Has it been 60 years already? Seems like just the other day the workers of the world’s oldest and longest-surviving nation threw off the shackles of their monarchist oppressors and gave birth to that paradise of human rights and individual equality we like to call “Red China”. Sarcasm aside, it’s quite a feat for what remains a systemically communist ... Read More »
Edvard Munch was not what one would call a happy soul. After all, this was the man who painted “The Scream”. By the age of five he had lost his mother to disease, his favorite sister followed her nine years later, his father was an overly pious depressive, and madness, poverty, and ill health haunted the family. After studying ... Read More »
So you’re off to save the earth from a one-world government by protesting outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Bully for you, moonbeam. But while you’re packing up your hoodie sweatshirts, bandannas, and Molotov cocktails, here’s a few spots to take note of for a little fun between clashes with the riot police. Davos is so much ... Read More »
Over at Jaunted, they’ve got the first images of what promises to be a new Mecca for children and emotionally stunted adults (e.g. us), “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at the Universal Studios Orlando theme park. Seeing as how Spider-Man his superhero friends from Marvel will soon be heading down the highway to Disney World, there’s now room ... Read More »
It was 1999 the last we saw hide or hair of The Lilith Fair—that estrogen-heavy touring festival created by Canadian balladress and hacky sack champ, Sarah McLaughlin. Back then, a solid day of heartfelt, acoustic, overly literal tunes was still a marketable concept—Ani DiFranco was still huge, “Ally McBeal” was one of the top shows on television, and popular ... Read More »
God bless the juvenile minds over at Cracked for going on a rather tawdry “Easter Egg hunt” in the European classics. They find a gigantic brain in Michaelangelo’s “Sistine Chapel” fresco (1475-83), porn in the same artist’s “Last Judgement” (1534-1541), and, yes, bared backsides in Bruegel the Elder’s “Netherlandish Proverbs” (1559, left). It’s a touch “The Da Vinci Code”, but ... Read More »
The West Coast isn’t the only place where high-tech bleeps and bloops meet with paranormal possibilities. Scouting New York, our favorite New-York-based film locations blog, has divined that Barcade, a go-to spot for beer and vintage video games was built atop the Old Methodist Burying Ground, last used in the 1850s. There are no reports of any eerie apparitions as ... Read More »
Even though the area has only recently been populated in the scheme of human history, the sprawling mansions of Southern California have whipped up quite a tradition of hauntings in a relatively short amount of time. There’s the famous Winchester Mystery house (filled with trap doors, false stairways, and Native American spirits) in San Jose, the home of ’50s ... Read More »
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