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Category / Editor’s Picks

Mostly, this Secret Masonic Order Just Wants to Have Fun

We do love a good plunge into worlds apart – filled with secret society conspiracies and folks living off-grid or on the fringes of society. The latest curious collective to pique my interest is perhaps the quirkiest of masonic orders, called “The Shriners”, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 708)

1. This excellent Twitter (X) thread about a labyrinthine magical bookstore in Syracuse, NY And then a hero of the labyrinthine magical bookstores of the world put all the bookstores that people listed in the replies on a map! Link to the first tweet in the thread. But a reader informed us that the bookstore…

Name that Aesthetic: The Romance and Ruins of Lost Civilizations

If it took you this long to identify one of the most epic genres of art history, welcome to the club. We must have skipped class that day. The aesthetic: a lost civilization – its crumbling and vaguely familiar architectural forms dramatically lit by a sunset backdrop, and in the foreground, a congregation of folks…

Inside the Time Capsule Fencing Club of Paris

I had been curious about what was behind the door of No. 6 Rue Gît-le-Cœur in Saint Germain for quite a while before I decided to Google it, half expecting to be disappointed by news that it no longer existed. To my surprise, a kind voice picked up at the other end of the telephone line. “Yes…

Meet Marianne and the Many Faces of the French Republic

If you’ve stepped foot in France you have probably seen her, the beautiful woman wearing the odd hat who is adorned on French euro coins, stamps, wine bottles, and many other places. This woman was one of many country personifications that used to be prominent figures for their countries, but have sadly faded into obscurity. That is…

Never Again Would There Be a Toga Party Like the Lost 1920s Delphic Festival

Every summer we run into the same problem: too many amazing festivals, too little time. Then we caught wind of the long lost Delphic Festivals, which makes every concert we’ve ever been to pale in comparison to its over-the-top, 1920s interpretation of Greek merrymaking. Think Coachella, but on steroids… The Delphic festival was so lavish…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 707)

1. A new hotel in Rome designed by Luca Guadagnino, director of Call Me By Your Name The Palazzo Talìa is 26 rooms and the Challengers director designed its public spaces and one of its suites. Book it here. Found via Will O’Connor on X. 2. Bulgarian beach bar sarcophagus turns out to be genuine…

Searching for a Lost Wine Village in Paris

Parisians often talk about the great travesty that was the loss of Les Halles, a legendary food market in the heart of Paris, fondly referred to as “the belly of Paris”, a seemingly indestructible monument to the great tradition of French markets. It was demolished in 1971 and the hub of all food distribution in the city…

Wet Hot Parisian Summer: A Lost 1930s Nudist Utopia

In Physiopolis, life was better in the buff. Or at least in a bikini, which was as close as one could legally get to public nudity in 1930s Paris. It was here, on an isolated sun-baked island on the Seine, that a titillating new naturiste-nudiste (naturalist and nude) movement sprang forth. Gone were the days…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 706)

1. The marbelised “Literatur” passageway in the Museumsquartier in Vienna Free to wander through, the mural (painted by Austrian artist Johanna Kandl) is inspired by the marbled endpapers used in Baroque book production. The vending machine dispenses literature written by young Austrian writers. Found on the Tess Newall Studio. 2. A Time Capsule Department Store…

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