Documentary
Scientific Anatomy of a Twinkie
Photographer Dwight Eschliman has photographed the 37 ingredients – including whole egg, animal shortening and diglyceride – that make up America’s favourite ‘snack cake’ the Twinkie. Brought up by a health food obsessive mom, Eschliman fell off the wholefood wagon as a student but has returned to the ethos that, in the case of good […]
Punk Jews
Punk Jews is Kickstarter-funded documentary by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Jesse Zook Mann, which profiles the alternative Jewish scene including a group of singing, dancing hasidic jews and Y-Love, a half Puerto Rican orthodox Jewish rapper. Read more about the project on Coolhunting.
Authors in Hiding
Flavorwire has smoked out some of the 20th century’s most reclusive authors in a defense of their refusal of celebrity. Featured authors include Marcel Proust, J.D. Salinger, Cormac McCarthy and Harper Lee. Read their analysis here.
Award-Winning Prison Library
Saughton Prison in Edinburgh has won an award for its library that includes designs and fittings built by prisoners. The library has changed imates’ lives by introducing them to the joy of reading. In one year it had 12,500 prisoners visit the library and vandalism to the books has been reduced from 80% to nil. […]
Pigeon Blog
PigeonBlog is a charmingly method of charting air pollution. Researchers tagged city-dwelling homing pigeons with GPS enabled air pollution sensors to send pollution information to an online map where they tracked a bird’s flight and showed pollution data on a graph.
The Great British Breakfast
Cole Moreton, noting that only 1% of the British public starts the day with a traditional fry-up (as opposed to 50% in the 1950s), sets out to explore the modern British breakfast. It’s a landscape populated with chandeliers, black pudding, Hell’s Angels and “best pork catering sausages” (I’m guessing Jamie Oliver wouldn’t approve), via a […]
Secret Scientific Live of Trees…and Prisons
Nalini Nadkarni is the founder of the Big Canopy Database that documents her research in the canopies of jungles in Costa Rica, the Amazon and Papua New Guinea. She also works with violent men in high security prisons, giving them science lessons and giving them images of nature to help inmates become calmer and less […]
Peep Show
When the grittily picturesque Highline park on the elevated train tracks in NYC’s meatpacking district opened in 2009, visitors strolling along the walkway were distracted from the view of the Hudson River by guests at the Standard Hotel, which stradles the park. Guests of the hotel took to standing in the windows of the hotel […]
20,000 Women A Year Murdered
The United Nations estimates that 5,000 women a year are murdered; women’s groups in the Middle East and southeast Asia suspect the figure is four times that figure, with ‘honour killings’ also happening in the UK, Canada and Belgium. Robert Fisk lists a horrific catalogue of stonings, rapes and acid attacks used to restore ‘honour’ […]
My Last Polaroid
My Last Polaroid is a site that is attempting to gather images of the last ever Polaroid people take as a tribute to the format. There’s also a documentary in the making. Director and photographer Steve Glashier is filming people who have used Polaroid film in their work – artists, fashion photographers, forensic scientists and […]
The World’s Toughest Endurance Race?
Iconoculture reports on a new ultra-sports phenomenon it describes as a “mashup of Iron Man athleticism and Burning Man primitivism”. The Tough Mudder one day race is a seven-mile extreme obstacle course complete with barbed wire and fire, designed by the British Special Forces. The Americans have their own version called The Death Race “part […]
Deaf Courier Service
Mumbai-based Mirakle Couriers launched its delivery service in 2008 has picked up a number of big clients. What sets Mirakle Couriers apart from its competitors is that all its workers are deaf. Six percent of India’s population are deaf but there are very few employment opportunities as they are shunned. Founder Dhruv Lakra, a former […]
The Poisoner’s Handbook
The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum tells the story of the birth of forensic toxicology. It’s the story of Dr. Charles Norris, Manhattan’s first trained chief medical examiner, and Alexander Gettler, its first toxicologist and New Jersey medical examiner Harrison Martland who together […]
The Little Kingdom
There’s a new fantasy theme park with a difference in Yunnan province in China – it employs 108 dwarfs (with an aim to expand its staff to 1000), who pretend to live in a village of fairytale houses, and perform twice-daily song and dance routines for tourists. The one of the park’s main attractions is […]
Fraudulent Food
Uh oh, another thing to worry about as you set off to the farmers’ market: you might not be buying what you bargained for. Food fraud is on the rise, with honey sweetened with corn syrup, catfish masquerading as red snapper and sheep’s milk cheese made of cow’s milk. New DNA techniques mean that dodgy […]
TED Talks: Shukla Bose
Shukla Bose set up the Parikrma Humanity Foundation from her kitchen table, with the aim of taking education to India’s poorest people by educating one slum child at at time. See her talk about her project at TED:
What the Butler Saw
Eugene Allen, who died in March 2010 aged 90, grew up under segregation in Virginia but went on to to work as a butler at the White House, where he served eight US presidents from 1952. His wife of 65 years died on the eve of Obama’s election, so he had to go to vote […]
Five Hundred Ship Wrecks
Mauritania’s Nouadhibou Bay is home to some of the world’s last Monk Seals. It’s also the resting place of around 500 derelict ships; most of which have been abandoned and reported as sunk to insurance companies. The ships are gradually rusting away, polluting the surrounding ocean with diesel and oil, and creating a hazard for […]
Michael Jackson Museum Plans
Michael Jackson’s father Joe and the mayor of Gary, Indiana are planning a museum tribute to the late singer, which is expected to attract up to 750,000 visitors a year to the town. Read more on CNN.
Lion Burgers and Camel Cutlets Anyone?
A restaurant in Arizona got more publicity than it bargained for when it promoted lion burgers in its newsletter as a tie-in to the football world cup in South Africa: bomb threats. But reporters found a more intriguing story when they tried to find the source of the lion meat – via a butcher called […]
How to Build a Medieval Castle
French landowner Michel Guyot has been conducting an unusual architectural experiment since 1998 – he’s building a medieval castle in the style of a design by 13th century French King Phillipe-August. The Chateau de Guedelon is being painstakingly built using materials and techniques used in 1200s. Read more at BBC News
Starbucks Enters Its Middle Age
In 2011 Starbucks turns 40, and argues an article in Reason, it’s battling with a mid-life crisis as it tries to reestablish its authenticity and trailblazing credentials. Read all about it.
Dulux’s Let’s Colour Project
Dulux has a global project – Let’s Colour – that aims to “transform grey spaces with colourful paint”, and so far they have painted Jodhpur pink, London orange and Rio rainbow. Local communities can sign up to have some colour added to their drab surroundings.
Life in a Day
Ridley Scott is producing Life in a Day, a documentary that will use footage from people from around the world who have recorded their own lives for a day – the 24th July, 2010. The documentary will be directed by Kevin Macdonald (Last King of Scotland) and will premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January […]
Mom Jailed for Sex with Son
A Detroit woman has been jailed for up to 30 years for having sex with the 14-yr-old son she gave up for adoption as a two-day old baby. She tracked him down via Facebook before arranging to meet him. The 36-yr-old reportedly said that she didn’t understand what had happened to her to make her […]
Barack Obama’s Mother: The Anthropologist
The late S. Ann Durham is the author of Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia an economic anthropology book based on her research in “a blacksmithing village called Kajar, in the province of Yogyakarta on the island of Java”. She’s also the mother of Barack Obama. The book is based on her dissertation […]
Consorting with the Rockstars
Flavorwire has revealed the five rockstar “consort” memoirs you must read. They are: Backstage Passes: Life on the Wild Side with David Bowie by Angela Bowie with Patrick Carr Life with My Sister Madonna by Christopher Ciccone with Wendy Leigh Faithfull: An Autobiography by Marianne Faithfull with David Dalton A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of […]
Rework Your Resume…and Your Face To Land That Job
It’s reported that people in Chicago have been resorting to desperate measures to land themselves a job – including getting a nose job, and other plastic surgery. Dr Steven Dayan says that pre-interview Botox is the most popular treatment, and he says that the resulting increased self esteem can help both job seekers and those […]
Urban Pathfinding
The Pavement is a free magazine aimed at homeless people in London and Scotland. Designer Emily Read has helped the magazine come up with a series of symbols that can be chalked on the pavements and sides of buildings, which will alert fellow homeless people to dangers – security guards, high police presence, previous attacks […]
Shop at a Street Market Anywhere in the World
24 Hour Market allows you to browse the stalls in street markets around the world – Hong Kong, Shanghai, Stockholm and London – and immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of the local market experience. For example, in Hong Kong, you can visit Mr Wong’s Comb stall and buy an aluminum comb for $6 […]
The Blog of Death
The Blog of Death is a collection of fascinating obituraries that celebrate the lives of some extraordinary people, such as Betty Matas who, at the age of 74, decided to go on a 2,500 mile road trip with her husband and two cats. As she couldn’t drive, she hired a NYC yellow cab at the […]
Dogs in Identity Crisis
According to John Homans, dogs are suffering a crisis of identity and becoming dumber because of their increasingly intimate relationships with humans (often even sharing the same bed). Whereas dogs used to be able to work out problems for themselvses, today they increasingly depend on their owners to sort problems out for them. The problem […]
The Uncomfortable Truth About Yoga
The Great Oom: The Improbable Birth of Yoga in America by Robert Love is the story of how yoga was popularized in America by Pierre Bernard. It’s a rollicking tale of sex, money, midgets and elephants. Read a review in the Wall Street Journal.
Middle Eastern Women Entrepreneurs
There are increasing numbers of women entrepreneurs in the Middle East but they face a number of obstacles to success: it’s not acceptable to network with male business colleagues after normal working hours; sexism of male colleagues and archaic an unpredictable laws waiting to be broken. Read more about challenges they face and how they […]
Book Fair Clothing Controversy
Who knew book fairs could be so controversial? Iran’s clerics are urging the country’s cultural secretary to hand over the running of the Tehran book fair to them as they have been heartbroken on seeing that some women did not strictly observe the hijab, turning the event into ‘fashion salons’. Read more in the Literary […]
Take Me Out – Chinese Style
You either love or loathe Fremantle’s dating format Take Me Out, but it’s going down a storm in China, where parents are desperate to marry off their children and an audience who love the “confrontation, nerves and suspense” of a new generation of dating shows. Parents who now regret advising their daughters to concentrate on […]
Vietnam Non-Vet Guilt
Writing in the Washington Post, Henry Allen notes a strange phenomenon among well-educated, rich American men: the need to explain why they didn’t serve in the Vietnam War whenver they meet a Vietnam vet. Some go a step further and say they were there when they weren’t – which leads to embarrassment when they are […]
How to Be a DJ
Where did the time go..? DJ Danny Rampling, one of the titans of the dance and rave scene has been commanding the decks for twenty years. He’s got a book coming out – Everything You Need to Know About DJ’ing & Success – in which he shares his insights and tips for DJing and business […]
My Life as James Bond…and Other Action Movie Heroes
Vic Armstrong is, according to the Guinnness World Records the world’s mot prolific stuntman. He’s stood in for actors playing every action hero from Superman to James Bond for more than four decades. He describes his experiences in a book due for publication in May 2011.
The Greatest Art Heists of All Time
Inspired by the recent theft of five valuable paintings from Paris’s Museum of Modern Art, the folks at Flavorwire have carried out an investigation of their own: to track down the most greatest art heists of all time. Included on the list: The theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, Paris in 1911; Two […]
Risk: The Movie
Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired from Hasbro, Inc. the motion picture rights to produce RISK, the classic board game brand of world conquest. The game was invented in 1957 by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse as La Conquete du Monde (The Conquest of the World). Two years later, Parker Brothers published the game in the U.S. […]
Hookworms: Your Friend
Jaspar Lawrence believes he has found the cure for (or at least respite from) hay fever, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis: a parasite known as the hookworm. He breeds the worms and sells them by mail order to people desperate to get some relief from their symptoms, and he has many loyal and grateful customers. […]
Top Ten of (Almost) Everything
If you like lists you’ll love listverse where you can find top ten lists of everything from “10 Notable Apologies from the Last Decade” to “10 Stories Behind Beatles Songs”, “Top Ten Very Unfortunate X-Rays” and “10 Notorious Cases of the Bystander Effect”.
Edat Shams Traditional Yemeni Jewelry
Edat Shams is a Dubai-based company specializing traditional Yemeni jewelry and handicrafts. Set up by Dhuha Awad (an ex-colleague of TV Mole), the company has an interesting back story. It was set up after Dhuha was shocked to discover a cousin too poor to buy new clothes for a family wedding. She decided to set […]
Kid for Sale
The Sun reports that a widowed father in central China chained his son to a lamp post and attempted to sell him off as a slave. He was eventually attacked by bystanders who objected to the boy’s plight. Read the full article.
Ku Klux Class
A teacher at a high school in Atlanta, Georgia has been suspended after her pupils donned Klu Klux Klan costumes and asked a fellow student if they could re-enact history by performing a lynching of him and videoing it for their class project. Some students were outraged: others think the incident has been blown out […]
State of Emergency in Kingston
Things are kicking off in Kingston, Jamaica as Christopher Coke resists extradition to the USA on drugs charges. He is said to have been instrumental in the cocaine wars of the 1980s, in which hundreds of people died. Streets in West Kingston have been barricaded and people warned to stay away from the area after […]
What Do You Want to Do Before You Die?
Before I Die I Want to… is a sociological art project that documents the answer to that question in tandem with a Polaroid photograph of the person. They have asked the same question to people in the USA and India and found some fundamental differences in the ways in which people regard the question. For […]
Fonts of Contention
Fast Company has an article of the history of fonts – more interesting than you might think with arguments about nationalism, hatred of Micrsoft, incest, pedophilia and intellectual property theft. They’ve singled out Verdana, Fractur, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Gill Sans and Comic Sans as some of the most controversial (and therefore interesting) fonts. Visit […]
Child Prodigies
David Fishman is a fledgling restaurant critic in his Upper West Side NYC neighborhood. And he’s only twelve. And his story has been optioned for a movie. Feeling inadequate yet? Hop over to Flavorwire to see five more precocious children who are attracting media attention for their political pundritry, dating advice and tech product evengelising. […]
