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Natumi Hayashi‘s blog featured all kinds of normal photos of herself, her pet cat, friends and Tokyo sights, but on September 16, 2010 she posted a photo entitled “Today’s Levitation”. The rest, as they say, is history…
Hayashi has become an Internet sensation after she began posting photos of herself levitating in all kinds of places around Tokyo. She told the Daily Mail it was an English idiom that inspired her to take the first photo of herself levitating - ‘to have one’s feet firmly planted on the ground’. Apparently they have the exact same phrase in Japan, but since she doesn’t consider herself a practical person she chose not to have her feet firmly on the ground in her self-portrait photos, to show how she really is. “In being free of gravity in the pictures, I am also not bound to societal conventions. I feel as though I am not tied to many things and able to be my true self.” the artist said in an interview. After taking her first levitation photo the frequency of “Today’s Levitation” gradually increased until she started posting a new photo every day.
Asked about the reactions of passers-by, Hayashi admits jumping repeatedly hundreds of time can get people a little edgy. She starts to hear them whispering around her, but almost never lets them hinder her art. ”One day, when I was jumping at a tourists’ site in the western part of Tokyo, cashiers at the nearby souvenior store started to freak out. I heard them whispering, ‘Has she gone mad?’ and ‘Should we call the Police?’ So I stopped jumping, and told them, ‘I am taking jumping photos to make a slide show for my wedding party.’ Then they blushed and told me, ‘Oh sorry!’ ‘Congratulations!’ ‘Good luck jumping!’” Natsumi remembers.
While anything boiled and soaked in boys’ urine doesn’t sound tasty at all, Virgin Eggs are considered a Spring delicacy, in China’s Zhejiang Province.
In most places, Spring is all about the smell of blooming flowers, but in Chinese cities like Dongyang, the streets reek of urine. No, the smell doesn’t come from drunk people reliving themselves in dark corners and back alleys, but from the large pots of Virgin Eggs. Called tongzi dan (literally “boy egg) they are an old culinary tradition listed as part of the Dongyong cultural heritage, similar to tea eggs – hard boiled eggs soaked in soy sauce and vinegar. The only difference is Virgin Eggs are soaked in urine.
Vendors collect virgin boys’ urine from elementary schools around the city and use it as a main ingredient for their unusual street food. Plastic barrels are placed outside the classrooms and boys are reminded to pee in them, unless they are sick. The pee is then used to boil eggs, their shell cracked to allow the flavour to slip through, then soaked in urine and boiled again. The whole “cooking” process takes an entire day. I know it sounds disgusting, but some people say they “have the taste of Spring”, while others claim “they’re so delicious that I could eat 10 a day”.
According to traditional medicine, Virgin Eggs will restore diminished yin, decrease body heat to help you get through the hot summer days, and improve blood circulation, but Doctor Huang Jian, from the Central Hospital in Jinhua believes “that urine is waste expelled from human body and basically contains no substance conducive to human health.”
If Virgin Eggs sound like something you’d like to try, you’ll be pleased to know locals are planning to export the delicacy so “people outside China to fully appreciate the delicacy of our cuisine”, says local chef Lu Ming.
They might look good enough to eat, but Jasmin Schuller’s desserts aren’t at all what they seem. The artist made them using weird ingredients like meat scraps, blood and grease.
Austrian artist and photographer Jasmin Schuller proves you don’t unnecessarily need image processing software like Photoshop to put consumer perception to the test. For her Sweat Meatseries of so-called desserts, all it took was outstanding craftsmanship and attention to detail. She used plenty of meat scraps, two liters of blood, a bucket of animals grease and five kilos of raw meat, and processed them all into mouth-watering treats. For example, that ice-cream sundae is made from various minced meats, covered in “delicious” grease cream, and topped with a cherry carved from a pig’s heart. The cherry syrup is actually blood.
Although only cannibals would find Jasmin’s Sweat Meat truly delicious, the photos she took look so delicious I bet they’d even tempt vegetarians.