Magpie Monthly — January 2016

Photo by Mats Kangur

Photo by Mats Kangur

“Lots of people go mad in January. Not as many as in May, of course. Nor June. But January is your third most common month for madness.” ~Karen Joy Fowler, Sarah Canary

I love this project described on Humans of New York:

“I’ve always liked to do nice things for strangers. I worked in the mail room at my college dorm, and whenever I emailed a package notification, I’d always add a little something extra. Like an awesome shark pic. Or a link to Japanese jazz. Lately I’ve been doing this thing where I buy really weird antique post cards, write poems on them, and mail them to random people I find in the white pages. The first time I sent one, I added a full-page disclaimer because I was worried some old person would think it was from ISIS and call the cops. I basically wrote: ‘Don’t worry. It’s art. Everything’s cool. You won’t be hearing from me again.’”

“I’ve always liked to do nice things for strangers. I worked in the mail room at my college dorm, and whenever I emailed a package notification, I’d always add a little something extra. Like an awesome shark pic. Or a link to Japanese jazz. Lately I’ve been doing this thing where I buy really weird antique post cards, write poems on them, and mail them to random people I find in the white pages. The first time I sent one, I added a full-page disclaimer because I was worried some old person would think it was from ISIS and call the cops. I basically wrote: ‘Don’t worry. It’s art. Everything’s cool. You won’t be hearing from me again.’”

Stephen Fry welcomes visitors to Heathrow (via):

Take this tour of London as a ghost town:

Photo by Narrotographer

Photo by Narrotographer

2015 produced a surprising number of alternate maps for the London tube, like this one for Harry Potter:

The Harry Potter Tube Map

2016 is of to a sad start with several celebrity deaths, including Alan Rickman and David Bowie. Here are my two favorite homages to them:

Daniel Radcliffe on Alan Rickman:

Daniel Radcliffe on Alan Rickman

Neil Gaiman‘s short-story homage to David Bowie, “The Return of the Thin White Duke,” with illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano (click Amano’s name for additional images).

Illustration by Yoshitaka Amano

Illustration by Yoshitaka Amano

Completely irreverent and inappropriate, I know, but maybe Bowie might have appreciated the sentiment of this caption from Natalie Kossar‘s Pattern Behavior:

I mean I don’t want to be rude or whatever but This funeral just got sexy as fuck

I mean
I don’t want to be rude or whatever but
This funeral just got sexy as fuck

Because Victoriana endlessly fascinates me:

Young people used these absurd little cards to get laid in the 19th century:

Victorians loved to communicate via calling card. It was the proper, dignified way to communicate with other people. But wouldn’t you know, young people just had to mess it up. Check out these oh so risque Victorian flirtation cards.

Escort cardCheck out these links for rare photos of Victorian women of color and also rare photos of Victorian men of color!

Selika Lazevski, photo by Felix Nadar (1891)

Selika Lazevski, photo by Felix Nadar (1891)

Young man in top hat and wool pant coat (1890)

Young man in top hat and wool pant coat (1890)

Australian artist Andrew Firth does interesting work with skulls and bones, like the skull below, which uses a PVC-cast skull (molded from a real human skull) as the base for the miniature bonsai garden. Via.

Grave Yard Bosai Skull by Andrew Firth

Grave Yard Bosai Skull by Andrew Firth

McSweeney’s Travis Tack tells us that 10 objects around your house that are actually just Tilda Swinton getting lost in a role. And enjoy this photo of Swinton by Tim Walker for W Magazine:

Tilda Swinton, photographed by Tim Walker

Tilda Swinton, photographed by Tim Walker

Dream about this Inception-inspired coffee table by Stelios Mousarris (via):

Stelios-Mousarris

Click on the photo for more images of Mousarris’s coffee table

Related, after a fashion, is this sculpture by Wang Ruilin (via):

Wang Ruilin

Wang Ruilin

Mallory Ortberg offers signs you’re about to be in a sinister homoerotic subplot in a midcentury drama. Watch out!

David Sarno‘s short film Richard und Gilbert moves the homoerotic up to full plot (it’s a bit bloody, as you might imagine, though not gory–but it’s probably NSFW for other reasons). Thanks to Steve for sending me the link!

And another thanks to Steve for sending me the link to this wonderful commercial for Cillit Bang, in which Daniel Cloud Campos dances like everyone should dance:

Artist Mike Maihack did a lovely watercolor of Wonder Woman to start off the new year:

Wonder Woman by Mike Maihack

Wonder Woman by Mike Maihack

And then there’s this Wonder Woman cookie made by Dolce Sentire for Comicake 2015. Click the image below for more pictures. Via.

Wonder Woman cookie by Dolce Sentire

Wonder Woman cookie by Dolce Sentire

Mathematicians invent complex new ways to perfectly equal pizza slices. It’s about time!

I'm not sure how you slice this way with a conventional pizza cutter, though.

I’m not sure how you slice this way with a conventional pizza cutter, though.

Just because:

d1bacon

Fairchildart‘s miniature cheeses are too cute (via):

Fairchildart

Fairchildart

For her Micro Matter series, Amsterdam artist Rosa de Jong made vertical dwellings inside glass test tubes (via).

Rosa de Jong

Rosa de Jong

Dutch artist poppenkraal made a very cool Cabinet of Curiosities (Wunderkammer, baby) shadowbox miniature. Click the artist’s name or the image below for a few more images. You can purchase it on Etsy (If I wasn’t saving up for a trip, I’d buy it today!). Via.

Cabinet of Curiosities shadowbox by poppenkraal

Cabinet of Curiosities shadowbox by poppenkraal

Who doesn’t want a miniature bakery in a book? Via.

Miniature bakery in a book

Artist Brian Dettmer on old books reborn as intricate art (via):

Chilean artist Sebastian Errazuriz builds functional shelves and tables from fallen South American trees. I’d definitely love a non-traditional bookshelf like the one below in my house! Via.

Bilbao Tree Shelf by Sebastian Errazuriz

Bilbao Tree Shelf by Sebastian Errazuriz

For a number of reasons, I enjoyed Samantha Hunt‘s brief history of books that do not exist, though I was disappointed that she never mentions Lucien and the library in The Dreaming, which shelves only books that do not exist. Thanks to Liz for the link on FB!

Lucien the Librarian gives a tour of The Dreaming's Library

Lucien the Librarian gives a tour of The Dreaming’s Library

Photographer Michal Zahornacky‘s storytelling portraits visualize the imagination at work in Slovak poems. I’ve included two examples of his work below, but, really, all of the photographs are beautiful—go check them out!

Touch of Fear by Michal Zahornacky

Touch of Fear by Michal Zahornacky

Remember the Others by Michal Zahornacky

Remember the Others by Michal Zahornacky

Film Theory has a theory that Anna and Elsa in Frozen aren’t really sisters. Pretty fun, whether you buy it or not:

Many thanks to Barbara for sending me the link to Mulder, Scully, and Jimmy Kimmel in The X-Files—funny stuff!

My friend Andrew posted his 10 favorite records from 2015 (with videos). He has great taste in music, so check it out!

I’m sure by now everyone’s seen the James Corden‘s Carpook Karaoke with Adele, but I think it’s so charming and funny I’m sharing it again anyway. Thanks to Rossie for sharing the first link of it I saw on FB!

For those of you who need this today, some GIFs from Grey’s Anatomy.

tumblr_ner6oxTsYh1rjl2iuo4_250tumblr_ner6oxTsYh1rjl2iuo3_250tumblr_ner6oxTsYh1rjl2iuo2_250tumblr_ner6oxTsYh1rjl2iuo1_250(These look much better on the site where I originally saw them—tumblr does have its advantages over blogs, I suppose.)

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