managed to save them.

Nowadays, Watts Towers is a Historical Park.

[Photo Credits]

Golden Buddha Phone – The Holiest of Gadgets

Spooky — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:53:02 +0000

The Golden Buddha Phone has all the features of ordinary top-of-the-line cells, but also offers a virtual prayer room where users can pray to Buddha and various Bodhisattva.

This techno-jewel sports a piece of real jade, pearl powder lacquer and a 24 karat gold paint-job that make it the most expensive cell-phone in China, at $1,750. Although the iPhone or Blackberry seem like better choices from a technological and financial point of view, neither of them offers a virtual prayer room. That’s what makes the Golden Budha Phone stand out. Stressed-out business men and women will have the opportunity to relax by praying to Buddhist Illuminati like : Sakyamuni, Maitreya, Bhaisajya, Amitabha, Manjusri, Samantabhadra, Kwan-yin or Ksitigarbha.

Unfortunately the Goldne Buddha Phone is compatible with GSM on only two frequencies: 900Mhz and 1800Mhz, so it won’t work in the USA, Canada or Mexico.

This must be an upgrade of the original Buddha Phone.

via Chinavasion

Eatable Bread Shoes

Spooky — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:09:46 +0000

Designed by twin brothers Remigijus and Egidijus Praspaliauskas, the Bread Shoes may not be very practical but they are perfect as wacky gifts.

Every pair is unique and they come in a variety of designs, sizes and bread doughs. Bread Shoes are available for purchase at Da Da Da Studio. Each pair costs 22 euros plus a 5 euro shipping tax. Come on folks, get’em while they’re hot!

Elaine Davidson – The Human Pincushion

Spooky — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:48:08 +0000

Elaine Davidson is a Brazilian-born nurse, living in Edinborough, Scotland, who has made a name for herself by decorating her body with over 6,000 piercings.

In 1997, Elaine had 280 piercings, quite a few for any other body-modder, but just the beginning for her. In 2000 she was acknowledged as the world’s most pierced woman, by the Guinness Book of Records, with 462 piercings, of which 192 on her face. But she kept adding to her collection, and in May 2008 she had 5,920 piercings. As of February 2009 Elaine is the proud bearer of 6,005 pieces of metal.

Most of Elaine Davidson’s piercings are in her genitalia, over 500, located both on the outside and on the inside. The total weight of her “jewelry” adds up to three kilograms. Doctors claim this type of extreme modding involves serious risks, such as infection and transmission of diseases like hepatitis or AIDS.

Despite her bizarre appearence, Elaine wants the public to know she doesn’t do drugs, drink alcohol or smoke cigarretes. Her only vice is Coca-Cola.

Ugly Bat Boy

Spooky — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:03:21 +0000

No, this post is not about a bat boy, but it is about one of the ugliest, weirdest cats you’ve ever seen.

Ugly Bat Boy is an 8-year-old that lives at the Exeter Veterinary Hospital, in New Hampshire. He was born bald, except for an area on his chest, but, despite his unnatractive looks, Ugly Bat Boy still managed to become a local celebrity. Members of the hospital staff were forced to post stickers saying there is nothing wrong with the cat, he is just ugly.

Ugly Bat Boy may look different, but he acts just like any other feline, sleeping on a computer to keep warm and loving attention and petting. Although he’s not pretty to look at, his keepers say his beauty lies on the inside.

Kordeza – The World’s Youngest Mother

Spooky — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:37:43 +0000

Kordeza Zhelyazkova, an 11-year-old girl from Bulgaria gave birth to a daughter, Violeta, during her wedding and became the youngest mother in the world.

Like all childhood love stories, Kordeza’s began at the playground. She was being harassed by a group of bullies, when Jeliazko Dimitrov, a 19-year-old boy appeared as her knight in shining armor. He rescued her and that’s when their romantic tale started. The young man thought she was 15 and she never revealed her real age, for fears he wouldn’t want to be with her. As the consentment limit in Bulgaria is 14, their sleeping together seemed normal to Jeliazko, but he didn’t plan on leaving her pregnant.

In Kordeza’s home town of Sliven, girls getting married as early as 13-years-old is tradition, but she pushed the envelope and even threw a pregnancy into the mix. Her family put together a Roma wedding, so the baby would be born to a real family. But the little one was too anxious and Kordeza went into labour on the second day of her wedding and was rushed to the hospital dressed in her wedding dress.

Now she might be forced to raise her child as a single mother, as her young husband faces jailtime for sleeping with a minor.

Photos by NEWS OF THE WORLD

Kitten Kay Sera – The Pink Lady

Spooky — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:17:54 +0000

Kitten Kay Sera loves pink! But so do many other girls and women around the world. What makes her so special is her obsession to surround her self with everything pink.

The 46-year-old actress from Los Angeles, USA, earned the nickname of “The Pink Lady” because practically everything she owns is pink. Although she claims it isn’t weird, Kitten Kay admits she is drawn to pink like a magnet and can’t help surrounding herself with “any and everything pink”.

The Pink Lady claims to have worn only pink clothes for the last 25 years and to keep from getting bored with the color, she changes the shades and tries to approach different styles, like country, glamour, rock ‘n’ roll, etc. She even paints her 4-year-old Maltese dog, Kisses, using beetroot juice baths.

Kitten Kay Sera takes her obsession with pink to the extreme, going to funerals dressed from head to toe in the popular color and even dumping a guy because he was colorblind and couldn’t appreciate the beauty of pink.

But The Pink Lady says she’s happy with her life and loves it when complete strangers stop her on the street to give her their pink earrings and scarfs and fans send her pink stuff all the time.

via Telegraph.co.uk

Golden Rock – Nature’s Balancing Act

Spooky — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:48:57 +0000

The gold-covered granite boulder perched atop a stone pedestal known as Golden Rock, is one of the most breathtaking sights in Burma.

The third most sacred place in Burma, after Schwedagon Pagoda and Mahamuni Pagoda, Golden Rock lies at the top of Mount Kyaiktiyo, in Mon State. It is completely covered with gold leaves layered by Buddhist devotees and is topped by a 5.5 meters-tall pagoda.

Legend has it Buddha, on one of his travels on Earth, gave a strand of his hair to a hermit, who with his dying breath asked his son Tissa to enshrine the lock in a boulder shaped like his head. The child later became King of Burma and fulfilled his father’s wish by placing the divine gift in a boulder on Mount Kyaiktiyo. Burmese Buddhists believe it’s the strand of hair that keeps Golden Rock in place, defying gravity.

[Photo Credits]

The Other Upside-Down House

Spooky — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:00:01 +0000

I chose to name this post “the other upside-down house” because I wrote about a very similar house when I started this site.

Built in 2008, for an art exhibition, the “other upside down house” is located on Usedom, an island in northern Germany. It was financed and constructed by Polish partners Klausdiusz Golos and Sebastian Mikiciuk, who just wanted to make something different. Only, I wonder if they know a practically identical house already exists in their native country of Poland.

The builders said they were inspired by similar structures in America and Spain, that were upside down on the outside, but normal on the inside. Visitors of the “other upside-down house” said the weird interior make them feel dizzy and disoriented.

Although the house is perfectly safe, nobody is living in it right now.

Photos by Hemmy

Oasis of the Seas – The Giant of the Waters

Spooky — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:29:11 +0000

The Titanic, Queen Elizabeth 2 or Grand Princess were all very impressive boats, but when it comes to size, the Oasis of the Seas is in a league of its own.

Featuring a length of 1,184′ and a weight of 220,000 tons, the Oasis of the Seas is the world’s largest passenger vessel. It’s able to accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,000 crew members on 16 decks. The floating giant was commissioned by Royal Caribbean International in 2006 and was finalized on October 29, 2009, in a Finnish shipyard.

The Oasis of the Seas left its birthplace and is now on route to Florida, in the USA, where it will receive thousands of exotic plants, before its commercial debut. The plants will decorate one of the ship’s seven neighborhoods, called Central Park. It will feature trees, lawns and flower beds.

Other attractions of the Oasis of the Seas include an ice rink, a water theme-park, a fairground carousel and a giant shopping area. Until next year, when her sister, the Allure of the Seas, will be completed, the Oasis of the Seas is the only ships in its class.

[Photo Credits]