The Twisted Tale of the Real Mickey Mouse

Once upon a time, in 1927, Walt Disney created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for Universal. This bunny had a round white face, a button nose, and floppy black ears. After Disney sold a series of shorts to Universal, he returned in 1928 to offer his services to create more cartoons featuring Oswald. However, he not…

No, the Other Naomi: An American Supermodel’s Overlooked Legacy

There is much debate on who was the first Black supermodel. Several Black models have accumulated a series of firsts between them throughout history; Helen Williams became one of the most familiar faces in Black advertising in the 1950s, Donyale Luna was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of the British edition of Vogue in 1966,…

A Brief Compendium of Preserved Pieces of Cake

Ever since humanity invented cake, we’ve been trying to have it and eat it, too. And while we haven’t yet figured out how to do both, we have been saving slices of this most celebratory of desserts for several millenia now. The Egyptians gave us the world’s oldest known cake–and also the world’s oldest Tupperware…

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

1. An occult artist whose mysterious work was discovered in a remote cabin after his death These mysterious drawings were discovered in a cabin in Carmel, California after the artist’s death. After World War I, Grant Wallace (1868–1954) built a small cabin in the forest near Carmel, California, which he used as a laboratory for…

Muse du Jour: France’s Legendary Surrealist Stripper

Let’s catapult straight into the centre of Paris’ exotic dancing universe, the Crazy Horse Saloon, temple of burlesque. This glamorous establishment has had the pleasure of seeing a stellar selection of glamorous women strut and strip their stuff over the decades since opening in 1951 on the Avenue George-V: Dita Von Teese, Pamela Anderson and…

New York’s Forgotten Radio Island

As far as islands go, Manhattan is one of the most famous and instantly recognisable. But if you were to charter a boat and sail around its coastline and through New York’s natural harbour you’d come across many more islands so small that hardly anyone knows are there. There are around thirty or so of…

Historical Candidates for the Real-Life Carmen San Diego

The nefarious world of conning has long been considered a boy’s club. Even when you google “biggest con artists in the world,” men’s names overwhelmingly dominate the search. Historically, women were thought to have lacked the social capital needed to shrug off the moral trappings of propriety. For the con woman, however, their social limitations…

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

1. These Miniature Paintings Find Anna Ellen Art here. 2. The Villa from White Lotus is on Airbnb Found on Airbnb Luxe. 3. Dinner in a Lavender Field A visit to Azienda Agricola Valtresinaro is an easy day trip from Milan or Florence. Combine it with a nice sightseeing tasting in Emilia for a fun…

The Dismantling of Belleville: A Parisian Village Lost to the Wrecking Ball

Remember that beautiful Parisian village featured in the Oscar-winning 1950s short film The Red Balloon? Well we’re sorry to report that it was almost entirely levelled by the French government. The history of Belleville, the Parisian neighbourhood where legendary French singer Edith Piaf lived and called home, is a dazzling mix of folklore and fact,…

She Dressed Kate Bush, Need We Say More?

There is a grande dame of Dutch fashion you’ve probably never heard of (if you live outside of The Netherlands). We hadn’t. But then when found a series of photos taken in the 1970s of legendary musician Kate Bush, dressed more exquisitely that we’d ever seen her. Who was she wearing and where can we…