For 99 euros ($158) a night, you can eat hamster grain, run in a giant wheel, sleep in hay stacks in what is called the Hamster Villa.

Maud and Sebastien are . . . → Read More: La Villa Hamster – Hotel offers guests night as hamster]]> La Villa Hamster – Hotel offers guests night as hamster

A hotel in the French town of Nantes is offering the chance for people to become a hamster.

For 99 euros ($158) a night, you can eat hamster grain, run in a giant wheel, sleep in hay stacks in what is called the Hamster Villa.

Maud and Sebastien are the first ones to experience how hamsters live, not afraid at the thought of sleeping in hay or feeding on a hamster fountain and special grain.

It is a unique experience and, the guests say, just something different.

“To become a hamster, eat seeds, change our way of life… come out of our daily routine,” Maud and Sebastien said.

The owners, Frederic Tabary and Yann Falquerho, run a company which rents out unusual and bizarre places.

“The hamster in the world of children is that little cuddly animal. Often, the adults who come here have wanted or did have hamsters when they were small,” Mr Falquerho said, dressed as a hamster.

However, the price is soon to go up as today’s hamsters need, according to the owners, Wifi and a giant TV screen.

source: Reuters

VIDEO La Villa Hamster: conception realisation TABAKERO

The limestone statue — which depicts an unidentified woman — went on display at the . . . → Read More: 3000 year old Michael Jackson]]> 3000 year old Michael Jackson

An ancient Egyptian bust on display at the Field Museum in Chicago has been the focus of interest since the star’s death as visitors double-take at the eerie similarities between the 3,000 year old statue and the singer.

The limestone statue — which depicts an unidentified woman — went on display at the museum in 1988 and was carved during the New Kingdom Period, dating from between 1550 BC to 1050 BC.

Like Jackson’s surgically-altered face, the carving has a distinct, upturned nose and rounded eyes.

And like Jackson — if rumors of the singer’s prosthesis are to be believed — the statue’s nose has partially disintegrated.

Museum curator Jim Phillips said staff had been “inundated” with inquiries from Jackson fans since the star’s similarities to the bust were pointed out in a recent newspaper article.

“We’ve had people coming to the museum and asking ‘Where’s Michael Jackson?’ So we have to tell them that he’s not here, but there is a bust that looks a lot like him,” Phillips told AFP.

Phillips said while it is doubtful that Jackson’s physical startling image may have been inspired by the statue — the singer was not believed to have visited the museum — the resemblance between the two is undeniable.

“I have to admit it, there are a number of very striking similarities,” Phillips said. “I don’t follow all the permutations of Michael Jackson’s physical appearance, but they do look a lot alike.”

Jackson, 50, died of a cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles on June 25.

PATTAYA, Thailand – Cover your ears.

A brave audience kept their distance Saturday as a group of ear-splitting contestants tried to break the Guinness Record for the loudest scream.

Eleven competitors qualified for the final round from a field of more . . . → Read More: Top scream falls short of Guinness Record]]> Top scream falls short of Guinness Record

Russian wins contest, but effort is nothing compared to Brit’s 2000 bellow

PATTAYA, Thailand – Cover your ears.

A brave audience kept their distance Saturday as a group of ear-splitting contestants tried to break the Guinness Record for the loudest scream.

Eleven competitors qualified for the final round from a field of more than 1,500 in the competition held in Thailand, just south of Bangkok.

It was a Russian man, Sergey Savelyev, who belted out the loudest scream among the contestants. It topped out at 116.8 decibels. But that’s well short of the world record of 129 decibels set by Britain’s Jill Drake in London in 2000.

It may be nothing to scream about for some, but the winner walked away with a prize of about $882.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

VIDEO Contestants take part in a screaming contest in Pattaya, Thailand, measured on a decibel meter.