Living in the Art Deco Ruins of the Grande Hotel, Africa

When it opened its doors in 1955, the Grande Hotel in Beira, colonial Mozambique was touted as the largest and most luxurious hotel in Africa. The art deco style palace with uninterrupted views of the Indian Ocean boasted 116 rooms and an Olympic sized swimming pool for its VIP guests. But by the 1970s, having…

Wine after 100 Years in a Cellar

Do you know where the oldest classified wine region is in Europe? (Don’t worry, I didn’t). It’s not Bordeaux, it’s not Porto in Portugal or Chianti in Italy. In a corner of Northeast Hungary is the little-known Tokaj wine trail, and here, many of the stone wine cellars were built as early as the the mid-1500s.…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol XXII)

1. Oreo Pancakes Entirely vegan recipe found on the Minimalist Baker 2. Then & Now Gifs Find more here 3. Italian Balconies Photographed in Jesolo Beach, Venice by Luigi Bonaventure 4. The Real Starbucks Lady (At the Met in New York) Found on Imgur. 5. The first spray on clothes…

A Short History of Abandoned Hollywood Filmsets sitting in the North African Desert

A skeletal fortress built for Lawrence of Arabia, an American gas station used for a forgettable horror film now inhabited by an old shepherd and his dog; entire fake villages have been left behind by Hollywood to be battered by the sands of the south moroccan deserts. Photographer/ filmmaker Ra Di Martino sets the cameras rolling once again…

Human Doll Cloning Is So Hot right Now in Japan

Here is a 3D printed doll, cloned from a real human’s head, that you can never unsee. She has a few friends that may or may not haunt you in your dreams later on… The cloning service is popular among some Japanese women looking to preserve that special moment in life such as their wedding day,…

That Time the Paris Mosque Helped Jews Escape the Nazis by Giving Them Muslim IDs

Here’s one they left out of the history textbooks. A recent French film, Free Men, brought to light the remarkable true history of how Muslims gave sanctuary to French Jews in Nazi-occupied Paris during Second World War. An untold “Oscar Schindler” story, the film is inspired by actual events and in this case, our ‘Schindler’ is Si…

A Letter of Rejection to Andy Warhol c.1956

One of his artworks is counted amongst the top 10 most expensive paintings ever sold ($100 million for “Eight Elvises”), but in 1956, the director of collections at The Museum of Modern Art in New York rejected Warhol’s submission, a drawing, simply titled, “Shoe”, informing him that it could picked up from the museum at…

The Town that is Literally Living Under a Rock

People choose to live in some pretty baffling places, like those towns sitting at the base of volcanos or the precariously placed monasteries in the Himalayan mountains. Here’s one that looks like it might have been hit by a meteor and residents just decided to carry on as usual… Welcome to the town of Setenil…

Preserved Moments of Historical Sass (Vol.3)

sassy: adjective \ˈsa-sē\ impudent, lively, spirited, vigorous, distinctively smart and stylish, showing no respect for people in authority, saucy, pert, confident, chic. A couple on the street on Michigan Avenue, Chicago photographed by Perry Riddle in July 1975– Found in the National Archives ‘Traffic-Stopper’ Miss Mary Bay likes her car because it is easy to park. Miss Bay…

So Today I Learned Napoleon’s Penis is in New Jersey

The garden state; where gas prices are cheaper and boardwalks are longer, and also where Napoleon Bonaparte’s penis is being held. Quick history recap: Napoleon was exiled to the British island of St. Helena after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. It was on this island that he was poisoned with arsenic by his own…