How many toilets have you seen in your life? The answer is that you have probably seen far more of them than is recommendable, I guess. Still, maybe you have had the pleasure of seeing some of these weird toilets along the way.
Meet Venus, the Amazing Chimera Cat
No, dear reader, the image above has not been photoshopped. This is Venus, an adorable kitten with more than a passing resemblance to a certain two-faced Batman villain. Venus’ furry face, as you can see, is distinctively split into two halves: the left is covered in black fur and features a yellow eye, while the right is covered in ginger fur and features a blue eye. Widely thought to be a chimera (google it), she looks like two completely different cats spliced into one.
“She’s as sweet as can be…. gentle, loving, and has this little tiny kitten like “meow” even though she is 3 now,” says her currently nameless owner. “She acts like a big baby in the way that she loves to be babied. She doesn’t bother any furniture with her claws and uses a scratching post. She does not have one single bad habit. She’s perfect!”
Venus was adopted from a North Carolina dairy farm in 2009. Images of her curious appearance, taken by “mommy,” have just recently gone viral. She has her own official Facebook page, which has now garnered over 5,000 likes, and has been named the “coolest cat ever” over on Reddit, understandably so. [Read more…]
The Bus of the Future, of the Past
It looks like something out of a Flash Gordon movie or a feature of a Buck Rogers outer-space adventure. But no, the Citroen U55 Cityrama Currus bus is the stuff of fact and not science-fiction. It is also the stuff of the past: this hyper-futuristic double-decker bus was constructed by French coachbuilder Currus in 1950 for tour operator Groupe Cityrama. Cruising through the scenic boulevards of Paris, it served as a tour bus of the City of Love, where Parisian onlookers would routinely stare at its outrageous figure and fear that they had accidentally stepped through a time portal, or that an alien invasion was imminent.
Reportedly, the vehicle was built atop the chassis of a Citroen U55 truck. It is almost entirely covered in wrap-around glass, including the upper-deck roof, which would be slid away on a fine summer’s day. It has a pointed tip protruding from its forehead, the practical use of which is debatable at best. Its strikingly unorthodox design earned it a place in several movies of the era, though sadly none of them were of the sci-fi genre: it can be seen in Louis Malle’s 1960 comedy satire “Zazie Dans Le Métro,” and then in Gérard Oury’s 1965 comedy “Le Corniaud.”
Check out further images of the bus below, and feel intense jealousy for those who, 60 years ago, got the chance to ride in this space-age automobile. [Read more…]
Mixtape Coffee Table
Last month, ThisBlogRules brought you the coffee table that doubles up as a fully-functional Nintendo controller. Now we have another coffee table that doubles up as another gizmo, although this time it’s a slightly more primitive, possibly more nostalgic piece of technology. Designed by Seattle-based artist Jeff Skierka, this table has a distinct resemblance to an audio cassette tape, albeit a massively oversized one that will make its owner feel like a Borrower.
Now, I’m aware some of our younger readers may be confused as to what a cassette tape actually is: to put it basically, a cassette tape is a CD that’s rectangular and not circular, bulky and not slim, lame and not not-so-lame. It also sometimes benefits from the use of a pencil – you figure out how.
Here are the technical details on Skierka’s one-of-a-kind mixtape table. Sized at 47.25″ x 30″ x 5″, it is twelve times the size of a regular cassette tape. It is made of reclaimed maple, walnut and lucite, and is fitted with a glass top. It’s also completely reversible, with a side A and a side B (just like the real thing!), although sadly it does not actually play any music – well, not until someone designs a cassette tape player the size of a bungalow, that is.
Check out more pics of the table below.
All Tied Up: Stunning Artwork Made Entirely Out of Shoelaces
The surrealist works of Colombia-born artist Federico Uribe become even more surreal upon closer inspection, when you discover his creations consist of awe-inspiring assemblies of nothing other than pins and shoelaces. Uribe, who is based in Miami, is no stranger to thinking outside of the box: he has also created artworks consisting of screws, gardening tools, pencils and shoes, among many other household objects, throughout his art career.
To put it lightly, Uribe’s work is extraordinary, and his “Shoe Laces” collection is certainly no exception. In it, he creates startling, humorous and sometimes quite demented images of people with shoes for hands, with their innards exposed, and with the foot of a live chicken positioned between their teeth, all conveyed through just that trusty piece of string that keeps your shoes from slipping off your feet. Check out some of our favourite pieces below, and check out Uribe’s official site for more. [Read more…]