wahllokal

After having secured the right to vote and stand for public office the preceding November, women in Germany and Austria for the first time had the occasion to participate in the democratic process on this day in 1919 during federal elections (Nationalversammulung)—the Austrian constituent assembly elections were held a few weeks later on 16 February.

style, wit and snack-sized bits

To celebrate moving into two districts in London, Soho and Spitalfields, with a long history of being forerunners in creativity and movements, a co-working space firm called Fora commissioned a fun and visually striking promotional animation on the historic character of these neighbourhoods, Via Stash magazine, Soho is featured below and check out the link above to learn more.

diva plavalaguna

Via My Modern Met, we are treated to a very talented Chinese opera singer named Jane Zhang perform a nearly pitch-perfect rendition of the iconic “Diva Dance” from Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (previously) to the accompaniment to a full orchestra.
The alien performer on the interstellar cruise, named in the title, bears some resemblance to Bib Fortuna, the majordomo of Jabba the Hutt and wonder if there wasn’t some cross-inspiration there as well. According to cinematic lore, the original performance was voiced by Albanian lyric soprano Inva Mula with the assistance of some post-production audio-editing for achieve the series of high notes in quick succession. More to explore at the link up top including the scene from the movie.

5x5: turophile edition

a brie history of time: ten thousand years of cheese

pink queen: a storied Swiss cheesemaker fulfils a custom order for a client in Hong Kong

crustless: a curated collection of vintage cheese spread labels

non-diary analogue: concluding cheese week with homemade vegan substitutes

cornerstone: a trio of American creameries collaborate to create a new variety, via Coudal Partners  

i don’t like the idea of getting up and finding out you’ve got a cabbage pill to eat for breakfast or something

This 1966 segment from BBC’s Tomorrow’s World featuring school children offering their outlook on the present through their prognostications on the state of affairs for the year 2000 is quite a bleak one, haunted by nuclear apocalypse, over-population and environmental collapse.
A fairly prescient if not depressing vision of what, having survived the millennium just by a score only to realise that we’re still contending with most of these problems—minus at least some of the benefits that the future promised—has come to pass, not that this was inevitable nor is necessarily inexorable. As British household start stockpiling staples ahead of its messy divorce with the European Union as one might pack provisions into a fall-out shelter, it’s worth noting that Ms May could have been one of those children interviewed, being the exact right age.  We are confident that Ms May was a gloomy and haunted ten year-old.