We do it #ForTheCultrs
Shot, a specialty coffee bar in Mayfair, is charging £265 for a cup of coffee using Japanese Typica beans. This makes it the most expensive in the UK by a long way. In this economy? Disgusting. (via Secret London)
Tempelhof Airport was one of the first airports in Berlin, Germany, operating from 1923 until 2008. It was known for its iconic pre-World War II architecture, its role in the Berlin Airlift, and for having the then-world’s smallest duty-free shop.
The airport closed in 2008 after a referendum and despite protests to keep it open. The former airfield has since been converted into a recreational space called Tempelhofer Feld while the airport has also been used for Formula E races, and Tempelhof Sounds, a three-day rock music event.
I’ve seen Angostura bitters bottles from time to time and never knew why their labels were bigger than the bottles. Until now:
The label on Angostura bitters is larger than the bottle. When company founder Johann Siegert died, his sons planned to enter the tonic in a competition and divided the preparatory work between them. One oversaw the design of a new bottle, the other of a new label. They failed to coordinate the work, and by the time the mismatch was apparent they had no choice but to use the oversize labels. The oddity was so distinctive that it’s been retained as a branding measure.
(via Futility Closet)
With it being 1st April, The Criterion Channel has announced its April 2024 lineup and it’s a scorcher. Amongst the many titles available to watch, we have:
a young Zulu man’s struggles to provide for his family under the crushing burden of apartheid
Criterion related: Ashley Clark’s Afrofuturist film series on Criterion Channel and Black titles from a Criterion Collection line-up in 2021
I’m on a heavy Square Enix tip at the moment (which you can read all about on our sibling site, Distant Arcade) and I noticed the logo for their music label/channel/section of the business (above).
It’s… beautiful. The simplicity of it and the colours. There is a slight caveat to this being geared towards people who can read English in terms of deciphering the shapes as the initials of Square Enix Music but even if you did, you could miss it and when you point it out to someone, they’ll be amazed too.
“The wait is almost over”, as it says on the movie poster, and we now have a trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Not much is given away (thankfully) but we do get to see Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Lydia’s daughter, Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz, and, of course, Michael Keaton as “Beetlejuice”. This has the makings of a really good sequel so fingers crossed.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is due out on Friday 6th September.
I saw an image of a leopard, covered in mud, with an equally muddy catfish in its mouth on Tumblr earlier. Having read about Kotaku’s slow demise, and having a digital existential crisis, seeing this felt fitting. Maybe we’re all just trawling through the mud looking for sustenance and learning how the best ways to get by and not end up with too much mud in our systems.
We’re getting a new Alien movie this year and it’s called Alien: Romulus. The trailer shows the franchise’s signature alien ship claustrophobia, blood, blood-curdling screaming, tentacles coming out of mouths, and… you’ll have to watch the rest to find out.
Alien: Romulus is due out on Friday 16th August.
Alien related: Yaphet Kotto on Alien and Black and female representation in sci-fi
I’ve been growing a collection of wild Mountain Dew-related foods on this blog (unintentionally) and this one might be the wildest. Golden Hive Mead made Mountain Dew wine (specifically mead, which is a honey wine) and about 5 seconds in he said he couldn’t promise it’d taste good, which wasn’t an endorsement as glowing as the green liquid you’d get at the end.
But if you want to make this green monstrosity, you’ll need 2.5 litres of Mountain Dew, 2lb/900g of honey, 71B yeast, and 1/4 tsp of nutrient. And life insurance. Just in case.
Wine-related: Is tea the new wine? and ‘Sideways’ and its unfortunate influence on mediocre pinot noir
Last week, I found out about an interestingly named village in Jamaica:
Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come is a village in the Cockpit Country of western Jamaica. It is now a part of a district called Aberdeen, Jamaica, in the north-east section of Saint Elizabeth Parish, and is not extinct, as was originally believed. From the Jamaican dialect, the village name translates in English as, ‘If I don’t send for you, don’t come.’
[…]
In 1812, a community of runaways started when a dozen men and some women escaped from the sugar plantations of Trelawny into the Cockpit Country, and they created a village named Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come. It is located near some cliffs and boasted fertile soils in its valleys. The unofficial maroon community of Free black people in Jamaica grew from its start of less than 20 runaway slaves to a large village that supported 14 buildings with shingle roofs and wood floors, raised poultry, hogs and nearly two hundred acres of cultivated land, thickly planted with provisions.[3][4]
It is believed that runaway slaves who secured their freedom during the Second Maroon War, and had been a part of the community of Cuffee, joined Me-no-Sen-You-no-Come in succeeding years.
via Wikipedia
Jamaican dwelling related: Seaford Town, a former German settlement in Jamaica
Tatreez is a form of traditional Palestinian embroidery, originating from rural areas of Palestine but now commonly seen and made in the wider Palestinian diaspora.
The practice of tatreez originated in Palestine over 3,000 years ago […] Motifs were area-specific, as well as symbolic of important events, such as a wedding or pregnancy. Colors utilized would also symbolize different stages of life; in Hebron (a city now in the West Bank), for example, green was primarily worn by young women whereas purple indicated a woman who was farther along in age. Furthermore, different shades of colors denoted regional differences, where for example the city of Ramallah primarily used a pure and bright shade of red where the area of Khalil instead stitched with a brownish red color.
This is Artful Resistance: The Power of Tatreez – Erin Quinn
I don’t know who John Pittman is but I do know he’s the Number One Nut Man and he seems proud of that fact. I found this hilarious screengrab on an Instagram account called 80s News Screens where they post random scenes from 80s news shows. Everything about it, from the weird lightning-style glitches to John’s expression to the name and the moniker. It’s golden.
John, I suspect you’re no longer with us but regardless, I thank you for the laughter and you will always remain the Number One Nut Man in my heart.
Today is the 15th March and that means it’s time to settle your debts, be merry, and watch your back! Wait, we aren’t in Roman times anymore. And what the hell are “ides” and why should I beware?
The Ides of March was a day in the Roman calendar, (for us, 15th March) that was used as the deadline for settling debts in Rome as well as a time for celebration as the date was used as the marker of a new lunar phase—and even a new year in some cases.
However, the ominous association came from the Ides of March being the death day of Julius Caesar (in 44 BC) and the phrase ‘Beware the Ides of March’ comes from Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, where a soothsayer warned the Roman emperor of a fateful event.
Now you’ve got an idea of what it means, let’s dig deeper with some links about the day and everything inspired by it:
Before milkshake machines—in and out of order—people in the 1890s had their milkshakes shook with a hand crank device. Fun fact: you could buy milkshakes in drug stores as these machines used to mix liquid medicines before they started making sodas and then milkshakes, all as alternatives to alcohol.
“No country drug shop or cross-roads store is now considered complete without a machine for making milk-shakes,” San Francisco’s Evening Bulletin reported in California. “The milk-shake is the craze, and the city people on their vacations come upon it everywhere. The shake is merely a glass of milk and an inch of fruit sirup [sic]. The glass that contains it is put in place in a machine that jolts and bounces it terrifically for a minute or two, mixing in into a light substance like whipped cream.”
True West MAgazine
Milkshake related: 3 levels of milkshakes and the $5 milkshake from Pulp Fiction