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17th century dioramas made from human remains—with fun names like “Ah Fate, ah Bitter Fate!”—by a dutch anatomist. he eventually sold his collection to tsar peter the great, who became very emotionally invested in these scenes (he once kissed the forehead of a particularly beautifully preserved baby). some say that a few of them were destroyed when russian sailors broke them open and drank the embalming fluid on the voyage to st. petersburg (okay??), but most made it to the tsar’s “kunstkamera” (lol), or cabinet of curiosities
pro: weird, charming, memento mori, etc.
con: involved a lot of infant skeletons (troubling, gross)
there are lots of detailed drawings left of these things and they’re interesting to read about. neat!
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Jan 27, 2024
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I don’t care how old I get, I will always be obsessed with dollhouse miniatures. They’re also a very practical thing to collect if you live in a cramped New York City apartment. One of the few, cool places on the UES is this store that’s been around for thirty years, that sells things like mini cheese balls, boba, a lava lamp, and teeny tiny orange Crocs. Relatedly, I am also fond of those trick fake food sculptures that look like milk spilled that you can get online.
Nov 23, 2021
I’ve just been so fascinated by old decrepit dollhouses forgotten by time. I’ve been looking into and getting supplies to start building my own too.
Jan 30, 2025
Top Recs from @kathking
great movie for many reasons (go library science!), but i always go back to the tights…
Apr 6, 2024
los angeles’s hottest new club is watching six best friends play alt-americana music from the comfort of your very own movie theater seat
(dutch interior is playing at brain dead this thursday, with support from the inimitable charlie havenick! don’t be a square…)
Feb 26, 2024
i found this after listening to a bunch of pram and remembering how much I love the way a theremin scratches my brain.
some background on clara rockmore (1911-1998): after immigrating to the us from soviet lithuania, clara met leon theremin and his instrument (not a euphemism, though he did propose to her at one point; she declined). she became its most talented player, which is no surprise, as, at four, she made history as the youngest student ever admitted to the saint petersburg conservatory. she went on to connect with robert moog and begin recording her work, eventually becoming an early electronic legend. she recorded these tracks in 1975, but the album wasn’t released until 2006 (and i guess re-released in 2017?)
first of all, incredible album art: the vignette and font, her forlorn expression, the looming shadow of her hand and head, muah. great music for lying awake, late at night, listening to the rain. i will caution you against listening to this in the punishing fluorescence of a crowded trader joe’s, though, unless you want to dissociate until you need to take deep breaths by the bagged salads
Feb 7, 2024