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Posts tagged with Paris

The tiny Paris pastel shop that changed art history

At an angle, a wooden box of 48 pastel half-sticks in two trays of four rows, with top ranging from puce to red to yellow to white, and the bottom tray ranging from lilac to teal to green to grey to black. The sticks are noticeably handmade and each stamped ROC. Part of the box's wooden lid can be seen to the right, with fanciful dragon crest and PARIS emblazoned on it.

"The Maison du Pastel shop, off rue Rambuteau, opens only on Thursday afternoons. In this small window of time, Isabelle and Margaret serve their customers like they are selling elixirs for the soul."

... If you missed it, this post on La Maison du Pastel, the Parisian shop selling handmade pastels since the18th century, is -- like their wares -- just lovely.

12/21/22
by taz

Is your breast savage?

Past repast

WC [toilet facilities]WC [toilet facilities] by State Records NSW

History pals!

Enjoy some newly-animated historical city photos, plus barnacles on the history of Australian public bathrooms "in case you're the sort of person that wants to see 115-year old survey sketches of toilets and urinal blocks".

Or listen to the meticulously recreated ambient sounds of 1700s Paris.

How about Marie Duval, 19th century woman cartoonist called 'one of the forgotten wonders of nineteenth-century art .. the bizarre dreamlike distortions of her comic world look like some steampunk 21st-century version of Victorian London."

Or the re-discovered ancient Chinese texts that rewrite the early history of Taoism and Confucianism.

Speaking of, what are some examples of historical events that are commonly misunderstood?

Did you catch teponaztli transcribing some diary pages from 1799-1804 New York City? "The most I've seen her write about anything was how much she hates games, which I love for its being an angry rant from 200+ years ago."

Or enjoy the brief video on the baseball fan Wild Bill Hagy, which is a time capsule of 1979 Baltimore.

Harking back to 1979, share some sense-memories in what was it like when everybody smoked?

Or looking further back - what was sugar like in 1631?

Finally, what are the best history nerds on Youtube?

MeFi Music "City Songs" are here!

shackle_originales_07shackle_originales_07 by carmela alvarado art (cc by-nc-nd)

Aw yeah! The results of the Mefi Music challenge for May/June, with the theme City Songs, are queued up and ready to play! The MetaTalk thread discussing the effort and the tunes that emerged from this 77th (!) MeMu Challenge is here. Enjoy!

08/03/15
by taz

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MetaFilter started as a community weblog in 1999, later added question and answers, then music by members, jobs, projects by members, a podcast, and finally an area dedicated to meetups.

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