Let’s Talk about Black Princesses

“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 woman to hold the office. In the afterglow of that landmark moment, we’re celebrating with…

Trick-Or-Treating for the Secret Truths About Candy

Beneath 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 Did Candy Begin? With the Egyptians of course! Historically, honeycomb has been…

Reviving the Art of Cutaway with a Femme Twist

We’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 veritable Where’s Waldo for adults, filled with raucous scenes of women dominating traditionally…

Take a Surreal Brain Break with our Artist of the Week, Jacek Yerka

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 but perhaps not had…

A Brief Compendium of Vintage Cigarette Dispensers

“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 they were getting rather creative with the ways they lit-up, especially when it came to their cigarette dispensers. These often…

Remembering Robert De Niro, one of the “Strange Great Secret Painters of America”

In chapter five of Jack Kerouac’s timeless 1960 travelogue, Lonesome Traveller, the great American novelist takes us to New York to meet the inner circle of bohemian artists and beatniks in Greenwich Village: “Let’s go see the strange great secret painters of America and discuss their paintings and their visions with them — Iris Brodie…

The Uncomfortable Art of Falling

You 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 Tumblr and pasted onto memes over and over. Without…

Centuries Ago, They were Facetuning, Filtering and Catfishing Too

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 union was politically calculated, but a flustered Henry proceeded to tank the marriage after claiming she looked nothing like her…

From the Brothel to Beaux-Arts: She Should Have been China’s Own Matisse

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, albeit one who might’ve been left out of…

Take the “Fresh Prince” Throne & Sleepover at his Bel-Air Mansion

Without 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 announcement, “and opening the doors…