I think we can all agree that buttons are extremely satisfying to push. But with our touchscreen smartphones, tablets and all the interactive technology we use today, it seems the only buttons we're pressing lately are those of our nearest and dearest. And I'm not just talking a … | Continue reading
In 1910, two boys, Louis and Temple Abernathy decided to cross America by horseback without adult supervision, from Oklahoma to Manhattan. They were just 10 and 6 years old. To get back home, they bought a car and drove it while their horses returned by train. This true but forgo … | Continue reading
Opening a restaurant is like playing service industry roulette. Yet, somehow, Paris' La Tour d'Argent — quite literally, "The Silver Tower" — says it's survived 436 years of history on the Left Bank, with a backside view of Notre Dame, as the unmatched king of posh Parisian cuisi … | Continue reading
JobriathHe was the first openly gay rock musician to be signed to a major record label, declaring himself "glam rock's truest fairy" to slack-jawed media critics and listeners alike. Touted as America's successor to David Bowie, he was signed to Elektra Records for $500K and for … | Continue reading
America's loss is France's gain. I've had Nancy Holloway playing on repeat this week. Nancy who? Oh, only one of the biggest names in mid-century French pop culture; an idol of the Yé-yé music craze. She's remembered in France as "la Perle Noir", the 'black pearl' of the sixties … | Continue reading
© B.YellowtailIt's 2020, which means it's high time to recalibrate Thanksgiving. Not just by taking precautions to social-distance ourselves with loved ones at risk during these Strange and Uncertain Times, but rather, by giving more thought about what we're celebrating – and mor … | Continue reading
1. The Telephot, 1918"The future instrument on which the name "Telephot" (from the Greek tele: far, photos: light) has been settled, is supposedly an apparatus attachable to our present telephone system, so that when we speak to our distant friend, we may see his likeness not on … | Continue reading
You could see Juliet's statue and her courtyard... or you could be her secretary, responding to letters asking for love advice. | Continue reading
A charming slice of London history in the heart of Spitalfields Market has recently hit the market and stolen our hearts. The three-bedroom property includes a Grade II-listed shop on the ground floor, which retains the original Victorian signage, advertising the services of a mi … | Continue reading
They say you are what you eat. But what about what you eat with? We love a good bout of antique hunting, from the Paris Flea Market to one-of-kind auctions – and in matters of dishware, "Majolica" officially has our attention. You can spot the curious ceramics by their decoration … | Continue reading
Kid Creole and the Coconuts, performing at Starck ClubComing of age in Dallas in the 1980s was synonymous with two words: Starck Club. The notorious nightclub brought scandal to the bible belt with an injection of European excess at the hands of a then-unknown French designer nam … | Continue reading
Princess Esther of Burundi"Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before", said Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, who made history as the first Black and South Indian-American wom … | Continue reading
1. Just a a "dombra" performance in Lake Köbeituz, KazakhstanView this post on InstagramA post shared by fancy nothing (@fancy_nothing) on Jul 31, 2020 at 7:09am PDTThe musician is 23-year-old Marzhan Kapsamat. Lake Köbeituz is a salt lake that turns pink every several years. | Continue reading
An escape plan to Mexico is always a good idea, no matter who you voted for! With our American readers in mind during these surreal times, we've compiled a beginner's off-beat eBook guide to high-tailing it across the border, ya know, just in case. While Mexico of course deserves … | Continue reading
Yearning for the days when you could travel freely? Longing to roam foreign cities without worrying how long you might have to quarantine; or discover new cultures without the added barrier of a mask? When we get all that back, how will you experience it? From behind the screen o … | Continue reading
© Espaces AtypiqueAt the foot of Montmartre, a Parisian café, or at least the ghost of one, has recently found its way onto the property market. Dating back to 1902, locals haven't been able to get their caffeine fix here for a few decades, but the cheerful facade is still marked … | Continue reading
1. The Victorian "Two Penny Hangover": How the term "hungover" originatedAt one of the first homeless shelters in London, for two pennies a night people could sleep resting over a rope (they were forbidden from lying down). It was called the "two-penny-hangover" and it may likely … | Continue reading
© Jim Carroll / Peculiar GhostFrance has over 30,000 castles, and sadly a large number of them are abandoned or at risk. But let's meet the peculiar ghost on a quest to haunt them through his lens... © Jim Carroll / Peculiar Ghost© Jim Carroll / Peculiar GhostFrench photographer … | Continue reading
Soviet CandyBeneath the wrappers, our favourite sweets are packed with many eyebrow-raising tidbits. So with Halloween around the corner, let's go trick-or-treating for a few odd candy facts to spew at your friends & family while you devour your kids Halloween loot... So, Where D … | Continue reading
I think we can agree 2020 calls for a most powerful spell, one that can reverse the evils of the Corona curse. Forget the "eye of newt" and "wool of bat" – to get in the spirit of Halloween, we've trawled our favourite curio corners of the net to find some alternative oddities to … | Continue reading
© Hilary HarknessWe've always got time for some incredible cutaway art. There's just something about the attention to detail – the pure voyeurism – that makes it the ultimate eye candy. Today's escape comes courtesy of American artist Hilary Harkness, whose cutaways are a verita … | Continue reading
Welcome to your Halloween edition of 13 Things, not for the faint of heart!1. The French Werewolf Endemic.. A 67-page academic paper on the history of killer lycanthropes or some sort of man-eating wolf exists. The French Werewolf Epidemic (1520-1630) was France’s version of Euro … | Continue reading
We've been patiently waiting for Halloween to give us an excuse to take you on a tenebrous trip back in time inside the first horror magazine. With only 51 issues in existence, Der Orchideengarten, was an Austrian magazine printed between the years of 1919 and 1921, predating the … | Continue reading
There is a law still in effect in the Haitian criminal code that dates back to 1883, making it illegal to try to turn someone into a zombie. The word “zombie” in fact, comes from “nzambi,” a word that means “spirit" in the voodou religions of Haiti and the African diaspora, but t … | Continue reading
Let them eat tiny cakes! Just when you think the world of miniatures couldn't get any more impressive, you stumble upon the exquisite work of June Clinkscales. The Californian miniature artist has the kind of artisanal skills that we might have believed were almost lost to the wo … | Continue reading
Ah, to visit Yerkaland in the fall, where the clouds have a strange surrealist sheen, and the trees a soft otherworldly glow. If you've never heard of the imaginary universe of Jacek Yerka, you're in for a treat. You may have seen bits and pieces of his work around the interweb b … | Continue reading
1. The Hedgehog Highway That Knits A Village TogetherWith their miniature ramps, stairs and holes cut into fences and stone walls, the gardens of Kirtlington in Oxfordshire are a haven for wildlife ... home to the UK’s longest volunteer-run hedgehog highway.It passes | Continue reading
This picture may not need any explanation. It is arguably perfect as it is. But in these strange and uncertain times, I had an inkling that this might be exactly what we all need. So allow me to formally introduce you to Pearl de Wisdom, aka the Opossum lady. She has been making … | Continue reading
1920s Art Deco Bellhop Cigarette & Matchbook Holder for sale"Tobacciana." That's a big 'ole blanket term for all things smoking-obsessed. Not very 2020, perhaps (and for good reason! Don't smoke, kids). But the reality is that until relatively recently, folks smoked a lot. So the … | Continue reading
The Waldorf Astoria became an icon of Manhattan glamour ever since it first opened in 1931. One of New York’s oldest and perhaps grandest of hotels, it closed its doors as we knew it for the last time in the winter of 2017. We were there to say goodbye. Nearly four years later, t … | Continue reading
In chapter five of Jack Kerouac's timeless 1960 travelogue, Lonesome Traveller, the great American novelist invites us to New York to meet the inner circle of the Greenwich Village beatniks and their experience of the city:"Let's go see the strange great secret painters of Americ … | Continue reading
1. Wife SellingThe custom of Wife selling in England was a way of ending an unsatisfactory marriage by mutual agreement that probably began in the late 17th century, when divorce was a practical impossibility for all but the very wealthiest. After parading his wife with a halter … | Continue reading
© Kerry SkarbakkaYou can almost feel the pain from this picture, can't you? Perhaps an uncomfortable reminder of some close calls of your own in the shower. This is a photograph we've seen doing the rounds over the years on the internet, lingering uncredited in the depths of Tumb … | Continue reading
It's amazing to see how our minds can wander in different ways; how many variations of a story can come from a single picture. We recently proposed a challenge for our readers to become the storyteller, prompted by a historical found photograph with a brief caption as the only cl … | Continue reading
Straight out of a science fiction novel, it's perched ever-so delicately atop a rock formation in the heart of the Ardèche region of France, as if it just touched down from another galaxy. Its lively forms are no accident; the octopean abode is a rare example of the movement know … | Continue reading
Anne of Cleves' iconic "catfishing" portrait by Hans Holbein the younger, 1539.In 1539, Anne of Cleves met her hot-tempered fiancé, King Henry VIII, for the very first time – and to say it was awkward might be one of the biggest understatements in courtship history. Of course the … | Continue reading
1. New York in the RainBeautifully captured by Dylan Walker, found on his Instagram account. 2. Word of the Day: UmarellFound on Wikipedia. 3. "Grandpa Steel” In 1951 in Sweden, a 66 year-old man wasn’t allowed to enter a 1800km (1118 m | Continue reading
That's right, I'm now podcasting on a pair of headphones near you. In a dreamy project with Gucci Beauty, I’m telling the story of a sleeping surrealist mini-city found deep in Italy’s Umbrian hills. I even got to make all my own sound effects like a bonafide foley artist!Listen … | Continue reading
Lyndhurst Mansion / InstagramNo one does Fall like the East Coast. The air grows perfectly crisp, and a tide of orange leaves sweeps the Catskills and Central Park alike in such cinematic fashion, you practically expect Meg Ryan to come sauntering around every corner with a jug o … | Continue reading
Graphic by Isabella BarnettHere are some universal truths: the sound of rain when you are in bed is magical, you haven't truly lived until you've bathed in a 7 foot tall champagne glass in the Poconos – and dating sucks. Especially in 2020. It was bad enough before you had to fac … | Continue reading
Some people paint by numbers. Formality. Then there are those who paint with something else entirely. A kind of electric, lived experience. A place of intimacy with their subject matter that makes a portrait sing, and a still life tremble. Pan Yuliang was one of those people, alb … | Continue reading
© Ben CanteFor those with a fear of heights, consider this your one and only warning to avert your eyes. For those who can't look away, join us on the rooftops of Paris, where we'd like you to meet a modern-day 'Buster Keaton' daredevil. View this post on InstagramA post shared | Continue reading
1. Dream Vacations by 3D Designer Nicole WuMore luxury from the future on her instagram account. 2. The Electric Utilities Pavilion, 1939 at the The World of TomorrowThe New York's World's Fair, more about how its world of tomorrow shaped our today, found | Continue reading
Forget planking – or any other useless but mildly entertaining stunts you might have seen via Tik Tok for that matter. Before all that, came the strange spectacle of pole-sitting, a fad that became all the rage in the 1920s involving sitting atop a pole (usually a flagpole) for a … | Continue reading
©AirbnbWithout a doubt, "The Fresh Prince" had one of the most enviable pads on TV. Well, '90s kids rejoice, because now Airbnb wants you to have a chance at living the sweet life just like Will Smith. "The actor and entrepreneur is adding [us] to his long resume," reads Airbnb's … | Continue reading
There are dream homes, and then there are homes that feeling like a waking dream – something from a movie, book, or from the past – you name it, someone *just* crazy enough has probably recreated it. They can be quaint, chic, grandiose, kitsch – but they're always deliciously de … | Continue reading
Thierry Bosquet has decorated the world's most iconic theatres. He grew up backstage at the opera house in Brussels where his grandfather was a director, before moving to Italy to make a name for himself as a set designer. “My parents brought me up by take me to visit all the pal … | Continue reading
©Ron Hicks"Wait, is that a Degas? A Cassatt?" is probably something Ron Hicks gets a lot. As a contemporary artist, Hicks' talent for blending Impressionist and abstract techniques will make you do a double take, as his languid, cafe lovers could just as easily be mid-embrace cir … | Continue reading