1. Chinese ghost town of mansions reclaimed by farmers
Cattle wander between the concrete shells of half-finished mansions in Shenyang, northeastern China, some of the only occupants of a luxury complex whose crumbling verandas and overgrown arches are stark symbols of a housing market crippled by its own excess.
Found on France 24.
2. A Grandma’s Quirky Collection
Margie Soudek came into her first set of salt and pepper shakers—a pair of ducks “dressed like ladies”—around 1946. Over the next seven decades, Soudek amassed more than 2,000 sets. In 2018, Soudek’s granddaughter, Meredith Moore (@redandshiny), began filming the collection. Her short documentary “Margie Soudek’s Salt and Pepper Shakers” combines old family videos, visual effects, and screen recordings of her own computer to explore the ways that art-making and obsessiveness enhance our realities.
3. The Mosaic bath houses of Japan
Dokodemo Sento is a website about sento (bath houses) in Japan, found via Present & Correct.
4. Imagining a Cretan beach villa built around an ancient tree
Created by AI artist Ben Myhre.
5. Can there be too many cafés in Paris?
Outdoor spaces that bloomed under a pandemic program are now a permanent and vibrant fixture of city life. But not everyone is pleased with the growth of Paris’s bustling cafe culture…
Read the article found on The New York Times.
6. Van Gogh in Paris
The two years Van Gogh spent in Paris before departing for Arles were full of experimentation; he was able to view the Impressionists and Cézanne, but was propelled most by his fervour for ‘Japonaiseries’, his introduction to the works of Monticelli, and his acquaintance with Paul Signac. His palette became progressively brighter and more colourful, and towards the end of 1886, and through the spring of 1887, his brush came to life.
Found on Culture Darm.
7. The place where no humans will tread for 100,000 years
In a few years, Finland will begin depositing spent nuclear fuel underground in Onkalo, where it will remain for millennia. Visit the world’s first permanent storage site for spent nuclear fuel, found on BBC Future Planet.
8. Macro photographs of phasmid eggs by Levon Biss
The Phasmatodea are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs, walking sticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They can be generally referred to as phasmatodeans, phasmids, or ghost insects, with phasmids in the family Phylliidae called leaf insects, leaf-bugs, walking leaves, or bug leaves. The group’s name is derived from the Ancient Greek φάσμα phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom, referring to their resemblance to vegetation while in fact being animals.
To view more of Biss’ amazing work and/or to buy prints of his photographs, visit the Levon Biss Studio website.
Found on Gods and Foolish Grandeur.
9. The night the stars fell in 1833
On November 12, 1833, there was a meteor shower so intense that it was possible to see up to 100,000 meteors crossing the sky every hour. At the time, many thought it was the end of the world. It inspired this woodcut by Adolf Vollmy.
Found on Wikimedia Commons.
10. Was the Napoleon really a monster?
Ahead of his new epic, with Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon, Scott has caused anger with his comments about his lead character, comparing him to Hitler and Stalin. What’s the truth of the matter, asks Neil Armstrong on BBC Culture.
11. Air Shorts
During the 1970s there was a craze toward huge inflatable shorts. The idea was simple: wearing them would help us sweat off unwanted body fat whilst giving a unique massage through trapped air pockets. The downside? They were super uncomfortable and so hot that you would sweat profusely all day. And then there was the strange lack of weight loss. The idea that you can sweat off your blubber is a myth born from the fact that weight class athletes like boxers use saunas to make a certain weight come weigh-in. It’s of course incredibly temporary, designed only to beat the scales for one evening.
Found on Kitschatron.
12. Aesthetically pleasing horror movies for interior design inspiration
A list of films for Halloween found on Fashion Journal.
