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…

Why is F. Scott Fitzgerald Buried in a Strangely Unremarkable Place?

His novel is at the top of the Amazon bestsellers list, nearly 90 years later after it was written. He’s widely considered one of America’s greatest novelists and his work has inspired writers ever since he was published. So then why is F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is more famously associated with places such as Paris,…

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

1. A photo of Robert Downey Jr. (a.k.a. Iron Man) that you can never unsee. Found on 9gag 2. A Chocolate Nike Air Max Dutch designer Joost Goudriann made these chocolate treats that came with a contract obliging the buyer to eat them. Found on Design Boom 3. Hot Wheels: 1950s Coffee Pot Trucks Found…

The Floating Paris Winery

Between the 19th and 20th century, wine barrels would travel via canal boat from the regions of Burgundy all the way to Paris which were then traded at the riverside cellars of Bercy, destined to grace the tables of thirsty Parisians. Today, there is one little houseboat, known as ‘La Cave Vagabonde‘, still making the…

Searching for Doodle Man: Who Doodled on this Styrofoam Cup like a Legend?

Somewhere out there is an undiscovered doodling prodigy! A Reddit user recently walked into their local car dealership in Oklahoma to get an oil change and found this cup sitting there covered in extraordinary etchings from a ball-point pen… The Reddit member (username SquishyMcphee!) asked the cashier where it had come from … [She] said that a…

The First Chanel Boutique: A Short Film by Karl Lagerfeld

Apparently Keira Knightley and her co-stars improvised their way through this thirteen minute short, making their lines up as they went along. The film celebrates 100 years for the French luxury brand, looking back at Coco’s first pret-a-porter shop in Deauville that was financed by her lover at the time, Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. I’m not…

The Remains of a Paris ‘Kowloon’ Walled City

You may recall we once discovered Kowloon City, the Hong Kong ‘historical accident’, an urban enclave so densely populated by squatters that even the law lost its grip on the seven-acre plot crammed with 300 interconnected towers. It turns out we had one just like it right here in Paris. And unlike Kowloon, which was…

Anywhere but Here: Deserted Banking Empire turned Skyscraper Slum

Featured in this week’s Homeland. It was built for stockbrokers and bankers in their thousand dollar suits to make million dollar deals, but for nearly two decades it has held the less impressive title of the world’s tallest squat. Welcome to the Centro Financiero Confinanzas, more commonly known as the Torre David (the Tower of David) in…