Europe
Shadows of Paragon: Silentium
It's been way too long since we examined any Death Metal here. Or maybe, after you hear this, you'll say, "It's been just long enough, if not too soon!"
Turn your sound almost off first. Seriously. Don't be fooled by the melodic opener.
Why would anyone listen to this stuff voluntarily? Could your life really be so horrible that this music was uplifting?
Info on band.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 18, 2015 -
Comments (10)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Music, Europe, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Insect Aircraft
This 1906 article is the lone reference I can find on the internet to this craft, and I suspect it never existed except on paper.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Oct 08, 2015 -
Comments (17)
Category: Insects and Spiders, Inventions, Air Travel and Airlines, 1900s, Europe
Trompe l’oeil in the Villa Barbaro
Wikipedia entry here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 25, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Architecture, Art, Europe, Sixteenth Century
Nobel Prize Perk: Breakfast in Bed
With the Nobel Prize announcements due soon, I think it's time we spoke of a little-known perk for the winners: receiving breakfast in bed from Saint Lucia.
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 23, 2015 -
Comments (6)
Category: Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Domestic, Food, Europe
Brickplayer
Here is an old British toy that had a lot of good intentions, but also some unanticipated drawbacks.
Buildings were constructed on allegedly waterproof waxed card bases. The bricks etc. were stuck together with a mortar made from a mixture of flour and chalk powder. It required a great amount of skill to erect buildings accurately, very time-consuming and beyond the patience of most of the children it was aimed at (8 to 14 years). Especially so in cold houses (as most British homes then were) it would take several days for the building to 'set'. Reusing the components involved a process of dunking the entire model in a large bowl of warm water. After the model fell apart the bricks and plaster pieces required lengthy rinsing to remove all organic traces to prevent mould growing on them.
I wonder how well they sold in the USA, as touted in the ad below, from Boys Life for September 1948.
Fan page.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 20, 2015 -
Comments (8)
Category: Buildings and Other Structures, Toys, Children, Europe, Twentieth Century
Four-Screen TV
Original article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 19, 2015 -
Comments (7)
Category: Television, Chindogu, 1970s, Europe
Bond Mini Car
If you took a three-wheeled motorcycle and dropped the shell of an auto atop it, this is what you would get. Lift the hood of the "car," and there is the engine riding on a single steerable wheel of its own
Wikipedia article here.
POPULAR SCIENCE article here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 12, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: 1950s, Europe, Cars, Motorcycles
The Animation of Joop Geesink
We marvel at films like Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, or Wallace and Gromit, in which, during a given scene, one or two puppets might be in motion. I can't fathom the amount of work that Joop Geesink went through to create his films.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 27, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Stop-motion Animation, 1950s, 1960s, Europe
The Woman with the Serpent’s Tongue
[Click to enlarge]
Original article here.
Once upon a time, poetry still mattered, and could cause great controversies. No social media for such battles, after all. This poem seems to have cost William Watson the post of UK Poet Laureate.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 13, 2015 -
Comments (2)
Category: Poetry, 1900s, Women, Europe, Curses, Slurs, Insults, Vituperation, Libel and Slander
Bohemian Dancers
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 26, 2015 -
Comments (3)
Category: Avant Garde, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1960s, Dance, Europe
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |