wedlock

The winding down of wedding season is a good time for reflection on the institution and the curators of the Ricco-Maresca Gallery in Manhattan furnish us with a captivating lens to view the changing conventions and trappings of matrimony with a collection of Victorian era cabinet cards that take a slice of late nineteenth century attitudes towards portraiture and keepsakes. These sombre, serious poses (a little haunted but typical for the time when photography was new and reserved for such special occasions and vows weren’t always exchanged out of love but rather for the sake of utility) are contrasted with a progression of wedding cake toppers from that time up to the present that reflect maturing outlooks and rituals that retain meaning in their fungibility.

campaign hat

In what’s surely to further unhinge Dear Leader in ways that we can’t predict, we learn from Super Punch, one major, disruptive retail outlet in selling knock-offs of the baseball caps (campaign hats are those typically worn by park rangers and Mounties) he’s been shamelessly promoting during press-conferences on the hurricane response and recovery in Texas for a quarter of the price. Although Dear Leader seems unable to move beyond campaign mode, apparently he can recognise when his merchandise has gone stale.

borscht belt

Via the always brilliant Nag on the Lake, we’re invited on an idyll odyssey with Pablo Iglesias Maurer inspired by a lot of vintage postcards depicting resorts of the Catskills and the Poconos during their heyday fifty years ago juxtaposed with their present state of wrack and ruin.
The ephemeral nature of the missives served their purpose—much like snapshots on social media—but isn’t meant to rubbish those destinations and experiences now abandoned, while at the same the medium romances both the nostalgia and the decay. What do you think?  Surely the portrayals are all the more awful for those with a connection to the places. We’ve a sudden urge to watch Dirty Dancing and inspect the facilities at Kellerman’s. Be sure to visit the links up top for a whole gallery of rather sad then-and-now transitions.

6x6

the art of vehicle maintenance: further notes and take-aways from Why Buddhism is True

great railway journeys: an intrepid duo visit every train station in the United Kingdom over fifteen weeks

urban spelunking: thieves bore into Paris cellar from catacombs and make off with a quarter of a million euro worth of vintage wine, via Super Punch

interstitial: much like with the latest iteration of the Star Wars saga, fans of Blade Runner will be treated to series intervening short films

psychic-driving: technology and psychotherapy are not guaranteed to be compatible nor risk free

nothing ventured, nothing gained: whilst dashing off to witness the solar eclipse, the Fancy Notions team visited the micronation (we have only gotten to visit one) of the Republic of Molossia 

wohnblockknacker

Seventy thousand residents of Frankfurt am Main—a tenth of the city’s population—will be evacuated on Sunday (EN/DE) out of an abundance of caution as an unexploded bomb (Blindgänger) discovered in the Westend district is defused. The UK-made munition was dubbed “blockbuster” for its capability to take out whole streets and was dropped during one of the seventy-five aerial attacks that took place, destroying some seventy percent of the city. This event marks the largest post-war mass-evacuation and the latest in a series of ordnance uncovered by construction projects in urbanised areas.