Inside an antique mall in Japan (with a whole lot of identical dog statues on the roof) is the Kurashiki Piggy Bank Museum. I remember having a piggy bank as a kid. I believe it was actually a pig and didn’t have much money in it, to be honest. And...
A garden gnome, hereafter known as the Divorce Day Mad Dwarf, was hurled in fury at a windscreen of a new car in Ljubljana, Slovenia over 20 years ago. It’s part of the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia. The museum encourages people to keep hold of the mementos...
Final drawing for “Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or, There Must Be More to Life”, 1967. Part of the Maurice Sendak Collection at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadephia, home to over 10,000 Sendak objects, including original drawings, preliminary sketches, manuscript materials, photographs, proofs and rare prints of his books. R.I.P....
In Rotterdam, the Kunsthal Museum does not have a permanent collection, but instead organizes various temporary exhibits. Recently, ‘Pet’s Markplaats’ opened in which artist Pet van de Luijtgaarden shows his passion for collecting. With an addiction to one of Netherlands most popular websites, he buys up collections of caps, porcelain,...
As a child of the 1980s I have plenty of experience with all the toys from that time period. Hey, I even remember having a picture of Boy George in my Cabbage Patch Doll wallet. Wait…what? Yeah, I know. What 4 year old needs to carry cash? CRAZY! Did you...
If you happen to find yourself retracing Mark Twain’s boat trip down the Neckar River in Deutschland, consider making a pit stop at the ruined Heidelberg Castle. He did. Unfortunately, the Apothecary Museum (Deutsche Apotheken Museum) was not yet open during his day, but with over 20,000 objects the place...
In a Father’s Day-related post, let’s look back at the A&W Burger Family, which first appeared in 1963 when the restaurant introduced four choices of hamburgers and their corresponding Burger Family members: Papa Burger, Mama Burger, Baby Burger, and Teen Burger. The fiberglass statue of Papa Burger is 8 ½...
Feb 12 is the birthday of naturalist Charles Darwin. I believe he would be 206 years old…otherwise known as dead. I am lucky to have visited both his birthplace of Shrewsbury (where there is a statue of course) and Westminster Abbey, where he is buried in the north aisle of...
If you’re in Singapore with either your own or somebody else’s children and looking for something to do, then why not take them to the most disturbing theme park of all time (yes, even scarier than the It’s a Small World ride at Disneyland). I am talking about Tiger Balm...
The Brighton Toy and Model Museum is located under the early Victorian arches that support the forecourt of the 1841 railway station in…you guessed it…Brighton, England. The space, originally used to store beer barrels for a brewery, is supposedly haunted. Maybe the ghosts are upset that their pints have been...
I’ve never been to Austin, Texas but apparently East Austin is on the list of “America’s Best Hipster Neighborhoods”…well, at least according to Forbes magazine so it must be true. And when it comes to hipsters, one shouldn’t be too surprised if something “eclectic” makes an appearance. Jen and Scott...
Like most people, I absolutely detest anything to do with spiders. But Anne Bradshaw Clopton was a bit different. In 1889 at 11 years old, Clopton discovered a magazine article about a German artist who used gossamer, or extremely fine spider silk, as his canvas. Clopton decided to give it...
