An amazing video of a ‘mermaid’ dancing underwater with a 15ft manta ray is going viral online.
It was made as a conservation project to highlight the plight of the endangered underwater creatures by US photographer Shawn Heinrichs.
‘Mantas Last Dance’ was filmed in the Pacific Ocean, off Kona, Hawaii, featuring professional mermaid model Hannah Fraser who free dives for up to two minutes at a time.
Heinrichs said he worked with Fraser for months on planning the project which he described as “the world’s first ever manta ray fashion/conservation shoot”.
“We had an extremely precise vision, however we were both apprehensive as to the chances of actually capturing this never before seen imagery,” he said.
Fraser was anchored 30ft deep in the ocean, with 50lb weights on one ankle, with a huge swell pushing her back and forth as huge wild mantas brushed against her.
The team worked five days straight – up to 20 hours a day – to complete the project and Mr Heinrichs says “tears were shed” when they saw the finished film.
“The reaction of people when they see the footage and imagery alternates between utter disbelief and accusations of CGI and photoshop, to even envy,” he added.
Manta rays are endangered because they are being slaughtered for their gills which are used for medicine in China and other Asian countries.
“Our objective with this shoot was to present the beauty of the manta rays, their willingness to interact with humans in the hope of inspiring people to conserve this magnificent animal,” explained Heinrichs.
Artist turns monkey nuts into stars
A nutty artist has transformed the humble peanut into a host of famous faces.
Steve Casino carefully paints the nuts with facial features and give them clothes and props to create his caricatures.
The US artist has recreated the likes of current Dr Who Matt Smith, Elton John, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Johnny and June Cash, Sean Connery and Alfred Hitchcock out of monkey nuts.
Creating each of the mini masterpieces is a ten-hour process, which begins with sanding down the surface of a monkey nut.
Mr Casino then uses a tiny brush to painstakingly apply acrylic paint before creating arms, legs, and props from wood, bamboo or dense foam.
He said: “I hold my breath a lot while I paint the tiny lines and avoid drinking coffee while I’m working.
“I don’t know how I get such precise results because I have the stubbiest of fingers.
“I spend a lot of time finding a peanut that is the right shape for the person I’m making, then I remove the nuts, glue it back together, and prepare one side for painting.”
Once complete, Mr Casino sells his celebrity peanuts for between £200 and £330 each.
Man ‘nearly drowns’ in puddle
A video of a man jumping into a puddle – only to find it is as deep as he is tall – is going viral online.
The clip starts with the man preparing to leap into a frozen puddle in a supermarket car park in the US.
To his apparent surprise, he ends up completely submerged as the cameraman keels over in hysterics.
The video has notched up more than 1.3million views on YouTube but some users expressed doubts whether it was genuine.
One asked: “So why is there a four feet deep hole in a parking lot?”
But another added: “This is one of those moments where the guy is laughing so hard he can’t do anything else, not even breathe. Man, those are the best.”
Snow sculpture car gets parking ticket
Traffic wardens slipped up in Germany when they left a parking ticket – on a full-sized snow sculpture of a Volkswagen Beetle.
Pranksters had built the car overnight in a no-parking zone in Aachen, complete with outlines for its headlights, windscreens and even the distinctive VW badge on the bonnet.
“It was incredibly realistic looking. It looked like you could get into it and drive away once you’d swept the snow off,” said one local.
“The wardens eventually realised they’d been had when they tried to scrape the snow off the number plate and found there was no plate, just snow,” they added.
But the prank has received a frosty reception from local police. A spokesman said: “We can take a joke as well as the next person and it was a very convincing prank.
“But whether it was made of metal or snow it was still obstructing a road that should have been clear.”
Double lottery winner ‘not that bothered’
A property developer who won the lottery twice says he wasn’t “that bothered” by his £1.2m wins and that sky-diving was more exciting.
George Traykov, 45, from Ilford, Essex, was so laid back about his second big money win that he didn’t even claim it until two months later.
The “happily divorced” father-of-one, beat odds of one-in-438 million when he won £160,873 in the EuroMillions prize earlier this year.
His win came after he scooped £1 million in the Millionaire Raffle in September 2011.
He joked that his windfall could have been even bigger, after coming up one number short of claiming an astonishing £12 million in the “big jackpot”.
But Mr Traykov, who was once a member of the Bulgarian skydiving team, insisted the thrill of winning the lottery was nothing compared to jumping out of a plane.
“I wasn’t really that bothered,” the adrenalin addict said of his lottery win. “Nothing compares with skydiving.
“The first win enabled me to make a few changes in my life, most importantly sending my daughter Elaine to private school and maintaining her skydiving training sessions.”
He said he had no plans to move away from Ilford where he has lived for nearly 20 years.
“I didn’t know anyone at that time and I didn’t have much money and the only place I could afford a home was Ilford,” he said. “The place, the area, it is very safe, I have lovely neighbours.”
Post published in: World News