Offbeat: Shaveless days and Obama cuddling Osama
A collection of the odd, the crazy and the curious from across the world.
A vow of 3, 454 shaveless days
For a middle school teacher in Washington, razors never looked as good as they did on May 2.
Following the 9/11 attacks Garry Weddle of Ephrata, had vowed that he would not shave his beard until Osama bin Laden was caught. But he never knew that he would have to wait 10 years for this...
Weddle was a substitute teacher when the terrorist attacks occurred on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in 2001. He was so struck by the tragedies that instead of spending time watching the events related to the attack unfold; he let his grey beard grow longer.
It wasn’t easy for Weddle as he endured ridicule and jokes for holding to his unshaven ways for almost 10 years. But Weddle kept his words.
The grey stringy growth actually made him look a bit like bin Laden but even then he stood by his vow. However, all is well that ends well.
On May 2, Weddle wasted no time looking for razor and scissor. Now the long grey beard is nothing more than a 10-year memory for Weddle and his family.
“I wanted him to get rid of it, but it was his vow,” his wife Donita said. “I respected his passion and keeping a vow. I was willing to look past the beard because I love him.” Now she said her husband looks 10 years younger. “It’s a very happy moment for us,” she said.
SOURCE: newsfeed.time.com
Obama cuddles Osama
Traditional artisans in southern Italy have put a clay statuette showing US President Barack Obama holding Osama bin Laden’s head on sale in an unusual reaction to the Al-Qaeda chief’s killing.
The statuette was fashioned by artisans who usually make religious figures for the elaborate Christmas Nativity scenes typical of the city of Naples and who have branched out in recent years into pursuing more contemporary themes.
The hand-painted figurine shows the American president grinning and flashing a victory sign. Bin Laden’s disembodied head is also smiling. Naples artisans have a reputation for their quick reaction to news events.
SOURCE: news.yahoo.com
Tiny tribute
A Birmingham artist has paid microscopic tribute to the royal wedding. Willard Wigan has created a sculpture of Prince William and Catherine Middleton so small that it can fit in the eye of a needle.
In the tiny artwork, the couple can be seen arm-in-arm, with Kate wearing her famous blue Issa engagement dress. Willard said his aim was to create, “the smallest, biggest tribute” to the couple on their wedding day.
For the royal tribute he sculpted a tiny piece of synthetic fibre, which he then painted using a single eyelash. Previously he has immortalised the likes of Barack Obama in miniature as well as inscribing the Lord’s Prayer on a pin-head.
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
Going bananas
This a-peeling sculpture is sure to make you go bananas — with the face of Elvis given a fruity new approach. Japanese artist Keisuke Yamada has also sculpted Davey Jones from Pirates of The Caribbean, as well as a dragon and ghoulish skulls.
The detailed works of fruity art are carved with a toothpick and a spoon. Each piece is completed fast, before the bananas start to rot. When the sculptures are complete Yamada photographs them and eats them before they go bad.
He says, “I started making them about two weeks ago and since posting pictures of them online they have really taken off.” Yamada, an electrician by profession added, “I’m looking forward to making many more in the future.”
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
An armless painter turns art museum vice curator
Huang Guofu, 41, lost both of his arms at the age of four after suffering electric shocks. Born in Tongnan, Chongqing, China, he developed an interest in painting at the age of 12. He started small but dreamed big, painting pictures he saw in his textbooks by using his feet. Huang left school at the age of 18 to raise money to combat the illness that later claimed his father’s life. He became a traveling artist, creating works on the streets of many cities and selling them to passersby.
As if all of this isn’t amazing enough, Huang is now vice-curator of the newly established Chongqing Talents Museum, and is planning to paint murals depicting scenes of old Chongqing. He is conducting his research for this project via a computer, which he accesses by biting on a chopstick and using his right foot to clamp a pen that touches the keyboard. “I am searching materials and pictures of old Chongqing, and preparing the materials for my upcoming creations,” said Huang.
The museum now features several foot-and-mouth painters. For this courageous man and his art it would appear that this is so and who needs hands anyway?
SOURCE: weirdasianews.com
Cow steals milk
Got milk? How about 26 gallons of it? One man did, at least for a little while. And that man was dressed in a cow costume.
An 18-year-old man Jonathan Payton crawled into a Stafford, Virginia Walmart store. After standing, he loaded about $92 worth of milk into a shopping cart and simply rolled the cart out of the mart without paying, police said. He then attempted to give the milk away outside the store, and tried to flee the scene by skipping away, the police added. Payton was given summons and released at the scene.
SOURCE: nbcwashington.com
Kung fu trolley dollies
High flying air hostesses are being taught high kicking kung fu skills — to deck drunk passengers who try to grope them.
The Chinese stewardesses are taking classes in deadly Wing Chun, which teaches students how to knock an aggressor out cold within seconds. Airline bosses say their flight attendants have to deal with at least three cases a week where amorous drunks try to paw them. “It is for their own safety and the safety of other passengers that they learn how to defend themselves. This kung fu works best at very close range so it is ideal for a plane,” said instructor Sifu Lu Heng.
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
Camel swallows vet
Camels are well known for their voracious appetites — but this takes the biscuit (along with the vet who was feeding it to him).
You’d think the fact that this camel appears to be eating a female vet would be weird enough for this picture. But apparently, it shows the animal ‘getting ready for a pedicure’ in the United Arab Emirates. Now — we all know camels, the ‘Ships of the Desert’ — are an important part of people’s lifestyles in the Middle East. But a pedicure?! Really?
Don’t even ask why the vet needs to climb into the camel’s mouth to give it a pedicure — last time we checked, that was for nails. As an afterthought — it must be pretty smelly in there.
This weird picture actually comes from a photo competition to mark the World Veterinary Year, used to highlight the important role vets play in the lives of people and animals across the world. The vet being eaten by a camel came top of the 2,500 global entries, and it’s obvious, why?
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
Underwater opera
An especially composed opera with a difference premiered in a Berlin swimming pool this week, with singers performing in and out and even under the water.
Aquaria Palaoa is the brainchild of Claudia Herr, a champion swimmer in her youth before turning to singing, who plays the lead role, diving into the Stadtbad Neukoelln pool in her green evening dress. With the help of oxygen tanks strapped to her back, Herr sings underwater, with the whale-like sounds she produces transmitted onto speakers situated around the swimming pool with the help of special microphones.
Her voice and those of other singers — who also sing underwater but without oxygen tanks — are mixed with sounds that were recorded 100 metres under an ice shelf in Antarctica. The orchestra stays dry, seated around the pool.
For the opera, Herr teamed up with composer Susanne Stelzen. “Before agreeing to do it, I listened to music in the bath,” she said. “Sound underwater is much weaker, it is muted. But that gives it a bit of a mystical quality.”
The opera runs from May 1 until September 17.
SOURCE: EMIRATES247.COM
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2011.
For a middle school teacher in Washington, razors never looked as good as they did on May 2.
Following the 9/11 attacks Garry Weddle of Ephrata, had vowed that he would not shave his beard until Osama bin Laden was caught. But he never knew that he would have to wait 10 years for this...
Weddle was a substitute teacher when the terrorist attacks occurred on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon in 2001. He was so struck by the tragedies that instead of spending time watching the events related to the attack unfold; he let his grey beard grow longer.
It wasn’t easy for Weddle as he endured ridicule and jokes for holding to his unshaven ways for almost 10 years. But Weddle kept his words.
The grey stringy growth actually made him look a bit like bin Laden but even then he stood by his vow. However, all is well that ends well.
On May 2, Weddle wasted no time looking for razor and scissor. Now the long grey beard is nothing more than a 10-year memory for Weddle and his family.
“I wanted him to get rid of it, but it was his vow,” his wife Donita said. “I respected his passion and keeping a vow. I was willing to look past the beard because I love him.” Now she said her husband looks 10 years younger. “It’s a very happy moment for us,” she said.
SOURCE: newsfeed.time.com
Obama cuddles Osama
Traditional artisans in southern Italy have put a clay statuette showing US President Barack Obama holding Osama bin Laden’s head on sale in an unusual reaction to the Al-Qaeda chief’s killing.
The statuette was fashioned by artisans who usually make religious figures for the elaborate Christmas Nativity scenes typical of the city of Naples and who have branched out in recent years into pursuing more contemporary themes.
The hand-painted figurine shows the American president grinning and flashing a victory sign. Bin Laden’s disembodied head is also smiling. Naples artisans have a reputation for their quick reaction to news events.
SOURCE: news.yahoo.com
Tiny tribute
A Birmingham artist has paid microscopic tribute to the royal wedding. Willard Wigan has created a sculpture of Prince William and Catherine Middleton so small that it can fit in the eye of a needle.
In the tiny artwork, the couple can be seen arm-in-arm, with Kate wearing her famous blue Issa engagement dress. Willard said his aim was to create, “the smallest, biggest tribute” to the couple on their wedding day.
For the royal tribute he sculpted a tiny piece of synthetic fibre, which he then painted using a single eyelash. Previously he has immortalised the likes of Barack Obama in miniature as well as inscribing the Lord’s Prayer on a pin-head.
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
Going bananas
This a-peeling sculpture is sure to make you go bananas — with the face of Elvis given a fruity new approach. Japanese artist Keisuke Yamada has also sculpted Davey Jones from Pirates of The Caribbean, as well as a dragon and ghoulish skulls.
The detailed works of fruity art are carved with a toothpick and a spoon. Each piece is completed fast, before the bananas start to rot. When the sculptures are complete Yamada photographs them and eats them before they go bad.
He says, “I started making them about two weeks ago and since posting pictures of them online they have really taken off.” Yamada, an electrician by profession added, “I’m looking forward to making many more in the future.”
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
An armless painter turns art museum vice curator
Huang Guofu, 41, lost both of his arms at the age of four after suffering electric shocks. Born in Tongnan, Chongqing, China, he developed an interest in painting at the age of 12. He started small but dreamed big, painting pictures he saw in his textbooks by using his feet. Huang left school at the age of 18 to raise money to combat the illness that later claimed his father’s life. He became a traveling artist, creating works on the streets of many cities and selling them to passersby.
As if all of this isn’t amazing enough, Huang is now vice-curator of the newly established Chongqing Talents Museum, and is planning to paint murals depicting scenes of old Chongqing. He is conducting his research for this project via a computer, which he accesses by biting on a chopstick and using his right foot to clamp a pen that touches the keyboard. “I am searching materials and pictures of old Chongqing, and preparing the materials for my upcoming creations,” said Huang.
The museum now features several foot-and-mouth painters. For this courageous man and his art it would appear that this is so and who needs hands anyway?
SOURCE: weirdasianews.com
Cow steals milk
Got milk? How about 26 gallons of it? One man did, at least for a little while. And that man was dressed in a cow costume.
An 18-year-old man Jonathan Payton crawled into a Stafford, Virginia Walmart store. After standing, he loaded about $92 worth of milk into a shopping cart and simply rolled the cart out of the mart without paying, police said. He then attempted to give the milk away outside the store, and tried to flee the scene by skipping away, the police added. Payton was given summons and released at the scene.
SOURCE: nbcwashington.com
Kung fu trolley dollies
High flying air hostesses are being taught high kicking kung fu skills — to deck drunk passengers who try to grope them.
The Chinese stewardesses are taking classes in deadly Wing Chun, which teaches students how to knock an aggressor out cold within seconds. Airline bosses say their flight attendants have to deal with at least three cases a week where amorous drunks try to paw them. “It is for their own safety and the safety of other passengers that they learn how to defend themselves. This kung fu works best at very close range so it is ideal for a plane,” said instructor Sifu Lu Heng.
SOURCE: web.orange.co.uk
Camel swallows vet
Camels are well known for their voracious appetites — but this takes the biscuit (along with the vet who was feeding it to him).
You’d think the fact that this camel appears to be eating a female vet would be weird enough for this picture. But apparently, it shows the animal ‘getting ready for a pedicure’ in the United Arab Emirates. Now — we all know camels, the ‘Ships of the Desert’ — are an important part of people’s lifestyles in the Middle East. But a pedicure?! Really?
Don’t even ask why the vet needs to climb into the camel’s mouth to give it a pedicure — last time we checked, that was for nails. As an afterthought — it must be pretty smelly in there.
This weird picture actually comes from a photo competition to mark the World Veterinary Year, used to highlight the important role vets play in the lives of people and animals across the world. The vet being eaten by a camel came top of the 2,500 global entries, and it’s obvious, why?
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
Underwater opera
An especially composed opera with a difference premiered in a Berlin swimming pool this week, with singers performing in and out and even under the water.
Aquaria Palaoa is the brainchild of Claudia Herr, a champion swimmer in her youth before turning to singing, who plays the lead role, diving into the Stadtbad Neukoelln pool in her green evening dress. With the help of oxygen tanks strapped to her back, Herr sings underwater, with the whale-like sounds she produces transmitted onto speakers situated around the swimming pool with the help of special microphones.
Her voice and those of other singers — who also sing underwater but without oxygen tanks — are mixed with sounds that were recorded 100 metres under an ice shelf in Antarctica. The orchestra stays dry, seated around the pool.
For the opera, Herr teamed up with composer Susanne Stelzen. “Before agreeing to do it, I listened to music in the bath,” she said. “Sound underwater is much weaker, it is muted. But that gives it a bit of a mystical quality.”
The opera runs from May 1 until September 17.
SOURCE: EMIRATES247.COM
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2011.