Revisiting a Podcast: “Americans in Paris”

If you’ve ever lived in Paris or had notions of living in or travelling to Paris, a twenty year-old podcast episode from This American Life is essential listening. For the program’s 25th anniversary, producers dug up the episode for rediscovery, and as the author of book called Don’t be a Tourist in Paris, the podcast…

She Was Surrealism’s Black Sheep

“Pure psychic automatism.” That was Ithell Colquhoun in a nutshell, according to fellow Surrealist André Breton. The flattery is a bit of a suprise, given that Breton – one of several founders of a movement that has made little room to uplift its women – was somewhat of a vocal hater of women in the…

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

1. A “Wee House” that sits on Loch Shin in the Highlands Also known as Broons Hoose, as legend goes: it was built on Loch Shin near Lairg in 1824 by poacher Jock Broon who was gifted land by a local laird in return for being taught how to distil whisky. Broon is said to…

Let’s Check in with Alaska’s Strangest Town Living under One Roof

If you thought life in times of Corona couldn’t get any stranger, try living out 2020 in the town where the majority of the residents all live in one single building. Whittier, Alaska was founded in the mid 1950s, built as a military port and barracks for the US Army during the Cold War. When…

Oh, Just Your Own Miniature Art Nouveau Palace for Sale

We love to DYI like its 1899, especially when it comes to miniatures. We’ve explored a veritable SoCal palace fit for Thumbelina, and ogled the eye-watering miniatures of Queen Elizabeth II, but today, we’re diving into the delightful world of Art Nouveau miniatures for every budget, from entire pre-made mansion kits to keep you Social…

Update from his Ghost Town: Time Capsules, Mine Exploration & Disaster

It’s been 7 months since our Zoom Date with the guy who bought a ghost town and 8 months since he started living there alone as the pandemic took hold of the United States. A lot has happened in the abandoned mining town of Cerro Gordo since. We’ll start with the bad heartbreaking news. The…

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

1. Imagine this Road Trip Get in loser, we’re __________. Favourite answers: going to four-seasons total landscaping—near the adult bookstore, across from the crematorium Dropping out of art school. Going to help Melania decorate the Christmas tree Found on Plastik, by Ertan Atay. 2. Remember when Floods couldn’t stop us from Dining Out? View this…

The Tik Tok Generation Needs a Movie about The Abernathy Kids

In 1910, two boys, Louis and Temple Abernathy decided to cross America by horseback without adult supervision, from Oklahoma to Manhattan. They were just 10 and 6 years old. To get back home, they bought a car and drove it while their horses returned by train. This true but forgotten little adventure story struck me…

A Virtual Dinner Date at the Parisian Restaurant That Inspired “Ratatouille”

Opening a restaurant is like playing service industry roulette. Yet, somehow, Paris’ La Tour d’Argent — quite literally, “The Silver Tower” — says it’s survived 436 years of history on the Left Bank, with a backside view of Notre Dame, as the unmatched king of posh Parisian cuisine. Whether it’s really that old is almost irrelevant; it’s become a…

He was Meant to Be Bigger than Bowie

He was the first openly gay rock musician to be signed to a major record label, declaring himself “glam rock’s truest fairy” to slack-jawed media critics and listeners alike. Touted as America’s successor to David Bowie, he was signed to Elektra Records for $500K and for a brief New York minute in the early 1970s,…