Can’t Sleep? Here’s 20 Free Documentaries to Soothe the Mind

Ah, the good old fashioned documentary. They teach us about our planet’s wildlife, architecture, culture, people, and ideas. They also put us to sleep. And that’s not a bad thing on a day like this! Is there a better way to drift off to dreamland, than with the gentle cradling of Orson Welles’ voice, or…

10 Time Travelling Paris Movies to Cozy Up With

On these dark winter nights, is there anywhere else you’d rather escape to than Paris? In a time machine no less… 1. Monpti (1957) Starring an adorable young Romy Schneider, this is an often overlooked film for Parisphiles who can’t resist gorgeous streets scenes of the city in the 1950s. Many of the sights and…

On Dating David Bowie in the Seventies

From a distant galaxy, far, far away, Ziggy Stardust made his last public appearance in 1973 before David Bowie retired the glamrock persona and sent him packing for good. But the infamous last hurrah in London would also his first public collaboration with another equally unique being who would go on to make a profound…

So Matisse, Chagall, and the Headless Horseman Walk into a Church…

Tucked along New York’s Hudson River is the town of Sleepy Hollow, where old carriage roads can still be walked, and the woodlands feel just a bit darker than they should. It’s also home to the Union Church of Pocantico Hills, a gothic style church built in 1921 by the Rockefellers. Oh, and it happens to…

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Your Dream Fairytale Library is Hiding in Midtown Manhattan

A miniature palace of rare books is hiding in one of the busiest parts of Manhattan. All you have to do to enter is walk past the foyer of 225 Madison Ave and push a button deep in the back right corner. A door will swing open into a space that feels like it rolled right out…

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Isn’t it About Time We Rediscovered The MiniDisc?

This one goes out to Generation Y. Part of being a collector means taking a bit of risk and making a prediction that something might appreciate in value. The key is often to find something that’s cheap and rare, and buying it before everyone else discovers they want it too. I was in the car…

Why Hollywood Should Revisit a Disastrous 1970s Transgender Film Ahead of its Time

At first glance, the surreal plot of what has been called “one of the worst films ever made” seems like a reiteration of harmful tropes: an ambitious transgender woman cons her way into a position of power and ultimately uses it in an attempt to destroy gender norms (in a nutshell). But believe it or…

America’s Last Juke Joints

Before the Juke Box, there was the Juke Joint, a reverberating sanctum of the Mississippi Delta and the indefinable heartbeat of southern African American culture. The traditional Juke Joint seems to have grown out of the landscape more than it was constructed. A ramshackle collection of lost and found, partner to the barrel house and…

Birkin and Gainsbourg: Dusting off the Family Album

For anyone who still dreams of the swinging sixties with its wild child chain-smoking rockstars and sexually charged style icons, here’s something that might feed your flame. Taschen has released a new nostalgia-filled photo book, Jane & Serge: A Family Album. Jane’s brother, screenwriter and director Andrew Birkin, is behind the camera and all the…

The Fantastical World of Mingering Mike, the Imaginary Legend of Soul

When you were young, what did you want to be? An astronaut, a princess, maybe a superhero or president of the world. Mike Stevens dreamt of being a soul super star, he wanted to tour the world, to write and produce award-winning albums and run his own record label. He would star in, write and…