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

1. The inventor of modern butter sculpture Caroline Shawk couldn’t afford marble, so she started making butter sculptures to raise money at local fairs. Her butter sculpture became a runaway hit at Centennial exhibition, which allowed her to open her own studio and work with marble. Found on Wikipedia. 2. Occult Ceramics The best kind.…

Rosa Bonheur’s Chateau is a Time Capsule Waiting to be Discovered

Rosa Bonheur was one of the most popular artists of the 19th Century. Not only was her work being sold and seen around the world, songs were composed about her and dolls were made in her image. Today, some of Paris’ most thriving bars and nightclubs are named after her. But her artistic merit has…

10 Quirky Parisian Dream Pads For Sale, Just Because

I got into another one of my periodical black holes of pretend house-hunting on the internet. So in the hopes that one of you might win the lottery and invite me over for un café, here are few of my favourites… 1. A Country House in Paris Located in what I like to call “the…

Your Summer Photo Goals, as Demonstrated by the 1920s Morris Mermaids

It all started with this those three girls on a rock in 1922, putting my beach snaps to shame. Why is it, that with all the technology we have at our disposal to document every moment of our holidays, most of our summer photos end up looking so, well … uncreative? Photography of the 1920s…

This might just be the Largest Collection of Outsider Art to ever Go on Sale

There are a lot of antique collectors on the world wide web. Professional seekers of this-n-that, people who track down rarities solely to turn a profit – which is all fine and well. But Dale Smith is different, and our ears perked up when the story of his collection landed in our inbox. “I don’t…

How Guillotine Haircuts became all the Rage in France

During the height of the French Revolution, France had just about lost its mind. The “Reign of Terror” was as terrible as it sounds. Rising revolutionary politicians like Maximilien Robespierre, were accusing everyone and their mother of treason against the new republic and some 16,500 people were killed by guillotine in a single year. The accusers…

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

1. China’s Abandoned Nuclear City “404 is the name of an abandoned city in the Gansu province of northeast China, situated within the sandy plains of the Gobi desert. The city was built in 1958; it occupied an area of 4 km2 and included a factory, police station, school, and a residential area. In the 1990s,…

A French Chateau Hoarding the World’s Largest Private Collection of Fighter Jets

At no other chateau in all of France will you find a Soviet helicopter parked on the back lawn. Or a 1970s hovercraft. Or a record-breaking collection of World War II fighter jets for that matter. Not to mention a warehouse full of vintage firetrucks, 200 antiques motorbikes, 36 racing cars – and the list…

But Did You Hear about France’s Most Infamous Madam?

With the Jeffrey Epstein scandal creeping its way into every late night dinner table conversation and the sordid secrets of his mysterious Madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, slowly unfolding in the press, it wasn’t long before we would be talking about “Madame Claude”. France’s own high society brothel queen, aka. Fernande Grudet, reigned for decades as one…

And Now, in Overlooked Urban Adventures: The Pet Cemetery

Stephen King’s 1983 horror novel Pet Sematary was recently resurrected on the big screen for a second time, renewing our curiosity in the often forgotten resting places of our furry companions. There’s something about those miniature tombstones in a humble graveyard where the pure love given by pets is honoured with such unabashed sincerity. Since time immemorial,…