The world’s craziest houses

by Jeremy Kressmann on

They say that “home is where the heart is,” but I have to wonder when I look at the at the “Gravity-Defying Homes” gallery over at design site PointClickHome. Perhaps the expression is better written as “home is where the crazy is?” Point Click Home’s gallery features a slideshow of some of the most surreal and interesting houses from around the world, including strange structures in Russia, The Netherlands, Indonesia, the U.S. and Canada, among others.

It’s hard to pick a favorite from this bunch. I think the Russian gangster house wins the award for the poorest planning – it’s probably because the owner was incarcerated before he was able to finish it (no joke). Meanwhile, the Dutch seem to be quite adept at building whimsical houses, offering an assortment of homes in the shape of cacti and cubes. And I have to hand it to the American houses – the “mushroom house” and “pod house” are certainly the most trippy.

While I can’t imagine these bizarre buildings are practical to live in, they certainly make for some great voyeurism. Check out the gallery below to see them all. And if you still haven’t gotten your fill, take a look at Justin’s post last year for some more examples.

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[via Josh Spear]

Genitalia restaurant in China

by Abha Malpani on

If you think that eating water-buffalo penis, a yaks knob with a hunk of foreskin, a dog’s penis, bull’s penis tip, bull’s perineum, or deer-penis juice is gross (excuse me one minute while I go to throw up), think again. Apparently they’re delicious delicacies, with energetic and virility benefits that rich Chinese people (mainly male members of the Communist Party) pay up to £250 for.

Guo-li-Zuang restaurant in Beijing specializes in serving such dishes of animal penises and testicles. China has a history of poverty and famine, which is why they are used to eating any animal and every morsel of it, so eating penises and testicles is nothing out of the ordinary. The stuff is mainly boiled, roasted or steamed, and served with a variety of items like lemon, soy, chili, honey and sesame-seed paste.

According to the author of the article on this restaurant: “All the knobs have intriguing, delicate and bizarre textures, although the flavor is mainly of pork braised in hot stock.” The restaurant is sexist though as it doesn’t serve female genitalia — but oh what the heck.

Now that I think about it a bit more, it doesn’t seem all that gross. They are really just body parts like anything else. I would have to say though, I’d probably enjoy it more if I didn’t know what I was eating.

Bizarre Japanese kinks: school boy cafes and more

by Abha Malpani on

While Japanese men get their kicks from “maid cafes”, Japanese women are getting their kicks from “school boy cafes” where waiters dress like teenage boys who go to boarding-school.

If I’ve understood clearly, these Japanese women do not want to get with these men dressed as school boys, but their thrill factor lies in the romance that they see (or imagine) between the boys at the cafes — something that comes to life from the Japanese boy-boy romance manga comics they read.

According to Reuters, the latest genre of such comics often include violent sex scenes that range from anal and oral sex to bondage and male gang rape. Apparently, seeing beautiful fragile boys in dangerous almost death-like situations makes them attractive to the women who read such manga comics.

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The idea it follows after the “butler cafe” — opened in 2006 by the same person — to provide the young, sophisticated, geeky Japanese woman (female Otaku) a safe and trendy environment to hangout, something that is a rarity in Japan because of it’s rigid society norms.

Talking about rare cafes and kicks people get from them, a bit of prodding reveals numerous weird themed cafes in Japan: vampire cafe, prison cafe, ninja cafe, eyeglasses cafe, scientist lab coat cafe, and the church themed Christon cafes.

I think the success of such concepts is a great example of deep cultural complexities that I wonder if we will ever understand. But I suppose we don’t need to understand them as long as we accept them — perhaps then we will be able to enjoy them too!

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Obama Japan supports Obama America to boost tourism

by Abha Malpani on

A town of 32,000 people in Japan called Obama is raging with support for Barack Obama as a means to increase tourism to their town.

An Obama presidency could boost the city’s recognition and possibly increase foreign tourism. The symbol you see here is an unofficial illustration of the group that supports Obama, clearly not for his policy, but for his name. How’s that for strategy to enhance tourism!

Obama means “little beach” in Japanese and the town is known for its lacquer ware. To milk Barack Obama’s run for American presidency as a means to heighten recognition of their town, they are in process of making headbands, T-shirts and Japanese style bean cakes with Barack’s face on them.

The town is also working on nurturing a personal relationship with Barack as they send him “care-packages” with good-luck dolls, lacquer chopsticks, a DVD and guidebook to the city. They hope that one day Barack will stop by on a trip to Japan.

To think that an American president merely sharing the name of a Japanese town could boost the town’s economy AND forge relationships between two countries is as great as it is bizarre.

Dubai shuts down for Bush visit

by Abha Malpani on

It has been declared a public holiday in Dubai tomorrow because of Bush’s visit. The notice people get? Not even 24-hours. All private and public sectors will be closed, and so will all the main roads. In other words, doing anything tomorrow will either be painful, or impossible.

Dubai abruptly declared dysfunctional like this for a day, is an example of how your life can be thrown into unpredictable pandemonium if you live in the city.

I can imagine the situation in my office had I still been working there: some people rejoicing as others curse their way out of frustration. All major events or even personal plans for tomorrow need to be canceled immediately and rearranged: conferences, meetings, press-events, lunch at Gran’s, a visit to the zoo. You really learn to “go with the flow” in Dubai where you have no other option.

Can you imagine this in any other country? I think not. Sure, it’s Dubai’s way of maximizing security for a presidential visit, but Bush’s visit has been in the schedule for a while and I don’t understand why the city couldn’t have pre-planned this. French President Sarkozy is supposed to visit Dubai on Tuesday; will that mean another public holiday? I think Dubai should have just declared the entire week off. Easier for everyone, don’t you think?