Self-proclaimed "Britain's dullest man" Kevin Beresford has your holiday shopping list solution: a 2023 calendar of parking lots, the Daily Record reported. Beresford traveled the country from one end to the other, photographing parking lots and later compiling his favorites into a 12-month calendar. Beresford, of Worcestershire, said he focuses on "slices of life that nobody else does. I don't create your normal conventional calendars. It's sexy being dull." In case you're wondering — or there was any doubt — Beresford is single.
A matter of perspective
A 1941 artwork by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian has been found to have been hanging upside down in various museums for 75 years, the Guardian reported. It's an understandable mistake; the piece features interlaced red, yellow, black and blue adhesive tape strips that subtly thicken at the bottom. But a photograph of Mondrian's studio shows the same piece on an easel — with the "bottom" at the top. Nonetheless, Susanne Meyer-Buser, curator of the North Rhine-Westphalia's art collection, said it will continue to be displayed upside down. "The adhesive tapes are already extremely loose and hanging by a thread," she said. "And it's now part of the work's story."
Tats forever
Michael Sherwood and his son, Kyle, of Cleveland come from a long line of morticians. A few years back, when a friend wondered how he might have his tattoos preserved after he passes away, the two came up with an idea, Oddity Central reported. They figured out a method for removing and preserving tattoos, then started a business called Save My Ink Forever. "Some of these things really are pieces of art," Kyle said. "Instead of having just the remains or the burial ... [families] have actually a piece of their loved one." The Sherwoods say their technique takes roughly three or four months. Families are left with a parchmentlike piece of art. "We are trying to do this in the most dignified manner possible," Kyle added.
The mane event
A female lion at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas has grown a mane, the Topeka Capitol-Journal reported on Oct. 23. Zuri, 18, who lost her mate, Avus, in 2020, started producing more testosterone after his death, which has resulted in the butch look. "It's nothing like the mane you would see on a fully sexually mature male lion," said Zuri's curator, Shanna Simpson. "She looks like a teenaged male lion." Zookeepers said along with the mane, Zuri has become feistier — growling, snarling and roaring more than before. "She feels like she needs to protect her pride, so her testosterone increases," Simpson said.
Light up for the holidays
Miller Lite wants to light up your Christmas tree in more ways than one. The company is offering the Christmas Tree Keg Stand for $49.99, CNN Business reported. The tree stand is basically a keg with a small table on top, and when beer is dispensed, the design "makes it seem as if beer is being poured from the tree," said Sarah Showak, associate marketing manager. According to Miller Lite, the stand will support up to a 5-foot-tall tree with ornaments and lights.
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