Who was Chet Baker?

I got really into the sound of Chet Baker this summer. I went through all the albums; the live sessions from Paris that made me feel like I could be on the Left Bank back in 1960-something; the “lost tapes”, the remastered classics and anything I could find with those smooth-as-butter vocals to get me through…

The Secret Rooftop Farms you can Visit above Parisian Department Stores

In the early hours of the morning at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, the elevator doors open on the ground floor and out march a team of country bumpkins lugging crates of plump tomatoes, strawberries, fresh herbs and edible floIMG_0438wers, through the perfumery section, past the gleaming cosmetic counters and out the front entrance. They’re met…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCCXIV)

1. Declassified Photos of Atomic Tests in Colour Declassified photos from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Archived Images of Atomic tests by artists Greg Mac Gregor and Clay Lipsky. Taken at the Nevada test site in the 1950s, when the US army put mannequins within the radius of nuclear test explosions to see what would…

Florence Nightingale’s Rival was a Fearless Transgender Man the World Forgot

The secret life of Dr. James Miranda Barry would make one hell of a movie. This remarkable character would spend decades working as a pioneering military surgeon for the British Army, travelling the world, reforming entire healthcare systems and fighting the corner of society’s undesirables. In Africa, Barry performed one of the first successful C-sections…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCCXI)

1. What Ali wore. Berlin’s 83 year-old dandy. “This is Ali. He walks past my work every morning wearing great clothes,” explains photographer Zoe Spawton, who works in a cafe in Berlin and began noticing Ali as he walked passed every morning at 9:05am, impeccably dressed. She began to take his photo and launched What Ali Wore in…

Preserved Moments of Historical Sass (Vol. 10)

sassy: adjective \ˈsa-sē\ impudent, lively, spirited, vigorous, distinctively smart and stylish, showing no respect for people in authority, saucy, pert, confident, chic. Greece, 1960s, submitted to Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/996n6h/my_dad_with_my_uncle_greece_late_60s/ And we’re back, with a new edition of cool kids of history, giving plenty of sass to the camera. Nothing more, nothing less… 1942 The Brooklyn high school pants protest…

Camping like Wes Anderson: The Real Moonrise Kingdom

Since 1899 (that’s long before Wes Anderson ever made Moonrise Kingdom), this charming campground has been welcoming travellers to Yosemite National Park with its picturesque tented accommodation and cinematic backdrops. This place my friends, is the real Moonrise Kingdom. Formerly known as Camp Curry, until a trademark dispute with a private concessions company of the same name saw…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCXCXI)

1. The Cruise Ship that could have been The Dornier Do X was the largest, heaviest, and most powerful flying boat in the world when it was produced by the Dornier company of Germany in 1929. First conceived by Dr. Claude Dornier in 1924, planning started in late 1925 and after over 240,000 work-hours it was completed in June 1929. The type was popular with…

The Vault

Don’t Be a Tourist in Romania

This summer, my curiosity took me to Romania, a former communist Balkan country with a notoriously bad rep as a backwards land of gypsies with zero infrastructure for any semblance of tourism. Why do you want to go to Romania?! I was consistently asked in the run-up to our trip. My unspoken answer: to prove you…

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13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CCXCX)

1. Inside an old Cello Framed prints by Adrian Borda, taken inside a very old French cello from Napoleon III times. 2. Caca Dauphin, a fashion craze based on the poop color of Marie Antoinette’s son It was fashionable to spend thousands of dollars to dress in the particular shade of brown the young prince…