1. These Kitschy Jell-O molds are actually Lamps
Made by mixed media artist Elrod (aka Mexakitsch.com). Found via PeeWee Herman’s blog!
2. Billy Meier’s UFOs
Eduard Albert Meier, commonly nicknamed “Billy”, is the founder of a UFO religion called the “Freie Interessengemeinschaft für Grenz- und Geisteswissenschaften und Ufologiestudien” (Free Community of Interests for the Border and Spiritual Sciences and Ufological Studies) and alleged contactee whose UFO photographs are claimed to show alien spacecraft. Meier claims to be in regular contact with extraterrestrial beings he calls the Plejaren. He also presented other material during the 1970s such as metal samples, sound recordings and film footage. Meier claims to be the seventh reincarnation after six prophets common to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Enoch, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Immanuel (Jesus), and Mohammed. (Wikipedia).
He also has great photoshop skills! At Sotheby’s, a lot of his photographs sold for $16,000.
Found here.
3. News footage announcing the discovery of the Titanic wreckage (1985)
4. A ‘Witch Bottle’ Discovered in an English Chimney
Filled with teeth, pins and mysterious liquid, the charms were designed to ward off witches, but new research suggests they had medical uses as well. Contractors demolishing the chimney of a former inn and pub in Watford, England, chanced upon a creepy surprise in 2019.
Found on the Smithsonian.
5. Mariah Carey’s Secret Alternative 90s Rock Album
Carey secretly wrote, recorded and released an alt rock album in 1995 under the name “Chick”. She initially provided leading vocals but producers told her it could damage her career so she asked her roommate Clarissa Dane to provide lead vocals whilst leaving her own background vocals on the tracks. This wasn’t revealed until 2020.
Here are two music videos from the album which Mariah Carey directed (warning: they’re both pretty terrible): Malibu and Demented
It seems she did provide some clues, her dog was featured in Malibu. In addition, she had a song in her album E=MC2 called “I’m That Chick”. Carey stated in her memoir: “I created an alter-ego artist and her Ziggy Stardust-like spoof band. My character was a dark-haired brooding Goth girl [a version of her, Bianca, showed up a few years later in the ‘Heartbreaker’ video] who wrote and sang ridiculous tortured songs.”
More on Wikipedia.
6. The Qajar series, inspired by the studio portraiture first introduced to Iran in the late 19th century
These photographs are from a series of thirty-three portraits by Shadi Ghadirian, a contemporary artist who was inspired by the studio portraiture first introduced to Iran under the Qajar dynasty (1794–1925). In order to re-create the earlier setting, Ghadirian employs painted backdrops and dresses her models in vintage clothes to emulate the fashion of the day: headscarves and short skirts worn over baggy trousers, as well as thick, black eyebrows. She adds modern elements to these traditional scenes, such as a Pepsi can, a boom box, a bicycle and an avant-garde Tehran newspaper. She has said of her work, “My pictures became a mirror reflecting how I felt: we are stuck between tradition and modernity.”
More found here.
7. An Asian-American owned store in 1942
Oakland, Calif., Mar. 1942. A large sign reading “I am an American” placed in the window of a store, at [401 – 403 Eighth] and Franklin streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. Found in the Library of Congress.
8. Chilling Underground
Victor Sukhorukov is a young photographer from St. Petersburg who is seriously passionate about extreme sports and photography. He chooses hard-to-reach places as sites for filming – underground mines and tunnels, roofs, high-rise towers and bridges.
9. Magnificently Detailed Porcelain Ceramics
10. The Surreal Architecture of Michael Sorkin
Sorkin was house architecture critic for The Village Voice in the 1980s, and he authored numerous articles and books on the subjects of contemporary architecture, design, cities, and the role of democracy in architecture. He died of Covid-19 last year. His prolific body of work is found on his website found here.
11. Los Alamos National Laboratory. Working on nuclear testing projects. 1974
Inside the lab: found here.
12. Jeff Goldblum selling us Apple Computers in 1999
13. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 British dark comedy horror film. Its art deco sets, dark humour, and performance by Price have made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again cult classics.
The film posters are pretty rad if you can find one. Otherwise, there’s the t-shirt.
